Judaism in the 21st Century

by Patricia Depew

Rabbi Spiro, made this shocking statement to a class on Judaism: "The very fact that Jews exist as a nation today stands in testimony to the existence of God who acts in history. We should have disappeared a long time ago."

The word "Jew" (in Hebrew, "Yehudi") is derived from the name Judah. Judah was one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Traditional Judaism maintains that a person is Jewish if his or her mother is Jewish, regardless of who the father is. Today, all branches of Judaism except the Orthodox acknowledge converts to Judaism.

God's revelation to the Jewish people is rooted in the Hebrew Bible, called the Tanach. "Ta" is for Torah ("instruction," Mosaic Law). "Na" stands for Nebiim, prophetic books of the Old Testament. "Ch" stands for the Ketuvim or Hagiographia or "sacred writings," which are the remainder of the Old Testament.

The different sects of Judaism are referred to as "movements." There are three major movements in Judaism today: Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. The Orthodox are subdivided into ultra-Orthodox and modern Orthodox. They believe that Jewish people must live by the commandments in the Torah and by the 613 mitzvots (commands) of the laws given in the Mishnah, (rabbinic laws).

Conservative Judaism generally acknowledges the value of the Torah and they believe it can be adapted to the modern society. The worship services are usually conducted in the local languages and not in Hebrew.

Reform Judaism (also known as Reconstructionist, liberal, or modern) generally holds to values and ethics of Judaism and acknowledges some of its practices. Many non-observant, nominal, and/or agnostic Jews identify themselves as Reform.

Some people refer to themselves as "Torah observant," meaning that they try to obey the Mosaic Law, but generally reject much of the rabbinic additions.

Messianic Judaism is a small but growing movement of Jews who acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah and their Savior. According to Operation World, globally there are "around 132,000 Jews connected to Messianic congregations and a further 200,000 with Gentile churches."

The most powerful change in the movement of Judaism today is not given an official name. This change is the assimilation of Jews into the societies where they live, the intermarriage of Jews with non-Jews, and the rapid growth of secular Jews.

The Widespread Diaspora
The Jewish people outside the land of Israel are referred to as "golah" in Hebrew or the "diaspora" (dispersion). The Greek term, "diaspora," means "scattered," but the Hebrew "golah" means "exiled." The primary causes of the diaspora were deportation of the Jewish people into exile by their enemies and their fleeing before their enemies. About 722 B.C., because of their sins the 10 northern tribes of Israel were taken captive by the Assyrian army, and were scattered through the Assyrian Empire. They became known as the so-called "ten lost tribes." Then about 597 B.C., the southern kingdom of Judah, because of its sins was conquered by the Babylonians, and many people were taken captive. But, during this time, Ezekiel prophesied that God would someday reassemble the nation and restore the people and land (Ezekiel 6, 17, 36, 47 & 48).

The exiles eventually migrated throughout the world. Despite large geographic distances between the communities and the passage of over 2000 years, far-removed Jewish communities share a similar genetic profile. Recently published research in the field of molecular genetics, the study of DNA sequences, indicates that Jewish populations of the various "diaspora" communities have retained their genetic identity. God spoke of this in His Word, ". . .the Lord shall scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth ..." (Deut. 28:64). ". . .then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity and be merciful to you, and will return and gather you from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you." (Deut. 30:3 NASB).

After the Persians conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., many of the tribes of Judah returned to the land we now call Israel during the 500s and 400s. After that, Jews in the land continued to face occupation and persecution from the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, "Christian" Crusaders, Mamluks, and the Ottoman who ruled until 1917. The result of these occupying parties led the Jews to scatter further into Europe and other parts of the world.

In the movie "Fiddler On The Roof," the very existence of a Jewish community was shown to be as precarious as a fiddler standing on a sloping roof. Many Jewish people have taught their children that if they might need to flee, it would not be prudent to own farms and real estate. Education and portable possessions can be carried into a new country. Many Jews went into occupations dealing with education, medicine, law, diamonds, gold, jewelry, watches, clothing etc.

Today there are approximately 12-14 million Jewish people in the world. They are distributed as follows: 5,000,000 in Israel, 5,000,000 in the United States, 2,000,000 in Europe, 400,000 in Latin America and 350,000 in Canada. In Africa, there are less than 100,000 Jews. There are about 100,000 in Australia and New Zealand and about 50,000 are found in Asia. We will pray for a number of these smaller groups this month.

The Emergence of Israel
There have been Jewish communities in Israel for over 3,000 years. Around A.D.1750 many Orthodox Jews (hassidim) came from Poland and Russia due to persecution, and settled in Galilee. In 1897, Theodor Herzl, an Austrian Jew, launched a political movement known as Zionism to counter anti-Semitism. Its goal was to establish religious, social, and political protection and freedom for Jewish people. In 1916, a scientist named Chaim Weizmann proposed that the British government favor the establishment of a national homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. In 1917, British Foreign Minister, Arthur Balfour, issued a letter stating such favor. It became known as the "Balfour Declaration." In the same year, the English defeated the Turks and took control of Palestine.

In the 1930s and 40s, persecution of the Jewish people in all parts of Europe increased. With it came a genocide of many Jews. By 1945, the Nazis had killed almost 6 million Jewish people in concentration camps. Those who survived dispersed to all parts of the world. At the same time their desire to return to Israel intensified. In 1947, the United Nations partitioned Palestine, granting part of it for the formation of a Jewish state. In 1948, Israel proclaimed independence and then immediately fought a war of survival against five invading Arab armies. In 1950, the Israeli government passed "The Law of Return." This law guaranteed to all Jewish people the right to immigrate to Israel. Sadly, today the government of Israel does not apply this law to Jews who become Messianic.

The Incomplete Homecoming of the Jews
The rise of anti-Semitism and the instability of the State of Israel have left many Jewish people outside of Israel feeling insecure. The Jews of the Diaspora (those outside of Israel) are declining in numbers because of a lower birth rate, abortions, secularism, intermarriages, conversions to other religions, and emigration to Israel.

As the dispersion of the Jewish people from Israel was prophesied in the Bible, so too is a re-gathering. After that re-gathering, there is a prophecy of a time when all the nations of the world will be gathered to fight against Jerusalem and the city will be captured and half will be exiled. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations and His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives on the east side of Jerusalem and the people will be secure in the Lord. (Zechariah 12 and 14). God gave an invitation, "Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth;" (Isaiah 45:22 NASB). Eventually many people will come to Jerusalem and be taught the ways of God. Then nation will not take up sword against nation again. (Isaiah 2:1-4) The Prince of Peace will rule! (Isaiah 9:6-7).

It is important for Christians to know God's plan for Israel, but it is vital that Christians realize that just accepting prophecy is not enough. Christians must be mobilized to reach Jewish people and be willing to pray to God for His complete will to bring Jewish people from all over the world to Him.

Let's Pray!

• Pray that the hearts of rabbis and other Jewish leaders will be freed to understand the Messiah as revealed in the Old and New Testaments.
• Pray that Christians will overcome their reluctance to witness to Jewish people and will be open to instruction so their approach can be sensitive, forthright and effective.
• Pray that Messianic believers will grow strong in their faith and become witnesses of God's completed plan for their brothers and sisters.
• Pray that the Lord will remove the veil of religious and spiritual blindness from Jewish hearts so they can have the joy of knowing the Messiah.
• Pray that a deep longing for God may overcome materialism, pride and self-sufficiency among the Jewish people.
• Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-9).