by Phyllis Chesler
May God and my readers forgive me for taking a break from my Shabbat drash greetings. I am working on a new book and cannot do that and remain on the front lines of drashing and journalism.
The other day it occurred to me that it is not only the ten Biblical spies who failed our people. Our contemporary Jewish (and anti-Israel) leadership has also been called to account for doing so—as have all the smaller Jewish groups who cannot seem to unite. Every Jew seems compelled to create, fund, and guard their own base, their own grassroots organization, their own synagogue, their own brand. May we all come together, speedily and in our day. But the plague of Jew-hatred does not only come from within.
In all of recorded history, God has been testing the nations: Will they or won’t they cease their endless hatred and persecution of God’s chosen people? Down the centuries, the nations seem to have failed. Today that failure has become a tsunami. And this is also why the Messiah has not yet come.
Have a thoughtful but peaceful Shabbat.
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4 Responses
Each Sunday my pastor leads his congregates in prayer for “the peace of Jerusalem” and for the Jewish people and for the nation of Israel. “In all of recorded history” have you or any of your synagogue leaders ever prayed for the goyim?
Yes, sinagogue leaders and followers are always, all ways praying for the murderous goyim to stop with the pogroms, genocides, bullying, and for all the innocents to be protected. Israeli and American Jews and non-Jews are always the fitst rescuers for worldwide natural disasters.
For details check with ZOA or ADL or your local rabbi.
If you received either of the two original polio vaccines created by Jews [Salk et al] for nonJews and Jews, please return it.
Are you a regular member of Doctors Without Borders or Dummies With Grudges?
Either selection, I wish you blessings.
Many congregations have always prayed for the health and wisdom of their nation’s political leaders. British Jews, for instance, regularly include a prayer for the King or Queen.
By the way, the churches you’re referring to do not pray for Muslims or great cities such as Mecca. They pray for Jerusalem because of the central place Judaism and Jewish history have in Christianity.
Thank you for your polite and reasoned reply.
The last sentence in your reply sums up my church’s position precisely. We consider our spiritual heritage to be Jewish, that salvation is from the Jews, that the Jews are YHWH’s chosen people, that the land comprising Israel belongs to the Jews by birthright, that the West Bank is a fabricated political term for Judea and Sameria, that Jerusalem (the city of David) is the religious, political and spiritual capitol of the Jewish people and the state of Israel and that no other peoples have a legitimate claim on it. And by faith, we believe that a Galilean Jew named Yeshua is the Son of God and our Redeemer.
The pulpit at our church is draped with a blue and white tallit, on a small platform to the right is a menorah and shofar and to the left a painting of the stone tablets of the Decalogue. With the exception of the cross hanging from the wall, one would be hard pressed to realize that they had entered a church. From January to the present this year we have been studying the book of Exodus as a factual historical narrative. The pastor is a former news reporter who possesses the world’s lowest crap tolerance level in dealing with the constant bitching against the Israelis.
Against this background we also believe that prayer changes things. And if things don’t change, perhaps the attitude of the pray-er will change. I think it not unreasonable to ask if “you or your synagogue leaders have ever prayed for the goyim?”