My dear friends,
Today it is my honor to introduce you to my friend and colleague Dr. Faydra Shapiro. She is Jewish like myself, but unlike myself she is an Orthodox Jew. Faydra directs the Galilee Center for Studies in Jewish-Christian Relations at the Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, in northern Israel. She grew up in Canada and completed her PhD at McMaster University. For many years she was a university professor in a department of Religion and Culture in Canada. Her wonderful family made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) several years ago and she now directs the first program of its kind in Israel. She is also a proud mother of six young children. I invited her to contribute to our Jewish Studies for Christians study group on regular basis because I am persuaded that her voice, in looking at the Christian movement today as an Orthodox Jew, offers a much-needed perspective. I know that she will offer a friendly, at times corrective but balanced insight about Judaism that Christians need to hear.
Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg
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ntroductions are funny things – sometimes it’s what is unsaid, what is assumed, that can tell you the most. Several years ago I gave a talk at a church in North America about Israel and Jewish-Christian relations. The listeners were very encouraging and as the talk drew to a close I felt I had really done a superb job of teaching and inspiring the audience. Until the moment when one elderly gentleman stood up to ask me a question. He said: “Thank you very much, Dr. Shapiro. That was a great talk. But one thing you didn’t really speak about was the role of your faith in Jesus Christ”. “Oh, dear”, I thought, my heart sinking. Clearly I had done a brilliant job, but I had missed an essential point. Since that day I take the time to state it plainly and for the record: I am a Jew. Admittedly a Jew with an out-of-the-ordinary interest in Christianity and the New Testament, but still, simply, an “Orthodox” Jew.
That doesn’t necessarily matter much, but it’s always useful to know where a person is coming from.
Today I want to discuss an issue that comes up often in my conversations with Christian – almost always evangelical – friends and students. This is the matter of “having a relationship with God”, and the belief that this is one of the benefits of the Jesus path. While I do recognize that the whole rhetoric of “relationship not religion” is a product of 1970s popular American evangelicalism, it is an attiude that has important implications even if it might not be mobilized by many Christians. Now again, let’s pay attention to the unsaid. Having a relationship with God as opposed to what? The other (clearly undesirable) option is “religion”. So with Jesus one can ostensibly have something true and immediate – a personal relationship with God, whereas Jews only have “religion”.
Let’s unpack this a little. “Relationship” is understood to refer to something intimate, experiential, mystical, personal, friendly, deep, spiritual. “Religion” is ascribed the associations of being rule-oriented, man-made, legalistic, formal, distanced and superficial. Given these resonances, clearly having a relationship is something desirable whereas religion is something to progress past. And it is not uncommon for Christian readings of the gospels to assume precisely this – that what Jesus offered people was a personal (intimate, deep) relationship with God specifically in distinction to the Jews who only offered (formal, sterile) religion.
You can imagine the impact that this kind of slogan has for Christian understandings of Judaism.
It’s also interesting how this emphasis resonates with the current wave of people who insist that they are “spiritual, not religious.”
The fact is that Judaism takes the idea of the individual’s relationship with God very seriously. It is obvious to Jews that both fear of God and love of God are important, and that emphasizing one over the over leads to an unhealthy imbalance. But the Jewish love of God and personal relationship with Him ends up looking quite different than that of contemporary evangelical Christianity for several reasons.
First, most Jews find popular evangelical lyrics and expressions like “My Saviour, my closest friend” and “Jesus take the wheel” to be far too casually intimate with the Holy One Blessed be He, to be comfortable. The concern is that this approach casts the sovereign, powerful, Master of the Universe into a being dangerously much like ourselves.
Second, Jews believe that doing His will is the highest expression of love, gratitude and clinging to God. In short, good relationships are expressed in action. Because performing mitzvoth (commandments) often looks so foreign to outsiders, it is very difficult for Christians to recognize things like keeping the dietary laws or Sabbath observance for what it is supposed to be – a declaration of love for God.
I believe that the ideal for both Judaism and Christianity is a balance and an integration of heart and hands, relationship and religion, informal and formal, spontaneous and fixed. Our challenge is to look for the unseen behind the slogan, and behind our assumptions – to learn to see the “spiritual” in Judaism and the role of “practice” or “holy living” in Christianity.
Soon Jews around the world will be marking the holiest day of the year – yom kippur (the Day of Atonement). It is a powerful day, dedicated to intensive prayer and fasting, with some of the most profound and moving liturgy of the Jewish tradition. Several times on that awesome day we will describe our relationship to God with these words:
For we are your people, and you are our God.
We are your children, and you are our Father.
We are your servants, and you are our Lord.
We are your community, and you are our Portion.
We are your heritage, and you are our Lot.
We are your flock, and you are our Shepherd.
We are your vineyard, and you are our Keeper.
We are your work, and you are our Maker.
We are your companions, and you are our Beloved.
We are your treasure, and you are our Friend.
We are your people, and you are our King.
We are your betrothed, and you are our Betrothed.
I know this is a comment from a couple of years ago, but if you are able to see this response, or for others who may come across this, a great book outlining many of the answers to this is, “Why the Jews Rejected Jesus,” written by David Klinghoffer. Excellent book.
Yes, it is an old post which I had missed until tonight, almost May a year later, & I am adding to the comments!
I liked Dr. Shapiro’s post very much: she captures w/clarity some of our dividing lines of perception. However, I, now worshiping in a more liturgical tradition of Christianity, have experienced that concern from other of my Christian friends of “the personal relationship” in my faith life. So it is not unique to the Jewish/Christian relationship or understanding, I don’t think. Frankly, I’m always rather amused, having lived in “both camps”!
The special assuredness that Jews enjoy, which encompasses the personal, is as Covenant graced people of G-d. Following the Law in the right spirit, seems to me, is as LOVING obedience rather than rote, & would be the ideal for a people or individual in our spiritual relationship, as much as humanly possible, w/God’s grace & mercy, Jew or Christian.
I did like that symbolic analogy/imagery of Bethany in Sept. 2014, @ (paraphrase) reverencing the Almighty God & experiencing the mercy covering by God, like the cloak covering of the gentile Ruth by Boaz.
Many other interesting comments & as one person stated, took on “a life of its own”! But truly wonderful to have such a forum. Generally, one hears the weekly sermon (if that) & that is the end of reflection or discussion. It has become more acceptable/comfortable to discuss even politics than the questions of God!
Also, the utube clip was inspiring.
Thank you, Dr. Shapiro & Dr. Eli. 🙂
Dear Bethany, my response is in reference to your comments on Sept. 18, 2014. You said that we as Christians had a different experience from that of the Jews – we did not have a Mt. Sinai experience. As I learn more about the Hebrew scriptures and also the Feasts of the LORD given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, I also have come to understand how these Feasts are a picture of Jesus (Yeshua) and how He fulfilled the Spring Feasts and will also fulfill the Fall Feasts. We as Christians celebrate Pentecost which in actuality is the Feast of Shavuot….commemorating God giving the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai. I believe God gave the written Word to Moses and completed that ‘giving’ by imparting the Holy Spirit on that same day (Feast of the LORD – Shavuot) so many years later. We receive the Holy Spirit when we place our faith in the atoning work of Jesus on the Cross, are given His power to live a life holy (separated) unto God through His resurrection, and His Living Word is placed in the inward parts of our being. Hence, I believe we have had the same and yet distinct experience as those who received Torah on Mt. Sinai.
If I have this wrong, or if there are others of you who might add to this comment, I welcome your thoughts. Shalom : – )
By the Way….my daughter’s name is also Bethany : – )
Shalom, Sheila. This is an old post so I don’t how much continual engagement it will get :-). But I wanted to thank you for your contribution to this discussion.
In doing so, he undid the linking of faith to obedience in the New Testament. As noted above, Jesus repeatedly said to love him is to obey his commandments, that is to do mizvoth. As a Catholic, I submit, respectfully, that de-emphasizing doing what he commands, is an incomplete reading of the scriptures. As to “faith” vs. “religion” I believe this comes from Karl Barth. His idea was that faith is a supernatural gift from God; whereas “religion” is humans self-made attempt to reach God which must ultimately result in false worship. Again, I think something is lost here. We can only respond to God’s gift of grace as what we are, humans. I hope this perspective helps. Thank you Dr Shapiro
It seems to me that something is missing in this discussion, that is the perspective gained from looking at the origin of this “relationship” vs. “obedience” and “faith” vs. “religion.” It is good to keep in mind that Evangelical Christianity is part of the tradition that grew out of protesting against the Church of the 15th century. One of the main issues was indulgences. This in turn was tied to ideas of merits and expiation of guilt. Luther and Calvin were discovering ways to break away from these ideas. Luther’s three axioms, only scripture, only grace and only faith formed the basis of this break. He emphasized faith to the exclusion of works to undercut the existing order.
Me interesa saber y conocer más de todo esto. Pero quisiera que me mandaran todo en español ya que yo no se nada de inglés. Por su atención muchas gracias. Dios los bendiga mucho. Atentamente. Omar Figueroa Torres.
BS”D
Shalom Omar.
puedes buscar este mismo artículo en español.
Guíate por la bandera en la parte superior.
Bendiciones!
Dr. Shapiro, Thanks you for being willing to take your time to help those outside the Jewish faith understand it better. I assume you may be aware, but there is a not insignificant number of Christians that do not hold to the trinity doctrine, and therefore have perhaps a bit more understanding of the Jewish perspective. It is my sincere belief when confronted with the reality that the laws theybattrbute to Moses will be enforced in the Millennium, they have to either agree these laws are from G_d, not a man or their entire religious construct fails. And the ones I see them right most about are the Sabbath, clean meats, and the Holy Days. Just my two cents worth.
Fight, not right
Shalom RJ Sim !
Gostei muito do seu comentário sobre Abraão e o Rei Davi, para mim o SENHOR chamou Abraão de amigo pela lealdade do patriarca,um amigo de verdade é leal,em uma época politeísta Abraão se mostrou leal ao ETERNO,por isso foi chamado amigo de D-US.
Já o Rei Davi,acredito que foi chamado de um homem segundo o coração de D-US,pela sua intimidade profunda,sua sensibilidade com o SENHOR,quando cortou um pedaço da manto do Rei Saul, o texto diz: seu coração pesou,ou seja o Rei Davi, tinha um coração alinhado com o SENHOR, ele foi acima de tudo um adorador incondicional,esse amor do Rei Davi pelo SENHOR está expresso nos salmos,Davi atribuía tudo em sua vida vitórias ao SENHOR.
Some have confused good gospel circumstances as “savable”. Is accepting Jesus into your heart your works or God’s work? My heart was tested prior to hearing the gospel. When was your heart tested? Repentance prepared my heart for God’s truth. (Matthew 3:3) The Commandments did exactly what God intended them to do – brought me to faith so I could be justified by “faith” in Christ (Gal 3:24). The Tablets were God’s work (Ex 32:16) John 6:29 says Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” Can we trust God’s work? Those he predestined (freewill) he called (Rom 8:29). Does God call only those in good gospel circumstances, or can he draw us near?
I think this thread of comments has developed a life that is differennt from the original from Dr Faydra, a life with its own aenda. Is that fair?
But I would still be interested in a comment made before [16 Sep by PatriceMarker-Zahler] , that Abraham is God’s friend and David is a man after God’s own heart. About Abraham, we can read in 2 Chronicles 20.7 that a prayer includes Jehoshapat’s words, calling ‘Abraham your friend’. The remark about David in in “New Testament” not “Old Testament”. I would still like to hear from Dr Faydra a response to the idea of Abraham as friend and David as after God’s heart. Dr Faydra, please your perspecitve would interest me very much.