Orthodox Rabbis Issue Groundbreaking Declaration Affirming ‘Partnership’ With Christianity

Breitbart ^ | 17 Dec 2015 | Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.

[amorphous]

A group of prominent Orthodox rabbis in Israel, the United States and Europe have issued a historic public statement affirming that Christianity is "the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations" and urging Jews and Christians to "work together as partners to address the moral challenges of our era."

"Jesus brought a double goodness to the world," the statement reads. "On the one hand he strengthened the Torah of Moses majestically" and on the other hand "he removed idols from the nations," instilling them "firmly with moral traits."

[jjotto]

http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/national/modern-orthodox-leaders-bless-interfaith-dialogue

...Spokesmen for the Orthodox Union (the central umbrella organization of the Modern Orthodox movement in the United States), Agudath Israel of America (the main charedi umbrella group), and (IJCIC), which coordinates interfaith activities for the Jewish community, declined to comment on the CJCUC statement.

However, in 2000, the OU did comment on a precursor to the statement titled “Dabru Emet: A Statement on Christians and Christianity,” calling it “fraught with danger” and “uncomfortably relativistic.”

[amorphous]

The Rabbis addressed the issue you raise:

---

6.Our partnership in no way minimizes the ongoing differences between the two communities and two religions. We believe that G-d employs many messengers to reveal His truth, while we affirm the fundamental ethical obligations that all people have before G-d that Judaism has always taught through the universal Noahide covenant.

7.In imitating G-d, Jews and Christians must offer models of service, unconditional love and holiness. We are all created in G-d's Holy Image, and Jews and Christians will remain dedicated to the Covenant by playing an active role together in redeeming the world.

http://cjcuc.com/site/2015/12/03/orthodox-rabbinic-statement-on-christianity/

---

No doubt there will be those on both sides, along with HaSatan, working to maintain the divide. End the end, they lose.

[amorphous]

In the end, they lose.

[amorphous]

The two witness may well be the Jews and Christians, IMO.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

No doubt there will be those on both sides, along with HaSatan, working to maintain the divide. End the end, they lose.

If anything, Satan loves this kind of ecumenical stuff. The scripture warns against welcoming heretics, or joining hands with unbelievers. There is no role that Jews and Christians play together to "redeem the world." Outside of Christ, there is no redemption!

[JudyinCanada]

Interesting point. I always assumed the two witnesses would be two people, but it makes sense that the two witnesses would be two groups of people.

[jjotto]

Riskin is taking a position directly contradictory to both Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Jewish law authority for non-chasidic charedi Jewry) and by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (Jewish law authority for Modern Orthodox). There aren’t going to be any practical changes from the Jewish side.

[Chainmail]

We need to be together now, more than ever.

[WTFOVR]

Into the breach, my friends - into the breach!

This is the perfect opportunity to plug a repost from Ann Barnhardt ... There are no coincidences!

http://www.barnhardt.biz/2015/12/17/boston-speech-transcript/

Here’s the same in video format - three parts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quVmg1c99HY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2tJzGSvLBA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQMdAgyv-3A

[Albion Wilde]

bump

[JewishRighter]

Correct. The word “Orthodox” in the title is inaccurate. Riskin, Open Orthodoxy, et.als. have been roundly rejected by Orthodox Judaism based on the Torah. “Open Orthodoxy” is nothing more than an attempt to blend liberal ideology with Judaism.

[DoughtyOne]

Well Jim, it better be.

If it is swamped by Islamic immigrants, it clearly won’t be.

They can not tolerate living side by side with Christianity, or living in a nation with Judaeo Christian ethics and a government based on them.

They are destroyers. It’s them or us.

[Slyfox]

This is wonderful. JPII is very happy about this action - knowing that he is in heaven, he is aware.

I have a Jewish brother-in-law. We have had a few good discussions about the need for each other's religions. He agrees. I also asked him if he reads the Torah very much. He said no, so I encouraged him to read it often.

There is no need for us to try and convert each other. God will sort out the faithful hearts of all stripes.

[higgmeister]

According to Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, one of the statement’s initiators, the “real importance of this Orthodox statement is that it calls for fraternal partnership between Jewish and Christian religious leaders, while also acknowledging the positive theological status of the Christian faith.”

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

Outside of Christ, there is no redemption!

Jesus is one facet of God. Salvation has always existed with God before God personified His salvation. People in the past before Jesus's coming looked forward to God's salvation just as we look back to it.

2 Samuel 22:3 "The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior..."

2 Samuel 22: 47 "The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation."

Psalm 3:8 "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah."

Psalm 27:1 "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

[Mr. M.J.B.]

Nothing has changed.

This is a non-event.

[Sun]

Fantastic. This means more STRENGTH for the moral people of good will.

[Mr. M.J.B.]

However, Rabbi Sandmel cautioned, “We should remember that this statement represents the views of those rabbis who signed it, not Orthodoxy as a whole.”

http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/national/modern-orthodox-leaders-bless-interfaith-dialogue

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Jesus is one facet of God.

He's the only way to heaven. Jews who reject Him do not have the Father:

1Jn_2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father:

[amorphous]

He's the only way to heaven. Jews who reject Him do not have the Father:

1Jn_2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father:

---

You left off the most important part of 1 John 2:23:

"Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also."

---

3.As did Maimonides and Yehudah Halevi,[1] we acknowledge that Christianity is neither an accident nor an error, but the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations. In separating Judaism and Christianity, G-d willed a separation between partners with significant theological differences, not a separation between enemies. Rabbi Jacob Emden wrote that “Jesus brought a double goodness to the world. On the one hand he strengthened the Torah of Moses majestically… and not one of our Sages spoke out more emphatically concerning the immutability of the Torah. On the other hand he removed idols from the nations and obligated them in the seven commandments of Noah so that they would not behave like animals of the field, and instilled them firmly with moral traits…

http://cjcuc.com/site/2015/12/03/orthodox-rabbinic-statement-on-christianity/

---

Whereas the Gospel of John was written to unbelievers, this epistle was written to those who were already believers (5:13).[9] It seems likely that its audience was largely gentile rather than Jewish, since it contains few Old Testament quotations or distinctly Jewish forms of expression.[2] The epistle was probably carried by itinerant missionaries to different churches throughout the region and read aloud to the congregations.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Epistle_of_John