During the week covered by this review, we received 9 articles on the following subjects:
Messianic Jews (Organizations)/Religious Freedom and Rights
Christians in Israel/Political Issues
Anti-Semitism
Christian Zionism
Christian-Jewish Relations
Archeology
Messianic Jews (Organizations)/Religious Freedom and Rights
Makor Rishon, November 2, 2012
Ayelet Ronen, representing the Messianic moshav of Yad HaShmona, gave an interview on the recent precedent-setting ruling of Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court that ordered the moshav to pay damages to a lesbian couple after they refused to host the couple’s wedding (see third Media Review for September). In the aftermath of the court ruling, Yad HaShmona has had to close its reception hall, which was one of its largest sources of income. According to Ronen, the moshav, with its hall and adjacent guest accommodation, is unique. “We don’t have disco parties, or serve alcoholic beverages, there is no belly-dancing, we don’t rent out rooms to unmarried couples, even though we lose a lot of money on account of this. When groups of young people come [to stay at the guest house] we put them in separate rooms, according to gender. This is why we have mostly attracted a religious or serious crowd – the ones who are looking for quiet.”
Journalist Yehuda Yifrach explains that this is on account of the moshav’s religious background. Giving a short history of Yad HaShmona, he writes how it was established in the 1960’s by a group of Israel-loving Christians from Finland, and how, several years later, a group of Messianic Jews joined them to form a long-lasting and strong working relationship. Says Ronen: “We study the Bible together and fast during Yom Kippur. Everyone here is a person of faith, though we are not associated with a specific religious organization. There is no synagogue or church here, but the business is closed on the Sabbath . . . It is very important to us that we raise our children with a deep understanding that the Bible is still alive today.”
Ronen tells Yifrach how three years ago the moshav secretary received a call from a lesbian couple wanting to perform their wedding ceremony there. The secretary explained to the couple that such an event would be very hard for the moshav to host, “because they are religious people and because this kind of thing contradicts their faith.” Ronen says the couple never even came to the moshav, but immediately called a lawyer specializing in these kinds of cases (and a lesbian herself) and filed a lawsuit citing sexual harassment and discrimination. Ronen says she was most appalled by the claim (eventually backed by the court) that this was a case of sexual harassment: “It shocked all of us . . . First of all, as far as I know, there is no precedent whereby an entire village is accused of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is, by its very nature, a personal thing, when one person oversteps another person’s boundaries with the intention of hurting him or her.” But turning sexual harassment into a communal act, “we will reach ridiculous and absurd heights. If the law establishment continues this way, there will be no end to it: homosexuals and lesbians will begin suing synagogues that refuse to host their weddings, and the courts will bring these institutions down financially . . . It is only a matter of time before all boundaries are breached.”
“For me,” says Ronen, “the issue is clear: morality is not determined by what feels nice, but by what is written in the Bible of the God who created me.” Ronen makes clear that she stands by her moral convictions, and that she is not ashamed of them. “We were told: you are stupid. You should have told the couple that the date was already booked, or that it costs 900 ILS/head. But I am glad we did not try to hide our values.” It is important for Ronen to emphasize that in spite of their moral convictions, they never made any public statements denouncing anyone, or made any attempt to involve themselves in the lives of the lesbian couple, to educate them etc. “All we wanted was to be allowed to run our small business according to our faith and live at peace with our convictions. I believe that, according to the Bible and the New Testament, this kind of [gay] relationship is sinful. I am not allowed to partake in it. I am not calling them sinners, but when they come to me and on the door of my house is written the verse from Joshua, ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,’ then no court can force me to act against my own conscience.”
Since the court-ruling, the moshav has had to suspend all its events. “As soon as the ruling came through, we received dozens of calls from homosexual couples wanting to hold their weddings here. They all wanted to sue us and make some money . . . We have already begun laying off our workers and to think about the future. But I am optimistic, because I believe that if you do what is true and right in the eyes of God, blessing will come from it.”
Christians in Israel/Political Issues
Haaretz, October 31, 2012, Maariv, November 1, 2012
Christian priests have riled up the Christian Arab community in Nazareth by attending a gathering that aimed to encourage Christian Arab youths to be drafted into the IDF. The event was organized by the mayor of Nazareth Elite together with the Defense Ministry’s Youth and Community Department and drew crowds of Christian and Muslim Arabs, Druze and Bedouins.
The Arab local councils condemned the gathering, which, according to the mayor of Nazareth, is doomed to fail. “It stems from political motives on the eve of the elections and its aim is to cause an ethnic divide within Arab society.” Arab Knesset members also condemned the event. The council of the Christian-Orthodox community decided to excommunicate one of its priests – Jobrail Nadaf – who was in attendance at the event. In a statement released to the press, the council said that “Christian Arabs are an integral part of the Palestinian people and are the victims of a long standing policy of discrimination and racism, and therefore will not support a move aimed at splitting and causing disputes within the Arab Palestinian society in Israel, including the Christian community in Nazareth and throughout the country.”
Father Jobrail Nadaf said in response that “this is a campaign of unbridled incitement, motivated by political reasons” and that “the council isn’t authorized to excommunicate him.”
The article in Maariv, which appeared on the following day, added that Father Nadaf has received death threats, where he was told that his head would be severed from his body. Nadaf has filed a complaint with the police.
Anti-Semitism
The Jerusalem Post, November 2, 2012
The representative organization of the Jewish community in Britain has lodged a formal complaint to the Church of England against Revered Stephen Sizer, accusing him of anti-Semitism. According to the article, Sizer has published many items on his website and blog that incite racist and anti-Semitic attitudes. For example, Sizer once posted a link on his Facebook page “from an anti-Semitic website called ‘The Ugly Truth: Zionism, Jewish extremism, and a few other nasty items making our world uninhabitable today.” He has also associated himself with sites that defend Hitler and promote the Klu Klux Klan. Representatives of the Jewish organization have said that “Rev. Sizer displays a deep hostility to Zionism, which he writes about as if it was a term of abuse . . . He has shared a platform with and quoted from Holocaust deniers” and has also been a speaker “at the provocatively named Christ at the Checkpoint conference, which features a theology called supersessionism which has anti-Semitic overtones.”
Christian Zionism
Zafon 1 Karmiel Misgav, October 19, 2012
This article reported on the recent visit to Karmiel of Israel-loving Christians from Hamar in Norway (see last Media Review for October).
Christian-Jewish Relations
Kol Hair, November 2, 2012
Jerusalem’s local conservation committee rejected plans to build a four-storey hotel next door to Mary’s Well in the pastoral village of Ein Karem. Those who opposed the plan said that the construction posed a great risk to the Well, which, according to Christian tradition, is where Mary the mother of Jesus bathed. “The water from the well is considered holy for Christians and pilgrims from all over the world come to this place to fill up bottles with water from the well . . . Damaging the well would be very harmful to the country.”
Archeology
Yated Neeman, October 31, 2012, HaMevaser, November 1, 2012, Kol Hair, November 2, 2012
Three articles reported on the recent discovery of an ancient wine press from the First Temple period as well as a few bronze coins from the Second Temple period. These were found in the forest near the Ramot neighborhood in Jerusalem. Archeologist Yehiel Zalinger says that this find confirms that the area just outside Jerusalem was largely used for agriculture during the First Temple period. Major excavations are now under way.