During the week covered by this review, we received 8 articles on the following subjects:
Bible
Messianic Judaism (individuals)
Christianity
Christian Zionism
Christianity and the Holocaust
Bible
Haaretz, March 15, 2020; Haaretz, March 17, 2020
All sixteen of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments purchased by the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. have been revealed to be forgeries. In contrast to the complete scrolls kept at the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum, which are made of parchment or papyrus, the fragments are made of old leather. The originals were found in the Qumran caves in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd, and in the 1950s, were purchased by an antiques dealer in Bethlehem. In the 1970s, it was forbidden to take any scrolls or fragments outside of Israel, but in 2002, seventy fragments turned up in an international antiques market and were purchased by the CEO of Hobby Lobby, who is also the founder of the Museum of the Bible. Four years ago, speculation arose as to the authenticity of these fragments, and the Museum of the Bible hired an external group to investigate. The group put together a 200-page report which determined that all sixteen fragments were fake. One article noted that it is extremely difficult to prove who is behind the forgeries, and to know whether the middlemen knowingly cooperated.
Messianic Judaism (individuals)
Modi’in News, March 12, 2020
Bob Knight, who lived in Modi’in, was murdered by a man from Lod who was part of Bob’s Messianic Jewish congregation. Bob and his wife, Fruma, had gone to the man’s house after the man had sent a WhatsApp message asking for help. The man had been put on psychiatric medication that may have altered his sense of reality, the article said. Bob and Fruma made their way over to help, when the man apparently suffered a psychotic episode and attacked the two with a rock. Fruma was badly injured and taken to the hospital, but Bob was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 76. Friends of the couple said that the two often volunteered to help anyone who needed assistance. Others in the article shared similar sentiments regarding Bob and Fruma’s generosity. The attacker, 27, has three children for whom Bob and Fruma were like grandparents. His main accusation against the Knights, the article said, was that he was being persecuted by Messianic Jews.
Christianity
Star Darom, March 13, 2020
This was a piece about the identity of Satan. The article began with a citation of Revelation 13:18, noting that Satan is often seen as a mythological evil character, depicted sometimes as an angel, a demon, or a god who is opposed to the good Moral God. He appears in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Koran. In The Book of Revelation, Satan is depicted as a dragon with seven heads and ten horns, but Professor Heinz-Eisen argues (in a Netflix series called “The Story of God with Morgan Freeman”) that Satan is actually meant to represent a human being. Heinz-Eisen said John was actually talking about Emperor Nero, who after the great fire of Rome, blamed Christians for the fire in order to persecute them. Christians were thrown to the lions, burned alive, and crucified. Heinz-Eisen said the dragon represents the Roman Empire, the seven heads representing the seven emperors, and the ten horns representing the ten governors or vassals. “Nero Caesar” also adds up to 666 in gematria.
Christian Zionism
Tzafon 1, March 13, 2020
A delegation of Israel-loving German Christians arrived in Ma’alot-Tarshisha in order to renovate an elderly center and make it more accessible. The group went into self-quarantine for the first ten days of their visit, and then spent the last four days of their quarantine beginning the renovation work, as the center was not being used by Israelis at the time.
Christians and the Holocaust
HaMevasser, March 17, 2020
This piece had to do with the Vatican opening up its archives from World War II. The article quoted Rabbi Avraham Krieger, who stated that he believed that despite the opening of the archives, there will be materials the Vatican will prevent access to. He said that only in a few years will we know if the Vatican has made all the materials in the archives available.