Jesus Saves, Jews Invest

There are about 4 Jews in my Ulpan class. There are 5 Arabs and about 9 Christians. It's funny that in the Jewish state I'm still in the minority.

I actually like this mix of people. There are Muslim Arabs who've been fasting for Ramadan and Christian Arabs who like to wear super giant crosses.

The non-Arab Christians are also generally swell. I even have a chevruta on the parsha with one of them. He's studying to become a Lutheran pastor and is super good at Tanach. I'd have to say it's one of the more interesting cherutot that I've ever had.

The only thing that makes me uncomfortable is the way the Christians view me, Jews and Zionism. Now, the more moderate views are simply that it's great that the Jews have a state and try to live moral lives but in order to really get those divine brownie points they gotta accept Jesus. I suppose that I'm ok with that idea.

The next level up are those Christians who think that the establishment of the state is pretty significantly theologically and would like all the Jews to live in Israel so that when Jesus return we can either accept him and be saved or reject him and be damned. That's a little bit more strange.

The highest level of intenseness are those who reckon that Jews should still be Jewish, should still be shomer torah and mitzvot but should simply also accept Jesus as the messiah. In their logic, and I quote for you directly, "if Chabad can have a messiah and the Breslovers can have a messiah and still be Jewish why can't Jews who believe in Jesus still be Jewish?"

So I've been trying to work out what makes me so uncomfortable with all this. I've decided it's a few things.

First: It's weird to think that the end if nigh. That at any moment the heavens may open up and G-d will pour out his wrath on the non-believers but save the saved. It's just abit nutso to me. I say this with the awareness that yes, there are many Religious Zionist Jews who feel similarly and that I do obviously also want to messiah to come asap. I guess that my concept of the messiah is a little bit more Maimonidean. See his commentary on perek chelek for more details.

Second: It's not ok with me that there's no option for me not to accept Jesus and be saved. Within my religion it's enough that the Non-Jews keep the 7 Noahide laws. Bascially they gotta be monotheist and moral. It's not that hard. There's no need for everybody to be Jewish or accept exactly my beliefs. But with the Christians in my class it annoys me that no matter how moral I am, no matter how much charity I give I'm nevertheless damned b/c I don't accept Jesus as the messiah.

Third: I keep wanting to yell at them "GET YOUR OWN RELIGION!" I think Christianity's inability to actually completely separate from Judaism irritates me. The fact that I (and Jews in general) still hold a significant theological position for Christians irritates me. They're obsessed with knowing Judaism and understanding Jews. But are constantly reading our practices from a Christian perspective and trying to fit us into their understanding of what Judaism is or should be and it grates upon me.

The final issue is that some of these people are very nice. They are funny and sweet and understanding so it's difficult to remain uncomfortable around them. But I nevertheless would very much prefer it if they didn't invite me to come to the Jews for Jesus shul and didn't speak about the Jews being damned during the lunch break.

Lets just stick to the topics of the weather and how much learning hebrew grammar sux, ok folks?