Rediscovering the Roots: God’s Covenant That Still Speaks
- Rabbi Andrew
- Oct 15
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 24
A Forgotten Bible, A Living Word
It started in the most unexpected place, a storage closet on the third floor.
One day, the staff called me to come up, saying they’d found something unusual. When I arrived, they handed me a dusty, leather-bound book. Its spine was cracked, its pages fragile and yellowed, and the scent of of the old book filled the air.
When I opened it, I realized it was a parallel Hebrew and Yiddish Bible — its two languages running side by side like generations in conversation.
As I held that book, I thought of an incident in the days of King Josiah in 2 Kings 22 & 23, when the lost Torah was rediscovered in the Temple. It felt like God was whispering:
“Remember where you came from. Remember the Word that built this house.”
That Bible wasn’t just a relic. It was a reminder that our ministry and our lives are rooted in something eternal: God’s everlasting covenant.
The Covenant That Still Holds
From the beginning, God revealed Himself as El HaNe’eman — the Faithful God. His covenant with Abraham was not temporary or fragile; it was everlasting (Genesis 17:7).
That same faithfulness shaped the life of Morris Zeidman, founder of The Scott Mission. As a young man leaving Poland for Canada, his father Ziskind placed his tefillin in his hands and said, “Do not forget.” His mother Hannah folded his tallit and tucked it among his belongings.
He never did forget.
Years later, Morris and his wife Annie founded The Scott Mission — not as a place of charity, but as a living testimony to the God who keeps covenant from generation to generation.
As Alex Zeidman wrote in Good and Faithful Servant:
“Father saw his life as a link in the unbroken chain of God’s covenant. His faith in Messiah was not a departure from Judaism, but its fulfillment.”
Every act of service, every meal shared, every prayer spoken, all of it continues that covenant story.
From Jerusalem to Toronto: A Legacy of Faithfulness
Our story doesn’t begin in Toronto. It begins in Jerusalem.
In the late 1800s, a young Jewish man named Dr. S. B. Rohold met two believers in the Garden of Gethsemane. They opened the Scriptures with him, showing that Yeshua (Jesus) was the promised Messiah.
“At the time,” Rohold later wrote, “it seemed I had gone into the Garden merely by accident, but now I can see that a loving unseen hand was guiding me.”
Years later, in 1917, another young man, Sol Chernoff attended evening classes at the old Scott Institute in Toronto, where Dr. Rohold taught. Among the students sat Morris Zeidman, listening as prophecy met purpose.
Those gatherings planted seeds that grew across generations. Sol’s son, Marty Chernoff, became a leading pioneer of the modern Messianic Jewish movement, and his children David, Joel, and Hope Chernoff still lead in that legacy today.
The covenant faithfulness that began in Jerusalem continues here, in Toronto, through The Scott Mission.
Love in Action
Our founders believed that faith must take form in love.
That’s why chesed (lovingkindness), tzedakah (righteous giving), and shalom (wholeness) are at the heart of everything we do. These aren’t just Hebrew words — they are our daily calling.
In More Than Miracles, by Ben Volman, Elaine Zeidman Markovic reflected that her parents saw service to others as the purest act of worship, with every meal and every prayer mirroring God’s compassion.
At The Scott Mission, love in action meant compassion that restores dignity, generosity that gives hope, and service that reflects God’s mercy.
“He has told you, humanity, what is good… to practice justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”— Micah 6:8 TLV
Rediscovering Our Roots
When I found that old Bible, it wasn’t just a moment of nostalgia — it was a personal call to renewal.
God was reminding me, and all of us, to return to the foundations: His Word, His covenant, His calling.
In a fast-moving world, we risk losing touch with our spiritual roots. But renewal begins with remembrance.
Ask yourself:
Have I drifted from God’s Word?
Do I serve out of love or out of habit?
Am I building on the same covenant that sustained those before me?
The Covenant Still Speaks
The same God who called Abraham and Sarah, who led Israel, who spoke through the prophets — is the same God who called Morris and Annie Zeidman to open the doors of The Scott Mission.
And He still calls us today.
“The covenant didn’t start with us, and it won’t end with us. We are keepers of a sacred trust.”
That trust lives on when we remember our roots, reflect God’s faithfulness, and renew our covenant through compassion. Because when we serve with love, the covenant still
speaks.
A Closing Prayer
Lord, help us remember our roots. Let Your covenant love flow through us as it did through our forefathers. May every act of service, every word spoken, every life touched, testify that Your Word still lives — and that Your covenant still speaks. Amen.
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