During the week covered by this review, we received 7 articles on the following subjects:
Israeli/Jewish Attitudes Concerning Christians/Christianity
Political Issues
Jewish/Christian Relations
Film/Theatre/TV Reviews
Interfaith Relations/Dialogue
Conversion to Judaism
Israeli/Jewish Attitudes Concerning Christians/Christianity
Yahadut BeAhava, July 15, 2022
This article, written by a rabbi, answered the question, “Is it true that the division of the Bible into chapters that we have today was done by Christians?” According to the article, this is correct, and the differences are based on the “Christian principle that the Jewish nation is a sinful nation that was rejected by the Almighty, and therefore, [Christians] are the true Israel.” The article pointed out several examples of such differences, explaining how the Christian division supposedly became popular even in the Jewish Bible. The article concluded with an explanation regarding “other anti-Semitic ideas in the division into chapters” and a hope that Judaism would be “free of Christianity.”
Political Issues
Maariv, July 20, 2022
This opinion article, which was written in light of President Biden’s visit to Israel, mentioned what it referred to as a “ruse”. According to the author, the fact that Biden agreed to receive a letter from the Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem, which claimed that the Israeli government is allowing mistreatment of Christian sites in Jerusalem, was a sign that the US President agreed with the ideas written in the letter.
Jerusalem Post, July 20, 2022
Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley hinted that she would become a candidate for the 2024 US presidential elections during a speech she made at Christians United for Israel’s (CUFI) annual Washington Summit entitled “A Night to Honor Israel.” Haley praised Israel for being a sanctuary for Ukrainian Jews fleeing the war. She criticized the Biden Administration for its “efforts to negotiate with Iran and come to a compromise with the regime on its pursuit of nuclear weapons.” She also criticized Biden’s conduct during his recent trip to the Middle East, saying that Biden “was too reluctant in committing to the idea that the US would use military force to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons if diplomacy failed.” She said it “sounded like a bluff and was embarrassing.” The event had several other high-profile American and Israeli speakers as well. American Pastor and Founder of CUFI, John Hagee, and Israeli Ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, both spoke in person, while Bahrain’s Ambassador to the US, Shaikh Abdulla Bin Rashid Al Khalifa, and Defense Minister Benny Gantz sent recorded messages for the conference.
Jewish/Christian relations
Word from Jerusalem, July 19, 2022
Earlier this year, the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ) brought a group of Norwegian students from a Lutheran Bible College on a special visit to Israel. The students were able to learn more about Christian Zionism, enjoy guided tours around Israel, and experience daily life on a kibbutz. “It was an absolutely unforgettable experience,” said the ICEJ representative who led the group from Norway. “We felt like we were becoming part of [the Israelis’] struggle, heartache and hope for the future.”
Film/Theatre/TV Reviews
Calcalist, July 21, 2022
This article examined the phenomenon referred to as “the resurrection of pagan gods” by Marvel Studios – the use of gods from various mythologies, such as Greek and Norse mythologies, as heroes in their popular movies. It is a cultural twist, conveyed the article, since Hollywood was based on principles derived from Protestant Christian concepts. Namely, the Jews who founded the first film studios wanted to be welcomed by the “Anglo-Saxon elite of America,” and to create a more sophisticated medium, they took the concept of redemption – the idea that even the lowliest person can achieve material success in life by hard work and good virtues – and used it as a main theme in their films. This formula, which is the embodiment of the American Dream, has been successful so far, claimed the article. But, in a “surprising act of blasphemy,” Marvel is taking the world back to the “days of chaos of gods and witches, who fight each other, and for whom men are insignificant. It is a tentative world, in which redemption is not promised. Instead of comfort, Marvel moved to offering a cinema of anxiety.” Moreover, argued the article, there is a political element involved, since the heads of the studios conceive Christianity as something that was “appropriated by cynical politicians from the right” and has now became unattractive to the younger generation, so they are resurrecting the old religions of gods and monsters.
Interfaith Relations/Dialogue
Hamachane Haharedi, July 21, 2022
An American multi-faith coalition of nine organizations, representing Jewish, Christian, Muslim and other religious communities, sent a letter to Congress, calling to expand the protection of religious institutes and houses of worship, in light of recent shooting incidents, and to include this in the upcoming budget.
Conversion to Judaism
Makor Rishon, July 22, 2022
This article told the story of Abraham Kron, a French artist who recently had an exhibition in Jerusalem. He was born to an atheist Jewish family in France, and later in life, following several conversations with a Catholic woman, who “cracked his armor of atheism,” and a “mystical experience,” which involved a vision of Jesus telling him to become a bridge between Judaism and Christianity, Kron became a Catholic monk. He felt that he had a calling to work within the Church as a Jew, to make amends for anti-Semitism, and began operating out of the ancient synagogue of Toledo to promote inter-faith fraternity. During the Covid pandemic, Kron grew closer to his Jewish roots, and decided to “come home” to Israel and Judaism, together with his son, William, who recently completed his conversion to Judaism.