March 8 – 2022

During the week covered by this review, we received 10 articles on the following subjects:

 

Book Reviews

Business

Archaeology

Biography

Anti-missionary Attitudes

Jewish/Christian relations

 

Book Reviews

Haaretz, March 1, 2022

This was a review of the book, “The Music Libel Against the Jews”, by Prof. Ruth HaCohen Pinczower. The book deals with a blood libel told in rhyme in the 14th century’s “The Canterbury Tales”, and for hundreds of years after, in an assortment of versions. The libel told of a young fatherless Christian boy who walked to school every day through a Jewish quarter, singing beautiful praises to the Virgin Mary. The Jews – who had no ear for melody, and especially not Christian melody, murdered the boy and hid his body. According to the book, the Jews were said to be musically obtuse as a punishment for their great sin of betraying Jesus. The book emphasizes the difference between the harmonious Christian prayer and the dissonant Jewish one, described as “in hostile Christian tongue: ‘howling and shouting’.” The author mentioned “The emancipation of the dissonance” (a concept that was put forth by Arnold Schoenberg to justify atonality), and encouraged the readers to open up to sounds that are considered to be “noise”, such as the Muslim muazzin for example, and allow them into their soul.

 

Business

Calcalist, March 1, 2022

This was an interview with Pat Gelsinger, the CEO of Intel, who is currently marking one year since taking office. Gelsinger returned to Intel, after the last CEO was fired after a short tenure, for one purpose – financial rehabilitation of the company. “Israel has become Intel’s second-largest operation after the U.S and we will continue to grow and expand here. I’ll be very surprised if we don’t do a few more acquisitions here. Intel acquired Mobileye, Habana, Cnvrg, Screenovate, and now Tower. We love Israel,” announced Gelsinger, adding that “As a Christian, first of all, Israel is a holy place for me, but we must remember that Intel is the company that put silicon into Silicon Valley. We’re also the company that helped to establish the Silicon Oasis here in Israel. We have been here for 48 years, I myself have been here 100 times and I think many refer to Intel as Israel and Israel as Intel. It is beyond the technological ecosystem. Every piece of technology in Israel has one degree of separation from Intel.”

 

Archaeology

Haaretz, March 1, 2022

Where did Saint Peter live? Was it Capernaum or Bethsaida? 1,700 years of Christian tradition placed him in Bethsaida, but a theory raised by Father Gaudence Orfali in 1921 suggested Capernaum instead. According to the article, this is “red-hot topic in Christian circles”, since R. Steven Notley, historian and Professor of Biblical Studies, believes he has uncovered crucial clues in the historic record, which, together with recent archeological discoveries, prove beyond any doubt that Peter was indeed from Bethsaida. A Byzantine Basilica dating to the late fifth or early sixth century was discovered in 2016 by archaeologist Prof. Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College and Prof. Notley in el-Araj, an archaeological site on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. They are quite confident that the basilica is the Church of the Apostles, which, according to Christian tradition, was built atop the house of Peter and Andrew, and the village is Bethsaida. Excavations continue and more light will be shed on the matter as they proceed.

 

Biography

Sixty Plus, March 1, 2022

This article was written in memory of Aaron Lustiger, who was born to a Jewish family in Poland, and was hidden in a monastery in France during WWII. Christianity affected him greatly, and at the age of 14, to the dismay of his family, he converted and changed his name to Jean-Marie. He remained a Jew by blood, “wore a kippah when he went to the synagogue and said the Kaddish every year for his mother… but he never took off the Christian cloak”. The writer, an Israeli Jew, grew up in a post-Holocaust home; her parents came to Israel before the war, but their families perished. The subject of the Holocaust was almost a taboo, and the only story that was allowed to be told was the story of this kind, smiling survivor, her father’s cousin, who came every year to celebrate the Passover with her parents. He was the Bishop of Orleans, the Archbishop of Paris and a candidate to become a Pope. He retired due to cancer and passed away in 2007. He was buried in Notre Dame Cathedral. A memorial garden was built in his honor in the Benedictine Abbey of Abu Ghosh. Inscribed on his memorial plaque are his own words:

“I was born Jewish.

I received the name

From my paternal grandfather, Aaron.

Having become Christian

By faith and by Baptism,

I have remained Jewish

As did the Apostles…”

 

Anti-missionary Attitudes

Hamodia, March 3, 2022; Shacharit, March 3, 2022; Hamevaser, March 4, 2022

Yad L’Achim is claiming that “Chosen People Ministries” requested assistance from its Christian supporters in absorbing Jewish families who escaped from the Ukraine, while openly declaring their missionary intentions. Yad L’Achim is further claiming that the organization is planning a mass baptism on the eve of Passover.

 

Hashavua B’Yerushalayim, March 3, 2022; Kol Hair Bnei Brak, March 3, 2022

As reported in our previous review, the office of the IDF Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, sent a letter to Yad L’Achim responding to the organization’s concerns that Christian missionaries are seeking to convert soldiers. The IDF Chief of Staff’s Office stated: “According to IDF orders, it is forbidden to distribute propaganda… In any event, these missionary organizations have no access to the army and hold no activities on army bases.” Yad L’Achim expressed satisfaction that the IDF Chief of Staff sees the “problem of Christian missionaries” operating in the IDF and that he is committed to punishing those who violate the rules.

 

Jewish/Christian relations

Israel Hayom, March 4, 2022

This article was written from war-torn Ukraine. In the midst of all the horror, a bright light shines, in the form of Tomasz Menko, a Polish priest of the “New Jerusalem” Evangelical church in Radzyn, Poland – home of the “Radziner Chassidic Dynasty”. Since the Russians began the invasion of the Ukraine, Tomasz recruited his congregants to help the Jewish refugees crossing the border into Poland. His connection to the Jewish people was inherited from his grandfather, whose mother died at birth and whose life was saved by a Jewish neighbour, who nursed him. Together with his wife, Tomasz seeks any opportunity to help the Jewish people. Since 2005, he has been active in creating ties between Polish and Israeli people, and even created a sister-city agreement between Radzyn and Kiryat Motzkin. In 2014, a few dozen refugees came to him from the Crimean Peninsula, and he gave them all a sanctuary. He is very concerned and fears that if the Belarusian army joins the battle, the borders will be closed, and the refugee situation will worsen.