I am a writer, so when faced with a difficult subject, I tell a story. This story began for me twelve years ago, when I was tasked with writing an article about Christians performing a Passover seder. I had never encountered anything like this before, and it was perplexing to me, blurring boundaries between Christianity and Judaism. Some of the Jews I spoke to were enthusiastic, seeing this as a glorious step forward in reconciliation between the two religions, while others saw it as appropriation. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this phenomenon for me was that the Christians performed the seder with a few interpretative anomalies. They believed the Pascal lamb offered in the Temple as a thanksgiving offering was Jesus, and that it was a sin offering. Some believed the four cups of wine represented Jesus’ blood. These confused me, but I considered the trend, overall, a positive development.
Over the years, I have seen other Jewish observances adopted by some Christians: the Biblical “feasts”, tzitzit, Shabbat, Hanukkah, “eating Biblically, and the list was growing.” While I used to believe that the Hebrew roots movement was a small contingent of Christians, the Christians taking on these Jewish practices were part of the growing pro-Israel Christian population. While taking on these distinctly Jewish practices, Christians were intentionally selective, rejecting anything they deemed to be “rabbinic Judaism.”
Christians who wear tzitzit attach them to their belts, and a few Christians separate meat and dairy. I knew one Christian who used his laser printer to print out the verses of the Shema and taped them to the center of his front door as a mezuzah.
Another innovation I should add to this list is referring to Jesus by the Hebrew name ‘Yeshua’. This is a relatively new practice among Christians and the focus of ongoing debate.
This practice of Christians took on a different meaning for me earlier this year when a Christian Facebook friend who kept many Jewish practices announced to me that he did so out of obligation. He was, he stated, from the Ten Lost Tribes and from the Tribe of Efraim. He insisted that the prophetic return of the ten tribes would take place, was in fact taking place, and he was the result. The proof of his tribal identity was his belief in Jesus. He claimed to have rejected replacement theology. The covenant with Israel was eternal, he insisted, and, as he was a member of a tribe, it included him. He rejected the idea of conversion because that was a process of becoming part of the tribe of Judah, which he was not. Jews, as the tribe of Judah, had no jurisdiction over the tribe of Efraim.
I had encountered this before in a German Christian cult in which the leader claimed to be the king of Efraim. He taught that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Efraim and not the tribe of Judah, and since he was King of Efraim, well, he was the prime candidate.
One Christian who is gaining a large following insists that Christians, as Israel, must be purified by the ashes of the red heifer to receive Jesus.
The Temple in Jerusalem was surrounded by a fence called the soreg, and only members of the nation of Israel were allowed beyond that point. These self-proclaimed Efraimites have insisted that they will enter the temple as full members of the nation of Israel. This would profane the Temple, making it the temple of the antichrist Christians warn against.
I don’t think Christians understand how these claims affect Jews. I am Jewish because my parents were Jewish. That is the most essential part of my personal identity, and even though I was not raised in an Orthodox home, it was reinforced almost daily. This was further embedded in my psyche by my feeling of otherhood around non-Jews, especially antisemites.
Few Christians understand this aspect of Judaism. Judaism is not a choice or a matter of faith. It is a matter of personal identity, placing me as the result of 3,000 years of lineage. A physical piece of Abraham and Sarah’s genetic code is embedded in every cell of my body.
Every Jewish community knows who its Kohanim and Levites are. They are given specific public honors and are restricted in who they may marry. Their tribal identity is inscribed on their gravestones. I was horrified to discover that Christians have a concept of the Melchizedek priesthood that redefines the Kehuna in a way that rejects the tribal aspect that is essential to the Temple in Jerusalem.
A Christian waking up one morning and claiming to be from a tribe of Israel is not a declaration of faith. It invalidates the Jewish national identity that we have guarded since Mount Sinai. Jews were reviled and persecuted wherever we went. Until the French Revolution, Jews were the despised other and were not offered citizenship. In most countries, it was illegal to convert to Judaism. No Christian would have declared himself to be Israel one hundred years ago. But now that the prophetic promise that God would return His people to the promised land is taking place, many Christians are claiming to be Israel.
It is logical to assume that many Christians are descended from Jews, and the modern miracle of genetic testing is proving this to be the case. But identity is a personal choice, and status must be granted. While an individual may include his Jewish ancestry as part of his personal identity, it is the Jewish nation, and not Christian outsiders, that determines who its members are.
Believing in Jesus as the divine Son of God violates Jewish law. Classified as idolatry, it is a belief that violates the unity of God, which Jews declare twice daily in the Shema. This is not meant as a criticism of Christians who believe in Jesus. They are not required to adhere to halacha (Jewish law). But the entire nation of Israel, including future generations, swore at Sinai to uphold the Torah. A Christian may believe as he chooses, but if that Christian becomes part of a tribe of Israel and continues to believe in Jesus, he will be guilty of the same sin Israel committed with the Golden Calf.
Yes, I believe the prophetic return of the Ten Tribes will take place. But an open-door policy would signal the end of the Jewish people. We would no longer be defined by our ethnic identity, and we would become a branch of Christianity that no longer believes as the Jews were commanded to believe.
Another recent encounter also left me with grave concerns. I have noticed a recent and growing trend of Christians using the letters YHWH to represent the ineffable name of God spelled in the Bible with four Hebrew letters. I dialogue with an active community of Christians on Facebook, and I requested that they refrain from using the term Yahweh or YHWH. I explained that Jews never pronounce the ineffable name of God. When learning or reading Torah, it is replaced by the Hebrew term “adonai,” which means “lord” or “master.”When scribes prepare for their day of writing holy texts, they immerse themselves in a mikveh in order to purify themselves to write the name of God. In conversation or when learning, we refer to Hashem, literally ‘the name’. Saying or writing the name of God potentially violates the commandment not to take God’s name in vain and it is painful for me now to type this for this article, but I have no choice if I am to prevent further problems.
I explained to my Christian friends that it is exceedingly uncomfortable for me to engage in dialogues that include an attempt to express the ineffable name of God (even though writing or saying it in English is far removed from the Hebrew). My request was refused. I was told that I was limiting their expression. They stated that by using the transliteration of these Hebrew terms (that Jews refrain from using), they were actively calling out to God by name.
I realized that Christians do not accept the limitations required to access holiness. If a Torah scroll falls, any Jew who witnesses it must fast. We are scrupulous in our treatment of Bibles and other holy books. We do not randomly stack them, and if they fall to the floor, we immediately pick them up and kiss them. We do not take them into bathrooms. I was shocked to discover that Christians do not treat their Bibles with the same reverence and that they even post Bible verses in bathrooms.
The state of Israel and the return of the Jews is a catalyst for a change that is happening in Christianity. Christians are divided on the issue of Israel, but this is only one aspect of the changes happening with Christianity. While most Zionist Christians reject replacement theology, many are engaged in what I call appropriation theology. They are coming closer to Jews and Judaism, discovering a Jewish Yeshua. They are taking on many of the Jewish customs, but in a way that rejects Jews acting as a guiding light. They act independently of Jewish tradition. The church demonized “rabbinic Judaism” (a Church construct that is decisively un-Jewish), and most Christians reject the rich Biblical commentary that is the Talmud. They insist on performing the Biblical Mitzvot as they choose, in a manner that Yeshua certainly did not.
The sad irony is that learning the Talmud and rabbinic literature would give a much richer understanding of the New Testament and of the Jewish Jesus.
If this trend continues and Christian Zionists continue to adopt Mitzvot with no guidance from Torah-observant Jews, this will result in a tragic profaning of the Biblical commandments. If Christians insist that they are the true Israel, it will be a huge existential threat to the Jewish people. In my darkest moments, I envision a Third Temple with a large cross on the central altar and a cross in the Holy of Holies. Rather than Antiochus offering a pig in a profaned temple of Hashem, priests of Melchizedek will be carrying out a Temple service to Jesus.
Christian Zionists must not only dedicate themselves to the future of Israel as a national entity, but they must also dedicate themselves to the future of the Jewish nation as a distinct entity that does not accept Jesus. I am not saying that they should abandon a belief in Jesus.
But for Israel to be a light unto the nations, Christians, as members of the 70 nations, must accept the 3,000 years of Jewish understanding of the Torah and mitzvot.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: The views expressed in this editorial are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of Israel365 or its editorial staff. The halachic issues are complex, but I present one side for simplicity and to make my point clear. These opinions have been formed over time and may develop in the future. I would like to emphasize that using the term “Christian” is problematic, as many Christian Zionists who have a strong belief in Jesus/Yeshua no longer self-identify as part of a Christian Church. And Christian beliefs cover a broad spectrum making it impossible to define.
