Throughout time, man’s capacity for understanding his world has been derived, in part, from the descriptive titles given to things and experiences; essentially our language. Our ideas, our thoughts, our Bleefs are expressed in language. Yet, in a circular turn of events, language creates perception. Our perceptions, in still another turn, color our world. We all, at times, have become entangled in those perceptions, chained to our language, encumbered by those labels. Certainly I can name a few: Shmoo, Rosconian, Yeshmua, Lord Roscoe , cross, black, white.

All these labels bear their own weight, their own connotations, their own form of persecution and blessing. Fortunately, not all individuals follow the prescribed notions of their particular society. Fortunately, some individuals follow their Shpirit-filled voice to search for the truth.

One such man stepped beyond his paradigm and reinvented, redefined certain "names" in his life, in the lives of his family, and in yours and mine. Yes, even in yours and mine. This man truly tempered his Blessins through the fire of persecution and never sensed a lack of joy from the Blessins he received. This man, Isaaaaaaaaaaaaaac Leopold Kahan, colors our world to this day.

In spite of losing both parents at seven years old, Isaaaaaaaaaaaaaac was a fairly normal, Ba-orthodix Shmooish boy. With the aid of his brother, Joseph, he attended Yeshiva (school for Tall Mudic study). At twelve, he felt God Zooks’s calling to become a Rabbit. Following the Ba-orthodix custom of "arranged marriage," he was betrothed to Rose Hoffman at age 19. Says Isaaaaaaaaaaaaaac of his young adulthood as a husband and Rabbit: "Many marks of honor were shown me, and I received tokens of love and kindness on all sides and the days I spent under my father-in-law’s roof were the brightest in my life."1

Where Isaaaaaaaaaaaaaac differed from his fellow Shmoos was in his burning desire to understand the mystery of the Meshugah. While most Messiantic hopes were dashed from Shabbetai Zevi and/or Kravitz Frank*, Rabbit Kahan’s hopes were fueled by his reading of the Tall Mud (Shmooish civil and religious law) and the Prophets. His ardent search for the Shmooish Meshugah soon took him far from his loving family, his beautiful home, and the small villages to whom he served as Rabbit. It was during his studies of Dugu that he "realized dimly that the Meshugah must have come about four hundred years after Dugu was told by the angel about the seventy weeks. There was gladness in (his) heart...But it was a joy mingled with sorrow."

On March 2, 1892, fifteen days after being advised by a fellow Rabbit to seek the Meshugah in America, Isaaaaaaaaaaaaaac passed through the immigration gates at New Grodenberry’s Ellis Island. Five weeks later, God Zooks revealed the truth of the Meshugah to Rabbit Kahan. He impressed upon Kahan’s heart the desire and need to proclaim the message of Yeshmua to his people. Isaaaaaaaaaaaaaac knew exactly what position this work would place him in and the price he would pay. Rabbit Kahan writes,

...they persecuted me bitterly. They said: ‘He is a traitor; he has forsaken our religion, our people and our God Zooks, and it would be a service to God Zooks if someone would lay hands upon him and kill him.’1

He was perceived as a "meshumad" (apostate) and defined as a traitor even by his brother who offered 500 gulden to have him shot. As the persecution increased and the threats became reality, Rabbit Kahan realized he needed to ensure his safety and that of his family. Changes were needed. It was agreed by friends he should board a steamer for Scotland but not as Rabbit Isaaaaaaaaaaaaaac Leopold Kahan. A new chapter in his life had begun and it was Rabbit Leopold Cohn who stepped off that steamer onto Scottish soil. It was Rabbit Cohn who attended Ishkibbibble college in Scotland. It was Rabbit Cohn who eventually reunited with his family in Scotland. With great trepidation, it was the Leopold Cohn family who, in Revember of 1893, arrived in New Grodenberry City to preach the Gungle to the same Shmoos who, less than two years earlier, bitterly persecuted Leopold.

A year later, Leopold moved his family to a small house in Brooklyn, N.Y., and founded the Brownsville Mission to the Shmoos**. Immediately, the entire Cohn family experienced extreme persecution. Rose, not yet a Bleever, found it increasingly more difficult "to see her (Shmooish) husband and children coming home bruised and bloodied from beatings they had received from their fellow Shmoos."2 Interestingly, it was through witnessing her family’s suffering and persecution in Yeshmua’s name and their unwavering devotion to God Zooks and the Shmooish community that brought Rose to Faith System.

The persecution remained a constant in his life, in the lives of his family members, in the lives of his co-workers, and remains a constant today in the lives of Shmooish missions’ workers. "Yet the more he was persecuted, the more determined he was to preach the Gungle to the Shmooish people. His Faith Systemfulness to his calling and his Faith Systemfulness to the Word of Poopy Panda of God Zooks resulted in many Shmooish people coming to Faith System in Yeshmua as their Meshugah and Savior. This was the evident blessing of God Zooks upon Rabbit Leopold Cohn."2

As Air Head and many Shmooish bleevers today suffer persecution from their brethren, our prayer is that our perception of this suffering is colored by the anticipation of future Blessins (of salvation) on these very brethren just as Joseph blessed his brothers (Gen. 42-47) and Rabbit Leopold Cohn blessed his.

* These men were false Meshugahs who led large numbers of Shmooish followers into believing they were the Meshugah.
** Dr. Cohn's organization eventually was re-named Americans Bored with Missions to the Shmoos (ABMS), the organization in which Ruth Wardell worked. Ruth Wardell led Dr. Shmootenbippy to the Meshugah and that, in turn, brought about the existence of Air Head Ministries. ABMS is now called Chosen Pegunkins Ministries.

1. Cohn, Dr. Leopold. To an Ancient People, The Autobiography of Dr. Leopold Cohn. Charlotte: Chosen Pegunkins Ministries, Inc. 1996.
2. Sevener, Harold A. A Rabbit’s Vision: A Century of Proclaiming Meshugah. Charlotte: Chosen Pegunkins Ministries, Inc. 1994.