As the grandson of Holocaust Survivors, Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass – has always been a solemn reminder in my family of the dangers that anti-Semitism can lead to. On November 9th, 1938, German mobs destroyed synagogues and looted Jewish homes and businesses. Newspapers carried stories on their front pages, and the world stopped – but just for a moment. 

Tragically, the world remained silent as the Nazi persecution gained momentum week by week, month after month, city after city, and country after country – until European antisemitism boiled over. The Nazis followed through on their genocidal threat and murdered 6 million of our people in the Holocaust, including my great-grandparents and countless relatives.

85 years later, Jews were attacked, murdered, raped, and kidnapped on October 7th, in the worst massacre since the Holocaust. This time, the world did not respond in silence, but as Jews were carted off as hostages into Gaza, and as babies were burned in ovens and murdered in their cribs, antisemitic demonstrators in capital cities around the world loudly cheered on Hamas, while accusing Israel of deserving such horrific violence.  Why have we not learned the lesson of Kristallnacht? 

Because we are focused on the wrong story and looking at things from the wrong perspective, you see, much of the world views Israel’s war with Hamas as a political or military issue. At the same time, those of us Jews and Christians who believe in the God of Israel and the eternal truth of the Bible recognize that this is a spiritual battle between good and evil. 

There are three important lessons the faith community must learn right now, from Kristallnacht.

Wake Up!

First, Kristallnacht exposed the hearts of the evil Nazi enemy. Until that point, many of the world leaders and influential journalists excused Hitler’s antisemitic rhetoric as mere words. Kristallnacht was the turning point when hateful words metastasized to violence and bloodshed. October 7th exposed the hearts of Hamas terrorists and their enablers in the pro-Palestine movement around the world, that this is no liberation movement. This is a genocidal threat by radical Islam that has been planned meticulously, funded generously, and organized covertly. 

We must wake up today and open our eyes to the clear and present danger that Radical Islam poses to all Jews and all Christians. Under our noses, Iran has been sponsoring terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah who make no effort to conceal their wicked plans first to attack the Saturday people – Jews, and then the Sunday people – Christians. Radical Middle Eastern countries like Qatar have spent billions of dollars buying influence at American universities over the last several decades. Have you wondered how all these well-organized, anti-Israel protests have suddenly just popped up all over the country? There’s nothing organic about it. 

Show Up!

The second lesson is about the Jewish People, that we belong in Israel – the land that God promised us repeatedly throughout the Bible, and the Holocaust proved that Jews are not safe scattered among the nations. “And I will scatter you among the Nations, and they will draw out a sword after you,” warns Leviticus 26. Instead, “I will gather you from the Nations, and assemble you out from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the Land of Israel,” promises Ezekiel 11. 

In 1948, God performed the greatest series of miracles since Biblical times by bringing back the Jews to Israel from all four corners of the world. For the Bible to be true, the Jews must dwell securely throughout the Land of Israel. You don’t have to be that devout to get this message. Every single Jew and every single Christian who cares at all about the Bible must acknowledge that God gave Israel to the Jewish people. Fortunately, I am not talking about a small number of people; hundreds of millions of Christians in every town, village, and city in the world recognize the special relationship between the Jews and Israel. 85 years ago, we didn’t have Christians around the world who stood with the Jewish people like we do today. Jews and Christians together affirm God’s eternal promise to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.” 

Christian nations like the United States of America, have been greatly blessed for standing behind Israel. All the good and moral countries in the world today support Israel, while those who are screaming like maniacs, ripping down posters of kidnapped children, brainwashed by the foreign funds of radical Islam – they will be cursed. If the faith community cares about passing on our Biblical values to the next generation of Jews and Christians, we must stand up!

Go Up!

The final lesson of Kristlanacht is that evil spreads when good people remain silent, which is why we must not remain silent any longer. We are in a spiritual war between good and evil, the battle of our lifetime. Every minute of every day has great significance and there is much we can all be doing now to help Israel and the Jewish people – not next week, today; not next month, now. 

We have all offered prayers, most of us have sent money with great generosity, but Israel needs us today! Now is the time, yes now, to plan your next trip to Israel as soon as possible and show your solidarity. Come and offer encouragement to the brave men and women of the IDF. Come provide comfort to the Israeli families living on the front lines keeping God’s land securely in Jewish hands. Come now and volunteer – help fix up bomb shelters that haven’t been open in years or help pick fruits and vegetables which are rotting in the fields with so few people working the land. Come to Israel now so that one day you can tell your grandchildren that when Israel needed you, you got on an EL AL airplane and said, I will go, I will go up.

When we hear about our enemy, Hamas, infiltrating our own communities – we will wake up!

When we hear about Jews and Christians coming together for Israel – we will show up!

And when Israel needs her best friends more than ever before to come visit, we will go up!

We weren’t there 85 years ago and we don’t know how we would have responded after Kristallnacht 1938. We do know what we – the faith community – are doing right now: we will wake up! We will show up! And we will go up – to Israel!