Anti-Semitism among us today

Joseph Steinberg | Features | culture watch

Date posted: 1 Jan 2023

David Baddiel | photo: Channel 4

JEWS DON’T COUNT
By David Baddiel
Channel 4. 56 mins. First shown 21/11/22

As a Jewish believer in Jesus, and CEO of International Mission to Jewish People (www.imjp.org), I was interested to see what comedian David Baddiel had to say about the marginalisation of Jewish voices and the massively growing problem of anti-Semitism in the world today.

As a Christian, be prepared to be shocked by some of the language used by Baddiel and the other famous Jewish people he interviews. However, given the fact they are in no way Christian, and represent a broad swathe of Jewish backgrounds, one can understand how their deep frustration and fear at times comes out in what they say and how they say it.

Baddiel does an excellent job at presenting and moving the subject along – carrying the viewer with him. His arguments are mixed with his and his guest’s personal experience, and are honest, simple, and easy to grasp. Baddiel carefully demonstrates that in our highly sensitised world, the only acceptable racism that remains is that which has long been held against the Jewish people.

Baddiel is right. And this same prejudice against Jewish people exists in the church, alongside a resistance to taking anti-Semitism seriously. I am not saying that many Christians openly hate or blame the Jewish people for all the world’s woes the way say, Kanye West has on social media. But I can’t count the number of times a well-meaning Christian has had to inform me that ‘Well, the Jews did kill Christ’ – with ‘Christ killers’ being the main rallying cry for those who feel Jewish people are now God-forsaken. And as Martin Luther wrote in his book The Jews and their Lies, ‘Jewish people are not fit to be a slave’s slave.’ Meanwhile, that book was used by the Nazis as justification for the Holocaust.

The worst irony

Anti-Semitism by those who are Christian is the worst irony. Think about it: we know Jesus was Jewish, the first Christians were Jewish, the first missionaries were Jewish, the New Testament was predominantly written by Jewish Christians. But consistently throughout church history – from the first Councils to large Christian gatherings today, Jewish Christian input has been almost entirely excluded or at best severely marginalised and the Jewish people often maligned.

This marginalisation created deep-rooted feelings among non-Jewish Christians that gave birth to the European expulsion of Jewish people (England being the first to do so), resulting in horrors like the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the pogroms, and the Holocaust. All of these were fuelled by Christian anti-Semitism. That is the world that Jewish people have had to exist in for nearly 2,000 years.

Jewish experiences of persecution in the past cause justifiable fear of the future. This same anxiety was handed down to me as I was reminded by my parents that the pogroms took our home and possessions away from our family and forced us to flee as refugees to the USA in the 1890s. And this is the same experience and fear that Baddiel and his guests share on the show. What is coming next for us Jews? Will the cycle soon repeat itself?

I find it painful to read the Apostle Paul’s words, admonishing the Gentile church to always make sure to share Jesus with Jewish people. Because, to be honest, I see very little care or concern given over to that responsibility by most churches.

In fact, what I do see are Christians arguing about whether Romans 1:16’s statement ‘To the Jew first’ is a chronological statement of fact as to how the gospel went forth, or if it is an actual command to preach to Jewish people first. Pragmatically, I don’t think it matters which – my response is simply: ‘Share the gospel with us first or last – I don’t care – just make sure you share it with us!’

It would seem Baddiel is right, Jews don’t count when we think about racism. And, unfortunately, in the church the same can be said – especially when it comes to Jewish evangelism. The hard truth is, when we don’t care about a people group – or worse, despise them – then they don’t count when it comes to making sure they ever get an opportunity to hear of the only One who can save them.

I pray the church will have the courage to humbly listen to Jewish voices, act against anti-Semitism, and acknowledge that, with less than 2% believing in Jesus, Jewish people are an unreached people group. If we can do that, maybe more Jewish people like me can hear the gospel and be saved.