ALL JEWS MUST DIE!
Those were the words of the murderer of the Jews Robert Bowers as he burst into a religious service and opened fire on unsuspecting Jewish worshippers in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
ALL (not some) Jews must die. No reason. No explanation. Die they must simply because they are:
JEWS
This irrational, insane hatred is one of humanity’s oldest. Jews are killed the world over simply because they are Jews. And, that has been the case throughout history. Small wonder that millions have sought refuge in the Jewish state Israel and in America because of the religious protections embedded in the Constitution of the United States. Unfortunately, those protections were not available to the Jews who worshipped in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that fateful Sabbath day.
Our country has seen an increase in anti-Semitic acts in recent years, that according to the Anti-Defamation League. In fact, in 2017, violence against Jews increased some 57% over those in 2016. It is especially troubling in America that so much anti-Semitism now occurs on college and university campuses. Synagogues are burned or otherwise desecrated. In other nations, armed guards are required when Jewish services occur. Jews flee the new anti-Semitism daily from nations like France and England. But why, WHY this old and irrational hatred, WHY? This irrational hatred has no RATIONAL ANSWER. Some think the roots of this new anti-Semitism come from the rabid anti-Semite Adolf Hitler who told the world and convinced his own German nation that it was the duty of the supreme Aryan race to eradicate the Jews, to implement THE FINAL SOLUTION and slaughter every Jew everywhere. Perhaps that old Nazi hatred was reincarnated especially in fanatics like Robert Bowers. But the old hatred resonates with French fanatics as well where Jews are murdered in synagogues, supermarkets, schools and even their homes. In France, the new anti-Semitism stems from France’s growing Muslim population and their ever-present hatred of the Jews. No matter the country or the citizenry, the old hatred is alive and well and growing.
Interestingly, the killer Robert Bowers is being cast as a neo-Nazi threat by the newspaper the Pittsburgh Current. Under the caption A DAY OF BROKEN GLASS, a cartoon in that newspaper showed broken windows on the Tree of Life synagogue, linking this attack to Germany’s Kristallnacht of November 9, 1938 which signaled the open season on Jews in Europe by the Nazis and Adolf Hitler. Perhaps it was indeed symbolic but oh so real to those eleven Jews so brutally murdered.
Apparently, Bowers had hatred for both Jews and Muslims. He posted on a social network the following:
“Open your eyes! It’s the filthy evil Jews bringing the filthy evil Muslims into the country!”
Perhaps Bowers had nothing but hatred for both Muslims and Jews.
Others fan the flame of anti-Semitism. One such is Lewis Farrakhan who refers to all Jews as TERMITES. And then there is the vicious movement BDS which calls for the boycott, divestiture and sanctions, economically and culturally of all things Jewish and especially any such emanating from Israel. Even, says writer Ruth Wisse, Jewish herself, the Democratic Party has been infiltrated by a certain anti-Semitism at least in subtle ways. It has to stop.
In April 2016, a BLACK LIVES MATTER supporter asked Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, himself Jewish, about his Jewish identity and “affiliation to the Jewish community,” prefacing the question with the statement that the “Zionist Jews run the Federal Reserve, they run Wall Street, they run every campaign.” Sanders indicated that he was proud to be Jewish and that he supports Israel. But then he reverted to his usual politically correct form and stated that “we have got to pay attention to the needs of the Palestinian people.” In short, Sanders never attacked anti-Semitism head-on.
George Soros, the radical-progressive billionaire is also Jewish. In fact, Soros funds BLACK LIVES MATTER with anti-Semitic tendencies, which matter not to Soros. Michael Bloomberg, soon to run for President in 2020 is also Jewish and a billionaire and without serious comment or action with respect to this new revival of the old hatred. And Tom Steyer, the radical IMPEACH TRUMP billionaire is also Jewish, but missing in action as this old hatred grows. The New York Times, itself Jewish owned has never really attacked the problem of anti-Semitism because, as writer Suzanne Fields has stated, the times and its ownership does not want to seem:
“Too Jewy.”
But on the Republican side, President Trump condemned the Bowers atrocity and the slaughter of the eleven Jews. He visited in-person and attacked anti-Semitism. In fact, Donald Trump has encouraged his daughter who has converted to Judaism and the President is proud of the fact that his daughter and her husband are raising their children in the Jewish faith. Well done, Mr. President, well done.
In America, the most stalwart supporters of Israel and the Jewish people are EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS and ORTHODOX CATHOLICS. And indeed they are as they should. The Wall Street Journal referring to this support factor and the reaction to THE OLDEST HATRED suggests this motivation may occur because people of faith themselves know what it is like to be mocked and shunned in a popular culture that is increasingly secular, often aggressively so. Perhaps, but there is a deeper spiritual reason. The Christ of Glory, the Rock, the Foundation of Christianity was a JEW, one Jesus of Nazareth. The Jews, as the Apostle Paul has well stated, are the spiritual forefathers of Christianity and we the Christians honor them. In fact, we are told, admonished and instructed in the Book of Genesis that we are to blessed Israel and the Jews in order to receive the blessings of God Himself. Should we curse the Jews, should we become anti-Semites or encourage anti-Semitism, then we in turn will incur THE CURSE OF GOD. It is therefore both the duty and the privilege of the Christian to honor and respect the Jew and all things Jewish. So says the Scripture.
Now comes Hanukkah. It is here and now. It began Sunday, December 2 and ends Monday, December 10. This FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS or FEAST OF DEDICATION is observed for eight nights and days. The holiday commemorates for Jews the rededication of the SECOND TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM which was restored to the Jewish people by the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. The festival is observed by lighting the candles of a candelabra with nine branches called the Hanukkah Menorah. One branch is typically placed above or below the others and its candle is used to light the other eight candles. This special candle is called the Shamash and each night, one additional candle is lit by the Shamash until all eight candles are lit together on the final night of the holiday. They are eight days of light and love for Jews. As Christians, how we should pray and work for their safety and for the protections and freedoms of our Constitution which apply equally to them as to any other. And, as Scripture commands as well, we should PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM, for all Jews, Christians and in fact for all mankind in this world. And, as Christians, we should both preach and practice the love of Christ, the LIGHT of the world and in fact, HE HIMSELF the FINAL SOLUTION to the world’s problems, the One in whom the peace in Him passes all understanding.
At Hanukkah, at Christmas, at New Year and all year long, let us practice the great commandment:
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF