Jewish

February 26, 2021 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Just Another Day in the Age of Pandemics!

Let’s start by looking at a simple definition of the word “pandemic”. According to the Mirriam-Webster dictionary, pandemic means: “occurring over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affecting a significant proportion of the population.” The idea is that a pandemic is an epidemic that spreads fast and wide, often out of control for a while and decimating large segments of the population. So yes, Covid-19 definitely qualifies as a pandemic, much like the 1918 Spanish flu was. It has now been one year since we officially started to fight our twenty-first-century pandemic. Who knew that two weeks would turn into 52 weeks, with no real sign of complete eradication at this time. So, we fight, we adjust, we comply and we hope for the best. This seems to be the “current normal”, not the “new normal” because if we look at the last twelve months, “new normal” emerged at a pace that has been difficult to follow. We have had to get used to an ever-evolving sense of “new normal”.

Interestingly enough, Covid-19 has been linked to the Jewish people in more ways than one, and none of them in a good way. Many will claim that the accusations against Israel and the Jewish people, related to Covid-19, are simply ludicrous and unfounded. I agree with that statement, but nonetheless, the accusations abound and those believing them are not necessarily a minority. The truth is, that Israel is at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 and probably is the country that has vaccinated the largest number of its citizens, but let us not allow the facts to stop Israel’s foes from spreading rumors, blood libels and false accusations.

• 20% of all English people believe that Jews created Covid-19:As people were surveyed, according to The Oxford Coronavirus Explanations, Attitudes, and Narratives Survey (OCEANS), “Presented with the statement “Jews have created the virus to collapse the economy for financial gain,” 5.3% of the interviewees “agreed a little,” 6.8% “agreed moderately,” 4.6% “agreed a lot,” and 2.4% “agreed completely,” while some 80.8% did not agree with it at all.”
• People accuse the Jews of using the vaccine to control the world population: The CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, is a Greek man of Jewish ancestry. This is enough for crazy conspiracy theorists to claim that the Jews created the vaccine and will use it to streamline the world population and control the world. This is in line with the same theories advanced in 1904 in the hoax “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”.
• Vaccination is compared to Auschwitz policies: Piers Corbyn (brother of antisemitic Labour Party member Jeremy Corbyn) produced and distributed a leaflet equating the use of the vaccine to entry into Auschwitz-Birkenau by changing the entry gate sign “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work makes you free) to “Vaccines are the safe path to freedom”. Using what happened to Jews during the Holocaust as fuel to motivate anti-vaxxers is morally despicable.
• Ohio men accuse Jews of being the real plague: During a street protest in Columbus, Ohio against Covid-19 restrictions, two men displayed a sign of a rat looking like a Jew with an Israeli flag. The sign also said: “the real plague”. This is strongly reminiscent of the accusations against the Jewish community during the Black Plague of 1348-51 when Jews were accused of poisoning the wells of Europe simply because of the smaller number of Jewish casualties due to kosher laws and liturgical hygiene.
• Social networks abound with antisemitic memes about the Jews either being or controlling the virus: Vicious attacks on Jewish people and on Israel are everywhere on social networks and most of them are not being censored because of the First Amendment. I am all for claiming Freedom of Speech as long as we are consistent and do not allow for double standards. Unfortunately, this is far from being the case.
• Rashida Tlaib claims that Israel doesn’t vaccinate Palestinians: She tweeted, “It’s really important to understand that Israel is a racist state, in that they would deny Palestinians like my grandmother access to a vaccine, that they don’t believe she’s an equal human being who deserves to live.” The opposite is true. Israel has offered vaccines to Palestinians and many have accepted them. The Palestinian Authority also refused a recent planeload of vaccines from the United Arab Emirates, simply because it was coordinated with Israel for distribution.
• Saturday Night Live comedian claims Israel only vaccinates Jews: On February 20, SNL host Michael Che said: “Israel is reporting that they’ve vaccinated half of their population, and I’m gonna guess it’s the Jewish half.” It really looks like using the blood libel to demonize the Jewish people is still in fashion. Incidentally, Michael Che has repeatedly insulted Jewish people before, but he is very careful not to denigrate other minorities. Entertainers have been fired for less than this. SNL used to be a funny satirical comedy show, but that ship sailed a long time ago.

I could keep going and show more examples of the same nature, but I think that the case is made. While the world is busy fighting a pandemic, it is also ignoring another one. The new antisemitism is a virus of pandemic proportions. Why is it being ignored by so many? Probably because people don’t feel that it concerns them since they are not really affected by it. Many people might not be antisemitic per se, and as a result, they don’t feel that they are responsible to do anything. At first glance, there seems to be no vaccine against the virus of antisemitism. People simply carry the antibodies, or they don’t. People of goodwill–Christian or not– will identify the hatred of antisemitism and will expose it and fight, because to them it is the most natural thing to do. In a sense, they are the ones who naturally carry the antibodies against antisemitism in all its forms.

Then, you have those who might not be antisemitic by commission. They would never accuse the Jews of manufacturing a virus or monetizing a vaccine for ulterior motives. Yet, as they remain unaware or uninterested in the anti-Jewish tropes propagated by antisemites, they softly contribute to the problem. We live in a world where we can no longer sit on the fence and go about our simple lives without getting involved. We ought to speak-up against hatred any chance we have.

However, what if there was a vaccine, or better yet – a real cure against the pandemic of antisemitism? What if there was a way to look at the world that would not allow for hatred, racism, or antisemitism? Well, I believe that there is a way for us to interact with one another with civility and respect. That way is found by those who place their trust in the finished work of Yeshua the Messiah. Now, I know that some people will accuse me of bias or blindness when I say that Christianity is the only safe worldview for treating people equally, fairly and ethically. After all, isn’t the New Testament antisemitic? Isn’t it where we read about the synagogue of Satan? Sure it is, but in context, it isn’t even speaking of Jewish people! But, hey, if we can find a verse associating the Jewish place of worship and the devil, we’re in great shape to demonize the Jews and claim full immunity under the guise of the Christian banner.

This certainly does a great disservice to true Bible-believing followers of Yeshua and His teachings. If we believe the word of God to be true, and we should, then, the Jewish people are truly painted in different light throughout all of scripture. We are described as: The apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8), daughter of Zion (Zephaniah 3:14), God’s chosen people (1 Kings 3:8), a treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6), a holy people (Deuteronomy 7:6), God’s hidden ones (Psalm 83:3), a great nation (Genesis 12:2) and beloved (Romans 11:28).

When asked about the greatest of all commandments by his Jewish audience (and there are 613 in the Mosaic Law), Yeshua responded with those powerful words, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

The fact that many people have hijacked, and corrupted Christianity doesn’t disqualify the claims of Yeshua and the validity of the faith. We are indeed together in our unprecedented fight against the current pandemic of Covid-19, but sadly there is plenty of room for improvement for a concerted fight against the oldest, long-lasting pandemic of antisemitism.

February 19, 2021 By Olivier Melnick 1 Comment

PURIM: God Is Sovereign Even Behind-the-Scenes

Thursday, February 25, 2021, marks the celebration of the Jewish festival of Purim. Jewish people around the world will gather to recall God’s protection in days of old. This is a time when people eat special foods, dress up and read the Megillat Ester or scroll of Esther in the synagogue, where a lot of noise is made at the calling of the names of the three main protagonists: Mordechai, Esther and Haman. Gifts are often exchanged as well as donations made to charity.

• PURIM IN THE BIBLE: The first time we read about Purim, is at the end of the book of Esther–a book about God’s miraculous preservation of the Jewish people–even though this is the only book of the Bible where God is never mentioned by name. This doesn’t prevent God from orchestrating an incredible story of survival, redemption and blessing, albeit behind-the-scenes. The story of Purim is also a very strong post-Genesis example of God’s promise to Abraham to bless those who bless him and curse him who curses Abraham (Genesis 12:3). Haman, the archenemy of the Jews built gallows to hang Mordechai, and at the end, he and all of his sons were hanging on these very gallows…A curse for a curse! People ought to take the promise made by God to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 very seriously. In a sense, it is God’s foreign policy when it comes to Israel, and it has proven absolutely true all throughout history (biblical and post-biblical).

Haman’s approach to the “Jewish problem” is worth looking at from the perspective of Satan, the ultimate enemy of the Jews. Early in the scriptures, in Genesis 3, Satan came up with a master plan: Use people – even Eve – to destroy the Jews on a global scale – and antisemitism was born! The reason? Satan is very familiar with the message of the Bible and with God’s master plan for the world in general and for Israel and the Jewish people in particular.

Satan knows that the day that the Jewish people recognize Yeshua as their long-awaited Messiah as told in Zechariah 12:10, will usher in His return, but that will also mark the beginning of the end of Satan’s career of hatred and destruction. In an attempt at postponing it all–since he cannot prevent it, Satan is the mastermind behind the longest hatred. He is the creator of antisemitism and he continually subcontracts his hatred against the Jews to various groups through the ages, making the most irrational thoughts, words and deeds appear very rational to those who listen to him. The book of Esther tells us the story of how Satan used Haman to go after the Jews. He could have succeeded, but God is greater, even behind-the-scenes.

In Esther chapter 3, Haman puts his curse against the Jews in motion, and because of one Jew, namely Mordecai, Haman seeks to destroy all of them. We start seeing the irrational behaviors promoted by an antisemitic heart. Haman seeks to destroy ALL THE JEWS of the Persian Empire where many of them lived at the time.

In a sense, Haman tried to make antisemitism a government-sanctioned policy, something that will be picked up again much later in history by Nazi Germany. We read in Esther 3:1-2, 5-6 “After these events, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and established his authority over all the princes who were with him. And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage…. When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Furthermore, in verse 8, Haman proceeds to give the reason why the Jews are not wanted in Ahasuerus’ kingdom, and that is simply because THEY ARE DIFFERENT. “Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people, and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain.
Because of his hatred for one man who happened to be Jewish, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews of the kingdom. This was a very extreme decision, driven by an irrational desire to hold all people of the same ethnic group responsible because of one of theirs who actually wasn’t guilty of anything but faithfulness to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Haman was on a mission to destroy all the Jews.

However, he also realized that his endeavor would require some logistical finesse, so in Esther 3:9-13, we read that he asked the king to issue a decree for the destruction of the Jewish people, knowing that a royal decree cannot be canceled or ignored. Not only did he ask for the decree, but he also committed to financing the whole project out of his own wealth. “If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business,…And letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder.

While it might not be obvious at first glance, the process by which Haman sought to annihilate all the Jews within his reach and the one used by Hitler and the Nazi regime have many similarities. Consider the parallels between Haman and Hitler in these five points:
• One Man’s jealousy led to uncontrolled hatred (3:5)
• Targeted hatred became global hatred (3:6, 13)
• Hatred was apparently caused because of non-conformity (3:8)
• Attempted annihilation of the Jews was structured and organized (3:9-13)
• Funds were spent and financial wealth was provided for the perpetrators (3:9, 4:7)

Fast forward to the 1930s and 1940s, and we see how Hitler developed his well-organized “factory of death” against the Jewish people.

• PURIM in the 1940s: Soon after coming to power, Hitler quickly banned the celebration of Jewish festivals including Purim. In a speech delivered the day after Kristallnacht, in November 1938, Julius Streicher (1885-1946), Hitler’s“Director of the Central Committee for the Defense against Jewish Atrocity and Boycott Propaganda” declared that since the Jews killed 75,000 Persians in the days of Esther, the same fate could befall the German people and so the Jews had to be stopped. Streicher was also the publisher of the virulently antisemitic newspaper Der Stürmer. After the war, he was never accused of any actions or orders against the Jews but for thoughts and words published in his newspaper and as a result, he was convicted of “crimes against humanity” and sentenced to death. The Nuremberg military tribunal declared, “Streicher’s incitement of murder and extermination at the time when Jews in the East were being killed under the most horrible conditions clearly constitutes persecution on political and racial grounds in connection with war crimes as defined by the Charter, and constitutes a crime against humanity.”

Again, the “curse-for-a-curse” biblical principle was applied to Streicher, who, on October 16, 1946, was executed on the gallows at the end of the Nuremberg Trials. Streicher’s final words before he was let down into the gallows trap door was “Purim Fest 1946”, as his final claim that the Jews were out to get him. It would have required a certain knowledge of the Jewish lifestyle and festivals for Streicher to even make that parallel.

As to Hitler’s obsession with the destruction of all European Jews, history is our witness that all methods used by Haman–as irrational as they might have been– were also used by Hitler.

Hitler’s jealousy led to uncontrolled hatred. It is hard to pinpoint why Hitler was so against the Jews. There have been rumors that he had some distant Jewish ancestry, and also that he was mad at the Jewish doctor who unsuccessfully treated his mother who died of cancer in 1908. There is also the possibility that Hitler took his lead from the Muslim Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (1921-1937) Amin al-Husseini. All these are nearly impossible to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt, but the fact that almost a whole country of Germans was ready to follow one man into his evil agenda of destruction says a lot about our sinful nature.

• Targeted hatred became global hatred. Whatever hatred Hitler had against one Jew or a few of them, it should have never led to his desire to kill all of us. Yet, the ghetto that separated and ostracized the Jews eventually led to the Einsatzgruppen (death squads responsible for mass shootings of Jews after they were forced to dig their own graves). When shooting people was deemed inefficient and psychologically damaging for the SS officers (you read it right!), large trucks and vans were outfitted with engines that pumped carbon monoxide into the sealed compartment filled with Jewish people. Even that method proved to be too slow for Hitler who developed the concentration camps that became the death camps. The rest is history. That is of course if you don’t buy into the ludicrous Holocaust Denial theory.

• Hatred was apparently caused because of non-conformity
The fact that the Jewish people had survived so much hardship and violence against them for centuries was probably a mystery to Hitler, but possibly a reason why he loathed the Jews so much.
The Jewish people have survived through the ages and continue to hold many of the ancient customs and traditions. To Jewish people, identity is often synonymous with survival, so Jewish rituals and customs are critical. This would appear as non-conformity, but while they might be strictly religious at home and in their own community, Jewish people have always been willing to contribute to society wherever God placed them in the diaspora. Jewish ingenuity has proven that beyond the shadow of a doubt over the years.

• Attempted annihilation of the Jews was structured and organized
Hitler’s “Final solution to the Jewish question” was further organized at the time of the Wannsee Conference in Berlin in 1942 when Reinhard Heydrich took leadership of it to make sure that various government ministries all complied and worked together. The meeting itself only lasted 90 minutes, but it further sealed the fate of European Jewry

• Funds were spent, and financial wealth was provided for the perpetrators
Much money was needed for war and to maintain the infrastructure of the death camps into which Hitler fed the Jewish people. Forced Jewish labor, taxes on Jews and confiscated Jewish wealth were factors in how Hitler financed the war and the Holocaust. Eventually, even those resources ran dry. Hitler was not a very good military commander, but he was very stubborn with his destructive obsession with the Jews. Towards the end of the war, this might have cost him more than he wished, when resources used for the transport of Jews were not available to fight at the Russian front.

PURIM IN 2021: Satan knows that he cannot succeed, but he tries without ceasing. He has indoctrinated much of the world against the Jewish people, creating antisemitism and making it the oldest and most enduring form of hatred against a people group. While he keeps sub-contracting his hatred to different groups of people, the danger remains the same and the Jewish people continue to be the “scapegoats of humanity”. The same approach used in biblical days and during Hitler’s reign is used today by historical revisionists, BDS promoters, Christian Palestinianism proponents and all other enemies of Israel and the Jewish people. If they had their way, Israel would be erased from the map and the Jewish people completely eradicated from existence and from history. But in a very “Purimesque” ending, the Jewish people will continue to flourish as promised by God Himself in Jeremiah 31:35-37 and Israel will prevail because of God.

Be it during biblical times, during the 1930s and 1940s, or even today, through thick and thin, God has always had Israel in the palm of His hand. Even though He was absent by name in the book of Esther and it felt more like “the eclipse of God” during the Holocaust, He never reneged on His promises. So, we can celebrate Purim with confidence and with joy because the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Who was behind-the-scenes in the days of Esther, has our back and still keeps His word today.

Chag Purim Sameach! Happy Purim!

February 12, 2021 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

The Church Fathers and the Jews – Part 2

Last week, we covered the first two centuries after the closing of the biblical record. As we will see in part two, the trend continued to pick up more momentum and become very lethal as we progress through history, culminating in the Holocaust. I am not saying that the Holocaust was caused by the Christian Church, but 2000 years of misconceptions, misinterpretation and bigotry have certainly helped pave the way to the greatest Jewish catastrophe. The Church Fathers have helped to make the faith stronger and have helped to protect Christianity from many heresies, and this is invaluable. We owe a great debt of gratitude to these pioneers of the faith who wrote so many volumes to erect theological and doctrinal protective fences around a young Christianity. This being said, let us look at the legacy of three more Church Fathers that to this day, remain key pillars of the defense of the faith, Origen, Chrysostom and Augustine.

Origen of Alexandria – AD 185-254

Origen was a Church Father who contributed to the early formation of Christian doctrines. He further developed the allegorical method of interpretation, always looking for a deeper, mysterious meaning in Scriptures that was not literal. As with other of the early Church Fathers, Origen also made major contributions, despite erring when it came to preaching hatred towards the Jewish people. He also wrote On First Principles, the first systematic theology, and contributed to the establishment of the biblical canon; which was a gradual process that reached into the fifth century.

Additionally, In his work Contra Celsus, “Against Celsus,” he paints the Jewish people as “Christ-killers” in an effort to present a rebuttal to the pagan philosopher Celsus, who had befriended Jewish rabbis: “We may thus assert in utter confidence that the Jews will not return to their earlier situation, for they have committed the most abominable of crimes, in forming this conspiracy against the Savior of the human race…hence the city where Jesus suffered was necessarily destroyed, the Jewish nation was driven from its country, and another people was called by God to the blessed election.”

Again, Origen had to ignore the Jewish nature of Yeshua, His followers, His Great Commission and His forgiveness to the Jewish leaders and others who were involved in His death. He had to ignore all the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 12:1-3; 15; 17), as well as one-third of unfulfilled Scriptures regarding God’s promises to restore and save Israel as a nation and a people in the End Times (Ezekiel 36-37). He had to ignore all the New Testament teachings of Yeshua on loving others. He had to ignore Yeshua’s teaching on reaching out to “the least of these my brethren” when hard times would come and they would be thirsting, naked and in prison.

It is ironic that such an intelligent and educated man, who helped develop the field of theology, could overlook so much when the Word of God was available to him. However, it is relatively easy to make that mistake if the Jewish roots of God’s Words are forgotten and replaced with a culture devoid of Hebraic concepts. Without its roots, the tree is bound to shriveling down to nothing!

Utilizing the allegorical approach opened up a can of worms that allowed for subjective interpretations to creep into theology. The result is a disconnect from God’s Word and His salvation story from Genesis to Revelation regarding Jews and Gentiles. In this disconnect, the great blessings of love and kindness available to all the families of the earth are forgotten. In Genesis 12:3, God specifically promised blessings to all who bless the descendants of Abraham (as well as curses on all who curse the Jewish people), and that is not all. God promised to bless all the families of the earth because of Abraham’s faith, and we know that promise to be God’s unparalleled offer of salvation. Once again, the same allegorical approach towards the Scriptures in the hands of rabbis has blinded the eyes of many Jewish people to God’s literal plan for salvation for all. God instituted a literal sacrificial system which He ultimately fulfilled with Yeshua the Messiah as the Sacrificial Lamb of God.

John Chrysostom – AD 344-407

Chrysostom is still considered one of the greatest of all Church Fathers and is still known as “The Golden-Mouthed Orator.” Much of what was written against the Jews by previous Church Fathers is dwarfed by Chrysostom’s contribution. He hoped to show the Jews and the synagogue in their “true colors” to discourage Christians from engaging in relationships with Jewish people or even attending synagogue services. His descriptions of the Jewish people were very abrasive:

“The synagogue is worse than a brothel…it is the den of scoundrels and the repair of wild beasts…the temple of demons devoted to idolatrous cults…the refuge of brigands and debauchees, and the cavern of devils. It is a criminal assembly of Jews…a place of meeting for the assassins of Christ… a house worse than a drinking shop…a den of thieves, a house of ill fame, a dwelling of iniquity, the refuge of devils, a gulf and an abyss of perdition.… I would say the same things about their souls… As for me, I hate the synagogue…I hate the Jews for the same reason.… men who are lustful, rapacious, greedy, perfidious bandits…inveterate murderers, destroyers, men possessed by the devil,… they have surpassed the ferocity of wild beasts, for they murder their offspring and immolate them to the devil.”

This is obviously a baseless series of vicious accusations against the Jewish people, their customs and their practices. Chrysostom was trying to discourage Christians of his time from participating in anything Jewish, as he truly believed it was perverse. He actually called Jewish practices a disease.

“What is this disease? The festivals of the pitiful and miserable Jews are soon to march upon us one after the other and in quick succession: the feast of Trumpets, the feast of Tabernacles, the fasts…I wish to drive this perverse custom from the Church right…now that the Jewish festivals are close by and at the very door if I should fail to cure those who are sick with the Judaizing disease. I am afraid that, because of their ill-suited association and deep ignorance, some Christians may partake in the Jews’ transgressions; once they have done so, I fear my homilies on these transgressions will be in vain. For if they hear no word from me today, they will then join the Jews in their fasts; once they have committed this sin it will be useless for me to apply the remedy.”

Chrysostom had to forget that Yeshua, His family, His followers and those who came to faith in Acts 2 were all Jewish people celebrating Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) in Jerusalem. For those who would accept it, the biblical Jewish holidays tell the story of God’s salvation plan for the Jewish people. Being grafted into the olive tree (God’s faithful remnant like those mentioned in Romans 11) means that Gentiles, as well as Jews, receive God’s many blessings: His Word, His promises, His love, His grace and His salvation. Yet they are wise to be aware that they have been grafted into the 0live tree, and God has intended that those roots be part of how those blessings are passed on to them. (See Romans 11:17.)

Augustine – AD 354-430

Augustine was a contemporary of John Chrysostom. He was a Christian theologian and philosopher who influenced Western Christianity in ways still felt today. He was unique in the fact that his treatment of the Jewish people reflected some ambivalence. He highly respected the writings of the Apostle Paul and often quoted Romans 9-11, yet he couldn’t understand, let alone accept, the Jewish people’s blindness and animosity towards Christianity. Of the Jewish people’s treatment of Yeshua, he wrote:
“The Jews held him, the Jews insulted him, the Jews bound him, they crowned him with thorns, dishonored him by spitting upon him, they scourged him, they heaped abuses upon him, they hung him upon a tree, they pierced him with a lance… because of the divine malediction they have called upon themselves, they are destined to be slaves.”

Furthermore, in “Confessions,” he claims:“How hateful to me are the enemies of your Scripture! How I wish that you would slay them (the Jews) with your two-edged sword, so that there should be none to oppose your word! Gladly would I have them die to themselves and live to you.”

Yet, paradoxically, he felt very strongly about Christians having an obligation to love Jewish people and share the Gospel with them. The result of his own dichotomy is that as much as he is remembered as a great contributor to the faith, he is also remembered as a profound anti-Semite.

Starting with Constantine and under Augustine’s rule based on the earlier two edicts of AD 315-325, laws began to be passed against the Jews. They were only the starting point of a long strain of judicial streamlining aimed at controlling, ostracizing, demonizing and eventually annihilating the Jews. A few of these are listed below:
•     Death penalty for the circumcision of slaves.
•     Jews were forbidden to own Christian slaves.
•     Death penalty for embracing the Jewish faith.
•     Death penalty for Jews versed in the Law who aided them.
•     Death penalty for marriages between Jews and Christians.
•     Death penalty for attending Jewish religious assemblies.

Many Christians were killed if they held a view different from the newly adopted official view of the Empire on the Trinity. In a sense, Nicaea was connected to the compromising union of Church and State.

Additionally, the AD 325 Council of Nicaea decided to split off the celebration of the Jewish Passover by adding the celebration of Easter (most likely named after the fertility goddess Ishtar) and changing the timing of this celebration to a solar calendar event instead of keeping its place on the lunar Jewish calendar, according to the biblical direction.

Until that time, the Christian celebration of the death and resurrection of the Messiah was closely related to the Jewish Passover celebration, as it should be. After all, the Last Supper was Yeshua’s last Passover Seder of the three he performed in His public ministry (Matthew 26:1-5, 17-30; Mark 14:1-2, 12-26; Luke 22:1-2, 7-20; John 13:1-30). While the decision to no longer celebrate the Jewish Passover was made official in AD 325, it was not fully implemented until the Council of Antioch in 341. It was stated:

For it is unbecoming beyond measure that on this holiest of festivals we should follow the customs of the Jews. Henceforth let us have nothing in common with this odious people…We ought not, therefore, to have anything in common with the Jews…our worship follows a….more convenient course…we desire, dearest brethren, to separate ourselves from the detestable company of the Jews…How, then, could we follow these Jews, who are almost certainly blinded?…We further proclaim to you the good news of the agreement concerning the holy Easter; that this particular also has through your prayers been rightly settled; so that all our brethren in the East who formerly followed the custom of the Jews are henceforth to celebrate the said most sacred feast of Easter at the same time with the Romans and yourselves and all those who have observed Easter from the beginning.

We could fast forward to the 1500s and look at Martin Luther’s controversial legacy that was picked up and put on steroids by Adolph Hitler, but that will take us beyond the scope of this article. The difficulty when assessing the Church Fathers’ contribution to Christianity is to recognize the positive side of their legacy in light of the damaging writings they produced against the Jews. While they probably didn’t have destructive intentions such as the Crusades or the Holocaust, their diatribes still paved the way for much of the antisemitism of the centuries that followed.

Studying the Church Fathers is necessary to understanding how Christianity developed and how the divide between Jews and Christians widened over time. We must be informed about what helped antisemitism grow in a soil that was already fertile by virtue of the fallen human nature. This will greatly help us understand why the Jewish people are so Gospel resistant and are for the most part ignoring the promised Messiah who can be so easily found in the Bible (Isaiah 52:13-53-12).

February 5, 2021 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

The Church Fathers and the Jews – Part 1

To understand the relationship between Christians and Jews, it is crucial to survey some of the Church Fathers to understand how their early exegetical deviation paved the way for modern anti-Semitism. As many of them performed allegorical interpretations of God’s word, the early Church Fathers developed a warped view of Israel and the Jews. They had a distorted understanding of biblical Judaism. The perceived monstrosity of the children of Israel was their main concern. As they saw it, Israel had been a continual disappointment to God who had done so much for them. They needed to separate the “evil” from the “righteous,” or the “sinful” from the “holy,” so they started to demonized and ostracize the Jewish people.

Christianity would soon claim all the virtuous actions in the Old Testament for some kind of pre-existent Church. Replacement Theology was emerging as a new doctrine, even though it would be named, structured and codified centuries later. All these views influenced the tragic enactments made against the Jews early on. The unconditional and eternal covenants that God made with ethnic Israel only, were arbitrarily transferred to the Church against God’s will and in essence, making God a liar and a covenant breaker.

The vast majority of the Church Fathers have left a negative legacy as it pertains to their understanding and treatment of the Jewish people. It becomes clear that they often misunderstood the loving Gospel message of the Messiah. By promoting flawed doctrine, the early Church Fathers introduced a major source of hatred into the founding of the Church.

While the unfortunate result of their exegetical faux pas led to much persecution and the unnecessary deaths of millions, we still need to refrain from painting with broad strokes; not all Church Fathers were guilty of antisemitism, and even those who were, also happened to be great contributors to the growth and preservation of orthodox Christianity. Nevertheless, history is our witness; and Jewish history, in particular, has been punctuated by acts derived from this early departure from the truth. Albeit only theologically driven, anti-Semitic hatred, and the basis for tolerating hatred towards others, emerged from the least likely of all places: The Church itself.

I want to look at the negative impact of several key theologians among the early Church Fathers who helped to shape the Church as it went from a humble, underground, persecuted base of believers to an organized body that eventually was even aligned with and protected by the State.

It goes without saying that they represent quite a departure from a balanced, literal and contextual interpretation of the Bible. While most of the Church Fathers would not have condoned the systematic killing of Jewish people, their words carried more weight and their negative effects have lasted longer than they could have imagined. They became the foundation of a much more aggressive form of Jew-hatred that kept growing and morphing over the centuries. This hatred towards the Jewish people and Israel still persists today.

Briefly, Ignatius, relying on Greek philosophy, introduced the mystical idea that the Church was pre-existent to Israel and the Jewish people as God’s chosen people. Therefore, all the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were always meant for the Church and not the Jewish people. Justin Martyr introduced the error of Replacement Theology, using an allegorical approach. For him, the existence of Jacob was simply a parable that really pointed to the Church and not the Jewish people.

Tertullian, in addition to being a founder of Western Christian theology, including the doctrine of the trinity, made a wrong turn in the road with his work “Against the Jews.” Origen of Alexandria, likewise made important contributions to Church theology; but also injected a special brand of unforgiveness that targeted Jewish people as “Christ-killers.” That term is one that almost every Jewish person alive has heard at one time or another, not to mention that many Jewish men, women and children have been persecuted and killed after being called Christ-killers by none other than Christians. John Chrysostom placed an additional stumbling block for many to trip over; vicious teachings to turn Gentile believers away from the very Jewish culture God used to convey His salvation message in His Word. Let’s look at the first three on the list.

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (AD 35 or 50 – 98 or 117)
Ignatius of Antioch was an Apostolic Father, the third Bishop of Antioch, and was also a contemporary and student of the Apostle John. He said: For if we are still practicing Judaism, we admit that we have not received God’s favor…It is wrong to talk about Jesus Christ and live like Jews. For Christianity did not believe in Judaism, but Judaism in Christianity.

The anti-Semitism might not be as obvious in this statement by Ignatius as it is in the later examples, but the progression in intensity and abrasiveness shouldn’t be missed. Here, the reader is simply told that it is wrong to practice Judaism since it has apparently been replaced by Christianity. The suggestion is planted that Christianity preceded Judaism; although, of course, history shows that Christianity was a Jewish movement that Gentiles joined. Yeshua, Himself, was a Jew; and all the writers of the New Testament (except Luke) were Jewish. It would take willful acts to theologically cut off the Jewish roots of the faith from the theology and culture of the first-century Church as founded by Yeshua, the Jewish rabbi who became the Savior of the world. Yet, we actually see people who today are cutting all the Jewish roots of the Bible to go as far as attaching it back to a Palestinian narrative.

Justin Martyr (AD 103-165) – Dialogue with Trypho.
Justin Martyr was an early Christian apologist who is still revered in Church circles today. He is the author of the most important and most complete Christian tract against Jewish people in the second century, if not in all of the early Church Fathers’ writings, entitled Dialogue with Trypho in which he attempts to prove that Christianity has supplanted Judaism. Justin Martyr might also have been the first to erroneously claim that the Church was true Israel (making him possibly the father of Replacement Theology).

He first quotes Isaiah 42:1-4 and then introduces his reasoning for how the Church replaces Abraham’s descendants in God’s covenants: “Jacob is my servant, I will uphold Him; Israel is my elect, I will put my Spirit upon Him, and He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry, neither shall anyone hear His voice in the street: a bruised reed He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not quench, but He shall bring forth judgment to truth: He shall shine, and shall not be broken till He have set judgment on the earth. And in His name shall the Gentiles trust.” (Isaiah 42:1-4)

“Again in Isaiah, if you have ears to hear it, God, speaking of Christ in parable, calls Him Jacob and Israel. As, therefore, from the one man Jacob, who was surnamed Israel, all your nation has been called Jacob and Israel; so we from Christ, who begot us unto God, like Jacob, and Israel, and Judah, and Joseph, and David, are called and are the true sons of God, and keep the commandments of Christ.” (Justin Martyr’s commentary.)

In this instance, Justin Martyr used the allegorical approach to change a literal teaching into a subjective one, yielding a conclusion not supported by the Word of God. We can always prove our own points using an allegorical approach, but is God convinced?

Tertullian (AD 160-220)
Tertullian was a Christian author who produced a large body of literature in Latin. He was also an apologist who taught against heresy. Tertullian has been called “the father of Latin Christianity” and “the founder of Western theology.” He was one of the first Church Fathers to formulate Trinitarian terminology.

In his work “De Adversus Judaeos,” “Against the Jews,” Tertullian’s theological anti-Judaism is purely ideological. He might have gotten some of his inspiration from earlier works by Justin Martyr. He uses the Hebrew Scriptures to methodically disprove the relevancy of the Mosaic Law, and then goes on to prove that all blessings to ethnic Israel are now passed on to the “other nation” of God: The Christians.

Writer David Efroymson, in his work on Tertullian, his influence and legacy, stated that many followed after Tertullian with their anti-Jewish diatribes and added this profound statement, alluding to the distant, but destructive, impact that Tertullian’s teachings had: “The road from here to Auschwitz is long and may not be direct, but one can get there from here.” And indeed the road to Auschwitz was slowly but steadily being traced by this and other early Christian pioneers of anti-Semitism.

We have only covered the first two centuries after the closing of the biblical record. The trend will continue and even pick up more momentum and become quite abrasive and lethal as we progress through history. For a Jewish believer like myself, it is quite a challenge to balance the good and the bad. The valuable contributions that all Church Fathers have made to the faith and how it has helped to protect Christianity from many heresies cannot be ignored. We owe a great debt of gratitude to these pioneers of the faith who wrote so many volumes to erect theological and doctrinal protective fences around a young Christianity. But, we must also recognize that these men were human and that their writings were not inspired like the Bible was (2 Timothy 3:16-17.)

In the midst of a positive legacy, people are still remembered for some damaging contributions they made. I have found that most students and teachers of the Church Fathers, in their praise of these men, are quick to ignore the damaging legacy they left as it pertains to the Jewish people. I don’t expect anybody to dismiss the works of these theologians simply on the basis of their faulty/allegorical view of Israel and the Jews in the Bible, but at the very least, their exegetical faux pas must be mentioned, if only to let our Jewish friends know that we are not turning a blind eye on what led to a lot of lethal anti-Jewish sentiment.

January 29, 2021 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

BDS directly affects Israel but should concern all of us!

Boycotts, censorship and cancellations have become very popular words in 2020. From “Cancel Culture” to “Social Network Censorships” to “Boycott, Divestment & Sanction (BDS)”, people are being exposed to what it means to have our civil liberties reduced, altered, or even revoked. We are being exposed to the danger of such actions and the repercussions they will have on us and the next generations. Of all of these attempts at crippling our freedom, the BDS movement is most likely the least of them when it comes to affecting Americans. Outside of a certain segment of the evangelical community–vocally and militantly pro-Israel–the rest of the Church and most Americans either don’t care or don’t know about BDS. If you are one of my subscribers, this might only be a refresher, but this bears repeating.

BDS isn’t an invention of the Church, but it has become increasingly attractive to many Evangelicals, where some believe that it is a valid, yet a peaceful, way to protest against Israel. There are several problems with that train of thought, but let us first look at the source of the BDS movement. You might be surprised by what you discover.

It is ironic that most of the people taking such a political stand have very little knowledge of how it got started and by whom. This movement was started on July 9, 2005, by the Palestinian civil society and orchestrated by the current leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian BDS National Committee. Omar Barghouti is co-founder of and the main spokesperson for BDS. His organization claims that Israel must meet three obligations for BDS to stop:
1.   Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall;
2.   Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3.   Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

Too often, there is an unspoken expectation from the Palestinian side. Much of the “not-so-hidden” agenda of the Palestinian Authority is focused on the destruction of Israel and the Jews. At the time that the Palestinian people were invented in the mid-1960s, the problem of refugees didn’t exist. The Jewish people abandoned the use of the term Palestine when Israel was declared a State in 1948. The word became exclusively descriptive of the Arab side and was adopted by Arafat when he created the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization).

The creation of a Palestinian narrative that has been purported over the last 50 years of historical fabrications has helped the world turn on Israel. However, the Palestinian Authority doesn’t really care about the well-being of even their own “citizens”. If they did, they would never use some of their own people as human shields or use schools and hospitals to store weapons and explosives. They are obsessed with the demonization of Israel, the turning of David into Goliath! If they succeed, they are just one step closer to appearing justified when they attempt to annihilate Israel. It is actually quite scary to see how much the West has been swayed towards the Palestinian agenda over the last few decades. Although, some of the Palestinian agenda has been pushed back recently by the signing of the Abraham Accords and the additional countries joining ranks in establishing formal relations with Israel.

The Palestinian Authority takes great pains to misinform, or simply not inform, the people they are trying to influence with the facts surrounding their standoff with Israel. The proper word for it is “propaganda”! The hope is that most people would accept their lies and historical revisionism simply as facts, and too often they do! UN Resolution 194 contains one short paragraph out of 15 on compensation to refugees – not even Palestinian refugees in particular – but refugees in general. People truly need to verify statements before they buy them and then sell them back as facts. Interestingly enough, the only specific identifying term used in that resolution is “Palestine”, and within the context of that 1948 document, it is clear that it refers to the geographical area known as Israel, not a people group.

BDS was born out of a Palestinian desire to enroll otherwise unengaged and apathetic people in their fight against Israel. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas’ goal might be the total destruction of Israel, but that is not a good marketing technique to recruit supporters for their agenda. Creativity calls for other means of striking the Jewish people.

What if they could get support from different groups of people? This would greatly advance their agenda, wouldn’t it? BDS does just that and it does it well, in the government, the entertainment industry, the universities, and even some Christian denominations such as The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) whose General Assembly voted in the spring of 2014 to divest from three companies engaged in business within Israel (Caterpillar Inc., Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions). This is the same PCUSA that unsuccessfully tried to blot out the name Israel from their prayer and hymn books in 2014, leading to a split within the denomination.

Originators of BDS count on the altruistic feelings associated with boycotting for a social justice issue. It becomes easy for anyone to feel good by refraining from buying Israeli products. This seems like a peaceful and worthy protest that could (from their perspective) make a difference and force Israel away from occupation, apartheid and crimes against humanity. Of course, the current BDS supporters are plagued with decisions to boycott that force them to be very inconsistent at best. Divestment is usually a matter of reinvesting your funds elsewhere, and there are plenty of opportunities for such a move. When it comes to boycotting, it is a bit trickier, especially if you want to be consistent and do it with integrity. People will easily stop buying Jaffa® oranges or Osem® cookies from Israel, but don’t ask them to stop using the Intel® chip in their personal computers or their mobile phones altogether (both originated from Israeli ingenuity). The boycott crosses into academia and entertainment as well as business.

BDS proponents often nip the pro-Israel narrative in the bud by loudly condemning Israel, which has become the hip, liberal mantra du jour, even though their own narrative is flawed and biased. Christians don’t want to be labeled as “haters”, especially of Jews. What they may do is find an easier way to participate in BDS rather than an all-out boycott. Divestment can be done silently. When sanctioning comes, they will have to make a choice – and I pray it is a decision based on biblical insight.
• BDS uses a false premise of Israeli occupation and apartheid policies. It is our responsibility to expose their lies and educate those who don’t know BDS or who believe that it is a cause worth fighting for.
• BDS proponents are inconsistent in their boycott and need to be made aware of their hypocrisy or ignorance about Israel’s contribution to the modern world (and the list of those contributions keeps growing every day), not to mention all the everyday products used by millions.
• BDS sends the wrong message to a lot of people thinking that they are helping to make the world a better place when in fact they are supporting anti-Israel, anti-Semitic terrorists.
• BDS counts on people’s ignorance and natural desire for justice to sell their falsified agenda of Palestinian victimhood.

BDS is dangerously infecting the masses with the wrong idea about Israel. It is evident that Israel isn’t “100% squeaky clean” when it comes to politics, but they are a far cry from the picture that BDS is painting. People might have different opinions on how antisemitic the BDS movement is, or if it even is, but one must wonder why BDS aims at stopping Israel from their “crimes” against Palestinians, and yet, they are turning a blind eye to all the other countries where real crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansings are taking place. What an obvious case of a double-standard!

BDS becomes very dangerous when it reaches the political realm and can turn into official policymaking and even bills and laws. Recently, the Biden administration picked Mr. Maher Bitar as the Senior Director for Intelligence on the NSC. The NSC or National Security Council describes itself as follows, ” The National Security Council (NSC) is the President’s principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his or her senior advisors and cabinet officials.” Maher Bitar’s résumé includes a very long list of anti-Israel involvement, BDS support, radical Islamist terrorism, and plain and simple antisemitism. Shouldn’t the Senior Director for Intelligence on the NSC be an unbiased intelligence professional?

BDS might be only aimed at Israel with its destructive agenda, but it is the symptom of a much greater threat to Western civilization. We can and must expose it, denounce it and fight against it.

Additionally, another thing we can do is to make sure that we do our best to buy Israeli products in the USA to beat the BDS proponents at their own game. There are sites offering a partial list of what BDS wants you to boycott. While the mentioning of this list doesn’t mean that this author endorses all of it, you will undoubtedly find plenty of brands that you already support; just review them, keep at it, and tell others. This would be a strong application of Genesis 50:20 when Joseph proved to his brothers that what some want to use for evil, God can turn around and use for good: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”

What BDS proponents, by commission and omission, too often have in common is a lack of a biblical approach to Israel and the Jewish people. Biblical truth provides a solid foundation for Israel. It describes a people created by God through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the twelve Tribes of Israel as well as precise land boundaries starting early in Genesis 12 and continuing through chapters 15, 17, and following. Zionism isn’t this evil colonialism feeding on Arab blood, yet without a biblical backbone, Zionism lacks the strength to fight the hypocrisy, hatred and double standard of the BDS campaigns around the world. BDS relies on the Bullying, Delegitimizing and Slandering of Israel and does it on a foundation of lies that can be debunked. If truth really matters, let us speak up! So instead, let’s Buy, Defend and Support Israel, Israeli products and corporations.

Subscribe to our Daily Devotions

Archived Articles

Tags