During the week covered by this review, we received 6 articles on the following subjects:
Jewish Attitudes Towards Christianity
Anti-Missionary Attitudes
Anti-Missionary Activity
Messianic Jews (Individuals)
Christians and the Holocaust
Films / Christian Zionism
Jewish Attitudes Towards Christianity
Makor Rishon, October 16, 2020
This was a piece that discussed the different attitudes towards the law in Judaism and Christianity. The author wrote that in the Epistle to the Romans, Paul offers an alternative to the Jewish worldview by arguing that it is not sin that produces the law, but the law that produces sin. Paul promotes the spirit over the letter, and grace over the law. But Judaism is not satisfied with faith alone and calls for obligation before God and neighbor. The author argued that Paul does not seriously consider basic common-sense laws, such as not murdering or not stealing, as necessary for life. Christianity believes the messianic era has arrived and therefore the law is nullified. True believers do not sin through the assistance of the Holy Spirit. But this is dangerous, because if a person believes he or she has arrived at peak spirituality, they will see themselves as beyond good and evil and therefore as a kind of mini-Messiah. Ironically, though, while Christianity adopted the Pauline view, it still developed strict rules, forbidding, for example, priests from marrying, and married couples from divorcing.
Anti-Missionary Attitudes
HaShabat BeNetanya, October 16, 2020
Two missionary organizations distributed evangelistic materials to mailboxes in the city of Netanya under the title “A Voice Calls Out in the Desert”. Lev L’Achim has said that the event is unprecedented and that the affected community is very angry. By distributing materials that could end up in the hands of minors, missionaries are breaking the law, it is said.
Anti-Missionary Activity
HaModia, October 19, 2020
Or L’Achim claims it brought about the cancelation of a missionary broadcast organized by two Christian groups. The broadcast was to take place from the Mount of Olives and was to target thousands of Jewish viewers worldwide.
Messianic Judaism (Individuals)
Calcalist, October 20, 2020
A three-star Tel-Aviv hotel owned by the Messianic Jewish Damkani family has been sold for 64 million shekels.
Christians and the Holocaust
The Jerusalem Report, October 12, 2020
This was the story of two sisters, Batsheva Leviatan and Ida Marcus, who are Holocaust survivors from Lithuania. When the Lithuanian police were encouraged to round up Jews, the sisters were told by their mother to run away. A Catholic woman took the girls in and hid them, and then convinced them that they would be safer if they assumed a Christian identity. The sisters visited a local Catholic priest, who knew the sisters were committed Jews, but urged them to convert in order to survive. The sisters said an oath and the priest sprinkled them with water. They were given Christian identities and names and joined a convent. They found out their entire family had been murdered. After some time, the sisters started practicing Catholicism, and Ida became a novice. They continued to live Catholic lives even after the war had ended, but then were approached by a Jewish survivor who had known them as children and who urged them not to insult the memory of their deceased family by staying Catholic. Batsheva eventually figured out a way to obtain her birth certificate and went back to her old identity. Both women moved to Israel. Ida said that for a long time she felt guilty to return to her Jewish roots, as the church had saved them, and they owed their lives to Christians. As adults, the sisters returned to their hometown in Lithuania and even found the Catholic woman who had saved them, bringing her religious souvenirs from the Holy Land.
Films / Christian Zionism
Yedioth Ahoronoth, October 23, 2020
This piece was about Israeli director Maya Zinshtein’s new documentary, “Till Kingdom Come”, which is about the relationship American Evangelicals have with Israel. Many Evangelicals see the establishment of the State of Israel and the unification of Jerusalem as fulfillments of prophecy, in which President Donald Trump is also playing a part. Zinshtein sees a parallel between Evangelicals and Jewish settlers, who also ally their religious faith with political power. Zinshtein worries that Evangelicals have enough political power to determine how the conflict will play out in the Holy Land, and asks, if Israel goes to war, whose war will it be fighting? The film looks at a church in a small Kentucky town, whose parishioners are mostly below the poverty line, but who still donate a portion of their earnings to Israel.