Buses were not running last Friday because Derech Hevron was closed for the Jerusalem Marathon. I walked to the First Station, built in the 1890s for the first railway between Yaffo and Yerushalayim, which has been upgraded from an abandoned building to a bunch of highbrow restaurants. It was a nice day for a walk. At first, I was puzzled to see so few runners, further on, there were many, but running in opposite directions. Either there were multiple courses or a handful of people ran much, much faster than the majority.
I planned to spend my morning reviewing von Kellenbach’s book, Anti-Judaism in Feminist Religious Thought.
Earlier this month, KJ responded to a post on her Facebook page, writing that this would be the first summer in fifteen years that she won’t attend camp at the Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center. It’s not as if I needed confirmation that she, like the rest of her family, faked her conversion to Judaism in order to obtain aliyah benefits, but I had held out a lot of hope. She hid or deleted the post shortly after I saw it, so I couldn’t comment on it.
I don't understand why it makes me cry. I wish understood myself better.
After worrying about it a lot, I eventually decided to talk with her. I don’t know her family’s motives (but her parents frighten me) and I doubt anyone has ever told her the Jewish perspective on Christian missionary activities. She’s smart enough, and possibly compassionate enough, to understand or at least comprehend why it’s wrong.
After reviewing the book for a couple hours, I had begun to wonder whether the conversation would even be possible. Christians do this kind of thing when they are unable to view Judaism as a separate and valid religion. Katerina von Kellenbach writes that antisemitism continues because of "the Christian inability to accept Judaism as a different and equal religious alternative." What KJ’s family is doing epitomizes that inability.
KJ seems more open than the rest of her family, but every time I've seen her offered a chance to learn about Judaism, she has avoided it and changed the subject.
I literally cried on Chaya’s shoulder, but Roni had the same question I’ve been asking myself. “Why are you crying? It’s not like we didn’t know.” Chaya told me once again to contact Yad L'achim, the anti-missionary group.
A couple of days ago, I went to someone whose advice I trust. Without mentioning names, I explained the situation and asked if he thought I should talk with her. He told me, without hesitation, to call Nefesh b'Nefesh. He said that last year, an "olah" admitted to him that she was a Christian. He told NBN and revoked her aliyah benefits.
I'm still not sure what to do. KJ is a smart person who might wise up to her indoctrination, and she could save lives if she serves in the IDF. However, her terrifying parents are returning to the country soon; talking with the mother is reminiscent of a medieval Jewish history class I once took.
Christianity is the source of Western antisemitism and has caused the deaths of millions of Jews over two thousand years. No Christian should be taking money intended to help Jews return to Israel. (We finally get away from them and they follow us here!)
I still hesitate to act. Nefesh b'Nefesh has not proved itself to be a competent organization; would they be willing to admit their mistake and address this? What would be the repercussions for me if the family isn't expelled from the country but learns that I turned them in?
It may be that they haven't actually broken a specific law. Months ago, I broke down crying in front of Jason, the city of Jerusalem olim representative. I told him about my living situation at the hostel. Since they hadn't tried to convert me, he didn't understand why I was upset.
I know that I’m right to be upset.
But why am I so upset about learning that KJ has deceived us all. Perhaps it’s simply disappointment in learning once again that people who don’t respect Judaism want to cling to their prejudices. Or perhaps it’s because that I prefer not to see negative traits in people I consider my friends.
March 24 – Yesterday, I went to the shiva for Chaya’s mother, who survived work camps and Bergen Belsen. Many words of Torah were spoken and as I walked back from the Old City, I recognized that turning the family in is the right thing to do. Israel is the home of the Jewish people, not of Christian missionaries.
March 27 - I was worried about being a "tattle tale" but I find myself feeling relieved for taking action and reporting them. Neither Nefesh b'Nefesh nor The Jewish Agency is going to take any action, but I did my part to protect the Jewish people from those who mean us harm. (And I got a pat on the back from RM Bellerose.)
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Friday, March 24, 2017
Friday, December 30, 2016
The Missionaries
I've recognized some of my character flaws and that one in particular has caused me so many troubles. It's one thing to disregard a friend's foibles and focus on his or her good qualities, but quite another to fail to recognize when someone isn't your friend at all. I can recognize that this is a major character flaw, but I can't seem to overcome it. Why not!?
Before I made aliyah, I intended to live in the north, however, I wasn't eligible to stay at any absorption center. I was disappointed and worried. How would I meet people, make connections, and find community, or even a place to live without a starting point, a temporary home base?
I decided to stay at a hostel in Jerusalem because, in the past, I'd met many people there and because I am somewhat familiar with the area.
My first night in Jerusalem, I sat in the hostel's new lounge to check my email. A bearded, American man was explaining to a missionary that it wasn't enough to start attending a synagogue and to try to convert people, that he should hide his intentions at first and make friends because "they" don't like missionaries and wouldn't have anything to do with him if they knew his intentions. I was disgusted and ignored them both.
The next morning, I was horrified to discover that the hostel has become a place for missionaries, messianics, and other non-mainstream Christians in numbers too large to ignore. I thought I had left messianics behind in Arizona! Instead, every time I entered the kitchen or lounge, I was surrounded by people having bizarre and disturbing conversations.
The following day, I met a couple who had just made aliyah with their family. They'd been surprised to get their aliyah approval so quickly. In fact, their approval had arrived just as they were leaving for a trip to Israel that they'd already planned. They’d been told their approval would take much longer. We discussed Nefesh b'Nefesh. Like me, their aliyah application had vanished in the bowels of the Jewish Agency, but they had been assigned an aliyah advisor and he had tracked it down inside the Jewish Agency.
The couple and their children had stayed at the hostel many times before, for long periods of time. They had purchased dishes and kitchenware that they store there whenever they return to the States. So they were settled into the hostel as if it were home. The husband was a heavily bearded police officer and the wife, who dressed modestly in long skirts and turbans, had home schooled their many children. They knew a lot of things I didn’t about making aliyah. Particularly important: they knew an employee of the municipality of Jerusalem who helps new immigrants get oriented and settled.
In contrast to the generally disturbing environment in the hostel, it felt good to meet companions in this precarious situation of being a new immigrant to Israel. I was no longer sorry that I hadn’t been admitted to an absorption center for new immigrants. Things were going to work out well, I was sure.
During that first meeting, within an hour, I think, I began to wonder about the family. The husband gave me a cold stare rather than a sympathetic look when I said that my last boss in Arizona had been a messianic. When I asked, the wife described her conversion to Judaism in ways that had nothing to do with Judaism, but only her private reading of the bible over several decades. I wondered if the husband were the same bearded man I’d heard advising the Christian missionary to hide his intentions, but I couldn't be sure, since I'd made a point of turning my back on that conversation.
The family had converted to Judaism recently and the Jewish Agency had done a background check on them. The mother told me that the Jewish Agency had found that they owned a website about Jesus. They had explained to the representative that they hadn't posted to it for a long time.
The family was extremely friendly with all the various Christians staying at the hostel and seemed to be close to a few. Perhaps, I hoped, they simply maintained ties of sympathy with their former religion. I was deluding myself because I wanted to have fellow travelers, companions on the journey, a support system. And I was eager to participate in Shabbos dinners they helped organize at the hostel. Besides, who, I asked myself, would pretend to convert to Judaism?
Sunset that first Shabbos was such a joy! It was wonderful to once again hear the siren that announces the approach of Shabbat in Jerusalem. I rushed outside and stood in the sun for several moments, my arms outstretched before I lit my candles.
At a (very) late Shabbos dinner, about twenty people sat at tables we’d set up on the roof. Sitting down at the table, I thought the moment was perfect. The wife offered to be a mom to me (even though she’s not much older than I am) and volunteered her son to be my little brother. How warm and lucky I felt. (I felt a little less lucky over the next couple of weeks when the husband took the kids on several tours of Jerusalem and didn't invite me to join them.)
Most of the guests at that Shabbos dinner were Christian tourists, which I didn't mind. However, with the wife’s encouragement, some very strange ideas were voiced. One Christian claimed he was an honorary member of the tribe of Judah because he believed in Jesus. (Cultural appropriation and gross idiocy in one statement!) Ingrained courtesy made me hold my tongue, but that kind of delusion is dangerous and, well… delusional. I rolled my eyeballs, but mom and my little brother didn't seem to understand.
Moments later, I wished that I had spoken up, because the wife began encouraging other delusions. For example, she told one Christian man that he is also required to wear tzitzit! (You notice that Christians never appropriate tefillin — a little too weird, even if it is in the bible, right?)
The family has an extraordinarily large network of Christian friends and friends of friends who visited them at the hostel. I asked myself if there was any reason why they shouldn't. Years ago, I maintained my ties with long-time friends at my Reform synagogue after I joined a Conservative synagogue. Of course, Reform Jews are still Jewish; Christians absolutely are not.
I was very uncomfortable with the environment I was living in. I contacted NBN to ask about going north. A man wrote back immediately to say that someone would get in touch with me. Nothing happened, but a little later, I met the Jerusalem olim advisor and he helped me open a bank account, locate an ulpan, find some apartments online, and set appointments to view them, so I didn't pursue the idea of going north.
My therapist in Portland advised me to remain at the hostel. The plan had been to stay in a place where I'd meet people. He didn't want me to be alone and neither did I.
At the hostel, I've encountered only two other Jewish guests and talked with a couple of nice Christians who didn't seem to have a "Jewish agenda." Mostly, the people there were immersed in their own brand of Christianity. One man, a particular friend of the family, had just come from lecturing Africa where large advertisements proclaimed he was a "prophet to Africa." (Just what Africa needs, I thought, more white prophets.)
I went to one more Shabbos dinner at the hostel, where fifty of us were packed at tables squeezed into the indoor lounge. The cook asked for a volunteer to chant kiddush, but studiously ignored the only hand that was raised. (Mine.) Then I had to listen to lots of Christian dialogue. That was the last hostel Shabbos dinner that I attended. I didn’t want to gather any more evidence that my new “family” were Christians masquerading as Jews. And I didn't know which would be worse: not speaking up or commenting vehemently on the stupidity I heard at those meals and starting an argument.
Why did I keep trying to dismiss my knowledge that they are missionaries who used deceit to make aliyah? There are probably a number of reasons. The most positive: it’s not right to judge people or make assumptions about them until you really know them. The least positive (and more likely) reason: I have no spine: I want friends, I want to belong, I want community so much, that I will associate with people who don’t share my values and who don't respect mine. I've been too tolerant and too trusting of people and have often put myself in the hands of people who don’t care about me. When I got too close to someone, my father always told me, "they aren't your friends," but I always refused to believe him.
I have improved a little; now I at least recognize that these people probably aren't my friends and that I probably can't depend on them for anything. However, I'm not responding to that knowledge appropriately. What's wrong with me?
Since Reform Judaism isn't an option here, I had intended to associate with secular Israelis, but exposure to this family's lack of respect for the religion I value, and the depressing need to avoid Shabbos dinner each week, made me reach out for a little more observance. I registered on a Shabbat website, hoping to get Shabbos dinner invitations, and Ryan Bellerose put me in touch with a family in Hevron. (They had a full house that Shabbos and then started taking in people affected by the forest fires... but maybe I'll get to go sometime soon.)
I didn't hang out with the family much, but once in a while, I'd find myself drawn to their room, wanting to talk with the girls. I was torn between wanting companionship and mistrust of their motives for being in Israel. (The first was winning, obviously.)
Their 21-year-old daughter had arrived about a week after I did and she is an amazing person. She'll soon join the IDF. She's really smart. Perhaps after being here a while, she'll have a better understanding of Jews and Judaism and abandon whatever plans her family has.
Their 17-year-old son and I were in the same ulpan. After class each day, we studied in the hostel’s lounge, after picking up inexpensive falafel for our lunch. We’d test each other on things we had learned that day and then check each other’s homework.
A study partner is a great/essential thing, no matter the subject, and I really liked his company. He's a sweet kid. Actually, I often forgot that he's a kid. I don't learn nearly as well without him. I used to buy myself a beer and him a candy bar after we'd finished our homework, unaware that his mother had put him on a diet. He is a fan of the new Dr. Who tv show and since I have a laptop he wanted to watch the show on Netflix. Some episodes of the show were pretty poor, but I seldom said no when he asked to watch a second episode. I liked that it made “my little brother” happy. I was very fond of him and his enthusiasm for Hebrew. He was a great favorite of the Hebrew teachers at ulpan, too. He wasn't planning to make aliyah, so he seemed a less dangerous companion than the other members of his family.
It was impossible to ignore the husband’s absolute disdain for Judaism. He didn’t even try to hide it. I avoided him as much as I could, but one erev Shabbat, I expected that I'd have to spend time with him. The wife had had a disagreement with the person who prepared the Shabbos dinners and decided to host her own Shabbat dinner in their large room. There was no polite way to decline her invitation and, besides, I wanted Shabbos and still held some hope that they were fellow travelers.
The husband was not there that evening; he had returned to the States to work. I sighed with relief and relaxed. Everything was almost ready, so none of the usual last-minute Shabbos prep whirled around me. I'd brought challah and drinks. Conversation was a bit slow to warm up and I was concerned that talk might turn to incriminating matters that had no wish to confront them on, so I suggested we read the parasha.
They asked me chant Kiddush, which I really like to do even though I know I can’t carry a tune. The meal was wonderful. Their large room is stocked with dishes and crock pots and every imaginable cooking implement, so nothing was lacking. I had brought challah and drinks and my little brother/study partner had made a wonderful appetizer of eggplant, pomegranate, and tahini. It was a nice meal and conversation warmed up, without, thankfully, turning to Jesus. However, they did discuss that patrilineal descent was more valid matrilineal because the bible says so; I let that go without comment.
Some time later, the son invited me to look at some apartments with the family one evening. The mother wanted me to live with them, but I made a point of telling their agent that I was getting a separate, one bedroom apartment. On the way back, the mother described her dream of having big Shabbos dinners for lots of Christians, to introduce them to “their” heritage. What a bizarre aspiration for a Jew, especially a new Jew, who should want to learn about her new religion! It’s even a bizarre aspiration for a Christian missionary. At least her focus does not seem to be on converting Jews, at least not directly, but Christian interest in / obsession with Jews and Judaism usually leads to frustration and then, when we don’t convert, violence.
At one point, I had to move out of the hostel for a week because it was fully booked. All the other hostels were fully booked, too. The representative from the municipality helped me find a hotel room. Although it wasn't a holiday, most of the hotels were booked and this one was quite expensive. I determined that I would focus on my enjoyment of hot showers and a decent bed but start looking for an apartment.
My plan had been to stay in the hostel a long time, so I could meet people and perhaps find roommates, but switching rooms constantly and having to go to a hotel was annoying and expensive. There were two apartments for rent near my ulpan. The less expensive one was nice, with a modern bathroom and some furniture. However, it was a two-bedroom and the only people I knew were the missionaries. My “little brother” was leaving the country soon, but his sister will stay in Jerusalem until her army service begins in April. She has never shown any signs of being a missionary, and she is so nice and smart, and also... I'm a fool. I needed an apartment right away. The landlady showed us the apartment and the sister liked it, too. However, when she brought her mother to see it and possibly rent the other one, I backed out. I came to Israel to be with Jews, not to be surrounded by the wife's Christian "disciples" every Shabbos.
The landlady was no fool, but the wife is. After the landlady had shown them the apartments, she asked me if there was something wrong with the family; I said that I was sure they’d be responsible tenants. Then she immediately asked if the mother was a missionary. I didn’t want to gossip and yet I did want to talk to someone. “I think so... I’m not sure,” I whined. She was certain; apparently the wife had started to say something incriminating and then cut herself off. The landlady declared she would absolutely not rent to missionaries.
She and her husband had moved away from a town in Israel to escape missionaries. I explained how awful it was to live in the hostel surrounded by them and she promised to invite me to Shabbos dinner. (I don't think that will materialize, but there's a young, Orthodox girl in my ulpan who has promised to take me to some shiurim.)
A Facebook friend in Canada urged me to turn them in; I would have preferred that she introduce me to some Israeli Jews. She posted about my situation in a Facebook group without my permission. The landlady gave me the contact information for an anti-missionary organization and told me to report the family. I wondered why she wouldn't. I did contact organization, but only to ask if Cyrus, a group that pays for Jews to ship their belongings to Israel, was a missionary organization. They sent me an article about a couple of Christian missionaries affiliated with Cyrus who had had their conversions revoked and were expelled from Israel. (I guess I'll be leaving my things in storage in the States indefinitely.)
I had become quite fond of the son. He did not intend to move to Israel with the rest of his family. He wanted to return to the States, go to college, and become a police officer. I felt that he was trapped in a situation of his parents’ making. I misunderstood and thought that he was merely obliged to help his family perpetrate a lie and that he was more honorable than that. I was proud of him and continued to study with him every day after ulpan.
One day, however, he began a conversation that revealed too much. He surprised me by asking me my religion. When I told him I was Jewish, he said, “That could mean anything.” (How can he have no idea what a Jew is after converting and applying to make aliyah?!) Then he asked if I believed in the messiah!
“I believe in the coming of the messiah,” I said firmly, then added, “and Jesus was NOT it.” He had turned his face away after my first statement, so I don’t know what he made of my second statement.
There was no way to ignore the truth after that conversation. I wasn’t angry with him, but I was angry. I wanted to yell at his mother. She and her husband had lied to their beit din, to the Israeli government, and to me — and they had made their son participate in that lie. What kind of parents would do that to their child?
Their son had only confirmed what I had already known, but I didn’t want his parents to know that he had spilled the beans. What they’ve done is a crime. I didn't want them to be angry with him. I wanted him to go back to the States and be an honest, Christian boy.
I say that I wasn't angry with him, but I was deeply upset that my "friend" had lied to me, and I was a basket case in ulpan the next few days. I was focusing on my confusion and sense of betrayal rather than the Hebrew we were learning. I understood that he couldn’t be honest, but there’s no way to have a conversation with someone who is hiding who he really is. Several times, after than, when I voiced Jewish ideas in connection with the Hebrew we were learning, he denigrated them.
How can he have no interest in Judaism when he has attended a synagogue and gone through a conversion? How can he believe that there is one literal interpretation of the bible and yet agree to violate the commandment not to lie? If he’s a Christian, why did he want to wear a tallis? I had to remind myself that he's a little boy and that it's absurd for a mature woman to feel that he has betrayed her friendship.
I can almost forgive my stupidity; he was my only friend and my study partner. Language is not something you can acquire on your own. However, his recognition of my commitment to Judaism put a strain on our friendship. He began to skip our after-ulpan study session and be a little less friendly toward me.
Before the son began skipping our study sessions, I had a conversation with his mother that frightened me:
Since she and her son returned to the States, I keep finding myself chatting with their 21-year-old daughter, since the two of us attend the same ulpan and, until recently lived in the same hostel. She is very smart and accomplished and never mentions religion. I can’t put her in the same category as the rest of the family. And it's unlikely that she wants to convert Israeli Jews since she doesn't intend to stay here after she finishes her service as an IDF medic. Nonetheless, I know that I should just stay the hell away from her. How likely is it that she has a more positive attitude toward Judaism than her parents? Not likely at all.
She became a volunteer at the hostel in order to have an inexpensive place to live. Volunteers have to shower on the roof and I surprised myself by offering her the use of the shower in my room. One day, after ulpan, she said how adrift she feels without her family; she has never been away from them before. I felt for her. And I also felt that her mom would want me to look out for her — as if I owe her mother anything! I spent time with her and invited her to study the parasha with me on Shabbat (she declined that one).
I've had to move out of the hostel again, but I had her over for dinner at the hotel. I like her company and yet I feel bad for my good feelings toward her — it's a peculiar sensation.
It’s bad enough that I don’t protect myself from individuals who do not mean me well, but in this case, I’m not protecting my people from individuals who may intend all of us harm. (May? Come on, I know the history of Christian antisemitism and missionaries definitely mean us harm.)
The hatred of Jews has been no incidental anomaly
but a central action of Christian history, reaching to the core of Christian character.
James Carrol - Constantine's Sword
***
Before I made aliyah, I intended to live in the north, however, I wasn't eligible to stay at any absorption center. I was disappointed and worried. How would I meet people, make connections, and find community, or even a place to live without a starting point, a temporary home base?
I decided to stay at a hostel in Jerusalem because, in the past, I'd met many people there and because I am somewhat familiar with the area.
My first night in Jerusalem, I sat in the hostel's new lounge to check my email. A bearded, American man was explaining to a missionary that it wasn't enough to start attending a synagogue and to try to convert people, that he should hide his intentions at first and make friends because "they" don't like missionaries and wouldn't have anything to do with him if they knew his intentions. I was disgusted and ignored them both.
The next morning, I was horrified to discover that the hostel has become a place for missionaries, messianics, and other non-mainstream Christians in numbers too large to ignore. I thought I had left messianics behind in Arizona! Instead, every time I entered the kitchen or lounge, I was surrounded by people having bizarre and disturbing conversations.
* * *
The following day, I met a couple who had just made aliyah with their family. They'd been surprised to get their aliyah approval so quickly. In fact, their approval had arrived just as they were leaving for a trip to Israel that they'd already planned. They’d been told their approval would take much longer. We discussed Nefesh b'Nefesh. Like me, their aliyah application had vanished in the bowels of the Jewish Agency, but they had been assigned an aliyah advisor and he had tracked it down inside the Jewish Agency.
The couple and their children had stayed at the hostel many times before, for long periods of time. They had purchased dishes and kitchenware that they store there whenever they return to the States. So they were settled into the hostel as if it were home. The husband was a heavily bearded police officer and the wife, who dressed modestly in long skirts and turbans, had home schooled their many children. They knew a lot of things I didn’t about making aliyah. Particularly important: they knew an employee of the municipality of Jerusalem who helps new immigrants get oriented and settled.
In contrast to the generally disturbing environment in the hostel, it felt good to meet companions in this precarious situation of being a new immigrant to Israel. I was no longer sorry that I hadn’t been admitted to an absorption center for new immigrants. Things were going to work out well, I was sure.
* * *
During that first meeting, within an hour, I think, I began to wonder about the family. The husband gave me a cold stare rather than a sympathetic look when I said that my last boss in Arizona had been a messianic. When I asked, the wife described her conversion to Judaism in ways that had nothing to do with Judaism, but only her private reading of the bible over several decades. I wondered if the husband were the same bearded man I’d heard advising the Christian missionary to hide his intentions, but I couldn't be sure, since I'd made a point of turning my back on that conversation.
The family had converted to Judaism recently and the Jewish Agency had done a background check on them. The mother told me that the Jewish Agency had found that they owned a website about Jesus. They had explained to the representative that they hadn't posted to it for a long time.
The family was extremely friendly with all the various Christians staying at the hostel and seemed to be close to a few. Perhaps, I hoped, they simply maintained ties of sympathy with their former religion. I was deluding myself because I wanted to have fellow travelers, companions on the journey, a support system. And I was eager to participate in Shabbos dinners they helped organize at the hostel. Besides, who, I asked myself, would pretend to convert to Judaism?
* * *
Sunset that first Shabbos was such a joy! It was wonderful to once again hear the siren that announces the approach of Shabbat in Jerusalem. I rushed outside and stood in the sun for several moments, my arms outstretched before I lit my candles.
At a (very) late Shabbos dinner, about twenty people sat at tables we’d set up on the roof. Sitting down at the table, I thought the moment was perfect. The wife offered to be a mom to me (even though she’s not much older than I am) and volunteered her son to be my little brother. How warm and lucky I felt. (I felt a little less lucky over the next couple of weeks when the husband took the kids on several tours of Jerusalem and didn't invite me to join them.)
Most of the guests at that Shabbos dinner were Christian tourists, which I didn't mind. However, with the wife’s encouragement, some very strange ideas were voiced. One Christian claimed he was an honorary member of the tribe of Judah because he believed in Jesus. (Cultural appropriation and gross idiocy in one statement!) Ingrained courtesy made me hold my tongue, but that kind of delusion is dangerous and, well… delusional. I rolled my eyeballs, but mom and my little brother didn't seem to understand.
Moments later, I wished that I had spoken up, because the wife began encouraging other delusions. For example, she told one Christian man that he is also required to wear tzitzit! (You notice that Christians never appropriate tefillin — a little too weird, even if it is in the bible, right?)
The family has an extraordinarily large network of Christian friends and friends of friends who visited them at the hostel. I asked myself if there was any reason why they shouldn't. Years ago, I maintained my ties with long-time friends at my Reform synagogue after I joined a Conservative synagogue. Of course, Reform Jews are still Jewish; Christians absolutely are not.
* * *
I was very uncomfortable with the environment I was living in. I contacted NBN to ask about going north. A man wrote back immediately to say that someone would get in touch with me. Nothing happened, but a little later, I met the Jerusalem olim advisor and he helped me open a bank account, locate an ulpan, find some apartments online, and set appointments to view them, so I didn't pursue the idea of going north.
My therapist in Portland advised me to remain at the hostel. The plan had been to stay in a place where I'd meet people. He didn't want me to be alone and neither did I.
At the hostel, I've encountered only two other Jewish guests and talked with a couple of nice Christians who didn't seem to have a "Jewish agenda." Mostly, the people there were immersed in their own brand of Christianity. One man, a particular friend of the family, had just come from lecturing Africa where large advertisements proclaimed he was a "prophet to Africa." (Just what Africa needs, I thought, more white prophets.)
I went to one more Shabbos dinner at the hostel, where fifty of us were packed at tables squeezed into the indoor lounge. The cook asked for a volunteer to chant kiddush, but studiously ignored the only hand that was raised. (Mine.) Then I had to listen to lots of Christian dialogue. That was the last hostel Shabbos dinner that I attended. I didn’t want to gather any more evidence that my new “family” were Christians masquerading as Jews. And I didn't know which would be worse: not speaking up or commenting vehemently on the stupidity I heard at those meals and starting an argument.
Why did I keep trying to dismiss my knowledge that they are missionaries who used deceit to make aliyah? There are probably a number of reasons. The most positive: it’s not right to judge people or make assumptions about them until you really know them. The least positive (and more likely) reason: I have no spine: I want friends, I want to belong, I want community so much, that I will associate with people who don’t share my values and who don't respect mine. I've been too tolerant and too trusting of people and have often put myself in the hands of people who don’t care about me. When I got too close to someone, my father always told me, "they aren't your friends," but I always refused to believe him.
I have improved a little; now I at least recognize that these people probably aren't my friends and that I probably can't depend on them for anything. However, I'm not responding to that knowledge appropriately. What's wrong with me?
Since Reform Judaism isn't an option here, I had intended to associate with secular Israelis, but exposure to this family's lack of respect for the religion I value, and the depressing need to avoid Shabbos dinner each week, made me reach out for a little more observance. I registered on a Shabbat website, hoping to get Shabbos dinner invitations, and Ryan Bellerose put me in touch with a family in Hevron. (They had a full house that Shabbos and then started taking in people affected by the forest fires... but maybe I'll get to go sometime soon.)
I didn't hang out with the family much, but once in a while, I'd find myself drawn to their room, wanting to talk with the girls. I was torn between wanting companionship and mistrust of their motives for being in Israel. (The first was winning, obviously.)
* * *
Their 21-year-old daughter had arrived about a week after I did and she is an amazing person. She'll soon join the IDF. She's really smart. Perhaps after being here a while, she'll have a better understanding of Jews and Judaism and abandon whatever plans her family has.
Their 17-year-old son and I were in the same ulpan. After class each day, we studied in the hostel’s lounge, after picking up inexpensive falafel for our lunch. We’d test each other on things we had learned that day and then check each other’s homework.
A study partner is a great/essential thing, no matter the subject, and I really liked his company. He's a sweet kid. Actually, I often forgot that he's a kid. I don't learn nearly as well without him. I used to buy myself a beer and him a candy bar after we'd finished our homework, unaware that his mother had put him on a diet. He is a fan of the new Dr. Who tv show and since I have a laptop he wanted to watch the show on Netflix. Some episodes of the show were pretty poor, but I seldom said no when he asked to watch a second episode. I liked that it made “my little brother” happy. I was very fond of him and his enthusiasm for Hebrew. He was a great favorite of the Hebrew teachers at ulpan, too. He wasn't planning to make aliyah, so he seemed a less dangerous companion than the other members of his family.
It was impossible to ignore the husband’s absolute disdain for Judaism. He didn’t even try to hide it. I avoided him as much as I could, but one erev Shabbat, I expected that I'd have to spend time with him. The wife had had a disagreement with the person who prepared the Shabbos dinners and decided to host her own Shabbat dinner in their large room. There was no polite way to decline her invitation and, besides, I wanted Shabbos and still held some hope that they were fellow travelers.
The husband was not there that evening; he had returned to the States to work. I sighed with relief and relaxed. Everything was almost ready, so none of the usual last-minute Shabbos prep whirled around me. I'd brought challah and drinks. Conversation was a bit slow to warm up and I was concerned that talk might turn to incriminating matters that had no wish to confront them on, so I suggested we read the parasha.
They asked me chant Kiddush, which I really like to do even though I know I can’t carry a tune. The meal was wonderful. Their large room is stocked with dishes and crock pots and every imaginable cooking implement, so nothing was lacking. I had brought challah and drinks and my little brother/study partner had made a wonderful appetizer of eggplant, pomegranate, and tahini. It was a nice meal and conversation warmed up, without, thankfully, turning to Jesus. However, they did discuss that patrilineal descent was more valid matrilineal because the bible says so; I let that go without comment.
Some time later, the son invited me to look at some apartments with the family one evening. The mother wanted me to live with them, but I made a point of telling their agent that I was getting a separate, one bedroom apartment. On the way back, the mother described her dream of having big Shabbos dinners for lots of Christians, to introduce them to “their” heritage. What a bizarre aspiration for a Jew, especially a new Jew, who should want to learn about her new religion! It’s even a bizarre aspiration for a Christian missionary. At least her focus does not seem to be on converting Jews, at least not directly, but Christian interest in / obsession with Jews and Judaism usually leads to frustration and then, when we don’t convert, violence.
* * *
At one point, I had to move out of the hostel for a week because it was fully booked. All the other hostels were fully booked, too. The representative from the municipality helped me find a hotel room. Although it wasn't a holiday, most of the hotels were booked and this one was quite expensive. I determined that I would focus on my enjoyment of hot showers and a decent bed but start looking for an apartment.
My plan had been to stay in the hostel a long time, so I could meet people and perhaps find roommates, but switching rooms constantly and having to go to a hotel was annoying and expensive. There were two apartments for rent near my ulpan. The less expensive one was nice, with a modern bathroom and some furniture. However, it was a two-bedroom and the only people I knew were the missionaries. My “little brother” was leaving the country soon, but his sister will stay in Jerusalem until her army service begins in April. She has never shown any signs of being a missionary, and she is so nice and smart, and also... I'm a fool. I needed an apartment right away. The landlady showed us the apartment and the sister liked it, too. However, when she brought her mother to see it and possibly rent the other one, I backed out. I came to Israel to be with Jews, not to be surrounded by the wife's Christian "disciples" every Shabbos.
The landlady was no fool, but the wife is. After the landlady had shown them the apartments, she asked me if there was something wrong with the family; I said that I was sure they’d be responsible tenants. Then she immediately asked if the mother was a missionary. I didn’t want to gossip and yet I did want to talk to someone. “I think so... I’m not sure,” I whined. She was certain; apparently the wife had started to say something incriminating and then cut herself off. The landlady declared she would absolutely not rent to missionaries.
She and her husband had moved away from a town in Israel to escape missionaries. I explained how awful it was to live in the hostel surrounded by them and she promised to invite me to Shabbos dinner. (I don't think that will materialize, but there's a young, Orthodox girl in my ulpan who has promised to take me to some shiurim.)
A Facebook friend in Canada urged me to turn them in; I would have preferred that she introduce me to some Israeli Jews. She posted about my situation in a Facebook group without my permission. The landlady gave me the contact information for an anti-missionary organization and told me to report the family. I wondered why she wouldn't. I did contact organization, but only to ask if Cyrus, a group that pays for Jews to ship their belongings to Israel, was a missionary organization. They sent me an article about a couple of Christian missionaries affiliated with Cyrus who had had their conversions revoked and were expelled from Israel. (I guess I'll be leaving my things in storage in the States indefinitely.)
* * *
I had become quite fond of the son. He did not intend to move to Israel with the rest of his family. He wanted to return to the States, go to college, and become a police officer. I felt that he was trapped in a situation of his parents’ making. I misunderstood and thought that he was merely obliged to help his family perpetrate a lie and that he was more honorable than that. I was proud of him and continued to study with him every day after ulpan.
One day, however, he began a conversation that revealed too much. He surprised me by asking me my religion. When I told him I was Jewish, he said, “That could mean anything.” (How can he have no idea what a Jew is after converting and applying to make aliyah?!) Then he asked if I believed in the messiah!
“I believe in the coming of the messiah,” I said firmly, then added, “and Jesus was NOT it.” He had turned his face away after my first statement, so I don’t know what he made of my second statement.
There was no way to ignore the truth after that conversation. I wasn’t angry with him, but I was angry. I wanted to yell at his mother. She and her husband had lied to their beit din, to the Israeli government, and to me — and they had made their son participate in that lie. What kind of parents would do that to their child?
Their son had only confirmed what I had already known, but I didn’t want his parents to know that he had spilled the beans. What they’ve done is a crime. I didn't want them to be angry with him. I wanted him to go back to the States and be an honest, Christian boy.
I say that I wasn't angry with him, but I was deeply upset that my "friend" had lied to me, and I was a basket case in ulpan the next few days. I was focusing on my confusion and sense of betrayal rather than the Hebrew we were learning. I understood that he couldn’t be honest, but there’s no way to have a conversation with someone who is hiding who he really is. Several times, after than, when I voiced Jewish ideas in connection with the Hebrew we were learning, he denigrated them.
How can he have no interest in Judaism when he has attended a synagogue and gone through a conversion? How can he believe that there is one literal interpretation of the bible and yet agree to violate the commandment not to lie? If he’s a Christian, why did he want to wear a tallis? I had to remind myself that he's a little boy and that it's absurd for a mature woman to feel that he has betrayed her friendship.
I can almost forgive my stupidity; he was my only friend and my study partner. Language is not something you can acquire on your own. However, his recognition of my commitment to Judaism put a strain on our friendship. He began to skip our after-ulpan study session and be a little less friendly toward me.
* * *
Before the son began skipping our study sessions, I had a conversation with his mother that frightened me:
One erev Shabbat, she came to my room and invited me to the Karaite shul. I declined at first. Then she told me that they don’t meet in Jerusalem often and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity even if it meant associating with missionaries. On our walk there, I finally recognized the depth of her contempt for Judaism.
She complained that the Jewish prayer book had been written by people and that the Karaite prayer book was superior because it was just the word of god. (I didn't point out that some person had to compile the Karaite prayer book and the Jewish siddur is definitely rooted in the bible even if she does not recognize it.) She also asserted that the Karaites are better than Jews because they don’t “believe in” the Talmud. (Guess she doesn't know that they had to write their own.) She asserted that the Oral Law is of no value, that it couldn't have come from Moses, and that it was entirely a creation of Rabbi Akiva.
I disagreed and told her about ben Zakkai who escaped Jerusalem and preserved the oral tradition in Yavneh. She did not like that and rushed ahead to walk with her son the rest of the way, leaving me far behind on the slippery, wet, Jerusalem stone, trying not to fall.
I’d always thought the expression “the oral law from Moses at Sinai” was a pious fiction, but during that walk I realized that, of course, Moses had had to interpret it, instruct the judges he appointed, who in turn had to interpret it, and then the people who learned from and followed those judges eventually faced situations that required further interpretation. It's reasonable to assume that the tradition of interpreting Torah and even some of the content goes back to Moses. (Only Christians, unversed in Jewish tradition could believe that go wants people to poke out other people's eyes. When you point this out, their response is always, "Oh, that the Jewish god." They don't notice the contradiction in that statement.)
This woman's views were Medieval Christian anti-Semitism! She believes that the way she, a middle aged woman from Missouri, understands the bible (in English) must be more correct than the way the Jewish people, who have lovingly preserved it for four thousand years, understand it. (You have to interpret the Bible! Even the Karaites certainly found out that it is impossible to read the bible literally.)
Later, I learned that she doesn’t believe in prayer at all! How can you be religious and not show your heart to god and let him transform it? (Edit: of course a Christian who believes that Judaism is nothing but prologue to Christianity isn't going to want to grow in her religion; then she'd have to accept that Judaism's developments since biblical times are valid, too.)
I was terrified of the mother after that conversation, but the night before she and her son returned to the States, I forced myself to go to her room and talk with her. I recommended that she read Constantine’s Sword. It’s a flawed book in many ways, but I hope if she reads it that she might begin to understand why Christians should stop being obsessed with Judaism. It wasn't not much, but it was the best I could do.
* * *
Since she and her son returned to the States, I keep finding myself chatting with their 21-year-old daughter, since the two of us attend the same ulpan and, until recently lived in the same hostel. She is very smart and accomplished and never mentions religion. I can’t put her in the same category as the rest of the family. And it's unlikely that she wants to convert Israeli Jews since she doesn't intend to stay here after she finishes her service as an IDF medic. Nonetheless, I know that I should just stay the hell away from her. How likely is it that she has a more positive attitude toward Judaism than her parents? Not likely at all.
She became a volunteer at the hostel in order to have an inexpensive place to live. Volunteers have to shower on the roof and I surprised myself by offering her the use of the shower in my room. One day, after ulpan, she said how adrift she feels without her family; she has never been away from them before. I felt for her. And I also felt that her mom would want me to look out for her — as if I owe her mother anything! I spent time with her and invited her to study the parasha with me on Shabbat (she declined that one).
I've had to move out of the hostel again, but I had her over for dinner at the hotel. I like her company and yet I feel bad for my good feelings toward her — it's a peculiar sensation.
It’s bad enough that I don’t protect myself from individuals who do not mean me well, but in this case, I’m not protecting my people from individuals who may intend all of us harm. (May? Come on, I know the history of Christian antisemitism and missionaries definitely mean us harm.)
but a central action of Christian history, reaching to the core of Christian character.
James Carrol - Constantine's Sword
Sadly, there's a Part 2.
Friday, March 18, 2016
Blaming the Neo-Pagans
During the height of Nazi power, less than two percent of Germany’s citizens claimed to be pagan. [2] If the Nazi regime had been pagan, no one would have dared to admit being Christian, just as no one dared to admit being atheist. Hitler never openly renounced his membership in the Catholic Church.
The two largest churches in Germany, Lutheran and Catholic, encouraged their members to protest against and stop the Nazi euthanasia program directed against “mental defectives.” That protest succeeded. However, neither church did anything to stop the deportation or murder of Jews.
 |
| Hitler Youth Insignia |
The responsibility for the Holocaust lies with two thousand years of Christian theology that fuelled the Nazi regime. Why do pagans accept Christianity's attempt to shift the blame from Christianity to Paganism?
After the war, leaders in both the Catholic and Protestant Churches defended war criminals. The very few murderers who were executed had a minister or priest at their sides, helping them face their deaths with “dignity.” Germans viewed those executed as heroes and holy sacrifices. [4]
 |
| Nazi salute by Catholic priests |
Not only do Christians ignore their theology's role in the Holocaust, but since World War II, many of them have appropriated the Jewish experience of the Holocaust. Catholics pretend that Edith Stein was imprisoned and killed for the Christianity she had adopted. The truth is that was sent to Auschwitz because she had been born Jewish. [6]
In our day, Protestant churches stage performances of The Sound of Music annually. It brainwashes children into believing that Christians were the victims rather than the perpetrators of the Shoah. It also promotes the myth that the evil of Jew-hatred has been defeated.
People never forgive those whom they have injured. So until Christians (and former Christians) acknowledge who perpetrated the Holocaust and work to understand why those people did it, they will continue the tradition of hating Jews, spreading lies about Jews, and ultimately, killing Jews.
The newest lies about Jews are different, but the hatred has its source in Christianity. Today, most people do not believe that Jews desecrate the host. They do believe false accusations of Israelis committing genocide. (Check the population figures to dispel this absurd accusation.) Today, few people believe The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. They do repeat ridiculous claims Jews are colonial invaders of their own ancestral lands. (Look up 'colonialism' to dispel that one.)
Until people take the time to learn facts and overcome their often gleeful antisemitism, they are as Christian as those who perpetrated centuries of pogroms and the Holocaust.
Today, many people make an effort to understand and oppose other kinds of bigotry, but the hatred of Jews is still acceptable. It's so intrinsic to our culture that few people are able to recognize it, even when it's pointed out to them. But you owe it to yourself to learn. Why? Because there will be an attempted genocide against Jews in North America during my lifetime. [*] Do you wish to be complicit through ignorance?
*As of January 2020, there are worrying indications that my prediction might not be wrong.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
People will still believe anything...
This is not verbatim, merely my recollection a variety of similar texts I read in a Medieval history course.
Near the cathedral, I heard a voice screaming for help and I ran towards it. When I got there, no one was in sight, but I saw drops of blood leading away from the church. I followed them to the Jewish neighborhood.
As I got closer to one home, I heard the screams again. Looking in a window, I saw Jews gathered around a table. A wafer, the flesh of our god, lay on the table. A bearded man with a long, hooked nose was repeatedly stabbing the wafer with a knife. Each time the knife pierced its flesh, the wafer cried out.
This tale would might be laughable, except for the fact that hundreds of Jews were killed because people believed this falsehood.
It is one thing to confront historical narratives that led to tragic consequences for certain groups. But we forget how deeply people believed that absurd accusation. We don't recognize that many of today's false charges are just as ridiculous and just as false.
Today's new false charges include the buzzwords of this era, thrown about without with no consideration given to their possible accuracy or inaccuracy.
Without understanding history or the present day, how can we make the world better and achieve what we all want: a society that is free, tolerant, inclusive and compassionate.
Wikipedia's description of this image: "a 15th-century German woodcut of the host desecration by the Jews of Passau, 1477. The hosts are stolen and sold to the Jewish community, who pierce them in a ritual. When guards come to question the Jews, they (the Jews) attempt to burn the Hosts, but are unsuccessful, as the Hosts transform into an infant carried by angels. The Jews, now proven guilty, are arrested, beheaded, and tortured with hot pincers, the entire community is driven out with their feet bound and held to the fire, and the Christian who sold the hosts to the Jews is punished. At the end the Christians kneel and pray."
Monday, June 8, 2015
We're Just Not That Into You
My local library has acquired and prominently displayed a book called, “Why the Jews Rejected Jesus.” The title made no sense to me. It took me several moments to realize why. The title assumes, first of all, that there is a profound connection between Christianity and Judaism and, secondly, that Christianity is true and Judaism is not. Neither assumption is part of my world view.
I always considered Christianity a unique and valid religion. Unfortunately many Christians feel their religion can only be validated when Jews convert to it. From its start, Christianity has been obsessed with Jews. We will never see a book called, “Why the Gaijin Reject Amaterasu” because Shinto does not need outside validation.
Jesus had Jewish followers both during and for a short time after his life. Later, followers of that movement created a distinct religion that included worshiping a god they called Jesus.
Jews don’t reject a historical person named Jesus or a god named Jesus. We simply don't care. Christianity is one religion. Judaism is another.
Another thought-provoking title on the same shelf is “Rabbi Jesus.” (If you enter the title on Amazon.com, you’ll find that several books share this phrase.)
Despite their obsession with Jews, for almost two thousand years, Christians insisted that Jesus was not Jewish. But now, they say Jesus was Jewish.
For two thousand years, Christianity excoriated rabbis. But now, they say Jesus was a rabbi.
Christians do not see the absurdity of calling their god Rabbi Jesus. Consider this question: if Rabbi Jesus were alive today, would he go to a Christian church to worship himself or would he go to a synagogue to worship god? Either he’s god or he’s not—why are they vacillating?
Why have many Christians decided to assert that the figure they call god was both Jewish and a rabbi? Why has there been a “jewification” of the Christian god?
And when did this phenomenon begin? Was it after the Holocaust when some people realized that the anti-Jewish teachings of Christianity had been the cause of the Holocaust? Or did it begin after the re-establishment of the state of Israel?
Until 1948, Christian asserted that the exile of Jews was proof of Jesus’s divinity. The end of that exile must have been a conundrum for them. We didn’t convert and yet our exile ended. How could that have happened if Christianity is the "fulfillment" of Judaism, the replacement for Judaism?
Christians have always seemed to need Judaism even as they denigrated it. Today, some Christians go so far as to call themselves Messianic Jews. They pretend to be Jewish and even pepper their conversations with incorrectly pronounced Yiddish words. (Jesus never spoke Yiddish and neither do they.) These so-called Jews are laying claim to a heritage that isn’t theirs.
Our heritage includes these words: “I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even though he tarry, I will wait for him.”
If you believe Jesus was the messiah or that events such as the Holocaust or other atrocities could occur during the messianic age, then you are most certainly not a Jew. You are what Irving Greenberg amusingly called a “premature messianist.”
Christianity is one religion. Judaism is another. Christianity should not need Jewish validation.
If you are concerned because the Jewish people have not converted to Christianity, study Judaism to understand why. But you don’t have to. We’re not out to convert you.
I always considered Christianity a unique and valid religion. Unfortunately many Christians feel their religion can only be validated when Jews convert to it. From its start, Christianity has been obsessed with Jews. We will never see a book called, “Why the Gaijin Reject Amaterasu” because Shinto does not need outside validation.
Jesus had Jewish followers both during and for a short time after his life. Later, followers of that movement created a distinct religion that included worshiping a god they called Jesus.
Jews don’t reject a historical person named Jesus or a god named Jesus. We simply don't care. Christianity is one religion. Judaism is another.
Another thought-provoking title on the same shelf is “Rabbi Jesus.” (If you enter the title on Amazon.com, you’ll find that several books share this phrase.)
Despite their obsession with Jews, for almost two thousand years, Christians insisted that Jesus was not Jewish. But now, they say Jesus was Jewish.
For two thousand years, Christianity excoriated rabbis. But now, they say Jesus was a rabbi.
Christians do not see the absurdity of calling their god Rabbi Jesus. Consider this question: if Rabbi Jesus were alive today, would he go to a Christian church to worship himself or would he go to a synagogue to worship god? Either he’s god or he’s not—why are they vacillating?
Why have many Christians decided to assert that the figure they call god was both Jewish and a rabbi? Why has there been a “jewification” of the Christian god?
And when did this phenomenon begin? Was it after the Holocaust when some people realized that the anti-Jewish teachings of Christianity had been the cause of the Holocaust? Or did it begin after the re-establishment of the state of Israel?
Until 1948, Christian asserted that the exile of Jews was proof of Jesus’s divinity. The end of that exile must have been a conundrum for them. We didn’t convert and yet our exile ended. How could that have happened if Christianity is the "fulfillment" of Judaism, the replacement for Judaism?
Christians have always seemed to need Judaism even as they denigrated it. Today, some Christians go so far as to call themselves Messianic Jews. They pretend to be Jewish and even pepper their conversations with incorrectly pronounced Yiddish words. (Jesus never spoke Yiddish and neither do they.) These so-called Jews are laying claim to a heritage that isn’t theirs.
Our heritage includes these words: “I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even though he tarry, I will wait for him.”
If you believe Jesus was the messiah or that events such as the Holocaust or other atrocities could occur during the messianic age, then you are most certainly not a Jew. You are what Irving Greenberg amusingly called a “premature messianist.”
Christianity is one religion. Judaism is another. Christianity should not need Jewish validation.
If you are concerned because the Jewish people have not converted to Christianity, study Judaism to understand why. But you don’t have to. We’re not out to convert you.
 |
| Massacre of the Jews of Metz during the First Crusade, by Auguste Migette |
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
They Did Not Die For You
Jesus was not unique. The Romans murdered thousands of people. Many of them were brave and faithful and loved their fellows.
On Yom Kippur, Jews recall ten rabbis martyred by Rome.
Rabbi Akiva was arrested and tried for teaching Torah. The Romans tortured him to death by flaying his skin. He spent his final moments reciting the Shema. As he recited, “the Lord is one,” his soul left him.
Rabbis Yishmael and Shimon were imprisoned together. Before the execution, each begged to be killed first so that he wouldn't have to witness the torture and death of his friend.
Rabbi Yishmael’s last words were, “I will trust in You even though You slay me.”
The Gates of Repentance, describing the deaths of these martyrs, says of Rabbi Yehuda:
We don't ask you to worship them. We do not claim they died for you.
 |
| Rabbi Akiva |
On Yom Kippur, Jews recall ten rabbis martyred by Rome.
Rabbi Akiva was arrested and tried for teaching Torah. The Romans tortured him to death by flaying his skin. He spent his final moments reciting the Shema. As he recited, “the Lord is one,” his soul left him.
Rabbis Yishmael and Shimon were imprisoned together. Before the execution, each begged to be killed first so that he wouldn't have to witness the torture and death of his friend.
Rabbi Yishmael’s last words were, “I will trust in You even though You slay me.”
The Gates of Repentance, describing the deaths of these martyrs, says of Rabbi Yehuda:
The Romans had forbidden the ordination of rabbis, decreeing death to ordainer and those ordained, and destruction for any city in which ordination would take place. Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava ordained five in the pass between two cities, Shefaram and Usha. When the enemy soldiers were upon them, Rabbi Yehuda told his disciples to flee. ‘What will become of you?’ they cried. He answered: ‘I shall place myself before them as an immovable rock.’ So he did—and the Roman lances struck him down. But the disciples escaped.The memory of their lives is a blessing.
We don't ask you to worship them. We do not claim they died for you.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Immaculate Conception and Anti-Semitism
It seems that many people, even some scholars, do not know what the term "Immaculate Conception" means. It does not refer to Mary's supposed virginity.
You may think this is an odd pet peeve for a Jew to have, but stay with me.
The Christian belief that Mary was still a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus is called virgin birth. Immaculate conception is an entirely different concept, one that is a necessary result of another Christian belief: original sin.
Early Christian theologians invented the doctrine of Original Sin and based it on a Jewish story to explain why it was necessary to worship Jesus rather than practice Judaism, a temptation apparently still faced by some Christians in the early Church. The doctrine asserted that, before Jesus, no one was "saved."
Christians invented the idea that the disobedience of Adam and Eve had caused all successive generations to be born with an ailment called Original Sin. They claimed that worshiping Jesus was necessary for one to be worthy of heaven. According to them, the Hebrew prophets, patriarchs, and matriarchs were dwelling in hell. Only people living after Jesus could have this original sin washed away. It required baptism... by a Christian priest, of course.
This new idea, Original Sin, created a problem in the minds of some Christians. Since Mary must necessarily have been infected with Original Sin, how could she have given birth to the son of god?
Christian theologians solved this problem with another new idea called Immaculate Conception. When Mary was conceived, god made sure she didn't catch the disease from her parents. Why god couldn't have done this for all people remains unexplained.
All these ideas were sufficiently convoluted to prevent most theologians from asserting their absolute truth. It wasn't until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the near-divinity of Mary was widely accepted by Catholics, that a papal bull commanded "all the faithful" to believe that Mary was conceived "without the stain of Original Sin."
So, the term Immaculate Conception does not refer Mary's chastity. It is the end result of one more idea that was invented to invalidate Judaism.
_______
As an aside, I must admit that I rather like statues of Mary and appreciate the inclusion of feminine imagery in religion.
So for a more complete and more sympathetic explanation of the concepts of "virgin birth" and "immaculate conception," as well as an appreciation of the divine feminine in Christianity, I'd like to point you to this article.
You may think this is an odd pet peeve for a Jew to have, but stay with me.
The Christian belief that Mary was still a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus is called virgin birth. Immaculate conception is an entirely different concept, one that is a necessary result of another Christian belief: original sin.
Early Christian theologians invented the doctrine of Original Sin and based it on a Jewish story to explain why it was necessary to worship Jesus rather than practice Judaism, a temptation apparently still faced by some Christians in the early Church. The doctrine asserted that, before Jesus, no one was "saved."
Christians invented the idea that the disobedience of Adam and Eve had caused all successive generations to be born with an ailment called Original Sin. They claimed that worshiping Jesus was necessary for one to be worthy of heaven. According to them, the Hebrew prophets, patriarchs, and matriarchs were dwelling in hell. Only people living after Jesus could have this original sin washed away. It required baptism... by a Christian priest, of course.
This new idea, Original Sin, created a problem in the minds of some Christians. Since Mary must necessarily have been infected with Original Sin, how could she have given birth to the son of god?
Christian theologians solved this problem with another new idea called Immaculate Conception. When Mary was conceived, god made sure she didn't catch the disease from her parents. Why god couldn't have done this for all people remains unexplained.
All these ideas were sufficiently convoluted to prevent most theologians from asserting their absolute truth. It wasn't until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the near-divinity of Mary was widely accepted by Catholics, that a papal bull commanded "all the faithful" to believe that Mary was conceived "without the stain of Original Sin."
So, the term Immaculate Conception does not refer Mary's chastity. It is the end result of one more idea that was invented to invalidate Judaism.
_______
As an aside, I must admit that I rather like statues of Mary and appreciate the inclusion of feminine imagery in religion.
So for a more complete and more sympathetic explanation of the concepts of "virgin birth" and "immaculate conception," as well as an appreciation of the divine feminine in Christianity, I'd like to point you to this article.
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