A close Christian friend reached out to me last week with a message.
He said, I see millions of people marching and celebrating the murder of Jews. I saw people marching on October 8th chanting Gas the Jews. I saw 60% increase in Jewish hate. I saw Jews assaulted on campuses.
He said, Eli, I read stories from the Holocaust and, I just want you to know, I would hide you if things get bad for Jews.
I read his message three times before responding.
I also grew up on stories of the Holocaust. I remember my grandmother’s escape from Germany and the guilt when her entire family was gassed and worked to death, and my wife’s grandfather talking about the Polish Christian family who hid him under their barn. I grew up dreaming of Jews rounded up, and hiding in the forest.
I read the stories of Roman killing and enslavement of Jerusalem Jews 2,000 years ago, pogroms of the Middle Ages, the killing of 4,000 Jews by Granada Muslims in 1066, Crusaders, and Spanish Inquisition. I read about the massacres in Baghdad (1828), Iran (1839), Damascus, Yemen, Hebron, Safad, and Jerusalem (1929).
October 7 stirred up these stories for every Jew.
But, I also grew up on other stories.
I grew on stories of Hannah Senesh, who parachuted into Nazi Yugoslavia, and the Bielski brothers who formed a partisan group and fought the Nazis like lions. I heard the stories of Jews who volunteered for Allied forces, and Warsaw Ghetto warriors who fought the Nazi machine to a stalemate for 63 days. The stories of tank commanders in the Yom Kippur war, and police women in Sderot.
When I hear that people taking Mezuzahs off their doors, tucking Star of David necklaces in their shirts, and taking off their Kipas I remember these stories.
No, there will not be any hiding. Our generation is different. We know that Jews were hated when weak and strong, for being poor and for being rich. We were killed because we didn’t have a State and because we have a State. We have simultaneously been accused of not contributing to society and controlling the world order. Jewish hate has transcended class, politics, and generations. It is the only issue the far Right and far Left agree on.
That is why so many Jews are speaking out publicly on this platform and others. They are flooding gun stores and organizing to fight discrimination on campus.
This generation is not hiding.
I will not take my Kipah Off. I will not remove my Mezuzah. I will not stop speaking out.
To my Christian brother, I deeply appreciate your offer, but, I will never accept that hiding is an option. I ask that you join me in speaking out so that there will never again be a need to hide your Jewish friends.
Shabbat shalom to all.
בּרוך השׁם
Beautiful family
Is it also your dream to negotiate peace in the middle east? Now that we are both no longer slaves to employers, we can do it!
I agree to keep speaking out for world justice. Joshua 1:9, Proverbs 29:25 & Yeshayahu 35:4 in Tenakh provide courage. I'd recommend blessing {Bereshit 12:3} your Christian friends who offer to help vs any predisposed stubborn spirit I once carried. {Deuteronomy 9:6} Many Christians have helped my plight more than unrighteous non Messianic Jewish people, on balance. It's a shonda to SEE something and say nothing. Leviticus 19:18 says to love thy neighbor, which includes Palestinians and a referral when a fellow Jewish brother asks. Like Ezekiek 3:16-21 teaches, do [y]our part warning wicked war-mongering global actors or bankers that firms like Gibson Dunn support, or at best NOT-SEE. The Israeli & USA governments are compromised at best, corrupted and cursed at worst. I study the blessings and curses in the full bible we swear on in American courts. The important ones that you may want to review in addition to the aforementioned Bereshit/Genesis 12:3 are found in Bereshit/Genesis parsha 3, Deuteronomy parsha 28 and Matthew 27:24-25 which is a point blank generational curse like what's referenced in Exodus 20:5 (10 commandment chapter), 34:7 & Numbers 14:18. The goød thing is we can turn blessings into curses {Genesis/Bereshit 50:20} through intercession prayer {Daniel chapter/parsha 9} with the power of agreement {Matthew 18:18-19} you and I; Å•MEN.
Shabbat Shalom ✌️☮️🕊
Geoff ± Yeshayahu 61:1
Am Yisrael Chai