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No, really – it’s been that long.
I’ve been working elsewhere, and something someone said in one of those elsewhere places got me to thinking about how close I come in my own mind to maybe wishing I were Jewish.
I figured out that I’m not really near that point at all, which wasn’t a huge surprise, but I also got a clearer perspective on where I stand as a goy in relation to the Jewish world.
This particular person, an Orthodox lady on Twitter (who shall remain nameless for the sake of this blog, since it’s what she said that matters, not who said it), seemed intrigued as to why I wanted to study Torah (or Talmud), and said something about how hard it is sometimes to keep all those mitzvot, but how wonderful it is to be in the privileged position to be under the obligation.
Wonderful, yes, it would be, but knowing I’m not, I got to thinking would I want to? That it is, would I want to convert? Simple answer – no. That, my friends, completely skewers any wannabe attitude. I mean, how could I say I wannabe, if given the chance, I would not. Not that I’ve really said here that I am or was a wannabe Jew – wannabe, or wouldabeen-nicetobeen actual Shabbos Goy, yes, but I don’t think I’ve ever said I thought I was a wannabe Jew. But I’ve thought about it.
And all that made me also think a little harder about what is it that I do want to be in relation to the Jewish people. I’m not sure if this constitutes a fall-back position, but my basic vista point (like one of those places on a scenic highway) is that I who was born into darkness have been shown the light because Am HaSefer carried that light for centuries, carefully preserving it and transmitting it from one generation to the next, until it shined on me.
Yes, of course it was through HaAdon Yeshua HaMashiach the Lord Jesus Christ that this occurred, but it’s not just a simple matter of saying that we ought to love the Jews because Jesus was (never mind that He still is) Jewish. It’s also because a nation, and not just a nation, but thousands and millions of individual people – men, women, children, families – lived and died for the purpose of carrying the light of life in the form of a book, and in the form of their own lives. Not everyone lived their daily lives thinking that way, nor likely many at all, but it was the fact of their lives nonetheless.
And because of the purpose and sacrifice of these many, many souls, I have life.
They had life given to them, to give to me, and they gave what they had, and now I have life.
I think perhaps some gratefulness is in order. Well, more than some. But a remarkable thing about gratefulness is that it’s human nature to begin to put on a pedestal those to whom we are rightly grateful. And that is not good. It does them a disservice, in that we then may begin to expect more from them from that point on than is fair, and it also is a first step toward idolizing them. Even if we don’t go that far, we tend to start thinking that most of what they do is right – that it must be, because that’s who they are. There is, for instance, a serious tendency among Christian Zionists to give cart blanche support to the State of Israel, defending its actions even when they are wrong and we know it. Or maybe sometimes we don’t know it when they’re wrong, because we’ve got them up on that pedestal.
So I have to watch myself on that account. But still my heart is deeply moved that, at no particular cost to me, I have life through the written Word of God, preserved at such great, great cost by the People of the Book.
A really great story from Yeshiva World, passed along in The Goy’s Guide to Israel!
In this news item, really, there are these shabbos goyim (real ones, not wannabes like me) who decided they should be paid as though they were, well, not goyim. If that’s not bad enough, they thought they could sue and win! For some reason, Tel Aviv Labor Court did not agree.
With such chutzpa, perhaps we should make them honorary yids? No. God forbid we should encourage such behavior!
Numbers Chapter 18: “And YHWH said to Aaron: You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood… And you shall keep the charge of the sanctuary and the charge of the altar, that there be no more wrath upon the children of Israel… And YHWH spoke to Aaron: I, behold I have also given you the charge of …all the holy things of the children of Israel; I have given them to you and your sons because of the anointing, as a perpetual ordinance.”
Please correct me, anyone, if I’m wrong, but I’ve read in more than a few places which explain traditional Judaism* that Messiah, when he comes, will arise as the King and Deliverer of Israel. This is certainly true, and would to God more goyim would realize and acknowledge this. And would to God that more goyim who profess to be followers of Christ would realize and acknowledge that to truly do so is to pledge allegiance to Israel’s King.
But are we missing something here? Isn’t the anointing of the high priest just as much of an anointing as that of the king?
The high priest is the messiah of YHWH, just as much as the king. Why am I not seeing this pointed out?
We need to understand that much of what we read in Torah may be understood as illustrations of eternal truth, as well as the explicit instructions of the God of Israel. And is it just me, or isn’t there a marvelous picture in Numbers Chapter 18 of YHWH’s anointed being set out to bear a more profound iniquity than merely his own? You have to notice that the reason YHWH gives for instituting this assignment for the high priest is “that there be no more wrath upon the children of Israel.” If you go back and read the preceding chapters of the book, you’ll see that there was plenty of iniquity and plenty of resulting wrath going on! There had to be something done – the present system wasn’t working. It doesn’t seem fair to tell Aaron that from now on, he’s going to bear the iniquity of the entire community, but if you were in the shoes of anyone else there but him, you wouldn’t be the first one to point that out, would you?
It is surely an admirable thing for someone to suppose that they can atone for their own sin through repentance and prayer, and to make a sincere effort to that end. But what does it take? Is anyone good enough – can anyone be or become good enough – to satisfy Elohim’s just demand for absolute, flawless righteousness? Let’s just start with the number one requirement – to love Him with everything we’ve got, and the person across the street, to boot!
It’s not that it’s humanly impossible, but we start out just far enough behind in that quest to ever quite get caught up (you may have noticed, if you’ve had children, that the first word many learn is “no!”), and each day that we fail to live up to even the first requirement, the farther behind we get. But if we had someone to take all iniquity away from us, to bear it away for us – ah, then we might have a fresh start, mightn’t we? And what if – could it be this good? – what if that sin-bearer could always be there for us each new day, and bear it away if and when we slip up again?
Ah, but would that be what we want, really? A guarantee of sin-then-get-forgiven today, and then sin-but-get-forgiven tomorrow, and then sin-but-get-forgiven-again the next day, and so forth? I think that is, unfortunately, what we do experience in Christianity, but I don’t buy for one minute that this is what God ever intended for us. There is a much greater place for tshuva and tikkun olam in our lives than we often realize, and sometimes I think that those who see this as their only means to atonement have a practical leg up on Christians who act as though we think we can “continue in sin that grace may abound,” as Paul puts it. But first we need that fresh start. We need a High Priest who will bear our iniquity, at least until we can come into our inheritance as children of the Most High.
(* For example, Jews for Judaism is a provocative resource for understanding the traditional viewpoint, updated to our time; another detailed site is Judaism 101.
Take a look at specific and detailed references to the traditional concept of Messiah, and, if you’re brave, at an argument against vicarious atonement.)
The Lord promised the descendants of Jacob through the prophets that when they became sheep scattered all over the mountains of Israel, he* would raise up a true shepherd who would regather them into a place of safety. Now, mind you – he was speaking to Israel at that time. No goyim need apply.
So when Yeshua comes along, it makes sense that he tells the first goy-lady he meets that he hadn’t come for her, but for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It wasn’t that he was being heartless – she did get what she came for – but he had to make his purpose clear to everyone. And please notice that sheep are still sheep, even when they’re lost. But goats are not sheep. Only sheep are sheep, and Yeshua came for the sheep. No goats need apply.
And when he first issued instructions to his followers to go out and preach, he told them to stay away from goyim and Samaritans (did you ever meet a Samaritan? me, neither), but to go to the lost sheep of Israel.
Then we read the great sheepfold lecture of John chapter 10 — where he says that there is a sheep pen, and that he is the entrance to that sheep pen, and he also is the shepherd of the sheep.
Now, are you with me here — who are the sheep? If you said the descendants of Jacob (aka the Jews), then I thank God that I haven’t put you to sleep yet. If you said something else, why are you still reading?
But then he took a turn and said “There are other sheep which belong to me that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them, too.” What other sheep? Ah, that’s where we goyim get in on the deal! Of course, not all goyim get to become sheep, but at least there was something in the plan all along to let us into the sheep pen. Through the door. Not any other way. And we sure as ‘ell don’t get to kick any of the original sheep out!
If you don’t know what I meant with that last comment, and if you haven’t yet caught on, then let me tell you that far too many “Christians” say that “the Church” has supplanted or superseded or replaced or somehow knocked into second place “the Jews” in God’s plans for this world. Big, big mistake. (For all you learned theologians out there, this is what is called “replacement theology,” but then all you learned theologians out there already knew that.)
I wasn’t around in 1947 or 1948, but from what I understand, many Christians a generation or two ago who bought into this load of – excuse me – figured that there obviously was no way the Jews would ever get their land back, let alone their original place in God’s favor. I’m not sure how they explained what happened next; if they were honest with themselves, they radically re-adjusted their theology. But we hardly ever do that, do we?
(*by the way, if anyone objects to my not capitalizing the Divine Pronoun, tell them to get over it — I am merely following the Biblical practice. On the other hand, whenever I do Capitalize, and someone sees an inconsistency in that, tell them to quit being so religious.)
To my way of thinking, there are two kinds of people in the world: HaAm, and the rest of us. Not that I mind being in the second category. Not all that much, anyway. I mean, it’s what I’ve been given in life. I should be thankful, and therefore I am. And what if I were able only to keep 612 mitzvot?
Shabbes Goy 