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| Ambassador Mike Huckabee and YU president, Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman (YU News) |
Sadly, Yechiel’s formation of the International
Fellowship of Christians and Jews, created to foster better relations
between the two communities, brought condemnation from many Orthodox Jewish
leaders. Which in turn caused a number of them to boycott him institutionally.
That caused Yechiel much grief, but it didn’t stop him from continuing to
cultivate relationships so strong that he was able to raise many millions of
dollars for the State of Israel - no strings attached.
And yet, he was still considered persona non grata in most
mainstream Orthodox institutions. He passed away a few years ago still carrying
the emotional pain of what felt like a de facto excommunication.
His organization lives on and is now led by his daughter.
First, the disclaimer. I did not approve of all of Yechiel’s
policies with respect to cultivating that relationship. Some of them, I
believe, may have crossed some Halachic lines. But overall, I believe he got a
bum deal for doing some truly great work for Klal Yisroel.
What was troubling his detractors was understandable.
Centuries of persecution by Christianity in all of its forms had led to
pogroms, expulsions, and even death. Culminating with the Holocaust. No less
understandable was the well-founded suspicion that any supposed ‘good will’ on
the part of Christian ministers was solely for the purpose of ‘saving our
souls’ by convincing us that without believing in the divine nature of their
founder, we would inherit eternal damnation.
That was certainly more the case in the past, and still is
in certain cases. But what Yechiel came to realize after decades-long personal
relationships with numerous Christian ministers was that their love for Israel
was truly genuine. As was their view of the Jewish people. And for the most
part had nothing to do with a desire that we convert. Or their end-times
theology.
Even though they do believe in that theology, and of
course, they would like us to see their ‘truth’. But that was clearly not what
motivates them. Preacher after preacher urges their flock to listen to the
‘Old’ Testament promises that those who bless the Jewish people will themselves
be blessed. And that the Land of Israel truly belongs to the Jewish people as
promised by God multiple times in scripture.
Gone, for the most part, is the old ‘replacement theology’
that held the Jews lost their standing as the ‘Chosen People’ and were replaced
by Christians. Although there are still some radical right wing Christians that
still cling to that theology, it is clearly not mainstream among Evangelical
preachers and their flock.
We do have to be careful, though. There still are some who
do try to convert us as the reason of their newfound friendship with us. But
most no longer see it that way.
This is not just my opinion. Nor is it based solely on what
Yechiel told me. My own observations of sermons delivered by a number of
tele-evangelists (which predated Yechiel’s involvement) have corroborated these
views
And it isn’t just me. Or just Yechiel. Rabbi Yitzchok
Adlerstein, in his role as Director of Interfaith Affairs, for the Simon
Wiesenthal Center came to the same conclusion.
This new Christian approach toward the Jewish people took on
even more significance in 2006 when Pastor John Hagee founded CUFI (Christians
United for Israel) - the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States.
The decades-long friendship Hagee and Orthodox Rabbi Aryeh
Scheinberg of Congregation
Rodfei Sholom in San Antonio served as the foundational bedrock for
modern Christian Zionism in America.
I’ve listened to some of his fiery pro-Israel and pro-Jewish
sermons, and they clearly had nothing to do with trying to convert us. In the
meantime, Hagee has raised millions of dollars solely from Christians - for
Israel. No strings attached.
All of which brings me to what is happening later today.
Yeshiva University…
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