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Jewish World Review March 6, 2012/ 12 Adar, 5772 Bad news for Barry: The unification of Christians and Jews By Dave Weinbaum
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
I'm a Jew living in a small town in Mid Missouri. Originally from the South Side
of Chicago, via Skokie/Evanston, Denver and St. Louis, I had an opportunity as a
young man to open a national franchise in a small town. When I brought my parents
here from Chicago in 1977, my family comprised about 30% of the Jewish population
in a 50 mile radius.
When representatives of the national franchise offered me the opportunity to build a s
tore in Rolla, MO, I asked if there were any Jews there. They said there was one.
I said, "Please describe WAS. They said there was a Jewish businessman, but he
died. I asked if it was natural causes. They assured me it was.
The closest synagogue is over an hour drive and is the oldest west of the Mississippi.
Our area is dotted with churches of all Christian denominations, from Pentecostal,
Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalian and Lutheran.
As every Jew knows, Christians want you to convert and follow Jesus. All through
my life I've been proselytized, from golfers who I caddied for in an exclusive country
club (no Black or Jewish membership allowed) to Christian customers, to
door-to-door Evangelists. It would always start nice enough but when I assured t
hem I wasn't about to turn my back on G-d as I knew Him and the thousands of
years of ancestors who held at least some tradition of solidity toward the Jewish
faith, it often got ugly. Most of the time, it ended with the Christians telling me I
would be going to Hell and me thinking, at that moment, I was already there.
However, with the rise of social media, I've noticed that most of my "friends,"
"followers" and followed are Christian Conservatives who back the Jewish State
of Israel.
A few weeks ago, I received a call from Pastor Maxwell, leader of a local
Pentecostal Church. I was a long-time customer of her husband, Jim who was
the go-to expert on refrigeration until he retired about 20 years ago.
She invited me to attend a Sunday church service where Israeli Rabbi Moshe
Rothchild would be speaking. I thanked her and told her I'd think about it.
She must have read my mind.
Pastor Maxwell called back and said this was about a coalition between Jews
and Christians to support Israel as the Jewish State and no attempts would be
made to convert me. When I asked her where the church was I realized it was
five minutes from my house. I cased the church before I decided to attend. It was a
small building with hardly a window—but they did have an Israeli flag flying next
to the Stars and Stripes out front.
Upon entering the church, I met Pastor Dr. Tom Baggett and later his talented
wife Shelli who preached and sang during the service. I also met the Rabbi and
determined he was the real thing--no Jew for Jesus here! I could see this was a
legitimate attempt to bridge the gaps between Jews and Christians. It was the
start of a noble effort to unite in order to preserve Israel and offset the common
enemy of Jihad.
Sitting behind Rabbi Rothchild before he was called to speak, I sidled up to
whisper in his ear not to worry—I had his back. That engendered a nervous
laugh on his part.
Pastor Maxwell introduced Pastor Baggett who revealed his original meeting
with the Rabbi while on tour in Israel. Standing in line together for some time, the
two hit it off. The result is the formation of a group of Christian clerics and Rabbis
called Teach for Israel.
The Rabbi took the podium and told of the importance of this overdue alliance,
while garnering a lot of laughs along the way. The essence is we agree to disagree
on theology but understand, respect and support each other's right to exist
as sovereign faiths.
After the service the one thing everyone I talked to had in common was the united
stand against President Obama and Democrats in Congress. Barry's coddling of
Islamic Terrorists and aid in forming a Muslim Caliphate across the Middle East
has put Jews and Christians there in peril.
I'm beginning to think with Catholics having their rights dissed by Obama,
Republicans have a good chance of sweeping the 2012 elections despite
Obama's billion dollar campaign war chest.
Shall we bow our heads in united prayer…
For more information go to www.teachforisrael.org
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JWR contributor Dave Weinbaum hosts DaveWeinbaum.com. He is a businessman, writer and part-time stand-up comic and resides in a Midwest red state. Comment by clicking here.
© 2011, Dave Weinbaum |
Mitch Albom | |||||||||||||
