Christians and the Jewish People

'The riches we have through the Jewish people and how to share

them well’

1. Who are Jewish Disciples of Yeshua today?

How many self-identifying Messianic Jews?

• USA- 75,000 (Kosmin/Pew)

• Israel – 10,000 (Hansen)

• UK – 5,000? (Harvey)

• France – 300?

• Germany – 600?

• Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Holland, Russia, Ukraine, etc.

• Total – 150,000?

Ashkenazi/Sephardi

Why Judaism ?

• Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi)

• Orthodox (Dati)

• Traditional (Masorti)

• = Conservative (USA)

• “Traditionist” (Israel)

• Reform (USA)

• Liberal (UK)

• Reconstructionist (USA)

• Secular (Hiloni)

• Messianic

UK Jewish community

• 10.9% Ultra-Orthodox

• 54.7% Orthodox

• 19.4% Reform

• 2.7% Masorti

• 8.7% Liberal

• 3.5% Sephardi

263,346 (2011 Census)

3. Story – The Standard Narrative

• Contemporary Jews are descendants of the biblical Hebrews, who, starting with Abraham, were the first people to accept monotheism, the belief in a single God.

Tracing their lineage through the Bible, from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob (later named Israel) and his 12 sons(a.k.a. the children ofIsrael) and continuing on through Moses and Joshua, the Israelite slaves escaped to freedom, going on to wander in the desert wilderness for 40 years.

This epic tale involves an evil emperor (Pharoah), a miraculous escape through a major body of water that splits into two creating a pathway, a revelation from God Mount Sinai, receipt of a moral code (the 10 commandments) and passage to a land promised to them by God, a geographical area loosely correlated with the current borders of the state of Israel.

Throughout history Jews have been persecuted, oppressed and murdered simply for being Jewish. Exiled from their the homeland a number of times, most significantly in 586 BCE and 70 CE, when their first and second Temples were destroyed - this resilient community has persevered and survived over and over again, against all odds.

Though there have been many attempts to annihilate them, most notably the Holocaust or Shoah (the European Jewish genocide of World War 2) they wondrously returned to their birthplace, the land of Israel, in the 20th century and in 1948 established a new country, a Jewish state, where they continue to fight for their existence today.

From Hirschland to Harvey

• Anthony Adolph Hirschlandbecomes Tony Harvey

• Richard, Tony and Sidney believers in Yeshua (1973)

• London Messianic Congregation (1979)

• Married to Monica (1987)

Salomon Herz Hirschlandborn Steinheim, Westphalia 1766

Essen 1812 – 1882• Salomon (1799-1869) —

Veterinarian – father of

• Abraham (1801-1866) —Merchant and Lottery Agent

• Levi (1804-1863) —Weaver, Butcher & Banker

• Simon (1807-1885) –Banker & Trader

• Moses (1810-1888) —Doctor of Medicine

Brothers Hirschland, London

London 1884-2017

• Richard Hirschland(1859-1936)

• Sydney Moses Hirschland -> Harvey (1895-1989)

• Anthony Adolph Hirschland -> Harvey (1923-2012)

• Richard Simon Harvey (1956-)

From Hirschland to Harvey

• Anthony Adolph Hirschlandbecomes Tony Harvey

• Richard, Tony and Sidney believers in Yeshua (1973)

• London Messianic Congregation (1979)

• Married to Monica (1987)

What is Messianic Judaism?

• A Jewish form of Christianity

• A Christian form of Judaism

• 150,000 worldwide of 14m Jewish people

• 500 Messianic Congregations

• Jewish identity, faith and practice in light of Messiah

• Best of both worlds, double the headaches!

2. Receiving Jewish gifts (Romans 9:1-5)9 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people,[a] my kindred according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5 to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah,[b] who is over all, God blessed forever.[c] Amen.

Supersessionism/Replacement Theology

• The election of Israel replaced by the Church

• Jewish law no longer valid through the coming of Christ

3. Blessing Israel and the Jewish people

• Love is good – love with noodles is better!

• Creating a safe place of Jewish people

• Celebrating and commiserating

3. 100th Anniversary of Balfour Declaration

Results and ConsequencesThe most famous result was the declaration itself. Zionists and many others have viewed it ever since as a terrific achievement, a foundation stone along the way to the establishment of modern Israel. Many Arabs on the other hand have seen it as a terrible setback, the real starting point of their dispossession and misery.

An equally consequential result of the process was the development of profound mistrust, of all parties, by all the parties, and growing from the mistrust a bitterness that would lead to the spilling of much blood. (Schneer, Balfour Declaration, 374.)

Lausanne Initiative for Reconciliationin Israel-palestine (LIRIP)

Balfour Declaration Centenary (1917)

4. Helpful Ways to Share our Blessings

• Care – Share – Prayer - Be there!•

2. Luther and the Jews

• 500th anniversary of the Reformation

• Time to Relocate the Wittenberg Judensau

Who was Luther?1483 Luther born in Eisleben

1505 Joins Augustinians in Erfurt

1512 To Wittenberg

1517 Ninety-Five Theses

1521 Luther excommunicated

1525 Marriage with Katharina von Bora; On the Bondage of the Will

1529 Catechisms

1530 Diet of Augsburg

1534 German Bible

1546 Luther dies

On the Jews and their Lies (1543)

• Against the Jews for rejecting Jesus

• Against the Rabbis

• Jews should be thrown out of Germany, books destroyed, synagogues burnt, etc.

• Reprinted by the Nazis

Luther’s Instructions – On the Jews and Their Lies

Relocate the Wittenberg Judensau!“In 2017, the 500th anniversary of Luther's launching of the Protestant Reformation, it is time to remove this statue and replace it with something more honouring to the God of Israel, respectful of the Jewish people, and bringing dignity to a Christian place of worship instead of retaining a sculpture that is unseemly, obscene, insulting, offensive, defamatory, libellous, blasphemous, anti-semitic and inflammatory”