An Open Letter to the Jews

Given some of my recent involvement, including writing, with what some would refer to as the Israel-Palestine issue over the last three months, I believe it is timely that I write this letter in terms of my understanding of certain aspects of this topic and also clarify some things in terms of definition.

In the first place, let me define what I understand by the word Jew. Historically, I believe this refers to anyone who can trace their biological lineage to the ancient clan known as The Children of Israel. These individuals identify their progenitor as a certain “wandering Aramean" initially named Abram, although technically, according to Deuteronomy 26:5, that reference was initially made, at least in this passage, to Jacob. It is interesting that Jacob, after he, his grandfather Abraham and father Isaac , all having lived in this land, now divided between Israel and Palestine, for some time, is still referred to here as a wandering Aramaean and not somebody connected to this land.  Then, according to the record of this history, which I, as a Christian, would describe as the Old Testament portion of The Bible, the God who called him from "Ur of the Chaldees" (Genesis 11:27-12:3) to what we often now refer to as The Holy Land, changed his name to Abraham, as recorded in Genesis 17:5. Again, according to this passage, Abram actually already began this move with his father and siblings and when this call came, he was no longer living in Ur.

Jump to 2016 and we have some difficulty still with this definition of Jew. This has come about in particular since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Politically, it is appropriate to call all citizens of this state Israelis. Not all citizens of Israel are Jews though. However, there are a number of people of Jewish origin who would like to establish this state as one inhabited only by Jews. For some Jews, there is another element of identity that can be fractious. There are those who wish to identify themselves as Jews culturally and ethnically, because of their heritage, but no longer actually practice the faith that is historically identified with the name Jew. More Orthodox Jews, the purists, need to have Jews identified by their bloodline. Then, there are those who are Jewish by faith, proselytes to this religion, who are not Jewish biologically. I don't know whether these would be acceptable citizens of a Jewish state to the ultra-Orthodox.

However, my main purpose in writing this letter is not to discuss these issues further. I am writing as a Christian. This means I follow as Lord a religious leader who lived on this earth as a Jew some 2000 years ago, namely Jesus, the son of Joseph, who Christians also identify as Christ.

Furthermore, I am writing as part of that branch of Christianity known as Anabaptism. To narrow it down still further, I am a member of the Mennonite division of this group, in particular a member of Mennonite Church Canada and its British Columbia arm, Mennonite church British Columbia. Locally, I am a member of Peace Mennonite Church in Richmond, BC.

I am writing this letter to clarify where I and many of my co-religionists stand with respect to the Jews today. Christians have rightfully been accused of anti-Semitism, both in the past and present. There were times when Christians killed Jews who identified as such, during times of religious persecution in Europe in the Middle Ages. This was especially so during the times of the Crusades. Ironically, this was in spite of the fact that the Crusaders were ostensibly going to the land from which the Jews had been expelled to claim it back for Christianity, a religion that started with the Jews.

I and my fellow Mennonites do not agree with these past actions. Just the same, we are not entirely blameless in this area. There were Mennonites who supported the Nazis doing World War II, which is unfortunate. Mennonites have their share of jokes about Jews. Growing up, a familiar expression was "he Jewed me" when one referred to being taken advantage of financially.

However, we as Mennonites also have much in common with the Jews. We lived side-by-side in Eastern Europe and in Russia, in what is now mostly the Ukraine. We were both persecuted by the Bolsheviks and some of the other terrorists that roamed the countryside in the unstable days prior to the establishment of the communist regime. Sometimes we supported one another. We both also struggle with this identity issue of ethnic versus religious identity. When our ancestors settled in Southern Manitoba, Jewish businesses often got set up in our communities and we supported them. Some of the first professionals we had to deal with in terms of dentistry, optometry and medicine in our rural communities were Jewish. I saw a number of these individuals into my adulthood.

Over the last number of decades, Mennonites have gotten a bad rap from a certain quarter of the Christian community whom we would describe as Zionist. They generally exhibit unqualified support of the state of Israel. Israeli leaders, on the other hand, are very happy for their support, and therefore very unhappy with our lack of support. To be sure, there are many Mennonites who would subscribe to the Zionist understanding. However, and not to put this too negatively, these are more the rank-and-file members of our community, not the educated and leaders.

Having grown up among leaders of the Mennonite church, with my father being first missionary and then pastor and finally Bible school teacher, as well as myself having been educated in a Mennonite college and a lifelong adult member of the church, I believe what follows is what most real Mennonites who are more informed about the situation would understand and believe.

We do not have anything against Jews. Personally, my wife and I in particular, still often look at Jews with fondness and certainly respect. How can one not, given their success in so many areas of life from financial, to medical to media? To me, this is simply fulfillment of God's promises to their ancestors that those who did follow him would see their children blessed for 1000 generations, as recorded first in Exodus 20:6. I have been a fellow student, then professional colleague, and even teacher of many wonderful, intelligent and capable Jewish people who have contributed a lot to the world. Regardless of what one might think about them historically, ethnically and currently with respect to what goes on in the nation-state of Israel, we still cannot help but acknowledge that in some way they are still God's chosen people. I don't believe God is "done with" them.

I am not going to go into the theology and history of what has happened with the Jews over the millennia, what the Christian Church has thought of their place in God's plans, and how the Jews themselves have changed their own  self-understanding. Of course, there is divergence of opinion even amongst themselves on this. There are those, generally the more orthodox, who support the Israeli state. The more extreme ultra-Orthodox do not support a modern state structure, but would like to return to the theocracy of the Old Testament. Then there are the more liberal, according to the definition of some, who do not support the state of Israel because they do not see the need for it in terms of their understanding of where they are at in relation to their God at this point. This understanding is further supported by their antipathy to what they see happening in the state of Israel. Indeed, this is the area where we as Mennonites agree with Jews in this last group.

We are not against Jews having a homeland. I think it is something they can rightfully be thankful for, even though the way it came about is anything but peaceful. To be sure, there were political and international moves which resulted in The United Nations carving out this piece of land that has, since 1948, been referred to as the State of Israel. However, it is the cost to the people who were living in the land then that disturbs us. Some of them still live there, but many more are now living in what we would like to identify as the state of Palestine, in refugee camps both in Israel and Palestine, and in neighboring countries, or dispersed around the world.  The state if Israel has been founded at the expense of the Palestinians. Even before the state of Israel was established, militant Zionists were beginning to carry out their plans to establish a Jewish only state of Israel.

It is what has been involved in carrying out these plans that we as Christians and Mennonites cannot accept. From the beginning, Palestinians, as we shall name those who are resident in the land besides the Jews who were already moving in, were forced out of their homes and in many cases massacred. Harassment and legal moves against the Palestinians continue unabated. In fact, these actions have increased in the last 20 years in particular. This is especially so since the infamous Six-Day-War of 1967, in which Israel invaded the Jordan-administered Palestinian territories and has continued to occupy them and in effect rule them ever since. This is something that is illegal according to all international law, but the state of Israel has never been called to account for this or forced to reversed that action. This is in part because of continued support from Uncle Sam. Israel is probably the largest recipient of aid from the US, particularly when it comes to the military. Again, particularly since 1967 and seemingly increasingly, as Israelis and Jews opposed to this will both tell you, the government continues to propagate a narrative of the Arab world and all Palestinians being in favor of wiping Israel out. Therefore, all Palestinians are branded as terrorists. This is in spite of the fact that the Arab world and even the Palestinian community has largely abandoned that stance. Indeed, the Palestinian leadership, although they sometimes still appear to make unhelpful pronouncements and perhaps at times thus seem to support terrorism, has generally come to the conclusion, at least the people have, that nonviolent opposition to this treatment at the hands of Israel is the only way to go.

This also appears to be the stance of most of the Christians in the region. Unfortunately, far too many Christians in Western Europe and America, including Canada, in their support of Israel, have left these Christians feeling abandoned. They are puzzled at how their Christian brothers and sisters can treat them this way. It is this stance which has made us as Mennonites identify with the oppressed Palestinians, as part of our religious tradition is also a nonviolent lifestyle. We believe that as Christians, it is our duty to help liberate the oppressed. This is according to what Jesus said in Nazareth, his hometown, at the beginning of his ministry, as quoted in Luke chapter 4, quoting from Isaiah 61, in saying that he was fulfilling that prophecy in their midst. That is why we must support the Palestinians. It does not mean that we are against the Jews or the state of Israel. We are only against certain of their unjust actions which, in our understanding, also go against the commands God gave them through Moses and the prophets as recorded in their own Scriptures. I refer to those many passages where they are enjoined to look especially after the widows, the orphans and aliens in their midst, remembering that they were at one time oppressed aliens in Egypt. That is the Old Testament biblical narrative. That is not being practiced by many Jews, let alone the state of Israel today. We are simply asking that they re-examine their scriptures and act as we believe their God has commanded them in their own scruptures, as we believe he has commanded us.

A Brief Introduction to the Problems with Zionism

I am a Christian, and as such, quite familiar with the Jewish Scriptures, which Christians refer to as the Old Testament. Therefore, I am well-acquainted with God's calls to Abraham and his descendants, and the covenants and promises he made to them. The most important of these are that God would make of Abraham's descendants a great people and that he would give them the area of land we sometimes refer to as The Holy Land as their home. He would make them a light and a blessing to the nations and because of them all nations would be blessed. This seems to be where many Christians in the last century or so stop in their understanding of the Jewish people and their place in history. This has thus become a particularly thorny and sometimes divisive issue between some Christians and between  some Christians and Jews, particularly in the last 125 years or so.

This is because it has been during this time that certain individuals gained influence for their belief that Jews should still be in the lands now known as Israel and Palestine, a belief that came to be known as Zionism, as Jerusalem, the putative capital, is seen by some as being on Mt. Zion. This was initially a political agenda but when its proponents got some of the Christians on board, thanks to a contemporaneous reinterpretation of Scripture to support their beliefs, Zionism was augmented by Christian Zionism.  

This relatively recent understanding of the history of God's people within certain more conservative  or fundamentalistic branches of the Christian church sees Israel's living in this land as a necessary prerequisite for the end of history as we know it and the dawning of God's new heaven and earth. This led people of this persuasion to promote and support Israel's becoming a nation. When this happened in 1948, almost 2000 years after Israel's defeat by the Romans around AD 70, these Christian Zionists, as they have come to be called, were elated. The passage of time and some subsequent aspects of history such as what the early Israeli settlers and their Army did to the Palestinian occupants of the land at the time dampened the enthusiasm for this cause somewhat. However, when Arab nations attacked Israel in 1967 to support the Palestinian cause, and Israel handily won the famous so-called “Six-Day War” against them,” Zionism received a great boost. This thinking has continued to be fueled ever since, particularly with the ongoing and recently increasing hostilities of increasingly radicalized Muslims and the predominantly Muslim nations around Israel in the last 30 years or so.

There are a couple of points that we need to remember at this time. The first is that these promises of God to Abraham's descendants, the covenant, were always conditional. That is, there is an ‘if’ attached. This is not spelled out in every instance in which some of these promises are mentioned in the Bible and those texts are then often then misused in such a way as to make the reader forget the conditions. The condition was acceptance and belief in the one God and obedience to God's commands. We know even from their own Scriptures how many times the Jews were punished by the God the true Jews worship for their disobedience to God and the conditions of the covenant from the time they left Egypt, known as The Exodus, when the first Passover was instituted, until the great exile of 587 BC to Babylon. The Old Testament Scriptures were closed shortly after that time, so there is no such accepted and canonical authoritative source to evaluate subsequent historical events that have affected the Jewish people, e.g. the Roman defeat mentioned above, the Holocaust of World War II and even the current events mentioned above.

However, if we apply the same expectations with respect to the covenant that were repeated over and over again in the Old Testament, I think it is quite clear to see that they are certainly not being kept today. As a Christian, who believes in the same God and shares part of the same Scriptures as the Jewish people, from whence comes our Lord and Savior, I love the Jewish people. One has to look at their successes in spite of the odds against them over time and see how successful in many ways they are, as the world judges it. This makes one still wonder about their status as Chosen People, given their stature in the world. But given what follows, I think we have to leave that to God at this point and not to this detailed time-framed understanding of history that has come out of some branches of The Church since the late 19th century, known to some as ‘dispensationalism.’

The point that I want to remind some readers of, which I know is very contentious for many, is that the Christian church, by and large, and officially, seems to have taken the view spelled out by New Testament writers such as The Apostle Paul in Romans. This understanding was that, based on the teachings of Jesus and New Testament writers, Abraham's status and being the recipient of the covenant with all of its promises, including conditions, was because of his faith and that all of those who have the same faith in God, are also equally part of God's people. Essentially, the view was that The Church, whether Jew or Gentile, to use the New Testament Language, now embodied The People of God and the same promises that were given to the Jews in the Old Testament are given to The Church.

Indeed, The Apostle Paul, being a devout Jew, anguished greatly over this whole affair, as we can see especially in chapters 9-11 of Romans. However, even though he appeared to be unable to let go of the idea that God still had a special affinity for the Jews and a special place for them in the outcome of history, he settled with that on “the back burner,” as it were. This is a question that to some extent though has continued to challenge many in the church ever since. Of course, for those who espoused Zionism in the late 19th century and subsequently, there is no trouble for them. This is because they would appear to interpret the Old Testament as being equally applicable in all of its "inerrant and literal" presentation, as they would say, as to what the New Testament says. This is not how The Church over most of its history and in most of its branches understood the Bible and certainly not how Anabaptists/Mennonites have historically understood the Bible. We believe that Jesus was the ultimate representation of God and transmitter of his teachings and values and therefore try to look at the Old Testament as it appears that Jesus did. As I suggested above, this has historically been taken to mean that the promises of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants may no longer be as literally applicable as they were prior to Jesus' coming. It is not as clear at all, based on the New Testament, what the place of the Jews now is in God’s plans, if they are not Christian, as it appears to be to the Zionists, if you still interpret the Old Testament with equal weight to the new.

The Zionists like to criticize the Christians who do not espouse their views as being anti-Jew, anti-Semitic. They accuse them of being guilty of ‘replacement theology.’ Actually, the accused are just continuing to believe what the Church has understood the Bible as a whole to say since the time of Jesus. They have not adopted any new theology. The Zionists have just given traditional orthodox beliefs a new name to look as though the non-Zionists are erring and have adopted something new. This is not necessarily the case. We non-Zionist Christians are just opposed to the injustices and propaganda they perpetrate and how they let themselves be used by the Israeli state for its own purposes. We should remember that not all of the Jews in Israel even support their own government's anti-Palestinian policies. We non-Zionist Christians are just trying to  point out to our brothers and sisters that they err, often unknowingly, in being drawn into a propaganda war against Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims, in the name of their interpretation of Scripture, or for their political ends. That leads me to another blog instalment about the importance of names and words used in this area. Come back for that another day.