Engaging with Jewish People

 understanding their world

 sharing good news

Contents 

Series preface 

Introduction 

Understanding Jewish people 

1. Who are the Jewish people? 

2. What do Jewish people believe? 

Engaging with Jewish people 

3. Prayerful friendship 

4. Pointing to the Scriptures 

5. Answering objections 

6. Speaking with wisdom 

7. Connecting with the body of Messiah 

Conclusion: the feast 

Resources

Who are the Jewish people? 

There are approximately 14 million Jewish people in our world of over 7 billion. That means my people make up less than one percent of the world's population. Actually it's a lot less than one percent. It's two tenths of one percent. And yet, in ways that could fill entire books, Jewish people have had a disproportionate amount of influence in the worlds of politics, education, business, science, entertainment, literature, and numerous other fields. When you consider how so very few (none?) of the world's other ancient peoples still exist (seen any Hittites or Jebusites lately?), you can see why some people see the hand of almighty God behind the people he calls "chosen." 

A little less than half of those 14 million live in Is-rael. Almost that same number live in the United States with almost half of those living in or near New York City. Most Jewish people live in or near cities such as Los Angeles, Paris, London, Toronto, Buenos Aries, and Moscow. Of course, by the time you read this, those locations may have shifted a bit. As I write this in early 2016, I hear about significant migrations of Jewish people from France to Israel because of rising anti-Semitism. 

My people have always had to move because of hatred and persecution. Some of the numbers of change in population can stagger the imagination. Poland's demo graphics disturb the most. In 1930,   3 million Jewish peo-ple lived in Poland. Today there are barely 3,000. Most were killed by the Nazis. The rest escaped to America, Israel and elsewhere. The combined populations of Jewish people in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania had grown to over 2.5 million by 1930. Today, those locations account for less than 200,000. 

   Of course, these numbers all presume it's easy to iden-tify who is Jewish and who is not. They're the biological descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, right? But such simplicity rarely occurs in the Jewish world. In fact, you could read lengthy discussions about "Who is a Jew?" that would make you wonder if you've stumbled into a law-school classroom or a Shakespearean tragedy. 

   Part of the problem developed when the newly established nation of Israel passed "the law of return." This allowed Jewish people from all over the world to settle in Israel and claim automatic citizenship "if they identify themselves as Jewish." You see the potential problems, don't you? The Israeli government had to qualify that a bit. Eventually they landed on the view that you were Jewish if your mother was Jewish. Why your mother and not your father, since so many places in the Scriptures trace people's ancestries through the line of the father? Because the centuries of persecution often included the raping of Jewish women by non-Jewish oppressors. This led to births of children who knew who their mother was but for whom identifying their father wasn't so easy. So the rabbis decided that the way to keep our people in-tact and distinguish who "we" are from who "they" are was to keep track of the mothers and their children. God did raise up fathers to lead the families and communities from the survivors of such cruelty, but it all made for a rather messy situation. Perhaps this is why Jewish people now place such a high priority on the family. Then again, the Bible values the family rather highly as well. 

   For the purpose of this book, however, we don't need to explore the debate about "Who is a Jew?" any further. The Jewish people you're likely to meet won't be wonder-ing if they're really Jewish. They'll either identify them-selves as such or not. Some, to be sure, may be wondering what that means. They may not have been raised in a very observant family and now they would like to con-nect to their roots. In fact, a growing number of Jewish people in America are reclaiming or re-establishing or finding for the first time their Jewish roots during their middle age. These kinds of newfound identities could be fertile soil in which to cultivate conversations about the Messiah. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's wait a bit before we explore how we reach out. 

   For now, it's worth reflecting further on understand-ing who we're talking to. Jewish people love to point out that Judaism is more than a religion. And it's more than a race. And it's more than an ethnicity. Some like to say, "It's a way of life." Jewish people weave together doctrine, diet, humor, tone of voice, and a dozen other aspects of life all under the banner of "Jewish." Part of the reason why Jewish evangelism is so difficult is that most Jewish people see Christianity as so alien. Being Jewish is not just having a different set of beliefs. It's different flavors of food, different ways to tell jokes, different views about politics, and different planets of social customs. If I had to condense what it means to be Jewish to four prevailing themes, I'd say they're pain, pride, pleasure, and promise 

Pain 

I've already mentioned enough things to highlight the reality of pain in the Jewish mindset. A fair number of Jewish holidays commemorate times when enemies tried to wipe us out but God spared us. For Passover we re-member our deliverance from slavery to the Egyptians with a feast called a seder. For Purim, we rejoice that wick-ed Haman's plot to kill us didn't succeed and we nosh on cookies called hamantaschen. For Hanukkah, we dedicate ourselves to God, who empowered us to retake the temple from Antiochus Epiphanies, and we eat potato pancakes. One Jewish comic quipped that most of our holidays could be summarized with three short sentences: "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat." 

Pride 

Because we have survived so much, against such odds, so many times, we have developed a kind of Jewish pride that has been, in my opinion, both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because it builds upon itself. It looks ...

 

at past accomplishments and spurs us on to even greater ones. Not only do we survive persecutions but we also produce Nobel Prize winners, cure diseases, write master-pieces, advance social improvements, and rise above our circumstances. We can do anything-or so we think. This kind of pride has enabled the country of Israel to thrive economically and agriculturally even though it consists largely of desert. The Jewish people have developed a will to excel even when the odds are against them. When Jewish people reflect on their corporate rags-to-riches status, they grow more energized to excel still more. 

But ethnic pride has also been a curse because, along the way, some Jewish people have forgotten God. Despite warnings like the one in Deuteronomy 8, it is easy to think we are the source of our success instead of appreciating the gracious hand of God. Through Moses, God warned: 

Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God ... Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied ...then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  ~ Deuteronomy 8 v 11-14 

Deuteronomy 8:18 emphasizes that it is God who gives the ability to produce wealth, reminding the Israelites to remember Him as the source of their blessings and to remain faithful to His covenant. This verse highlights the importance of acknowledging God's role in their prosperity.

This warning is for all of us, whether Jewish or Gentile. Everyone must be wary of a reliance on self that forgets our constant dependence on the One who gives us every breath, step and thought. Without him, we cease to exist-both individually as persons and corporately as a people.

For some, this ethnic pride has theological roots-but not ones that accurately reflect the teaching of Scripture. God's word goes out of its way to say that God did not choose the nation of Israel because of any merit of its own. 

The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Deuteronomy 7, verses7-8 

   Tragically, for some, this pride has angry roots.I have interacted with enough Jewish people to hear a recurring theme of resentment that God didn't prevent or stop the Holocaust and other evils. For these people, their success, especially the establishment, protection, and prosperity of the nation of Israel has been in spite of God rather than because of him. Their cry of "Never again!" means that they will prevent another Holocaust by fighting to the death to provide a safe haven for Jewish people in Israel-even if God doesn't come through for them. I write these words with tears and an ache in my heart but I know these sentiments are real for at least some of my people. 

   If you're tempted to think condemning thoughts right now about Jewish pride, consider the universal and insidious nature of pride. And reflect carefully that you too may, from time to time, take credit for things that actually come from the hand of our gracious God. Examine