The Dirty Little Secret of Gadites
Rabbi Yehudah ben Shomeyr
The
Shoemaker’s are known for their temper. Don’t get me wrong, we are great and
likeable guys, most everyone will say so, just don’t tick us off. And God
forbid an inanimate object makes us look the fool; windows, doors, walls, cars,
computers and dresser draws have all paid the ultimate price.
Most of my
relatives on my father’s side are Christians and have anger issues. But there
are a few who are non-believers and are famously known as brawlers in the bars.
One of my cousins who everyone in the bar scene knew as “Goat” because his
signature move in a bar fight is to ram the other guy.
On the first
Avengers movie, when Ironman led Loki’s unleashed monster to the Avengers waiting
on the city street below, Captain America said to Bruce Banner, “Doctor Banner,
now might be really a good time for you to get angry.” Implying, it is time for
him to turn into the Hulk. Banner replied, “That’s my secret Cap… I’m always
angry.”
The
Shoemaker’s are always angry and this past year I finally figured out why.
Without boring
you with all the details and to make a long story short, in tracing my genealogy
I discovered that my father’s paternal ancestors were German Mennonites, also
known as Anabaptists, who ended up coming to Pennsylvania and settling
Germantown. I have been able to trace many of the Mennonites back to the tribe
of Gad and likely to his son Ozni also known as Ezbon. For in Germany there is
a town that bears his name, Osnabruk which if in Hebrew would mean, “Blessed be
Ozni.”
Gad was a
troop, a warrior tribe of lion faced men (I Chron. 12:8) and those Gadites who
eventually became known as the Mennonites denied themselves that prophetic
destiny, that call to be a warrior. Much like the Vulcans on Star Trek who
supressed emotion for sheer logic. Look, you cannot stop a lion from hunting,
even the most docile and domestic of housecats hunt. You simply cannot take the
warrior out of Gad. It is in our spiritual DNA. Vulcans had their pon farr to release pent up aggression.
Mennonites had no such outlet.
The Gadite
Mennonites decided to become pacifists, denying the outlet for the warrior
inside them. They did not fight, they did not kill, and they did not join the military.
The pogroms; when they were persecuted and harassed they bit their lip and took
it and or picked up and moved elsewhere until someone else made them move
again. Talk about anger suppression, it is like shaking a pop-bottle and
waiting for it to explode!
When you
supress a warrior spirit and do not fulfill your spiritual genetic destiny what
happens when there are no healthy outlets. Abuse; verbal, mental, physical,
sexual. This is the dirty little secret of Mennonites and Amish. The public
sees them and peace loving, genteel pacifists, but behind closed doors and out
of public view they are miserable and angry people. By the time I came along my
family was no longer Mennonite but just simple Baptists and though some of my
family did join and participate in the military they were passive non-violent
men. The warrior had to come out somehow, and as they say, you end up hurting
the ones you love. My father verbally abused me and if were not for my mother
playing referee and mediator I would have been physically abused as well. I
have spoken with many Mennonite and Amish people and the vast majority of them
were abused in one or more of the ways mentioned above. One Amish man said it
was nothing for his father to throw him up against the wall.
I was taught
never to fight; to, “turn the other cheek.” I was taught to be afraid of and
run away from bullies. I grew up being picked on, teased, and made fun of. I
was an easy target and as a result I was always looking behind my back in fear.
Today’s
Christian and or Messianic men are groomed by religion (for Yeshua has been greatly
misunderstood) and cultured, refined, civilized society to be passive, in touch
with their feminine side wusses. The warrior is suppressed and usually channeled
in inappropriate ways such as the ruthless, cutthroat business man. The book, “Wild at Heart” by John Eldridge
fleshes this out very well. I believe it is a must read for every Christian/Messianic
man. If a man, especially a Gadite has the proper outlet to be a warrior he
will be a loving husband and gentle father.
I used to
hate it when my Dad would yell at me and then I grew up and found I had turned
into my Dad, snapping at my daughter for stupid things. Like watching a movie I
would be yelling, knowing even as the words were coming out of my mouth that I
should stop, but feeling powerless to do so and even wondering why I was
yelling in the first place! Afterwards I would beat myself up for being such a
jerk and wonder why I was the way I was.
For
that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate,
that do I. – Rom. 7:15
I am like
Bruce Banner. I am always angry. Even when I am smiling, laughing and having a
good time there is still and underlying current of brooding anger. I have always
wondered why and if I would ever be happy. I have discovered that I am the
culmination of Gadite warrior suppression and thus generations of no healthy
outlet I am like the angsty, angry and brooding Dark Knight of Gotham. But what
do you do when there are no Moabites or Philistines to slay? What is a Gadite
Warrior supposed to do?
As the old
G.I. Joe cartoon says, that “knowing is half the battle.” Now that I discovered
the root of the constant anger, which is the suppression of the Gadite destiny
of being a warrior, I am finding healthy outlets to allow the Gadite warrior to
emerge such as a reading Norse tales or the John Carter series by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
watching Braveheart or superhero movies, going camping, MMA (Mixed Martial Art)
workout regimen, watching Bull Riding, MMA, and Boxing on TV. Punching the
heavy bag or taking and axe and attacking a tree when I get angry. When I do
this, when I let the Gadite warrior out in appropriate and healthy ways I am doing
it for and repenting on behalf of all the Shoemaker men who suppressed that warrior
spirit and ended up abusing their families and loved ones. When the Gadite
warrior is unleashed in a healthy way I am repenting of the generational sin
and breaking the generational curse upon my line and sending healing and restoration
throughout the generational line as a whole.
I am
learning that when I appropriately feed the warrior God has created and destined
me to be, the “Hulk” which lurks just below the surface can sleep and the
loving, happy-go-lucky, attentive husband and father can emerge. I find now
that because I allow the Gadite warrior to come out and play, I do not get
angry or frustrated as often or fly off the handle over stupid things like I
used to. The bonds with my wife and daughter are being restored and becoming
stronger.
Praised be
His Name!
