During the week covered by this review, we received 8 articles on the following subjects:
Christians and the Holocaust
Missionary Activity
Messianic Jews (Organizations)
Jewish-Christian Relations
Anti-Semitism/Judaism
Christian Tourism
Christians and the Holocaust
The Jerusalem Post, June 16, 2013
The Catholic Church has beatified Odoardo Focherini, an Italian who was recognized by Yad VaShem in 1969 when he was named a Righteous among the Gentiles. Focherini is “the first Catholic to be named a blessed martyr for losing his life in order to save Jews during the Nazi era.” Focherini, who was a devout Catholic, worked tirelessly during World War II to get as many Jews as he could across the border into Switzerland by issuing false documents through his insurance agency. In 1944, “after delivering his last false documents … Focherini was arrested by Italian Fascists and submitted to interrogation regarding a letter in which he wrote that he was helping Jews ‘not for profit, but out of pure Christian charity.’” He was eventually deported to a concentration camp in Germany, where he died later that year.
Many Jewish organizations and persons of influence have reacted to the beatification with deep appreciation. The American Jewish Committee, for example, issued a statement saying that “this act will create yet another bond between Christians and Jews, further enriching our deepening dialogue.”
Missionary Activity
HaShavua BeYerushalayim, June 12, 2013
Hanani Bleich interviews four religious Jewish writers, asking them if their books have influence in “the real world.” Of interest is a story told by writer Shmuel Argaman about a 16-year-old religious Jewish youth who fell away from the faith, only to be “snatched up” by lurking missionaries. The boy, who was living on the streets, was invited by a couple of sympathetic looking people to join a music club. When the same people found out that the boy had nowhere to stay, they put him up in an apartment, paid his rent, and started meeting with him on a regular basis to talk to him about their faith. “Slowly slowly,” says the boy, “I understood that they are actually missionaries from the Messianic Jewish cult.” What saved him from their clutches were the many books he read as a child, written by Argaman, which described precisely this kind of scenario of missionary activity. “I immediately put it into my head that with me, they won’t succeed,” said the youth. “The dedication of Jews who gave their lives for their faith, which I had read about in so many of Argaman’s books, lit a spark in my mind that said, ‘you also – hold on,’ and that gave me the strength not to listen to their preaching and brainwashing attempts.”
Messianic Jews (Organizations)
Haaretz, June 21, 2013
Moshe Gilad takes a tour of the American Colony in Jaffa, originally established by a group of Christian Americans who came to Palestine in 1866. Of interest is Gilad’s mention of Beit Immanuel, which is situated in the American Colony, and which has been the “home” of a Messianic Jewish congregation since 1970.
Jewish-Christian Relations
The Jerusalem Post, June 20, 2013
The Archbishop of Canterbury is to visit Israel and the Palestinian Territories next week. The Archbishop (Justin Welby), whose father is Jewish and who recently discovered he had lost some family members in the Holocaust, will visit Yad VaShem as part of his tour.
Anti-Semitism/Judaism
The Jerusalem Post, June 14, 2013
Juan de la Roca gives a brief history of the Jews in Spain, who “were very well integrated into the cultural and economic life” of the country until 1492, when they were expelled by a “militant brand of Catholicism” enforced by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. No further mention is made of Jewish-Christian relations in Spanish Jewish history.
Christian Tourism
BeShvil Haaretz, June 5, 2013
The Sea of Galilee has yet to be declared a national reserve. This article explains why it is important to do so in order to protect and preserve the area, which is heavily exploited by illegal money-making operations aimed at tourists, both local and non-local. Of interest is a short paragraph that mentions the economic gains that will come from enforcing the protection and preservation of the lake, since it is a Christian tourist hotspot. “Millions of Christian pilgrims come to the Sea of Galilee in order to absorb the sites where Jesus ministered. … [But] one has to have a very deep faith in order recognize the New Testament stories in today’s sordid landscape. Christian tourism will have a hard time forgiving us if we damage these sites…”
BeShvil Haaretz, June 5, 2013
This article gives suggestions for a day-trip around the Sea of Galilee, including the sites of Capernaum and the Church of the Twelve Apostles that “commemorates Jesus’ choosing of the twelve apostles … which, according to Christian tradition, took place near Capernaum.”
The Jerusalem Post, June 14, 2013
This two-page article takes a look at the Sea of Galilee, its history, its geography, and its current attractions. “The Sea of Galilee,” the article explains, “is an area closely associated with the life and times of Jesus. This has made it an important religious center, and, consequently, it has many religious shrines and historical sites of interest.”