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When Orthodox Jews oppose followers of Jesus
Christian Post ^ | 06/11/2019 | Michael Brown

Posted on 06/11/2019 8:45:31 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

For several decades, I have drawn attention to the Church’s historic persecution of the Jews in Jesus’ name. It is one of the ugliest and longest chapters in Church history, and it cannot be downplayed, forgotten, or ignored. With God’s help, I will continue to call out “Christian” antisemitism wherever I see it today. But I will not ignore Jewish persecution of Christians. It too must be called out.

In the Gospels, Jesus and His followers, all of them Jews, were persecuted by hypocritical Jewish leaders, ultimately leading to the Lord’s death on the cross. And that pattern continued in the Book of Acts, where the Jewish leadership stood in opposition to the message of Jesus the Messiah, sometimes persecuting His Jewish followers to the death (see Acts 7).

Some even stirred up trouble wherever these Messianic Jewish emissaries went to share the good news (see Acts 17), and this continued in the centuries that followed, with some documented cases of Jewish leaders siding with local efforts to persecute Christians.

Of course, no amount of Jewish persecution of Christians can justify the horrors inflicted on the Jewish people by professing Christians, including torture, exile, being forced into ghettos, being burned at the stake, being offered baptism or death, and much more.

And it is an open secret that the Nazis drew on Martin Luther’s antisemitic writings to help enflame German hatred against the Jews.

None of this can be denied, nor should it be denied. To the contrary, we must be ever mindful of this tragic history lest we repeat it in our day.

But, to say it again, when there is Jewish persecution of followers of Jesus, that must be called out as well, especially when it takes place in Israel.

It was a radical Jew who delivered a bomb, disguised as a holiday gift, to the house of Ami Ortiz, the son of Jewish Christian parents. He miraculously survived the bomb blast, which took place in 2008.

But this act, extreme as it was, was not in isolation.

As reported by Time Magazine in 2008, “Messianic Jews, as these Jews who believe in Jesus are called, number just a few in Israel — anywhere between 6,000 and 15,000 — but they provoke hatred all out of proportion to their meager numbers. Many orthodox Jews view them as traitors for joining the Christian faith, which for centuries has persecuted Jews. One Messianic Jew, Tzvi Sadan, a teacher and editor, recalls telling his father, a Holocaust survivor, that he had accepted Jesus as his savior. ‘My dad flipped out. He said that the SS guards in the camp had 'God Is With Us' written on their belts. He told me, “You've joined the enemy.” But he calmed down a bit when he saw my prayer shawl.’” (What Sadan means is that he didn’t stop being a Jew by following Jesus.)

Over the years, Messianic Jews have suffered different levels of persecution within Israel, although none so violent as the bomb attack on Ami Ortiz.

But there have been protests and even vandalism at Messianic Jewish meeting places, attempts to get some believers deported, and various threats and harassments.

Virtually all these acts are carried out by ultra-Orthodox Jews, who view “missionary” activity as diabolical, destructive, and dishonest. As some of these protestors once chanted outside of a large Messianic Jewish gathering I was attending in Israel, “Hitler wanted our bodies. You want our souls!”

Today, as the number of Messianic Jews in Israel has risen to about 30,000 and as the society at large is much more open to these Jewish believers in Jesus, opposition from ultra-Orthodox Jews continues to rise. (For my little run-in with some ultra-Orthodox protesters last year, see here and here.)

As my friend and colleague Ron Cantor reports from Israel (with a video link worth watching), “Believers attending a Messianic concert last week in Jerusalem were accosted by dozens of Orthodox Jewish protestors, who held a violent and chaotic riot for hours, calling the people ‘missionaries’ and ‘Nazis,’ and telling them to get out of Israel. They held up several signs saying, ‘Beware, Missionaries!’ in Hebrew. In Hebrew the world Missionary is a slur. Of course, we are not missionaries, but citizens of Israel.”

Again, I understand how these protesters view us. As a rabbi said to me decades ago, “Our ancestors died rather than believe what you believe. Yet, without coercion or pressure, you not only believe in Jesus, but you try to proselytize as well.”

But, to say this yet again, none of this justifies the actions of these protesters, who were held back by police.

Ron writes that, “Jenya Lempert and his teenage daughter were accosted by swarms of young men blowing whistles at excruciating pitches and linking arms to block the entrance into the concert hall.”

As Lampert told KNI News, “It was a pure act of hatred. They hate us, they were standing against us, they brought their minors as human shields.”

Indeed, Ron explains, “Orthodox protesters have been known to bring teens, who have more liberties than adults to break the law.”

But his response to all this is right on: “It is important to not get angry but pray. At the same time, understand that this is pure fanaticism and brainwashing of children. However, it only represents a tiny minority of Israelis.”

And how should Christians around the world respond to these harassing acts?

First, they should pray for the believers being persecuted, sending them a message that they are not alone.

Second, they should pray for the repentance of the persecutors, believing that there are many Sauls of Tarsus among them.

Third, as friends of Israel who appreciate the liberties that the nation affords its citizens, they should encourage the government to stand with those who are being persecuted to send a message the government will not tolerate this kind of behavior.

All that being said, my personal expectation is that the final generation – whenever that will be – will look a lot like the Gospels and Acts, except that in the end, there will be mass acceptance of Jesus by His own people, rather than mass rejection.

May the Lord turn the hearts of His people Israel!


TOPICS: Evangelical Christian; Judaism; Ministry/Outreach; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: christianpersecution; christians; michaelbrown; opposition; orthodoxjews
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To: EinNYC

To believe that Jesus is God incarnate violates the First Commandment. One cannot remain Jewish and claim Jesus as a god. Also, messianic Judaism is known to be a Baptist missionary activity.


41 posted on 06/11/2019 11:45:23 AM PDT by captain_dave
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To: thoughtomator

I agree absolutely and I am glad you said it.


42 posted on 06/11/2019 11:48:54 AM PDT by golux
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To: JesusIsLord
Yours is the mindset that crucified Christ and has persecuted Christians for 2000 years!! Jews like you reject and hate both Jewish and Gentile Christians.

JC is not a part of Judaism. And never will be. That would be a violation of the First Commandment. I don't give a good case of cow flatulence what you say otherwise. And your recommendation that I actually seek out messyonic professional liars (still laughing my head off at your "Christian Rabbi", of which there is no such thing) is disgusting.

The more hysterically you post, the more you show the world what a sham you are. But hey---keep flapping your lips. Maybe you can achieve enough lift to fly to the moon. That would be about as likely as anything you said being true. Stuff it, fella.

43 posted on 06/11/2019 11:59:06 AM PDT by EinNYC
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To: SeekAndFind

A Jew is someone born to a Jewish mother or converted to Judaism by Jewish law. A born Jew who adopts Christianity need not reconvert to Judaism when he returns, but it should be no surprise that one who professes another religion will in most respects be treated as a non-Jew.

Anyone who is identifiably Jewish should bear in mind that no matter how Christian one becomes, he will not escape the inevitable persecution for being Jewish when it comes.

A Jew is actually someone who has a Jewish soul, and many non-Jews can subconsciously feel the presence of that Jewish soul.


44 posted on 06/11/2019 11:59:18 AM PDT by jjotto (Next week, BOOM!, for sure!)
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To: SeekAndFind

If you believe people are living or dead because of gods will, why do you want to thwart or change Gods will ?


45 posted on 06/11/2019 12:07:13 PM PDT by justa-hairyape (The user name is sarcastic. Although at times it may not appear that way.)
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To: Yaelle



What we Jews are afraid of is that we'll send our children to Israel to become better Jews, and they'll come back Christians.

Heck, if it happened to God it could happen to anyone!



46 posted on 06/11/2019 12:10:20 PM PDT by golux
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To: EinNYC
There's no fighting it, Ein. The Yeshuah types are not only convinced that all Jews are going to Hell... They're convinced they're the exception! On the other hand it is sort of charming to hear Christians at Nashville cocktail parties try out the latest Hebrew words they learn in Bible Study...

Shalom haver! Como esta Eretz Israel? Tovim! Praise Yeshivah Ha'mealy Mundo!
47 posted on 06/11/2019 12:16:36 PM PDT by golux
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To: golux

Israeli culture is not quite what we imagine.

Israeli Arabs and Jews have learned how to get along
passably well. What’s irritating are the foreign
Christians coming to Israel to convert them. And
that applies to the Israeli Arabs, too.


48 posted on 06/11/2019 12:20:58 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: RegulatorCountry

Of course! I love Christians and Christianity as a religion, even if it isn’t mine and I don’t have the same theology.


49 posted on 06/11/2019 12:32:21 PM PDT by Yaelle
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To: golux

Lol! Excellent joke!!

But seriously, every non religious kid I know who went to Birthright comes back much more into Judaism! All of them! The ones you’d LEAST expect. One was a young female cannabis grower. And one I know and love dearly has now become a citizen of Israel and lives there.

I hope my son goes one day.


50 posted on 06/11/2019 12:34:57 PM PDT by Yaelle
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To: thoughtomator

RE: If you believe Jesus was the Messiah, you are a Christian - full stop. If a person who believes that calls themselves a Jew, that is deceit.

I am not sure I follow the logic. Let’s ask a different question — is a person who is a Jew but does not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob still a Jew?

Put in another way, if you were born a Jew but disbelieve in Judaism, are you still a Jew?


51 posted on 06/11/2019 12:48:49 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: Piranha

RE: All the Jews ask is that Christians not try to convert Jews by subterfuge. Pretending to be Jews, approaching uninformed Jews to convince them that they can be both Jews and Christians, inviting them to Christian prayer meetings without calling them Christian — all of this is a sly, underhanded way to insinuate their religion into the body politic of the Jewish people.

__________________________

I am not sure I follow the logic -— what does converting a Jew by subterfuge mean? If someone is trying to convince you to believe that Jesus (who is Himself a Jew) is the Jewish Messiah, why is that a repudiation of what the Jews believe in? The unstated assumption of course is this — because Jesus is NOT the Jewish Messiah.

But that is not subterfuge, that is in fact an attempt at evangelizing the Jew in the sincere belief that it FULFILLS the prophecies in his scripture.

Now, the Jewish listener is free to accept or reject the message. But to say that someone who accepts the message is now NOT a Jew is puzzling.

Let me ask the question another way — is a Jew who becomes an atheist still considered a Jew?


52 posted on 06/11/2019 12:54:15 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: sparklite2

Yes, I agree. I lived in Israel for three years, though I am not Israeli.


53 posted on 06/11/2019 12:54:48 PM PDT by golux
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To: The Westerner; cowboyusa

RE: I’ve known Jews who converted to Christianity and vice versa, but not an ancient tribe of Jews who worship Jesus.

I don’t think he is referring to a tribe, but a group of Jewish people — the disciples of Jesus, who were ALL Jews.

Whether we like it or not, the earliest followers of Jesus were ALL Jews. In fact, without these group of Jewish men, we would not have the religion called Christianity today.


54 posted on 06/11/2019 12:56:38 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: Piranha; SeekAndFind; thoughtomator; Biggirl; erkelly; EinNYC; cowboyusa; Sans-Culotte; ...
"Until now I have avoided threads like this one, but I have seen a few of them lately and I wonder if someone has a mission of separating Jewish and Christian conservatives from one-another."

I think that is undoubtedly true.

I am loathe to wade into this fetid morass and so will make one, and only one, post. I will not reply.

First, a couple of observations about the original post. It uses the term "ultra-orthodox" repeatedly. There is no such thing as "ultra-orthodox".

As a Jewish Israeli (Orthdox, married into a Haredi family), that tells me a two things:

(1) the author is a reader of anti-Zionist or anti-religious publications, such as Haaretz

(2) the author hasn't a clue about sects of Judaism.

That said, there are many Haredi sects in Israel. Many of them are anti-Zionist themselves. They hate the secular state of Israel, hate any Jewish person (including other Haredi) not part of their particular cult, and are generally assholes to everyone, including me.

So, it's quite true that several of these Haredi sects are awful to Nazarenes (this is actual direct translation of your religion's name into Hebrew; not a reference to the present-day church/denomination of a similar name).

Some groups can definitely be radical, full of hate, and do amazingly stupid and evil things.

Think of them as the Westboro Baptist Churches, the Jewish version.

And like the Westboro Baptists are not a reflection on Nazarenes, writ large, no one sane should extrapolate anything regarding Judaism from them.

So, how does the typical Israeli Orthodox Jewish person view a Nazarene (any given denomination)?

Well, I was always taught what Maimondes taught: We share the belief in that the Torah (indeed, the entire Tanukh) is the Word of G-d and that there is thus a relationship there that cannot be broken, that Nazarene (whatever issues we have with some theology -- e.g., the Trinity) is a fine, moral, Nohadic religion for gentiles.

Almost all the moral beliefs of a Conservative Nazarene are identical to that of a Torah-observant Jewish person. Indeed, many (such as poke out your eye if you are tempted) are direct quotes from the Talmud and Jewish teaching regarding "building a wall around the Torah."

I grew up in Gush Katif (in Gaza), speak decent Arabic, and spent a fair amount of my youth guiding Nazarenes to various holy sites. In general, I liked them, thought them wonderful, upstanding, and sincere, people.

My views are probably typical Israeli.

Now some specific replies regarding Messianic Jewish people

Theologically, and under Israeli law, they come in two flavors: (1) Jewish people who consider Yeshua of Nazareth to be the Mosiach and (2) Gentiles who play dress up and pretend to be Jewish and/or take upon themselves some level of Torah observance, either (a)as a ruse to trick people or (b) because they think it is theologically correct to do so.

Under Jewish law and Israeli secular law, category #1 are Jewish. If you have a Jewish mother and/or you have an Orthodox conversion, you are Jewish. Full stop. It doesn't matter if someone dunked you into a mikva or sprinkled water on your head. Once a Jew, always a Jew.

Now, other Jewish people consider them heretics, yes. But Jewish heretics. The days of stoning heretics are long behind us (excepting for our versions of the Westboro Baptists, that is).

Category 2 are gentiles, of the Nazarene variety.

Category 2(a) are assholes and frauds, and the ones that piss people off.

Category 2(b) are fascinating and confusing, but not assholes, although it would be polite if they make it clear that they are 2(b) and not 1 or 2(a).

Indeed, I often think 2(a) are the sincerest form of Nazarene and quite moral and wonderful people. Remind me of the Amish, who I also like and respect. They are, as noted, most closely following the original form of Nazarenism.

And now some specific responses:

"A person who holds a belief in direct contradiction with the Torah is not a Jew, though they may be Ashkenazi."

Incorrect. See above.

"Orthodox Jews reject the Torah and follow the Talmud.""

This is just flat wrong. The very meaning of Orthodox Jew is one who accepts (and follows) the Torah. The Oral Law (the Talmud) is known to be incomplete and conflicting (in places). The Torah is the Torah. Every letter is sacred and true. Now, the Oral Law helps fill in blanks and things that are unclear, but if one reads the Oral Law in a way to supplant the Torah, one is reading it wrong or it was written wrong.
55 posted on 06/11/2019 1:10:12 PM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
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To: SeekAndFind

I wonder who gets more hate from religious Jews: a Jew who decides to follow Jesus? Or a Jew who decides to follow Marx?


56 posted on 06/11/2019 1:20:02 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: thoughtomator

“who are not Jews in any sense of the word”

Hmm. If their mother is a Jew, aren’t they a Jew in one very important sense of the word?


57 posted on 06/11/2019 1:21:25 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Yaelle

“And their practice is to fool Jews to think they are NOT CHRISTIANS. Their mission is to convert JEWS to CHRISTIANITY.”

I find it hard to reconcile these two sentences. How can you possibly convert someone to Christianity while hiding the fact that you believe in Christ?


58 posted on 06/11/2019 1:28:27 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: ml/nj

“(Do any non-Christian sources report any of this?)”

What non-Christian sources do you expect to exist in medieval Europe exactly?


59 posted on 06/11/2019 1:31:59 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Boogieman

Listen to lessons from rabbis like Yosef Mizrachi or Mendel Kessin!


60 posted on 06/11/2019 1:39:41 PM PDT by jjotto (Next week, BOOM!, for sure!)
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