When Orthodox Jews oppose followers of Jesus

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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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?

"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.

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