A Spiritual Perspective: “Seeking Common Ground”series!
I certainly understand why one of Senator Barack Obama’s first moves upon capturing the Democratic nomination for President of the United States was to make conciliatory moves towards Israeli leaders. Settling the issue about the “land” of Israel is critical to Jewish people here in the United States, abroad, and certainly those living in Israel itself. Obama’s ability to secure the support of Jewish voters in November will depend on their confidence in his position on Israel.
I learned the importance of the “land” of Israel one July afternoon in 2006 in Scottsdale, Arizona. I sat through a five-hour seminar, “Basic Understanding of Judaism for Christians,” led by a Jewish rabbi in a non-air conditioned classroom at a monastery. If you’ve spent any time in Arizona, especially in the summer time, you’d know that sitting in a room with no air-conditioning in the middle of July, was no easy feat! But at the end of the day, all 60 of us Christians left with a much greater understanding of Judaism and an appreciation for the ongoing struggle the Israelis have with the Palestinians.
From the Jewish perspective, the struggle cannot be seen as a matter of mere land ownership. It is a strong belief that the land of Israel rightfully belongs to the Jewish people, because of God’s promises made to Abraham. (Genesis 12: 1-7). In addition, Jewish people believe that to be in 'right relationship' with God, they must follow his commandments, and one of God’s commandments to Jews was that they occupy the land, promised to Abraham (Genesis 12: 7).
Historically from the time of Abraham, Jewish people were not obedient to the covenant made with God about occuping the "land" of Israel, so many scattered to places outside Israel. But in the late 19th century, Austro-Hungarian Theodor Herzi introduced Zionism, an international political movement that originally supported the re-establishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine (Hebrew: Eretz Yisra'el, “the Land of Israel”), and continues today primarily as support for the modern state of Israel.
Described as a "diaspora nationalism," proponents of Zionism regard it as a national liberation movement whose aim is the self-determination of the Jewish people.
While Zionism is based in part upon religious tradition linking the Jewish people to the land of Israel, where the concept of Jewish nationhood is thought to have first evolved somewhere between 1200 BCE and the late Second Temple era (i.e. up to 70 CE), the modern movement was mainly secular, beginning largely as a response by European Jewry to antisemitism across Europe. It constituted a branch of the broader phenomenon of modern nationalism.
As the first of several Jewish political movements offering alternative responses to the position of Jews in Europe, Zionism gradually gained more support, and after the Holocaust became the dominant Jewish political movement.
Here are two opposing positions on the disposition of the "land" of Israel:
Israeli position on Jerusalem:
"The Israeli position [on Jerusalem] is based on its religious, historical and political claims to the holy city. Since King David established the city as the capital of the Jewish state circa 1000 BCE, it has served as the symbol and most profound expression of the Jewish people's identity as a nation."
-- Anti-Defamation League, "Jerusalem, the Israeli Position," 1997
Palestinian position on Jerusalem:
"For centuries, Jerusalem has been the geographical, political, administrative and spiritual center of Palestine. It is, in all regards, the symbol of Palestinian nationality and identity."
-- Palestine Ministry of Information,"The Palestinian Official Position," 2005
Beyond the issue of land, we all are aware of another huge religious contention many Christians and others have with the Jews: their position on Jesus, the Christ.
For Orthodox Jews, it is a simple matter: there was no messiah! Only in the book of Daniel, according to the rabbi who taught my Saturday afternoon seminar, is there any reference to a messiah. Hitherto, messiah in the Hebrew bible refers to one who is “anointed,” and those meant the king or priests. From that perspective, it was, and is, difficult for Jewish people to accept Jesus, also a Jew, as the messiah.
In Jesus’ days, there were three distinct classes of people: The Pharisees, the middle class, who believed in an afterlife; The Sadducees, the elite class, who did not believe in an after life, and The Essenes, the celibates who populated the deserts, living monastic lives and were regarded as zealots.
It was not known whether Jesus was of The Pharisees or The Sadducees, but according to all knowledge, he was not an Essenes. This may be a key factor as to why Jews, who in the time of Jesus living by strict religious codes, found it extremely difficult to accept that God would anoint a man, who was not a celibate and living a monastic life, as "the messiah.”
Specifically, Jews do not accept Jesus as the messiah because: Jesus did not fulfill the messianic prophecies, and Jesus did not embody the personal qualifications of the messiah, which Jews believe is based on national revelation. Jewish scholars believe that any interpretations of the bible referring to Jesus as the messiah are mistranslations.*
Jewish people are those born into the faith or those who become converted into the faith. Jews do believe in redemption, but it is not through a person. For Jews, redemption comes directly from your acts! Jews, since the Hebrew bible, believe there is a world to come but the dichotomy is not between heaven and hell but in the world to come vs. this current world. If there is any interpretation of hell, it is "eternal punishment” in not being able to connect to the world to come.
Jews believe that it is important to pay attention to not only "what comes out of your mouth but also what goes into your mouth." Thus, they follow a strict (kosher) diet, where foods are prepared in special ways, especially certain meats, where all the blood is drained out and salt applied.
The relationship Jews believe they have with God is that of parent/child. For Jews, adulthood comes for girls at age 12 (with a bat mitzvah celebration), and for boys at age of 13 (with a bar mitzvah celebration). They become "mitzvos” i.e. “son and daughters of the commandments” and are expected to begin to fulfill God’s commandments mitzvahs). Boys, following tradition, begin to use the head and hand tefillins.
In Judaism, there are only three types of prayer: to praise, to plead or for thanksgiving.
Today there people of Jewish heritage who do believe in Jesus as the Christ or messiah. Messianic Judaism is a religious movement whose adherents believe that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they call Yeshua, is both the resurrected Jewish Messiah and their Divine Savior.
As of 1993 there were 160,000 adherents of Messianic Judaism in the United States and 350,000 worldwide. As of 2003, there were at least 150 Messianic synagogues in the U.S. and over 400 worldwide. The number of Messianic Jews in Israel is approximately 15,000 members.
Messianic Jews consider themselves to be Jewish. However, Jews of all denominations do not consider Messianic Judaism to be a form of Judaism. Many Christians consider Messianic Judaism to be a form of Christianity.
Other interesting information I learned from the rabbi on that hot Saturday afternoon:
The literal law, or the commandments, given to the Jewish people by God is called The Torah. These are laws detailed in the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah also is called The Chumash, or the Five Books of Moses and is the first part of the Hebrew Bible: Tanakh. Even Christians and Samaritans accept the Torah as the literal law from God to the Jewish people.
So much do Jews respect and try to follow the commandments of God that orthodox Jews wear the Tallis (a prayer shawl), which has knotted fringes at the end with the color of blue in the fringes. (Numbers 15:38). These knots are a reminder of God’s commandments and should be worn during the day.
Following God’s commandments is not an easy task, especially thousands of years after the promise was made about land ownership.
When I recently asked a local rabbi what was the reason for the continuing current conflict between Iraelis and Palestinians, he said that Jews "just want to be able to live in peace!"
Even with the best efforts of Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and the intercession of American presidents, it ultimately may take an “act of God” to provide a workable solution to the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Namaste’,
Che’
*For more information on Jewish beliefs see http://www. jewsforjudaism.org.
Next in the "Seeking Common Ground" series: a look at Mormonism.
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