I’ve criticized Jews for Judaism in the past for not really producing any new material. They seem to get volunteers and members of their community to simply repeat talking points while living off donations from Jews who don’t realize this or know any better.
Yesterday I had an encounter with a young Portuguese soul on Twitter. She has left the religion of her youth which sounds like she never had much of an attachment to, and is in the process of converting to Orthodox Judaism. You can go to my Twitter page to see our encounter.
My recent trip to Ukraine was interesting. One thing that I found interesting was how anti-Russian the Ukrainians were. Aren’t they brother and sister? Well, yes they are though to Ukraine’s defense the big brother has often acted horribly toward its younger sibling. Anti-Russian, anti-communist and anti-Stalin sentiment is at least understandable from a Ukrainian point of view. What is not understandable was their sympathy for the Nazi Third Reich. I found a very “If only” attitude toward Hitler and the Nazis regarding the outcome of the second World War. According to a Ukrainian friend of mine, this new mindset has emerged only after the “Revolution of Dignity” in 2014.
There is one more argument that is sometimes made about the Catholic Church being responsible for the Holocaust. Although the Vatican never called for and even opposed extermination, doesn’t the participation of individual Catholics make the Church at least partly responsible.
This post is a follow up to the last post where I dealt with the attempted slight of hand of David Kertzer to say that anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism are essentially the same thing. One popular charge leveled against the Church is that while it isn’t directly responsible for the holocaust, it played a role by it’s previous actions by spreading hatred and implementing the policies of segregation and other milder forms of persecution in past centuries.
As someone who studies Church history, the name David Kertzer has come up frequently. He’s a Jewish historian who writes about Jewish relations with the Catholic Church. The time period he mostly covers is from the fall of Napoleon to the Second World War. I used to think that he was of bad motive. Some Jews talk about Church history as solely a way for bashing the Church while completely ignoring the facts. Rabbi Tovia Singer comes to mind in this regard. I used to think that Kertzer was like this but I now no longer believer that he is.
I’ve started to notice something about Jewish history and I find it quite appalling. I find this in Jewish books, articles and other writings. We can all agree that the holocaust was an extremely tragic event in human history. Jews certainly know this more than anyone. Sadly, it has deeply affected the way that Jews think and do history.
A modern Passover Seder without the lamb – See Exodus 12
What was the religion of Jesus Christ? Most Christians will give one or two answers. Those answers are Judaism or Second Temple Judaism. The Muslim will say that Jesus practiced Islam. I believe that all three of these answers are incorrect. I won’t be dealing with the argument that Jesus was a Muslim but I will dispute the fact that Jesus practiced Judaism or Second Temple Judaism.
A passage that most of my readers are probably familiar with is Deuteronomy 18 which gives a prophecy of a Prophet like Moses to come. In the past, I’ve written about the Muslim interpretation of this passage and talked about why it can’t be Muhammad. Here’s that post:
Yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day. There is a lot of tension between the Jewish community and the Catholic community these days. This is especially evident amongst Israeli Jews and Polish Catholics. American Rabbi Shmuley Boteach shared a meal with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The account can be read here: