Community Views
Editor's Notebook
Emphasizing The 'Human'
In The Word Humanity
When Christians Urge
Us To Learn More
THE REV. JAMES R. LYONS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
PHIL JACOBS ED TOR
Several years
ago I spent three
months living in
Jerusalem near
the Hebrew Uni-
versity campus
at Giv'at Ram.
Living in the
Jewish section of
Jerusalem had
an amazing impact on me, one
which sensitized me to what
Jews go through during the
Christmas season. Buses did
not run on Saturday, and
though taxis could be ordered
from east Jerusalem, they were
not readily available; and stores
were closed. I found myself
moving into the majority soci-
ety's rhythm of life. The very
conditions of society "forced" me
to truly observe Shabbat, while
Sunday became a "normal" day.
When I see all the decora-
tions, hear all the music, wit-
ness all the sales pitches for
Christmas gifts, my admiration
for a Jewish community that
can maintain its own rhythm of
life in the midst of all this has
grown. I am saddened that peo-
ple are unable to express their
religious holidays in a variety of
situations, including a simple
sign saying "Happy Chanukah"
in a building filled with Christ-
mas decorations.
What gives me hope for this
time of year is that when a se-
curity guard was asked to re-
move her "Happy Chanukah"
Rev. James Lyons is the director
of the Ecumenical Institute.
sign, the calls protesting this ac-
tion came primarily from Chris-
tians. Since both Chanukah
and Christmas in a real sense
deal with hope, as a holiday
wish let me hope for the future.
I hope the time will come
when people are seen as people,
not types. Our self-definition is
oftentimes a statement of our
function rather than who or
what we are. When Preben
Munch-Nielsen, a Dane who
rescued Jews during the horrors
of the Holocaust, was in town, I
had the opportunity to spend an
evening with him. "You're
Lutheran," I said. "Yes," he
replied. "Many of those who
were Nazis were also Luther-
an." "Yes," he replied. "But the
Lutheran church in Denmark
not only didn't persecute Jews
but saved them." "Yes," he
replied. Why?" I asked.
Listen carefully to his answer
for it gives a depth of under-
standing to the real hope of the
season. "Because," he stated,
"our Lutheran bishop said, 'Re-
member that we're human beings
first and Christians second.' " It
was a sense of being fellow hu-
man beings that enabled the
Danes to see the Jews not as
outsiders but as fellow citizens.
It was the sense of being fellow
human beings that enabled the
Danes to move beyond religious
or ethnic categories to save in-
dividuals in need. It was the
sense of being fellow human be-
ings that forced Danes to show
active concern for all Danes, in-
cluding Jews, who were sent to
camps. And while it is not true
that King Christian V wore the
yellow star (since the yellow star
was never introduced in Den-
mark), the story reflects the at-
titude of both the king and the
Danish people to identify on the
human level. In a special way,
the king wore a "spiritual" yel-
low star.
When we blithely talk about
learning the lessons of the Holo-
caust, we need to listen to peo-
ple like Preben Munch-Nielsen.
Not only do we need to know
what went wrong, but we need
to know what went right and
why. For over 25 years, I have
talked to rescuers. No, let me
re-phrase that — I have listened
to rescuers, even as I have tried
to listen to survivors. Each time
I have asked a rescuer, "Why
did you do it?" the response has
been in essence, "If you have to
ask, you'll never understand."
These rescuers were individ-
uals who had values — human
values. Whatever they were in
their daily religious faith, those
who came out of a religious
background talked about the
impact of their religion. Preben
Munch-Nielsen openly talks
about the influence of his grand-
mother on his understanding of
what it meant to be human by
seeing humanity in others.
Wouldn't it be a sign of hope
if those of us who live our lives
in a variety of understandings
of God and life could mutually
explore rather than use religion
to divide? Wouldn't it be an ex-
citing time if we could throw out
trite language that separates us
in favor of language which rec-
ognizes and appreciates our dif-
ferences without hostility. What
a different world it would be if
instead of ascertaining blame
we worked together to create a
better future for our children, in
actions, not just in words.
Everything I've said is known
by all of us. We immediately ac-
knowledge that it is true. How-
ever, just as immediately we are
bombarded in our daily lives
with "reports" that seek to sep-
arate us, divide us by categories
that refuse to accept us or oth-
ers for what we are and they
are. Maybe we can learn to bat-
tle back when we understand
what Paul said in Romans 12,
as translated by J.B. Phillips,
"Don't let the world around you
squeeze you into its own mold
but let God remold your minds."
It is my hope for this season
that together, Jews and Chris-
tians, we can work to create a
world where a security guard
can say "Happy Chanukah"
without fear of reprisal or
ridicule. We can do that by
breaking the molds that deny
that we are humans first and —
second! ❑
An interesting
situation has
blossomed over
the past year or
so. It involves
Christians trav-
eling throughout
this country, Is-
rael and other na-
tions looking for
mainline Jewish organizations
in which to preach their mes-
sage.
The message isn't necessari-
ly about converting to Chris-
tianity. There's typically no talk
here about becoming a "com-
plete" Jew, a description used by
Jews for Jesus and other orga-
nizations seeking to have Jews
accept the gospel and thus be-
come "saved."
That there has been an ur-
gency among Christians to
spread their message with the
intent of conversions is hardly
new.
But a small handful of Chris-
tian groups is proselytizing these
days, asking Jews to do a better
job of being Jews. Can we all
imagine that? Here the illusion
has always been of a gang of
New Testament-toting Chris-
tians chasing a single Jew down
a hill demanding that he or she
accept tracts or testimony.
Last year, "The Bible Stu-
dents," a Christian organization
that did not accept the idea of a
trinity, urged Jews at both Tem-
ple Emanu-El and Young Israel
of Southfield to spend more time
learning about Judaism and the
Torah, and not to accept the
message of the Christian prose-
lytizers.
This year, the message was
basically the same, coming from
a group closer to home. Ken
Wade, who is seen on local Chris-
tian broadcasts reading from the
Scriptures, talking usually to a
Christian audience, produced a
tape, "'Me Third Temple."
Mr. Wade, who is based in
Southfield, interviewed Frank
Shallieu, a biblical historian. The
focus of their tape, which aired
locally in October, was a history
of the Temple, what they saw as
God's preparation of Israel for
rebuilding the Temple and the
coming of the Messiah.
The tape's and Mr. Wade's in-
tent were for Jews to spend more
time learning what they have
and what they must do for the
Messiah to come. There was no
intent here of conversion. Indeed,
Mr. Wade wants Jews to stay
Jewish. He says Jews need to
learn more about their own faith.
There is no argument here.
That a Christian has to tell us
this bit of information is a
shame. It's true, though. We, as
Jews, know precious little about
biblical history, about why we're
Jews, and where we're headed.
It's no wonder that at the ap-
proach of a missionary, many of
us and our children are lost
sheep. We can't answer the ques-
tions of a missionary who tells
us that his messiah is a "Jewish
carpenter." We can't argue dif-
ferent parts of our own Torah
that missionaries use to prove
that Jesus is a Jewish messiah.
So, it's little wonder that Jews
are among the leading faiths
that lose so many to missionar-
ies and cults.
A close friend and former "He-
brew Christian" once said that
what he learned the most from
groups such as Messianic Ju-
daism is that the level of singing,
of spiritual acceptance, though
often hollow, was enough to at-
tract Jews who didn't take the
time to research their own faith.
There is hardly anything
wrong with being excited about
Asking Jews
to do a better
job of being Jews.
one's faith and history. Howev-
er, the true measure comes in
self-identity. If a Jew is chal-
lenged by the seemingly deep-
er Jewish knowledge of a
Christian he encounters, the
hoped-for reaction is that the
Jew not follow the Christian to
a meeting or a Bible study. The
Jew — no matter if on a college
campus or in the community—
should hopefully seek to bolster
his own identity.
A friend once was invited to a
business partner's home for
what the partner called "Shab-
bat dinner." From the dinner,
the partner took my friend to his
"synagogue," a Messianic Jew-
ish congregation. The spiritual
leader of that group spent an in-
ordinate amount of time trying
to convince my friend to accept
Jesus in his life. He even told
him what to say.
Instead, my friend looked into
Judaism, questioned rabbis and
worked hard to learn the an-
swers he did not understand and
the questions he was afraid to
ask. If anything, his Messianic
associate turned him on to tra-
ditional Judaism.
The message we're getting
from individuals such as Ken
Wade and "The Bible Students"
is that we've got a beautiful civ-
ilization here. We should never
lose sight of that. Our rabbis and
teachers have been trying for
years to tell us that. Sometimes
it takes a Christian with good in-
tentions to get us to listen. ❑