But if we stay confined to this world we slowly starve to death, because our nourishment comes from higher sources. “Give us this day our daily bread.” “Jesus answered, It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’”(Matt 4:4).

The nefesh “concrete action” soul works shoulder to shoulder with God doing the work of the Kingdom, but also reserves some time for higher soul neshamah contact with God, mind to Mind, face to Face encounter with the God we love and extole. I explained the levels of the soul and their workings in a previous post.

For all this applies to the rational soul, which is the lower one in man. But in the higher, divine soul, which is a part of God above, all the internal and external attributes are [devoted] to God alone. For because of the love of God and of one’s great desire to cleave to Him, “One takes delight in chesed” [Allusion to Micah 7:18] in order to cleave to His attributes. (All Tanya quotes are from Tanya Bilingual Edition) ^[1]

Cleaving to His attributes means becoming like Him in His ways and characteristics, growing in character. “If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him—” (Deut 11:22). To hold fast to Him is devequt, to cleave, bond or unite. It makes its first appearance in Scripture in Gen 2:24, “A man leaves his father and mother and is united (devequt) to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

To cleave to God is to devote your flesh, your mind, your heart, and your strength- your entire physical existence, to His will, enacting His attributes in human relationships. We live out God’s chesed with our generosity to the poor and suffering. We enact His gevurah, His boundaries, when we refuse to listen to gossip and put distance between ourselves and sources of sin.

And likewise to glorify God and His Torah… to cleave to His praises with all the faculties of the soul, that is, with the contemplation of the intellect and thought and [in conversation]. Likewise, to prevail triumphantly against anything that would restrain from the service of God…[and] “the glory of God filling all the earth.”

And likewise to prostrate oneself and to laud the Lord who animates and makes all there is… to thank the Lord for all the favors He has bestowed upon us… [to praise the Lord for His] attributes and workings in the emanation and creation of the upper and lower worlds, for they are praiseworthy to no end…

The thoughts we habitually dwell on produce the attitude we bring to each encounter, our assumptions and goals in every relationship. If we are preoccupied by the glory and beauty of our God in an attitude of praise, we see each person as one of His beloveds, someone to serve and care for rather than a source of income, attention, or status for our little ego.

And likewise with the attribute of tzaddik yesod olam [Prov 10:25, lit, righteousness is the foundation of the world], that his soul be bound up in the Lord, the Fountainhead of life, and cleave to Him by an attachment and desire out of a wonderous love and delight.

And as to the attribute of malkhut – to receive upon himself the yoke of His sovereignty and of His service, as the service of any servant to his master, i.e., out of awe and fear.

Real life cleaving, devequt

We cleave to God not just in the prayer closet or in Church services but in real life, our comings and goings, the way we make a sale, open an account, engage a client or customer, hear a complaint, spend our time, money and effort. The “how” and “why” of our life expresses itself in a million small decisions, words, and deeds every day.

Now the source and root of all the attributes are of the chabad (wisdom, understanding and knowledge). That is chochmah is the source of the intellect which apprehends the Lord and His wisdom, His greatness, and His holy attributes wherewith He conducts and animates all the upper and lower worlds.

Binah is the contemplation on this apprehension in the length, width, and depth of His understanding… and to beget from this apprehension its offspring, i.e., the attributes of love and awe… born in the Divine soul [the indwelling Holy Spirit] which cogitates and contemplates on the greatness of the Lord, how His greatness is unfathomable.

Growth in our connection to God requires an investment in time and effort studying His word both in Scripture and in Creation. He is the Source of all things, powers, and forms. God’s word expressed in nature, life, and human variety, culture, and creativity reveals His astounding power and beauty. His greatness is unfathomable.

We can participate in God’s massive production of life, love, and goodness by our daily decisions, words and deeds in response to the needs and problems that surround us. Each one is an opportunity to cleave to God by being and doing in this world as He is and does in the massive reality we tap into when we give as He gives and love as He loves.

The express form of mitzvatecha (Your mitzvah) refers to the precept of charity, which is truly the mitzvah of the Lord, which the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, in all His majesty, performs at all times by animating the worlds, and will do so in the future with exceeding uplifting and force. As it is written: “And they shall observe the way of the Lord, to do Tzedakah…”

And this is the meaning of “mitzvatecha is very wide.” The precept of charity, which is a vessel and a very wide area in which the radiation from the light of the En Sof, blessed be He, is invested, which in the future [the Messianic Kingdom] will radiate without limit and end, because of the gratuitous kindness [of humans] in the arousal from below, called “the way of the Lord.”

Spiritual delights

It is written: “How fair and how pleasant are you, ahavah betaanugim (love with delights), meaning one is in a state of wondrous delight over God, with a great and immense joy, the joy of the soul and its yearning as it discerns that the Lord is good and delightful as wondrously sweet delights.

Devequt is communion with God, both in action and in prayer. With consistent “practice of the presence of God,” knowing His fond regard in every situation, we come to perceive His joy and delight in us. The resulting mood and sensation is known as “consolations” in Catholic literature, the Joy of the Lord by Protestants, “slain in the Spirit” by Pentecostals, and ahavah betaanugim in Jewish circles.

“My soul clings (devequt) to You; Your right hand upholds me” (Ps 63:8). Experiencing the intimate giving agape love of God at the heart level necessarily involves somatic sensations of affection that each person experiences uniquely. We rise up to the world of Yetzirah, formation, as the love of God takes shape and form that is perceived by us. It is a little taste of heaven. (The levels of the heavens are described in this post.)

Some type of sensation of affection, a warmth, an embrace, a touch, a kiss, a close presence is quite common, almost universal, when deep intimacy with God is consented to by the soul. “Let he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” (Song 1:2).

Observant Jews have experienced this for centuries in meditation on the Torah and in deep prayer. They consider it a high and deep stage of spiritual development, an attachment to God attained in prayer and devotion, a mental and emotional pre-occupation with God, much like I have described here. ^[2]

Rebbe Nachman says, “The height of hitbodidut-meditation (secluded) is when, because of your great longing to unite with God, you feel your soul bound to your body by no more than a single strand. Is there anything better to strive for in this life?” ^[3] In the Jewish experience, these devequt were sometimes associated with dancing or leaping, acrobatics for those with the capability, and they describe it as an ecstatic experience with God.

The more mystical and devoted rabbis experienced visions of Elijah, conversations and interactions that were highly prophetic, much like Christian mystics have had encounters with Jesus through the ages.

And of this it is written: “Rejoice ,tzaddikim, in the Lord,” and not everyone merits this. This is the rank….of kahana bi’reuta deliba, of which it is said: “A service of gift…” and the stranger that comes close….” For there is no way to attain it by human effort…. But this great love [the ahavah betaanugim] comes from above to dwell and to become united with the yirah (awe).

[In response to this is] the second type [of love], a love and desire that the soul desires, loves, and wishes to cleave to the Lord, “to be bound up in the bundle of life.” (1 Sam 25:29) The proximity to God is very dear to her (the soul) and that is what she desires. It is most grievous for her to become, Heaven forfend, removed from Him, blessed be He…

The only thing that can separate the soul from God at this level is sin.

Therefore man’s service to his Maker needs to be in strengthening himself to prevail over the kelipah (temptations and weaknesses) by all means. That is first to expel it completely from the body – from the (faculties of) thought, speech, and action… after that he will also “bring out the captive from prison” with a strong hand. This is, “his heart is strong and steadfast among the valiant, “ so that the love will become revealed in a state of great manifestation in all the powers of the soul and body….

[In this state] the mind will constantly think and contemplate on the Creator, Blessed be He, how He is the Fountainhead of life in general, and of the live of his soul in particular. Consequently, he will yearn and desire to become attached to Him (devequt), and near Him, like a child that years to be constantly near his father, and as fire which by its very nature always rises upwards towards its source. …

Also of this yearning and of this love concealed in us we pray to God to aid us in bringing it out from imprisonment, that the heart be full of it alone, and that its “rival wife,” i.e., mundane desires, do not enter its house. Rather, (this yearning and love) be the mistress of the house, to rule over the “rival wife” and to expel her at least from ones thought speech and action.

Though one cannot expel her altogether from ones heart, she should at least be hidden, in a state of exile and servitude to the mistress of the house, her mistress to make use of her for her own essentials only, as eating and drinking, as it is written: “In all your ways, know Him.”

We Christians had no idea of the depth of love for God throbbing under those black coats and hats in New York City. We had no appreciation for the intimacy of the Jewish connection with God, the devekut and total absorption of mind and heart on the Creator.

The coming revelation

Tzadikka Charity [and righteousness] is a capacity for a manifestation and radiation of the light of En Sof, blessed be He, which encompasses all worlds, so that in the future, at the Resurrection of the dead, it will radiate, and become manifest, even to this world, through the arousal from below as an expression of charity and gratuitous kindness, with an uplifting and force infinitely exceeding the state of manifestation of the radiation in the upper and lower Garden of Eden.

That manifestation is now at hand. “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance” (Dan 12:13). The resurrection of the dead is solid Jewish and Christian doctrine. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power” (1 Cor 15:22-24).

“But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise— let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy— your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead” (Is 26:19). The earth gives birth in the usual way in response to the Lord’s command. If we believed in reincarnation, we would know that all have been made alive. In my lifetime the world population has nearly tripled, to 8 billion. All the souls who have ever lived, through however many lifetimes, are alive now to witness the end.

Each one has now lived a lifetime under more or less the same conditions, in modern civilization, and had one last opportunity to repent and be faithful. Right now 8 billion people are deciding whether to bless Abraham or curse him. “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3).

“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress, the likes of which will not have occurred from the beginning of nations until that time. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan 12:1-2).

The time of distress began in the 1930s, with the depression, WW2, the holocaust, and subsequent establishment of Israel. It continues now as radical Islam seeks to wipe Israel off the map and destroy every living Jew and Christian. Everyone is making a judgement, choosing a side. Our souls once insisted to God we had learned, we repent, we would not hate the Jews anymore. Now we are proving our repentance - or not.

For in the future all the souls of the tzaddikim, and of the Tannaim and the prophets that are now in the Higher Garden of Eden, at the peak levels, will become vested in their bodies, and they will arise at the time of the resurrection.

For as is known, the delight of the souls in the Garden of Eden derives from the apprehension of the secrets of the Torah with which one busied oneself in this world with the revealed (parts of Torah).

Messianic consciousness

An expanded consciousness is sweeping the globe at this time. The One we know as Christ, the first emanation of God the Jews know as Adam Kadmon, is about to reveal Himself and will be enthroned upon the praises of Israel. (An extended explanation of Adam Kadmon can be found here.)

The manifestation of the radiation [of Divine light] at the time of the resurrections will be from the levels of sovev kol almin (surrounding all worlds), which is not in a state of contraction, measure, and limit [finitude], but without limit and end. This is the meaning of what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “And the crowns on their heads and they take delight…” (Berachot 17a).

A crown (atarah) is something that encompasses and encircles, and is called keter, an idiom of koteret. [Keter] is an aspect of the intermediary which joins the radiation of the Emanator, the En Sof, blessed be He, to the emanated. And in the future it will radiate and become revealed in this world to all the righteous who will rise with the resurrection.

Messianic consciousness includes spiritual sensitivity to the chochmah and binah flowing out of heaven all the time. We transcend our individual consciousness as the veil over the subconscious supra-consciousness is split from top to bottom, and a river of insight, revelation, and compassion is released, producing growth, and maturing spiritual fruit.

“Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. He looked and saw a well in the field, and near it lay three flocks of sheep, because the sheep were watered from this well. And a large stone covered the mouth of the well” (Gen 29:1-2). Jacob watered his flock, the flock he would father with Rachel, deep draughts of the Spirit of God. “Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted his voice and wept” (Gen 29:11 NASB).

Jacob saw the centuries unfolding, and the world drinking from the well of the One God, the suffering of the servant nation Israel, and the Sufferer on the cross. “’Look,’ said Jacob, ‘it is still broad daylight; it is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.’ But they replied, ‘We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep’” (Gen 29:7-8).

At high noon it was too early to bring the flocks together and reveal the Cornerstone. But now it is evening, the twilight of this era, and the flocks are gathering all over the world to drink of messianic consciousness, the well revealed when the stone is rolled away. The stone that was rolled away in Jerusalem revealing the resurrection of Christ opened the portals of Torah to the world at large.

The life that flows when the stone is rolled away is for all the flocks, every repentant sinner drinks of the Mercy of God, empowered by Him to live a holy life. “The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (Rev 5:6). As we transcend our tribalism, we roll the stone away and water God’s flocks.

Our God surrounds the worlds, transcends His created beings, far above any religion, nationality, race or class. God withdrew His Will to provide spiritual space for human will. With our obedience to His laws we extend God’s Will into this world and transform it. “Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done.”

“But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power” (1 Cor 15:22-24). Those who “belong to him” are those who obey him, pursue his righteousness, consciously and deliberately choose to enact the Will of God.

Soon the veil will be pulled back and we will see the vast spiritual world that has been there all the while, concealed in order to impart to us free will. “Till your people cross over, O LORD, Till your people cross over whom You have ransomed” (Ex 15:16 JPS). We don’t lose our identity, male / female, cultural heritage, religion, or political party, only the need to defend the superiority of our tribe and its ego.

Mutual respect

Our Christian prayer in the name of Jesus releases massive power on high that changes lives and heals wounds. We know that; we experience it every day. Jewish prayer also releases massive spiritual power, mercy and forgiveness, divine light and wisdom that expands human consciousness into Cosmic Consciousness. They know that; they experience it every day.

If we were to honor each other and appreciate what each of us is accomplishing in prayer, and by our sacraments and holy days, the kingdom of God would be expanded and enlightened. “Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you” (Deut 16:17).

When we respect Jewish prayer, we benefit from the spiritual power they release. When they respect Christian prayer, they benefit from the spiritual power we release. We have no idea what could happen if we linked spiritual hands and prayed for one other, each in our own way, for the kingdom of God to come on earth even as it is in heaven.

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

^[1] Tanya Bilingual Edition p. 516-534

^[2] Levenson, Rabbi Jon D. The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism. (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2016) p 149.

^[3] Nachman, Rebbe of Breslov. The Empty Chair. p 94. (Buddhists call this experience nirvana.)

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To order my book Climbing Jacob's Ladder

To order my book Esau's Kiss

The atmosphere is festive and generous like our Christmas season. And the underlying theology is just as earth shattering as the incarnation of Christ. God had literally split the sky, descended in flames and thunder, and imparted His Law to the people. The sounding of the shofar celebrates that epiphany and anticipates its fulfillment.

Rosh Hashanah is Judaism’s dress rehearsal for the enthronement of the King. They have been practicing for the Advent of Messiah for centuries, sounding the shofar and preparing for the Great White Throne of Judgement. “Israel, prepare to meet your God” (Amos 4:12).

Jesus never despised the Torah festivals, but our Church Fathers certainly did. In the 4th century, they were fighting off pagan deities and customs, Arians and assorted heretics, while simultaneously attacking Judaism as our most serious menace. And indeed it was.

Despite Constantine’s hostility to Jews, many Christians were attracted to Jewish traditions, perhaps in the knowledge that Jesus was in fact a Jew. Repeatedly over hundreds of years the major bishops excoriated Christians for attending synagogue on Sabbath and participating in Jewish festivals. The repeated injunctions, with accelerating penalties, up to and including death, reflected a population that was attracted to Judaism as the religion of Jesus, over the one that was about Jesus.

One of the most vocal and virulent Jew-haters was The Archbishop of Constantinople, John Chrysostom. His community was caught red handed vising a synagogue on Rosh Hashanah – and missing church services to do so. Their interest and devotion offended Chrysostom’s religious ego. He leveled his most virulent rhetoric against it.

These feasts of theirs are not yet over; some traces still remain. Their trumpets were a greater outrage than those heard in the theaters; their feasts were more disgraceful than any drunken revel. So, too, the tents which at this moment are pitched among them are no better than the inns where harlots and flute girls ply their trades. Let no one condemn me for the boldness of my words; it is the height of boldness and outrage not to suspect the Jews of these excesses. Since they stubbornly fight against GOD and resist the HOLY SPIRIT, how can we avoid the necessity of passing such sentence upon them? This festival used to be a holy one when it was observed according to the Law and at God’s command. But this is no longer true. All its dignity has been destroyed because it is observed against God’s will…But we are the ones who honor the Law above all others. ^[1] So then, you ran to hear the Trumpets? Tell me: With those murderers? With those charlatans? With those delirious and raving-mad Jews? ^[2]

How’s that for some Christian love and charity?

There was plenty more where that came from.

What really happens at Rosh Hashanah

“Forever are the eyes of the Lord your God upon it (the holy land), from the beginning of the ear to the end” (Deut 11:12). Now (the phrase) “to the end” is apparently incomprehensible, for at the end of one year begins the second year…. ^[3]

The foundation of the eretz ha’elyonah (upper land) [i.e. the eterz chafetz (desirable land)] that is …. called by its name eretz hachayim (land of life) issues from the efflux and radiation from the Supreme chochmah (Wisdom) which is the source of supernal life… (Tanya p. 502)

The Supernal Light is the power and love of God that animates and sustains the physical world. God withdrew His All-powerful Will for a time to permit the development and flowering of human will, knowing full well what would happen. He has sustained this world despite its wickedness and depravity for many centuries, but He has not handed over the deed to it to us. It still belongs to Him.

This radiation and efflux is renewed annually [at Rosh Hashanah] by a truly new light. For He, blessed be He, and His chochmah are one, in an absolute unity and it (the light) is called “the light of En Sof,” because there is no limit and no end to the quality and greatness of the light and vitality that issues forth from Him, blessed be He, and from his chochmah, by way of elevation upon elevation to no end or limit, to the peak of the highest levels. (Tanya p. 504)

As humanity has developed and matured over the centuries, God has increased the light of Divine Consciousness from year to year. Humanity progressed from blind superstition to the knowledge of the Uncreated One in steps and phases. The revelation given to Abraham has spread through East and West, North and South, no one can say “I never knew.”

And every year there descends and radiates a new and renewed light which never yet shone from the Supreme chochmah to the eretz ha’elyonah. For the light of every year withdraws to its Source on the eve of Rosh Hashanah “When the moon is covered.” And by means of the blowing of the shofar and of the prayers, a new supernal light [of yet higher rank in the sphere of the supreme chochmah] is elicited to radiate to the eretz ha’elyonah and them that dwell upon it, i.e., all the upper and lower worlds that receive their vitality from it…. “For with You is the source of life, in Your light we see light” (Tanya p. 504)

Over the past few years we have noticed a dramatic change in the spiritual environment of this world. On one hand, physicists and philosophers have acknowledged the Uncreated One as the Consciousness of the Universe, the rational knowing that underlies all reality. On the other hand, humans all over the world are succumbing to the most irrational hatred against Jews, one they swore would end in 1945. It didn’t.

“The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands” (Rev 9:20).

In a very specific way, this takes place every day. More sublime mochin (intellect) are elicited by every morning prayer… In a general way, with respect to the world as a whole during the six thousand years, this occurs every Rosh Hashanah…. Now this radiation and efflux, though it is continuous, nevertheless is not on one plane and level only since the beginning of the world. For every year there is a new supernal light…. A more sublime light descends, so sublime a light as has never shone yet since the beginning of the world. (Tanya p. 504)

There is more divine light on this planet, more knowledge about God, more spiritual involvement, more yoga positions, mantras, churches, and books about Jesus than in any previous era. And yet there is more hatred, more murder, more cruelty and neglect than at any time in human history.

“And [they] cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done” (Rev 16:11).

And [the divine light] vests itself and conceals itself in the eretz hachayim (land of life) of above and below in order to animate all the worlds. However its manifestation – from this concealment- depends on the action of those below, and on their merit and penitence during the Ten Days of Penitence. (Tanya p. 506)

The quality of repentance on this earth is dismal. “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt 3:8). We delight to pass judgement on other people, but our self-righteousness blinds us to our own sins. Respect for other people produces compassion for sinners, while self-righteousness produces only contempt. That contempt is now focused on the people of Israel all over the world like a laser.

“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it” (Ezek 9:4).

“And from my flesh I shall behold God” (Job 19:26) … refers to understanding somewhat of His Godliness, blessed be He, (by reflecting on) the soul which is invested in the flesh of man. In accordance with the saying of the Zohar on the verse: “He breathed into his nostrils a soul of life”: “He who exhales, exhales from within himself.” … (see post of Oct 13, 2025) Thus it follows that the light of the En Sof, blessed be He, radiates in the soul (neshamah) of man as well….And from (the soul) man is able to understand somewhat of the supernal sefirot, for they all radiate in his soul. (Tanya p. 508)

Everyone, regardless of religion, knows what is right and what is wrong. Every human soul has enough light to see evil, avoid it, despise it, refuse it, even if their religion, social circle, or internet influencer commands it.

End of days

“Forever are the eyes of the Lord your God upon it (the holy land), from the beginning of the year to the end” (Deut 11:12). “To the end,” ad acharit, also alludes to the end of days, when the final shofar sounds and all humanity hears the brumm, brumm, brumb brum brum of God’s highway sleeper lines signaling the end of an era.

We Christians anticipate a massive cosmic vacuum cleaner to evacuate all of us to spiritual bliss. A Biblical “elevation” is a spiritual elevation in which one’s level of consciousness is dramatically raised. It happened every day, twice a day, at the morning and afternoon elevation offerings in the Temple.

Meeting Christ in the air means understanding him completely, knowing who and where we are, and enthroning him in our hearts and lives on earth. The Kingdom of God is at hand, the final and complete rule of God over His material creation with the enthronement of Messiah on the Earth.

We Christians won’t know what to do or what to say. We have neglected Rosh Hashanah to the point that we don’t even know what it means. Judaism has been rehearsing for it for centuries. Messiah expects to be enthroned on the praises of his people. We can’t even hum the tunes.

Last year I wrote a series of posts in preparation for Rosh Hashanah, beginning with this one, and I won’t repeat all that. We Christians have never really noticed the Biblical Feast of Trumpets, even though it was a major part of Jesus’ life as a Jew. We were taught that all that Old Testament stuff was over and done with, a dead letter. We were lied to.

This year Rosh Hashanah runs from Sept 11-13^th and is broadcast on numerous Jewish synagogue websites. It conveniently occupies a weekend so we might have time to tune in for a few minutes. The service is in Hebrew, but many synagogues have simultaneous English translation scrolling at the bottom of the screen, and all available Siddurs (prayer books) have English translation.

It is honestly non-toxic to hold a siddur in your hand and even read it. Nothing will explode. You won’t lose your faith in Jesus. The gates of hell will not open under your feet and swallow you alive. You can buy one on Amazon and it comes in a plain brown box with a curved arrow on it – no Jewish markings at all. For Rosh Hashanah get the siddur marked Sabbath and Holy Days.

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

^[1] Homily Against the Jews 7, section I, paragraph 3, https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/chrysostom_adversus_-judaeos_07_homily7.htm

^[2] Homily Against the Jews 2, lost portion, section I paragraph 12 https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/chrysostom_-adversus_judaeos_02_lost_portion.htm

^[3] All Tanya Quotations are from Tanya the Bilingual Edition, beginning page 500.

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To order my book Climbing Jacob's Ladder

To order my book Esau's Kiss

We read that as terror and dread, ascribing to the people the horror of impending destruction by our insatiable perfectionist deity. Surely smoke and fire portend imminent annihilation, right? The brutish God of the “Old Testament” who thought nothing of wiping out every man, woman, and child had nothing but wrath for the people unlucky enough to be His chosen ones. That is not what the rabbis remember.

The giving of the Torah was an expression of the unbounded love of God, so intense and overwhelming that the people cried out for relief from the glory and fierceness of His power and love. “’Speak to us yourself and we will listen,’ they said to Moses. ‘But do not let God speak to us, or we will die’” (Ex 20:19).

“There are various types of chesed (infinite unconditional love): there is chesed olam (of the world)… and there is chesed ilaah (from above) i.e., rav chesed (much grace and lovingkindness)….” … For not even a moment could man sustain in his heart so intense a love of God as is without end and limitation and still remain in existence in his body, as the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, that at the time of the Giving of the Torah [ which was a manifestation of His godliness, blessed be He, on a plane of speech and revelation] “their souls took flight” ^[2] Tanya pp. 474-8

Torah means “instruction”

We Christians associate the law with bondage and death, unreasonable restriction and punishment. That is not at all what it means to a Jew. Torah is a source of life and joy, a personal connection to God experienced all day long as they go from one commandment to another doing everything His way. Each tradition, ritual, and prayer is, to them, an opportunity to delight God, not a dreaded trap of failure and condemnation.

“From His right side a fiery law [was given] to them.” [Deut 33:2 ^[3]] This means: The root and source of Torah consists solely of the graces [chesed] of the Lord, which are referred to the right side [of the sefirot, tree of life]. (described in the post of Dec 10, 2025) That is, the elicitation of His Godliness, blessed be He, and of a radiation from the light of En Sof,’ blessed be He, to the upper and lower world. It is effected by a man who elicits the light upon himself by the fulfillment [of the commandments]. [Arousal from below which elicits an arousal from above]….

The commandments are vessels and garments for the radiation from the light of the En Sof, blessed be He, that is vested in them (as is known, with every commandment there issues forth to him awe and love from this light). However this efflux was first vested in the attribute of the gevurah (power and restraint) of the Holy One referred to as fire.

The fierce and powerful purity of God, infinite and uncontainable, are compressed into physical and spiritual commandments that instruct the finite and restricted human as to how to attain to the purity of the Holy One and thus become compatible to Him. (see post of Nov 7, 2025). God is not an unreasonable tyrant looking for the chance to condemn them! He is offering a roadmap helping them to come closer.

And God responds to the words and actions of the Jewish people. Arousal from below which elicits an arousal from above, an infusion of grace, just like we often experience the closeness of the Holy Spirit in prayer and study of scripture. How many times have you done some kindness for another person and felt the silent nod of divine joy and approval? Jews experience that too.

Torah speaks in the tone and manner common to the Bronze Age, and was heard first by Bronze Age people. The “demands” of the Torah are instructions giving guidance and direction. Perfection is neither commanded nor expected as humanity is, by definition, finite and limited in capacity and knowledge. Balancing God’s attribute of power and holiness, gevurah, is His love and compassion, chesed, the unrestricted flow of divine love, which is compared to water.

Fire and water

On the verse “He makes peace in His high places” (Job 25:2), [the Sages teach] “[The Archangel] Michael is the prince of water and Gabriel is the prince of fire, yet they do not extinguish each other.” That is, Michael is the prince of chesed – which is called water because it descends from a high place to a low place… [Gabriel], the aspect of fire [the nature of which is to soar upward] is the category of gevurah [judgement], of a withdrawal of the effusion of vivification….

Now these are conflicting attributes… when they are in the mode of separate attributes. But the Holy One, blessed be He, [Source of both infinite holiness and infinite love] makes peace between them. And thus the opposing attributes of Michael and Gabriel are absorbed in their source and root, and become truly unified and dissolve into His light…

The gevurot (judgements) are tempered and sweetened in the chasidim by a mediary – the factor which harmonizes and leans toward chesed, the attribute of rachamim, mercies. In the terminology of Kabbalists (this attribute) is called tiferet (literally beauty). For here the degree of the manifestation of the light of En Sof, blessed be He, is of an immense illumination, surpassing that of His other blessed attributes. Tanya p. 488-90

Tiferet, the mercy of God, is in the center of the sefirot, between chesed, unconditional love and grace, and gevurah, holiness and judgement, directly below and on the same plane as keter, the Supernal will of God.

Midrash has it that God said at the time of creation: “If I create the world on the basis of mercy alone, its sins will be great; on the basis of judgment alone, the world cannot exist. Hence, I will create it on the basis of judgment and of mercy and may it then stand.” ^[4] Knowing full well that finite beings could not keep infinite holiness, God’s will was directly accomplished by tiferet, mercy and compassion, the one we know as Jesus. Israel knows him at his soul root in YHVH.

The power of repentance

But he who has strayed from the path [of the commandments]… has perverted his way [thus causing deficiencies in the kodesh ha’elyon (upper holiness), that is, he has diminished … the efflux he could have elicited from the aspect of His Divinity and the radiation from the light of the En Sof, blessed be He…. Such perversion cannot be rectified save by an efflux of the Supreme light which transcends the worlds… This is called chesed ilaah and rav chesed, because it radiates and extends in a state of infinitude without limit and measure [encompassing over the worlds].

Now when man draws it downward through his deeds [of repentance] and the arousal from below, this Supreme light will radiate and expand within the worlds and rectify all perversions and deficiencies caused in the kodesh ha’elyon, renewing their light and goodness with exceeding uplifting and strength on the level of a truly new light. That is why they said that “In the place where penitents stand [even the perfectly righteous cannot stand].”

Now the essence of repentance (teshuvah) is in the heart, for through contrition from the depth of the heart one arouses the depth of Supreme light. But in order to elicit this light so that it will radiate… it is essential that there truly be an arousal from below, in the mode of action, [truly forsaking the sin and doing the commandment, which is epitomized in] an act of charity and kindness that is without limit and measure. For just as man diffuses rav chesed without setting a limit and measure to his giving….the Holy One likewise diffuses His light … without limit or measure.

Now, this type of unlimited kindness if called by the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, “the graces of the Lord,” and it is written: “and the chesed of the Lord is everlasting…” … The Holy One, blessed be He, is called the En Sof, and to His attributes there is no end, as it is written: “For His compassions are not exhausted.” Tanya, pp. 478-482

Grace and truth

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). We Christians assume there was no grace or truth on the earth until Jesus brought it. It is certainly true that we heathen had no access to either grace or truth before the advent of Christ, but Israel has always had an abundance of both. “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love” (Psalm 103:8). “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6).

The sound of the shofar announcing the giving of the law, Torah, was the giving of grace and truth to the Jewish people. The law contained an abundance of mechanisms of grace, forgiveness upon proper repentance, and restoration of an intimate and personal love relationship with God. “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Atonement was never confined to blood sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible.

Leviticus 17:11 states, “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” The corresponding verse in the New Testament says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb 9:22 NLT emphasis added). The life of a creature is in the blood, and God has given it to us in Jesus, but blood is not the only method of atonement.

“Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them” (Num 16:47), “Gold articles each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD” (Num 31:50), and a half shekel, “A memorial for the Israelites before the LORD, making atonement for your lives” (Ex 30:15). Incense is a symbol of prayer; gold is a picture of quality and beauty; the shekel is their strength.

The sacrifice of atonement is not limited to blood but is to “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut 6:5). Our life and strength is in the blood, but is also in our assets, our prayer, our repentance, our time and energy, our very life.

Proper repentance is essential to any biblical atonement. “To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice” (Proverbs 21:3), and “Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed” (Daniel 4:27). Atonement (at – one - ment) to the LORD is an alignment, heart to Heart, soul to Soul, and strength to Strength.

Blood is the life of the creature, and it is the life of the creature that God wants. Animal sacrifice was a teaching tool. “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams” (1 Sam 15:22).

“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth, … remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:11-12). We were lost in a sea of idolatry, but they weren’t. Israel already had Christ as he eternally existed within the One Uncreated YHVH. If we believe in the Trinity, we must also believe in the salvation of every repentant Jew.

This conflicted world

In this base world, due to the sin of Adam, is mingled good and evil, and the evil rules over the good as it is written, “While man rules in man…” [“There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt” (Eccl 8:9).], and “Nation will overpower nation.” (Gen 25:23). This is empirically evident with terrestrial man… for sometimes the good prevails, and sometimes the reverse.

Therefore there will be no peace in the world until the time of the end, when the good shall be disencumbered from the evil to become attached to its root and source, the Source of Life, blessed be He. For then all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered and the spirit of impurity shall pass from the earth, i.e., when the element of the good which sustains it shall be extracted from its midst.

This disencumberment (birur) itself will also be through a manifestation of His Divinity below, with a great illumination and immense effulgence, as it is written: “For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,” and “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed…” Now this is as regards the future of the world.

Judaism does not have a doctrine of “the rapture.” There is no expectation of an instantaneous and supernatural evacuation of all Jews from the earth, rather “the meek will inherit the earth.” Evil will be scattered and vanish in a moment when free will has played out its role and good is finally separated from evil.

But as regards terrestrial man, at every “time of finding,” meaning prayer, or at other times designated to seclude oneself with one’s Maker, each one, commensurate with his actions, merits a reflection of this birur by means of engagement with Torah lishmah (for its own sake, no ulterior motive, only because of the irresistible beauty of God’s word), and likewise with charity. “Through tzedek I will behold Your Countenance”

[This is] the rank of a manifest illumination and effusion of knowledge and reason, to contemplate on the greatness of God, thereof to beget the intellectual awe and love, as is known. And through this we extract the good for God, and separate the evil… Tanya pp. 490-492

The power of giving charity

Even so, after prayer it is possible that the evil will easily reawaken and become intermingled with the good as one walks in the darkness of this world. But through charity, which is in the mode of avodah (intense, serving God, giving more than in the nature of our own compassion and will), its rank is extremely glorious and great [because one abnegates his nature and bodily will before the will of the Supreme One, blessed be He]…

“On hearing this, Jesus told him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ But when the ruler heard this, he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy” (Luke 18:22-23).

The man then subdues the sitra achara (demonic side), and raises the glory of the Holy One. … And evil can no longer reawaken so easily of itself, unless man should arouse it and draw it upon himself…. The dregs are then completely separated from the wine and fall completely netherward, while the wine above is wholly pure and clear.

In an analogous manner it is with the avodah of charity: the dregs are the mixture of evil in his soul which is gradually extricated and separated until it falls netherward to its source and root, as it is written, “And You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Our power over temptation is proportional to our relinquishment of our earthly treasure, and this relinquishment is empowered by the joy of giving to those less fortunate. We participate in the chesed of God when we give in charity to them. Jesus knew the power of charity to loosen our attachment to earthly treasures and carnal temptation.

Jews are not “bribing God” or “buying grace” when they associate giving charity with atonement. We attribute a transactional motive to the tradition of charitable giving at Yom Kippur. We miss the point, And we avoid the implications of Jesus’ advice to the rich young ruler and to us. We would be much stronger Christians if we really studied Rabbinic Judaism and its literature.

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

^[1] David Hartman. Epistles of Maimonides: Crisis and Leadership. Translations by Abraham Halkin. (Jerusalem Jewish Publication Society, 1985) p. 113.

^[2] Quoting Talmud, Shabbos 88b, “With every statement that emanated from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed be He, the souls of the Jewish people departed from their bodies… Now since their souls departed after the first statement, how could they receive the second statement? [God] brought down the dew with which He will resurrect the dead in the future, and He resurrected them, as it is said [Psalm 68:10]: ‘A generous rain did You lavish, O God, when Your heritage was weary You established it firmly.’”

^[3] “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand” (Deut 33:2 BSB).

^[4] Maurice Simon and Rabbi Dr. H. Freedman. Midrash Rabbah Genesis p.99.

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Yeshu’ot is in the plural and normally translated “deliverances.” It forms the foundation of the name we know as Jesus. It can be translated “salvation,” “restoration,” “rescue,” and “redemption.” The first letter, yod, refers to God and qualifies the term to mean “God saves us,” God’s salvation applied to many people.

The image of righteousness and generosity being sown in the ground resulting in the growth of new life is a common one in scripture, and Jesus applied it explicitly to himself in John’s Gospel. “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). Wheat in particular, being the foundation of bread, is a picture of abundance; not just rescue but prolific, exuberant life and growth.

Firstfruits

The first-fruits of God’s righteousness sown in humanity was Israel.

In most of the world our shamans and seers saw only darkness and confusion, a world of good and evil spirits, and heard chaotic instructions to discern the omens by reading the entrails of a sacrificial animal, walk on burning embers, or pass our children through the fire to approach God.

One man in the city of Ur of Chaldea, a major center of magic and idolatry, saw through the spiritual darkness. Abraham saw through the morass of spirits to a Light that was transcendent, a Being that gave being to the fire, water, and wind worshipped at Ur. He insisted that God was One, a pervasive Consciousness that could not be represented in any image.

God’s revelation of Himself to Abraham as the One Uncaused Source of All was unique in the ancient world. A coherent ethic including compassion for the weak and poor was unheard of in a world where might made right. A condition in which the king of a nation was held to divine standards, rather than exerting unchecked power and ascribing it to divine authority, was revolutionary.

Humanity was to be rescued, delivered from the rule of savage barbarians and placed under the rule of a David figure who loved God more than any amount of human power. All of humanity would be the lions and bears who would lie down with the lambs and eat straw like the ox. Human nature would be transformed into God’s nature, not by a magic spell but by genuine maturation of an entire species.

Growing season

The growing season for wheat is about four months. The growing season for humanity has been much longer. Human consciousness as we know it arose around 6000 years ago with the advent of written language. “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen 2:7).

Now capable of reflecting on abstract concepts, recording and storing our thoughts, and communicating with future generations, humanity opened a new chapter in its natural development. In this fertile ground, we could take on advanced thinking and commune with the God who had breathed us out from the depths of His heart.

It is written: “Through tzedek I will see Your face.” (Torat Shmuel – 5633, Vol 2, p. 463) This means that the manifestation of His Godliness, blessed be He, which becomes revealed in the thought of man and in his devotion during prayer, each according to his own measure, is a means of “charity” and the “chesed (unconditional love) of the Lord eternally upon those who fear Him….” (Psalms 103:17). Tanya p. 462

After millions of years, humans could now participate in the activities of angels. We could comprehend the incomprehensible nature of the Uncreated One, and engage in prayer.

This means, the light of the Lord, the En Sof, blessed be He, which radiates with a great illumination above in the upper worlds [which are the hechalot (chambers) with the angels and souls in them….] is in a state of so great and immense a manifestation that these (supernal creatures) are truly in a state of self-nullification [of ego]… absorbed in His light, blessed be He.

Now, this light, which is good, radiates from there to this lowly world, upon those that fear the Lord and esteem His Name by the “service of the heart – meaning prayer,” as it is written: “And the Lord will enlighten my darkness.” Now, the descent of this illumination downward to this world is called the “chesed of the Lord” – referred to as water, which descends from a high place to a low place…. (All quotes are from Tanya Bilingual Edition, this from p. 462)

Divine light concealed

There is a reason the world existed in spiritual darkness. Christians generally call this darkness “original sin” and attribute it to Adam in the Garden of Eden. Judaism calls this darkness tzimtzum, the retraction of God’s fullness to permit the existence of something other than God, extend to our world a space in God’s will in which human will could exist.

Now it is well known that above there is also an attribute of gevurah (strict judgement), and tzimtzum (withdrawal of God’s glory), to contract and conceal His light, blessed be He, to prevent it from becoming revealed to the lower worlds. Tanya p. 462

Seeds grow only in the dark, underground, while no one is watching. In this world of free will, the full effulgence of God’s light is concealed, permitting us to believe that we are lords of our own lives, free to lie, cheat and steal while nobody is looking. We think our thoughts are our own and no one knows what we are thinking. People know only what we tell them, but God has made it clear in scripture, “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar” (Psalm 139:2). In the light of His purity, everything in us is putrid and foul.

“Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field…. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared… Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn’” (Matt 13:24, 26, 30).

God will one day turn on Her tape recorder and replays our prayers, our thoughts, our words to us, pointing out their deficiencies, hidden arrogance, self-deception, resentment, self-pity, wrong desires and motivations. It will become clear that we are completely transparent to Her, like one of those aquarium fish in which you can see their internal organs through the skin.

God knows each one of us perfectly and intimately, from the inside, from the heart, where She lives and expresses Herself in power and love. She knows exactly where we are broken and confused, what lies we believe and why, how our hearts function and communicate, and what we are afraid of. She knows us far better than we know ourselves.

If we were aware of all that, we would have about as much free will as a robot. As C. S. Lewis teaches, “There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up.” Character development, or failure thereof, would be impossible to us if we knew before Whom we stand.

The impossibility of concealing anything from God would be obvious, Her power and authority overwhelming, and our duty to Her undeniable. It would be unthinkable to do wrong, and there would be no reward for doing right. No gradations in our obedience, no conditions under which we struggled and failed, no obstacles over which we prevailed, no lessons learned or character developed, no possibilities unrealized.

Faith is made strong by experiences of doubt and uncertainty. Endurance is built climbing up hill. Patience is proved by delay and seeming denial. Discernment is learned in the school of hard knocks. Humility and true self-respect are forged in the furnace of humiliation. Courage comes from acting in the face of real fear. Love is proved by enemies, not friends. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18).

For if man conducts himself with kindness by bestowing life and chesed, he arouses the same above, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “With the degree that man measures, it shall be measured to him.” Man deserves that the life of the World to Come be granted to him, [only] corresponding to his [human] bestowal of life in this world. Tanya p. 462

Growing seeds in the dark

“The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29).

Metaphorically speaking, the idea is like sowing seeds of planting kernels: the ear that sprouts from the seed, and the tree with its fruits from the kernel, their nature and essence are not that of the seed or kernel at all. For their nature and essence has been spent and is decayed in the soul.

It is the vegetative property in the soil itself which brings out and makes grow the ear, the tree, and its fruit; it is merely that it does not bring out and manifest its power outwardly, from potential to actuality, except through the seed and the kernel that are decayed in the soil and whose whole power has been consumed by the vegetative property in the soil – and they united and became one. Tanya p. 464

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:26). We were created in God’s image, but not in His likeness. God’s likeness we had to acquire, by subduing the wild and savage animals in our own nature and becoming “like” God. Darkness and decay provide the environment in which one seed can multiply and produce a crop of people who have freely chosen to become “like God,” in His image and likeness.

And that is how the vegetative property actualizes its potential and effuses vitality to make grown an ear of the kind of the seed, thought with a very great increase in every single ear, and likewise, many fruits on every tree. Precisely like this, every act of charity that Jewish people perform ascends in the sense of an “elevation of the mayim nukvin (feminine waters)” upward – to the root of their souls above. Tanya, p. 464

Through this elevation, the “chesed of the Lord” is aroused, i.e., a revelation of His light, blessed be He, to descend and radiate in a great and immense state of manifestation to the souls of Israel below, at least during the time of prayer. …

“He shines in the darkness as a light to the upright, He that is gracious, and merciful, and tzaddik,” For man, by being gracious and merciful and “tzaddik (righteous) – fond of tzedakot (acts of charity),” causes the light of God to shine to his soul which is vested in his body – which stands in darkness…. And this, when darkness is converted to light, is referred to as salvation (yeshu’ah).

And this is the meaning of “He causes yeshu’ot to sprout.” For this salvation sprouts from [the sowing of] the charity sown in the “upper land,” “the land of delight” – which is the Shekinah, and Knesset Yisrael, so called because it vests itself in the lower worlds to animate them, as it is written, “Your sovereignty is the sovereignty of all worlds.” And this applies most particularly when one sows in the nether Holy Land, which truly corresponds to it. Tanya p. 466.

Value of repentance

Human sin and wrongdoing is a given. God infused divine-level consciousness into a savage tribal animal body. There was no chance we would be holy and altruistic based only on our animal nature. Repentance and forgiveness was written into the story from day one.

[Genuine repentance] is a grade and level of “higher repentance” (teshuvah ilaah), inasmuch as it surpasses exceedingly all the life of the World to Come, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Better one hour of repentance and good deeds…” Tanya p. 464

“Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned” (Heb 6:7-8).

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal 6:7-8).

I come as one who reminds and awakens those who sleep the slumber of the vanities of vanities, and to open the eyes of the blind. Let them consider and see that throughout their life all their striving, longing, and aiming for all in which there is the “life of the spirit” be in “the source of the living waters [the Fountainhead of all life], with respect to the soul, as well as to the flesh [i.e., all mundane matters and occupations for livelihood].

Only this shall be befitting us when all our engagements with mundane affairs are not for their own sake but in order to vivify the souls, the portions of God, and to supply what they lack out of gratuitous kindness. For thereby we give the form a semblance to the Former – “the Lord is One,” for the chesed of God endures at all times to animate the universe and all that fills it, every single moment. Tanya p. 470

The love, the chesed of God, pours out of heaven without ceasing. Only in this blind, dark world could we think we are alone and apart from the God who created us in His bosom. And only here could we choose to love and obey Him in the face of challenge and temptation. “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” (Luke 8:15).

We prove our heart to God by loving other people

In these times, with the advent of the Messiah, the principal service of God is the service of charity, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Israel will be redeemed only through charity.” … With the advent of the Messiah, as “the Hut of David has fallen” to a level of “feet” and “heels” – which is the level of “Action” [Asiyah, this physical world]. There is no way of truly cleaving to it and to convert the darkness into light, except through a corresponding category of action, namely the act of charity, a diffusion and efflux of vitality to the nethermost – to him who has nothing of his own.

Whoever sacrifices his impulse in this respect and opens his hand and heart subdues the sitra achara (side of evil) and “converts the darkness into the light” of God, blessed be He, Who, with the advent of the Messiah, dwells over us in a state of action. And he will merit to “behold eye to eye, the Lord returning to Zion.” Tanya p. 470-474

Right now, this world is undergoing a shaking, a world-wide spasm of hatred against God’s first-born people, Israel. Despite real famine and genuine genocide going on in Africa, the worlds attention is riveted on Israel as she defends herself against threatened and attempted genocide in the Middle East.

It is not necessary to hate Palestinians in order to love Israel and fight for her right to exist. Peace with Israel and acceptance of her history and legitimacy is the only way Palestinians will know peace and prosperity. For the sake of the Palestinian people Hamas must be disarmed and dislodged from Gaza and the West Bank.

But every single human being on earth seems to have a strong opinion as to whether Israel deserves to live or die. All human hearts stand open and exposed to the God who created them.

It is time to reap the harvest and separate the wheat from the tares. “So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested” (Rev 14:16). “But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

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To order my book Climbing Jacob's Ladder

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The foundational existence of Uncreated Consciousness, Information, is at the base of everything else that exists.

Information is transmitted in code – binary, genetic, alphabetic, numerical, colors, musical notes, mathematical formulations, constants, and singularities. They are the foundation of thoughts, words, physics and chemistry, life and philosophy, art and music. Language is based upon information in code.

Even the most infinitely sublime worlds (of the heavens) are esteemed as truly naught before Him [the Uncreated Infinite One]. For all their bounty and vitality is but a gleam and reflection of a single letter of His Name, blessed be He, as it is stated: “The World to Come was created by the yod.” Tanya, p 450

Within timeless eternity and limitless existence, God by His Will and Wisdom, caused a microcosmic line of light to emanate and grow as a little apostrophe of existence that was not immediately reabsorbed into His Eternity and Infinity. That tiny apostrophe was the yod. Finitude and Time could then exist.

The sages describe this initial creative act in which God, the Uncreated Eternal Being, emanated, breathed out, we would say “begot” the first expression of His Will and Wisdom to exist apart from, within, besides Himself; known as Adam Kadmon (Primordial Man) or Adam Elyon (Highest Man), whom Paul taught us to call “Christ.” “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col 1:15). The Father loved the Son into existence, subject generating object by the power of eternal love.

The mystery of this emanation is profound. The One Infinite and Uncreated withdrew Himself from a sliver of Himself, leaving a void, into which He breathed out a letter, a beam of divine light. Within that yod, a tiny apostrophe within Uncreated Existence, He created untold worlds of life and love.

The difference between the Uncreated One and the divine power thus emanated, who we know as Christ, is both immense and at the same time naught. Time and space are a mere speck in the incomprehensible Infinity of the One. Nothing was removed from the infinite One to reduce Him. “I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed” (Mal 3:6). Yet it contains, within space-time finitude, the qualities and attributes of the Holy One.

Creation is / was not a one-and-done “event.” The creation process is continuously ongoing in timelessness. “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh) This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Ex 3:14). Actually, the verb tense, ehyeh, is more forward looking that we can express in English, more like “I will be” or even “I am becoming.” God is not changing. We are. We are growing and learning and maturing in the space-time God created. God’s Being and Existence is dynamic, yet perfect and unchanging.

Existence is a paradox we cannot understand at our low spiritual altitude, but which vanishes in the heights of Heaven. God is Uncreated Consciousness and Existence, yet He can emanate something separate from Himself without diminishing Himself, without becoming anything less than Eternal and Infinitely One. He Is “Ehyeh” the Source of all else.

But as for His Being and Essence, blessed be He, it is written: “I the Lord have not changed,” neither in terms of changes of the development from the uppermost of levels to the nethermost [for just as He is found in the upper worlds, so He is in precisely that measure in the nether worlds…, not in terms of temporal changes [for just as He was alone, one and unique, before the six days of creation, so He is now after the creation.]

This is so because everything is absolutely nothing and naught in relation to His Being and Essence, just as, metaphorically speaking [to appease the ear, while in fact “There is no comparison to You”], a single letter of the speech, or even the thought of man, is in relation to the general being and essence of the rational soul.
Tanya, p. 450

Zohar in Judaism

Kabbalah’s preeminent work of prophesy is known as Zohar, a book that appeared in writing for the first time in around 1280, but reflects accumulated wisdom passed down orally over the prior 1000 years. In it, we find: “He engraved an engraving in the upper purity,”^[1] carved within Himself, chiseled into Purity, God from God, yielding a conversation partner in the Eternal Oneness.

In an engraving, the substance is the same on both sides of the chiseled mark, the text. Only God can love God properly, and God is the only proper object of His own love. The text of that engraving is Primordial Torah. The content, expression, the conversation within the Eternal Oneness is known to us as Torah.

The Zohar defines this first emanation as Keter, (like kettle) or “crown,” meaning the Will, the intent to create “things” out of Ayin, the “no-thingness” of the Unlimited Uncreated Consciousness. It is a “crown,” above the head, a blinding light, incomprehensible to any created intelligence.

According to Zohar, Keter is a spiritual Light, Being, or Power, sharing God’s eternity and infinity, yet separate; exuded from the Infinite God into finitude, a condensation of the Uncreated Ein Sof (without end).

Keter “split and did not split,” ^[2] separated and yet was the same as Uncreated God, and had within Itself all the Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Power, Strength, Lovingkindness, Beauty, Glory, Righteousness, Justice, Eternity, Truth, and Authority of God Himself, but having it in this created realm, in the highest heaven. Keter is often visualized as a circle, without limit or end.

This entity, called variously Adam Kadmon, Logos, Elohim, the Angel of the LORD, and the Son of Man, is united with and proceeds from the Uncreated and Infinite YHVH who exudes It, and extends from the Uncreated and Infinite down to finitude, through forces, spirits, energy, and matter, His feet placed firmly on the earth.

Adam Kadmon pronounced the letters expressing God’s Will and Wisdom, articulated the forces that established the heavens and the earth. “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old” (Prov 8:23), the firstborn of creation (Col 1:15).

“I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession’” (Ps 2:7-8 NASB). Christ and the Uncreated are One Essence, having never fully separated. Christ articulated the thoughts of God and made manifest what was previously unknown and unknowable.

The power in Hebrew letters

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). The heavens were created with the “yod,” a tiny apostrophe. The earth, the material world of space-time was created with the “hey.”

Yah, Yod – hey, is one of the Names of God.

“For this world was created with the Hey…” a letter than extends forward, expressing Time, and downward, through the worlds of Knowing (Atzilute – world of Emanation), Speaking (Beriah – world of creation), Responding (Yetzirah – formation), and Doing (Asiya – Action).

Also, all the differences in the details in every world are according to the differences in the combinations of the letters. The difference in the temporal dimension of past, present, and future, and the differences in all the events throughout the differing times, all these came about from the variations in the combinations of the letters. For the letters, are the conduits of the vivification from His attributes, blessed be His Name. Tanya p. 450

In Hebrew, the letters are not just phonetic. They are the power of God that produces the effect – man, bird, grass. The Source pronounces and the effect comes into being – life, light, love. The name of a thing is its cause. When Adam was instructed to name the living things, he was empowered to look into the power of God, the Source. We are still doing that, gazing with wonder, through our particle accelerators and telescopes.

That is why we say “The King Who is exalted, alone from aforetime” (daily prayer service). This means, just as aforetime, before the creation, He was alone (the Only), so now too, “He is exalted…. And elevated beyond the days of the world”, that is, He is exalted and elevated, transcending the dimension of time – which is referred to as “the days of the world.” This is so because the lifeforce of all the days derives solely from the aspect of “the King…” Tanya p. 450

Our Christian understanding

This Adam Kadmon figure is the second Adam according to Paul, the one we Christians believe was incarnated into a single Jew around 2000 years ago. “So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit…. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven” (1 Cor 15:45.47).

The incarnation is the outward manifestation of the supernal emanation of Adam Kadmon in time and space. The incarnation was promised to us heathen in a million myths and legends found in the oracles of our myriad shamans, prophets, seers, and sages.

All of us were taught that when we saw the god made man, we were to follow that one and find eternal life. “When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, ‘The gods have come down to us in human form!’” (Acts 14:11). We were always on the look-out.

When the promise was fulfilled, it happened in Israel, the last place anyone expected it, among the one people who did not have the myth of the incarnation, death and resurrection of God. And it brought a hungry and expectant world to Israel to learn Torah at the feet of rabbi Jesus.

He and his brothers the Jews and their rabbis are still teaching Torah to the hungry multitudes in a million ways, on educational websites, through movies and literature, music and art, through science and medicine, explaining the ways of God.

Jewish meditation over the centuries has revealed the being we know as Jesus to them in the form of Adam Kadmon in the highest place, at the right hand of God. The divine power and light of God flows through Adam Kadmon, and He speaks, “Let there be light,” as Adam Kadmon articulates God’s thought, creating and giving life to every creature in heaven and on earth. Adam Kadmon is the soul root of Adam Rishon, first Adam, humanity.

“You give truth (emet) to Jacob” (Mic 7:20), - and the prophet engages in extolling the Holy One, blessed be He… This means that it is the Holy One who gives truth to Jacob…. It is well known that the attribute of Jacob is the attribute of rachamim (compassionate mercy). And the service of God in a mode of compassion derives from arousing in the heart of man a great compassion for the Divine spark in his [own] soul, which is [temporarily] removed from the light of God’s Countenance when (man) goes about in the darkness of the vanities of the world.

And this compassion itself derives from contemplation on the greatness of God, how even the most infinitely sublime worlds are esteemed as truly naught before Him. For all their bounty and vitality is but a gleam and reflection of a single letter of His Name, blessed be He. Tanya p. 448

A spark of God

It follows then that the compassion for the spark that dwells in the dark and gloomy body – the “hide of the snake,” is overwhelming. For it is liable to contract impurity and to become defiled by all the lusts, the Merciful save us, were it not for God being a shield to it and giving it strength and might to wage war with, and triumph over the body and its passions. And this is the meaning of “Lord of our strength… shield of our salvation…” Tanya p. 450

Each one of us is a thought of God spoken by the Christ. Each one of us has a spark of divine life within, capable of relating to God, hearing and understanding our Source. Every human being has the potential to become like God, manifesting His attributes, and everyone has the opportunity to become radically unlike Him. In this world in which God’s overwhelming Presence is concealed, we can choose.

Living in this dark and gloomy body, the “hide of the snake,” failure was certain and redemption was equally certain. The power of repentance to live out in time and space a genuine choice to change, resist, and wage war against the evil that surrounds us opens the door for God’s mercy, to cleanse us, restore us, forgive us and redeem us. That is what a covenant with God is, and does.

Israel has had covenant with God since Sinai, since Abraham, and enjoyed the Power and Presence of God, the Holy Spirit, but for us heathen it was not so. “Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). We had no hope and were without God in a world of idolatry and profanity.

We were at the mercy of our animal soul, our drives and cravings, a condition we call “utter depravity.” The divine soul of Eden was dead, and we were reduced to speaking savages, verbal livestock. The generational impact of living in a world of cruelty and filth constitutes what we call “original sin.” We are not born into a covenant with God. We choose, or refuse to choose, to subject ourselves to the rule of God.

The thought spoken by God that is you, that is me, has a choice. We can climb up and out of total depravity and by the power of the Spirit of God we can become like God, with His values and priorities. Or not. We can also keep our depravities and addictions if we wish, to one degree or another, and instead claim a superficial religion, a fig leaf of “orthodox belief,” a form of godliness but denying its power.

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

^[1] Daniel C Matt. The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Translation and Commentary, Volume 1. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004) p107. This work is highly symbolic and esoteric, regarded as scripture by some and derided as demonic by others.

^[2] Ibid. p 108.

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The human will and desire to speak is from the hidden primordium of the intellect, which is in the articulate soul. This mental and emotional intent to communicate is contained and transmitted in the words pronounced by the letters, sounds, which make up the words. Their impact is proportional to the power and status of the speaker.

When God said, “Let there be light,” יהי אור, “Y’he or,” the first letter was pronounced, and that letter, “Yod,” spoken by God, had the power to create.

The Name of God, YHVH, יהוה, is Yod-Hey-Vey-Hey, and its power is Infinite and so is never pronounced by a human in Judaism. All our Gentile attempts to pronounce it are corruptions and errors, and so do not command any real power.

Rabbi Simon wept and said, “Who makes (osay, does) the Holy Name every day? He who gives charity to the poor…” (All quotes are from Tanya Bilingual Edition, this one on p. 428)

The legitimate way to pronounce the Name of God is to do what God does, namely, give of oneself to another who needs.

YHVH

The Yod is shaped like an apostrophe, a thin line from the world above growing into a small dot, a spot of the Infinite in this finite, time-bound world. There is a world of meaning in the physical representation of each Hebrew letter, and especially this one.

The Incomprehensible One reduced Himself to a line and a dot, visible and comprehensible, to create and communicate with a finite, time-limited world. From above this world of separate entities, beginnings and ends, subjects and objects, good and evil, light and dark, God spoke. י

[The beauty of the Yod as seen by the saints in heaven] consists in delighting in apprehension and conception, for they conceive, know, and attain some apprehension of the light and vitality which effuses there – in a state of manifestation – from the En Sof, blessed be He, to their soul and their spirit of understanding… (All quotes are from Tanya Bilingual Edition, p. 428)

And this flow issues from the plane of the Supreme chochmah, which is the source of the conception and apprehension referred to as binah (understanding). For chochmah is the primordium of the intellect, antecedent to apprehension and understanding…still in a state of hiding and concealment.

In the sacred Zohar, chochmah is therefore referred to as “the dot in the palace”; and this is the form of the yod of the Name of Havayah (another permutation of YHVH), blessed be He,… of which it is said, “No eye has seen it…” And it is referred to as “The Father (abba) who founded the daughter.” Tanya p. 430.

Hey

The pronunciation of the letter Hey is really just a puff of air, an exhalation of air. It is the first motion of speech.

The breath issuing from the heart.. is formed [into] the simple sound that issues from the throat and is consequently divided into the twenty-two enunciations and the expression of the twenty-two letters through the known organs [of speech – tongue, palate, lips…] while the breath itself is uttered by the letter hey. And that is why our sages, of blessed memory, said that “This world was created by the hey.” Tanya p. 434

There are two heys in YHVH, the upper hey and the lower hey.

“For by Yod-Hey [was the world created],” this is because its source, and the beginning of its egression into a state of manifestation from the concealment of the yod, it [is] influenced and issued forth from … the “upper hey.”

This hey ה, has dimensions of length and width to indicate the faculty of binah, which is the expansion of the “concealed intellect” into a state of manifestation and apprehension… and its diffusion culminates in the [hearer’s] heart… “binah – that is the heart, and therewith the heart understands.” Tanya p. 436

When humans speak and listen, what was hidden in your heart is now heard and understood in my heart through communication.

When God speaks, what was hidden and concealed in His heart is heard and understood by the universe, and comes into being or is done. God’s will comes forth, the forward stroke of the hey, and descends, the downstroke of the hey. The desire and intent of God’s heart is accomplished in this world and is represented by the detached downstroke of the hey.

Vav

The letter vav is a simple downstroke, from the very highest of the heavens to the very lowest of the earth, including every created intelligence. The innumerable hosts of heaven, the powers and principalities, all articulate the will and intent of God at their spiritual level.

Now all these multitudes, one multitude after another ad infinitum, all this issues and effuses from the multitude of combinations of the twenty-two letters of the “word of the Lord.”…

Though there are among the rungs and levels of the angels and souls so many different kinds, one surpassing the other, all issues according to the permutations, combinations, and substitutions of the aleph – tav (A – Z), bet – shin (second letter to penultimate letter) and so on… But in a general way they all possess wisdom and knowledge, and they know their Creator, because their vivification stems from the “inwardness” of the letter which issues from the Supreme chochmah.

This lowly world .. is too small to contain and endure the light and vivification from the aspect of the form of the letters and their “inwardness” – radiating and diffusing in it without any garment or concealment as they shine and effuse to the souls and angels. Tanya p. 440

Rather the radiation and diffusion comes and effuses to this world from the level of “matter” and “body” of the letters and their “externality”… And this is the “Utterance from the mouth of the Lord” which vests itself in this world and all its hosts to animate them. But in it is vested the “form” of the letters of speech and thought, emanating from His holy attributes, and His will and wisdom which are totally united in the En Sof, blessed be He. Tanya p. 442

Lower Hey

The heavens were made by the breath of His mouth” i.e., by the letter hey… It is the source of the nine fiats which issues after the first fiat (Let there be… in Genesis chapter 1). But at this time this efflux and descent was without any arousal from below whatsoever – “For there was no man to work…” “Because He delights in chesed (lovingkindness),” and “The world was built by chesed.” Tanya p. 442

But after the creation of “Man to work on it…,” every arousal from above, to arouse the attribute of the Supreme chesed, depends on an arousal from below, i.e., the charity and kindness which Israelites perform in this world. That is why our sages, of blessed memory, said: “Whoever says that he has nothing but Torah [learning] – thus no deeds of kindness – he has not even Torah; rather one is to busy himself with [both] Torah and the performance of kindness.”

Therefore it is necessary to arouse the Supreme chesed which, like water, is drawn from a high place to a low place by means of arousal from below: through charity and the nether chesed, diffusing life and kindness “To revive the spirit of the humble and downcast.” Tanya p. 444

The will of God carried out on earth, by humans, in free will, motivated by love of God and the desire to please Him is the final letter in the Name of God. Hey is the wisdom, power, and love of God manifest in our limited, imperfect, time-bound realm. It is God’s will enacted despite temptation, against resistance, climbing up-hill, in the dark.

Religious performance alone is not enough to actuate the will of God on earth. Islamic Jihad is religious performance, but it is not the wisdom and love of God. Loud protest at abortion clinics is religious performance, but it is not the wisdom and love of God. Christianity’s long history of forced conversion, inquisitions, beheading and burning Jews and heretics was religious performance, but was not the wisdom and love of God.

Christian encounter with YHVH

The Christian meditation on the Hebrew letters of the Name of God takes the letters YHVH, last one first, as they are encountered by us westerners who read left to right; first is the H, hey.

The Hebrew hey, comes in two parts. The first thing we encounter is a line straight up. There is a gap between the first vertical line and the second component, a horizontal line connected with a vertical line down, like a seven 7.

I picture in my mind rising straight up toward God and reaching a limit to how far we can go on our own. There is a gap. To reach the next segment of the hey we need help. The first vertical line represents human effort to be good and holy and right and true. We can get so far and no further. We can’t reach the holiness and wisdom of the horizontal line above us.

We need the power of the Holy Spirit within us to be Good and Holy and Right and True in this life. When She is holy within us, She flies across the gap and takes us with Her, completing the first Hey. Goodness and holiness pour through our lives, fill our thoughts and prayers horizontally, then flow down to the world of walking and talking in our homes and workplace.

The first hey represents the kingdom of God on earth, malckhut in this material world Asiya. We give thanks and praise and adoration to the Spirit of God who animates us and gives us Her power of goodness and truth in daily life on earth.

Vav

The second letter of God’s name is “V” vav, which in Hebrew resembles a lower-case l in Western script. To us Christians represents Jesus. He came down from the heavens, far above our reach and descended to our level, took on human nature in this material world.

The incarnation was prophesied by thousands of pagan prophets in every culture on earth. That promise was fulfilled in Israel, the one culture that did not have the myth of the incarnation, the dying and rising god. He then crushed the primordial serpent and led us to Torah.

Jesus made restitution to God for our sins and mistakes, and He made restitution to us for all the sins and mistakes of others against us. Pure and perfect justice was met in Him. He rises from death and draws us with Him back up the vav, to the heavens, a world of purity and holiness. We are welcome in that world because of the miracle He has worked in our lives, transforming us into His likeness, filling us with His character, healing our wounds.

Gratitude, praise, and adoration flow through us and draw us up into His heart, a place of power and love, gevurah and hesed. This experience occurs in the spiritual world of Yetzirah, formation, in which God’s will takes form and function, meaning and substance.

Second Hey

The third letter is another Hey, but at a higher level. It represents the kingdom of God in the world of Beriah, the world Jesus fills and for which we are destined. It begins like the first H, with a vertical line on which we can rise only so far before we encounter a gap.

I can praise God and lift my heart up to Her with adoration, but unless the Spirit picks me up and lifts me to Herself, I cannot rise above the top of this line. I wait in humble adoration of the One Who Is. Uncreated Goodness will lift my soul up to Herself at Her pleasure.

When She does, I enter Her knowing and Her loving, the horizontal line at the level of chochmah and binah, wisdom and understanding and the downward vertical line of love directed down to the people and communities around me, the “7” part of the Hebrew Hey.

Her love fills our empty hearts, and Her knowing corrects our faulty images of Her and Her intents and desires. Gratitude, praise, and adoration rise to the One Who Is, the Uncreated Will Who desired to create and had the power to do so. The experience of elevation into the world of Beriah draws us into God’s heart, and love flows down the vertical line, Her love and care for all Her creatures. The third letter Hey represents God’s desire to purify us and commune with us, each personality She created.

Yod

The fourth letter of the name of God is yod, a little apostrophe that reaches out of Uncreated Eternity and lets some of Its infinite light and life and being flow down into finitude. This is where we encounter Jesus the Christ, in His full glory in the highest heaven, above the archangels, at the right hand of God.

This is where Jewish meditation encounters Adam Kadmon on the throne of Ezekiel and Daniel. Jewish authors who have encountered Him in meditation often refer to Him as Metatron or Messiah, seated in the Presence of the Uncreated, bearing seventy names of God, permutations of YHVH for each of the Nations.

The yod represents Atzilute, emanation, the world of being. That is the spiritual level of union with our Source, where He is, and we become; He speaks, and we respond. Some cultures call this “enlightenment,” others know it as Messianic consciousness.

Messiah

This is the world that is about to dawn. We see the signs everywhere. While the political powers and arrogant nations are uniting in the most virulent Jew-hatred this planet has seen in 80 years, the power and love of God is poured out on Israel and her people.

The Nations and each individual person are stating their case, insisting they know good and evil, convicting Israel of slanderous accusations, recycling Medieval charges of baby killing and a plot to control the world. They carry placards and chant “Globalize the Intifada.” They carry out violence against Jews and Jewish targets in the streets. They make alliances and share missile technology. They build nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles.

At the same time,

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

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To order my book Climbing Jacob's Ladder

To order my book Esau's Kiss

We insist that Judaism had only sporadic and sharply limited experience with the Spirit of God and that it ceased when they rejected Jesus. Yet Jesus himself said, “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” Matt 12:32. He said that to those who accused him of operating in the power of Satan. Yet we routinely ascribe the spiritual power of people of other religions to Satan and demonic influence.

The book we are reviewing, Tanya, is a detailed 18^th century treatise on the Presence and Power of the Spirit of God in Judaism. It belongs to Chabad Judaism, but the truths it describes are found in all of Judaism, the ancient heritage of Israel that has only strengthened over the ages. Our Church taught that we were the new and improved replacement for Israel, but the re-establishment of Israel has laid that illusion to rest, to the dismay of many “Christian” followers of the Beast whose mortal wound was healed.

It has now been almost 80 years since God established Israel and defended her against annihilation numerous times. Most of us have not yet fully adjusted to this new reality. The Spirit of God is not our property, has never abandoned Judaism, and there is a great deal we can learn from her.

Psalm 27:8

My Heart said for You: “Seek (panay) My Face,” that is: “Seek the pnimiyut of the heart.” For in the heart [the element of the Divine fire that is in the heart] there are two aspects: the aspect of chitzoniyut (exterior), and the aspect of pnimiyut (interior). The chitzoniyut of the heart is the enthusiasm that flares up on account of the understanding (binah) and the knowledge (daat) of the greatness of the Lord, the En Sof, blessed is He, by contemplating on His greatness, and from this contemplation giving birth to a strong love resembling “flashes of fire…”

The pnimiyut of the heart is the innermost point in the heart and depth of the heart which transcends the aspect of knowledge and contemplation that man can contemplate in his heart on the greatness of the Lord; as it is written: “From the depths I call to You, O Lord,” from the depth of the heart. (It is so, for example, with worldly matters: sometimes there is an extremely important matter upon which the whole vitality of man hinges and touches him as far as the innermost point of the heart, and it causes him to perform acts and say things without any reason (rationality) whatsoever.)

This is because the faculty of the innermost point of the heart transcends the faculty of reason (daat), – which extends and vests itself in the attributes born of wisdom, understanding and knowledge (chabad). It is, rather, an aspect of the radiation from the supreme chochmah, which transcends binah and daat, and in which there is vested and concealed the actual light of God, as it is written: “The Lord with (in) chochmah (founded the earth).” And this (suprarational wisdom) is precisely the aspect of the spark of Divinity in every soul of Israel. ^[1]

The wisdom of the Holy Spirit is not something we generate by human learning, intensity of meditation, sincerity of prayer, or even genuine repentance. No amount of mental or spiritual gymnastics can attain to the transcendent Wisdom of God.

When it touches us it is by God’s initiative, for His purposes, in His time. Prayer and meditation open our mind to God’s Wisdom but can in no way generate it or imitate it. When we see evidence of such Wisdom it is a sign of the Shechinah Presence of God within a human being, regardless of his religion.

For that rank transcends the daat of man and his contemplation on the greatness of the Lord; it is a sort of gift given by the Lord from heaven from the radiation of the Supreme Countenance, as it is written: “May the Lord make His Countenance shine upon you…” ^[2]

Seek My Face

Tzedek (righteousness and generosity) yehalech (shall go) lefanav (before Him, before His face): lefanav is of the etymon of pnimiyut, and yehalech has a connotation of holacha (leading). For it (tzedek) leads the innermost point of the heart to God, and then “it sets his steps toward the way of God,” as it is written: “And you shall walk in His ways”; “You shall go after the Lord your God,” with every performance of the commandments and the study of Torah. ^[3]

For they all ascend to God through the inwardness of the heart with greater uplifting, and exceedingly surpassing, their ascent to God through the externality of the heart [which is born of contemplation and knowledge alone, without an illumination of the face” from above]…. For the Supernal panim does not radiate downward except through the act of charity tzedek, which is called shalom peace.

The Face of God and the radiation of His Countenance are the correlates of the pnimiyut, interior of God’s heart, His Holy Spirit indwelling the soul that has truly followed the ways of Jesus, the ways of Torah. The Spirit of God is free to blow where She will, into those souls who live and love as Christ lived and loved. Jesus freely crossed the ethnic and religious barriers of his day, showing the love of God to outcasts and sinners.

The mark of this level of communion with God is the presence of Divine unconditional love, suprarational love of God and other people, expressed through giving to them of your money, time, and effort. It is love that counts no cost too high and pursues the good of the other regardless of barriers, delays, denials, objections, inconvenience, suffering or cost. It looks irrational to the outside observer.

Irrational is not the same as irresponsible. Unconditional love may withhold gratification of the beloved, his desires, requests, even genuine needs, for the sake of growth or development of a higher value. We humans can participate in unconditional love, but God is the Author and Source of it.

We show our unconditional love to God by obeying His irrational statutes, those that make no sense to us, don’t make us look good or feel good. Tanya uses the example of circumcision to illustrate this degree of love for God.

Circumcision of the heart

Now in circumcision there are two grades, milah (excision) and periah (uncovering), which (apply respectively to) the coarse prepuce and the thin membrane. With respect to the prepuce of the heart there are likewise course and delicate desires. These require milah and periah…. Now, concerning the excision of the prepuce itself it is written: “And you shall excise the prepuce of your heart,” i.e., you, by yourselves.

Excising obvious sin is a matter of repentance and refining the heart to appreciate and enjoy good and wholesome activities, making family central to your life, and being content with who you are and what you have. But being thrilled and excited about the moral and spiritual advancement of other people – especially those of another religion – is of a different order altogether, and far more challenging. When God is glorified and served, we should be pleased regardless of who does the glorifying and serving! The Shechinah of God does amazing things within the hearts and minds of all the people She created and redeemed.

The delight which the souls of the righteous derive and enjoy from the splendor of the Shekinah, which radiates in the upper and lower Gardens of Eden, consists of their delighting in their apprehension and conception for they conceive, know, and attain some apprehension of the light and vitality which effuses there – in a state of manifestation – from the En Sof blessed is He, to their souls and their spirit of understanding, so that each and every one can understand and attain some perception, according to his level and his deeds. ^[4]

But the removal of the thin membrane is a difficult matter for man, and of this is was said that with the coming of the Messiah “the Lord, your God, will circumcise your heart… to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, for the sake of your life,” i.e., because the Lord alone is literally your whole life. This love stems from the depth of the heart, from the truly innermost point, and transcends the faculty of daat. ^[5]

But it is well known that an arousal from above comes only in response to an arousal from below, in the mode of an elevation of mayin nukvin (feminine waters). It is necessary that man perform first the milah by himself, to remove the prepuce of the heart and the course husks which cover the innermost point of the heart. …

This is done by the giving of charity to God from his money which is his vitality, especially for him whose substance is limited and who is very hard pressed at the time, for he gives of his very life, and more specifically, when he earns by the toil of his hands. ^[6]

This is especially the case with charity for the Land of Israel, for it is truly the charity of the Lord, as it is written: “The eyes of the Lord your God are constantly upon it”, “And My eyes and My heart will be there at all times.”

And [charity] has stood by us to redeem the life of our soul [from the counsel of those who intend to repel our steps, and it will stand by us forever to establish our soul in the true life of the Fountainhead of life, to be enlightened with the light of life which the Lord “will make His Countenance shine upon us forever,” amen – may this be His will. ^[7]

Bringing it home today

In the time of Rabbi Zalman, in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, Muslim oppression of Jews in the Land of Israel was brutal and pervasive. Jews who lived there were in constant need and frequent danger, often unable to survive without charitable donations from the larger Jewish community. Long before there were controversies over borders and fences, there was life-threatening hostility against Jews who had lived in the Land for centuries because they refused to convert to Islam.

In the years that followed, Russian and European persecution and slaughter of Jews intensified to its climax in the Holocaust. That irrational hatred has not abated, in Islamic or even in Christian nations. We see virulent Jew-hatred permeating American and European culture and government with false accusations of genocide and apartheid, excusing the war crimes of the UN, and a suicidal civilian population intent on destroying Jews and Judaism.

Giving materially to the poor primes our moral pumps to be able to see and appreciate the personal value of the lives of other people, honor their cultural history, rejoice in their spiritual victories and pray for their success. If we nurture contempt for people who love God and follow Jesus in different ways than we do, we have learned nothing from the Holocaust and we repeat it again in our own generation.

Mohammad Tawhidi, popularly known as Imam of Peace, answered the question of who owns the Land of Israel in a religious context: “How can we claim Palestine is ours when it is Jewish land? In the Quran, it is Jewish land. According to history, it is Jewish land. Israel has every right to have a country on Jewish land. It is their land. And what do we have now from Palestine? Show me one good thing from Palestine. All that they have given us is the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, and Hamas, and their leaders are robbing them. These are the facts. I strongly believe in good relationships with the Jewish community. Strongly.”^[8]

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

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^[1] Tanya Bilingual Edition, p. 420

^[2] Ibid p. 426

^[3] Ibid p. 426-8

^[4] Ibid p. 430

^[5] Ibid p. 422

^[6] Ibid p. 426

^[7] Ibid p. 428

^[8]

ממלא בל עלמין – the One who fills all worlds.

סובב כל עלמין – the One who surrounds all worlds

Sceptics reject the childish image of an elderly Zeus-god enthroned in the clouds as if that primitive conception of God were the best we could come up with. Modern science joined with Jewish mysticism reveals something far more compelling and coherent.

Our God is Infinite

For a finite human being to interact with and appreciate the Creator in His Infinitude, a mediator or interface is required. There is no “room” in finitude for the reality of the Infinite. That which is infinite and unlimited precludes the presence of anything else besides it. Anything else that appeared would instantly be reabsorbed into the unlimited and unbounded Infinite.

In order to create, God first had to withdraw Himself from a finite area and circumscribed time. The space and time thus evacuated might be enormous, but it is not unending and unlimited. It constitutes a forum in which quantities and sizes could co-exist with Unbounded Being. The One could then produce the many, different, and temporary.

Creation ex-nihilo, out of nothing, implies that before anything other than God could exist, God created nothingness. The Light of the World created darkness. “And there was darkness over the surface of the deep.”

The One is all that exists…indeed leaves no room for the many; any multiplicity emerging within it would instantly be reabsorbed into endless oneness. In order for the many to exist, therefore, the One first has to create the naught. It does this by an act of self-constriction, by removing itself from a certain realm…the first creation is that of the naught. It is within this vacuum that the realm of the many comes to exist. [1]

In this way Consciousness could produce thoughts, Being could impart existence, Knowing could engender knowledge, Life could generate lives, Love could encounter beloved, Power could energize growth, development, motion, and transformation. The One, Uncaused and Uncreated, has always been and always will be. The finite created one begins and endures as long as the Source desires and wills it to be. That Will is necessary and sufficient for the willed one to exist.

Cosmic Process of begetting

The sages then describe an initial creative act in which God, the Uncreated Eternal Being emanated, breathed out, we would say “begot” the first expression of His Will to exist apart from, within, besides Himself; known as Adam Kadmon (Primordial Man) or Adam Elyon (Highest Man). “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old” (Prov 8:22).

Only God can love God properly, and God is the only proper object of His own love. In an engraving, the substance of the material is the same on both sides of the chiseled mark, and the letters engraved form the text. The text of this engraving is Primordial Torah, the Word, or in Aramaic, Memra. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Aramaic Bible says, “And Elohim was that Word, Memra.”

The emanation of Adam Kadmon from the Infinite Uncreated was as if all the air in the room were to condense into a single drop of manifest God, infinitely dense, infinitely deep. It is as if a volcano erupted and molten God is flowing down the mountain, cooling into visible rock, into forces, spirits, energy, and matter. “This is he who will come after me, yet is before me (kadmoni)” (John 1:27 AENT), not in birth order but in eternal existence. ^[2]

The Zohar defines this first emanation as Keter, (like kettle) or “crown,” meaning the Will, the intent to create “things” out of Ayin, the “no-thingness” vacuum within the Unlimited Uncreated God. It is a crown, royal in nature, above intellect – the head, a blinding light, incomprehensible to any created intelligence and utterly indescribable.

Now to a Jew, the Incomprehensible Emanation of God is not identical with God, YHVH, Uncreated Being. You can see a difference; God, Ein Sof, Infinite and Eternal is separated from the Word, Memra, Adam Kadmon, Primordial Torah by light years. In some references Adam Kadmon is referred to as “the Lesser YHVH” to distinguish him from God.

From the Jewish point of view, on Mount Sinai, you look up and see the North star, with all other stars rotating around it. We are closer to the equator, and while we can see the North star, we see something else a few millimeters beneath it, emanating from it, and continuous with it. Infinity and Eternity extend into finitude and time. Paul taught us to call that being Jesus. It certainly looks like God to us. When we call out to this entity, the full force of God responds to us.

Comprehending the Incomprehensible

Jewish meditation on the Uncreated One has been uninterrupted for 4000 years, since Abraham. Buddhism joined in around 3500 years ago, Greeks followed around 3000 years ago, and Jesus introduced the wider world to the God of Israel 2000 years ago. Our different perspectives on The One reflect our different languages, since we can conceptualize only ideas that we can verbalize.

In our old pagan terms, the son of a god carried one or more of the senior god’s characteristics and expanded on them or brought them into a new setting. We had a million creation myths of how that could come about: how earth and sky mated and gave birth, how the ancient sea monster was killed by the hero and its body used to make a new world, or a cosmic egg was hatched.

In Christian terms, the Father loved the Son into existence, subject generating subject by the power of eternal love, the Son containing all of the Father’s infinite attributes, extending them into finitude.

In Jewish terms, “He engraved an engraving in the upper purity;”^[3] God carved within Himself, chiseled into Purity, God from God, yielding a conversation partner in the Eternal Oneness.

Kabbalah describes the ancient emanation of Power, Life, and Wisdom from the Eternal Source manifested in Adam Kadmon, Primordial Man, the Fullness of God extended to the finite world. “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority” (Col 2:9-10).

Kabbalah also describes how the One we know as Christ originated in the Mind of the One: “The LORD created me as His first course, before His works of old. From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, before the earth began.” (Prov 8:22-23). The finite expression of infinity established physics and mathematics, life, personhood, and love in this new world of quantity and time.

“This means that the light of En Sof, blessed be He, vests itself and radiates within the whole evolution” of the heavens and the earth. “The essence of this efflux from the Light of En Sof, blessed be He, is a garment and encompassing light [of the effects] … and [the light that] fills all worlds… the inner light [of the heart, intentions].” [4]

In essence, God surrounds and fills all things, including each one of us. He is the deepest part of our soul, and the highest reach of our aspiration. Our character, words, and behaviors constitute the “garments” of our soul, the fulfillment of the commandments of God. “These garments are elicited from the light of the En Sof, blessed be He, from the level of sovev kol almin, surrounding all worlds, by the ‘arousal from below.’”

The aspect of God that “fills all worlds” is the divine soul, the indwelling Spirit of God within us, as our human “animal soul” hears and knows the will of God, but decides on its own thoughts, words, and actions. “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him” (John 14:20-21).

“Now, by the fulfillment of the commandments, encompassing light (or makif) is elicited and radiates [through the spiritual universe] within the ten sefirot of Atzilute, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah, thereby uniting itself with the inner divine light (or pnimi). This is referred to as the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah.” [5]

Divine light is thus unified in the material world by our thoughts, words, and actions that are aligned with the Will of God. “A garment is made in the Lower and Higher Garden of Eden for the nefesh-ruach-neshamah (the complete) soul of man, enabling them to derive pleasure and attain some apprehension and illumination from the light of En Sof, blessed be He.”

“And this is what our Sages, of blessed memory said,’ In this world there is no reward for the commandments.’ For this world is physical and in a state of limitation… it is impossible that any reflection of the light of En Sof, blessed be He, should become invested… in the “body.” The reward for the commandments is found in our enhanced perception of the spiritual world, its light, life, and love. “For Great is the LORD and exceedingly glorified without end, limit, and restriction.” [6]

“That is the meaning of ‘And a helmet of salvation upon his head’ : yeshu’ah is the etymon of vayisha – ‘And the Lord turned to Abel and his gift,’ which refers to the descent of light and abundance…, and it is written, ‘May the Lord make His Countenance shine upon you’; ‘May He make His Countenance shine upon us forever’ – with us, (with our participation) through acts of charity” as markers of character.

Limitations of language

Flashes of insight that we cannot articulate cannot be communicated and rapidly fade from our consciousness. Kabbalists have defined terms and descriptions that we Christians struggle with. Buddhists can articulate things that western minds cannot, and our attempts to translate ideas for which we do not have adequate words often result in misunderstandings and conflicts.

A generous dose of humility is called for when we encounter the writings of a different culture and language exploring the nature of the Infinite. When describing a reality that transcends verbal capacity we often turn to myths, stories, riddles, and koans, verbal tricks that open the mind to higher levels of consciousness.

If we take literally what was intended to communicate higher truth, we miss the point and alienate ourselves from people who are seeing more than we can. We reduce their wisdom to “superstition” or “idolatry” or “legalism” because we can’t stretch our minds that far. Their ancient sages and shamans were gazing into the same infinite unknown we were exploring, but expressed what they saw words and images unfamiliar to us.

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

To my subscribers: Thank you for your patience as I took a break last month from daily writing. My pace will slow from here on as I have realized 5000 word essays are a bit much for most people. Shorter articles are also easier to share on alternate social media, where restrictions are common. Thank you for reading.

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

[1] Arthur Green. Judaism for the World: Reflections on God, Life, and Love. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2020), p. 195.

[2] Aramaic English New Testament, translated by Andrew Gabriel Roth. (Jerusalem: Netzari Press, 2008), p. 232.

[3] Daniel C Matt. The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Translation and Commentary, Volume 1. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004), p107.

[4] Tanya Iggeret Hakodesh, ch 3, p. 412.

[5] Ibid p. 414.

[6] Ibid p. 416

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Excerpted and adapted from both Esau’s Kiss and Climbing Jacob’s Ladder

Throughout history the religious Beast, both Muslim and Christian, has ensnared us in violence, but never against our will. We have projected our own will and desires onto our religions, hearing what we want to hear, and disregarding or explaining away those parts we don’t want to hear.

We are born into our religions, but we choose our religious communities, especially now with our physical and mental mobility. We gravitate to those websites and communities that echo and reinforce what we already believe and desire. Some of those websites and communities are agents of the Religious Beast.

Uncreated Infinite Being created each one of us, all our cultures and languages, and He communes with each of us in terms we understand, knowing the hearts and souls of every human being on His earth. Our religious beast-idol, on the other hand, hates all the same people we hate, and loves only those who look and think like us.

Religion is a path to God, not an all-powerful talisman or magic incantation, a way to control God or restrict access to the Uncreated Creator. Our human history of idolatry, bonding spiritually with concrete and material images and objects, has been transcended. Every human culture now appreciates and experiences the Knowing One, the Transcendent Mind, the Uncreated Existence at the Foundation of Reality.

We humans are conscious. We know for a fact that there is a Consciousness out there somewhere. So we cry out to It.

Our spiritual ancestors gave expression to this knowing in human language with all its limitations, and drew pictures where words failed, in an effort to describe the Indescribable. We developed our Scriptures based on the experiences of our Prophets and Priests, in myths and stories that reflect ancient truths and universal ethics. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you - a maxim found in every religion. And every religion has been corrupted and weaponized by human beings claiming divine authority, exclusive knowledge, and control over the tribe. We made tribal idols, magical spells, charts of the stars, sacred books, and assertions of superiority all over the world as we tried to harness the Power we see behind our very existence.

Every sacred scripture contains features of depravity in it - including ours. Every sacred scripture has enough goodness and holiness in it that a human who desires goodness and holiness can find it, focus attention on it, and develop good and holy character. And one who prefers to nurture Beastly contempt and hatred for others can find reasons and excuses for it in any religion’s scripture.

We idolize our Scripture when we demonize the Scriptures of all others, regardless of the beauty of their ethics and values. We emphasize their sharp angles and dark shades, exaggerate doctrines we do not understand, and condemn as idols their familiar bells and smells. We insist that only our Scripture is inspired by God, degrading the inspiration of all other expressions of His Infinitude. We trust in our religious performance rather than the mercy of our Creator. We judge others by their religious performance rather than their character, the fruit of their relationship with God.

The Author of Free Will

To achieve the image of God we had to do nothing. It was bestowed on us at Creation. “And so God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen 1:27), in His image, but not in His likeness. That we were to attain. If God had created us in His likeness, given us all godliness and perfection in Eden as a matter of constitution, in the way birds fly, we would have no free will, no choice in the matter; we would be unmitigated good.

He created us in His image and challenged us to achieve His likeness. How? “Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (v 28). He was not talking about putting all the animals exterior to us in zoos. He told us to subdue the earth He had made us out of, rule over the animals within, the remnants of the biological dust He formed into Adam, dust that was dead to His Spirit and incapable of being “like” Him.

Humans who choose to be like God, subduing the lust and greed, competitiveness and tribalism of the animals within, are godly. The beasts and behemoths of any tribe are those among us who growl and threaten and attack anyone standing in the way of their power and control, who grasp at the jewels and gold of the earth, seduce and violate for sexual pleasure, draw life from their bank balance and property, find security in their nations’ stock of weapons, and lie to protect their fragile egos, worshipping the gods of our time. “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands” (Ps 135:15).

The beasts and wild animals among us are the ravenous gluttons for pleasure, animals mating indiscriminately, violent thugs brandishing a tire iron or a machine gun. They worship the image of the behemit, our inner beast, the almighty dollar, financial corruption, fraud, and bribery, internet pornography, orgies of drug use, guns, and violence, dating websites where hook-ups are arranged, modern pagan temples with shrines to the profane fertility goddesses as old as civilization.

“They did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk” (Rev 9:20). Any “repentance” they engaged in was merely for show, a false and empty ritual that had no effect on their loyalties or behavior. “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries” (Rev 17:1-2).

Elected leaders of all parties spout lies calculated to get themselves re-elected. Rich politicians corrupt and subvert our legal system, commit tax fraud, insider trading, and Ponzi schemes. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Tim 4:1-2).

False prophets post lies on Social Media, manipulate and swindle the gullible, and despise the immigrant. “People worshiped the beast and asked, ‘Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?’ The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months” (Rev 13:4-5).

Our Risen Christ has been made to be the condemner of the world, not its savior. “One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast” (Rev 13:3). In the name of the false Jesus, they preach hatred of “others,” other racial groups, other religions, the poor, the rich, the gay, the straight, the trans, the cis, the young, the old, the homeless, the addicted, the mentally ill, single mothers, the unemployed, the incarcerated. “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Rom 14:4 BSB).

God is separating the sheep from the goats at this very moment. “Then I heard another voice from heaven say: ’Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues” (Rev 18:4). We are not judged solely by our tribe. God knows who His true children are.

“But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image” (Rev 19:20). The mark of the Beast, the behemoth, is a spiritual sign seen clearly by heaven, and obvious even to humans, like its inverse mark, a protective one. “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it” (Ezek 9:4).

The mark of the Beast is on those who do not grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in our Jerusalem, in our churches and seminaries, our conviction of our own moral superiority and the depravity of every other religion, our exaltation of manmade rules and rituals to the exclusion of the genuine Torah values taught by Jesus.

“’Begin at my sanctuary.’ So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple” (Ezek 9:6). Profanity that begins in the sanctuary of God permeates the surrounding culture with an assumption of impunity, a teaching of blanket absolution of sins that are ongoing and pervasive, without demanding genuine repentance. Purity of character and speech is degraded as “works-righteousness” and “merit-based salvation” by our Church.

Christ does bear our sin, and we receive his righteousness, not by magic spell, but when we live out in real life the holiness he invested in us by his Holy Spirit. “And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Rom 13:11). There is no accounting fraud in heaven, at the bar of God’s judgement. We have been amply warned.

Behind this physical world of matter and energy, there exists the Uncreated Existence, the projector that displays this hologram we live in. Victims of persecution and violence who see clearly the fallacy of this material world count heavily upon the reality of the Uncreated and consider any price or suffering required to serve Him mere chump change. One day the curtain will fall away, the movie projector will be turned off, the galloping horses, cowboys, and cattle on the screen will disappear and true reality will be disclosed. “After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thes 4:17).

The vast spiritual world that has been hidden behind physics and physical matter will be revealed, that ninety percent of reality that is now invisible to us, the dark matter and energy we know is present behind clouds and thick darkness. “When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed” (Josh 6:20). Nothing we have ever thought, said, seen, heard, or done has ever been forgotten, for better or for worse, by the Uncreated Knower. “What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs” (Luke 12:3).

I hear thunder

The following is the account of an extended mystical visionary experience I had some years ago, over a period of two or three weeks. This account is excerpted from my book Climbing Jacob’s Ladder.

I feel a fierce, weighty Presence, and I look off in the distance. I see something coming, something huge; the clouds are gathering, the barometric pressure is plummeting, thunder and lightning, it’s a global thing, and it is REAL. There is no time for messing around. “’Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,’ Declares the Lord GOD of hosts, ‘For your day has come, The time when I will punish you. The arrogant one will stumble and fall With no one to raise him up; And I will set fire to his cities And it will devour all his environs’” (Jer 50:31-2 NASB). God knows precisely who is aligned with Him and who is aligned with evil, pride, and hatred, not just in population terms, but as individuals.

God is not racist. People born in Muslim lands who trust Him for their salvation, who love goodness, truth, and justice, who worship Him in spirit and in truth, will find themselves in His kingdom. People who lived in Saint Peter’s Square all their lives, but who are aligned with pride, hatred, and selfishness will find themselves outside where there is gnashing of teeth. “I say to you, in that night there will be two upon one bed: The one will be taken, and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding grain together: One will be taken and the other left” (Luke 17:34-5). Whether they live in Bagdad or Topeka, they are judged by the same standard. God is about to reclaim His world. “I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster” (Jer 51:2).

“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” (Acts 9:4). Jesus called to Saul twice, once in this world and once in the world to come. “’Who are You, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting’” (v 5). Jesus is incarnate in everyone He created, every people group, every religion, every nation and culture. The Saul in us hates without cause and hounds the innocent. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat” (Luke 22:31), an address to one person that is stated in the plural. Everyone is sifted and sorted by God’s servant Satan, challenged and probed. Each of us has declared our character in a million situations, told God exactly what we love and what we hate, and where we want to spend eternity. “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us” (Gen 42:21).

Some will be stunned. “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matt 7:22-23 NKJV). They had the degree, they went through the motions, they spoke in Jesus’s name, but they had no relationship with Him. They were not wholly dependent on His mercy for their salvation, they were not operating in His Spirit. It was not His love and righteousness they were displaying. They had never known Him.

He had been a weapon to them, used to oppress and condemn, to marginalize whole populations and separate them from God. “For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful” (James 2:13).

He had been a cash box to them, using His power and authority to extort money and honor, to build cathedrals and amusement parks, pocketing vast sums for themselves. “Moreover, the seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind—they are seven years of famine” (Gen 41:27).

Jesus had been an academic subject to them, to be parsed and analyzed, not revered and obeyed, earning accolades and degrees that would never be used in His honor or for His benefit.

He had been a tool, a marketing gimmick to them, used for their honor and benefit, to sit in the honored seats at men’s banquets, and He is not amused.

They passed laws and enforced a sanctimonious brand of self-righteousness that was anathema to His message of grace and dependence on the Holy Spirit. “’Woe to you as well, experts in the law!’ He replied. ‘You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load.…. Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering’” (Luke 11:46,52). Deep prayer and communion with God was a stranger to them. Jesus had borne the serpent’s damnation for them on the cross, but they had contempt for His mercy and despised His Spirit.

Christians who have lived in hatred and contempt for other people, people of other religious faith, people of other nationalities, people of other economic status (either higher or lower), people of other skin color, people of other political persuasion, people of other gender, people of other sexual orientation, people younger, people older, people of less intelligence or ability than themselves will find that the One they have been cursing, rejecting, abusing, and mocking, is none other than God Himself.

Uncreated Goodness created all people in His image, some in weaker vessels than others, to see what the “strong” would do to the “weak” given the opportunity. Given free will and a level playing ground, all are now declaring themselves. Every living person has had someone in their lives over whom they had power, and they used that power for either good or evil, in either compassion or contempt. He was watching. “But seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will devastate the land” (Gen 41:29-30).

“The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses” (Jer 51:15-16).

Truth will come blasting in like a furnace, burning out lies and evil like a nuclear detonation, a global Hiroshima. There is nowhere to hide from the face of the Creator. The people of this generation will not go to hell; hell will come to them.

“Earth quakes and writhes because the LORD’s intentions against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women.

“Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, the bars of her gates are broken. One courier races to meet another, and messenger follows messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end. The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified” (Jer 51:29-32).

It looks for all the world like a nuclear holocaust, worse than any hurricane or tsunami. This is an IMAX kind of experience; I cannot possibly write down everything I see, even those things I have words to describe. The sky is orange with flame and smoke. A wall of hot wind carrying sparks and burning debris is roaring, fast and furious. I can feel the heat like a massive oven. The smell of burning sulfur is suffocating. “And this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths” (Zech 14:12).

I feel nauseated and shaky, weak in the knees just seeing this. The crying, the despair, as each one realizes this is it; there will be no other savior, no other comforter. “And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones” (Is 30:30). A tribal animal with free will has played itself out. The planet is on fire.

Their spirits are eternal; they do not die. The lizard spirits move in and there is no one to stop them, no restraint, no defense, no armor. The belt of truth? The truth is they have denied their Savior and embraced political idols. Their guts are unprotected. The breastplate of righteousness? They had no righteousness apart from His Holy Spirit, yet they despised His Righteousness, preferring their own filthy rags, when they once had the chance to love Him in humility. Their heart is broken and “There is no one to save you” (lit. no Mashiach, Messiah, Is 47:15 ESV).

They have no shoes, no preparation of the gospel of peace, they who chose war and hatred, so now they run on hot rocks and broken glass, their feet bleeding. They have no shield of faith with which to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one, so each hot arrow of accusation finds meat. They have no helmet of salvation, and their heads are crushed; their minds are tormented with thoughts of what could have been; they spiral into insanity. They have no sword, the Word of God, taken up in prayer in the Spirit, all that is lost to them (Eph 6:10-18).

The Revelation of who and where we really are.

We Christians are convinced that all of us are destined for heaven, as if God were contractually obligated to admit us to His inner sanctum. Jesus goes to prepare a place for us (John 14:2) and it is exactly the right place for us, lovingly designed for the character we built in this life, the temperament we nurtured, the qualities we valued, the choices we made, the words we said. If we end up in something that looks like hell it will be because we chose it. “For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done (Matt 16:27).

We are always becoming. We might become more pure, honest, and holy or more sneaky, impure, and unholy; more joyful and content or more demanding and hostile. We choose our altitude in God’s world, how near we want to be to God in His eternal world by how we respond to the people and problems in this physical world of free will. “But as for me, it is good to be near God” (Ps 73:28).

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Is 59:2)…. There is one thing capable of separating God and man: transgressing His will [His commandments]… Every created being is an extension, so to speak, of God’s will. He willed it, and they came into existence; He wills it, and they are sustained in reality. Everything exists and functions through its connection to the divine will, which sustains it and grants it the ability to function. Transgression, by contrast, is that which opposes God’s will. Consequently, it alone forms the barrier, the separation, between God and man. ^[1]

One day, we will find out where, exactly, we are and who, exactly, God is. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3).

When the shofar sounds and this distracting physical world becomes transparent, we will see how near or far we actually are from God. Those who are near Him, in His likeness, having His character and His desires will find ourselves “with the Lord forever.” Those who have been living like animals nurturing a beastly character and hateful desires, will see how very far they are from His holiness. “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt 25:41). We will know the unique and irreplaceable role we played in God’s story, the value of our lives, the power of our words and actions.

Seals have been broken and trumpets have sounded, but no one seems to be serious about repentance. “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes. They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God” (Luke 19:42,44 italics added).

[1] Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, The Steinsaltz Tanya, Likkutei Amarim, Vol 1. (New Milford, CT: Maggid Books, 2022), pp. 358-359.

Next week I will continue our work on Tanya. I have taken a break from active writing the month of June, and I have posted reruns of The Beast series I initially wrote last year. Now rested and ready we will dive back in to the wisdom the Holy Spirit communicated to the Jewish community since the Great Awakening of around 1750. Most of us know only part of the story of that Awakening, the Christian portion. There is a great deal more.

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

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Excerpted from my book Esau’s Kiss: The Repentant Evangelist. I think it is important to change our perception of Jews. I don’t want to present them as foreign and distant “they” and “them.” In this book, when I speak of “we” I speak of us Christians; when I speak to “you” I speak to you Jews. I will tell “you” Jews how “we” Christians think and feel, and speak of what “you” have done and said, not as an accusation, but in your own words, reflecting as best I can your heart and intention. You Jews and we Christians will have a long conversation in these pages.

So, who is threatening Judaism now?

Your number one enemy is still Christianity. Islam is a threat with its nuclear ambitions and its rage, but we are still your greatest danger. Islam can blow Israel off the map, and fully intends to do that. But we can kill you with uninformed kindness in a far more serious way. Physical death is just a change of address, a reward really, a way to be yet closer to God. Conversion is another matter entirely. If you were to leave your place in the chosen people you would no doubt have an easier life, but that is not what life is all about.

God charged you with upholding Torah and you’ve done a good job at that. He told us to love our enemies and we failed miserably. Our efforts at converting you are the height of our insults. You realize we are not idolaters now, but you still can’t discuss the things of God with us because we are so aggressive, all mouth and no ears. Jesus is our Moses, giver of Torah to us, the Gentiles. You already had it. Jesus gave a covenant with God based on repentance and mercy to us Gentiles. You already had it.

You were chosen to communicate Torah to the nations and Jesus, a Jew, has contributed to that. “For salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). Yet even after all these many years we still act like Beasts and Gothic warriors. Rabbi Emden:

If certain Christians who consider themselves scholars would understand this secret, who believe that they are commanded to abolish the Torah of Moses from the seed of Israel, they would not engage in such foolishness. The people listen to their self-conceived words, something which was never intended by the writers of the Gospels. Quite the opposite, they have written clearly that they intend the contrary.

Because of these errant scholars, hatred and increased toward the Jews who are blameless of any guilt and proceed innocently to observe their Torah with all their heart, imbued with the fear of God. They should instead bring their people to love the ancient Children of Israel who remain loyal to their God, as indeed commanded to Christians by their original teachers.

They even said to love one’s enemies. How much more so to us! In the name of heaven, we are your brothers. One God has created us all. Why should they abuse us because we are joined to the commandments of God, to which we are tied with the ropes of His love? ^[1]

The decree of infallibility of the pope in 1870 and the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible in Protestant settings were based in the same psychology, triumphalism. Our present day, slightly less hostile interpretation of this “truth,” is the evangelical necessity of worldwide conversion to Christianity, in its dogmatic purity, for the salvation of the world. Only your wardrobe is safe from us followers of the Beast.

We want to condemn every other sacred literature as profane and defeat every other ritual and prayer, every sacred sacrament among those fools around the world who think they are communing with the True God, specified as our definition of God. As if En Sof could be defined by any human.

Beastly Triumphalism

In our Beastly triumphalism, we deny that Rabbinic Judaism has any relationship whatsoever with the Christ we claim is One with YHVH, eternally pre-existent within the One God. By insisting on conversion to our Beastly religion, we instead proclaim our Christ to be a Second God, requiring a separate proclamation of faith. Without our new addition, your worship of the Infinite Eternal One and trust in His forgiveness is futile.

You know better. You have experienced the grace and love of God every single day for 3500 years.

Our verbal weapons will be confiscated from us in the end. “Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand” (Ezek 39:3). We are convinced that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that he is the only way to approach the Father. If we read it right, this doctrine would be true, but we read it with possessive, exclusive, and hostile hearts. The Cosmic Christ is not our prisoner. We, the Church, are not his gatekeepers. “If he made himself an offering for guilt, he might see offspring and have long life, and that through him the LORD’s purpose might prosper” (Is 53:10 JPS emphasis added).

Jesus has made himself a universal offering for the sins of the world. People all around the world know the God who created them and reach out for the mercy of God; they have Christ, and he has them. They don’t need our Church. The only way we know them is by their fruits. Not their creed. Not their rituals. Not their sacred books. “Therefore, consider carefully how you listen (hear). Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them” (Luke 8:18).

Dr. John Owen, a Puritan whom I otherwise greatly enjoy writes 185 pages of 17th century flowery denunciation of those dreaded and deluded “universalists” who insist that Jesus died for all sinners, contempt for anyone who thinks Jesus saves all who repent of their sin and believe, are faithful, to the God who created them. Just a few lines:

His blood is called “The blood of the New Testament,” Matt. xxvi 28. Neither can any effects thereof be extended beyond the compass of this covenant. But now this covenant was not made universally with all, but particularly only with some, and therefore those alone were intended in the benefits of the death of Christ. The assumption appears from the nature of the covenant itself, described clearly, Jer xxxi. 31,32, “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers…” – and Heb. viii. 9-11, “…because they continued not in my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord…” But this, as is apparent, it is not with all; for “all men have not faith,” – it is ‘of the elect of God:’ therefore it is not made with all, nor is the compass thereof to be extended beyond the remnant that are according to election… ^[2]

What if by “Israel” and “Judah,” God meant precisely that, Israel and Judah, not European pagans converted to Christianity? After all, these are the objects of the “chosenness” He promised. What if by “faith” He meant emunah, the term used in the actual passage in Jeremiah, not pistis, mere belief? What if Jesus meant what he said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matt 15:24).

What if by his blood Jesus was providing redemption to not everyone, but only some, those who had His Torah written on their hearts? Not the ones whose Bibles are creased and worn for the last hundred pages but have never read the Torah of Moses clear through even once. So pleased that we have been properly dunked, we disparage the faith of those who dare to trust in God alone for salvation.

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me” (1 Cor 13:11). We disdain Islamic Jihadists who live in the 7^th century and, like Muhammad himself, behead anyone who refuses to convert to their superior religion. Yet we are blind to the ways we have retained 4^th century thinking about our own Scripture.

How would Jesus speaking to a 21^st century audience describe his universal salvation of all repentant believers in the One God? Would he say, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16)? Would he then clarify the meaning of “believe” (emunah) for his audience? What does he mean by “baptized”? Is he pointing to the mikveh used by the Jews on a daily basis?

Is he perhaps talking about those Jews who are immersed in Scripture and prayer? I think it is far more likely that Jesus was actually talking about converting all the goyim, the Gentiles, to Judaism. That is what belief and immersion meant in those days. That is what “The Way” was, a junior league of Judaism.

The remnant

“Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved’” (Rom 9:27). We insist that only the remnant of Jews who convert to Christianity fall within God’s graces, a horrific twisting of the text. Paul’s citation is of Isaiah 10:22. The full text is this:

Who has been striking down Israel for the past two thousand years? Who are the “Assyrians” and the “Egyptians”? The survivors of Jacob are those of you Jews who survived our onslaught of cruelty and slaughter for twenty centuries. A remnant has managed to get through two thousand years of our “Christian love” intact. Who then is marked for destruction by the LORD? Israel? Or those Christian and Muslim disciples of the Beast who crushed and beat her?

What if on that blessed day, he informs us that he does indeed curse those who curse Abraham, and does unto us as we have done unto his brothers and sisters the Jews? What if Jesus meant what he said in John 3:17? “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world (cosmos), but to save the world through him” meaning all the world, not just the Christian world.

What if the subjects of the kingdom to be “thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” are Christians who think they don’t need Jesus’ wedding garment of Torah righteousness, preferring their own filthy rags? “Therefore, consider carefully how you listen (hear). Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them” (Luke 8:18).

Repeating our exclusivist of “No salvation outside of Mother Church” and “Solo Scriptura” could backfire on us if Jesus meant what he said and not what we have “heard” all these years. Saying the same thing over and over for two thousand years does not make it true. The “elect” may include us, could include us, but certainly not to the exclusion of those who were elected first, and for thousands of years, elected alone.

“Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Is 53:4-5).

The suffering servant was not afflicted by one group yet healed a different group. The same people who despised him are saved by him. Caiaphas and Shammai were among those he created, and among those he died to redeem, his enemies, and not just his fan club, the Church. If anyone is on shaky ground, it is us. “But to the wicked person, God says: ‘What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?’” (Ps 50:16).

Spiritual Sex-Change Operation

We really believed our own propaganda. We Christians honestly believed that if you did not say the magic words and follow our foursquare Gospel, repent of your evil unbelief and confess Jesus Christ is Lord, you would be eternally damned. We were vociferous in our evangelism and shrill in our condemnation of all other religions, especially yours.

In 1960, the Chicago Congress of World Mission announced:

In the years since World War II, more than one billion souls have passed into eternity and more than half of those went to the torment of hell fire without even hearing of Jesus Christ, who He was or why He died on the Cross of Calvary. ^[3]

In 1965 the Catholic Church Vatican II Council announced that post-Holocaust, such a Gospel could no longer be considered moral. The inevitable outcome of our inveterate rage against those who refused to become us had been realized in the Holocaust and could no longer be denied.

Nostra Aetate, “In Our Times,” was a papal document that announced, in front of God and everybody, that Jews did not have to convert to be saved. Nobody knew how God would manage to pull that off, the details were murky and the language vague, but Catholics were told to stand down. And they did. I can attest as a child of the 1960s that everything I was taught as a student growing up in Catholic schools was affirming and tolerant of Judaism. No other religion was handled with such grace.

On the Protestant side, there was no such central authority, but many denominations eventually made similar statements in the interest of ecumenical fellowship. Again, the details were obscure, but we were assured that God could handle His problem children and we were not to interfere with His parenting of a rebellious teenage sibling.

The largest subgroup of Protestants however are the evangelicals who are still on the warpath, determined to save as many of you poor ignorant fools as possible, by any method necessary, including deceit and manipulation. We would offer you untold assistance in Israel as that was the landing pad for Jesus’ return, and your attendance there was mandatory to our eschatology. In that, our differing interests could align, and our generous assistance was genuinely appreciated by your wary rabbis. Up to a point.

That point has sharpened in recent years with a “Jews for Jesus” movement that includes a group by that very name, headquartered in California, with branches world-wide, but especially in Israel. There is still a strong current of evangelism directed specifically at Jews with the stated intent of wiping you off the face of the earth and replacing you with Bible-toting Christians who happened to have been born Jewish.

We might tolerate your innocent cultural gestures and customs but insist on a red-blooded acceptance of the “Gospel according to the fundamentalists” that brooks no dissent. We categorically refuse to accept the idea that God might have enough love in His heart to bail you out of hell while still in a state of rebellion against our revelation from God. Jesus didn’t die for the sins of the world but only for the sins of our private and exclusive club.

“You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful…. I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own” (Deut 2:4-5). Jews for Jesus was founded by Jews who have loitered in Seir and converted to Christianity; they are your worst enemies.

They considered themselves ‘completed’ and thus imply that you are incomplete. Generally, they were once passive and perfunctory Jews, suffering from religious dysphoria, have taken their hormone regimen and bought a new wardrobe, and have now transitioned to be enthusiastic and devoted messianic Jewish Christians.

They find themselves in an evangelical Christian church that looks, sounds, smells and tastes Jewish, and find themselves doing Jewish things like observing Sabbath and Jewish holidays, things they had not done as superficial or non-observant Jews. They are regarded by the Gentile members of the messianic synagogue as rock stars and are given leadership roles they were never offered in a Jewish synagogue.

These messianic Jews have a vested interest in affirming their own religious trans identity by degrading your cis dedication to Torah and the faith of your ancestors as stubborn and irascible. If you are right, then they are wrong, an existential threat to them both personally and spiritually. They are often hurt and angry with Rabbinic Judaism over perceived slights and insults received in the course of parental discipline, and charge you with inflexible legalism when you defend your Jewish identity. Respect for the religious “other” is impossible to them.

Unwilling or unable to find their own place in the broad space of Judaism, they jumped ship and now, like the apostates of Medieval times, they degrade the value and validity of a vessel that has weathered four thousand years of stormy seas. They find it unacceptable that the Church as a whole has abandoned its job of converting you into them, abolishing Judaism as we know it, and making you just as self-righteous and arrogant as they are.

Messianic missionaries dangle before your youth a promise of eternal life as if it were a spiritual bribe, a timeshare in heaven, not realizing that you already own the entire condominium. Jews who proclaim Jesus to be “Lord and Savior” are subscribing to the Gentile covenant and cannot at the same time participate in the Jewish covenant. Being Jewish by birth and retaining elements of Jewish culture does not change that.

Once dedicated heart and soul to Jesus, believing him to be God incarnate, any residual Jewish practice is, by definition, devoted to Jesus. The born-Jewish Christian’s primary commitment is now Christian not Jewish.

The very fact that he deems it necessary to convert you means he does not consider your love for God and trust in His salvation encompassed by or subsumed in his faith in Jesus. In other words, he considered Jesus a separate God. Such a believer is no longer a Jew, regardless of genealogy.

We thought we were helping you

They, and we, are not deliberate evil monsters dressed up as human beings. Victor Frankl describes the case of a former colleague, a Nazi psychiatrist:

Dr. J…was the only man…I would dare to call…a Satan figure… He was generally called “the mass murderer of Steinhof” [a large mental hospital in Vienna]. When the Nazis started their euthanasia program, he held all the strings in his hands and was so fanatic in the job assigned to him that he tried not to let one single psychotic individual escape the gas chamber. After the war, when I came back to Vienna, I asked what had happened to Dr. J. “He had been imprisoned by the Russians in one of the isolation cells of Steinhof,” they told me. …

A former Austrian diplomat who had been imprisoned behind the Iron Curtain…in the famous Lubianka prison near Moscow…[told me] “There [in Lubianka, Dr. J.] died, at about the age of forty, from cancer of the urinary bladder. Before he died, however, he showed himself to be the best comrade you can imagine! He gave consolation to everybody. He lived up to the highest conceivable moral standard. He was the best friend I ever met during my long years in prison!” ^[4]

We don’t evangelize you because we are inherently evil. We sincerely believe we are doing the right and good thing. We are controlled by a warped miniature image of your God that has no room in it for you.

We say we believe in the Trinity as a Unity; One God in three persons. If we really believed that we would have to admit that your One God YHVH includes the fullness of the Uncreated One that we experience in three persons. You have always had God the Creator, God the Redeemer, and God the Sustainer in the Incomprehensible Holy One.

We were the ones who were lost idolaters, not you. “Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). We who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. You have always been safe in the arms of the Father.

We don’t send monks into your synagogue or kidnap and baptize your children anymore, but we still prey on your young, your teenagers and college kids. They come to us wounded and confused with a normal teenage identity crisis or social problems like addiction that we have expertise with, and we flood them with love and caring that has strings attached. We honestly believe we are helping them, but we strip them of their culture and drive them from your family, only to get what they have always had, salvation.

We should be transitioning into Jews

If we really wanted to follow your brother Jesus, we have not done a very good job. We should have followed Jesus into the synagogue because that is where he went. We should have studied his Torah because that is what he taught. We took traces and fragments of Jesus’ teachings and made a Roman monstrosity of a religion out of them that is unrecognizable to you.

You are always one generation away from extinction. In the US you lose up to 75% of your young adults to interfaith marriage, usually to Christians. That does not have to be a loss. Our children may or may not convert to Judaism, but even if they do not, they and we are capable of assisting your Jewish children in keeping a Jewish home and raising Jewish grandchildren. Rabbi Kook writes:

Our strong commitment to assure the continuity of Judaism, with its ideas and patterns of behavior, together with its corporate self on its own land, stems from the widespread recognition by our people that we still have a long distance to travel in order to complete what we began. We began to say something of immense importance among ourselves and to the world, but we have not yet completed it. We are in the midst of our discourse, and we do not wish – and are unable – to stop. Under no circumstances will we abandon our distinctive way of life, nor our universal aspiration…just as we will not abandon our hope to return and be rebuilt, and exist as a nation in our historic homeland, as in ancient days. We cannot abandon these. ^[5]

On the other hand, we Gentiles are famous for exploiting and expropriating your culture, your identity markers and traditions, calling ourselves “messianic Jews” even though only a small fraction of messianic Jews are born Jews. The vast majority of “messianic Jews” are Gentile evangelical Christians. We do this with the explicit goal of temping, drawing, even deceiving authentic Jews, a bait and switch operation that would put Madison Avenue to shame.

We are spiritual transvestites wearing a kippa and a tallis with a fish on it, using Hebrew and Yiddish words inappropriately, and we imitate your holiday observances. We pretend these superficial features will camouflage our obvious evangelical Christian message, like a six-foot-tall drag queen in the red-light district.

Even when we are not trying to entice you, we insult you with our crossdressing, our expropriation of your identity to serve our religion. We think we can replace you in your own space, Judaism, by being “better” Jews than you are, replacement theology on steroids. We modify your Passover seder and make it an Easter feast even though the seder did not exist in Jesus’ time; it is a rabbinic Jewish rite that belongs to you alone. A contemporary Jew:

Jews, in their way of thinking, are spiritual cavemen. They represent an incomplete and primitive version of Christianity; Jewish ritual is reduced from the manifestation of its own cosmology to a cute and adorable relic. Fetishizing groups is dehumanizing, even if one’s view of the group is positive.

Play-acting in Jewish ritual space, in aid of a different religion, is a totemic fetishization of Jews. Even with the best of intentions, it is dehumanizing; basic decency, to say nothing of manners, means they should knock it off.

I encourage Christians to learn about Judaism and to learn from Jews. In general, it’s admirable to learn as much as you can about other faiths. Make comparisons to your own faith and learn how and why traditions differ. But engage in true, sincere education. Don’t erase Jews by simply co-opting our traditions. ^[6]

Often our Judeophilia and charitable outreach to Jews is in the interest of establishing a connection through which to manipulate you emotionally with our love and caring. While many of our interfaith outreach programs publicly deny that they are baiting you into Christianity, their fundraising materials directed at Christian donors tell a different story.

They promise to subtly inject their “our way is the only way” Gospel message into interfaith humanitarian and antisemitism programs, “undercover” operations in the IDF, needy Holocaust survivors’ support, and immigrant settlement organizations in Israel. “Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD deceitfully” (Jer 48:10 NKJV). They produce secular appearing archeologic and historical infomercials on Israeli television that end in a Gospel presentation.

“Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau” (Gen 32:11 ESV). The danger presented to you by the “hand of Esau” is not confined to the hostility and violence of Esau’s four hundred armed bishops. “The hand of my brother,” our familiar friendship, is even more dangerous than the hostile hand of Esau. We put up a front of honor and respect, pretend to a genuine interfaith dialogue, and destroy what little trust and respect still exists between our peoples. Manipulation and deceit have replaced medieval torture.

Genuine Evangelism

I am a professional evangelist. I know my business. I know that my job is to bring lost sinners to your God. I do it by genuinely loving people. I have never been a drag queen, drug addict, or prostitute, but I can connect to our common humanity, identify needs and longings in other people, and show them a better way to meet that need or longing than the dysfunctional method they are currently using. I treat people with sexually transmitted diseases and counsel prison inmates with compassion and respect.

Evangelism like this works. It honors them as human beings, dignifies and explains the horrific situation they find themselves in, exposes the rational response they had to an irrational situation of abuse and degradation, and encourages them to honor and respect themselves as the hero that they are. They survived. Many of their compatriots did not.

That same approach to evangelism is what convinced me that Jews and other wise and holy people do not need Christianity. You have a powerful and beautiful relationship with God just as you are. What other people need is for me to be a solid and faithful Christian, faithful to my tradition and respectful of their tradition. I bring an experience of the cross that is unique and powerful. I need your experience of Sinai revelation, their experience of Hindu poetry, of Native American wisdom, of Sufi mysticism, of Buddhist meditation, to be a better Christian and a complete human being.

Our engagement with your religious traditions is not to convert you, but to make ourselves better Christians for knowing how to build a Sukkah or light a Sabbath candle. Your daily morning prayer service, over three thousand years old, is a world of meditation on the holiness of God. Our Uncreated Creator is larger than any of us know, larger than all of us together can possibly know, and we have all of eternity to explore each other’s hearts and minds to learn. God created us with an insatiable desire to learn, to master, to study, to explain, to understand, and with that drive He gives us infinite subject material, Himself.

Messiah ben Joseph, Messiah ben David

Jesus is our Christ, but he is not yet your Messiah. “It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two” (Zech 6:13). Messiah ben Joseph, our priest, and Messiah ben David, your king, share the throne and there is peace between them. We bowed the knee before Messiah ben Joseph, but we have taunted and despised both you and Messiah ben David.

When God took your Temple and sent you into exile, Messiah ben David went into exile with you. “But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed (Mashiach)” (Ps 89:38 ESV). “Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations, with which your enemies mock, O LORD, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed (Mashiach)” (vv. 50-51 ESV).

“Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim) and all the Israelites associated with him” (Ezek 37:16). The kingdom of Judah is led by Messiah ben David, and the Israelite tribe associated with him is Benjamin, Rabbinic Judaism, born as his mother lay dying. The kingdom of Israel, led by Messiah ben Joseph, is associated with the Ten Lost Tribes dispersed among the Gentiles and lost to Judaism. We have been taught by Joseph, our Jesus, for two thousand years. Jesus gave us access to Torah and taught us its beauty.

What have we really learned from him? “Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand” (v 17). When Messiah ben Joseph returns as Messiah ben David in all his might, you will be ready for him. Us? Not so much. We have at the most two hundred years to get ready. That is not very long. To undo centuries of wrong-headed assumptions. To root out Beastly thinking from our midst. To re-order our priorities and restructure our Church, our lives, our families around Torah. To re-negotiate our relationship with you, Jesus’ family of origin, one that he never left. “I am Joseph; doth my father [Jacob] yet live?” (Gen 45:3 KJV).

It is not the Jewish and Christian Bibles that oppose one another but rather the Talmudist and the Evangelist, who turn their backs on one another and never communicate. If this dialogue were to open one day, it would be the day that the Christians recognize and respect the Jews as creatures worthy of love of living things and especially the day Christians recognize the honor of Judaism, whose seal is truth. (Askenazi 1999,450). ^[7]

Proper enthronement

When Messiah comes, he will expect to be properly enthroned, the business of Rosh Hashanah. We don’t know how to do that. If we were to show him to our Christmas Creche in the basement, he would be disappointed at the very least. Swaddling clothes won’t cut it. We have never even considered Rosh Hashanah a meaningful part of life. “You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel” (Ps 22:3 BSB).

He will also expect us to prepare for Final Judgement, the business of Yom Kippur. We have never even heard of the Days of Awe, ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, your annual dress rehearsal in preparation for Judgment Day. He has always given you ten days to work that out. If he is as merciful as I think he is, he’ll give us more like ten years to prepare for the real thing.

Daniel Pearl said just before his decapitation by Pakistani terrorists, “My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish.” To leave the riches of your heritage and join us in our impoverished pagan traditions would be an unspeakable loss. Our evangelists don’t know what they are doing to you. To claim, like we do, that Jesus, a Jew just like the guy standing next to you, the Torah buddy you study with every day, is God? The Uncreated En Sof? That is impossible to you, and inevitable to us who considered the incarnate God the most natural thing in the world.

The Infinite and Eternal Uncreated projected Himself into time and finitude as a Jew, indeed as all Judaism, born of virgin Israel. Jesus is the closest thing we have ever seen to your God, but he is the first to admit, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all” (John 10:29). “If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). Unity with God is something every Jew knows; all of you are the firstborn sons and daughters of God, those who take away the sins of the world, and Judaism has become steadily more and more “Christlike” over the centuries, even if we have not.

Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler teaches:

Every achievement of the Jewish people, every attainment in power, knowledge, or skill, must lead toward the completion of the divine kingdom of truth and justice; that for which the Jew laid the foundation at the beginning of his history is still leading forward the entire social life of man to render it a divine household of love and peace. In order that it may carry out the world mission mapped out by its great seers of yore, the Jewish people must guard against absorption by the multitudes of nations as much as against isolation from them. It must preserve its identity without going back into a separation rooted in self-adulation and clannishness. Instead, the great goal of Israel will be reached only by patient endurance and perseverance, confidently awaiting the fulfilment in God’s own time of the glorious prophesy that all the nations shall be led up to the mountain of the Lord by the priest-people, there to worship God in truth and righteousness. ^[8]

If you need any evangelism, you need Jewish evangelism, powerful teachers who remind your children of who they are, motivate your youth to be better Jews, to explore the wealth and beauty of your own tradition, to know the freedom and joy of Judaism. ^[9]

Teshuvah means genuine change; we change our minds, change our attitudes, and change our behavior. We Christians need a genuine encounter with you, real listening, true introspection, rethinking our theological assumptions. For generations we have looked past you, never really seeing you. Are we mature enough now, after two thousand years of living with your God, to know the depth and quality of God’s love for you? If we don’t really believe in the love of God, we can’t possibly understand His love for you.

Esau the repentant evangelist

Rabbi Kook, a Zionist mystical rabbi of the generation before Israel’s statehood teaches:

The gentle pain caused by the spirit of holiness and purity embodied in penitence yields a happiness of inestimable magnitude. In this condition man is immersed in the exciting thought of full remorse for his sins, all his misdeeds and transgressions; his soul yearns with love for everything holy and perfect, it longs for its beloved, its Creator, the creator of all things, praised be He; with all his heart and soul he seeks ardently to walk with integrity, to be a righteous person who performs acts of righteousness, to be upright and deal justly. Although at the time he may be perplexed how to extricate himself from the mire of sin, although he may still be unsure how to mend all his past and his course is not yet clearly marked out to him, with many stumbling blocks yet facing him, the will to be good – this is a wind from the Garden of Eden – blowing on the soul and filling it with contentment, to a point that even the hellish fires of remorse are turned into a source of delight...

The pain experienced when one approaches some holy act derives from the fact that at such a time the soul is in a state of greater illumination and is more keenly aware of what absolute perfection involves. As a result, it realizes its own limitations and nothingness, and becomes embittered at the circumstances responsible for its lack of strength and vision. But in truth this is the basis for penitence out of love, and every sensitive person should be able to accept this bitterness with a glad heart. The depths of pain will then be changed to the substance of a higher pleasure, in which is manifest an abundance of holy delight.

Penitence does not come to embitter life but to make it more pleasurable. The joy of life resulting from penitence emerges out of all those currents of bitterness in which the soul is entangled in its initial steps toward penitence. This is the creative height’s prowess, to know that sweetness is drawn from all bitterness, life from the pangs of death, abiding delights from every disease and pain. This abiding truth registers increasingly in our minds, our feelings, our physical and spiritual features. The person becomes a new being, and he releases with a resolute spirit the vibrations of a new way of life all about him. He brings to his generation and to future generations the glad tidings of joy for the upright, the joy of song out of faith in redemption, with celebration and acclaim. ‘The humble will increase their joy in the Lord, and the needy ones will exult in the Holy One of Israel’ (Isa. 29:19). ^[10]

So maybe now you Jews don’t have to hide your children from us anymore. You can come out now. We’re not trying to convert you anymore. We finally figured it out. You Jews have been saved all along! Really! You don’t have to join our Church to be right with God. Aren’t you glad?

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

To Order my book Climbing Jacob's Ladder

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[1] Jacob Emden quoted in Harvey Falk, Jesus the Pharisee, p. 19.

[2] John Owen. The Death of Christ Vol 10 of The Works of John Owen. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1967), pp. 236-7. Originally published 1642. This is the last volume of an otherwise wonderful work.

[3] Charles Freeman, The Closing of the Western Mind, p. 119.

[4] Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, p. 133-34.

[5] Classics of Western Spirituality Abraham Isaac Kook: The Lights of Penitence, Lights of Holiness, The Moral Principles, Essays, Letters, and Poems. Translation and Introduction by Ben Zion Bokser. (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1978), p. 284. Originally written around 1919.

[6] https://forward.com/opinion/443606/please-do-not-host-a-christian-seder/ Joachim Steinberg is an attorney living in San Francisco. He tweets, mostly about soccer but occasionally about politics, Judaism, and his dog, @SFJoachim Accessed Mar 2023

[7] Rabbi Yehouda Leon Askenazi (known as Manitou) quoted in Yossef Charvit, “Judaism’s Attitude Towards Christianity According to the Philosophy of Yehouda Leon Askenazi (Manitou),” in Interactions between Judaism and Christianity in History, Religion, Art and Literature. Edited by Marcel Poothuis, Joshua Schwartz, and Joseph Turner. (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill NV, 2009), p. 332

[8] Kaufmann Kohler, Jewish Theology, p. 250.

[9] One such effort to preserve Jewish youth is in music, innovative Jewish artists like Nissim and DeScribe, what I call Rabbi Rap. Another is the writings of Ken Spiro, especially his graphic novel type books Destiny and WorldPerfect. Tzvi Freeman is another Rabbi who writes delightful books for youth and adults from a Chabad perspective, and web resources like “Building Blocks of Jewish Thought,” and “Chabad Think” on Chabad.org. Jewish youth who visit Israel, even for a short time, are greatly strengthened in their faith. The leader in Jewish anti-evangelism is Jews for Judaism.com, countering our arguments and strengthening Jews against us. They often do it by condemning us, which is counterproductive and alienating to Jewish youth who actually know and care about us. Their best pieces are those that expose wandering Jews to the glory and beauty of Judaism, not those that condemn Christians.

[10] Abraham Isaac Kook, The Lights of Penitence, Lights of Holiness, pp 121-123.

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Adapted from my book Esau’s Kiss: The Repentant Evangelist

Both Roman Catholicism and Protestant Lutheranism were official state Churches under the Nazis, as they had been for centuries; the German State collected church taxes and administered church facilities and schools. Almost 95% of Germans identified as either Catholic or Protestant during World War II. Both Churches were virulently anti-semitic, as a matter of dogma and as a centuries old social habit. Modernity had added racial and genetic factors into the pre-existing Jew hatred. “They worshiped the dragon who had given authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast.” Aryan supremacy was conflated with Christian supremacy from the get-go. “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” (Rev 13:4 BSB)”

When it came to fundamental beliefs and attitudes regarding the Jews, the Nazis and the Protestant Sunday papers were not far apart.… Even before Hitler came to power, as his ascendancy became increasingly probable, the editors of these pious Christian papers brought their already virulently antisemitic rhetoric into closer concord with that of the Nazis. They did so unbidden, entirely voluntarily, and with unmistakable passion and alacrity.…

Before and during the Nazi period, Catholic publications, whether written for the laity, clerics, or theologians, disseminated the contemporary antisemitic litany in ways that were often indistinguishable from the Nazis’, and justified the desire to eliminate the Jewish ‘alien bodies’ (Fremdkorper) from Germany. Taking action against the Jews…was ‘justifiable self-defense to prevent the harmful characteristics and influence of the Jewish race.’” ^[1]

“The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months” (Rev 13:5). Hitler could not have done what he did, under the blind eyes of complacent Christians and the enthusiastic malice of cooperative Christians, without the precedent of Luther and his mentors Chrysostom and Ambrose and the culture of Jew-hatred they inspired. If they were our house of Shammai, Hitler and his Nazis were their Zealots. Shammai sent Jesus to the cross and his heirs sent Judaism to the gas chambers. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams” (Gen 37:20).

Harshness and brutality were familiar to Teutonic Germans. They had lost World War I because of a deficiency in harshness and brutality and were determined not to make the same mistake again. The survival of the tribe was threatened. Strong German nationalist leadership and a projection of right-wing power is what they wanted and that was what they got. Using manipulative but largely legal methods, Hitler with just 44% of the vote seized power from an ineffectual government.

False accusations

Hitler tapped the caged animal, the barbarian caveman in the German people, unhindered by an artificial morality imposed by the God of Israel. The civilized world with its care for the poor and the weak was unacceptable to Hitler. Animal power that wanted to dominate and command would have none of the divine humility and submission to God that Judaism (and true Christianity) represented.

The Nazis had achieved an unassailable position of power: through terror, celebration and rhetoric, treachery, and finally a collective breakdown – a million individuals simultaneously suffered a nervous collapse…. In 1933 the terror was practiced by a real bloodthirsty mass…[the SA] acted as “auxiliary police,” without any emotion…under orders and with strict discipline. The external picture was of…a wild unkept mob breaking into homes at night and dragging defenseless victims [Social Democrats, Communists, and other opposition parties] to the torture chambers. The internal process was repressive terror: cold, calculated, official orders, directed by the state and carried out under the full protection of the police and armed forces…What happened was a nightmarish reversal of normal circumstances: robbers and murderers acting as the police force, enjoying the full panoply of state power, their victims treated as criminals, proscribed and condemned to death in advance. ^[2]

“And the beast opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God and to slander His name and His tabernacle—those who dwell in heaven” (Rev 13:6 BSB). Antisemitism was a German principle even before Hitler got involved, and Hitler took power on an antisemitic platform. Nazis so far from forcing antisemitism down German throats, or even just leading the antisemitic mobs, had to run to keep up with popular sentiment.

The Jewish power libel was mobilized to explain German failures. Jews were blamed for the loss of World War I and the economic collapse that followed. according to the Nazis, your spies and partisans had betrayed Germany, causing her defeat by the Allies. “’You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ They all condemned him as worthy of death” (Mark 14:64).

Supposedly, you controlled the international press and the publishing industry, labor unions and banks, you already had control of Britain and America, and you wanted to destroy the German nation, apple pie, and motherhood. The entire civilized world was at risk. If Hitler had not volunteered for the job, Germans would have recruited him. “When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, ‘This is how your slave treated me,’ he burned with anger” (Gen 39:19).

The prevailing German attitude is concisely illustrated by Melita Maschmann in her confessional memoir written to her lost Jewish childhood friend:

“Those Jews were and remained something mysteriously menacing and anonymous. They were not the sum of all Jewish individuals… They were an evil power, something with the attributes of a spook. One could not see it, but it was there, an active force for evil.

As children we had been told fairy stories which sought to make us believe in witches and lizards. Now we were too grown up to take this witchcraft seriously, but we still went on believing in the ‘wicked Jews.’ They never appeared to us in bodily form, but it was a daily experience that adults believed in them.

After all, we could not check to see if the earth was round rather than flat… The grown-ups ‘knew’ it and one took over this knowledge without mistrust. They also ‘knew’ that the Jews were wicked...

I had learned from my parent’s example that one could have anti-semitic opinions without this interfering in one’s personal relations with individual Jews… I later contrived to dedicate body and soul to an inhuman political system, without this giving me doubts about my own individual decency.

In preaching that all the misery of the nations was due to the Jews or that the Jewish spirit was seditious and Jewish blood corrupting, I was not compelled to think of you or old Herr Lewy or Rosel Cohen: I thought only of the bogeyman: ‘the Jew.’

And when I heard that the Jews were being driven from their professions and homes and imprisoned in ghettos, the points switched automatically in my mind to steer me round the thought that such a fate could also overtake you or old Lewy. It was only the Jew who was being persecuted and ‘made harmless.’” ^[3]

Vatican engagement with Hitler

Immediately after Hitler took power, the secretary of state for the Vatican came to meet the new leader of Germany, and he didn’t come to pray. He had a concordance for Hitler to sign. In return for diplomatic relations with the Vatican, Hitler was asked to show favor to Catholicism. One of the envoy’s requests, made public only recently, was to spare the “non-Aryan Catholics” when Hitler cleansed Germany of its “Jewish Problem,” a strong motivation for Jewish conversion to Christianity, and a request that was not granted.

There was nothing last minute or last resort about the Final Solution. The Vatican knew of Hitler’s intentions in 1933. “His brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt” (Gen 37:28).

Within a week of his first cabinet meeting, in early March 1933, Hitler received a friendly message from [Giuseppe Giovanni] Pacelli [cardinal secretary of state, [later to be Pope Pius XII], who was moving quickly to take advantage of a long-awaited opportunity to achieve the Reichkonkordat…an indirect endorsement of the action of the Reich chancellor and the government against Communism.

Even an indirect endorsement meant everything to Hitler as he sought to establish legitimacy at home and abroad. A massive shift occurred in Catholic attitudes toward the Nazis, partly related to Hitler’s having taken over the government, but also related to the Vatican’s eagerness to deal with the Fuhrer. In these early months of 1933, Catholic leaders went from being Hitler’s staunch opponents to his latest allies.

In 1932, the Fulda Episcopal Conference, representing the Catholic hierarchy of Germany, banned membership in the Nazi party and prohibited priests from offering communion to anyone wearing the swastika; then on March 28, 1933, two seeks after Pacelli offered his overture to Hitler, the same Fulda conferees voted to lift the ban on Catholic membership in the Nazi party.

The bishops expressed, as they put it, “a certain confidence in the new government, subject to reservations concerning some religious and moral lapses.” Swastika bearers would now be welcomed at the communion rail. ^[4]

Hitler now had a moral stamp of approval from the Huns and Goths in the Catholic Church. With the pope’s blessing Hitler could slaughter anyone once he had labeled them communists. Of course, all Jews were labeled communists, even those we had previously labeled abusive capitalists and loan sharks. “Then the beast was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation” (Rev 13:7 BSB).

Protestant overtures

On the Protestant side there was no central authority comparable to the pope, but there were leaders and synods who decided that, based on historical evidence, Jesus was not a Jew after all, but Aryan. That notion was first put forth in 1899 by Houston Stewart Chamberlain, in a book, The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, that went viral in 1900 and again in 1933 with twenty-four printings by 1938. It resonated with a population that believed Judas was the only real Jew in the Gospels.

Chamberlain’s “proof” of Jesus’ Aryan identity was based on claims that the Galilee’s Jewish population had never recovered from the Assyrian invasion of the eighth century BCE, and that as late as the first century CE Galilean Jews were ignorant of Hebrew, lax in their religious practice, and lived among a racially diverse Non-Jewish population: “There is, accordingly, as we shall see, not the slightest foundation for the supposition that Christ’s parents were of Jewish descent.”

Was Christ a Jew? In religion and education, He was so undoubtably, in race – in the narrower and real sense of the word “Jew” – most probably not… That Christ had not a drop of genuinely Jewish blood in his veins is almost a certainty. ^[5]

The book generated a rage in German theology, with copycats, novels, and popular magazine articles; though castigated by historians and some theologians it struck a nerve for Christians seeking to justify their support of Nazi policy toward Jews.

Both Catholic and Protestant churchmen were intent on winning the love and approval of Hitler. Hitler played hard-to-get, his scorn for religion showing through. “’I will give You authority over all these kingdoms and all their glory,’ he said. ‘For it has been relinquished to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. If you worship me, it will all be yours’” (Luke 4:6-7 ESV).

Some Nazi writings characterized Christianity as a denomination of Judaism and thereby condemned it. Cofounder of a German Christian pro-Nazi group, Siegfried Leffler agonized over Hitler’s failure to respond favorably to his efforts to de-Judaize Christian Scripture with a new edition of the New Testament, a revamped Protestant catechism, pastoral training, oaths of loyalty, new hymns and liturgy, all to rid the Church of any traces of Judaism.

In 1937 Buchenwald concentration camp was established on a hill within view of the offices of Leffler, and in 1938, thirteen hundred Jews were imprisoned there. He wrote:

We had to struggle out of the position of pariah within the German Protestant Church. But still today it is unacceptable, and for us unbearable, to be tolerated yet still shut out from any influence on really positive work in the National Socialist [Nazi] sense within the Protestant Church. And this only because we as Christians in the Church of our fathers approve the National Socialist world view! ^[6]

In 1939, Leffler and a group of Protestant ministers and theologians organized the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Church Life. Its goals were to rewrite and reinterpret Scripture to eliminate the Judaic content from the Gospels, discard the Old Testament entirely, and present Jesus as the enemy and destroyer of Judaism to whose aid all German Christians were summonsed.

Appealing to Luther’s legacy, they sought to purify the Bible of any traces of Jewish thought and content, and celebrated Hitler as sent by God, almost an angelic divine being. “’Truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times’” (Matt 26:34).

The twenty percent of Protestant pastors that did not subscribe to this movement opposed the rewriting of Scripture and church doctrine, but did not oppose Hitler or his goals, and took pains to make that clear. Jesus had declared Judaism morally bankrupt and perverted, and it was their Christian service to God to destroy all Jews.

German Christians took their anti-Jewish theology to its logical conclusion and were as single-minded as Hitler was to destroy all Jews. “’Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? LORD, God of Israel, tell your servant.’ And the LORD said, ‘He will’” (1 Sam 23:11).

The churches were the moral authorities in Europe and had already declared Jews sub-human for almost two thousand years. “Again David asked, ‘Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?’ And the LORD said, ‘They will’” (v 12).

A priest or pastor preaching in the name of God carried the weight of an authority no propaganda machine could replicate. Given the tacit approval of the churches, there was nothing to restrain the casual slaughter of helpless civilians and confiscation of their property. “But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him” (Gen 37:18).

“He replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me”’” (Mark 7:6). There was no vast divide between Christians and the Nazi machinery that was staffed by Christians, financed by Christians, and built by Christian journeymen, plumbers and electricians, arms and gas manufacturers, medical professionals conducting experiments on inmates, and railroad engineers who radioed ahead to the next stop, “Here comes another load of chosen people.”

Christians in the press promulgated Nazi propaganda, Christian clergy provided lists of congregants and baptismal records, Christian spies turned Jews and resisting Christians over to the Gestapo. “The one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin” (John 19:11). Christians who might have sheltered or protected Jews were drummed out and exposed to violence and arrest.

No one can blame the Holocaust on the 5% of Germany that was not Christian. “And they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it” (Gen 37:24).

None of us can think that in the same situation we would have done differently.

Muslim contribution

In the early war years, German Jews were encouraged, but not empowered, to emigrate. You could take nothing with you. No currency, no securities, no jewelry, no gold. Destitute as you were, no Christian nation would accept you. Thousands immigrated to Palestine, both legally and illegally, to the consternation of the Palestinian Arabs.

Seeking to pacify the Arabs and retain access to their oil, the British installed Haj Amin el-Husseini, an officer in the Turk’s Armenian genocide, as Grand Mufti of Palestine. He resisted British efforts to establish a Jewish Homeland in Palestine and fostered violence. The Mufti, an Egyptian, was associated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo. His nephew was a young boy named Yasser Arafat.

The Mufti recruited Jew-hating Muslims to migrate to Palestine, and systematically slaughtered Muslim families that worked with, supported, and sold property to Jews. He was a Nazi before the Nazi’s even existed, moved to Berlin on the Nazi payroll, and broadcasted Nazi propaganda in Arabic over radio, sharing with them an intense Jew hatred in the name of Allah.

“Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, [the Jew-hating false Jesus promoted by the Church] whose fatal wound had been healed” (Rev 13:11-12).

The Mufti’s condition for an Arab rebellion [against the British] in Iraq: a German declaration against the Zionist homeland and in favor of a pan-Arab state… The outlines of the demanded declaration were embodied in the Mufti’s personal eight-point draft. It covered all the Islamic nations of the Arab realm…

Point 7: “Germany and Italy recognize the illegality of the ‘Jewish Home of Palestine.” They accord to Palestine and other Arab countries the right to resolve the problem of Jewish elements in Palestine and other Arab countries in accordance with the interests of the Arabs, and by the same method that the question is now being settled in the Axis countries.’…

Identification, expulsion from the economy, confiscation of assets, enforced starvation, ghettoization, concentration in camps, and mass murder. The Mufti’s offer was to extend Hitler’s merciless campaign of Jewish destruction into the Middle East. ^[7]

The Mufti offered full Arab cooperation to the Nazis with the expectation they would extend anti-Jewish laws and policies to Muslim lands as they “conquered” them, including death camps and gas chambers. In part because the Muslim lands were such a sure-thing for the Nazis, they failed to mount a serious effort to occupy Muslim lands, preferring to expend resources where their victory might be in doubt. The Mufti expressed disappointment and impatience with Hitler but was careful not to antagonize him.

Mufti played both sides in his machinations during the war. In negotiations with the Allies, using Middle Eastern oil as his bargaining chip, the Mufti also offered the British and Americans access to those very same vast oil fields in exchange for anti-Jewish policy sand backtracking on the previous promises made to Jews in the Balfour declaration.

The number of Jews permitted to immigrate to Palestine was capped by the White Paper agreement at less than 75,000 over the four years 1940 - 1944, while millions were being slaughtered over pits and in gas chambers. Actual immigration visas granted were less than 5000 Jews per year.

The amount of land ceded to the planned Israel was greatly reduced, but no reduction of property was sufficient to achieve Muslim cooperation with the establishment of a Jewish state. The Muslim dream was to eliminate Jews not just from Europe, but also from the Middle East and ultimately from the world.

The Muslim Brotherhood, now known as Hamas, was created in 1928 to prevent the establishment of Israel, as Jerusalem was the planned capital of the worldwide Califate that would enforce Shariah law, making Islam the One Worldwide Religion. The Brotherhood also admired Hitler and distributed Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion across the Arabic world. The very ideas Jews were accused of in the Protocols were the actual plans of the Muslim Brotherhood from its inception.

In the spring of 1939 Great Britain, increasingly worried by the pro-Axis [Nazi] shift in the Arab world – a trend with possibly dire consequences for Britain in case of war – reneged on its commitments [in the Balfour declaration issued by the British War Cabinet]…and closed the doors of Palestine to Jewish immigration…

The United States did not even fill the [immigration] quotas for Germany and Austria in 1938. In July 1939 the Wagner-Rodgers Child Refugee Bill, which would have allowed twenty thousand Jewish refugee children to enter the country, was not passed by the Senate, and at the same time, despite all entreaties, the 936 hapless Jewish emigrants from Germany who had sailed on the soon-to-be notorious St. Louis, after being denied entry to Cuba, their destination, were not admitted into the United States.

Their voyage back to Europe became a vivid illustration of the overall situation of Jewish refugees from Germany. After Belgium, France, and England finally agreed to give asylum to [some of] the passengers, the London Daily Express echoed the prevalent opinion in no uncertain terms: “This example must not set a precedent. There is no room for any more refugees in this country… They become a burden and a grievance.” ^[8]

Of almost a thousand would-be emigrants aboard the St. Louis, two hundred-fifty-four were killed in the Holocaust. “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads” (Ps 22:6-7).

The Eastern Holocaust

Not that they would have been any better off had they arrived in the Middle East. Nazi propaganda was prolific in Muslim nations. Emboldened by what the Nazis were doing, Muslim aggression grew louder and more violent. Incidents and Pogroms were conducted in many Arab nations with thousands of deaths.

Even the successful and well-integrated Jews of Bagdad were not safe from Arab-Nazi violence. June 1^st, 1941 was Shavuot, the Jewish holiday commemorating the giving of the Torah turned into a pogrom called the Farhud lasting six days.

The original plans for the anti-Jewish action of June 1 were intended to mimic Nazi extermination campaigns in Europe. Lists of Jews had already been compiled by the military using the familiar approach the Nazis and their allies employed in such counties as Poland and Romania. The Chief Rabbi Sassoon Kadoori…[had been] ordered to instruct the Jewish community to…cook enough food for a three-day journey, pack a single suitcase and prepare for transport to detention centers.

“It being a Jewish holiday, [a contingent of Baghdadi Jews] were all dressed up in their festive finest…. The mere sight of these Jews was enough to enrage the soldiers. Suddenly the Jews were viciously attacked with knives and axes. The planned extermination, now foiled, broke down into spontaneous slaughter…. Frenzied mobs raced throughout the city and murdered Jews openly on the streets.

Women were raped as their horrified families looked on. Homes and stores were emptied and then burned. Gunshots and screams electrified the city for hours upon hours. Beheadings, torsos sliced open, babies dismembered, horrid tortures, and mutilations were widespread. Severed limbs were waved here and there as trophies. One man remembered, the mutilation of the bodies…had distorted the victims’ bodies and faces beyond recognition….

In the Dillal home…one policeman entered and from the door began cursing at the terrified family. Suddenly, he shot the mother in the head, and she went down. At this, the daughter Bertin shrieked; he turned the weapon on Bertin and shot her dead. When the horrified grandmother saw this and screamed, the policeman shot her as well. …

Women were defiled everywhere. Arabs broke into the girl’s school and the students were raped – endlessly. Six Jewish girls were carted away… One young girl was raped, and then her breasts slashed off – an all too typical crime that day.

The Farhud was not a one-day event. It began on June 1st, 1941, but no authority could suppress it; indeed the police and the army were active participants…. Days later, when the regent eventually restored order, the British did enter the city. The oil [field, 100,000 sq. miles] was secure. The Jews of Baghdad were not…. One Iraq historian suggested as many as 600 were murdered during the [first day of the] overnight rampage.

The Farhud became a cherished event among Arabs in Baghdad, not a source of shame. Celebrated in song and slogans, Arab chants constantly warned that more was coming. One song opened with “How lovely if only a Farhud occurred every day.” A common warning to the Jews of Iraq was this: “That was just a small festival. The time will come for the big one.”

The perpetrators of the Farhud were not a gang or a few errant officers. It was a mass movement unleashed, one that broadly adopted the Nazi desire to destroy Jews. The Farhud was a turning point in Arab hatred for Jews. ^[9]

Muslim policies were the indirect cause of millions of Jewish deaths in the Holocaust, preventing their escape from Nazi occupied lands. Undocumented Jews found in Arab lands were often rounded up and shipped by boxcar directly back to Hitler’s territory to be destroyed. Direct victims of Muslim extremists and Nazis in the Middle East, the Eastern Holocaust, are not counted among the six-million Jewish victims of the German Holocaust, a serious oversight. This was a combined East - West effort. “With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you— the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites” (Psalm 83:5-6).

Christian complicity in the Holocaust

We recoil with horror at the accounts of the Holocaust. I want to draw attention to the theological underpinnings of it. It reads like something out of the barbarian bronze age, every man, woman, and child slaughtered. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4). How could this happen in a modern Christian nation, under 100 million Christian noses, with virtually no objections raised by either the Catholic or the Protestant Church?

Resistance fighters and individual martyrs aside, and there were many, Christians did not object to the torture and murder of millions of Jews. So far from objecting, Christians were often the enthusiastic and dedicated perpetrators of genocide. Even those not directly involved supported the pervasive assumption that Jews specifically should be annihilated. “Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit” (Matt 7:17).

And Germany was not the only European population that enabled elimination antisemitism. It takes a village. Every nation on earth permitted this to happen. “Peter replied, ‘Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.’ ‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.’ But Peter declared, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you’ And all the other disciples said the same” (Matt 26:33-35). How did genuine Christians let this monstrous slaughter happen?

If ancient heresy had been recognized and condemned in the 2^nd - 4th centuries, it would not have happened.

If Christian identity had been centered on loving Jesus, not despising his “enemies,” it would not have happened.

For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink.

If the Christian Churches, seeing the obvious injustice unfolding, had united in defense of Jews, it would not have happened.

If the Catholic Church had withheld its approval of Hitler in 1933, it would not have happened.

If the Protestant Church had refused to pervert its own theology in support of Hitler, it would not have happened.

I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.

If Christians in the Western press had refused to spread lies and propaganda, or even aggressively reported on atrocities against Jews in Europe, it would not have happened.

If Christians in labor unions had gone on strike in support of the Jews, it would not have happened.

They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

If Christians in the German army had revolted against Hitler, it would not have happened.

If the United States had resisted Hitler when he invaded Poland, as it defended the UK in World War I, it would not have happened.

If Israel had been a sovereign nation in 1933, as set forth in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, it would not have happened.

He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

If Christian nations all over the world had welcomed Jewish refugees and sheltered them in the US, Canada, Australia, South America and Africa, millions would have been saved and contributed their talents to the free world.

If Allied forces had bombed the reception centers and railways feeding the concentration camps, we would have limited the human destruction and encouraged Jewish souls.

“Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: ‘Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly” (Matt 26:75). We denied him six million times.

The Holocaust is not over

We see how weak-kneed we still are when we see that Islamo-Nazi Pro-Palestinian / Anti-Zionist protesters have the firm support and assistance of many Christians on both the right and the left of world-wide Democracies. No one is willing to engage a relatively emasculated Beast, one with no army, no SS troops, and no concentration camps, only the shrill whistle of “political correctness.”

Meanwhile our government stands aside as Iranian radicals legitimize their alliances with Hezbollah, Houthis, and multiple spin-offs of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, infiltrate millions of fighting age Muslim men into Democracies all over Europe and America, and establish Shariah law in sections of non-Muslim countries. The Muslim goal of a world-wide Califate and One World Religion is facing almost no serious resistance.

If we really consider ourselves Christians, followers of Jesus the Jew, not followers of the antisemitic Beast our Church forced upon us for so many years, we must be prepared to put up a serious fight, economically, politically and militarily, on behalf of Jesus’ brothers and sisters, the Jews.

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

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[1] Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, pp 108-109.

[2] Sebastian Haffner. Defying Hitler. (New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000), pp. 125-6.

[3] Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, pp 88-89.

[4] James Carroll, Constantine’s Sword, pp. 497-8.

[5] Susannah Heschel. The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008), p. 42.

[6] Susannah Heschel, The Aryan Jesus, p. 74.

[7] Edwin Black, The Farhud, p. 272-3.

[8] Saul Friedlander. Nazi Germany and The Jews 1933-1945. (New York: Harper Perennial 2009), pp. 128-9.

[9] Edwin Black, The Farhud, pp. 297-306.

[10] David S. Wyman. The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust 1941-1945. (New York: The New Press, 1984), pp. 157-8.

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Extracted in part from my book Esau’s Kiss: The Repentant Evangelist. I think it is important to change our perception of Jews. I don’t want to present them as foreign and distant “they” and “them.” In this book, when I speak of “we” I speak of us Christians; when I speak to “you” I speak to you Jews. I will tell “you” Jews how “we” Christians think and feel, and speak of what “you” have done and said, not as an accusation, but in your own words, reflecting as best I can your heart and intention. You Jews and we Christians will have a long conversation in these pages.

For you Jews, centuries of impotent humiliation and victimhood came to an end with the establishment of Israel. It was around this time that the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered at the northern shore of the Dead Sea, in Jordan, land that would become the West Bank. Translations and photographs of the scrolls were controlled by the Jordanian Department of Antiquities and were released very slowly, over decades.

The Scrolls proved that, contrary to the teachings of Islam, the Torah we have now has not been changed or adulterated in at least two thousand years. The Jordanians now have a peace treaty with Israel. Muslim slander regarding the integrity of the Torah still has not been corrected despite the evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some Muslim factions have declared the scrolls themselves Christian and Jewish forgeries. ^[1]

Modern Muslims the world over are just as humiliated by the behavior of the jihadists as we are by the Crusaders, the Inquisition, and the Passion Play. We know what it is to eat crow, admit we were wrong, and redesign our liturgy and teachings regarding Judaism. It was not easy.

They will have to do what we have just now done, admit that their Prophet and ancestors were wrong, that the jihadist Beast is a perversion of true Islam just as the Beastly Jesus who hates Jews and Judaism is a perversion of the actual Jesus who taught us to love our enemies. They can then engage the Jews as brothers and friends in the worship of YHVH the One Uncreated God, as some Muslims already do.

We Christians have an opportunity to assist our Muslim brothers and sisters by realizing their dignity and honoring their genuine worship of God, while rejecting jihadist obsession as the idolatry that it is. Muslims do not have to be the savage barbarians some of them are, and do not behead People of the Book, Jews and Christians. Only jihadists idolaters are cruel and murderous. Worshippers of God love all the same people God loves, everyone He created.

The religious beast

The religious beast-idol, on the other hand, hates all the same people we hate, and loves only those who look and think like us. Our beast-idol demands moral perfection of all those infidels but looks the other way at the depravity in our own communities and culture. Our idol-god defends the sanctity of our Scripture and only our Scripture, condemning all those other people and their bogus holy books to eternal flames.

In the service of our tribal idol-god we are willing to deploy nuclear weapons and nerve gas, sacrifice our assets and our children to destroy the assets and children of the tribal enemy. The tribal beast-god forgives sins but only when we recite the magic words “Jesus Christ is Lord” or “Muhammad is his prophet.”

The hostile fundamentalist Muslim, Osama bin Laden, worshipping his religion, but not his God, insists:

Our basic belief holds that the Palestinian issue, the liberation of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and all the places holy to Islam are our strategic goal that we cannot renounce. Even if the Palestinians themselves renounce their issue, we, the Yemeni people, will not do so because we have values, principles, morals and faith that we were raised on. Jihad against the Jews, the Christians, and the Zionist entity is a religious obligation. Just as fasting and prayer are a religious obligation in our view, so jihad and confrontation with them are a religious and moral obligation, and so we cannot renounce anything that is one of the foundations of our faith. ^[2]

The jihadists freely admit they are prioritizing a place, Al-Aqsa, Jerusalem, Palestine, above the clear commands of God, as given in the Quran itself.

Surah Al-Ma’idah (5:20-21): “And [mention] when Moses said to his people, ‘O my people, remember the favor of Allah upon you when He appointed prophets among you and made you kings and gave you what He had not given to any other among the peoples. O my people, enter the Holy Land [al-ard al-muqaddas] which Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back [in flight], for then you will be returned as losers.’” (Translation: Sahih International)

Surah 17:100: Say ˹to them, O Prophet˺, “Even if you were to possess the ˹infinite˺ treasuries of my Lord’s mercy, then you would certainly withhold ˹them˺, fearing they would run out—for humankind is ever stingy!” We surely gave Moses nine clear signs. ˹You, O Prophet, can˺ ask the Children of Israel. When Moses came to them, Pharaoh said to him, “I really think that you, O Moses, are bewitched.” Moses replied, “You know well that none has sent these ˹signs˺ down except the Lord of the heavens and the earth as insights. And I really think that you, O Pharaoh, are doomed.” Pharaoh wanted to scare the Israelites out of the land ˹of Egypt˺, but We drowned him and all of those with him. And We said to the Children of Israel after Pharaoh, “Reside in the land, but when the promise of the Hereafter comes to pass, We will bring you all together.”

Muslim followers of their religious Beast read their Scripture in the most inflammatory way possible, focusing on the most intolerant and hostile surahs, and define other people as sub-human, monkeys and pigs, fit to be destroyed. By their actions they reveal themselves as savage barbarians and rabid wolves. They emulate the most intolerant acts of Muhammed instead of the commands of God - in their own Scripture.

We see clearly that arrogant Muslims who declare that their religion is the only true religion and Muhammad is the final Prophet whose word is the final word of God are narrow-minded bigots. It is much harder to see the narrow-minded bigotry in our own theology. When we worship the Beast, search out and deploy all the hostile and arrogant interpretations of our own Scripture, we desecrate the name of our God just as much as a Muslim jihadist does.

Israel is still in a war for her existence.

Ehud Neor of Israel writes of how close Israel came to losing its national life on 10/7/23 (https://www.pisgahsite.com/p/the-spur-winged-plover)

The Arabs of Gaza had their eyes on the prize: The uncamouflaged and unguarded plover (bird) eggs that were the families living in the Israeli communities just a few hundred meters beyond a flimsy barbed-wire fence. It was the Israeli side that had been emasculated. Fathers were bound and forced to watch their wives, and daughters, and sons, raped and murdered, before being tortured to death themselves. No witnesses. Except. Except. The perpetrators themselves in their bloodied-hands waving ecstasy, live-streamed and uploaded the slaughter to the world at large, and with an added evil touch, live-streamed to the family members and relatives of the victims, using the victims’ own phones. This first-hand and undeniable evidence was promptly denied by Antisemites and Antizionists—take your pick—the world over.

Evidence being denied even before being presented, the pertinent question was never asked: What led these admittedly low-life Jew-hating terrorists to commit such unfathomable atrocities? It turns out that they were high on drugs. They were captivated by Captigon, the amphetamine of choice for wild-eyed Arab murderers the middle-east over.

Therein we find the Divine intervention that saved the Jewish people from a horror many magnitudes greater than the one experienced on October 7. If the terrorists had acted as soldiers and not as bloodthirsty savages, they would have overrun five military airbases that stood undefended, three in the south and two in the center of the country. One terrorist can disable a 200 million dollar fighter jet with a burst from his Kalashnikov. By then the Hizballah would have joined the battle and attacked the single surviving airbase in the north. It would then have been a cat and mouse battle with tens of thousands of heavily armed and highly trained Arab terrorists in the towns and cities of Israel. The Arabs of Judea and Samaria would have joined in, as would have many Israeli Arabs. At that point it would not be surprising had the Egyptian air force and armored corps attacked from the south.

In other words, Israel faced extinction, and was saved by a fistful of uppers. This is the unspoken truth of Oct.7. That rag-tag Arab army with their Toyota fighting vehicles and endless supply of RPG’s could have won the war. That is why the final battle is upon us. All of Israel’s enemies must be completely destroyed with no quarter given. Now the spur in the plover’s wing will be unsheathed. [3]

Israel was legally established

In 1920 90% of the population of Jerusalem was Jewish. Land was set aside for Israel in 1921 because of the horrific pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. The Holocaust only strengthened their pre-existing case. Numerous other states were also established by the UN in 1948, including Pakistan for Muslims carved out of a Hindu nation, India.

The Jewish population in the land envisioned as Israel has been significant and continuous for over 3000 years. It had often served as a refuge after major expulsions, hundreds of thousands of Jews returning there in 1492 during the Spanish exile. Even prior to the 1920, Jews had been purchasing land in the future state of Israel at fair market prices, explicitly for the founding of a Jewish state. The Muslim Brotherhood was established in reaction to these purchases.

The Russians had supported Israel’s independence in UN votes in 1947 hoping it would become a leftist, even Communist state. When it was affirmed as a Democracy, they turned against it and armed the Arabs. The Jewish war for independence in 1948 should never have been fought, but since it was, and the invading forces lost decisively, the Palestinian refugees were the responsibility of the invading forces.

The UN and the surrounding Muslim nations refused to resettle Palestinian Muslim refugees and refused to acknowledge Israel’s victory in 1948, espousing a “Palestinian right to return.” The same portion of territory that had been ceded to Israel and then won militarily by Israel was now promised to the Palestinians. “The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months” (Rev 13:5).

Holocaust extended and continued

The Genocidal intent of the Muslim states and the Muslim Brotherhood had never been in doubt. The UN intensifies Palestinian hostility and refuses to defend your right to exist as a Jewish nation, in effect relocating the Holocaust 2500 miles southeast. The traumatic existence of Israel has been reduced to an East/West conflict even though millions of Mizrahi Israelis are descendants of dhimmi Jews of the Middle East and North Africa, who hold Eastern customs, values, and assumptions. The conflict is not East vs West but Jewish vs Muslim.

Jewish annihilation came about as close in 1967. Surrounded by hostile and fully armed enemy nations making clear declarations of war against Israel, UN peace keeping forces having been evicted, with 1000 Egyptian tanks at Israel’s border in alliance with Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, Israel struck. On May 26, 1967, Nassar announced, “We are confident that once we have entered the battle we will triumph, God willing.” God was not willing, and Israel prevailed.

Israel has done to its Muslim neighbors what was necessary to preserve Jewish life in the only nation on earth dedicated to Jewish life and worship of God. The massive lie and demonic propaganda that resulted in the UN condemnation of Israel following the Six-Day-War is still operative today. “People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, ‘Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?’” (Rev 13:4). The UN’s condemnation of Israel, declaring its victory against annihilation in 1967 an “occupation,” has focused the wrath of the entire world upon Israel and the Jews.

Islamic Supremacy

Islamic supremacy is a defining doctrine in Radical Islam, with the expectation of the universal subjection of any surviving Christians and Jews to Shariah law and a worldwide Califate. Mutual respect and co-existence are impossible to the jihadist Muslim. “Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony [Torah] of Jesus” (Rev 12:17).

The determination of Hamas and Fatah to obliterate Israel is shared even by many moderate Muslims. Abraham turned Ishmael out into the desert in clear self-defense. “He lived in the desert and became an archer” (Gen 21:20). His bow-shot range is now about a thousand miles. “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers” (Gen 16:12).

The mere existence of a Jewish state of any size was unacceptable to Muslim followers of the Beast. The PLO hijacked airplanes and Hamas kidnapped soldiers and civilians to “trade” for terrorists in Israeli custody, at ratios of a thousand to one, putting a price tag on the head of every Jew. Suicide bombers and gunmen slaughtered civilians at bus stops and cafes and theaters and synagogues. “The other said, ‘Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!’” Rockets showered your villages daily for decades. Palestinian leaders put a cash bounty on every Jewish head, a “pay to slay” program that offers a financial reward and a pension to the family of any Palestinian who kills a Jew, in honor of the Beast.

Abraham is again fighting to liberate captives from barbarian ideologies all over the world. Murderous thugs are still surrounding Jews in European cities and remote villages, in totalitarian governments and among tribal warlords, and they are armed with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns. Nations and movements and sects that worship the Beast continue to not only threaten your innocents but also to train their own innocent children to be brutal and cruel terrorists. “Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking [Isaac] (Gen 21:9).

Perversions of Islam are just as violent and savage as the beastly perversions of Christianity were. “She said to Abraham, ‘Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac’” (v 10). We Christians have no right to pass judgement on Abraham’s weapons and tactics, or accuse him of war crimes, cruelty, and genocide as he fights for life and decency.

Bin Laden

Bin Laden wrote a letter to America while in hiding:

It brings us both laughter and tears to see that you have not yet tired of repeating your fabricated lies that the Jews have a historical right to Palestine, as it was promised to them in the Torah. Anyone who disputes with them on this alleged fact is accused of antisemitism. This is one of the most fallacious, widely circulated fabrications in history. The people of Palestine are pure Arabs and original Semites. It is the Muslims who are the inheritors of Moses (peace be upon him) and the inheritors of the real Torah that has not been changed. Muslims believe in all of the Prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all. If the followers of Moses have been promised a right to Palestine in the Torah, then the Muslims are the most worthy nation of this.

When the Muslims conquered Palestine and drove out the Romans, Palestine and Jerusalem returned to Islam (Emphasis added), the religion of all the Prophets peace be upon them. Therefore, the call to a historical right to Palestine cannot be raised against the Islamic Ummah [People] that believes in all the Prophets of Allah (peace and blessings be upon them) - and we make no distinction between them.^[4]

Palestine and Jerusalem had never been Islamic before they were conquered by Muslims, Arabians and not Palestinians. Almost immediately, the Beast’s antisemitic forces around the world accused you of provoking your own slaughter and of genocidal cruelty against Palestinian Gazans.

Civilian casualties

Israel’s survival surrounded by hostile Muslim nations depends upon defending itself against forces like Hamas. There is no way to fight Hamas without killing civilians. Hamas made sure of it, using schools and hospitals as bases of operation and excluding civilians from the tunnel bomb shelters. Civilian casualties are “produced” with staged and faked videos when there are not enough dead children to manipulate the West with.

Many of the civilians also made sure of it, refusing to evacuate when warned. Israeli hostages are being held by armed “civilians” in civilian apartments. Parents expose their children to danger and strap bombs to their little ones hoping to produce a little martyr. “When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes” (Gen 21:15). The IDF has been calling families in Gaza and warning them to evacuate. This was the phone call between an IDF officer and a Rafah resident:

IDF: We must do everything within our means to prevent any fatalities.

Gazan: We want to die and our children also must die.

IDF: No, God forbid.

Gazan: We love death the way you love life. ^[5]

There are no civilians in Gaza. Every man, woman, and child has been conscripted by the Beast, by Hamas, voluntarily or involuntarily, and forced to shelter terrorists.

And even with all this, the population in Gaza is growing and more children received vaccinations after the cease-fire than had been inoculated before the war. That is not a Genocide by any genuine standard.

Worthlessness of negotiations

The Beastly interpretation of Quran not only permits but demands deliberate lying and deception in the interest of the advancement of Islam and the establishment of Shariah law. Every Muslim is expected to contribute to the ultimate goal of Muslim domination of the world with Islam as the One World Religion. Everyone, even children, are members of the mujahideen.

Gaza is teaching us [Muslims] that real men are revealed in times of hardship, when all the masks are removed, and that the Islamic nation’s glory will only be achieved through faith and principles, that real sacrifice is sacrificing one’s soul and one’s children for the sake of the homeland. The people of Gaza have taught us a lot. We ask ourselves, “What are the women of Gaza made of?” when we see them wallowing in the blood of their children, screaming: ‘Oh Allah, accept them as sacrifices for the Al-Aqsa Mosque. ^[6]

Egypt seems to agree, preventing even a temporary evacuation of Palestinian civilians from a war zone calling the proposal a “forced displacement.” Whether voluntarily or not, Gazan children are serving Hamas as human shields and being offered as human sacrifices in honor or the Beast. “Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws—the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left” (Dan 7:19).

Arab rage has built to the point that Iran, armed now with advanced missiles and encouraged by Russian trainers and facilitators, the entire world is sitting up and taking notice. After years of warnings that Iran is weeks away from nuclear breakout, the evidence is clear. ^{[7] [8]} While some actually believed that Iran “downblended” its sixty percent nuclear material, now even the IAEA admits that Iran, formerly Persia, has sufficient weapons grade uranium to produce twelve warheads. “For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated” (Esth 7:4).

Western critics and pundits who have abandoned and denigrated religious faith find it incomprehensible that Islamic fundamentalists are willing to destroy the world for the sake of their religion. They cannot understand the religion of the Beast, of death and annihilation, one that so values suicide and martyrdom that it would conceal missiles under a child’s bed and build ammunition bunkers under a school or hospital. When children are inevitably killed, their parents pass out candy in honor of their little martyr and collect a pension from Hamas.

The level of armament controlled by radical Islam is not comprehended by world citizens. The reality of a nuclear explosion and its impact on the entire world is as unthinkable in the Middle East as it is in New York City. If left-wing protesters realized the scope of destruction that will ensue, the radiation poisoning and climate destruction, they would mobilize their rhetorical skills and their governments to take charge of Palestinian refugees and place them in other Muslim nations with the international support necessary to thrive. Instead, they demand that Israel give recognition and legitimacy to armed and trained homicidal and suicidal terrorists within feet of its borders.

There is no effective deterrence against an irrational and suicidal force. The threat of nuclear retaliation is meaningless to those who see the destruction of Israel as the cosmic command of the divine Beast. The prospect of making the entire nation of Iran into martyrs rejoicing in their seventy-two virgins is not a threat to them, but a promise, a reward for faithful service to the Beast. “The beast…opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven“ (Rev 13:5-6).

The same voices calling for the annihilation of Israel desire the utter destruction of Western democracy, especially America, the Great Satan. Knowing that nuclear retaliation by America is not survivable, Iranian mullahs are polishing their swords and arming their bows anyway. “They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, Daughter Zion” (Jer 6:23).

Like Medieval Christians, Imams weaponize your own Scriptures against you and condemn all Jews as the incarnation of evil. Aided and abetted by antisemitic liberals in academic sectors of western nations, hatred for Jews is no longer confined to Muslim belligerents.

Doctor of Philosophy, PhDs, prove themselves incapable of appreciating a paradox, how two apparently opposite assertions can both be true at the same time, in the same relationship. Yes – and thinking is apparently above their paygrade. Yes, Israel has rigid fundamentalists in it, and yes, Israel is indigenous to the Land of Israel, the apple of God’s eye.

Deliberately seeing only one side, the Beast who despises Judaism has attracted a new set of worshippers. “It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven” (Rev 13:6). Antisemitism has gone mainstream and has picked up liberal political allies who declare hatred of Jews a virtue. These newbies to the ancient conflict stage protests for Palestinian “liberation” as if Palestinians were helpless victims who had never fired a shot and have nowhere else to go.

Advance stages of preparation

In the Middle East, weaknesses and vulnerabilities are being identified, with false accusations and assumptions of cowardice, economic and moral bankruptcy. Missiles are being prepared, drones are outfitted with warheads, ships are mobilized, and satellites are launched. ^[9] Meetings are held daily defining you as the enemy, declaring your depravity, forming alliances, and blaming you for all obstructions to peace.

Descendants of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, Houthis, Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, and al Qaeda are co-operating with Iranian Shia forces in Yemen, inflaming tensions in the whole region, blocking international trade, stoking hatred, rage, outrage, and violence, both verbal – on social media - and physical. ^[10]

Iran makes no secret of its intention of launching nuclear weapons against Israel. ^{[11] [12]} Turkish President Erdoğan, a NATO member has also made threats to attack Israel using American weapons. ^[13] Having purchased Russian, Pakistani, and North Korean missiles, Iran is now proven able to reach anywhere in Israel, Europe, and perhaps even the US, the Great Satan. Lights, camera, action.

A first century prophet tries to describe attack helicopters and fighter jets:

Idolaters Worshipping Religion instead of God

Fundamentalists followers of the Beast are unable to distinguish between their God and their religion. Instead of acknowledging the One God who created all of us, cares for all of us and brings salvation to every repentant sinner, we confine God to our God, who is restricted to our religion, and worship a religious idol that bears no resemblance to the Uncreated Incomprehensible One.

Radical religious forces nurture religious hatred dressed up as pious devotion and consider their atrocities a virtue. They point to the perceived outrages on the other side of their religious silo and accuse all others of virulent savagery based on their Satanic religion.

They can point to inflammatory passages in both their Quran and in the Christian Bible to justify cruelty toward innocent people, honing in on outrageous teachings in the other party’s Scripture to denounce all members of the “other” as primitive and barbarian Neanderthals.

Jihadists don’t represent all Muslims any more than the KKK represents all Christians, or the Kahane settlers represent all Israel. ^{[14] [15]} Those of any religion who love God can find ways and reasons to love other people, created in the image of God. The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a foundational ethic in all religions and is violated by fundamentalists in all religions.

Jihadists of all stripes are not content to wait for God to judge the infidels at the end of time. They feel it is their job to bring the Messiah in with shouts of jubilation as they destroy the deluded fools who follow religions other than theirs. Jihadist Muslims believe the apocalyptic battle will end with the death of all humanity, with eternal delights for the jihadist, and judgement to follow against the infidels. They believe Jesus will return to defeat the Jews who will be led by the Antichrist, Dajjal (the deceiver), the false Messiah of the Jews. Then Jesus and the Mahdi, a descendant of Muhammad, will vindicate the triumphant Shia Sunni Salafi Sufi Whabbi Muslims, bringing eternal torment and damnation to everyone else. ^[16]

Fundamentalist Christians believe Jesus will descend in glory, subdue the unbelievers, and by his obvious divine authority will force them to bend the knee. The Beast will be defeated, and Satan cast into the lake a fire destroying evil forever. Meanwhile we Reformed Charismatic Episcopal Catholic Puritan Christians will be swooped up into the heavens to join the Messianic feast while all non-Christians are doomed to eternal torment and damnation.

Jewish jihadists, followers of Kahane, expect a fully human Ultra-Orthodox Haredi Hasidic Conservative Messiah to destroy that pagan mosque complex at Al-Aqsa and rebuild the Temple. He will then rule the world right here on earth in righteousness and truth, while the rest of the world becomes the slaves of victorious Jews. Your radicals are determined to return Judaism to the bronze age, conquering Palestine for Hashem and killing or driving out every Muslim to purify the Land. God will then take vengeance against them for all those centuries of Jewish slaughter by Christian and Muslim followers of the Beast.

These Jewish jihadists have perverted and rejected the genuine Torah, circulating a version of Oral Torah called Torat Hamelekh, The King’s Torah.

The King’s Torah is compiled by some extremist Jewish rabbis and religious scholars. It contains very violent, racial, discriminative, and prejudiced views about Arabs and Palestinian Arabs. These are collective interpretations, commentaries, and religious narratives taken from some old Biblical texts of different versions of the Torah to permit the settlers, Israel forces, and Israelites to kill the Palestinian Arabs indiscriminately. According to these sources, Palestinian newborn babies, children, women, the elderly, young, and all can be killed indiscriminately. (17)

Elie Wiesel, the Jewish Hungarian boy taken to Auschwitz who survived to write Night, went on to write much more. Among his books is Sages and Dreamers in which he writes:

Chaos – the ultimate punishment in Jewish tradition. Worse than war, worse than collective punishment, worse than famine and bloodshed. Chaos is the eschatological trauma in Judaism. Disorder on a universal scale, confusion and anarchy transcending time, space, and language. What is worse than evil? The triumph of evil – and that is chaos. For in chaos good and evil are intertwined, interchangeable. Evil triumphs when it poses as good. ^[17]

The Beast will finally be destroyed by the hand of the Beast. The weapons prepared against Israel will recoil upon their wielders and your enemies will be delivered into your hand. “After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: ’Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal” (Rev 18:1-2).

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[1] Arab Narratives of The Dead Sea Scrolls: Between Abrahamic Tolerance and Conspiracy | The Washington Institute Accessed Apil 2024.

[2] https://www.memri.org/jttm/houthi-ansar-allah-movement-information-minister-houthis-continue-operations-even-if-gaza Access May 2024.

[3]

A Pisgah Site

The Spur-Winged Plover

We live on the northern edge of a small town in southern Israel, not far from the coast. On the other side of our back yard fence is an eastern extension of the coastal dunes that make up the permanent nature reserve between Ashkelon and Ashdod. The particular area behind our rented home is slated to become a “skate park,” for the youngsters, and adjace…

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2 years ago · 18 likes · 26 comments · Ehud Neor

[4] http://observer.guardian.co.uk/worldview/story/0%2C11581%2C845725%2C00.html Accessed Nov 2023

[5]

https://twitter.com/AvivaKlompas/status/1787569535249191210?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1787569535249191210|twgr^86dc7ece8dcdcdf82c7f1afb4db227dab8ffbbb5|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Faish.com%2Fisraels-moral-existential-fight%2F

Accessed May 2024

[6]https://www.memri.org/tv/student-philadelphia-islamic-school-raneem-mustafa-praises-jihad-martyrdom-school-event-gaza-children Accessed May 2024.

[7] https://www.memri.org/reports/senior-iranian-regime-officials-warn-irans-coming-nuclear-breakout. Accessed April 2024

[8]https://apnews.com/article/iaea-iran-nuclear-enrichment-stockpile-2190f0d7247a6160fb13f28304d4b6ad Accessed May 2024.

[9]https://www.memri.org/tv/new-drones-delivered-iran-army-attack-recon-interception-karrar-arash-ababil-majid-almas

[10] MEMRI TV Clip No. 10809 - Houthi Friday Sermon In Dhamar, Yemen By Imam Muhammad Al-Mu'ayyad: The Time Has Come For Humanity To Get Rid Of America – The Country Of Evil, Corruption, And Homosexuality; Yemen Will Lead The Jihad Against The U.S., Israel, Al-Masirah TV (Yemen) Accessed Jan 2024.

[11] Jordan and Saudi Arabia are acutely aware that if an Israeli nuclear plant is hit by a nuclear bomb, the entire region will be uninhabitable for centuries. They are downwind from Israel, so, they shoot down whatever Iran fires at Israel.

[12] Iranian Majlis Member Dr. Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani In Interview With Iran's Roydad 24 News: 'Iran Is Slowly Making Preparations To Announce That It Has A Nuclear Bomb' | MEMRI Accessed May 2024.

[13] https://www.memri.org/reports/turkish-president-recep-tayyip-erdoğan-israel-perpetrating-genocide-gaza-and-west-bank-–-it Accessed April 2024.

[14] https://www.memri.org/reports/global-islamic-council-gic-statement-condemns-hamass-heinous-murders-israeli-hostages-gaza. Accessed Sept 2024.

[15] https://www.memri.org/reports/article-saudi-news-portal-hamas-operatives-hide-among-civilian-population-they-are-cowards Accessed Sept 2024.

[16] Jean-Pierre Filiu. Apocalypse in Islam. (Berkley: University of California Press, 2011). A thorough treatment of Islamic end-time theology from the time of Muhammad to current trends in all sects and regions of Islam.

[17] Rifai, Dr. Sulaiman Lebbe, Gentiles in the King’s Torah: Some Reflections on the Destruction of Gaza (December 28, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4677865 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4677865

[17] Elie Wiesel. Sages and Dreamers: Portraits and legends from the Jewish Tradition. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991, p. 239.

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Excerpted from my book Esau’s Kiss: The Repentant Evangelist. In this book when I speak of “we” I refer to us Christians. When I talk to “you” I address you Jews. I don’t want “you” to be “them” those strange and somewhat dehumanized people over there.

In the recent post of June 12, The Beast, One of Its Heads Had a Mortal Wound, I described the Beast as a perversion of the Gospel, an imposter of Jesus. The Church made our Jesus out to be a blasphemous beast. We made him to teach that anyone who refused to say the magic words was damned eternally regardless of your genuine repentance, the holiness of your lives, and sincerity of your prayer.

We made him out to be a separate god, not included in your YHVH, hostile and wrathful and eager to condemn you to eternal damnation for refusing to bend the knee. Our crucified and risen Jesus, whose mortal wound was healed, became a license for hatred, slaughter, slander, and cruelty against you. “A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces” (Gen 37:33 NKJV).

In the post on Monday we met the second Beast, Islam. “Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed” (Rev 13":11-12).

Muhammed claimed to be the Paraclete promised by Jesus and proceeded to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement in gross perversion of the actual gospel. He forced Muslims to serve and follow him, slaughtering any who refused. Muslims attributed their numerous military victories to their god, and took courage that such an overwhelming territorial conquest was evidence of divine favor and spiritual superiority.

British Parliament Member Hilaire Belloc, President of the Oxford Union, wrote in The Great Heresies (1938): Mohammedism was a perversion of Christian doctrine… He eliminated the Trinity… He was content to accept all that appealed to him… and to reject all that seemed to him too complicated… He was born a pagan, living among pagans, and [was] never baptized. He adopted Christian doctrines…and dropped those that did not suit him… The success of Mohammedism…was an extreme simplicity which pleased the unintelligent masses. [1]

We were accused by Muslims of forging our Scriptures to remove all of Jesus’ prophesies and references to Muhammad. Similarly he accused Judaism of distorting and falsifying their Scripture to deny him the status of The Prophet predicted by Moses, even though thousands of copies of Torah were in existence all over the world.

[1] William J Federer. What Every American Needs to Know About the Qur’an – A History of Islam and the United States. (Amerisearch, 2007) p. 33. Muhammed claimed to be the paraclete promised by Jesus. “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me” (John 15:26).

Today we will follow the illustrious career of the first Beast, Christianity, through the Middle Ages as we showed you Jews the depths of our Christian love.

The Roman Beast

After Constantine, when the Jesus movement became a legal Roman religion, and was then made into the official and mandatory Roman religion, we rapidly turned into Pilate. What is truth? Jesus became our good luck charm. Then he became our bull whip. When we took power over the Roman empire, we still had a pagan mindset and pagan maturity level. We were right and everyone else was wrong. “The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority” (Rev 13:2).

The Church became the Emperor and the Emperor became the Church, determining Church doctrine by commandeering Church councils. The same poison that had corrupted the Temple now transformed a community of prayer into the Holy Roman Empire. With the Roman legion at our back we conquered the heathen populace, forced those who resisted us to convert, by pain of death in some cases, and declared the supremacy of our new religion. Every cult was subdued by us, every sect and every temple.

There was only one people who would not submit to your God, and that was you, the Jews, those who already had your God and didn’t need our Jesus in order to commune with Him. “Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman (Judaism, the virgin mother of Jesus) and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth” (Rev 12:15-16).

Yet we thought your religion, the religion of Jesus, was worse than any pagan superstition! We believed that you were legalistic perfectionists serving a God of wrath, with no hope of salvation. “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about [the Torah of] Jesus (Rev 12:17). We became the Christian house of Shammai. We genuinely and universally believed “There is no salvation outside of holy Church.”

Unless you believe in your heart and say with your mouth “Jesus Christ is Lord,” utter the incantation exactly the way we utter it, deny the Unity of God, become pagan like us and then convert to our rendition of your own God, you could not be saved. Jesus was not included in your YHVH but a rival to Him.

Had we ever even read Genesis? Of course not. Our Church forbade the reading of Scripture by any but the clergy, who were required to read it in Church approved ways under penalty of death. “And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, ‘Bow the knee!’ Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt” (Gen 41:43 ESV). Did Joseph’s brothers have to convert to become Egyptians to receive Joseph’s grain?

Our new pagan religion

Some of us never left the pagan world; we just changed our vocabulary. God was to be manipulated and commanded by our pagan incantation, just name it and claim it. We held processions through the streets on Sundays, the priest holding up an ornate monstrance containing the consecrated host, to drive away evil spirits. We demanded that every person, Jew included, bow before the host, with monks following to thrash anyone who hesitated or refused.

“When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach” (Rev 12:13-14). You heard the chanting and ducked into alley ways.

In our pagan world, God could be controlled with relics and incantations, incense and holy water. “Disease I command you in the name of Jesus be gone!” We didn’t know that the “name of Jesus” meant the Hashem, YHVH, who Jesus worshipped. “By what power or what name did you do this?” … “It is by the name [Hashem] of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” (Acts 4:7,10). To any Jew, The Name meant the YHVH of Jesus, not the appellation of any human, even if he was Messiah.

We used it like a sorcerer’s chant. The angels humored us, responded to our baby talk, and like good sheep dogs, herded us toward the God of Israel, one painful step at a time. We could have gotten to religious maturity much sooner if we had read your Talmud and Midrash, the teachings of Hillel that Jesus admired and emulated, if we had loved you enough to read our own Scripture with respect for your faith and tradition. We would have struggled a little bit, but would have come to an understanding that, like Jesus said, “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).

Sword and sorcery

Evangelism by the Good Book was wonderful, as far as it went, but the sword proved more effective. Convinced as we were of the undeniable truth of our claim and the eternal consequences of failing to appreciate that truth, we felt no hesitation to promote our new religion with the power of the state. “And the dragon [Satan] gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority” (Rev 13:3).

By the turn of the millennium, the superstitious population was rattled by millennial fever. Here almost a hundred years after 1000 AD Jesus had not shown up. And not only was he not back yet, but his promised entry point, Israel, was occupied by Muslims, and his enemies the Jews are still all around us. Your very presence was an existential threat to us.

Pope Urban raised an army of illiterate serfs to conquer the Holy Land for the people of God - not the Israelites, to whom that ancient promise had been made, but the Church. He was certain that when Christendom controlled that sacred land he would bring in the long awaited second coming of Messiah. “People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” (Rev 13:4).

Just like Diocletian fancied himself a god, the Pope considered himself the Vicar of Christ and set about to destroy the Jews and Muslims who were in his way. A wicked imposter for the Prince of Peace who taught us to turn the other cheek was now demanding the blood of the infidels. “It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven” (Rev 13:6).

Violence in the name of Jesus

The respondents were the unemployed unemployables of the land, Teuton, Saxon, and Slavic tribesmen who had a wild and barbarous heritage and were now superstitious heathen recently converted to Christianity. These were accomplished barbarians who had conducted human sacrifice on an annual basis in their former pagan religion. “It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation” (Rev 13:7).

They had just learned of the horror you Jews had perpetrated against that Holy God-Man Jesus, and now the Vicar of Christ was calling them to do what they knew best, murder, rape, and pillage! And every time the Roman Church invaded Palestine a hundred thousand Christians from the Church of the East were slaughtered by their Muslim neighbors in vengeance. The Roman Church considered that a two-fer; knock off an infidel and get a [Nestorian] heretic for free!

And still the Church had perfect and undiminished authority to root out the deicide charge as the heresy it was. “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:10). A freely given sacrifice was reduced to a murder and avenged like one. The pope had the authority of Moses; he made proclamations that were followed to the letter without question. The popes, almost to a man, ruled that Jews were to be accorded full human rights, to worship as you saw fit, to pursue your rites and conduct your Synagogue in peace.

At the very same time those same popes undermined their own pronouncements with the endless and continuously enhanced teaching that all Jews were eternally damned by God, had no hope of salvation, had despised and murdered the one and only Son of God, and deserved utter condemnation. Seeing what was possible, knowing people could be killed, in the name of Jesus, no one even considered the falsity of this teaching.

As our hostile language became actual atrocity, its destructiveness both to you the victims and to us the violent perpetrators became obvious. We were raising our children to be self-righteously abusive and piously cruel. Up until now, the violent rhetoric had been mostly just that, rhetoric. A straw man, a devil figure, an abstract enemy to beat up on every Sunday. No civilized Christian would take this literally, seriously enough to act on it, would they?

We heard every Sunday how the Jew was hated and condemned by God, and yet there was a Jewish magistrate running the royal tax court in every city. How can we curse him on Sunday and submit to pay him taxes on Monday? Barbarians might be newbies, but they are not hypocrites. If Jews are condemned, then we must condemn them! And now Pope Urban, God’s spokesperson on earth is raising an army to destroy Muslim infidels? What about the infidel at the tax court down the street? “God wills it!” was the battle cry.

Outfitted with a new uniform, shield and weapon, emblazoned with that sacred symbol the cross, hundreds of thousands of men mobilized to slaughter the churls evil-minded. A homicidal mob? No, a horde of savages intent on a human sacrifice, the Church militant. “You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan” (Ezek 39:18). Five thousand Jews were killed over a few days’ time, burned or buried in ditches. And with every blow against you, we struck the Rock twice, three times, no, four.

The first massive pogrom

As recalled by a surviving Jew from Mainz, with some bitterness (!):

There first arose the princes and nobles and common folk in France, who took counsel and set plans to ascend, and “rise up like eagles” and to do battle and “to clear a way” for journeying to Jerusalem, the Holy City, and for reaching the sepulcher of the Crucified, “a trampled corpse” “who cannot profit and cannot save, for he is worthless.” They said to one another, “Behold we travel to a distant land to do battle with the kings of that land. We take our souls in our hands in order to kill and subjugate all the kingdoms that do not believe in the Crucified. How much more so (should we kill and subjugate) the Jews, who killed and crucified him” They taunted us from every direction. They took counsel, ordering that either we turn to their abominable faith, or they would destroy us “from infant to suckling.” They – both princes and ordinary folk – placed an evil sign upon their garments, a cross. ^[1]

We would act out our long-suppressed compulsion, make real our Sunday morning hatred, release our ruthless cruelty in the name of God, most definitely not YHVH, Hashem, but the imposter foisted upon us by our most Holy Church. Godfrey of Bouillon, a prominent crusade leader from France, wanted “to go on this journey [to Jerusalem] only after avenging the blood of the crucified one by shedding Jewish blood and completely eradicating any trace of those bearing the name ‘Jew,’ thus assuaging his [Jesus’] own burning wrath.” ^[2] Our beast whose fatal wound had healed burned with wrath against you. The beastly fraud championed by our Church placed its evil sign on our garments, a cross. The hatred fueled by a thousand years of Christian teaching would spill out all over Europe and the Middle East.

A few centuries later, the Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition was appointed by the Beast, under the auspices of both king and pope, with authority to arrest, interrogate, torture, maim and mutilate, burn and hang all heretics (Arians and Jews) and unsatisfactory Jewish converts to Christianity (conversos), without appeal. Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity were suspected of - get this - insincerity. If you failed to fall in love with your spiritual rapist, you were the criminal.

Forced to convert to save your life and that of your family, you were targeted and charged with heresy for the sin of keeping Jewish custom in any way, the very traditions Jesus himself lived by. Between 1480 and 1492, more than thirteen thousand conversos were sentenced to death for the secret practice of Jewish customs. The most famous of the Inquisitors was Torquemada, himself thought to be from a converso family.

The Church had adopted any number of pagan customs and holidays when different populations entered it, but there was no tolerance for residual Jewish culture. Once converted, even under terror of death, any remnant of Jewish practice, or inadequate performance of Christian practice, was punishable by lashes, mutilation, or burning. A spiritual rape was backed up by violence.

The Inquisition did not end with the Spanish exile. Having evicted Jews from Spain and Portugal, sights were set on the “New Christians” and their inferior blood. Though you had given us such saints as Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, most Spanish Christians despised their converts. New competition for business and the loss of Christian financial privilege resulted in a purity of blood statute, excluding conversos from ecclesiastic office. King Phillip II, himself a descendant of Jews, informs us: “All the heresies in Germany, France, and Spain have been sown by descendants of the Jews.” ^[3]

Purification of the putrid Church

The purification of the church spread throughout Christendom, against heretics of all kinds, those dastardly Lollards who advocated reading the Bible, and Hussites who objected to indulgences and financial abuse in the church, all of them fit for the flames. But our favorite whipping boy was you, and we never gave up on our dream of converting every single one of you to our superior and triumphant religion, though conversion brought you little or no relief from the ravages of the Beast.

Under Marcus Aurelius we had been protected from clamorous mobs bringing ungrounded accusations of immorality, and while we were considered atheists because we refused to honor the gods, due process was required. Only the Governor of a province could level a death sentence; and that on formal charges at a legal trial. We Huns were not that civilized. But we were the faithful disciples of the Beast whose mortal wound had healed, not the kind and compassionate Risen Christ. Mob rule prevailed in our Christian lands.

The horrors of living in Christian lands were exceeded only by the horrors of living in Muslim lands, though both varied with the character of specific rulers.

Passion plays

It was a natural progression from the Crusades and Inquisition to the Good Friday passion play. We didn’t even have to leave town on a crusade to satisfy our blood lust. Passover coincided with Easter season, and a staple of the Middle Ages diet was the passion play. Passion plays were a heathen custom long before Christianity appropriated the genre to Jesus. Dramatic re-enactments of pagan myths kept the old traditions alive and passed them from generation to generation of illiterate savages. We preserved our war-captives specifically for this purpose, to serve as stand-ins for those characters who were to be ritually killed.

The bishops did not want anyone playing the part of Jesus to actually die, since that would ruin the theological message, but our pagan DNA required the actual death of somebody, a representative of the hostile threatening tribe. And the threatening tribe in our new passion play was obviously you.

Not content to recite Scripture, as inflammatory as that alone would have been, the noble minds of Europe created fantastic embellishments of the scene, featuring long soliloquies and imagined conversations among those wretched Jews about how they longed to get hold of that fine young Christian man Jesus. In 12th century prose, those 1st century “Jews” inflamed the audience with their devilish devices, satanic schemes, and Hebrew hatred for Jesus. They would argue about who got to pound the nails, where to land the lashes, how many tortures to administer, and whip the Christian crowd into a frenzy of rage. The weeping women were the glamour girls of the age, the disciples were buff and manly but were overpowered by those perfidious Jews.

Not a Roman in sight, all the cruelty was home grown Hebrew with “Jewish” characters playing the part of Romans soldiers, with whips and nails, a crown of thorns, the exaggerated agony of the Jesus character and gleeful delight of the Jewish tormenter. I’m not sure what the mentality here was. We did like our slasher films and coliseums, gratuitous violence with iced coke and buttered popcorn.

We projected upon you Jews our own hostile and violent impulses, first upon the ancient Jews who were not the torturers of Jesus, and then upon our current neighbors who were not murders and child abusers. We assumed you were as angry and arrogant as we were, that you despised us as much as we despised you, that you were cold-hearted and calculating, ruthless and heartless. That way we could outdo you with our cold-hearted cruelty.

They did not reenact the Resurrection until Sunday. On Friday night the audience was left with death and defeat and rage and fury, and everyone knew where the real Jews lived.

Even if we didn’t hate you on Friday or Saturday or Sunday, we hated you on Monday when the bills were due. Excluded from trade guilds and not permitted to own land, the only occupation that was always open to Jews was in usury, finance, the subprime lending industry and tax collection. Marked with a yellow badge or hat, you were branded by the Beast. “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name” (Rev 13:16-17). We limited you to such nefarious vocations and then condemned you as tax-farmers and loan sharks, the money libel.

Our ultimate enemy

Because you represented the ultimate enemy, the one unconverted and unconvertable religion, you were the biggest insult to our narcissistic tribal identity. To sustain our conviction that we were right and good and true, we painted you as false and bad and evil. “’Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them, or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country’” (Ex1:9-10). We cast you as the great Satan. You were called the antichrist, the opposite and opponent to our good and righteous Jesus.

That Jesus was also a Jew was something we’d rather forget, and the Church was happy to help us forget. We wiped our religion clean of all traces of Jesus’ Judaism. The Torah he loved was never read. The festivals he honored were never mentioned. “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!” (Mark 7:9). We made you to be his enemies and ours. No matter how honest and kind you were, we made you out to be filthy liars. No matter how devoted to God you were, you were painted as superficial and legalistic.

Jewish reaction

When your rebels and malcontents converted to faith in our imposter Jesus, they brought rebellion and malcontentment with them and fueled our hatred. Sometimes they raised a mob and slaughtered the rabbi who had offended them, more often they just slandered and betrayed all of you. Helpless against this horrific lie, you prayed, “To the malshinim, the slanderers, let there be no hope.” A curse against Jews who betrayed and slandered your people was interpreted by us as a curse against all Christians and solidified your status as “children of the devil.”

Ordinary pagans were harmless compared to these Christians, followers of the Beast. We must be sub-human, a category of demon, a particularly malicious kind of animal. We had weaponized our Jesus and used him as a bludgeon. In self-defense, you conceived of all Christians as the violent, superstitious, barbarians you encountered every day. We were to be feared and avoided.

Any holy Scripture that promotes such evil could not but be itself evil. Our Jesus was only to be cursed and despised by his victims and adversaries. “O God, that You would slay the wicked—away from me, you bloodthirsty men— who speak of You deceitfully; Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?” (Ps 139:19-21 BSB).

The presence of a Jewish unbeliever became excruciating to our Christian hordes. Fear and hatred combined with rage at the continued existence of a community of believers in God who denied Jesus. As miserable as you were, you were far too happy. You infuriated us with your peace and harmony, your joyful observance of your Law, your dedicated attendance at that blasted synagogue, your utter contentment with your religion. It was intolerable.

Mark of the Beast

In Muslim nations you were subjected to “dhimma,” restrictions, taxes, and dress code designed to reinforce your inferior status. In Christian nations under Pope Innocent III and those who followed, a yellow badge, cone shaped hat, or a yellow cape was required in public to mark you as a Jew. “They could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name” (Rev 13:17). Yellow symbolized shame, greed, and arrogance at the time. Similar requirements were placed on lepers, prostitutes, and heretics, which placed you in their company. The badge exposed you to spitting and jeering, assault and injury, robbery and murder.

Worse than this outward dishonor was the influence of the badge on the Jews themselves. They became more and more accustomed to their ignominious position and lost all feelings of self-respect. They neglected their outward appearance, because they were nothing but a despised, dishonored race, which could not have had even the least claim to honor. They became more and more careless of their speech, because they were not admitted to cultured circles, and in their own midst they could make themselves understood by means of jargon. They lost all taste and sense of beauty, and to some extent became as despicable as their enemies desired them to be. They lost their manliness and courage, and a child could place them in terror. ^[4]

Authorities commanded enormous sums of money for an exemption from the badge laws, exemptions that were revoked whenever the baron or king had need for yet more funds. “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk” (Rev 9:20).

The Protestant Beast

But enough of these amateur Catholic Beasts. With the Reformation came a professional Beast, Martin Luther. Convinced as he was that Jewish obstinacy would evaporate in the light of his new doctrines, Luther advocated kindness toward Jews in the expectation that you would convert to Christianity en mass and bring in the second coming. His mercenary kindness lasted about twenty years. Then his German barbaric temperament showed its colors. “Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed” (Rev 13:11-12).

I have received a treatise in which a Jew engages in dialogue with a Christian. He dares to pervert the scriptural passages which we cite in testimony to our faith, concerning our Lord Christ and Mary his mother, and to interpret them quite differently. With this argument he thinks he can destroy the basis of our faith…. It is not my purpose to quarrel with the Jews, not to learn from them how they interpret or understand Scripture…much less do I propose to convert the Jews, for that is impossible.

And these dreary dregs, this stinking scum, this dried up froth, this moldy leaven and boggy morass of Jewry should merit, on the strength of their repentance and righteousness the empires of the whole world- that is, the Messiah and the fulfillment of the prophesies – though they possess none…are nothing but rotten stinking, rejected dregs of their father’s lineage. What shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews? … We dare not avenge ourselves. Vengeance a thousand times worse than we could [visit] on them already has them by the throat. I shall give you my sincere advice:

First set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover over with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians. ^[5]

“It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed” (Rev 13:12). Luther exits stage left. Luther, like Augustine, stopped just short of calling for mass slaughter. “Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations” (Ps 27:12). Not four hundred years later, Hitler enters stage right.

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[1] As quoted in James Carroll. Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company 2001), p. 237.

[2] https://religionnews.com/2015/02/19/onward-christian-soldiers-complicated-legacy-crusades-commentary/ accessed July 2024.

[3] Chaim Potok, Wanderings, p. 425.

[4] Heinrich Graetz, History of the Jews Vol III, pp.512-13.

[5] Martin Luther. On the Jews and Their Lies. Translated by Martin Bertram 1543, I, VII, XI and XII.

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Excerpted from my book Esau’s Kiss: The Repentant Evangelist. In this book, when I speak of “we” I speak of us Christians; when I speak to “you” I speak to you Jews. I will tell “you” Jews how “we” Christians think and feel, and speak of what “you” have done and said, not as an accusation, but in your own words, reflecting as best I can your heart and intention.

In the 7^th century an Arabian named Muhammad saw the angle Gabriel in a cave and announced himself the prophet of a new religion. Christianity was well known to the Arabs. Muhammad also revered Jesus, though he read the heretical gospels our Roman Church despised. Muhammad assembled a collection of Jesus’ sayings with a focus on the virgin birth but did not believe Jesus was the son of God in any way. He denied the death and resurrection of Jesus, insisting Jesus did not die on the cross but only appeared to. Instead God raised him up to Himself in heaven before he died, even though he was not the son of God.

Muhammad thought you Jews should have acknowledged Jesus as your Messiah, but you could remedy that failure by receiving Mohammad as your Prophet. When you failed to recognize his superior Quran, he too became a religious beast. “Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed” (Rev 13:11-12). Islam pronounced itself a religion of peace but very quickly espoused the same slander, hatred, and violence, the same exclusive salvation that did not include you, the same hateful Beast claiming to be Jesus that our Church promoted.

Muhammad, enraged at your refusal to convert to his new religion, staged multiple slaughters of Jews beheading a thousand men, raping and enslaving the women and children, in massacres at Mecca and Medina. By the end of the 8^th century your sages had dispersed again, migrating back to Israel due to persecution and slaughter that would make a Bishop blush.

Under Islam, you had no human rights. The Dhimmi, non-Muslims of any stripe, were held in contempt if not eliminated altogether. The word dhimmi means “protected,” meaning protected from instant death. Non-Muslims were routinely beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, but Jews and Christians, “people of the book,” were permitted to live, in complete disgrace, social and economic subjugation. Rabbi Moses Maimonides writes in his Epistle to Yemen in 1172:

The Arabs, who have persecuted us severely, and passed baneful and discriminatory legislation against us… Never did a nation molest, degrade, debase, and hate us as much as they…. Although we are dishonored by them beyond human endurance, and have to put up with their fabrications, yet we behave like him of whom the prophet said: But I am like a deaf man, unhearing, like a dumb man who cannot speak up [Ps. 38:14]. Similarly, our sages instructed us to bear the prevarications and lies of Ishmael in silence. They found it in a cryptic allusion to this attitude in the names of his sons, Mishma, Dumah, and Massa, which have been interpreted to mean listen, silent, and endure. ^[1]

“Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” (Rev 13:4). Islam amended your Scripture to say that Ishmael was the legitimate firstborn son of Abraham, it was he who was nearly sacrificed at Mount Moriah, and they were the true heirs of Abrahams covenant, including the Land of Israel. “It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven” (Rev 13:6). Of course, thousands of copies of your true Scripture were by then in circulation, yet they still accused you of falsifying your own Scripture to deny the validity of Muhammad’s status as The Prophet promised by Moses. Any of you who disagreed with that were relieved of your head. It was a matter of life or death.

Dhimmi status

Under Muslim rule, both Jews and Christians were considered dhimmi, unclean, and were treated with contempt. Application of the policy varied regionally according to the ruling Sultan. “Islam” means submission, but submission only to God. No Muslim was to submit to any other authority. When conquered in a jihad, we were assumed to be abandoned by God, since He determined the outcome of every battle. Lands and property were confiscated, survivors relegated to slavery.

All pagans were converted or killed, but as People of the Book we were privileged to live, under heavy taxation, not permitted to own property, disqualified from public service jobs, and our testimony in court was not accepted. “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands [deeds] or on their foreheads [thoughts], so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name” (Rev 13:16-17). Synagogues and churches could be used but could not be repaired or enlarged and must be inferior to local mosques. We were not to profane a mosque with our filthy presence, and a Christian or Jew who entered a mosque would not escape alive.

Non-Muslims were to be poorly dressed and uneducated, could not ride a stately horse, but were permitted a donkey, to ride only side saddle like a woman, and we were to dismount and walk in the ditch with eyes lowered when approaching distinguished Muslims. Our houses were of inferior construction and door frames were low, requiring non-Muslims to bend down when exiting to the street. The institution of dhimmi has persisted into modernity. “The most degrading tasks fell to the dhimmi. In Yemen an edict of 1806 obliged the Jews to carry a way dead animals and clean public latrines, even on Saturdays.” ^[2]

The crusades saw back and forth victories by Christian and Muslim forces over two hundred years. Humiliated by the loss of Muslim lands to Christians, they considered all the land they had colonized from non-Muslim Arabs, Christians, and pagans, to be sanctified to Allah, and only Muslims had human rights there. By Shariah law, lands once defeated in jihad could never henceforth be occupied by any other religion for all eternity.

The Turkish Sultan, Shah Abbas (1588-1629), imposed a badge to be worn by all Jews, and forced their conversion to Islam. Abbas II (1642-1666) closed all synagogues and banished those who refused to convert. Islam from its inception considered all non-Muslims to be subhuman and fair game to enslave or murder. Shariah law extended no rights to non-Muslims; their property was not theirs, their children could be seized and raised as Muslims, and if a non-Muslim was cheated or attacked, their testimony was not accepted in a Muslim court. Non-Muslims could be killed without consequence to the assailant.

Under Shariah law, non-Muslims were forced to dress differently to distinguish them for abuse, had to leave the roadway to make way for the Muslim, rode their donkey side-saddle in degradation, were not permitted to own land or a home, could not educated their children in local schools, could not own a weapon, could not marry a Muslim, and their place of worship had to be smaller and poorer than any mosque. The synagogue could not be repaired or replaced if damaged and was subject to inspections to ensure compliance and inferiority.

The refusal of the Muslim religious courts to accept the testimony of the dhimmi was based on hadiths which maintained that the infidels were of a perverse and mendacious character because they deliberately persisted in denying the superiority of Islam. For the same reason, a Muslim was never to be put to death on account of an infidel. According to a hadith, attributed to Muhammad (sic)… “No Muslim would die but Allah would admit in his stead a Jew or a Christian in Hell-Fire.”…The refusal to accept the dhimmi’s testimony was particularly serious in view of the frequent accusations against Jews and Christians of having blasphemed the Prophet, Islam, or the angels – an offence punishable by death. In such a case, the dhimmi was in no position to contradict the testimony of the true believer in a court of law and could save his life only by conversion to Islam. ^[3]

Dhimmi revolt

Throughout the Middle Ages and into Modernity the Muslim majority considered itself vastly superior to all others, and especially superior to you, leading to persecution, violence, and oppression. Eventually there were revolts and revolutions of the dhimmi, both Christian and Jewish, against Muslim rule and atrocity. The dhimmi revolt spanned the western Islamic Empire from Russia to Morocco, and precipitated World War I.

The revolt by suppressed Christian populations, supported by rival Western and Russian ambitions, ravaged the territory of the umma throughout the whole of the nineteenth century. The expulsion of the Turks from Transylvania (1691), Hungary (1686-97)…the liberation of Serbia and parts of Greece (1830),… Macedonia and all European Turkey (1911-13). In Central Asia Islam withdrew before the Russian occupation of Crimea (1783), Georgia (1813), the Caucasus (1841-59), [and] Turkestan (1864-85)… This disintegration was contemporary with the European colonization in India, Algeria (1830-43), [and] Tunisia (1881) …and the granting after 1918 of mandates over Arab Middle Eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire to Great Britain and France.

The nationalist movements of the dhimmi peoples and their struggle for emancipation complemented one another…. The alliance of the dhimmi peoples with the Western powers was founded only on a convergence of interests. The dhimmi sought European help in order to rid themselves of the dhimma [status], while the Europeans supported their struggles in order to weaken the Muslim theocracies...

The [Muslim] reaction, on the other hand, was deeply implanted in history, in tradition, in law…an uninterrupted stream of Muslim refugees fleeing the lost Islamic provinces, burning with a desire for vengeance that revived fanaticism…strengthened the intransigence of the Islamic religious party. The Ottoman government settled these emigrants in troubled regions, thereby tightening its control through a policy of Muslim colonization. The emigrants of the Balkan provinces were directed to Armenia.

In 1874-5 the Circassian Muslim emigration from the Caucasus settled in…Galilee and on the Golan Heights. In 1787…Bosnian Muslim colonists arrived in Macedonia and on the coastal plain of Palestine… From the nineteen century into the twentieth, a continuous stream of more than two million colonists from the Crimea and the Balkans were settled in Anatolia, Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine by the Ottoman government, hoping thereby to counter the [Jewish] dhimmis’ indigenous national aspirations by a mass Islamic colonization.

In 1878 an Ottoman law granted lands in Palestine to the Muslim colonists, with a twelve-year exemption from taxes and military service. In the Carmel region, Galilee and the plain of Sharon and Caesarea, lands were distributed to the Muslim Slavs from Bosnia and Herzegovina; Georgians were settled around Kuneitra on the Golan Heights and Moroccans in Lower Galilee. In Transjordan and Galilee, Turkmenians and Circassians, driven out by the Russian conquest of the Crimea…added to tribes who had preceded them at Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem. About eighteen thousand Egyptian fellehs immigrated to Jaffa, Gaza, and Jericho in the 1830s; Algerians who had gone into exile with Abd al-Qadir settled in Galilee, the Golan Heights, and Jerusalem. ^[4]

The “Palestinians” are not native to the area called Palestine. They are Turks and Eastern European Muslims defeated in the dhimmi Revolt. They are Arabs from Saudi Arabia and points north and south, from the area now known as Jordan, from Egypt, and from Yemen. They deeply resented the presence of Jews in Palestine, though Jews had been resident there since the time of David without interruption. The Jews, moreover, could point to large numbers of ancient and archeological sites and contemporary shuls testifying to their heritage and continued residence in the land of their forefathers.

It was thus with profound hostility that the Muslim populations viewed national patrimonies from the pre-Arab past emerging from destruction and oblivion. The emancipation of the dhimmis and their cultural rebirth appeared to them to contain the seeds of nationalisms that could threaten their domination. The destruction of a community therefore required not only its physical annihilation, but also degradation of its culture, language, and art, symbols of its national creativity. In late nineteenth century Palestine, recently arriving Muslim colonists deliberately destroyed what remained of ancient Israel’s civilization that had survived the ravages of the occupiers. These colonists were deliberately settled to check any raya [Jewish] national aspirations.

Restrictive laws, applying to Jews only in their Palestinian homeland, were intended to counteract Zionism, the most recent movement of national liberation and, as it then seemed, the least likely to succeed. In 1887 a law was passed forbidding Jews to immigrate into Palestine, to reside there, to buy land, to restore houses, or to live in Jerusalem. It applied only to Jews…but not to Christians or to Muslim immigrants. ^[5]

Muslim Supremacy insulted

The dhimmi revolt was a watershed moment for Islam. Muslim theology held that the land conquered in jihad was sacred to Allah, and it was impossible for it to revert to infidel possession again. Defeat of Muslim armies was defeat of their God. From 1830 to 1900, Muslims had been driven out of many Eastern European countries and World War I saw their defeat in many more including the British conquest of the Ottoman Empire which included Palestine. This was an existential crisis for Islam.

Islam’s legitimacy from the days of Muhammad was linked to its victories in conquest. Now they were under foreign rule. Muslim refugees came slinking back to the Middle East via the defeated Turks, and were resettled in Syria, Jordan, and Palestine under the British Mandate. Their tails were between their legs. How could this happen?

Clerics postulated that the jihad had not been complete, its army was poorly equipped, their Muslim Shariah observance had been lacking, the Russian and European lands were not deserving of such an advanced and civilized religion. It was impossible for them to question the validity of Quran, the authority of Muhammad, or the legitimacy of their interpretation of Quran and hadith.

Muslim supremacy gave way to the abolishment of Shariah law’s discrimination against non-Muslim dhimmi, first in discriminatory taxation, then in 1856, the full equality of all citizens, regardless of religion, another humiliation of Islam. In the whole range of government, the non-Muslims were forthwith to be deemed the equals of Muslims. Many Muslims began to grumble: “Today we have lost our sacred national [milli] rights, won by the blood of our fathers and forefathers… This is a day of weeping and mourning for the people of Islam.” In former times, in the Ottoman state, the communities were ranked, with the Muslims first, then the Greeks, then the Armenians, then the Jews, now all of them were put on the same level. Some Greeks objected to this, saying: “The government has put us together with Jews. We were content with the supremacy of Islam.” ^[6]

The defeat of the Turks in World War I was certainly not a total defeat of Islam however, as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Transjordan were liberated from distant Turkish overlords and given over to local Muslim rule. Only Palestine remained a British colony, and that was because of the Jewish presence there and the British desire to establish a homeland for the Jews.

In 1921 the League of Nations original charter made the entire mandate for Palestine the Jewish homeland, including Judea, Samaria, Gaza and what is now Jordan. Arab hostility to the Jews, minimized while Jews were a subjected minority, came roaring to life when Jewish migration from Eastern European persecution yielded 400,000 Jews in Palestine, with millions more at risk to immigrate, into an Arab population of one million. If you were to become the majority, you might rule over Muslims.

Refugees from Europe

Eastern Europe was a cauldron of violence, mostly directed against Jews. The first wave of five thousand Jewish refugees arrived in Palestine following the assassination of Czar Alexander in 1881, falsely blamed on Jews, and resulting in their wholesale slaughter. For the next twenty years, a more or less continuous pogrom raged in Russia, resulting in thousands of Jews migrating to the US if they had resources, to Palestine if they did not. Five million Jews were being starved and slaughtered in Russia and Eastern Europe. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church articulated the intentions of the government: “One-third of the Jews will convert, one-third will die, and one-third will flee the country.” ^[7]

In the early years of World War II, German Jews were encouraged, but not empowered, to emigrate. You could take nothing with you. No currency, no securities, no jewelry, no gold. Destitute as you were, no Christian nation would accept you. Thousands immigrated to Palestine, both legally and illegally, to the consternation of the Palestinian Arabs. Seeking to pacify the Arabs and retain access to their oil, the British installed Haj Amin el-Husseini, an officer in the Turk’s Armenian genocide, as Grand Mufti of Palestine. He resisted British efforts to establish a Jewish Homeland in Palestine and fostered violence. He was a Nazi before the Nazi’s even existed, conspired with the Germans, sharing with them an intense Jew hatred.

The Mufti’s condition for an Arab rebellion [against the British] in Iraq: a German declaration against the Zionist homeland and in favor of a pan-Arab state… The outlines of the demanded declaration were embodied in the Mufti’s personal eight-point draft. It covered all the Islamic nations of the Arab realm… point 7: “Germany and Italy recognize the illegality of the ‘Jewish Home of Palestine.’ They accord to Palestine and other Arab countries the right to resolve the problem of Jewish elements in Palestine and other Arab countries in accordance with the interests of the Arabs, and by the same method that the question is now being settled in the Axis countries.”… Identification, expulsion from the economy, confiscation of assets, enforced starvation, ghettoization, concentration in camps, and mass murder. The Mufti’s offer was to extend Hitler’s merciless campaign of Jewish destruction into the Middle East. ^[8]

In negotiations with the Allies, and using Middle Eastern oil as his bargaining chip, the Mufti offered the British and Americans access to vast oil fields in exchange for anti-Jewish policy. “Then the beast was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation” (Rev 13:7). That economic power still holds sway to this day.

Muslims flooded into Palestine in the years before and after WW2, in a religious response to growing Jewish power in the area and in an economic migration for job opportunities. Prosperity was at hand as Jewish immigrants drained the swamps and built business and industry in what had been an economic backwater for centuries. while Jewish immigration was sharply restricted, Muslim immigration, both legal and illegal was encouraged by the British, eager to appease the Muslims and secure fuel supplies.

The number of Jews permitted to immigrate, and the amount of land ceded to the planned Israel were reduced in response to Muslim hostility, but no reduction of property was sufficient to achieve Muslim cooperation with the establishment of a Jewish state. Meanwhile in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by radical Islamic scholar Sayyid Qutb to enforce Shariah law and establish a Sunni Califate. He took up the call to prevent the establishment of Israel, as Jerusalem was the planned capital of the Califate. The Brotherhood, now known as Hamas, also admired Hitler and distributed Mein Kampf and The Protocols across the Arabic world.

In the spring of 1939 Great Britain, increasingly worried by the pro-Axis [Nazi] shift in the Arab world – a trend with possibly dire consequences for Britain in case of war – reneged on its commitments [in the Balfour declaration issued by the British War Cabinet]…and closed the doors of Palestine to Jewish immigration… ^[9]

Not that you would have been any better off had you arrived in the Middle East. Nazi propaganda was prolific in Muslim nations. Even the successful and well-integrated Jews of Bagdad were not safe from Arab-Nazi violence. June 1^st, 1941 was Shavuot, the Jewish holiday commemorating the giving of the Torah turned into a pogrom called the Farhud lasting six days.

The original plans for the anti-Jewish action of June 1 were intended to mimic Nazi extermination campaigns in Europe. Lists of Jews had already been compiled by the military using the familiar approach the Nazis and their allies employed in such counties as Poland and Romania. The Chief Rabbi Sassoon Kadoori…[had been] ordered to instruct the Jewish community to…cook enough food for a three-day journey, pack a single suitcase and prepare for transport to detention centers.

It being a Jewish holiday, [a contingent of Baghdadi Jews] were all dressed up in their festive finest…. The mere sight of these Jews was enough to enrage the soldiers. Suddenly the Jews were viciously attacked with knives and axes. The planned extermination, now foiled, broke down into spontaneous slaughter…. Frenzied mobs raced throughout the city and murdered Jews openly on the streets. Women were raped as their horrified families looked on. Homes and stores were emptied and then burned. Gunshots and screams electrified the city for hours upon hours. Beheadings, torsos sliced open, babies dismembered, horrid tortures, and mutilations were widespread. Severed limbs were waved here and there as trophies. One man remembered, the mutilation of the bodies…had distorted the victims’ bodies and faces beyond recognition….

In the Dillal home…one policeman entered and from the door began cursing at the terrified family. Suddenly, he shot the mother in the head, and she went down. At this, the daughter Bertin shrieked; he turned the weapon on Bertin and shot her dead. When the horrified grandmother saw this and screamed, the policeman shot her as well. …

Women were defiled everywhere. Arabs broke into the girl’s school and the students were raped – endlessly. Six Jewish girls were carted away… One young girl was raped, and then her breasts slashed off – an all too typical crime that day.

The Farhud was not a one-day event. It began on June 1st, 1941, but no authority could suppress it; indeed the police and the army were active participants…. Days later, when the regent eventually restored order, the British did enter the city. The oil [field, 100,000 sq. miles] was secure. The Jews of Baghdad were not…. One Iraq historian suggested as many as 600 were murdered during the [first day of the] overnight rampage.

The Farhud became a cherished event among Arabs in Baghdad, not a source of shame. Celebrated in song and slogans, Arab chants constantly warned that more was coming. One song opened with “How lovely if only a Farhud occurred every day.” A common warning to the Jews of Iraq was this: “That was just a small festival. The time will come for the big one.”^[10]

During World War II, Muslim agitators held the supply of oil for the war machine as a bargaining chip over both the Allies and the Nazis. “Unrest there or anywhere else in the Moslem world would hamper military operations, threaten [fuel] supply lines, and drain off British troops to maintain order. The British realized that the Jews would not turn against them. The Arabs might. So British policy called for appeasing the Arabs, even though that meant excluding imperiled Jews from the national home the British had promised them in the Balfour Declaration of 1917….”^[11]

After WW2

Believe it or not, in November of 1945, a few months after the war ended, there was a pogrom in British controlled Libya in which over one hundred forty Jews were killed by Muslims and many more wounded. In 1946, a year after the war ended, there was another pogrom in Christian Poland, based on another fabricated child kidnapping, killing eighty-two survivors of the Holocaust. Both areas of the world had large numbers of surviving Jews who were now homeless.

In July 1947, the Exodus, a dilapidated steamboat with forty-five hundred refugees, including pregnant women and hundreds of infants, set sail for Palestine. As it neared the shores, four Royal Navy [British] destroyers surrounded it. One rammed the hull and sailors machine-gunned it and threw grenades. When sailors boarded, passengers fought back with potatoes and cans of corned beef and bare fists. The sailors opened fire and clubbed women and children. In the battle, which lasted over two hours, four Jews died, including a day-old baby; nearly two hundred Jews were injured. Under guard, as the battered Exodus limped into Haifa, Jews packed onto the upper deck and sang ‘Hatikvah,’ the Hebrew hymn of hope. The would-be immigrants, who had survived the greatest genocide in recorded history, spent only minutes on the soil of the Holy Land. The British put these Jewish ‘hooligans’ on three transport ships and deported them to the soil they hated: Germany. Once again, these Jews were fenced into camps (this time, British controlled DP camps). The tragic odyssey of the Exodus – a huge public relations coup for the Zionists and a disaster for the British – helped persuade the world that Jews needed their own state. ^[12]

Churchill said in a speech:

It is manifestly right…that the Jews, who are scattered all over the world, should have a national center and a National Home where some of them may be reunited…. And where else could that be but in this land of Palestine, with for more than 3000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated? We think it will be good for the world, good for Jews, and good for the British Empire. But we also think it will be good for Arabs who dwell in Palestine, and we intend that it shall be good for them and that they shall not be sufferers or supplanted in the country in which they dwell or denied their share in all that makes for progress and prosperity.^[13]

Average Arabs, however, were not willing to tolerate modernity at the hands of Jews. Everywhere they attacked the Jewish presence. Armed gangs of Arabs incessantly assaulted Jewish townhouses and settlements throughout the land…. An Arab rampage broke out in Jaffa against nearby Jewish homes and their residents. Amid firing pistols, swinging swords, and pounding clubs, dozens of Jews were massacred, after which Arab women invaded to loot the premises.

Soon the violence spread to many other Jewish towns and settlements. The violence burned for days. A government report concluded, ‘The killing was accompanied by an orgy of pillage, which was a disgrace to a civilized community.’ Any Jew within reach, including children, was repeatedly stabbed and in many cases skull cracked wide open. The chief medical examiner reported, ‘I was struck most with the number of wounds on each body and the ferocity of the wounds. I am speaking particularly of the broken skulls. Some of the victims had dozens of wounds.’

… Violence against Jews was the order of the day. Sometimes it was organized, sometimes spontaneous, sometimes it enveloped a whole city or a neighborhood, and sometimes it was a random knifing in the blink of an eye in the doorway of one family’s residence. From under the robe, out came the blade, and in it deftly went. Sometimes the Jews fought back as the centrifugal cycle of assault and armed counter-defense took hold of the region. There was no peace in the Holy Land. ^[14]

Hebron, the site of the Cave of Machpelah, tomb of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has been the site of many massacres of Jews over the centuries. Knowing that the place was sacred to Jews, Muslim sensitivities were especially high there. Periodic slaughters of Jews in 1517, 1834, 1928, and 1929 had killed thousands and 1936 - 1939 was one long, slow rolling pogrom.

Before World War II, six million Jews in Europe and Russia were at imminent risk and needed a home. Arabs had gained three large kingdoms out of World War I in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Transjordan, but begrudged the Jews tiny Palestine. Addressing the Peel Commission, Chaim Weizmann said, “The underlying cause is that we exist, and the only question you have to answer is – have we a right to exist?” ^[15] Riots and fighting were interrupted by negotiations with the British who had military control of the land.

Only now, even before you had a nation, you could fight back. The early progenitors of the IDF are today characterized as terrorists, but the Hagenah developed as a Jewish police force to protect Jewish communities in Palestine from Arab assaults during and after World War I. They were your first taste of the dignity of self-defense. You would no longer live subject to the whim of people who hated you.

Muslim Zionism

Ishmael is a son of Abraham, but he is not the son of Sarah, the son of Torah. Besides denying the Holocaust, the reason the UN established Israel, Islam firmly believes Judaism forged your Torah and removed all references of Muhammad from it. Islamic jihadists insist that they, sons of Ishmael, are the legitimate heirs of Abraham, that Ishmael was the beloved son taken to Mount Moriah as an offering, and that Muslims were given the Promised Land at the hand of God.

Muslims claim that Jerusalem is the site of Muhammad’s Night Journey and miraculous ascension into heaven on a winged horse. They teach that Muhammad was mystically transported to Jerusalem where he led Abraham, Moses, and Jesus in Muslim ritual prayer. Islamic Zionism began only when Jewish Zionism began. While Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran, the “night journey” hadith promulgated after the death of Muhammad insisted that Jerusalem is sacred to Islam. Al-Aqsa was built there in c700 CE when Islamic forces conquered Palestine, but it has never been a pilgrimage site.

Islamic Zionism was about far more than the real estate. If they lost control over the sacred city of Jerusalem, over land that had been taken in jihad, as Palestine had been, their supremacy over all non-Muslims was shattered, the truth of Quran was in shambles, the identity of their Prophet was questioned, Shariah law was discredited, Muslims had been rejected by the Creator. The Nakba was not just a geopolitical disaster. It was a spiritual disaster, as if someone dug up Jesus’ body and proved the resurrection a fraud. King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia described Muslim feelings toward Jews in 1937:

We Arabs believe implicitly in God’s revealed word, and we know that God is faithful. We care for nothing else in this world but our belief in the One God, His Prophet, and our Honor. Everything else matters nothing at all – not even death.

Our hatred for Jews dates from God’s condemnation of them for their persecution and rejection of Isa [Jesus Christ], and their subsequent rejection later of His chosen Prophet [Muhammad]. It is beyond our understanding how your government [Britian], representing the first Christian power in the world today, can wish to assist and reward these very same Jews who maltreated your Isa [Jesus]….

Verily the word of God teaches us, and we implicitly believe this…that for a Muslim to kill a Jew, or for him to be killed by a Jew, ensures him an immediate entry into heaven and into the august presence of God Almighty. What more then can a Muslim want in this hard world…?

The main thing at all costs…is to prevent the Jews from having an independent state of their own, sliced out of Arab territory… For from such will come a perpetual struggle with the Arabs living round them. ^[16]

The Muslim tribal ego, its inner fire breathing dragon, is determined to destroy the religion that denies its Prophet, proclaims the true Torah, and asserts its ancient divine right to the Land and the love of God that the Land represents. There were many Muslim massacres of Jews in Palestine, surging after the 1921 Jaffa massacre, and long preceding the establishment of Israel.

Islamic Supremacy

Israel was chartered by the UN not as an autocracy but an ethno-democracy. A Jewish majority was essential to Israel’s survival as a democracy, even if the territory involved was a tiny sliver. Ishmael was not willing to concede even one foot. Muslim nations declared war on Israel and invaded the day after Independence was declared by Israel. This was not a political war but a religious one. The very existence of Israel insulted the validity of their religion and offended Muslim notions of superiority. The bottomless pit of “maybe we were wrong” beckoned for the Muslims, and yet another genocide threatened Judaism, an existential crisis for both sides. Israel was vindicated by God.

The Arab State that the UN had proposed never materialized. Five Arab nations – Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and even Iraq, which did not share a border with it – attacked the new Jewish state, but they failed to destroy it. By attacking Israel, ironically, what they did destroy was the planned Arab state, which never came to be. ^[17]

The war for independence in 1948 should never have been fought, but since it was, and the invading forces lost decisively, the Palestinian refugees were the responsibility of the invading forces. The UN and the surrounding Muslim nations refused to resettle Palestinian Muslim refugees and refused to acknowledge Israel’s victory in 1948, espousing a “Palestinian right to return.” The same portion of territory that had been ceded to Israel and now won militarily by Israel was now promised to the Palestinians by the UN.

“All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev 13:8). Islamic supremacy is a defining doctrine in Islam, with the expectation of the universal subjection of any surviving Christians and Jews to Shariah law and a worldwide Califate. Mutual respect and co-existence are impossible to the jihadist Muslim.

The Six-Day-War in 1967 was a defensive war to preserve the nation of Israel. Surrounded by hostile and fully armed enemy nations making clear declarations of war against Israel, UN peace keeping forces having been evicted, with 1000 Egyptian tanks at Israel’s border in alliance with Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, Israel struck. On May 26, 1967, Nassar announced, “We are confident that once we have entered the battle we will triumph, God willing.” God was not willing, and Israel prevailed.

Yet the Nazi and Islamic dominated UN managed to turn Israel’s victory into grounds for universal condemnation. “And the second beast performed great signs, even causing fire from heaven to come down to earth in the presence of the people” (Rev 13:13). The UN’s condemnation of Israel, declaring its victory against annihilation in 1967 an “occupation” has focused the wrath of the entire world upon Israel and the Jews.

Reversal of “minority status”

By the 1990s a new narrative of the Middle East emerged. Hitherto, Israel, sitting on 1 percent of the landmass of the region, with a population of eight million amid four hundred million Muslims in the Middle East, was seen as an embattled David holding off a hostile Goliath. Now the Palestinians were presented as a scattered, oppressed people, facing a larger Israeli population that ruled them with an iron hand – recasting Israel as Goliath. Elements of world opinion, especially on the left, increasingly turned against the Jewish state. ^[18]

Now the reversal has been perfected on a global stage. “Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived” (Rev 13:14). Now it is considered virtuous to despise Jews, not just Israelis and Zionists, but all Jews, the indigenous people of the Land of Israel.

The Muslim forces that intend actual Genocide have declared themselves the righteous defenders of the weak. The historic oppressors of all religious minorities are honored as “freedom fighters” against a nation of refugees. The invaders of the 7th and 8th centuries are heralded as helpless women and children even though they are armed and ruthless killers. “The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed” (Rev 13:15). The false virtue of the jihadist empowers the false and hateful “Jesus” to condemn anyone who defends Israel’s right to exist.

The PLO was established in 1964, when Palestinians controlled the vast majority of Israel. After 1967, Israel relinquished large tracts of land in the interests of peace. “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” (1 Kings 3:26). The mere existence of a Jewish state of any size was unacceptable to Muslim followers of the Beast. The PLO hijacked airplanes and Hamas kidnapped soldiers and civilians to “trade” for terrorists in Israeli custody, at ratios of a thousand to one, putting a price tag on the head of every Jew.

Suicide bombers and gunmen slaughtered civilians at bus stops and cafes and theaters and synagogues. “The other said, ‘Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!’” Rockets showered your villages daily for decades. You built walls and checkpoints, installed air defenses, and built prisons. The Western world accuses you of war crimes and genocide in the aftermath of your most recent pogrom, that of 10/7/23 in your own backyard in Israel.

The war in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran is not your response to a single pogrom, but to over a hundred years of irrational hatred and violence against you. “But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

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To order Esau's Kiss

[1] David Hartman. Epistles of Maimonides, p. 125-6.

[2] Bat Ye’or. The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam. (Cranberry, NJ: Farleigh Dickinson Press, 2005), p. 63.

[3] Ibid, p. 56.

[4] Bat Yo’el, The Dhimmi, pp. 103-5. Her reference is K. H. Karpat, “The Status of the Muslims under European Rule: The Eviction and settlement of the Cerkes,” in JIMMA (King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah), (Winter 1979-Summer 1980): 7-27.

[5] Ibid, p. 106-8.

[6] Bernard Lewis. What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response. (Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 93-4.

[7] Chaim Potok, Wanderings, p. 499

[8] Edwin Black, The Farhud, p. 272-3.

[9] Saul Friedlander. Nazi Germany and The Jews 1933-1945. (New York: Harper Perennial 2009), pp. 128-9.

[10] Edwin Black, The Farhud, pp. 297-306.

[11] David S. Wyman. The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust 1941-1945. (New York: The New Press, 1984), pp. 157-8.

[12] Donna Rosenthal. The Israelis, Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land. (New York: Free Press, 2003), pp. 109-110.

[13] https://www.manchesterconservatives.com/winston-churchill-jerusalem-1921

[14] Edwin Black, The Farhud, pp. 192-3.

[15] Oren Kessler. Palestine 1936; The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict. (London: Rowman and Littlefield, 2023), p.80-81.

[16] Edwin Black, The Farhud, pp. 309-12.

[17] Daniel Gordis, Impossible Takes Longer, p. XXIV-XXV.

[18] Rabbi Irving Greenberg. The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2024), p. 283.

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The Beast: Existential threat to Jews

Excerpted and adapted from my book Esau’s Kiss: The Repentant Evangelist. I think it is important to change our perception of Jews. I don’t want to present them as foreign and distant “they” and “them.” In this book, when I speak of “we” I speak of us Christians; when I speak to “you” I speak to you Jews. I will tell “you” Jews how “we” Christians think and feel, and speak of what “you” have done and said, not as an accusation, but in your own words, reflecting as best I can your heart and intention. You Jews and we Christians will have a long conversation in these pages.

Our humble beginnings in the catacombs was forgotten by the end of the third century when we Christians had survived enough Roman persecutions to grow a little hair on our chest. Constantine’s father, who ruled the northwest of the empire as tetrarch, had resisted Diocletian’s persecution and protected the Christians in his realm. Numbers meant power, and Christianity had grown in both, infiltrating Roman provincial society to the point where Rome could not be governed without its help.

Something of a mystic in his own right, Constantine reportedly had visions and dreams of the cross. He certainly appreciated the reports of Paul’s mystical experience on the road to Damascus. Constantine had been a worshiper of Sol Invictus and saw in Paul’s report of a brilliant light that reduced him to blindness a genuine encounter with God. Paul announced that this Christ named Jesus was the Creator of the world, co-eternal with the Uncreated, the Word and Wisdom of God, the Son of God. All of this made perfect sense to Constantine.

Constantine replaced Pesach, Passover, with Easter. It was to be celebrated on a different day having nothing to do with the Jewish Passover upon which it was based. That was just the beginning. “But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck” (Gen 27:40). Esau grew restless and threw off the yoke of Torah with all its “perfectionism” that isn’t really there. Constantine despised Judaism for purely political reasons and favored bishops who agreed with his Torah-free interpretation of Christianity.

Additional Church Councils under subsequent Roman emperors would forbid the faithful to observe any Jewish holiday, require Sunday Sabbath, prevent any Christian from observing any Jewish law or custom, eventually under penalty of death. The gradually accelerating penalty and the repeated and amplified enactments of these laws reflect a Christian population that continued to be attracted to Jewish holidays and laws and had to be repeatedly slapped down.

A hundred years later Chrysostom still ranted against Judaizers among the flock, Christians who revered Jewish teaching and snuck into synagogue on Saturdays. The Christian house of Shammai prevailed. We were no longer permitted to follow our Jewish Jesus. “So Doeg the Edomite turned on them and killed them that day, eighty-five priests in all, still wearing their priestly garments” (1 Sam 22:18 NLT).

“The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (Rev 12:9). Demonic hostility against you Jews tapped a primitive nerve in us, a fierce reflex, our inner dragon, the fire breathing reptile seething in the biological dust of our animalistic nature. Anything that threatened our tribe and its fragile tribal ego had to be attacked and dismembered, especially you.

Say you are my sister

“As he was about to enter Egypt, he (Abram) said to his wife Sarai, ‘I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, “This is his wife.” Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you’” (Gen 12:11-13 NIV). We Egyptians got a look at Abram’s beautiful bride Torah, and we were smitten. We claimed her as our ancient Scripture, took her into our harem and called her the “Old Testament.”

Believe it or not, the Old Testament has not always been known as “The OLD Testament.” For centuries before us, and to this day, it is properly called Tanakh in Judaism, an acronym for Torah (the five books of Moses), Nevi’im (the books of the Prophets), and Ketuvim (the writings, psalms, proverbs and nine other books). We have commandeered these writings, translated and interpreted them in the service of Christianity for two thousand yours, but they are not ours.

We would have killed Abram by the 5^th century if we had not needed his Torah to validate our new religion. “When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace” (v 14-15). It was absolutely necessary that we do that. If we had seen our dying and rising Jesus as vindication of our pagan predictions and prophecies, we would have been firmly entrenched as idolaters.

Because we saw so many hints and foreshadowing of Jesus in Jewish Scripture, we dumped our collection of pagan oracles like so much rotting flesh. They were now a dead letter, mostly forgotten. The Jewish Bible became the most beautiful Scripture we had ever seen. “Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.…we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman” (Gal 4:28,31).

Distorted reading of Torah

We read your Bible, but we perverted its meaning and intent. We confiscated all the love and mercy passages and applied them to ourselves and aimed the rebukes and judgement passages squarely against you Jews, claiming unlimited mercy for ourselves and unlimited wrath for you. We insisted that you should respect our claims of salvation yet refused to respect your claims of intimacy with the God you have adored for four thousand years. “Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short” (Rev 12:12).

We were obsessed with you, consumed with a desire to win you over to our religion. “And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, ‘Lie with me’” (Gen 39:7 ESV). Your approval was all important to us since ancient religions were revered in Ancient Rome while new religions were held in contempt when they weren’t outlawed. Unaware that a middle-aged Egyptian woman held little appeal for Joseph, we threw ourselves at you.

“How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (v 9 NIV). There was no way you were going to abandon your Torah for our pagan corruption! “And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her” (v 10). Over the years we became obsessed with you. “She caught him by his cloak and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house” (v 12). No amount of pressure, trickery, or torture could compel you into our heathen bed.

Finally, we falsely accused you of abusing us! “This Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed” (Gen 39:14). We charged you with misconstruing your own Scripture to avoid your long-awaited Messiah. You countered that our prooftexts were mistranslated, falsified, and man-handled to prove a lie.

Not only did you deny our Christos Jesus, the sole basis for our relationship with your God, you had skewed the prophesies in the Hebrew Bible to the benefit of the Jewish people alone and no one else. “Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery” (Ps 2:8-9). In your reading, we, the nations, had no hope.

Curses and blessings

We liked Deuteronomy, not for its laws or its history but for its curses. We claimed the blessings of Deuteronomy 28:1-14 irrespective of our actual behavior, since Jesus had observed the Torah perfectly and we believed (pistis) in Him, so that was all we needed. Even without genuine repentance, we would be high above all the nations of the earth, blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

We would be blessed in our comings and blessed in our goings. “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth” (Deut 28:1). We didn’t understand the part about carefully keeping His commandments and walking in His ways; Jesus would have to do that part for us, meaning in our place, not within us. But we were pretty sure we were the head and not the tail, on top and not the bottom.

While we basked in the glory of the Lord, you were cursed because of your obvious disobedience to our rules: First, you refused to say “Jesus Christ is LORD” as demanded of us by Paul. Second, you refused to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In other words, you refused to become us. And because you were not us, you were no longer favored by God, chosen by Him, saved by Him or even tolerated by Him.

You would be cursed in the city and cursed in the country, cursed in your comings and your goings. You would be chased by calamity, panic, and frustration, subject to pestilence, consumption, and fever, in scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew. Your rain would be made dust, and the sand would drop on you from the sky until you were wiped out. We were so sure of it we were taking bets as to when the last Jew would finally perish. Your carcass would be food for the birds in the sky and the beasts of the earth.

The beast with the mortal wound

We made our Jesus out to be a blasphemous beast. We made him to teach that anyone who refused to say the magic words was damned eternally regardless of the holiness of your lives and sincerity of your prayer. “The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads… One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast” (Rev 13:1,3).

Our crucified and risen Jesus, whose mortal wound was healed, became a license for hatred, slaughter, slander, and cruelty against you. “A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces” (Gen 37:33 NKJV). The humble loving Jesus who forgave sinners and blessed children was devoured by hostile and hateful preachers and torn to pieces. So far from loving our enemies we delighted in your agony. We eagerly rejoiced about the madness, blindness, and dismay you would face, the hunger and thirst, naked and lacking everything, the signs and decrees against you for all time, proofs of the superiority of our new religion.

“It [the beast] also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads” (Rev 13:16). Our preachers and bishops taught and enforced hostility and persecution, contempt and abuse, against you, the brothers and sisters of our Lord. The mark of hatred was on our hands, our actions, and on our foreheads, our thoughts and intentions. The real Jesus believed that his Torah should be the mark on our hand and forehead: “Tie them (My commands) as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads” (Deut 6:8).

Instead, we preached a beastly imposter who condemned everyone but us, a Jesus who considered all of you white-washed tombs, a brood of vipers, sons of the devil, and sentenced you to eternal misery and damnation. We got so excited about your anguished heart, eyes that pine, the despondent spirit, the terror night and day, and the Lord’s delight in causing you to perish and wiping you out, we did not get to the part about what happens next. Deuteronomy chapter 30 is about your ultimate future, the one you live in now and will continue to live in:

Israel’s lesson for the world

The object lesson of Israel for the rest of the world was your exile; it was your test and our challenge. Our clear instruction was to love our enemy, and you were our God-given enemy. The theme repeats itself a dozen times in Scripture. You would fail to live up to your calling as a kingdom of priests and a holy people. You would face the consequences in exile and deprivation, suffering and even death. But you are a nation belonging to God, not refuse in a dustbin. You would then be saved by grace, not by your perfect performance.

A nation unlike any other, you would survive, learn, and grow in your suffering. “This is what the LORD says: ‘Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,’ declares the LORD. ‘They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your descendants,’ declares the LORD. ‘Your children will return to their own land” (Jer 31:16-17).

If we had really read your Scripture, we would have known, however harshly God would punish you, it was not our job to magnify your suffering. “He was angered by His sons and daughters” (Deut 32:19). You were disciplined by God, not by us, for your good, not your harm, and you are still His sons and daughters. “For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all” (Rom 11:32).

Your willingness to die rather than betray your faith was already legendary in the 1^st century. It would only grow stronger with time.

In both Palestine and the Dispersion, the Maccabean revolution which lasted 167-142 BCE intensified existing divisions between Jew and Gentile. Death for religion’s sake and exultant triumph over the heathen became permanent factors in the Jewish heritage. “Condemn we him to a shameful death; so shall we make examinations of his words.” Thus did the Alexandrian [Wisd. 2.20] sum up the heathen hostility in which the Dispersion Jew was living.… The Jews living in Judaea “are men, physically strong, of great courage and spirit,” Philo remarks, “who are willing to die in defence of their national customs and laws in a spirit which some opponents might call barbaric, but which in reality is free and noble…a glorious death met in defence of the Law is a kind of life.” ^[1]

“All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: ‘Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?’” (Lam 2:15). Rather than witness your suffering and grieve for you, pity you, long for your renewal and restoration, we gloated and reveled in your defeat.

God warned us, “Because you harbored an ancient hostility and delivered the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their calamity, the time their punishment reached its climax.’ For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet, rejoicing with all the malice of your heart against the land of Israel’” (Ezek 35:5-6), “Because Edom took revenge on Judah and became very guilty by doing so” (Ezek 25:12), “Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and with ancient hostility sought to destroy Judah” (Ezek 25:15), we will be judged.

Existential threat to you

Convinced as we were of our own righteousness, we took it upon ourselves to amplify your suffering, revel in it, rub your nose in it, pronounce your doom and add to your condemnation. “And I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment” (Zech 1:15). We forgot who you are. “For God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29).

Over the centuries and all over the world, we hounded and hated you, slandered and mocked you. We made short work of your subjugation and humiliation, poured scorn and hostility on you, subjecting you to torture and death. Such was our loyalty to the one who taught us to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. We forgot who we are.

“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance” (Deut 32:8-9). This, among many other passages, defined us as the nations, and Israel as the LORD’s portion, the nation God would personally direct and instruct. Rather than fall in behind you and learn from you, we despised you.

As we became more numerous and powerful, our threat to you became not simply verbal and potential, but physical and destructive. “For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not relent. Because he pursued his brother with a sword and slaughtered the women of the land, because his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed unchecked (Amos 1:11).

The ancient olive tree of the Torah and the Prophets has come to support our wild olive multitudes. Heathen savages, superstitious and ignorant, wild and uncivilized, worshippers of trees and stones were brought into an advanced religious civilization, one with a demanding moral code, offering grace and truth, mercy and justice. We were given communion with the One Eternal Consciousness, the One Who Spoke and created untold worlds. We didn’t know what to say or how to act.

“If you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!” (Rom 11:24). Judaism under the leadership of the rabbis restored your connection to the cultivated olive tree, Torah and the Prophets. Jesus and Paul grafted us wild heathen into your religious tradition, Torah and the Prophets, one that drew us near and nourished our development as branches of the Living Eternal One.

“Two cannot wear one crown.” An old Jewish saying meaning one will wear the crown and the other will be reduced, initially referring to the two great lights, the sun and moon. Clearly it was the moon whose light was reduced. You Jews and we Christians could not both wear the crown of the chosen people. You and we could not both be the sole interpreters of Hebrew Scripture. One will have to be reduced. We reduced you, despite our master’s warning. “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matt 7:2).

“But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers” (Luke 12:45-46). It was not our place to judge you, never mind convict and execute you.

We did not have a Scriptural mandate to attack you, in fact we had a Scriptural prohibition. “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:44-45). But we had the numbers, the power, and the will to destroy Judaism. Our drive for religious conformity, strengthened by apocalyptic expectations and rank superstition, posed a clear and present danger to your existence.

“Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys” (Jud 6:3-4).

With the power of Rome at our side we could crush you, silence you, drive you from our midst. And that terrified you. Your fear was expressed as anger and criticism, but not directly against us, that would be too dangerous. You went to your source of comfort and sustenance, to your God, in prayer and in Scripture.

Existential threat to us

In reaction to our exclusive claim that no one could be reconciled to your God except by our pagan notions about Jesus, your Rabbis developed the birkat ha minim, “blessing of types,” types being variants, deviants, a curse against heretics. Over the centuries it has been edited and in Reform Judaism is often omitted. One current rendition: “And for slanderers [sectarians] let there be no hope, and may all evil in an instant be destroyed and all Your enemies be cut down swiftly; and the evil ones be uprooted, and break and destroy and humble them soon in our days.”

Because of the inherent ambiguity of the word “minim,” an ambiguity that allows it to apply to Jewish heretics in general, to the early Jewish-Christian, and then to gentile Christians as well, individuals reciting the prayer could always direct this element of the curse to their contemporary heretics… Referring at least to the notzerim [Christians] and minim [heretics], but perhaps also to the meshummadim [apostates]…

The body of the blessing [in older versions] concludes with a citation of Psalm 69:29, “May they be blotted from the Book of Life and not inscribed with the righteous.”… This suggests that the perishing of the notzerim and minim refers to their long-term fate after death and that they are fully evil, not given the opportunity to repent. One might also associate this with the loss of “hope” in the opening line of the blessing and read both as polemical answers to Christian claims to be the [only] path to salvation. ^[2]

This prayer, at the center of the liturgy, the Amidah, addressed to the Creator of All and delivered by “a kingdom of priests and a holy people,” posed a cosmic threat to us. We knew the power of a curse. We lived in a dualistic world, of God versus Satan, good versus evil, and demonic power was no stranger to us. Far from the rote regurgitation of an ancient formula, this curse was alive and passionately felt. And that terrified us.

Your new “blessing” struck a powerful nerve. It proved to us that you really were the “children of the devil,” and your power must be immense. Our fear was expressed as anger and criticism, amplified in our hostile writings and preaching, and physically through violence and our influence in the political sphere.

The very existence of Judaism posed an existential threat to Christianity. The continued witness of a Jewish community that denied the core beliefs of Christianity, asserted the ancient interpretations of its own Scripture, continued to observe the ancient holy days and traditions of the fathers, was itself, by its mere presence, a challenge to the exclusiveness of the Christian claim, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Jesus is the way, the dereck halakha, Aramaic orack, the path to Torah, to “My Father’s house [which] has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2). Jesus prepares a place for all people, every repentant sinner He created, including you, His brothers and sisters, and leads them there within their language and culture.

Our beastly Jesus

By insisting that only those who say with their mouths the precise words, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” we slandered the savior who offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. We presented Jesus as a blasphemous beast who brought damnation to vast numbers of people because they were not us, members of our club. God’s will would not prosper through him unless we approved of the people he saved, in full compliance with our four-square Gospel.

“And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority” (Rev 13:1-2).

The Beast of tribal religious ego is fed and fueled by Satan, liar and the father of lies, rage, and cruelty. It looks and acts like a ravenous beast, the mouth of a lion, devouring all in its path. It has many heads. One of its heads is militant Christianity. “One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast” (Rev 13:3). Our crucified and risen Jesus, whose mortal wound was healed, was made out to be our private savior who condemned to eternal damnation everyone else in the world. And we marveled as we followed our Church Triumphant.

The Church was assuming ownership of Jesus, identified with YHVH, the LORD of all, and insisting that no one comes to God except through the Church. Jesus was not at the right hand of God but at the right hand of our pulpit, unable or unwilling to save those who repented of sin and trusted in God, but saving only those who parroted the right magic words, “Jesus Christ is LORD,” like a spell or incantation. “Jesus Christ is Lord” is not an incantation. It is a life.

When Jesus is Lord of our lives, when his priorities are our priorities, when we love the people he loves and his God is our God, we learn to say “Jesus Christ is Lord” with every word we say, every action, every smile to every other child of God. If we cannot communicate love to the people around us, Jesus Christ is not our Lord. Those who do communicate love to the people around them are saying, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” in spirit and in truth, regardless of the actual creed they pronounce.

“People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, ‘Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?’ The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months” (Rev 13:4-5). We waged war with every other religion, uttered arrogant words and blasphemies against the God who created all humanity.

We made baptism into a magical wand imparting instant salvation only to those properly dipped, dunked, or sprinkled in Jesus’ name, regardless of character. We then faulted you with being legalistic and confined to the letter of the law. We made our universal savior, who died for the sins of the world (cosmos in Greek) out to be a small tribal deity subject to our control, responding only to our rites and sacraments, and you, of course, were doomed. We could not understand that you who know God as Father also had the Savior and the Holy Spirit, for they are One. We did not believe in our own Trinity.

Israel’s creed, “Hear O Israel, the LORD your God, the LORD is One” was heard by the Church as a dangerous denial, where it should have been heard it as the affirmation of faith that it is. The Savior, the Spirit, and the Father are One, and those who had a relationship with Hashem, YHVH, had the Trinity, including our Savior, as the Unitary Being it was before the incarnation, and is again after the ascension.

Heretical Church

If we thought Jesus was a separate God, we were condemned as heretics by the Church. But we acted like Jesus was a separate God by condemning you who loved and followed Hashem, YHVH, differently than we did, enjoying a relationship with God that we did not think you deserved. “You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame” (Joel 2:27 ESV).

“When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites” (Neh 2:10). Our identity was dependent on discrediting Judaism, degrading your faith and customs, and despising you as “unbelievers.” That you Jews were following the religion of Jesus, rather than our religion about Jesus did not register with us. We were not really following Jesus; he would have led us to the synagogue and Torah. “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Matt 21:42).

Instead of following Jesus’ Torah, we were following our pagan emperor, our bishops and rulers. “See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her— but now murderers!” (Is 1:21). Jesus gave us a beautiful Gospel, but we perverted it. The emperor did not love his enemies or pray for those who mistreated him, nor did the pope. Nor did we. “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev 13:8).

Jewish impressions of Christianity

Seeing the obvious pagan influence on our Church, you mocked our Jesus as the illegitimate son of Mary and Panthera, a Roman soldier. We acted far more like pagan Romans than anything Jewish. About 177 CE, the Greek philosopher Celsus expressed what appears to have been the consensus Jewish opinion about Jesus:

Let us imagine what a Jew- let alone a philosopher- might say to Jesus: 'Is it not true, good sir, that you fabricated the story of your birth from a virgin to quiet rumours about the true and insavoury (sic) circumstances of your origins? Is it not the case that far from being born in the royal David's city of Bethlehem, you were born in a poor country town, and of a woman who earned her living by spinning? Is it not the case that when her deceit was uncovered, to wit, that she was pregnant by a roman soldier called Panthera she was driven away by her husband- the carpenter- and convicted of adultery?’” ^[3]

“Panthera” was a common name among Roman soldiers. The rumor spread rapidly and is repeated in the Talmud and in early medieval Jewish writings, “Toledot Yeshu” where Jesus is referred to as “Yeshu ben Pantera.” We responded with predictable hostility, comparable to Muslim rage over a cartoon of Muhammad. Only now, we were no longer powerless in our rage. We now had the Roman Empire at our back. The Beast was unleashed for the next 2000 years.

Time to grow up

I think its high time we Christians grew up and embraced a larger Jesus than the tribal beast our Church taught us. Paul described Jesus as the Power of God to create and redeem, not a parochial god with a fragile ego.

If we were to learn how to cure blindness from Jesus, we would be arguing over whether spittle and mud worked better than placing hands on the eyes. (John 10:6, Mark 8:25, Matt 20:34). Telling Jesus he can only save a human soul in the precise way He saved our souls is evidence of a mindless, superstitious reading of His gospel, one we should be ashamed of.

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

To order my book Climbing Jacob's Ladder

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[1] W. H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church, pp. 40-41.

[2] Ruth Langer, Cursing the Christians, pp. 60-61.

[3] www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/celsus3.html Accessed Jan 2023.

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Prehistory as related in Scripture clarifies natural history and illuminates our present-day assumptions and theology. We Christians have taken Israel’s history, her patriarchs and scripture as our own, dumping our pagan oracles in the trash bin of history. But those pagan oracles inform our interpretations of scripture in ways we are only dimly aware of.

Originally posted Mar 30 2025. I am out of town the month of June and we are running reruns of our old greatest hits.

Excerpt from my book Esau’s Kiss: The Repentant Evangelist. I think it is important to change our perception of Jews. I don’t want to present them as foreign and distant “they” and “them.” In this book, when I speak of “we” I speak of us Christians; when I speak to “you” I speak to you Jews. I will tell “you” Jews how “we” Christians think and feel, and speak of what “you” have done and said, not as an accusation, but in your own words, reflecting as best I can your heart and intention. You Jews and we Christians will have a long conversation in these pages.

“This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens” (Gen 2:4 NIV). Having described the creation of the earth, the physical world, in chapter 1, God now created the heavens, the spiritual world, and the presence of God within the physical world. “Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground” (v 5). A physical world existed with biological life as described in Genesis 1, but no spiritual life was in it, not even a shrub or plant of godliness, for the Holy Spirit had not yet rained down. Only biological life grew in this world, “streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground” (v 6).

“Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (v 7). The physical world established in Genesis chapter 1 was but dust in the spiritual world of knowing God and communing with Him. It crept and crawled on this physical planet but had no connection to its Creator. God formed a man out of the creeping crawling dust, and breathed into it His neshamah, the breath of life, divine life, like a glassblower blowing into a glob of molten glass. “And the man became a living being,” nephesh chayyah, a spiritually alive being, connected in a vital way with the Creator, whose neshamah life breath flowed through him. A beam of divine light was at the core of our biological body connecting it to God. That was Adam, humanity.

Driven from the Garden of Eden

“This is the account,” toledot, what developed, the story that continues to this day. Maintenance of that divine bond, like a deep-sea diver’s hoses supplying air to his diving bell, requires an intimate connection; the diver breathing in the life and will of the Creator, accomplishing that divine will in this created realm, working the ground. When that bond was broken, when man in his free will defied the will of God, we were cast out of the Garden of Eden, y’garesh, divorced from our intimate connection with God.

Now finding ourselves as a spiritual being, separated from the will of God by our actions, we cast our eyes about the physical world and searched for a god, something to make a spiritual bond with. Our life depended on it. Our air-hoses demanded air; we would suffocate without it. “Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh (Heb. a man). At that time people began (huchal) to call on the name of the LORD” (Gen 4:26). ^[1]

Huchal is a conjugation of chullal, which means to profane, desecrate, the name of the LORD. Someone found a scrap of meteor in the desert and built a shrine around it, the Kaaba. Another saw the sun rise with warmth, light, and life, and extended his divine air-hose to the sun. The air was not fresh and sweet, but beggars can’t be choosers. Another thought a tree, or a grove of trees, channeled divine energy. Or a river, or the sea, or fire, or wind, or blood, or….. Our uniquely human characteristic is to worship, connect spiritually with…something, anything, make it our purpose in life, our highest priority and deepest concern. If we can’t worship God, we will find something else to worship.

The white horse and its rider

Before we were Christians, we were pagans, heathen, idolaters of various descriptions. Our instructions were to subdue the earth, conquer it, and eat by the sweat of our brow. “I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest” (Rev 6:2). That was us! Humanity! Some of us were civilized but most of us were not. We were Greeks and Romans, Huns and Goths; we were barbarians and cannibals; we were warriors and invaders; farmers and ranchers. We feared enemies both real and imagined, both natural and supernatural, from within our tribes and especially from without. Our lives were short, brutish, and cruel.

Most of us were slaves or serfs, having no rights and few comforts, verbal livestock, only slightly more valuable than the animal pulling our plough. The rest of us were the lords or owners of said slaves and serfs, having no respect for those weaker and poorer than ourselves. “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves” (Gen 11:4). Individual persons had no identity or worth. We were members of a tribe, not persons; we were functions, tools, and roles. Human life, as such, had no intrinsic value. We lived in a Machiavellian world.

Within our tribes, we believed that we were less than; less wealthy, less powerful, less intelligent, less valuable than our superiors, our masters. To us, nothing was more obvious than “original sin,” the concept that we were born sinful and needed redemption from the get-go, not based on anything we had done, but based on who we were. “Every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood” (Gen 8:21).

Between our tribes, we considered ourselves far more righteous and deserving than those “other” tribes, all of them populated by sub-humans whom we would drive from the water hole or the wheat field on our territory by force. “Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword” (Rev 6:4).

No one considered for even a moment where the people from the other tribe would find food. We were focused on the survival of our tribe and considered members of any other tribe less important, less intelligent, backwards and superstitious, with alien rites, inferior morals, and backed up by an alien god. “The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away” (Gen 14:11). We rode the white horse; only our tribe was “right,” all others being “wrong” or defective or degraded or deluded or inferior.

The battles of the gods

Religious wars bent on conversion were unknown for the most part. Sennacherib was after political power and had no interest in converting anyone to his religion. He insulted the God of Israel as impotent to impede his aggression, like the gods of other local kingdoms that had fallen to his god’s superior power (2 Chron 32:10). My daddy can beat up your daddy. That did not make your daddy a false daddy or your religion illegitimate, only less powerful than the daddy of my land. The gods were portioned by the land, and when conquering and relocating, kings attempted to learn about the god of the land and how to make proper obeisance, so as not to bring an unexpected plague upon themselves.

Our religions were concrete and literal. Rites to invoke rain involved spilling actual water on the dry earth; before planting a field, the priest must bless any farm implement previously used to bury a corpse. The threat of famine was to be averted by any available superstition; no price was too high. “I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand… ‘Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’” (Rev 6:5-6).

We dreamed of Paradise, but we did not expect it. Some of us believed in reincarnation, an endless cycle of birth and death, repeating painful and futile lives, until the gods were placated and allowed us eternal rest. “I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him” (Rev 6:8). Our ancient expectations of existence after death were similar to the grave we dug for the body, myths along the lines of Hades, occupied by shades, disembodied souls, ghosts, always sorrowful, regretful, angry, and hopeless. “The realm of the dead is naked before God; Destruction lies uncovered” (Job 16:6). Evil humans were continually tortured in the afterworld, but most souls simply endured a meaningless existence. No human ever rose from the dead, only gods could do that. Rarely, humans who attained to god-like status were admitted to the joyous feast going on in Paradise.

Paradise was exactly what Rabbi Jesus offered us pagans, on the authority of the God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth. He spoke a language we understood, gave us sacraments that made sense to us. Take and eat. This is my body broken for you. Drink. This is the cup of my blood. We were prepared for that by centuries of eating the body and drinking the blood of a million sacrifices, human and animal, that appeased the hostilities of our gods. “As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood’” (Ezek 39:17 BSB). We birds and beasts appreciate a blood sacrifice.

We received human consciousness from God, neshamah breathed into our nostrils in Eden (Gen 2:7), and immediately realized who and where we were. We were animals made conscious of the reality of life and death. For us to eat something had to die, even if only a kernel of wheat. We in fact had to kill it. The death of the animal was the source of our life. We developed archaic animistic superstitions based on this conflict, killing something endowed with life and the feared revenge of the animal’s spirit. To honor the spirit of the animal we had just killed, we dressed in its skin and growled, or drew its likeness on a totem pole.

When we died, we were eaten, either by a predator or by worms. If the body dies, where does the consciousness go? Does it, the soul, die too? That was unacceptable to the human consciousness, and religion was born. Since we are conscious, we know for a fact that there is a Consciousness out there somewhere. We presume that the Consciousness is similar to ours only greater, that the Consciousness values what we value, that It feels and desires as we feel and desire, that It’s power far exceeds ours, and that It may, under certain circumstances, communicate with us. Whatever spirit responded to us was declared our god. Like an orphan baby monkey bonding with a carpeted piece of wood, we were devoted to our gods.

Our poets, shamans, and witch doctors saw into a vast spiritual world and told us what they saw and heard. Prophesy is as ancient and universal as humanity. What we saw in that spiritual world was tohu and bohu, chaos and emptiness. We communed with that vast invisible spiritual world, and the chaotic spirits responded. We danced a rain dance and eventually it rained. We uttered an incantation for the rising of the sun, and it rose. We dreamed that our rituals had the power to make the sun rise and the crops grow. Our religious frenzies were often fueled by psychoactive drugs found in plant sources the medicine men knew, ephedra and scopolamine, stimulants and hallucinogens that facilitated our mystical ascents. Worship of our fertility gods was a wild naked orgy with intoxicating drugs and loud music with a strong drumbeat, not unlike the social events publicized on Grindr.com.

Human sacrifice

Most every pagan religion had a rite of human sacrifice at some time and in some capacity during its development. It was not a demand from God. It was a requirement of humanity. God had created us with human needs to be met by our families and tribes, needs for security, empathy, relationship, and autonomy, needs that constituted our emotional human rights. But we lived in primitive tribal communities threatened by wild animals, natural disasters, and hostile conquering tribes, and inevitably we were harmed. When we are harmed, we are angry, if not overtly, then covertly. Primitive societies directed that anger in religious rites involving helpless war captives, an enemy upon which we could vent our rage. “They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’” (Rev 6:10).

The other motivation for human sacrifice was overwhelming guilt. We knew guilt the moment we became human; when consciousness was imparted to us by God, we necessarily received enough self-awareness to know our inadequacy. With self-consciousness came conscience, an inner inventory, a moral expectation that we habitually fail to achieve. No animal suffers pangs of guilt. It may learn that punishment follows pooping on the rug, conditioning, but it does not think any less of itself for having pooped on the rug. It may even admire the magnificence of its poop until the door opens and its owner comes home. Then it scurries under the table. It is not plagued with guilt, only fear.

We humans know the inner reality of guilt, a far more powerful and painful emotion. When confronted with it we often experience suicidal thoughts or impulses. We wish we could just disappear, cease to exist; the burden is just too heavy. Early in our development we eased the agony of our crushing guilt by the ritual death of our “self” in the form of our child, that extension of ourselves that lives outside ourselves. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). The death of the child was the source of our life, our rebirth. Child sacrifice, especially of the firstborn, was our way to manage guilt by killing ourselves without actually killing ourselves. Our residual horror of abortion, even of birth control, stems from our primeval memory of child sacrifice. “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees” (Deut 16:12).

Even Abraham knew this agony. He was distressed at the idea of evicting Ishmael, but Isaac’s survival was more important. “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned” (Gen 21:12). A Hurrian marriage document found by archeologist in the archives of the Mesopotamian city of Nuzi reads,

If Gilimninu [the bride] bears children, Shennima [the groom] shall not take another wife. But if Gilimninu fails to bear children, Gilimninu shall get for Shennima a woman from the Lullu country [a slave girl ]as concubine. In that case, Gilimninu herself shall have authority over the offspring. ^[2]

While ancient Sumerian law permitted his arrangement with respect to Hagar (Ha-ger, the stranger) and her dismissal was appropriate, the son of the slave-woman, conceived on behalf of a free woman, was free from birth, not a slave. ^[3] Ishmael, though hostile and abusive to Isaac, was a legitimate son who could be disinherited or disowned by Sarah, but not as a slave, rather as a free man.

After exiling Hagar and Ishmael into the desert and certain death, Abraham heard the cosmic call to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. “Take your son, your only son (the other presumed dead), whom you love—Isaac” (Gen 22:2). Abraham did not even question it. To Abraham it was obvious, in this impossible dilemma, Isaac was born and had been preserved alive solely to be sacrificed, ha’olah, an elevation offering. The divinely given son would be given back to the divine. God intervened. A radical change was taking place. God would no longer permit the sacrifice of the beloved son; He would provide and accept a substitute, and human sacrifice was forbidden to Jews in early antiquity. We pagans did not get that memo until much later.

Apportioned to the gods

“And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven” (Deut 4:19). Cast out of the Garden of Eden, we heathen were awash in pagan idolatries. The gods we revered were the spirits and demons assigned to us as keepers. “You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones” (Ezek 28:14).

The spirits taught us rituals and rites that would curdle your blood. The divine soul breathed into us by God was dead, “In the day you eat of it you will die,” and we were left with the animal soul of the inner behemoth, lusts and cravings, motivated by power and pleasure. Every drought or plague was perceived as cosmic punishment for our pervasive and continuous sin. All of us knew guilt because all of us had a conscience, implanted into us by the real God. “Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Mic 6:7). The earliest archeologic evidence of human civilization includes burial sites and signs of human sacrifice, blood to salve our guilty conscience and avert the disaster that threatened us.

In time, the human sacrifice for guilt was supplanted by animal sacrifice but our natural rage as victims still required an occasional human sacrifice, one that did not necessarily represent us or our tribe but instead represented the hostile tribe or person who threatened us. This victim was not an image of ourselves, but an image of our attacker, a living effigy. We kept alive some of our war captives for this purpose, preserving them in captivity until the proper time for a suitably horrific human sacrifice. Depending on the level of abuse and victimization in the tribal community it may be few and seldom, or it may be often and involve many thousands. The agonizing torture and death of the human captive would absorb our rage and permit us human dignity as our grievance was heard by our god and satisfied.

Jesus’ cross met that need for us, that universal horrific cry for justice, barely admitted but always present, and couched in terms of a million mythologies. The death of the victim was the source of our life. In our pagan cultures, the victim was always naked. The shame of the sexual abuse victim demanded it. The torture was prolonged and agonizing. The rage of the slave locked in an iron collar and lashed to an ox required it. The anger of survivors of a gruesome battle, those who had witnessed the butchery of their friends and relatives, craved cosmic justice and procured it by the ritual slaying of a human victim.

The ritual humanized the event, applying it to the whole tribe, not just a vengeance murder. Blood was required by every tribe. Some societies painted themselves in that blood; others drank it. “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place” (Rev 6:12-14). After thousands of years of these brutal human sacrifices, we found a religion that offered us the peace and healing satisfaction of a human sacrifice without the annual bloodshed. We called it Christianity. The death of Jesus became the source of our life.

The dead brought to life

The word goy, nation, has as its root g’viya meaning dead body, corpse. ^[4] We were entirely dead to God, lost in a sea of pagan idolatry, y’garesh, divorced from our origin in the Creator of all. Abraham was charged with being a blessing to us, the goyim, the dead ones. “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him” (Gen 18:18). Our divine soul, nephesh elohit, had died, “For when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Gen 2:17). We were reduced to physical life, nephesh behemit, animal life, spiritually dead, walking corpses. We were destined to be blessed with life, connection to the God who created us, through Abraham. “You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex 19:6). Israel alone had divine life in them, imparted at Sinai. We would be brought to spiritual life through you, your example, their teachings, and your brother Jesus, our Christ.

Jesus was our Passover sacrifice, delivering us from slavery to idolatry. He offered us something no pagan god had ever offered, an intimate and loving relationship with God, the Sovereign Creator and King, no matter our wealth or power. Rabbi Jesus gave us human dignity, the power to pray to our Creator and be heard. Of course, that was incomprehensible to us. The God of Israel in general was incomprehensible to us, and to speak to the Uncreated Infinite without an intermediary was impossible. So, we prayed in the name of the Rabbi who taught us this God. Those who felt unworthy of that prayed in the name of his mother Mary, someone closer to our experience. She was also a familiar part of our pagan traditions, a virgin mother goddess of sorts, a pure and holy woman, central to our understanding of love and nurture.

In the same vein we prayed to the saints, upon whom we projected many of the powers and characteristics of our old pagan pantheon. We knew we were unworthy of addressing the upper echelon of gods, Zeus for instance; that was the purview of our priestly class. We commoners could only ask favors of the lesser gods in our pantheon. Now we searched for approachable substitutes and found them in the spirits of our saints and martyrs. We honored them on the same calendar we had always used and gave them the jobs of our old gods; St. Valentine took over for Cupid and St. Nicholas for Odin, a Norse god who filled children’s stockings with treats at winter solstice.

Rabbi Jesus, his mother, and the saints revealed to us pagans the God of Israel. We had never seen anything so beautiful. He had created all people equally in the image of God. He unified our powerless little tribes into a super-tribe, a larger community far more righteous and powerful than the tribes we came from, with a greater Universal God. Jesus spoke to us of human dignity, divine laws, and eternal destiny, as if every one of us were worthy to participated in that, not just our priests and owners.

He gave us relief from our overwhelming sense of guilt, a Sacrifice to end all sacrifices, one that reconciled us to the God of Israel. And not only that but he offered himself to us as a Human Sacrifice to end all human sacrifices, relief from our pervasive rage against the cruelty we were subjected to daily. The power of a human sacrifice was totally foreign to Judaism but indispensable to us. No animal could suffer the way we had suffered, and justice demanded an appropriate conscious sacrifice.

The end of human sacrifice

Human sacrifice died out all over the world after the Christ event in Israel. Something holy had happened, and it satisfied a deep unarticulated craving in our collective pagan soul, the healing of our deep shame, the restoration of our human dignity. I doubt that even Rabbi Jesus knew the depths of our desperate need for a human sacrifice; he only knew that he was called to be the suffering servant of Isaiah. He swallowed deep and did what any and every Jew would do, accepted that call and sanctified the Name as only a Jew could. “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Phil 2:8). The common characteristic of all real Jews (and all true Christians) is to submit our lives to the will of God knowing it is the will of That Which Is, the Cause of All Being, Uncreated Consciousness, the Infinite Wisdom. The only rational response to the Infinite Uncreated is immediate and complete obedience.

Abraham took his son Isaac up the mountain knowing what God had told him to do. There was nothing unusual about it. Human sacrifice, of the first born, was standard operating procedure in the ancient world. Abraham fully intended to offer his son as wrenching as that was. His sacrifice was not out of rage, there is nothing in the story to suggest Abraham had been violated by an aggressor. Nor was it solely out of guilt; there was nothing in Scripture about the wrath of God - the biblical expression of crushing guilt - no threatened punishment to avert. He did it out of obedience to God.

When Abraham climbed Mount Moriah, the ram was already there. Jewish Midrash tells us it was prepared at the time of creation and sent to be on Mount Moriah on the day Abraham needed it. Abraham did not see the ram because he was not looking for it. He was coming in obedience to the ancient call for atonement that pervades the world, and he was prepared to do it to completion. For the first time in history, God stayed his hand. “Do not lay a hand on the boy.” God was announcing a new era. The human craving for absolution of guilt, the restoration of dignity, the human demand for perfect justice would be met in another way. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son” (Gen 22:12). The Akedah transformed your religious consciousness.

We Christians found relief from that horror in Jesus. The Akedah was the cosmic atoning sacrifice for the entire Jewish community, integral to the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah, that was not dependent on Temple infrastructure. We pagans were ignorant of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac; it did not belong to us. Our gods still exacted a bloody price. In Jesus, we too had a cosmic human sacrifice, one foretold by a million pagan prophesies, one that brought us peace with God once and for all. We date time in relation to Jesus. Before him are only negative numbers, slavery to idols and fiends, gods who mocked and jeered at us in our agony. After him we had a new God, one who loved us, communed with us, taught us and guided us. Nothing is as beautiful to us as Jesus.

Monotheism the new cruelty

The expansion of monotheism brought a new kind of cruelty into the world. It was impossible for us to believe you Jews had the love and compassion and the One God, while at the same time, we had the love and compassion of the One God. The Eternal and Infinite could not possibly be large enough for both of us. Unless you became us, you had to be wrong, and if you were wrong, all pagan expectations were that you were damned, rejected, and despised by the God who loved us. “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained” (Rev 6:9). The Unique and Singular Omnipotent Consciousness who had created this diverse and glorious world was not capable of loving Jews if they were different from us.

To Jews, every additional monotheism was a corruption of your original and pure monotheism, unacceptable and degraded. Religious violence was born into the world. “The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name” (Rev 13:1). Each addition to monotheism brought a new rendition to the Beast. Tribal warfare took on a passion previously unknown, rabid and unquenchable, religious jihad.

What is called for here is a paradigm shift. If we are right, it is not an unavoidable conclusion that you are all wrong. The way in which God speaks to me is necessarily different from the way He speaks to you, and any God who can’t manage basic communications with each person He addresses can hardly be considered a God in any real sense. God honors our cultural and historical differences and speaks to us in English with western assumptions while He speaks to that other guy in Sanskrit with eastern assumptions. We could hardly draw the conclusion we and that other guy were created by different gods, yet that is what we have done. We accuse the other guy of idolatry because we don’t understand Sanskrit. He communes with the same Creator we commune with in a different language and with a different cultural background. If we can’t see the holiness in his life, that is not his problem. We are the ones to lose out.

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

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[1] Warren Zev Harvey, “The Line between True Religion and Idolatry,” in Idolatry: A Contemporary Jewish Conversation, Alon Goshen Gottstein, Ed. (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2023), pp. 282-4.

[2] Chaim Potok. Wanderings: Chaim Potok’s History of the Jews. (New York: Fawcett Crest, 1978), p. 51

[3] C. Leonard Woolley. The Sumerians. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1965), pp. 103-4.

[4] Rabbi Daniel Kohn, Book of Yearning: The Siddur’s Path to Love, Growth, and Fulfillment. (Brooklyn, Katv Publishing, 2023), p. 45.

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God’s Righteousness

Excerpted from my book Climbing Jacob’s Ladder

A terrible heresy has permeated the church, an idea that morality is not necessary, all will be forgiven, Jesus’ mercy is unlimited and unconditional, and there is no need to live a holy life before Him. It is a scandal, and it leads to horrific sin within the church and a massive black eye, not just on us, but on our Savior. The rest of the world sees our pornography and adultery, lies and injustice, greed and idolatry and thinks our God condones that.

“Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Rom 10:4 NIV). Jesus does not represent the end, termination, rejection of the law but rather the purpose and goal of the law, to empower tribes of heathen savages to know and love the Law (Torah) of God. The righteousness Jesus calls us to is the righteousness that He empowers. “Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Heb 13:20-21).

Every strength, every insight, every contentment, detachment, peace, patience, and humility that is necessary to empower our obedience is at our fingertips. “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have full endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Col 1:10-12). There were no Christian saints yet at the time Paul wrote that. We pagans could participate in the inheritance of the saints of Judaism, Moses and David, sanctified to the God of Israel, yet without becoming Jews. We were ger, strangers, who lived among Israel and loved her God.

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Rom 3:28). No single Scripture has been abused as much as this one verse. If we only believe, then all our sins and failures are washed away. We won’t be held responsible for them. Paul was a Jew, and he had a Hebrew understanding of the concept of faith. The word is emunah, which means faithfulness, not just belief. It is grammatically related to emet which means “truth.” “To the faithful You show Yourself faithful” (2 Sam 22:26).

If a wife believes she is married to her husband, but sleeps with other men, no one would consider her faithful. Yet she believes correct facts about her relationship with her husband. Correct belief is meaningless without faithfulness. “So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead” (James 2:17). We believe Jesus has saved us, but rather than mobilizing His power to defeat sin in our lives, we use our faith to excuse flagrant sin; after all, we wouldn’t want to be accused of “works-righteousness.” Belief in Jesus has tremendous power, but it is power to be righteous, faithful to Him. Our sins are washed away from our lives, not just our rap sheet in heaven. Intellectual assent alone is belief, but it is not faith. “You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19).

New Testament Greek had only one word for law, numa, and it applied to both the concept of law and to the Torah, two different entities. “But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction” (Rom 3:21-22 emphasis added). As attested by Torah, righteousness comes to us, not by magic or by accounting fraud in heaven, but by faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

Gentiles who did not have Torah or any training in it could participate in the righteousness of God - as opposed to the “righteousness” of Bacchanalia, god of drunkenness, or Aphrodite, goddess of promiscuity - by faithfully following Jesus, our living Torah. “Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law. But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe” (Gal 3:21-22). By faith in Jesus Christ, the promise of eternal life is given to those who are faithful, emunah. We follow Jesus, limping and blind, knowing nothing of Torah and all its intricacies, yet if we are faithful to Him, we find ourselves living a Torah life, entering eternal life, participating in Israel’s promise.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). The word “justify” has been corrupted in our time. Justified as used in Scripture meant adjusted to fit or meet the specifications of a designated setting. We justified broken bones so they would heal properly. A gear that was slipping needed to be justified. A ship that was off course was justified by its rudder. The wrong is corrected; the failure made right. The Hebrew word for justify, vat-tzaddki (See Ezek 16:51-2) is a derivative of the primary term for righteousness tzaddik (rhymes with “leak”). To be justified is to become righteous, not excused.

“Then if you have anything to say, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify (tzaddik) you” (Job 33:32 ESV), make you righteous, correct you. In today’s usage, it means to talk someone into believing we are correct when we are manifestly wrong. We justify our answers to a professor or justify our ideas in an editorial in the newspaper. We don’t change our opinion; we convince others that it is the right opinion and talk them into agreeing with us. We justify our foul mouth against a co-worker because he or she swiped our pencil case. We justify ourselves by being stringent in obedience to one law, but profligate in our violation of other equally important laws, as if our refusal to steal postage stamps from our employer justifies sleeping around on our spouse! That doesn’t work with God.

She wants to justify us the old-fashioned way, straighten the rudder, set the broken bone so it heals. “For it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified” (Rom 2:13 ESV). We speak of justification in church as if it were a verdict of innocence when we were obviously guilty. It is much more than that. Justification in God’s language doesn’t start with forgiveness. It starts with repentance. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt 4:17). And it ends with a change in character, “Follow me” (John 21:19).

“You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace” (Gal 5:4). Without the Spirit of God, His divine neshamah at our core, the law was powerless to correct us, justify us in the Biblical sense. Had we adopted Torah in our old state of mind it would have become another magic spell, a ritual incantation powerless to change our lives. Substituting the Torah for our pagan superstitions does not change our hearts, only the quality of our rain dance. Working by brute strength, sheer will power, to be good and righteous does not bring us to the heart of God. It distances us from Him.

Yielding to the Spirit of God in humble awareness of our weakness and ignorance opens us to His power and wisdom, giving Him latitude to be Holy and Righteous within us, with beauty and grace. By breathing in God’s neshamah our broken glass is restored and we are a vessel of God the Glassblower. “But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness” (Gal 5:5). Biblical hope is not, “I hope I win the lottery” but rather a solid expectation of a sure thing, waiting for the fulfillment of a promise from God. Our hope of righteousness is an expectation that His righteousness will show up when we need it, in the used car lots of life when real temptation is bearing down on us. We might refuse it, decide to lie about the mileage on that car anyway, but the power to tell the truth, the righteousness of God will be there when we need it. That is Biblical hope and real justification.

Our redemption is at the edge of the Red Sea, where “But Moses told the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still’” (Ex 14:13-14). We stand helpless at the foot of the cross and God does everything. We have six hundred armed chariots bearing down on us and we are as good as dead. To redeem means to buy back one who was captured or sold as a slave. The slave is helpless.

But on the other side of the Red Sea, the dynamics are different. Having been redeemed we are now on God’s team. Now we fight evil, the Amalekites, with God, not passively but in partnership with God, with our arms raised to heaven and a sword in our hand (Ex 17:8-16). Growth in holiness occurs in His power but in our lives, as persons not robots, giving our free and full consent to His holiness in our lives. We defeat lust and lies, arrogance and apathy, hostility and hypocrisy in His power, but by our hand. We “turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Ps 34:14). Sanctification is active, exhilarating, as we see His Spirit within us defeating our enemies in hand-to-hand combat, at home with spouse and children, on the phone with a client, in our choices and priorities, in our words and actions every single day. It happens in community, praying for each other and supporting and encouraging each other, watching each other’s back, learning from each other, “Aaron and Hur held his hands up” (Ex 17:12).

Self-righteousness

Every road has two ditches. On the right is self-righteous legalism, arrogance, and hypocrisy. Our inner animal is being a “good animal,” but it is still an animal, not actuated by His Divine Spirit. On the left is carelessness about our obedience, disrespect, profanity, and contempt for God, a “bad animal” looking to see if the Master’s back is turned. Both are centered on self. The self-righteous ditch on the right is our effort and initiative, our self as the source of strength and piety; the profane ditch on the left is our self as the ultimate authority; in effect, self as god, or blasphemy. Nephesh behemit cannot please God. “Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:8).

Jesus’ message to the lukewarm self-righteous church in Revelation 3:18 is, “Buy from Me gold refined by fire,” redemption at the foot of the cross, accepted by a humble heart saying, “Jesus you died for me too.” That is what makes us rich. Receive from the Holy Spirit nephesh elohit, “white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed” His righteousness is of a higher order than anything we can generate. Then the Holy Spirit applies “salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.” He enlightens us, opens our eyes to see the world, other people, and Scripture, the real meaning of it, and brings it to life in our hearts. Self-righteousness has no gratitude to God, only a sense of entitlement that is putrid to Him.

By our self-righteousness, we are still declaring to God that we know what is good and what is evil, still chewing on the forbidden fruit! The Holy Spirit will open Scripture and reveal to us the beauty of a humble heart accepting His mercy, enacting and embodying His righteousness, white lace encrusted with diamonds.

Self-righteousness is a form of superstition; a belief system in which we set up a barter economy with God. We will sit up straight in church, keep our hands folded just so, kneel when they say to kneel and stand when they say to stand, and in exchange God will save us from hell. The old rain dance got a face lift. We will never cheat on our taxes or on our spouse, never lie to a police officer, give to the United Way, help the old lady across the street, mow her lawn and trim her bushes, and ring up a tab with God. Now we can claim control over our fate, some influence with God. We try to keep the balance positive in case something comes up to where we have to tell a lie to stay alive in some situation; you never know what might happen.

It is so subtle and pervasive we don’t even realize we are doing it. “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” (Gal 3:1-2). The divine soul is a gift, not an achievement. If we don’t trust God for redemption, we will try to redeem ourselves, compare ourselves with other people, excuse our own failures and magnify the faults of other people, impugn their motives, and criticize their traditions.

The good things we do are not an effort to stay out of trouble with God. They are an expression of the Holy Spirit within us, His love, life, and power. If the only reason we obey God is because we are afraid of cosmic punishment, obedience will be stiff and wooden, lifeless, and loveless. Our only fear should be the fear of offending Him, a loving awe of His majesty, fear of failing to please Him. God wants us to obey Him because we love Him, informed by His Word, in the power of His Spirit, an expression of His glory and beauty. In His Spirit, our obedience is full of joy, energetic, creative, and reverent.

“The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD - and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears” (Is 11:2-3 NIV). We are not judging other people, or even ourselves, by what we see and hear, but rather rejoicing in God and doing the next right thing. The Spirit of Christ within is spontaneously good and loving and always alert for opportunities to display that Spirit.

Superstition is focused on the deed itself, measuring the effort that went into it, clocking the time, keeping receipts, while love for God forgets all that, looking only to please this glorious God who would stop at nothing to redeem and heal us. Like you do the dishes for your mother because you know that would please her, we do those things God commands because we love Him and want to bring Him joy. If my daughter does the dishes to pressure me to buy her an expensive prom dress, I feel abused. If we obey God to manipulate Him, pressure Him to make our life easier, fulfill some desire we have, that is a form of God-abuse.

We reduce Him to a tool. “But from the time we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been perishing by sword and famine” (Jer 44:18). Superstition demands a response from God, seeks to control God. If I read my Bible for two hours each day, I want to be guaranteed I won’t get cancer. I will be appalled and disillusioned if I do get cancer. That is a pagan notion of God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob does not play games.

The corollary to this superstition is confession and repentance with heart rending expressions of sorrow, slaughtering the lamb every day, perhaps even the same lamb, the same sin we confessed years ago, and He has forgotten about, but we never will, because we want to impress Him with our contrition, our self-abasement, our sincerity. The suffering we are willing to endure for Him, the grief, the regret, the bitter atonement, the lengths to which we are willing to go to see ourselves as deserving of His mercy; it is almost comical.

It is a thinly veiled effort to keep some control over this process. The alternative is complete dependence and helplessness before Him, which we find humiliating, and He finds necessary. We cannot earn our salvation. We are dead. Dead men cannot even ask for salvation, never mind deserve it. The only reason we can even repent is because the Holy Spirit grants us repentance. “They glorified God, saying, ‘So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life’” (Acts 11:18). When we accept His mercy, His forgiveness, we necessarily let go of our desire to deserve salvation, earn a place in His Kingdom, merit His esteem and respect. It goes down hard. We don’t like being penniless beggars. He won’t accept us on any other terms.

“A dispute also arose among the disciples as to which of them would be considered the greatest” (Luke 22:24). That argument still rages. We compare ourselves to each other, judge ourselves to be more virtuous, more productive, more enlightened than the next guy. “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Jesus held before them a child, utterly dependent on someone wiser and more powerful, content to learn and fully expecting to be thought of as nothing. What pleases Him is not our righteousness; even a truly stellar performance can’t hold a candle to His Righteousness.

We cannot comprehend His Righteousness; the self-giving love He expects us to display toward Him and towards each other, the depth of caring, the height of reverence He desires is just totally beyond us. Only He can love like that, with divine love. Even our intention to be righteous by itself does not touch Him if it is motivated by desire to impress Him or manipulate Him.

Jews won’t eat pork; Muslims won’t drink alcohol; Hindus won’t eat beef; Mormons won’t drink coffee; Christians will eat anything but won’t condone any birth control that even resembles abortion. We cling to our spiritual pride, wanting to “be something” in God’s eyes. We want to deserve His love and therefore claim His love as if He owed it to us.

We judge others based on their compliance with our ideas of what serving God should look like, looking down on those who experience Him differently. We preen our feathers and array them like a peacock. We clock our attendance at Bible study, list all the things we never do, serve on committees, and give our tithe. At the base of it is a desire to control God, manipulate God, define how He will respond to us, in essence a desire to be God. Our legalistic “obedience” is in fact disrespectful and ungrateful; it tries to make Him our debtor and denies our need for the sacrifice of the cross. “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns-broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jer 2:13).

On the other hand, even imperfect, wobbly, uneven obedience that arises from a heart that adores God and trusts in His mercy for redemption makes His heart sing. The obedience that makes mud pies and collects dandelion bouquets for Him, knowing that they are not perfect, but they are the best we can do right now, pleases Him.

Those irrational statutes, kosher laws and the avoidance of birth control, whose only purpose is to honor God - we are not on our way anywhere else, not accomplishing anything the outside world recognizes as moral or valuable - those observances are deeply meaningful. They connect us to God in a special way when carried out in the right attitude. ^[1] “Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart” (Ps 119:111).

It’s like God gave each one of our religions a recipe for one of His favorite Christmas cookies, and if we forget the baking soda and they come out flat, He eats them anyway and leaves a present in our stockings because He loves us, not because He needs our Christmas cookies.

We are human, and we accept our human imperfection knowing He has accepted it. Almighty God does not despise us when we are honest about our faults and failures and sins, instead He swoops in with mercy and compassion. The pain and sorrow in our lives enriches our obedience, makes it that much more valuable to Him. We long to do better, and we draw strength from His Spirit to give Him our best because we love Him; the humility of it delights Him.

And a heart that sacrifices itself for the good of others, opening itself as a channel for His love, for the sake of love for Him, is a fragrant perfume He really enjoys. God has filled His wedding banquet with people whose only qualification is gratitude and praise. If we will not wear His wedding garment, His righteousness, He will say, “’Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’” (Matt 22:12). We are not welcome as God’s bride wearing anything other than His wedding garment, His righteousness.

“Lord, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us” (Is 26:12 NKJV). The righteousness that pleases Christ is His own righteousness, the divine soul displayed in us, performed in us by His Spirit, through our personalities. That righteousness is impressive indeed. It inspires us, and it pleases Him greatly. When He says, “Now go and sin no more” (John 8:11) He empowers that. The only thing we contribute is our consent; He does all the heavy lifting.

But that consent is not easily come by. It requires us to surrender our natural strength and self-effort, our flesh, our ego. We must crucify the flesh, the “good” flesh and the “bad” flesh, it’s all of a piece to Him, all poisoned and jaundiced. “Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit” (John 3:6). In the power of His Spirit, motivated by love, the quality of the good things we do and the spontaneous joy with which we do them lifts us up into the presence of God and brings glory to God like the elevation offering in the Temple.

It heightens your love for Him to see how beautiful His righteousness is within you. Our own righteousness leads us to admire ourselves which is the wrong direction to move. “’I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people will be satisfied with My goodness,’ declares the LORD” (Jer 31:14 NASB emphasis added).

Think about it, who is glorified when we are righteous? When we do something good in our own strength, by our own cunning, who do we think highly of? Who are we hoping will be noticed? And what do we think of the person next to us who does not perform quite as well as we do, does not participate in our pet program or follow our rules, does not look like us or think like us or go to the same club house – church – as we do? We cackle and crow, yee-haw and stampede around the barnyard.

Are we acting like Jesus when we think like this? Do people looking at us mistake us for Him? Do they thank Him or praise Him that we are so wonderful and generous? Phony righteousness may do wonderful things, feed the hungry and visit the sick, but the heart from which it does them is radically different from His heart and no one is fooled, least of all Him. Mission work done in self-admiration or in a spirit of manipulation pushes people away from Christ, but the same outward act done in the Holy Spirit, with self-forgetting love, is like a magnet drawing them to Christ.

When Christ came as High Priest representing God to the people and representing the people to God, “He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation” (Heb 9:11 NASB). Jesus presents our broken hearts at the Throne, in the presence of Uncreated Goodness, in authenticity and truth. “And not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12 NASB).

In the eyes of God, we are made clean by mercy and mercy alone. We don’t have to crucify Christ again every time we find ourselves in need of mercy, healing, and forgiveness. Like Moses in the desert, we have only to speak to the Rock, and water and life pour forth, plenty to supply all our needs (Num 20:8). “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb 10:14 NIV).

Then, in the bump and grind of daily reality, He invests us with His Spirit and makes His Character radiate out through our character. “I will put my laws on their hearts, and will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Heb 10:16-17 NIV).

To our dismay, the sins and lawless acts do not come to a screeching halt when His Spirit takes up residence. We live here too; and while we have a wonderful roommate, our inner puppy isn’t trained yet and we still make messes. Jesus does not seem annoyed. He knows all about puppies, and He knows where the mop and broom are. “And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb 10:21-22).

We, whom He has redeemed, are welcome and accepted in the presence and in the heart of our God, even though He continues to perfect, remodel, and instruct us. The closer we come to Him, the more glaring our sin becomes and the more distressed we are when we see it, like a coffee-stained wedding dress. He is not shocked or surprised by what we find in ourselves; He has seen it all along and has forgiven it all along. He knew all our sin when He signed up for this gig, and He keeps plenty of Clorox around. We are shocked and dismayed, but He just sighs and forgives. The river of gratitude grows deeper and wider. He smiles.

Each time He forgives us, our love for Him grows richer and truer, humbler and meeker, more merciful to the people around us, and more glorious in His sight. I think sometimes He sends us challenges and obstacles knowing we are probably going to sin, anticipating the joy of forgiving us, valuing our failure and recovery almost as much as a victory over temptation. Heads we win, tails we win. It’s like playing checkers with your uncle when you were six years old. He makes sure you win.

The humility He places in us by forgiving us is priceless and beautiful to Him. His love humbles us like nothing else can. There is no shame in it, only gratitude, and confidence that nothing can shake or threaten this love. We know we have no merit in His eyes, and yet we have infinite value in His eyes, not for what we do, but for who we are. Our personalities are all included, encompassed, by His Personality, and He values each one of us, individually and specifically, our faults included.

By His stunning mercy, He takes our faults and failures and makes beauty and glory out of them, expressing Himself through our personalities. The Glassblower is making unique irreplaceable vessels, each one imperfect in a perfect way, having lumps and dips of authenticity, not a factory finish. He does not want “perfection” in the perfectionist sense of the term; that would be too cookie-cutter for Him. He wants you to be perfectly you, and me to be perfectly me, in wholeness, not perfection, and in all that He expresses Himself perfectly.

The only perfection God wants is perfection of character, perfection of the heart, the desire, the will. We can all love Him differently as long as we all love Him, and our hearts are not divided between Him and the stock market or between Him and the fashion show. We despise our sin, even though it follows us around. Through ignorance or overwhelming temptation, we may fall, but we still hate our sin and love only Him. That is true repentance; it is accepted by Him and all is forgiven. “Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high” (Job 16:19).

When we live in an attitude of repentance, we live in an atmosphere of forgiveness which engenders humility and gratitude. We can disagree about all kinds of things, but if our hearts are united in loving God, we are united. If we care about Him more than anything or anyone else, we will all move in more or less the same direction and that is how you herd cats.

Cats are hard to work with because they are such individuals. They won’t stand in line or take orders; they move at their own pace and take naps when they feel like it. They see no reason to move in anything approaching the same direction, even in a church, business, or family. He values each and every one, it all its uniqueness. Think about it: We have an Infinite God. To manifest Him in all His fullness in this world would require an infinite number of unique personalities all optimally developed and fully functioning.

If no one had ever written Beethoven’s symphonies, the world would be a smaller place. If no one liked anchovies, what would we do with all the anchovies? If no one adequately expressed some little part of God’s glory and awe, that part of His glory and awe would forever go unexpressed! That would be a tragedy of unspeakable proportions! Our value to God is incomprehensible to us. He values our experience, our expression of His glory as we individually appreciate His mercy and love for us, in our little world - the sun on our shoulder and the taste of our popsicle. When we praise Him and thank Him, share with His the glory of the sun on our shoulder or the taste of our popsicle, that completes the experience for us and for Him. Each one of us matters to Him.

Our mistakes and even sins committed in the course of being human are an occupational hazard that He accepts and has made provision for. A real person, who screws up and needs to be forgiven, has needs and failures, gets scared and runs, falls apart and collapses in a puddle; that is someone He can work with. Like Elijah under the broom tree, He feeds and waters us, speaks to us in a whisper, assures us we are not alone in this world, and gives us instructions for the days ahead. He will provide the Elisha, the Timothy, the Barnabus, the Silas, the fellowship we need, “who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor 1:4).

He knows we need human companionship, a listening ear, a caring heart, and He will provide for that need. He “sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place He was about to visit” (Luke 10:1). Like Paul and Barnabus, we have more power in pairs. The safest place to be is totally dependent on Him for everything, life, love, purpose, and power, the mercy to make it through another day.

Our lethargy, apathy, lack of interest, passivity in our relationship with Him grieves Him. It indicates that we value Him lightly, and that means we have not appropriated much of Him, His Mercy. Our gratitude for His mercy is the basis for our love for Him. If we don’t think we need mercy, we won’t ask for it. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32). Righteousness is nothing on earth but loving and caring for people the way Jesus loves and cares for people. It’s a pretty high standard.

Jesus was not impressed with people who thought they were righteous. Rank sinners were folks He could work with, but those who could explain and justify their lovelessness and uncaring, who thought it was not their job to love and care for the people around them, who did not think the people around them deserved that degree of love and care; He was grieved and disgusted with them. We might have four hundred prophets telling us what we want to hear, but we know in our hearts it is wrong and false. We will seek out that one prophet who speaks the truth, even if it hurts (1 Kings 22:6-8).

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[1] What would we think if Jews and Muslims refused to pay taxes because some of the money would be used to pay for ham sandwiches in school lunches and to subsidize pork farmers?

Both the first and the second Temples were destroyed on the same day, five hundred years apart, the ninth of Av, observed to this day with a day of fasting. “So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died in the presence of the LORD” (Lev 10:2). Since it was prophesied thousands of years ago, Jews were not in despair that there was no Temple offering anymore.

“Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if there was any fruit on it. But when He reached it, He found nothing on it except leaves, since it was not the season for figs. Then He said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat of your fruit again’” (Mark 11:13-14). It was no longer the season for figs. The season for animal sacrifice had passed, and the Good News was that forgiveness could be received solely on the basis of mercy, by repentance.

When the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed Judaism could not offer lambs and goats anymore. In intense prayer and meditation, the Holy Spirit revealed the New Covenant to them: God had atoned for them. They had only to repent and trust in His mercy. And trust it they did.

They designed a prayer service, a liturgy, in which they could practice self-examination (like Lent) on a daily, monthly, and annual basis, with prayer and sometimes fasting, to receive and apply God’s forgiveness to their lives. “Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon” (Is 55:7). The LORD, the complete Trinity, makes atonement for His people, and they claim that atonement every day. We Christians divided their One God into three parts and then insisted they only had one third of Him. They have always had the Fullness of the One God.

At Yom Kippur, Jews recite and relive the moment when the heavens were opened to them,

The LORD descended in a cloud, stood with him (Moses) there, and proclaimed His name, the LORD. Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.” O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own possession ( based on Ex 34: 5-7, 9).

God Himself has atoned for His people. He receives them in repentance, forgives them and cleanses them. They know that, rejoice in it, and thrive in His mercy. Jews know they are forgiven and atoned for by the fullness of God not just once a year, but every single day. “Because on this day atonement will be made for you to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD” (Lev 16:30). If Jesus had not saved the Jews, He could not be Messiah. “For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me-- for fear that I see the evil that would overtake my father?” (Gen 44:34 NASB).

The redemption of the Jews – as Jews, not as converts to Christianity - proves His identity, power, beauty, and glory. “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved’” (Rom 10:12-13 NIV emphasis added). If we believe in the Trinity, we must insist that “the LORD” includes Jesus Christ implicitly.

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?’” (Matt 25:26). We must relinquish our sense of superiority, that we are the sole purveyors of the New Covenant, that our prayer is better than the prayer of others, our sacraments are superior to those of others, our obedience is purer than that of others. “When they were unable to repay him, he forgave both of them” (Luke 7:42).

The role of Israel

The Suffering Servant of Isaiah could not flay His own back or snatch His own beard out. Someone had to do that for Him. The Jews were chosen, trained, and prepared by God to offer the Sacrifice that saved the world. “All the families of the earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3). Part of that mission was to reject Jesus, and it is a genuine rejection. “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” We Gentiles did not despise and reject Jesus. His brothers had to do that for Him.

“Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Is 53:3-5). By His stripes, the Jews are healed, and their wellbeing secured. We can’t assign the rejection in this passage to one people, and the benefit to another; that is not what the prophet says. The same people who rejected Him are saved by Him. That is the glory of the cross. That is the character of Jesus.

The rejection is real. “And we esteemed Him not” (Is 53:3 ESV). “Scorned by men and despised by the people” (Ps 22:6). Jews consider Jesus smitten of God, condemned for blasphemy, a blind deceiver, and He is indeed despised and forsaken by His people; that is a part of His suffering. We pagans never scorned or despised Him; the Jews, His own people, had to do that.

The miracles He did were roundly condemned by Temple authorities as sorcery, manipulating the divine Name. That too was deliberate and premeditated. “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut 13:1-3).

Jesus waived his wonders before their noses and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). He held out for them to worship and revere him, obey and follow him, knowing they would refuse. “His brothers said to him, ‘Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?’ And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said” (Gen 37:8).

The miracles that were so appealing to our magical Gentile minds, and essential to our theology, were guaranteed to raise a red flag for them. “That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you” (Deut 13:5).

Jesus provokes his brothers

“Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised” (Is 53:3) is a poor translation. Jewish Publication Society does it more accurately. Uvmaster, one who hid, panim, his face, mimenu, from us. “As one who hid his face from us” (Is 53:3 JPS). Jesus deliberately concealed Himself from His people to preserve them as faithful Jews. “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matt 13:11 ESV). Just as Joseph concealed himself from his bothers, Jesus was not recognized by His brothers over a prolonged period that involved much suffering and confusion.

Joseph provoked his brothers repeatedly, “The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country” (Gen 42:30), not out of malice but for a much higher purpose. “Then Joseph declared, ‘Just as I said, you are spies! And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here’” (Gen 42:14-15). At His first trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus said, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. That is why I told you that you would die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:23-24).

A Sanhedrin that executed even one person in seven years was considered a bloody Sanhedrin. Despite our impressions from the New Testament, it was not easy to get a death sentence from this legal body. ^[1] Jesus said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him” (John 8:44). Strong words and harsh accusations. “Is this not the cup my master drinks from and uses for divination (nachash nachash, lit. serpent serpent)?” (Gen 44:5). After a contentious trial, Jesus was found guilty of blasphemy by the Sanhedrin. “Therefore they took up stones, that they might cast at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went forth out of the temple” (John 8:59) under a verdict of death.

“’Here comes that dreamer!’ they said to each other” (Gen 37:19). Already under a death sentence (John 8:59 and 10:31-33), Jesus had marched into Jerusalem in a parade, disrupted the cattle market in the Temple courtyard, and arrested the hand of the High Priest carrying the blood of the sacrifice of Moses through the Temple. “{He] would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts” (Mark 11 :16). The Greek word commonly translated “merchandise” is skeuos, literally vessels, the ancient gold and silver vessels made by Solomon, the sacred vessels containing the blood, the sacrifice of Moses. “No one is greater in this house than I am” (Gen 39:9).

The priests were outraged. This was suicide by priest. “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18). Jesus had come to be the universal cosmic redemption, the long awaited human sacrifice, the dying and rising god-man we Gentiles had expected for centuries. Human sacrifice was an abomination to the Jews but essential to us, explicitly prescribed by pagan mythology all over the planet. Only vague hints of it are found in Jewish scripture, in Psalms and in the suffering servant of Isaiah. “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too” (Rom 3:29).

“And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven” (Deut 4:19). God gave us Gentiles over to the gods, a vast pantheon of spirits and powers that ruled us and oppressed us with impunity. Their job was to prepare us, teach us to recognize the Christ, the promised savior who would lead us to Torah.

Crucified from the foundation of the world, between two thieves, numbered with the transgressors, despised, and rejected, Jesus has become our salvation, proven by His resurrection. “Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross” (Phil 2:6-8).

Out of character

Joseph said and did things that were completely out of character for him, but no one hearing the story thought Joseph actually believed his brothers were spies. Scripture made clear that the diviner’s cup (nachash) was planted in Benjamin’s bag to provoke a crisis. But when Jesus said and did things equally out of character regarding His brothers, the Christian world jumped to the conclusion that the Jews were damned by Him. “And these enemies of mine who were unwilling for me to rule over them, bring them here and slay them in front of me” (Luke 19:27). This was verbal vitriol measured and calculated to provoke the desired response from the priests. “And he turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes” (Gen 42:24).

For centuries Jews were condemned for killing Jesus, even though anyone hearing the story would know “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord” (John 10:18). Our merciful compassionate Jesus who taught us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek, who ate with tax collectors and forgave prostitutes has not written His brothers out of the Book of Life. “Then Jesus declared, ‘For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind’” (John 9:39). Either Jesus is an adolescent god having a cosmic temper tantrum or this is a ruse, to deliberately provoke the Sanhedrin into doing what had to be done to save the entire world, including the members of the Sanhedrin. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:17).

The sons of Jacob went to Egypt to purchase salvation with their money, their good works. Joseph didn’t want his brother’s money; he put it back in their sacks and settled their account with Pharaoh himself (Gen 43:23). He made no demands of a profession of faith, no sinner’s prayer, no creed, not even an acknowledgment of gratitude.

He settled them in the land of Goshen, ^[2] on the outskirts of Egypt, with their flocks and herds, their traditions and literature, their prayers and songs, and provided them with salvation just exactly the way they were. We were so enamored by Jesus’ intimate relationship with God, we called Him Son of God, as if He were the only one. “Israel is My firstborn son” (Ex 4:22). He is the Prince of His brothers (Gen 49:26), but they, the Jews, are also sons of God. “

The Universal Cosmic sacrifice

Caiaphas offered the perfect sacrifice that morning. As high priest he confessed his own sins and the sins of the people over the Lamb with more authenticity than he had ever done before, with malice and rage, lying witnesses and injustice, mocking and contempt, violence and defilement. It was the most genuine sacrifice he had ever offered. The Lamb of God stood silent and received that confession, accepted that guilt and condemnation, shame and injustice upon Himself and bore it to the death, hung accursed on a tree. Jesus was the primary actor there, not Caiaphas or Pilate.

“Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand” (Is 53:10). Jesus would make His own soul a guilt offering and atone for His people. The high priest, “Did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath” (Acts 13:27). The Jewish high priest offered the sacrifice that saved the world, just as he had been trained. “As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people” (Gen 50:20).

“For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs” (Rom 15:8). Abraham’s covenant has not been renounced by Jesus but rather confirmed. “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” (Deut 18:15 ESV emphasis added). They were to listen to Him, not worship Him; hear Him, not deify Him. “And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will (edrosh) require it of him” (Deut 18:19 NASB).

Edrosh does not mean condemnation. Edrosh is grammatically related to Midrash, meaning carefully search out, explain. “So Rebekah went to inquire (edrosh) of the LORD” (Gen 25:22). Jesus criticized the Jewish leadership and they heard and responded to that criticism in the centuries that followed. The hypocrisy Jesus deplored was searched out and defeated by the rabbis. Jews were the only people turning the other cheek in all of Europe for over 1000 years of persecution and martyrdom. We Christians certainly did not follow Jesus. Jews did.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine (words of Torah) and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock” (Matt 7:24-5). The rain and wind lasted almost two thousand years, but the house of Judaism did not fall. “I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life” (Gen 43:9).

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the LORD, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps 118:22-3 emphasis added). They had to actually reject Him, in complete sincerity, for God’s purposes to be fulfilled. “He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me” (Job 19:13 ESV). Their rejection of Jesus does not diminish the power of His atonement, but rather enhances God’s glory when He saves them despite, even because of their rejection.

Jesus sent the Gentiles He healed out as evangelists to their communities, the demoniac from Gerasenes and the woman of Samaria, but cautioned the Jews He healed of leprosy and blindness to hush, keep it a secret (Mark 1:44, 5:43, 7:36, 8:26). For us heathen to embrace Jesus as Lord was to come much closer to the God of Israel, but for Israel to turn aside and accept Jesus as Lord would be a snare and a trap.

To us Gentiles, “He shall become a sanctuary; But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (Is 8:14 NASB). He hid Himself from them for that very reason. “As one who hid his face from us” (Is 53:3 JPS). Uvmaster panim mimenu. Those Jews who believed in Jesus became our apostles and teachers, both in antiquity and to this day. Those who did not believe in Jesus but kept the ancient faith also fulfilled God’s intention.

Revealing the concealed

Jesus deliberately did not reveal Himself to the Jewish priesthood in His resurrection glory. He certainly could have vindicated Himself by doing so, but He avoided contact with anyone but His faithful (and not so faithful) disciples. He concealed His resurrection from the Temple priesthood to preserve them as faithful Jews. “The secret (concealed) things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law (Torah)” (Deut 29:29).

In a Hebrew Bible, the words for “to us and to our sons forever” (lanu ul ’vanaynu ad) are marked by nequdot, dots above the letters, a feature that occurs only ten times in a Torah scroll. The meaning of those accent markings is mysterious and consider highly prophetic by some rabbis. The passages they are found in are obscure, but taken together they reveal a pattern, a message from God. The things revealed to them as Jews, for them and their sons, are not necessarily the same things that are revealed to us pagans. Torah is their sacred and treasured gift from God, and they were not parted from it by Christianity or any other faith revealed to others but kept concealed from them.

These prophetic nequdot are found again in Gen 19:33 on the word for “arose.” “And he did not know when she lay down or when she arose (uvkumah).” Jews did not acknowledge Jesus’ resurrection; it was concealed from them at a high spiritual level. They could hear the story but could not believe it. “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim” (Is 6:10 NASB). That was not a surprise or a disappointment to Him. “And Joseph’s own hands will close your eyes” (Gen 46:4 emphasis added).

“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56 NKJV). The institution of the Eucharist was scandalous to the Jews; they were guaranteed to reject it out of hand, even as symbolism, but especially with the doctrine of transubstantiation attached to it. The very idea was revolting to a Jew. “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66 NKJV).

That was for us Gentiles who demanded the right to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the sacrifice. “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood” (Ezek 39:17).

Jews are not required or even permitted to see their atonement as the work of Christ. “He [the High Priest on Yom Kippur] is to put the incense on the fire before the LORD, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant law, so that he will not die” (Lev 16:13). Jesus fulfilled the Yom Kippur sacrifice and sprinkled the blood on the seat of atonement, but it was not visible to the Jews. “So that he will not die,” Torah is still alive because they preserved it, the written and the unwritten, the customs and the songs that would surely have been lost if it were up to us Christians to preserve them.

Jesus has now entered the heavenly reality of His redemption and has released the Holy Spirit to all who love God and repent of their sin. “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink” (1 Cor 12:13 emphasis added). Jews experience the Holy Spirit in liturgical prayer and ritual, and we Christians experience that same Holy Spirit in the Lord’s Supper.

“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (Gen 18:17). Had the Jews received Jesus joyfully from the beginning and extolled Him as their Redeemer, they would have wrapped their rabbinic laws around Him and locked us heathen out.

Jews are beloved and redeemed by the same Mercy that loves and redeems us while they are still enemies of the gospel!

Joseph’s dreams

In Genesis, Joseph had two dreams, the first that his brother’s sheaves of wheat would bow to his sheaf in the field, the other a dream that the sun and moon and eleven stars would bow to him one day in the heavens (Gen 37:6-9). Jacob recognized the implications, that even he and Rachel - she had passed away years before- would bow to Joseph in heaven, and Jacob rebuked him (v 10). The whole family considered Joseph’s dreams blasphemous.

Shortly thereafter, Joseph was sold into slavery, falsely accused, suffered in prison for years, was then exalted and made viceroy over the kingdom, winning salvation for the Egyptians. When famine struck, the sons of Jacob found bread and life at Joseph’s hand, their sheaves bowed to his sheaf of wheat in the field, the physical world.

Joseph did not reveal himself to his brothers until they brought his youngest brother Benjamin. “So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave (lit. abandon, forsake) his father. If he were to leave, his father would die” (Gen 44:22). Benjamin, Rabbinic Judaism, was born as his mother Temple Judaism was dying. He will not abandon his father Jacob. Jesus will not reveal Himself to His brothers until Benjamin, the youngest generation of Jews, have lived full lives of grateful obedience as Jews.

“After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream” (Gen 41:1). Only in heaven, after two thousand years, could the second dream finally be realized, as all the sons and daughters of Jacob, even those departed, those lost in pogroms, crusades, and concentration camps, those beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam or Christianity, recover their long-lost Brother. “’Joseph is still alive,’ they said, ‘and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!’ But Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them” (Gen 45:26). Jacob could not believe the gospel; he was blinded to it by Jesus Himself. “The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as though we were spying on the land. But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies” (Gen 42:30-31).

Joseph has cried out, “’Have everyone go out from me.’ So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it. ‘I am Joseph!’ he said to his brothers” (Gen 45:1-3a NASB). The love Joseph had for his brothers was not diminished by anything they had done to him. “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Please come closer to me.’ And they came closer. And he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life’” (Gen 45:4-5 NASB). This has been happening for centuries in heaven; it is a private thing between Jesus and His brothers and sisters.

“Now return quickly to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen and be near me—you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything you own. And there I will provide for you’” (Gen 45:9-11). “So they feasted and drank freely with Joseph” (Gen 43:34). (The Hebrew text implies they got kind of smashed.)

Jews don’t owe Jesus any payment or homage for what He has done for them; Abraham paid Melchizedek a full tithe centuries ago. Like Melchizedek blessed Abraham with a gift of bread and wine when he returned from World War 0.01, Jesus has blessed the sons of Abraham with the Bread of Life and the fruit of the Spirit in a land of milk and honey.

“Then Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept as they embraced. Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept over them. And afterward his brothers talked with him” (Gen 45:14-15). As Christian believers we will witness this glorious thing from a bit of a distance. “I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it” (Ezek 36:36). They are Benjamin, son of my right hand, my strength, and no longer Benoni, son of my suffering and sorrow (Gen 35:18).

We can pray for them, we can rejoice with them and support them, but the beautiful thing that is happening is unique in all of history; and we can only watch in wonder as God is healing His beloved people.

“Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?’” (Gen 50:19 NIV). Jesus Messiah ben Joseph is their brother. Jews are not going to worship Jesus as God. “You shall not follow other gods (elohim acharim, the gods of others), any of the gods of the peoples who surround you” (Deut 6:14). God has made Joseph Lord of the Egyptians. He is God to us, but not to His brothers and sisters. “The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of the King is among (also means within) them” (Num 23:21 emphasis added). “Then a voice came from the throne, saying: ‘Praise our God, all you who serve Him, and those who fear Him, small and great alike!’” (Rev 19:5 emphasis added).

One year at Yom Kippur I had taken the day off to be alone with God and participate in Yom Kippur on-line. That night the Lord came to me, the same majestic throbbing heart I have always called Jesus, and said, “I am the God they worship. I am One. You are many.” Joseph wears a coat of many colors. Religion is His garment, not His essence. The God who created our souls knows full well how to communicate with each one as uniquely gifted individuals and communities. We Christians must relinquish our sense of exclusivism, our assumption that our way is the only way to know and relate to God’s Christ. He is much larger and far more successful than we give Him credit for.

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[1] The death of Stephen (Acts 7:59) occurred many years after Jesus’ death, and Herod, not the Sanhedrin, had James killed in Acts 12:2. The usual punishment meted out by the Sanhedrin was thirty-nine lashes of far less intensity than a Roman flogging. Paul received (and survived) this punishment at least five times.

[2] Goshen is not just a place name. When Joseph said, “Please come near me” (Gen 45:4), the Hebrew words are geshu-na. Goshen is a contraction of that phrase. He settled them in “Draw near me, please.”

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A blast from the past while I am on vacation:

Excerpted and adapted from my book Esau’s Kiss: The Repentant Evangelist. I think it is important to change our perception of Jews. I don’t want to present them as foreign and distant “they” and “them.” In this book, when I speak of “we” I speak of us Christians; when I speak to “you” I speak to you Jews. I will tell “you” Jews how “we” Christians think and feel, and speak of what “you” have done and said. You Jews and we Christians will have a long conversation in these pages.

Rabbi Jesus’ disciples were eagerly anticipating a physical King to crush the Romans and institute the anticipated world-wide Kingdom of God. “Then they gathered around him and asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’” (Acts 1:6). They felt like they had waited long enough. Messiah would subject every nation on earth to the Law of Torah. The Law of the God who created heaven and earth would rule over all humanity.

Even Jesus was sorely tempted to work this miracle. “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only”’” (Matt 4:8-10).

God had created humanity with free will, and Satan, the evil impulse, was tempting Jesus to crush that free will, forcibly subject the kingdoms of the earth to the Law of Torah. He was tempted to magically zap all of us heathen, defeat and destroy our cultures and customs, and transform us into Torah observant Jews.

Jesus knew it was not that easy. It was not supposed to be that easy. Bringing in the Kingdom of God, transforming us heathen, our cultures and customs, making Torah respectful Gentiles out of us would require our informed consent and active participation, the work of centuries, not moments.

Jesus, God’s double agent

Jesus went underground. He concealed from everyone who he was and what he came to do. “As one who hid his face from us” (Is 53:3 JPS). When working with Gentiles, he sent those he had healed out as missionaries. When dealing with Jews in the Galilee he told them to hush, keep it quiet. Jesus deliberately concealed himself from his sisters and brothers, to preserve them as faithful Jews. Their job was to keep Torah for all ages and in all places.

“For this reason, they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them” (John 12:39-40). “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you (disciples), but to others (the Jewish nation) I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand’” (Luke 8:10).

Jesus is referring to Isaiah where the prophet says, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand.’ Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed” (Is 6:9-10 NASB). This was not a failure on your part. For you to receive Jesus as the Jewish Messiah would ruin everything.

Our Gentile Church leaders would have overpowered you and deleted the entire Torah in favor of the Gospels. This majestic Law, your phenomenal history, the deep mystical meanings embedded in Torah would be locked behind glass in a museum. The grand story of how God lifted a people out of a world of bronze age barbarism to a civilization based on care for the poor and the widow, family purity, and the worship of One God would have been lost forever.

Who would hold up an example of real Torah life? Who would shine a beacon on the glory of Torah? Who could preserve it as a living document, an ongoing eternal covenant? Only the Jews could uphold Torah in all its beauty in every nation, language and climate. He most certainly will subject the world to the Law of God, but he does it the long slow way, allowing us to grow into Torah, learn the alphabet before taking on higher literary masterpieces.

Pentecost / Shavuot

The first Pentecost, at which the Spirit of God was showered upon the primitive Church, is known as Shavuot in Hebrew, the celebration of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Christians are to this day completely ignorant of that fact and the implications of it.

On the day that Judaism celebrated the cosmic miracle, God breaking through into finitude to impart to humanity the sacred Law that underlies all reality and the morality that defines our relationship with God, that was the day chosen by God to release His Holy Spirit to our Church.

The Holy Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit of Torah, the means and power of communion with God, the expression in human language of His Holiness and our relationship to Him. Torah is the instruction given to Moses and God’s Holy Spirit is the instruction given to us.

Israel, God’s suffering servant, was blinded to the Gospel by God for a holy purpose. “Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one in covenant with me, blind like the servant of the LORD? You have seen many things, but you pay no attention; your ears are open, but you do not listen. It pleased the LORD for the sake of his righteousness to make his law great and glorious” (Is 42:19-21).

Israel was to stand tall and uphold Torah in all her glory while our vast hordes of pagan barbarians followed a single Jew, limping along behind him, a rabbi who talked about eating his body and drinking his blood, gave us a baptism into his death, raised us to new life in his spirit, and wrote his law, the Ten Commandments, upon our hearts. “No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined” (Luke 5:37).

It never occurred to us that none of this was meant for you. “No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better’” (v 38-39). We had no idea of the depth and beauty of Jewish worship, the purity of your obedience, the security of your covenant with God. We thought you were like us, terrified and superstitious, desperate for a mediator, a priest who would represent God to us and us to God.

God as Bridegroom

God expelled all of us humans from the Garden of Eden. We were y’garesh, divorced, driven out, lest we take of the Tree of Life and exist forever in our fallen state, alienated from God like the demons. He divorced us but He never forgot us. We certainly forgot Him, swimming in a sea of idols and spirits, but your God is a faithful Creator.

“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: ‘This is what the LORD says: “I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown”’” (Jer 2:2). God took Israel to the bridal canopy at Sinai, pledged to love and keep them, bring them to Himself and settle them in the Land He had prepared for them.

Jacob had two brides, and so does God. We were given a similar promise, that with persistence in character formation, growth in holiness, we too might be taken in marriage, the bride of Christ. “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)” (Rev 19:7-8).

The Jews of Jesus’ time, knowing they were completely secure in their relationship with God were not willing to share the divine marriage bed with anyone, especially us, profane idolaters all. Any additional people brought into covenant with God could only mean one thing, complete conversion to Judaism.

In the first century, no Jew would countenance a Gentile addressing God without fire and brimstone flying out of the sky. That God would teach a different people how to relate to Him differently was impossible. That He would love and care for those other people was unthinkable. They had to take their hormones and be transitioned into Jews, for that to happen.

Conflict between Hillel and Shammai

The Pharisees were of two parties in the first century, that of Hillel (d. 10 CE), and the party of Shammai (d. 30 CE). The positions of both Shammai and Hillel are found throughout Talmud, and Jesus commented on them. Clearly his criticism was directed toward Shammai. Shammai was strict to the point of absurdity, while Hillel, moved by the plight of the people, said many things Jesus agreed with. Hillel’s maxim was “Love all people and bring them close to the Torah.”

Shammai denied the mercy of God for sinners, even Jewish sinners, stating that sins were suppressed, but not forgiven, and would be held against them in final judgement. Hillel strongly disagreed and thought of “God as ‘washing away’ people’s sins, so they are fully cleansed and forgiven…. And it might be expected that their [Shammai’s party] conception of God’s ways influenced, or reflected, the way they treated others: They too were likely to be short on forgiveness. Hillel and his followers [as judges on the Sanhedrin]…tended to judge people in the scale of merit and to forgive them completely, as they believed God to do.” ^[1]

That some Pharisees were hypocrites is undeniable, but that most were not is also indisputable. The party of Shammai enforced strict interpretations of Torah and ostentatious displays of piety. “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long” (Matt 23:5). According to Midrash:

This teaches that [the tzitzits] should be able to be seen. And how much is the required measure of its length? Beis Shammai say four fingerbreadths, and Beis Hillel say three fingerbreadths. And how many threads of tzitzits must hang on each corner of the garment? Beis Shammai say four, and Beis Hillel say three. ^[2]

The Shammai faction was harsh with its reading of the Torah and contemptuous of Gentiles, believing there should be no hope for any of us. The party of Hillel interpreted the Torah leniently, was patient with stragglers and simple folk who had to work for a living. Hillel readily accepted Gentile converts and was respectful of other religions.

Paul was a Pharisee, as was Jesus, of the school of Hillel. ^[3] Paul studied under Gamaliel, the grandson of Hillel, who was Nasi of the Sanhedrin. A Hillel Pharisee believed ordinary people, illiterate day laborers, could be as holy as any high priest. The God of Israel was not confined to the Holy of Holies, and any praying Jew could commune with Him. They championed their flexible interpretation of the Torah, sensitive to reality on the ground, not ivory towers in Jerusalem.

They taught Torah to the “people of the land,” shorthand for ignorant sinners, and Jesus was one of their number, seeking out tax collectors and prostitutes to hear the good news, God forgives repentant sinners. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). A descendent of the Hillel Pharisees said, “The Sabbath was made for all men, not man for the Sabbath” (Mechilta de-Rabbi Ishmael on Exodus 31:13). The litany of similarities between the teachings of Jesus and those of the Hillel Pharisees would fill a book. ^[4] The Judaism of today is of the school of Hillel and so does indeed “follow me.”

“Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with observation; ‘nor will they say, “See here!” or “See there!” For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you’” (Luke 17:20-21 NKJV emphasis added). The Kingdom of God could be found even within a dreaded Pharisee.

That some Pharisees were friends and supporters of Jesus is made clear by the actions of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Another group of Pharisees sought to warn and protect Jesus. “At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you’” (Luke 13:31). The conflict was not between Jesus and the Pharisees, still less between Jesus and the Jews, but between Jesus the Hillel Pharisee and the party of Shammai Pharisees.

Shammai fundamentalist preachers

Shammai was along the lines of Osama Bin Laden and the jihadists of Islam, enforcing strict readings of Shariah law on the populace. It was likely a group of Shammai Pharisees who accosted Jesus and his disciples eating grain from the field, God’s Sabbath table, and took issue with him. No Hillel Pharisee would have objected in the slightest.

Shammai rabbis went looking for trouble on the Sabbath, catching people in minor transgressions of their interpretation of Sabbath law and attacking them. Jesus seemed to relish the challenge, baiting them with gestures and miracles, none of which were truly unlawful, but all of which raised their self-righteous hackles.

Having reduced the Uncreated Knowing One to something they could master, they assumed His authority over everyone else. There are Shammai types in every religion, including ours, who decide it’s wrong to dance or play cards, then sniff around looking for card games or music, so they can crush and dominate someone.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” This is not found in Torah but was typical of Shammai. Shammai was the advocate of “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” while Hillel held that monetary damages were sufficient compensation. Shammai and his disciples had a truly murderous legacy, and Jesus’ irate rant of Matthew 23 was clearly directed toward them, as opposed to Jesus’ own party, the Hillel school of Pharisees.

The disputes between the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel seem to have resulted in a civil war. The Talmud (Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 1:4) states that the Shammaites slaughtered the Hillelites in order to ensure that they were in the majority when they were going to take a vote to decide who was in control. Lau (2007: 223-224), however, cites evidence from the Cairo Geniza that there was an actual civil war between the two schools. In any case, following the opinion of the School of Shammai after the destruction of the Temple was a serious matter. ^[5]

Numerous authorities in Talmud echoed Jesus’ condemnation of the party of Shammai, in terms striking for their similarity to Jesus’ “Woes” of Matt 23, calling them a brood of vipers, “of your father the devil,” who “shut up the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces,” murdered the prophets and “Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar” (Matt 23:35). Shammai’s party was the brains behind the Zealots who did their dirty work and committed these and many more assassinations, and even mass slaughters.

The Elder Shammai was still living in 30 CE when Jesus was crucified, and Shammai’s first article of faith was that all Gentiles were condemned before God with no mercy. That Jesus was teaching a compassionate interpretation of Torah and designing an outreach to sinners and lepers, Samaritans and Gentiles, was well known, and Shammai would have had no scruples about turning him over to the Romans for crucifixion. ^[6] Jesus, considering himself a dead man, picked a fight with a scorpion.

While Shammai sponsored the Zealots, the school of Hillel had a mystical monastic branch, the Essenes, who had a deep messianic streak, and had a series of leaders known as Teachers of Righteousness. They were roundly despised by the school of Shammai, and their leaders had often been killed for their ambition of fulfilling the will of God by bringing the rule of God to the Gentile world.

Gentiles, “the mixed multitude,” were to blame for the Golden Calf, the source of all corruption. Shammai’s group had only condemnation for Gentiles, ^[7] but Hillel’s party firmly believed all the earth would bend the knee to the God of Israel, and take on the rule, the kingdom of God, by fulfilling at least some of the Ten Commandments, taking on some major part of God’s holy character.

Essene writings survived the disasters of war in the caves of Qumran, in the parchments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. That John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, Jude and Paul were deeply familiar with this literature, and revered it, is evident by the numerous quotes, turns of phrase, and teachings they advanced. ^[8]

Chief among those teachings was that Gentiles could be saved, considered righteous before God, if we forsook our pagan gods and embraced the God of Israel, took on His yoke and obeyed “Noahide law,” a shorter version of the Ten Commandments. Shammai and his party were of the strong opinion that all Gentiles, regardless of beliefs or behavior were doomed to damnation. Even a complete convert to Judaism had no hope of breathing the rarified air of a sage no matter how learned or righteous he was.

The house of Hillel considered that heresy and pointed out the obvious, if we had no prospect of salvation, we may as well be the degenerate hedonists we once were and abandon all hope. At the time of Jesus, the house of Hillel had little power, and most were living and working with Essenes, of whom John the Baptist was probably a part. The Dead Sea Scrolls demonstrate just how much Christian teaching and theology is attributable to the Essenes and to Hillel’s teaching, “Love mankind, and bring them nigh to the Torah.” ^[9]

Jesus son of Joseph

In this, Jesus was a son of Joseph. “Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall” (Gen 49:22), over the wall around Judaism. Joseph was likely the viceroy to the Egyptian 18th dynasty Pharaoh Thutmose III (r. 1470-1440 BCE) or perhaps his son Amenhotep II (r. 1440-1415 BCE) who is documented as returning from a battle in Canaan with Hebrew slaves: “princes of Retenu [Canaan]: 127; brothers of princes: 179; Apiru [Hapiru, Hebrew]: 3600.” ^[10]

Amenhotep was the grandfather of the radical monotheist Akhenaten, 1349–1336 BCE, who adopted and enforced a type of monotheism, worship of the sun god under the name Aten. “He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt” (Gen 45:8). Akhenaten thrilled to the realization that the sun shines upon all lands and gives life to all people, and he promoted sun worship to unify the world under one god, a deeply Hebrew idea. ^[11]

Akhenaten built a large city dedicated to the one god Aten, and developed a vast literature, traces of which have been discovered in Egyptian tombs of the era. A central feature of Akhenaten’s monotheism was the utter destruction of all devotion to the prior Egyptian pantheon, which featured remnants of archaic animism blended with human forms.

After his death, the subsequent dynasty of Ramses restored the pantheon, destroyed Akhenaten’s monotheistic religion, and ruthlessly crushed the Jews. “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (Ex 1:8 ESV)

The daughter of Pharoah who took Moses in as an infant (probably not the daughter of the genocidal ruling Pharoah) knew her ancestor Akhenaten’s teaching, inspired by Joseph and the patriarchs, and was motivated to resist the reigning Pharoah and his plans to destroy Judaism. God called her “Bithiah,” daughter of God (1 Chon 4:18).

Miriam, her slave girl, knew where the princess bathed and knew of her sympathies with the Jewish people. Technically in compliance with the edict, “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile,” Moses’ mother placed the basket where the princess would find it and was ready to respond when she needed a wet nurse.

This daughter of Pharoah, the Egyptian resistance, was probably not the beauty queen we see in Bible illustrations, but rather an aged descendant of the Pharoah of Joseph’s time. She was the ideal shelter for this special child and an able teacher of the stories Joseph told about the patriarchs, as well as the ancient wisdom of Egypt. Much of the Torah of Moses finds its echo in a variety of Egyptian ethics and wisdom literature.

Like Joseph the patriarch, savior and teacher of the Egyptians, Jesus and the Essenes wished to open the worship of the God of Israel beyond the borders of Israel. The whole world would bend the knee to the God of Israel.

Taking Torah to the Gentiles

“’And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.’ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this” (Luke 4:27-28). Cleansing Gentiles by teaching them Torah was highly controversial, as most of Israel, and especially the school of Shammai, felt Torah was the property of the Jews and no one else.

Certainly, the prized possession of Israel, the Sabbath, was not to be shared with the heathen nations. “Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy” (Gen 2:3), far too holy for us. That was Israel’s special time of intimate communion with God, and there would be no trespassing. Even though God had instituted the Sabbath at creation, a creation that included us heathen, the Sabbath was too holy to be entrusted to our safekeeping. Barnabus explains our move of Sabbath to Sunday and its character:

Further, He says to them, "Your new moons and your Sabbath I cannot endure." Yet perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, [namely this,] when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead. And when He had manifested Himself, He ascended into the heavens.” ^[12]

A debate went on long after Jesus’ time as to which Commands would be opened up to pagans. It was the rabbis of the 2nd century who codified the Noahide laws, detailing which Commandments of God, and therefore what degree of holiness, would be permitted for Gentiles. They pointedly did not include the Sabbath.

The version of the Noahide law in Jesus’ day were those laws given to Paul for his Gentile converts, against adultery, idol worship, and “blood” meaning murder, drinking blood, and eating a limb off a living animal, to preserve the rest of the animal for later, basically animal cruelty. We were in no way to be considered full-fledged Jews, worthy to enter the Temple, enjoying an intimate relationship with the God of Israel.

Seven sacred laws does not a religion make. We needed a Scripture and we confiscated yours. “And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace” (Gen 12:15). We saw Jesus everywhere in Jewish Scripture, which infuriated you. Jesus taught us the Ten Commandments. He gave us immersion in a mikveh and we called it baptism. He gave us Passover and we made it into the Eucharist. He gave us a Sabbath, we moved it to Sundays. He taught us to pray to God, the Incomprehensible Uncreated One as our Father. That was just the beginning.

The thing Jesus did that troubled all Jews, including the house of Hillel, was to make pronouncements and assume the authority of a prophet, in fact of The Prophet (Deut 18:15). The prevailing rabbinic consensus (perhaps in reaction to Jesus) was that prophecy had ceased in Israel, and no human could claim to speak the very words of God. “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment of hair” (Zech 13:4). Jesus was doing just that.

“You have heard it said” referred to the teachings of Shammai, not the Torah; some are not even found in Torah. He was replacing the distortions of Shammai with the teachings of Hillel but did not do so in the name of Hillel. Jesus taught on his own authority as a prophet. This was the mark of an Essene Teacher of Righteousness.

Teacher of Righteousness

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ Jesus replied, ‘Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then John consented” (Matt 3:13-15). John knew Jesus as the Teacher of Righteousness, his superior.

“He [John] came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:7-9). The Teacher of Righteousness was Jesus’ divine office, to bring knowledge of God to the world beyond the confines of Judaism, to literally take away the sins of the world.

No one in Judaism imagined “taking away the sins of the world” to mean divine forgiveness for ongoing blatant wickedness and filth. Instead it meant repentance, reforming the Gentiles to observe the Laws of God, the Ten Commandments, as an expression of love for God. Repentance, not cosmic accounting fraud.

The Teacher of Righteousness in each generation also knew himself to be a Suffering Servant along the lines of Isaiah 53. A passage from Hymn 10 of the Thanksgiving Scroll:

You [God] determine my steps within the domain of wickedness. So I become a trap for the rebellious, and a cure for all who turn from rebellion; prudence for the fool, and a steadfast mind for all the reckless. You appointed me as an object of shame and derision to the faithless, but a foundation of truth and understanding for the upright…. You have appointed me as an ensign for the chosen of righteousness, and an informed mediator of wonderful mysteries, so as to test [the men] of truth and to try the lovers of correction. I have become a man of contention for the mediators of error, but a purveyor of peace to all the seers of righteousness.” ^[13]

Jesus accepted the office of the Teacher and the suffering that office entailed. “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation” (Luke11:29-30). We have always taken that to be an allusion to resurrection, rising from the dead as Jonah rose out of the fish.

I think there was more going on there. Jonah was instructed to teach Ninevites, profane pagans all, but instead ran the other direction. Judaism was supposed to be teaching us Torah but had run the other way, restricting our access to even the basic Ten Commandments. Jesus fulfilled the purpose of Abraham’s election, to bless the nations of the world with the Law of God, civilize us like Israel had been civilized.

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

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[1] Yitzhak Buxbaum. The Life and Teachings of Hillel. (Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1994), p. 112.

[2] Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar (Numbers) 17:5

[3] Purely conjecture on my part, but the son of Hillel, father of Gamaliel, was Simeon, who had no voice at all in the Talmud due to oppression by Shammai. It is possible that he is the Simeon who greeted the infant Jesus at his presentation in the Temple in Luke chapter 1.

[4] The book it fills is Hillel and Jesus, Comparisons of Two Major Religious Leaders, by James H. Charlesworth and Loren L. Johns, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997). See also Rabbi Yitzhak Buxbaum, The Life and Teachings of Hillel.

[5] Friedman, Hershey H., Ph.D. Talmudic Arguments: The Use of Insults, Reprimands, Rebukes and Curses as Part of the Disputation Process. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org-/10.2139/SSRN.2801821, pp. 16-17. Accessed July 2023.

[6] An extended presentation of this material is found in Harvey Falk’s book Jesus the Pharisee, especially pages 111-137.

[7] Shammai was approached by Gentiles seeking to convert, and he firmly rebuffed them, sometimes in harsh terms, while Hillel welcomed and taught them. In 70 CE a Heavenly Voice was heard in Yavneh, the rabbinic haven from the Romans, endorsing the house of Hillel.

[8] An extended treatment of the relevance of Dead Sea Scroll material to the New Testament is found in Robert Eisenman The Ded Sea Scrolls and the First Christians. (Edison NJ: Castle Books, 2004).

[9] Harvey Falk, Jesus the Pharisee, p. 129. See also: BET HILLEL AND BET SHAMMAI - JewishEncyclopedia.com. Accessed Aug 2022.

[10] Chaim Potok, Wanderings, p. 80.

[11] James H. Breasted. The Dawn of Conscience: The Source of our Moral Heritage in the Ancient World. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1933), pp 272-302.

[12] The Epistle of Barnabas (translation Roberts-Donaldson)earlychristianwritings.com) Ch XV Accessed July 2023.

[13] Michael Wise, Martin Abegg Jr., and Edward Cook. A New Translation of The Dead Sea Scrolls. (New York: HarperOne, 1996), p 180.

“And He garbed Himself with tzedakah as a coat of mail, and a helmet of salvation upon His head.” [Isaiah 59:17] Our sages of blessed memory commented: “Just as with chain mail each scale adds up to form a large mail [barrier] so it is with charity; each coin adds up to a great amount.” P 412 (All references are to the Tanya, Bilingual Edition.)

Tzedakah in Hebrew means equally both righteousness and charity to the poor. Caring for the poor is equivalent to righteousness and a high value in Judaism, as it emulates what God does continuously when He provides rain and sunshine to His creatures. When humans participate in God’s selfless giving, we align our will with His to a degree even greater than in obeying His other commands. And He responds to that with abundance.

Charity is greater than all the [other] commandments. The performance of the commandments produces “garments” (thought, word, and deed) for the soul. These garments are elicited from the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, from the level of sovev kol almin (surrounding light)… by the “arousal from below,” i.e., the (performance of the) command of God and the will of the Supreme One, blessed is He. P 412

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding garments. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding garments, friend?’ The man was speechless” (Matt 22:11-12). The “wedding garments” were customarily provided by the groom’s family. “Garments” were (and still are) rabbi-speak in Rabbinic texts for “good deeds.” “Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)” (Rev 19:8).

The widow’s mite

“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on’” (Luke 21:1-4).

The widow was the intended recipient of charity in the Temple system, yet she was giving money. Doubtless she thought someone else needed it more than she did. Her gift was not just to the poor but to God Himself, and God deeply appreciated it. The “arousal from below” stimulated a response from God. His “arousal from above” elevates the soul with love and light.

But it is well known that an arousal from above comes in response to an arousal from below, in the mode of an elevation mayin nukvin, [feminine waters]…. And this is done by the giving of charity to God from one’s money which is his vitality, especially with him whose substance is limited and who is very hard-pressed at the time, for he gives of his very life, and more specifically, when he earns by the toil of his hands.

The widow giving “all she had to live on” certainly did not mean starvation; that would have been considered suicidal, a grave sin. But it probably did mean significant loss and genuine love for those even poorer than herself, which God takes personally. She had given it to Him. From the depths of her heart.

For [one works (for daily sustenance)] in a mode of “the innermost point of the heart,” i.e., from the depth of the heart, as is the way of the world in their occupations with business and the like. Thus, now at the time that he disburses the fruits of his toil and gives unto the Lord with joy and gladness, he thereby elevates his soul from the [materialistic] pit, as it were. P. 426

Giving of the work of your hands means something you are fully invested in, devoted time and attention to, took risk and labor to acquire, the giving of it means giving of yourself. Such charity is different from clearing the change from a pocket full of $100 bills. The light and love of God is strongly attracted to such meaningful charity to the poor.

Deeper sacrifice, higher elevation of the soul

[In the case of most commandments] the essence of the efflux from the light of En Sof, blessed be He, is a garment and encompassing light (or makif), [but in the case of charity] the light is referred to as the inner light (or pnimi)…. This is referred to as the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah. P 414

The presence and power of the Spirit of God within the human being, the divine soul, is united with the Spirit of God emanating from its Source, the Infinite Uncreated One by charity like this. The resulting Divine Unification, drawing down the light and love of God and elevating the divine soul of the human, is the fulfillment of the purpose for which we were created in this world filled with needy and poor people. We participate in the character of God most completely when we meet the needs of our fellow creatures, as God meets the needs of all creation.

But the idea is according to what is written: “My heart said for You, ‘Seek panay (My face),’” that is: “Seek the pnimiyut [deep interior] of the heart.” For in the heart [the element of the Divine fire that is in the heart] there are two aspects: “The aspect of chitzoniyut, and the aspect of pnimiyut. The chitzoniyut (exterior) of the heart is the enthusiasm that flares up on account of the understanding (binah) and the knowledge (daat) of the greatness of the Lord, the En Sof, blessed be He, by contemplating on His greatness, and from this contemplation giving birth to a strong love resembling “flashes of fire…”

The pnimiyut of the heart is the innermost point in the heart and depth of the heart which transcends the aspect of knowledge and contemplation that man can [generate] in his heart, [supra-rational], as is written “From the depths I call to you, O Lord,” i.e., from, the depth of the heart. (Sometimes there is an extremely important matter upon which the whole vitality of man hinges and touches him as far as, and including, the innermost point of the heart, and it causes him to perform acts and say things without any reason whatsoever.) 418

And “the one corresponds to the other,” it is precisely so with the service of the heart.” This is because the faculty of the innermost point of the heart transcends the faculty of reason which extends and vests itself in the attributes born of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge (chabad). Rather it is an aspect of the radiation from the supreme chochmah which transcends binah and daat, and in which there is vested and concealed the actual light of God, as it is written: “The Lord with chochmah (founded the earth). And this precisely is the aspect of the spark of Divinity in every soul of Israel. P. 420

The exposure of this deepest part of the heart, transcending reason, touching the indwelling Shechinah, the part of Divinity that is in the divine soul, is called the “circumcision of the heart.” Removing both the coarse prepuce of gross animal desires and the delicate inner membrane over the innermost heart representing the genuine human needs completes the circumcision of the heart.

But the removal of the thin membrane is a difficult matter for man, and of this it was said that with the coming of the Messiah “the Lord, your God, will circumcise your heart,… to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, for the sake of your life, i.e., because the Lord alone is literally your whole life. p. 422

The reward for “unreasonable” charity is “unreasonable” intimacy with God

Therefore, too, the Messiah will come when generally unexpected by Israel, which is the manifestation of the innermost point [transcending reason]. Similarly every individual spark of the Shechinah, inherent in the soul of every one of Israel, emerges from ... exile and captivity during the [daily] prayer and the service of the heart from the depth of the heart, from the aspect of the innermost point which becomes revealed from the prepuce and soars upward to cleave unto Him with a fierce passion. P. 424

Anyone who believes that Jewish prayer is only rote repetition and routine is badly mistaken. The spiritual heights reported, particularly by Chabad Jews, is comparable to holy roller Pentecostals in Christian circles. If we categorically deny even the possibility of genuine communion with God by Rabbinic Jews, we owe an explanation to God, Who delights in communing with Rabbinic Jews.

For that rank transcends the daat (knowledge) of man and his contemplation on the greatness of the Lord. It is as though a sort of gift given by the Lord from Heaven, from the radiation of the Supreme Countenance, as is written “May the Lord make His Countenance shine upon you,”

And from a reflection of a reflection from the or makif (surrounding light), a garment is made for the nefesh – ruach – neshamah of man, enabling them to derive pleasure and attain some apprehension and illumination from the light of En Sof, as explained elsewhere. p. 426

The charitable gift of something dear and costly moves levers in the heavens, releases light from the very countenance of God, and illuminates the soul with the flow of life and light from God. This is generally quite palpable to the human, and Rabbi Zalman describes it as a “garment” for the soul, like the wedding garments of the righteous acts of the saints. Such a spiritual garment permits the soul safe access to higher levels of divine flow that would be otherwise impossible.

And this is what our Sages of blessed memory said: In this world, there is no reward for the commandments.” For in this world, which is physical… it is impossible that any reflection of the light of En Sof, blessed be He, should become invested, except by means of the ten sefirot (attributes of God) which in the sacred Zohar, are referred to as the “body.”

For just as there is no comparison between the physical body and the soul, so is there no comparison whatsoever between the ten sefirot of Atzilute (the world of emanation), and the Supreme Emanator, the En Sof, blessed be He. For in relation to the En Sof, blessed be He, even the supreme chochmah, which is the first [of the sefirot], is on the plane of a material (finite) action. P. 416

Two stages of the circumcision of the heart

In the first part of circumcision, thick skin is removed. Rabbi Zalman likens it to the gross desires of the flesh, animal drives and appetites. That portion of the procedure is done with relative ease, relinquishing things that clearly impair one’s walk with God. The second stage is more difficult, a thin, barely visible membrane that is pulled back exposing the moist sensitive tissue. That is the part that requires divine assistance.

But it is well known that an arousal from above comes only in response to an arousal from below, in the mode of an elevation of mayin nukvin (feminine waters)…. It is therefor necessary that man perform first the milah (first step in circumcision) himself, to remove the prepuce of the heart and the course and thin husks which clothe and cover the innermost point of the heart. P. 426

Man himself must circumcise his own heart of real sin and character faults, otherwise known as repentance. To accomplish the deeper relinquishment, giving up legitimate funds that he genuinely needs, but does not need as badly as the poor person, cuts deeper.

This is done by the giving of charity to God from his money which is his vitality, especially with him whose substance is limited and who is very hard-pressed at the time, for he gives of his very life, and more specifically when he earns by the toil of his hands….

Giving charity of what one has earned through blood sweat and tears, for one’s own comfort and sustenance, calls upon a deeper aspect of the heart, harder to identify, and significantly more sensitive. And the giving of it elevates the soul much higher than, for instance, quitting cigarette smoking or drinking to excess.

At the time he disburses the fruits of his toil and gives unto the Lord with joy and gladness, [that which he genuinely needs for himself] he thereby elevates his soul from the pit. That is the innermost point of his heart which was in a state of exile and captivity within the kelipah, the course or thin husk. p. 426

Kelipah nogah, benign earthly matters are not as spiritually destructive as evil husks, demonic kelipot, but clinging to them when God needs them for someone else’s benefit is a source of distance from God.

Sometimes the “poor person” and their needs are not financial. Gifts of time and attention to those enduring emotional or mental pain are also gifts given to God. God does not need anyone to listen to His emotional problems. The only way for us to give Him that kind of personal nurture and love is by giving our time to our broken-hearted neighbor.

Spiritual closeness to God

And this is the meaning of “Tzedek (righteousness) shall go before Him (lefanav)”: Lefanav is the etymon of pnimiyut, for it leads the innermost of the heart to God, and then “it sets his steps toward the way of God,” as it is written “you shall walk in His ways”; and “You shall go after the Lord your God,” – with every performance of the commandments, and the study of Torah, which is equivalent to them all.

For they all ascend through the inwardness [sensitive tender parts] of the heart with greater uplifting and exceedingly surpassing their ascent to God through the externality of the heart [born of contemplation and knowledge alone], without an “illumination of the face” from above. For the Supernal panim (face) does not radiate downward except through an arousal from below, through the act of [meaningful] charity, which is here called “peace,” as is written, “He has redeemed my soul in peace,” stating expressly “my soul.”

This is also the reason why charity is called “peace” (shalom), because according to the saying of our Sages of blessed memory, peace is made between Israel and their Father in Heaven through the redemption of their souls [which are truly a part of God] from the hands of chitzonim [externality]. P. 428

Jewish customs and standards of charity to its poor are in a different league than ours. I have witnessed levels of love and support for the less fortunate among Jews that go far beyond anything I have ever seen in a Christian church or ministry. The need does not have to be stated. The connection between people anticipates and empathizes at a level that can only be described as love.

This is especially the case with charity for the [poor in] Land of Israel, as it is written, “The eyes of the Lord your God are constantly upon it”, “And My eyes and My heart will be there at all times.” And it has stood by us to redeem the life of our soul from the counsel of those who intend to repel our steps, and it will stand by us forever to establish our soul in the true life of the Fountainhead of Life, to be enlightened with the light of life which the Lord “will make His Countenance shine upon us forever, amen – may this be His will. P. 428

And the resulting closeness to God is also at levels we seldom see in the Church. It approaches the level of outright prophesy, Mind to mind and Heart to heart. “But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4).

I am knocking off early today, only 2700 words. I am very tired and I need this vacation. Let us all pray for each other.

Esau's Kiss by Mary F Holley

Exploring and improving and long and storied relationship between Christianity and Judaism aiming to transcend our drive to convert Jews to Christianity, and instead adopt a learners posture toward the deep and ancient Wisdom found in in Rabbinic Judaism.

To order my book Climbing Jacob’s Ladder

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To order my book Esau’s Kiss