Personal Reflections on the Reactions of Evangelical Christians to Gibson's Film:
Dear Friends,

There is a story of two Russian men, Ivan and Peter, who were drinking in a tavern. After many drinks, Ivan said to his friend, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter answered, "Of course I love you!"

Ivan said, "If you love me, can you tell me what's causing me pain?"

Peter replied, "How can I know what's causing you pain?"

Ivan then said, "If you don't know what's causing me pain, then how can you truly say that you love me?"

In recent years, many Evangelical Christians have been telling the Jewish people, "We love you." And when it comes to the serious danger facing the State of Israel and its citizens, many of them have been making an effort to understand our pain. In fact, the majority of Evangelical Christians have been standing with Israel against her enemies. They remember the Divine promise to our father, Abraham, concerning the chosen nation that would emerge from him:

"I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you, I will curse; and through you, all the families of the earth will be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).

They also recognize that the Loving One promised us, "I will betroth you to Me forever" (Hosea 2:21), and they are inspired by other Divine promises to our people, including the following prophecy: "I will return the captivity of My people, Israel, and they will rebuild desolate cities and settle them; they will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will cultivate gardens and eat their fruits. I will plant them upon their land and they will never be uprooted from their land that I have given them" (Amos 9:14,15).

There is another area, however, where many Evangelical Christians do not yet understand our pain: the pain of having experienced centuries of anti-Jewish hatred which resulted from the teachings of Christian preachers in Europe. In general, many Christians have little knowledge of how Christian scriptures and teachings were used in order to encourage the persecution and the killing of Jewish men, women, and children. For example, there were "Passion Plays" which portrayed Jewish men and women calling for the death of Jesus. Since Christians deified Jesus, the Jews were viewed as the killers of their "Lord"; thus, when the play was finished, Christian preachers would lead their followers in brutal attacks on the local Jewish population. Instead of blessing the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, these Christian preachers would curse them. And as the following story reminds us, this hatred and cursing continued until the modern era:

Professor Harry James Cargas is a Christian historian and the author of many books, including, "A Christian Response to the Holocaust." He tells the story of how Father Tiso, a priest who became president of Slovakia, encouraged the murder of Jews; moreover, he loaded up 20,000 Jewish men, women, and children for deportation to Auschwitz. Rabbi Michole Ber Weissmandl managed to escape from the train and made it to the residency of the Papal Nuncio, the Vatican's ambassador to the Slovak republic. He pleaded with the Nuncio to pressure Father Tiso to stop the trains and thereby save the lives of thousands of little innocent children. The Nuncio replied, "There is no such thing as an innocent Jewish child! You will all pay with your blood for the killing of our Savior!" (This story also appears in the book "Once Upon a Shtetl" by the Jewish historian, Chaim Shapiro.)

Since many Christians are unaware of this history, they are unable to understand Jewish concern about Mel Gibson's new movie about the death of Jesus. In fact, everyone who has reviewed it so far admits that it is a very emotional and gory film - one which is filled with violence. As the Associated Press reported on Feb 15, 2004, "Gibson, who funded, directed and co-wrote the upcoming movie, said he wanted the movie to be shocking and extreme." Gibson added, "It's very violent and if you don't like it, don't go, you know?"

Gibson's gory film portrays crowds of Jews calling for the death of Jesus and physically attacking him. Ann Hornaday, who reviewed the film for the Washington Post (Feb. 25), wrote that the Jewish leaders and their followers are portrayed as "grotesque and monstrous." In addition, reviews in Newsweek and other publications point out that the film puts the burden of the blame for his death on the Jews and not on the Romans who actually killed him. The film gives the impression that the Romans only killed him due to Jewish pressure. In one major scene, reports the Washington Post (Feb. 17), "The Jewish leader Caiaphas is insistent that Jesus die, while the Roman governor Pontius Pilate is portrayed as a sympathetic character who only reluctantly gives in to the mob's bloodlust."

Is there a current reason for the Jewish people to be concerned about Gibson's film? According to the latest survey by the Anti-Defamation League, 25% of Americans still believe that the Jewish people are responsible for the death of "their Lord" - the crime of "deicide"; moreover, on the day the film was released, a church in Denver called "The Lovingway United Pentecostal Church" posted a sign that said, "Jews killed the Lord Jesus" (J.T.A. Feb 26). To their credit, some Denver Christians joined with the Anti-Defamation League in a public protest against the sign. I am not surprised, however, that such a sign was displayed, for when I was growing up in Rockaway Beach, New York, a number of Protestant and Catholic boys would ask me, "Why did you kill our Lord?" Gibson himself belongs to a traditional Catholic group that rejects the Vatican reforms which eliminated this traditional Christian accusation against the Jewish people. Another reason for serious concern is that the "virus" of anti-Semitism is once again spreading to countries all over the world, including Christian countries with a history of violent anti-Semitism. We therefore cannot help but wonder how many people in these countries will react to an emotional and violent film about the death of Jesus which reviewers have described as "brutally graphic" and which portrays the Jewish people in a negative way.

Some Christians argue that despite the negative portrayal of Jews in the film, it will not evoke anti-Jewish feelings because Jesus was a Jew. If so, then why were Jews persecuted and murdered in Christian Europe - in both Catholic and Protestant countries - during the past 2,000 years? The fact that Jesus was a Jew did not prevent these eruptions of violence against Jews. Yes, Gibson's film acknowledges that there are some good Jews, but so do many anti-Semites.

Another side of Mel Gibson was revealed in an interview with him this past September in "The New Yorker." In this interview, Gibson stated that he would like to murder the reviewer from the New York Times who criticized his film! (The reviewer is Jewish.) In expressing his hatred towards this reviewer, Gibson used disgusting and violent language. I read many Evangelical Christian articles about Gibson and the film, and not one criticized this ugly and violent statement; in fact, Gibson was portrayed as a man of Christian love! This man of "love" also denied the enormity and uniqueness of the Holocaust when he compared the attempted genocide of the Jewish people to the normal suffering that people experience during war (Interview with Gibson, Reader's Digest, March, 2004).

Many Christians who say they love us are angry at us for expressing our concern about a film which has the potential to revive anti-Semitic passions in many Christian countries. In fact, Reverend Ted Haggard, the President of the National Association of Evangelicals, warned the Jewish people that if they express their concerns about this film, it could cost them Christian support for Israel. He said:

"There is a great deal of pressure on Israel right now, and Christians seem to be a major source of support for Israel. For the Jewish leaders to risk alienating 2 billion Christians over a movie seems shortsighted." ("Burning Passion" by Eric J. Greenberg, The Jewish Week, Oct 8th)

Haggard later said that he didn't mean to imply that his support for Israel was conditional, but he did not retract his warning that 2 billion Christians could desert Israel if we express our concern about this film - one which Gibson plans to distribute all over the world. Haggard is correct in his observation that we are currently a small people; however, he should also remember that we do not derive our strength from large numbers. Our strength comes from the Loving One Who redeemed us from Egypt, as it is written:

"Not because you are more numerous than all the peoples did God desire you and choose you, for you are the fewest of all the peoples. Rather, because of God's love for you and because He observes the oath that He swore to your forefathers did He take you out with a strong hand and redeem you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 7:7,8).

After reading Reverend Haggard's statement, I visited a number of Evangelical websites, and the vast majority of their articles on Gibson's film did not express any compassion and understanding for Jewish concerns about this film. Instead, they expressed anger, resentment, and even hatred towards those Jews who were worried that the film could strengthen the violent anti-Semitism which is spreading all over the world. After reading the hostile comments on these Christian websites, I could not help but wonder: Are these Christians sincere friends of the Jewish people? Christians who are sincere friends of the Jewish people will express understanding of our concerns; moreover, they will attempt to organize educational programs and discussion groups which will help Christian viewers of the film to avoid the hatred of the Jewish people which has resulted in the past as a result of the accusation of deicide. In fact, the media has recently reported that some Christian groups - both Protestant and Catholic - have begun to organize such programs and discussion groups. Another new development is that a small number of Evangelical Christian activists are urging Christians to show greater sensitivity to Jewish concerns about the film.

The Christians who understand our concerns recognize that some Christians may have some anti-Jewish prejudices, if not consciously, then subconsciously. They therefore understand that this film has the potential to bring these anti-Jewish feelings to the surface. In fact, a Christian correspondent from Texas who always insisted that she is pro-Israel also expressed to me in a recent letter some anti-Semitic sentiments. She let me know, however, that I was one of the "good" Jews, and I let her know that our correspondence was terminated. In addition, a Jewish professor who is active in conservative political circles received an anti-Semitic letter from an Evangelical journalist. The Jewish professor had expressed to his Christian colleagues some concerns about Gibson's film, and this journalist responded with a vitriolic letter which described how terrible the Jewish people are for not worshiping Jesus. Another example can be found in the following excerpt from an article by David Elcott in the Boston Globe (Feb. 12):

A devoutly Catholic columnist who challenged the movie received threatening calls, including many attacking him as a "dirty Jew." On Christian talk radio shows, people call in and equate modern-day Jews with Christ killers, asking a question not heard publicly in decades: "Why do they hate our Lord?"

Once again, we are being accused of hating their "Lord"; yet this leads to an important question: Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and the followers of other spiritual paths also do not accept Jesus as the "Lord"; thus, why are we, the Jewish people, singled out for special resentment and hatred? One major reason is because Christians recognize that we are the people of the Bible - the people who received the Torah. Since the Torah teaches us not to deify any human being, including a Jewish human being, we have had the courage to reject the Christian belief. Throughout the centuries, Christians have felt threatened that the people of the Bible rejected their belief, and they therefore developed ugly stereotypes of the Jews. Although I grew up in the United States, a country known for its tolerance, I often encountered these ugly stereotypes among my Christian neighbors and friends. This is why I was pleased to discover when visiting a Christian website that Larry Poland, an Evangelical teacher, offers the following spiritual advice to his fellow Christians: "Get past your denial about the subtle anti-Jewish attitudes, expressions, and stereotypes you hold. They are sin; ask God to forgive them." And he adds: "Get to know Jewish people, Jewish traditions, and Jewish history. Doing so will help you understand-and love-Jewish people." Ironically, the same website had a number of articles which were not "friendly" to the Jews.

Since Christians have adopted our Sacred Scriptures, it might be helpful if they study the Book of Esther, which is included in our Sacred Scriptures. This book tells the story of how our people were saved from the evil Haman who defamed us and who planned to annihilate us. This story reveals the danger of allowing anti-Jewish prejudice to spread, and it also serves as a reminder that the Loving One works in mysterious ways to both save and honor the people that He chose to be His messengers. We read this story each year on the holiday of Purim, which commemorates our salvation from Haman and his followers. As the Book of Esther records (8:16), "The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor."

And the Prophets have conveyed to us the Divine promise that we, the people of the Torah, will once again have light, gladness, joy and honor, as the Loving One proclaimed, "Arise! Shine! for your light has come" (Isaiah 60:1); and He also proclaimed, "To bring about to the mourners of Zion - to give them splendor instead of ashes, oil of joy instead of mourning, a cloak of praise instead of dim spirit" (ibid 61:3). In this new era, the peoples of the earth will no longer defame us, persecute us, or try to convert us; instead, they will desire to become the spiritual allies of our people, as it is written:

"In those days it will happen that ten men, of all the different languages of the nations, will take hold, they will take hold of the corner of the garment of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you!' " (Zechariah 8:23)

The peoples will then join us in praying to the Loving One in the rebuilt Holy Temple in Jerusalem, as it is written: "For My House will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples" (Isaiah 56:7).

Shalom,

Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen