By Lauren Markoe
(RNS) In a sign of the precarious state of Presbyterian-Jewish relations, the rabbi who heads the largest branch of Judaism in North America will appeal directly to the Presbyterian Church (USA) to step back from a series of critical resolutions aimed at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Invited to address the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Detroit, which begins next week, Rabbi Rick Jacobs said the Presbyterians have the choice of making things worse, or better.
“It’s a critical moment,” said Jacobs, head of the Union for Reform Judaism, representing about 1.9 million Jews. “Much is at stake.”
At issue are a handful of proposed statements on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories that will be considered at the biennial meeting of the 1.8 million-member Presbyterian denomination.
Some of the resolutions are new, and some have come before the General Assembly for years. All seek to highlight Palestinian suffering under Israel, which has occupied Palestinian lands in the West Bank since 1967, against international law.
Read more at http://www.religionnews.com/2014/06/04/embroiled-israel-presbyterians-invite-rabbi-pulpit/
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“It’s a critical moment,” said Jacobs, head of the Union for Reform Judaism, representing about 1.9 million Jews. “Much is at stake.”
It’s time now, Rabbi, to put your inherited animosity for Christians aside and recognize the One your forefathers hung at the stake as the Risen Lord and Savior!
It’s almost refreshing to see some good old-fashioned anti-Semitism expressed without the fig leaf of “anti-Zionism.” Nonetheless, I don’t think this is the kind of comment that Layman wants on its site.
Sorry, John!
But what’s so “critical” to the rabbi? It can’t be the Palestinian threat. The Jews have the poor wretches locked behind a 25-foot high barrier and holed up in the Gaza strip. The only water they get is when Israel turns on the tap. It can’t be BDS. As others have remarked, the Presbyterian share in HP stocks is a pittance. The printers in one of the planned Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank will make up for the lost Presbyterian investment. Critical is the lack of Jewish doctors in Heaven. People are dying up there with only a threesome of caretakers. So I applied a little proselytism. Better by Internet than in person. Sharing the gospel in public is illegal in Israel..
Can’t find Rick Jacobs in the schedule, but here’s dinner Monday, 5:30 in the Detroit Marriott Courtyard Cascade ($35)! “Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) Dinner:’Scouting Out the Promised Land—In Search of a True Narrative of Liberation’
Keynote Speaker: Rabbi Brant Rosen, congregational rabbi in Evanston, Ill., and co-president of Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council. A longtime activist for human rights and social justice, his book Wrestling in the Daylight: A Rabbi’s Path to Palestinian Solidarity was published in 2013 by Just World Books. Rabbi Rosen is a prominent partner in national interfaith discussions on Palestine and Israel and a contributor to IPMN’s new publication.” (221st General Assembly Schedule of Events, page 17)
But don’t take his word for it!
From the New York Times, June 6, 2014, page A7 “Israel Expands Settlements to Rebuke Palestinians”:
“Israel said it is going ahead with the planning and construction of hundreds of settlements… By presenting the new building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a punishment … of the Palestinians … Israel set itself further apart from international consensus… Israel’s housing minister, Uri Ariel … call(ed) them ‘an appropriate Zionist response to the establishment of the Palestinian terror government…. Experts said that the settlement announcement … signaled a breakdown pf coordination with the United States, Israel’s only ally…. Israel’s settlement construction has long been a source of friction with the Obama administration, which calls them illegitimate.”
2 Sam. 5:6-10:
“And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: …
(and) David took the strong hold of Zion… So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him.”
We’ve seen Isaiah 40:17 fulfilled in our day:
“The United Nations before (Israel) is nothing; and is counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.”
I heard him speak. It was a very good message. There was no animosity for Christians. http://www.jta.org/2014/06/19/news-opinion/united-states/jacobs-invites-presbyterian-leaders-to-join-him-in-netanyahu-meeting