The Jewish Tragedy
I am in the middle of reading "The History of the Jews," a book whose title is fairly self explanatory. It covers the chronological history of the Jews, from ancient times until today. So far I have plowed through about 300 pages, meaning that I have reached the 1600's. The book is pretty fascinating. I had not really been aware of the whole Messianic culture and belief system and where it came from. It also delves into the growth of the Kahabbalistic mystical movement, of which I knew only bits and pieces. I had never really thought that Jews had had false messiahs come along, but it turns out that they had a couple really big ones that we never hear about. The book covers everything from Jewish culture, to theology, politics, commerce and of course the ever present persecution.
As a Christian I have to cringe when I read this book. Of all of the pain that the Jewish people have suffered during the past 1500 years, Christians are responsible for most of it. Even the early church, after the fall of Jerusalem, did its fair share for spreading anti-Semitic sentiment. Even church fathers such as Jerome, and early popes preached against the Jewish "rebellion." I dont even have to mention the middle ages, when the Jews were tossed from one country to the next, only to get expelled as well. Did you realize that the Spanish expulsion of the Jews in 1492 (which was the largest and most influential), kicked 200,000 people out of spain in a period of 6 months. Even today that is an enormous amount of people, but back then... it was extraordinary. All over the world, Jews were killed for the "sake of Christ", especially in the Crusades.
I would like to think that the reformation did well to bring the Jewish people into a favorable light, but it did no such thing. Many of the people that we hold dear today as reformers were violent anti-Semites. Luther himself said that Synagogues should be burnt down and the ashes trampled on. He even got two cities to expel the Jews that lived within their midst. Now we think that we are past all of that, but let us not forget of the hundreds of thousands of Jews that were gassed, gagged and shot, less than 70 years ago. No, the world still hates the Jews, and I cannot find a reason that makes any sense. No group of people has ever suffered what they have.
As a Christian I have to cringe when I read this book. Of all of the pain that the Jewish people have suffered during the past 1500 years, Christians are responsible for most of it. Even the early church, after the fall of Jerusalem, did its fair share for spreading anti-Semitic sentiment. Even church fathers such as Jerome, and early popes preached against the Jewish "rebellion." I dont even have to mention the middle ages, when the Jews were tossed from one country to the next, only to get expelled as well. Did you realize that the Spanish expulsion of the Jews in 1492 (which was the largest and most influential), kicked 200,000 people out of spain in a period of 6 months. Even today that is an enormous amount of people, but back then... it was extraordinary. All over the world, Jews were killed for the "sake of Christ", especially in the Crusades.
I would like to think that the reformation did well to bring the Jewish people into a favorable light, but it did no such thing. Many of the people that we hold dear today as reformers were violent anti-Semites. Luther himself said that Synagogues should be burnt down and the ashes trampled on. He even got two cities to expel the Jews that lived within their midst. Now we think that we are past all of that, but let us not forget of the hundreds of thousands of Jews that were gassed, gagged and shot, less than 70 years ago. No, the world still hates the Jews, and I cannot find a reason that makes any sense. No group of people has ever suffered what they have.
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