Associate Editor’s Note: In Dan Juster’s message at a recent IHOP conference, he made reference to Christians assisting the Jews in establishing the modern State of Israel. This article from The Jerusalem Connection tells the story of one of those individuals.
By Victor Sharpe | From The Jerusalem Connection
This is the story of a remarkable Christian Zionist who did so much for the cause of Zion in the early years of the 20th century.
John Henry Patterson was the product of an Anglo-Irish family. He was born on November 10, 1867 in Ireland to a Protestant family and died in 1947 – one year before the rebirth of the Jewish State of Israel. Following the family’s military tradition, he joined the British army and served with the 16th Lancers in Lucknow, India. He was sent in 1898 to East Africa where he was engaged in building a railway bridge at Tsavo. The African workers were being terrorized by man eating lions and Patterson was successful in restoring order and killing the marauding lions. He later wrote a book about his exploits titled, The Man-Eaters of Tsavo.
According to the writer, Ami Isseroff, Patterson served in South Africa during the Boer War and retired from the army in 1911. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he rejoined the army, saw service in Flanders and was subsequently sent to Egypt. It was while he was visiting Alexandria that he met the two men who would transform his life and make him a lifelong passionate and ardent Zionist.
Yosef Trumpeldor and Ze’ev Jabotinsky, two Jews who had earlier left Russia were attempting in 1915 to form a Jewish brigade to fight with the British and Anzac Forces against the Ottoman Turks. They were meeting constant obstacles and refusals by high ranking officers of the British High Command who were often anti-Jewish and did everything in their power to prevent a Jewish military unit from seeing active duty. Turkey, which had allied itself with Germany at the outset of World War I, ruled Mesopotamia and vast swathes of the Middle East, including the geographical territory known as Palestine, and was resisting allied pressure to oust them from their 400 year old occupation of the region.
Jabotinsky, arguably the greatest Zionist leader of his time, had sought to revive the same long dormant Jewish fighting spirit that had led the Maccabees to victory over the Greek-Syrian invaders of Judea 2,200 years earlier. He and Trumpeldor met Patterson and they immediately became firm friends, sharing the same longing for a rebirth in its ancestral and biblical homeland of a reconstituted Jewish state. Indeed, Patterson was to become the commander of the Zion Mule Corps with the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
On March 31, 1915, Lt. Colonel Patterson officiated at the swearing in ceremony of the new Jewish volunteers for the Mule Corps. He invited the soldiers to pray with him that he should, “not only, as Moses, behold Canaan from afar, but be divinely permitted to lead you into the Promised Land.” He wrote in his diary about the military training camp that, “ … never since the days of Judah Maccabee had such sights and sounds been seen and heard in a military camp – with the drilling of uniformed soldiers in the Hebrew language.” Jabotinsky had made it a personal mission to help revive the ancient language of the synagogue liturgy into the new vibrant functional language of a revived and hoped for Jewish state.
Lt. Colonel Patterson. with Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky and Yosef Trumpeldor serving as a fellow officers, led the Zion Mule Corps onto V Beach during the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign. Half of the Mule Corps had been arbitrarily seconded to Anzac forces who treated them badly and eventually sent them back to Egypt. Patterson, with the remaining 300 soldiers, saw action against the Turks during which time 14 of his men were killed and several more wounded.
The Mule Corps was disbanded in 1916, a result of relentless pressure by anti-Jewish elements in the British High Command. Patterson had been wounded at Gallipoli but eventually recovered and returned to Ireland where he commanded the 4th Royal Irish Fusiliers and the fifth Royal Dublin Fusiliers. In July, 1917 he was made commander of the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, which happened to be one of three battalions of the Jewish Legion. The soldiers who comprised these three battalions were British and foreign Jewish personnel. Marching through the East End of London, prior to leaving to join the fighting in the geographical territory of Palestine, they were met with a tumultuous and joyful reception by Jewish and Christian Londoners who lined the streets of Whitechapel to cheer on the departing battalion.
Still smarting under British High Command reluctance to allow them to see active service in the front, Colonel Patterson and his Jewish Legion were forced to remain out of the fighting. Severe Allied losses however forced the High Command to finally let the Jewish Legion enter the campaign. By now some 5,000 Jewish soldiers were serving in the three Battalions.
The relentless anti-Jewish persecution by the British High Command towards the Jewish Legion and the serial disdain that Lt. Colonel Patterson received in reply to his long and valiant entreaties on behalf of the Jewish forces finally led him to resign in 1920. That he was never promoted, despite his outstanding record as an officer and commander, is a bitter reflection upon the endemic hostility by elements within the British Government and military towards both the Jewish Legion and the Jewish community in Palestine. Yosef Trumpeldor was later killed in 1920 while helping to defend a Jewish farmstead from Arabs at Tel Hai in Galilee.
Patterson went on to write two books about his experiences both as commander of the Zion Mule Corps –With the Zionists at Gallipoli (1916) – and the Jewish Brigade – With the Judeans in Palestine (1922). But after the war, John Henry Patterson grew yet more active in supporting Jewish rights in British Mandatory Palestine. Indeed, Jabotinsky who had served with Patterson and who was now a firm friend of the Anglo-Irish Christian Zionist, went to America with Patterson on a fund raising mission. According to Shmuel Katz, Jabotinsky wrote of Patterson: “I made an appeal for funds, then the collection began, but no one left the hall because they were waiting for Patterson to speak.”
Patterson himself wrote of Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky: “… his mentality was ‘void of the peculiar inhibitions of a Jewish mind influenced and twisted by the abnormalities of centuries of life in dispersion. That was probably the main reason why his political philosophy was so healthy and simple, and why, with all his tremendous popularity, he never became the recognized leader of the Jewish People.”
John Henry Patterson traveled to British Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s where he remained a steadfast supporter of the Irgun Zvai Leumi Jewish forces resisting Arab aggression and British hostility. Both he and Jabotinsky worked together in the United States unsuccessfully to raise a Jewish army of 100,000 to fight Nazi Germany. Jabotinsky continued to fight for a restored Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael: The Land of Israel. He was a phenomenal giant within the Zionist Movement but ultimately felt estranged from his less assertive colleagues in the struggle to re-establish the Jewish homeland.
Jabotinsky warned the Jewish communities of eastern Europe of the impending German Nazi juggernaut that was descending upon them, which led to the Holocaust. He died in 1940 near New York of a broken heart.
John Henry Patterson, a great Christian Zionist, died in 1947 before he lived to see the rebirth of the Jewish state that he had devoted his life to fighting for. His wife of many years died six weeks later and both were cremated and their ashes sent to Mandatory Palestine. Their burial place remains unknown except to Almighty God.
Victor Sharpe is a freelance writer on Jewish history and the Islamist-Israel conflict. His books include Volumes One and Two of Politicide: The attempted murder of the Jewish state.
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The Israel of God
Many ignorant Christian pastors, who have been brainwashed in seminaries believe that it is important for all Christians to support Israel. As authority for their position they cite Genesis 12:2-3.
“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3 AV)
The passage does not refer to earthly Israel. Jesus never hesitated to curse the Jews. John 8:39-47; Matthew 15:1-9; Matthew 23:23-33. In fact, God calls earthly Jerusalem “Sodom and Egypt” See Revelation 11:8.
Some think that all references in the Bible to Israel are references to fleshly Israel and that passages that refer to events that are believed to have not yet occurred, are prophecies regarding fleshly Israel. That is simply false doctrine! All prophecies referring to general blessings upon fleshly Israel that have not been fulfilled will never be fulfilled because those promises were conditional promises based on the obedience of Israel. Fleshly Israel rebelled against God and therefore has been cut off from the tree of life. God has saved a remnant of fleshly Israel to be grafted back in to the tree, but their ingrafting is upon the same grounds as everyone else, by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Many cite Romans chapter 11 as proof of a future renewal and blessing upon fleshly Israel outside the church. Let us look at that section.
And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! (Romans 11:17-33 AV)
That passage says nothing about the regeneration of fleshly Israel. It simply states that
salvation comes only through being grafted into the olive tree of life and that a remnant of fleshly Israel has been chosen by God for salvation. It says nothing about some future renewal of fleshly Israel outside being ingrafted into God’s church. Some take the position that fleshly Israel as a nation will be grafted back into the olive tree as fleshly Israel. That is not possible. God’s kingdom is not of the flesh but of the spirit. Once a Jew is grafted into Christ he becomes a part of spiritual Israel, the church.
“Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is,
They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” (Romans 9:6-8 AV)
There is no more distinction between Jew or Gentile, all are one in Christ. Romans 10:12; Colossians 3:11, 28.
Some state that the passage in Romans 11 that “that blindness in part is happened to
Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” indicates that there will be a Jewish
dispensation sometime in the future, at which time the Christian dispensation will end. That is false doctrine. The theme of the Gospel is that there will be no end to Christ’s kingdom, or his people, the church. 2 Peter 1:11. When the fullness of the Gentiles come in then will be the end of the world. 1 Corinthians 15:23-24. God did not state that the Jews will be saved en masse after the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. He simply stated that the Jews will be blind in part until the world ends. God has chosen a remnant of Jews to save from every generation, not just one generation during some post-Christian era.
God’s plan is to establish the earthly then the spiritual.
“Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.” (1 Corinthians 15:46-48 AV)
God will not reverse course and reestablish the earthly kingdom of Israel in place of his spiritual kingdom of Israel. That is contrary to his revealed plan. Fleshly Israel was intended by God for an example to us, his church. 1 Corinthians 10:6. It is not the circumcision of the flesh that counts but the circumcision of the heart. Colossians 2:11.
He would not have us return to the weak and beggardly elements of the Old Testament law under fleshly Israel. See Galatians 4:9-11. To teach such a thing is to blasphemously state that Christ’s sacrifice was imperfect and insufficient, and that therefore there is a need to reinstate the animal sacrifices. The Old Testament law was to act as a schoolmaster until the promise of Christ.
God would have no reason to reinstate something that was intended to be in place only until he came to offer his own body as a perfect sacrifice. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, we are all one by faith in Christ. He is not going to divide us once again into Jew and Gentile. His church is his body which cannot be divided. 1 Corinthians 1:13. For a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Mark 3:24. The seed of the promises to Abraham is Christ and those who have the faith of Christ, his church, not fleshly Israel.
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:23-29 AV)
A Jew who believes in Jesus as Christ becomes a new creation. He is no longer a fleshly Jew. He becomes a spiritual Jew, a Christian.
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” (Galatians 6:15 AV)
The bible makes clear that the old covenant made to fleshly Israel has vanished away,
being replaced by the new covenant of faith in Jesus Christ.
“In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13 AV)
Why would God reinstate something in which he has said would vanish away and in which he has had no pleasure?
“In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.” (Hebrews 10:6 AV)
Fleshly Israel is symbolized by the fig tree. That fig tree will never again bear fruit.
And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any
thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of
figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee
hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. . . . And in the morning, as they
passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to
remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is
withered away. (Mark 11:13-14, 20-21 AV)
Whereas spiritual Israel is symbolized by the olive tree.
“Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.” (James 3:12 AV)
The answer is no! Fleshly Israel will never ever bear spiritual fruit for God. The spiritual fruit only comes from the spiritual olive plant, the church.
The blessings of God do not flow to the physical seed of Abraham but rather to his
spiritual seed. Who is the seed of Abraham? Jesus is the seed of Abraham. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16 AV)
All who believe in Jesus are heirs of the promise given to Abraham. Galatians 3:23-29.
Through faith in Christ one becomes the spiritual seed of Abraham. Obedience to God is the result of salvation not the cause of it. Just as with Abraham, who believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness, so too all others who believe God it is also accounted unto them as righteousness.
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of
Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all
nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful
Abraham. (Galatians 3:6-9 AV)
A true Jew is the spiritual seed of Abraham, not the physical seed. “For he is not a Jew,
which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” (Romans 2:28-29 AV)
“Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is,
They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” (Romans 9:6-8 AV)
The eternal blessings of Abraham flow to all who believe in Jesus Christ. God’s kingdom
is a spiritual kingdom not an earthly kingdom. His children are spiritual children not earthly children. In God’s kingdom there are no distinctions between Jew or Gentile.
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28-29 AV)
Fleshly Israel of the Old Testament is a temporal type of the spiritual Israel of the New
Testament, which is the church.
But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the
wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not
lust after evil things, as they also lusted. (1 Corinthians 10:5-6 AV)
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written
for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1
Corinthians 10:11 AV)
Thus, the prophecies regarding Israel had both temporal and spiritual fulfillments. First there is the temporal earthly fulfillment and then there is the spiritual fulfillment. 1 Corinthians 15:46.
The scriptures teach us that in all of God’s dealings with mankind, from the time
of Adam, we may discern the same divine principle at work, namely, “first the
natural, then the spiritual.” (1 Corinthians 15:45-46) God has progressively revealed his
purpose through, first, his dealings with the natural Israel and, second and finally,
his dealings with spiritual Israel.
(There is no scriptural basis for the regressive idea that God’s dealings will again be centered exclusively on natural Israel at some future date.)
Because God’s dealings follow the sequence of first the natural, then the spiritual,
it is easy to see and understand that the same progression applied to his people and
his promises. The natural people of Old Testament Israel enjoyed the natural
fulfillment of the promises made to them, and saw the promises invalidated
through sin and unbelief. Likewise, the spiritual people of New Testament Israel,
the followers of Jesus Christ, have received, are receiving and will receive all
spiritual fulfillments of the promises.
[In Galatians 4:21-31] as in many other New Testament passages, Paul skillfully
defeated his adversaries with their own ammunition. He took the “foolish
Galatians” who desired to be under the law” (Galatians 4:21) right into the thick of Old
Testament Law, into Genesis, the first book of Moses, to prove a spiritual truth
with natural types. The early church recognized the need for spiritual authority to
support their doctrines (for them, of course, the scriptures were the writings we
today call the Old Testament) and therefore, under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, they quoted freely from the Old Testament.
In the fourth chapter of Galatians, as elsewhere, Paul proved his point through the
superior understanding God gave him of the true meaning of the Old Testament
scriptures. He said that the story of the two sons of Abraham was more than just a
prominent part of the history of the Jewish people. It was, he said, an allegory
(Galatians. 4:24), that is, a story in which the people and events were symbols or types
standing for some greater truth (Galatians. 4:24).
The allegory speaks of two women and their two sons who were fathered by
Abraham. Hagar, the bondwoman and the mother of Ishmael who was “born after
the flesh” (Galatians 4:23), typifies natural Jerusalem. Sarah, the freewoman and the
mother of Isaac, the child of promise (Galatians 4:23, 28), typifies the church which is
spiritual Jerusalem. The children of natural Jerusalem are in bondage (Galatians. 4:25),
as are all who are unsaved, but the children of the church, the heavenly Jerusalem,
are free (Galatians. 4:26). Those who are in bondage, who are not born again are only
“born after the flesh” (Galatians. 4:29) cannot possibly be God’s people. Therefore, the
scriptures “cast out”(Galatians 4:30) the natural Jerusalem and her children after the
flesh, and identify the heirs as the believers in Christ who are the children of promise (Galatians 4:30).
Paul was constantly in trouble with the Jews because his spiritual interpretations of the Old Testament scriptures warred with their natural interpretation. Our onetime Pharisee had come to see clearly that “the things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18) but his former colleagues could not believe that their highly vaunted institutions were ready to “vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13).
Because the Lord Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2)
spiritual Israel hears a better voice than the voices heard by natural Israel (Hebrews.
1:1, 2), and we have, among other things, a better Priest (Hebrews. 4:15), a better
priesthood (Hebrews. 5:6), a better hope (Hebrews. 7:19), a better covenant (Hebrews. 8:10), a better Tabernacle (Hebrews. 9:11), a better altar (Hebrews. 13:10), a better sacrifice (Hebrews. 9:14), a better country (Hebrews. 11:16), and a better city (Hebrews. 12:22).1
Many believe that some of the prophecies in the Old Testament regarding natural Israel
have not been fulfilled and therefore there must be a post-Christian period during which they will be fulfilled. Let us examine these Old Testament prophecies. In Genesis 12:2 God told Abraham: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.” Abraham did not see the fulfillment of that prophecy. That promise was fulfilled in part by fleshly Israel. “And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation” (Genesis 46:2-3 AV) After a 400 year of captivity God raised up Moses who brought Israel out of Egyptian bondage and it became a great nation, just as promised by God. See Joshua 8-12; 1 Chronicles 17:21.
Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the
sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great
nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great,
who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that
we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes
and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
(Deuteronomy 4:6-8 AV)
There, however, was yet to be a spiritual fulfillment of the promise that from Abraham
would spring a great nation. The church was the spiritual fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar
people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of
darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are
now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained
mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10 AV)
On three different occasions God promised that Abraham’s descendants would be too
numerous to count.
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the
dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. (Genesis 13:16 AV)
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the
stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
(Genesis 15:5 AV)
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the
stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall
possess the gate of his enemies; (Genesis 22:17 AV)
Was that promise fulfilled in part by temporal Israel? Yes! We have the proof of the
God inspired testimony of Moses, Solomon, and the author of Hebrews.
Now, O LORD God, let thy promise unto David my father be established: for
thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.
(2 Chronicles 1:9 AV)
The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the
stars of heaven for multitude. (Deuteronomy 1:10 AV)
Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the
stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore
innumerable. (Hebrews 11:12 AV)
Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude,
eating and drinking, and making merry. (1 Kings 4:20 AV)
There, however, was to be a future spiritual fulfillment of that promise through the
church. The seed of Abraham is a spiritual seed. The nation that would spring from him would be a nation built not on fleshly Israel only. There would be a better fulfillment of the promise through faith.
Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be
sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of
the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (Romans 4:16 AV)
In Genesis 17:5 God told Abraham he would be a father of many nations.
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom
he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which
be not as though they were. (Romans 4:17 AV)
As Abraham believed the promises of God and God counted it as righteousness. So too
are those who have the faith of Abraham, they are the spiritual seed of Abraham. The church of God is the promised spiritual great nation. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. (Romans 4:18 AV)
Those that believe in Christ are Abraham’s seed and the innumerable children that God
promised Abraham. First came the temporal earthly fulfillment of the promise through natural Israel, then came the spiritual eternal fulfillment through the church of Christ.
And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the
promise. (Galatians 3:29 AV)
On no less than four different occasions God promised to Abraham and his descendants
the land of Canaan. Genesis 12:7; 13:14-15; 15:7,18; 17:8. Many say that the promise of the land was not fulfilled. That is not true. God has stated clearly that all the land that he promised to fleshly Israel was given to them.
And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto
their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the LORD gave
them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there
stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their
enemies into their hand. There failed not ought of any good thing which the
LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:43-45
AV)
Some claim that the land that Israel occupied did not reach all the way from Egypt to the
river Euphrates, as promised by God in Genesis 15:18, and therefore there is to be a future fulfillment of the promise. That claim is simply not true. Solomon, King of Israel, ruled from the river Euphrates to Egypt. “And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.” (1 Kings 4:21 AV) Is the river mentioned in verse 21 the Euphrates? Yes it is! In verse 24 we read that Solomon had dominion over Tipsah. Tipsah was located on the Euphrates in Mesopotamia. “For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him.” (1 Kings 4:24 AV)
Some have tried to beguile the children of God by stating that because Genesis 17:7-9
states that the land of Canaan was to be an everlasting possession of Israel, it is God’s plan that natural Israel regain possession of that land. Let us look at that passage.
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee
in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to
thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the
land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting
possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt
keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
(Genesis 17:7-9 AV)
Notice that it refers to an everlasting covenant. That everlasting covenant is the New
Covenant of Christ, which is fulfilled in Christ. It is a spiritual covenant. The land promised is a heavenly land that will be “everlasting.” God himself has revealed that truth to those who have ears to hear and eyes to see.
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after
receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he
looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was
delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who
had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so
many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore
innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but
having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say
such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been
mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had
opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an
heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath
prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:8-16 AV)
Notice that those pilgrims of God died in faith not having received the promises on earth.
The everlasting covenant of God is spiritual, the land is eternal in heaven, not temporal on earth. For the earthly land of Canaan could not possibly be an everlasting possession of fleshly Israel, because the earth will one day be destroyed and replaced by a new heaven and a new earth.
“Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Peter 3:12-13 AV)
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth
were passed away; and there was no more sea.” (Revelation 21:1 AV)
God made a conditional covenant with Israel that is referred to as the Mosaic covenant.
The blessings were conditioned on the obedience of Israel. Israel violated that covenant andtherefore the blessings did not flow to fleshly Israel.
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye
shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the
words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and
called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words
which the LORD commanded him. And all the people answered together, and
said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of
the people unto the LORD. (Exodus 19:5-8 AV)
No sooner did they agree to obey God that they immediately fell into idolatry.
Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which
brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And they
made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the
works of their own hands. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the
host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel,
have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the
wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god
Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away
beyond Babylon. (Acts 7:40-43 AV)
The history of natural Israel is one of continual sin intermixed with periods of repentance,
until God finally finished with them according to his foreordained plan. There is a spiritual Israel, the church, to whom the blessings flow. God’s true Israel is and always was the church.
The church contains the children of the promise. “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the
children of promise.” (Galatians 4:28 AV) The church is the Israel of God. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:15-16 AV)
The church is the temple of God.
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16 AV) The church is God’s holy nation inheriting the promises made by God in Exodus 19:5-8. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9 AV)
God does not have a plan of salvation for fleshly Israel that is any different than the plan
of salvation he has for Gentiles. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ for all. There is one body of Christ, his spiritual Israel, made up of Gentiles and the remnant of fleshly Israel.
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our
peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law
of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain
one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God
in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and
preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For
through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye
are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the
household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the
building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom
ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
(Ephesians 2:5-22 AV)
Christ did not in any way provide some exclusive plan for the Jews. He stated that the
gospel was to be preached to “all nations.” Luke 24:47. The only difference for the Jews was that the preaching of the gospel should start at Jerusalem. It was to start with the Jews, but that does not mean it is to end with the Jews in some post-Christian era. The Old Testament has prophecies of the church of God consisting of both believing Jews and Gentiles. Amos 9:11-12; Hosea 1:10; 2:23. The Old Testament prophecies regarding salvation to the both the Jews and Gentiles together are explained in Acts 15:13-17; 26:22-23; Romans 9:23-26; and 1 Peter 2:10.
The New Testament writers, being inspired by God, clearly understood that the church is
the Israel of God and is the object of the promises made to Israel by God in the Old Testament.2
Paul said that believers are:
“The children of God” (Romans 8:16).
“The Household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).
“The children of Abraham” (Colossians 3:7).
“Abraham’s seed” (Galatians 3:29).
“The Children of promise” (Rom. 9:8, Galatians 4:28).
“A peculiar people” (Titus 2:14).
“The elect of God” (Colossians 3:12).
“Heirs of God”(Romans. 8:17).
“Heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).
“The temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
“The circumcision” (Philippians 3:3).
“The Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16).
Peter said that believers are:
“A chosen generation” (1 Peter 2:9).
“A royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9).
“A holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9).
“A peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9).
James said that believers are:
“Heirs of the kingdom” (James 2:5).
John said that believers are:
“The sons of God” (John 1:12).
“Kings and priests unto God” (Revelation 1:6).
“The new Jerusalem” (Revelation 3:12).
“The Holy city (Revelation 21:2).
The letter to the Hebrews said that believers are:
“The people of God” (Hebrews 4:9).
“Mount Zion” (Hebrews 12:22).
“The city of the living God” (Hebrews 12:22).
“The heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22).
The Jews are our enemies, because they are antichrist. Romans 11:28. Jews hate Christ
and Christians. We, however, are to love them and pray for them.
“But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” (Luke 6:27-28 AV)
God has chosen a remnant of Jews for salvation. We should preach the gospel to the lost world, including the Jews. We, however, should not think that a Jew any different in God’s plan than a Catholic, a Protestant, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Satanist or any other follower of one of Satan’s pagan religions.
Salvation for all, is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. If a Jew repents of
his antichrist religion and believes in Jesus, then he is saved. Once saved, a Jew will not
continue in his Talmudic practices any more than a Catholic will continue his Catholic practices
or a Satanist will continue his Satanic practices once they are saved. All believers in Christ
become spiritual Jews, which are Christians.
Loving our enemies does not mean that we should condone the pagan practices of the
Jews, Catholics, Muslims, or other pagans. Rather, we are called by God to reprove them. “And
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” (Ephesians 5:11 AV)
THE SECULAR ZIONIST AGENDA FOR A JEWISH STATE
Rabbi Dr. Chaim Simons
chaimsimons1@walla.com
August 2007
© Copyright. 2007. Chaim Simons
INTRODUCTION
In an article in the English edition of “Mishpacha” in January 2005 appeared the following:
“The Left is still loyal to the State of Israel in varying levels of faithfulness, but it hates Eretz Yisrael. The difference between these two is clear: Eretz Yisrael is a reminder of the Left’s Jewish past, which it wishes to forget. … The Left’s disconnection from the Jewish nation has reached the point where they are prepared for settlers to be killed during the evacuation effort [Gaza area and North Shomron]. Spokesmen of the Left have already announced that this will not be a war of brother against brother since ‘the settlers are not our brothers’.” (1)
Unfortunately this is not a new phenomenon. It has always been an integral part of the secular Zionist agenda. They wanted a Jewish State (according to some of them, even if it were to be in Uganda or Argentina) but it had to be administered according to their programme and perception for the “New Jew.”
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NOTE
Although much of the material appearing in this paper can be found in other books or articles, the material is often brought down as secondary or even tertiary sources. In addition, the primary sources are on a number of occasions incorrectly quoted and there are even cases where the quotations given do not occur in the sources given. Therefore the only quotations of statements made by secular Zionists brought in this paper are those which the author of this paper has a photocopy from in the original in his possession. Due to limitations in the disc space, facsimiles of these documents cannot appear in this online copy. In many cases the original documents are no longer extant or could not be located, despite extensive searching. In such cases the information alleged to be contained in them has been completely omitted from this paper.
In the English quotes, Palestine usually appears when referring to Eretz Yisrael and it has of course be left as it appears in the original.
The following words appearing in the Hebrew quotes have not been translated:
Aliyah – Jewish immigration to Eretz Yisrael
Hachshara – Training given to people in preparation for Aliyah
Shlichim – Jewish emissaries sent abroad to Jewish communities
Yishuv – Jewish community of Eretz Yisrael
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SELECTIVITY – THE SECULAR ZIONIST WAY
Eretz Yisrael was Divinely given to the Jewish people(2) and every Jew has an equal right to live there. However as we shall see, the secular Zionists thought otherwise.
At the eighteenth Zionist Congress held in Prague in August 1933, Ben-Gurion said
“Eretz Yisrael today needs not ordinary immigrants, but pioneers. The difference between them is simple – an immigrant comes to take from the land, whereas a pioneer comes to give to the land. Therefore we demand priority for Aliyah to pioneers.”(3) (emphasis in original)
The question here is how would Ben-Gurion define an “ordinary immigrant” and how a “pioneer”? From his speech, it is obvious that a person working the land on a kibbutz is a pioneer. However, it would almost certainly appear that an old person coming to spend his last years in the Holy Land or even a Yeshiva student would be classed as a mere “ordinary immigrant”!(4)
A few months later in mid-October 1933 a meeting took place between, amongst others, the High Commissioner for Palestine, David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Shertok (Sharett). The Minutes of the meeting were written up by Shertok.
During the course of this meeting Ben-Gurion spoke about the three million Jews then living in Poland and stated that
“Palestine offered no solution for all Polish Jews. Immigration into Palestine was necessarily limited, therefore it had to and could be a selected immigration. Zionism was not a philanthropic enterprise, they really wanted here the best type of Jew to develop the Jewish National Home, but they had to be given sufficient scope to bring over people of whom the country was in need.”(5)
The question which remains is who would decide who was “the best type of Jew”? As will soon be seen, such a Jew was someone who was a secular Zionist!
It was a few years later at the 20th Zionist Congress held in Zurich in August 1937, that Weizmann spelled out more specifically what was meant by “selective Aliyah.”
“I told the members of the Royal [Peel] Commission that six million Jews want to go on Aliyah. One of the members asked me ‘ Do you think you could bring all of them to Eretz Yisrael?’ On this I answered … that two million young people… we want to save. The old people will pass. They will bear their fate or they will not. They have already become like dust, economic and moral dust in this cruel world.”(6)
A similar rejection of elderly Jews to go on Aliyah was made by Henry Montor, the Executive Vice-Chairman of the United Jewish Appeal for Refugees towards the beginning of 1940. A ship full of refugees not certified by the Zionist organisations, were on the high seas. Many of the passengers were elderly. The captain of the ship required money to bring them to Eretz Yisrael. Rabbi Baruch Rabinowitz of Maryland took the matter in hand and tried to get the necessary money from Montor to pay the captain. In his long rambling letter of reply, Montor wrote about the Jewish Agency’s policy of “selectivity” – “the choice of young men and women who are trained in Europe for productive purposes either in agriculture or industry.” With regard to the elderly Jews on board this ship, Montor wrote:
“There could be no more deadly ammunition provided to the enemies of Zionism, whether they be in the ranks of the British Government or the Arabs, or even in the ranks of the Jewish people, if Palestine were to be flooded with very old people or with undesirables who would make impossible the conditions of life in Palestine and destroy the prospect of creating such economic circumstances as would insure a continuity of immigration.”(7)
Maybe it would have been appropriate for him to have renamed his organisation “United Jewish Appeal for Selected Refugees”! At least the donors would then have had a better idea of what they were giving money for.
The secular Zionists were not even ashamed to put out a memorandum in which they quite openly had a section “Who to save”. This memorandum (of April/May 1943) was headed that its distribution was “intended for Zionist functionaries only” and it included instructions “not to pass it on to non-Zionist groups who participate in the Working Committee.”(8) Although it came out under the name of A. [Apolinary] Hartglas, it has been suggested that in fact it was Yitzchak Gruenbaum who actually wrote it.(9) Under this section, he wrote
“…. to my sorrow we have to say that if we are able to save only ten thousand people and we need to save fifty thousand [those chosen] should be of use in building up the land and the revival of the nation.… First and foremost one must rescue children since they are the best material for the Yishuv. One must rescue the pioneering youth, especially those who have had training and are idealistically qualified for Zionist work. One should rescue the Zionist functionaries since they deserve something from the Zionist movement for their work…. Pure philanthropic rescue, for example, saving the Jews of Germany, if carried out in an indiscriminate manner, could from a Zionist prospective only cause harm.”(10)
As can be seen, just as with both Weizmann and Montor, Hartglas was not interested in old people coming to Eretz Yisrael. Even amongst the younger generation, he was only interested in those who would work the land – Yeshivah students were of no use to him.
Further exclusions to Aliyah by the secular Zionists were people who were not members of the Zionist camp. Some Jews who succeeded in arriving in Eretz Yisrael in the second half of 1944 gave evidence on this question.
Pinchas Gross who had been one of the public workers of Agudat Yisrael in Rumania stated
“The first principle of the Zionist Aliyah Committee in Bucharest was not to allow members of Agudat Yisrael to go on Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael. This was despite the agreement which had been made before the war between Agudat Yisrael and the Jewish Agency on the Aliyah quotas for members of Agudat Yisrael… Shlichim from the [Aliyah] Committee in Bucharest arrived in Transylvania with large sums of money in order to transfer hundreds of pioneers to Bucharest for the purpose of Aliyah. We also asked for our members the possibility of Aliyah but we were rudely rejected.”(11)
One might think that this money was “Zionist money” and therefore it was proper to reject such a request. However, this was shown not to be the case just a few weeks later when Weissberg who was a member of the Aliyah Committee in Bucharest, gave evidence before the Rescue Committee in Jerusalem. During this evidence he stated
“It is true that the Agudah was not granted equal rights with regards to receiving money for assistance in Rumania. We did not know that the money which arrived from Eretz Yisrael was money from the Rescue Committee in which all the Yishuv participated. We thought that the money was Jewish Agency money.… I must inform you that help was not given to the pioneers and youth of Agudat Yisrael. We did not know that Agudah is a partner in matters of rescue and in particular in matters of Aliyah. Also regarding the Aliyah of the pioneers of Agudah, we did not know that they were entitled to go on Aliyah, until we arrived in Eretz Yisrael.”(12)
We can thus see that the secular Zionists did nothing to even inform the Agudah what they were entitled to, let alone implement such an entitlement.
There were also others who had been misled in believing that the money was “Zionist money”. For example, the Vishnitzer Rebbe, Rabbi Eliezer Hager, testified that when he asked why the ultra-Orthodox were not receiving any money, received the answer, “This money is Zionist and it is set aside solely for Zionists.”(13) (emphasis in original)
Pinchas Gross further stated
“The ultra-Orthodox youth were not at all considered for this [financial] assistance either in their home town or for the possibility of Aliyah. We applied… for assistance for our youth who before the war did a period of Hachshara and were no less fit for Aliyah than other pioneers – but we did not even receive an answer. The excuse was that the money was Zionist money and was solely for them.”(14)
This attitude of the secular Zionists in their use of public money for their kith and kin and of their “priorities” did not pass without comment, even from non-Orthodox sources.
Dr. Judah Leon Magnes in addressing a meeting of the Rescue Committee in July 1944 was very critical of those who wanted
“first of all to save the Zionists, and afterwards, if possible – also the others, but above all the Zionists. I spoke to somebody…. The man said… we will save our men…. I said to him … the others are also Jews. He said: It is so, they are Jews, but this is a universal argument, a perpetual argument and we will not give in on this.”(15)
Magnes’ comments on the necessity for non-selectivity when doing rescue work are illustrated by the work performed during the Second World War by Recha Sternbuch, who succeeded in rescuing thousands of Jews from the Nazis. Recha was associated with the strictly Orthodox Agudat Yisrael party. However, unlike the secular Zionists, she rescued Jews (and even some non-Jews) regardless of their level of religious observance or Zionist party affiliation.(16)
ZIONISM – AND ONLY THEN JEWISH LIVES
A few months after the beginning of the Second World War the Zionists received entry visas to Eretz Yisrael for 2,900 German Jews. It was necessary to have a meeting with the British Colonial Secretary, Malcolm MacDonald, in connection with these visas and in November 1939, David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Shertok met to discuss this question. Ben-Gurion strongly opposed such a meeting with MacDonald and he told Shertok that
“our political future is more important than saving 2,900 Jews.” Shertok, who completely disagreed with Ben-Gurion, commented in his diary, “he [Ben-Gurion] was prepared to forgo them [the 2,900 Jews].”(17)
Even in July 1944, which was towards the end of this war, when the Holocaust was still in full progress and its implementation was already well known, Ben-Gurion still had the same attitude. A meeting of the Executive of the Jewish Agency was held in Jerusalem at the beginning of July 1944. On its agenda was the subject of the rescue of Jews.
Rabbi Baruch Yehoshua Yerachmiel Rabinowicz, the Munkaczer Rebbe in Hungary, was involved in this rescue effort and the question of a meeting with him was mentioned at this Jewish Agency meeting. In answer Ben-Gurion stated that he did not oppose such a meeting, “We must do everything in this matter [of rescue] including things which seem fantastic.” Had Ben-Gurion said no more, it would have been praiseworthy, but he then continued, “But there is one condition: the work will not cause damage to Zionism.”(18)
In a letter to the Israeli daily newspaper “Ha’aretz” in 1983, the historian Professor Yigal Eilam confirmed that this was the attitude of the Zionist leaders during the period of the Holocaust. He wrote
“The policy of the Zionists during the long period of the Holocaust gave priority to the building up of the land and the establishment of a State, over the saving of Jews…. One already needs to tell these things in a open and direct manner. The Zionists did very little in the saving of Jews, not because they were unable to do more, but because they were concentrating on the Zionist enterprise.”(19)
In a similar vein, in an article by the historian Dina Porat which appeared in “Ha’aretz” in 1991, she wrote
“From the moment that the State became the primary objective, the life of a Jew became secondary in accordance with the principal ‘the State of Israel is above everything’”.(20)
The shortsightedness of the secular Zionist leaders in this matter was written about in 1984 by Rabbi Morris Sherer, the President of Agudat Yisrael, in his comments on the report by Professor Seymour Maxwell Finger entitled “American Jewry during the Holocaust.” Rabbi Sherer commented
“Alas, they [the secular Zionist leaders] did not perceive how utterly ridiculous and heartless it was for Jewish leaders to concentrate on a postwar homeland, when the people for whom they were seeking this home were being slaughtered like sheep!” (21)
Unlike Ben-Gurion who put Zionism first, and Jewish lives just in second place, the Rabbis of the period immediately put “Pikuach Nefesh” (the saving of lives) first. Sabbath observance is one of the fundamentals of Jewish observance, with the most stringent of punishments for their non-observance, yet despite this, Pikuach Nefesh overrides the Sabbath.(22) In order to save lives during the Holocaust, two leading British Rabbis, Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld and Rabbi Isadore Grunfeld, who were occupied in forging passports to save Jews, continued their work on the Sabbath.(23) Rabbis Boruch Kaplan and Rabbi Alexander Linchner rode around Brooklyn in New York in a car on the Sabbath from house to house collecting money to save Jews.(24) (These actions are normally forbidden on the Sabbath.)
IF NOT ALIYAH, LET THEM PERISH
In 1933, Hitler rose to power and during the subsequent years, more and more draconian measures, such as the Nuremberg laws were enacted against the Jews. In 1938 Hitler marched into Austria to the cheers of the non-Jewish population.
The situation for the Jews under Hitler’s domination became unbearable and places of refuge became a grave necessity. It was thus at this period that President Franklin Roosevelt convened a conference of thirty-two nations at the French resort town of Evian to try and find places of refuge for Jews wanting to flee from Hitler.
One would naturally have thought that the Zionist leaders of the time would make the most of this opportunity and devote all their time and energy to ensure that successful results would emerge from this Conference. But sadly this was not to be.
Already in mid-June 1938, before the opening of the Conference, Dr. Georg Landauer wrote to Dr. Stephen Wise, who was head of the Zionist Organization of America. In it he wrote:
“I am writing this letter to you at the request of Dr. Weizmann, as we are very much concerned in case the issue is presented at the [Evian] Conference in a manner which may harm the work for Palestine. Even if the Conference will not place countries other than Palestine in the front for Jewish immigration, there will certainly be public appeals which will tend to overshadow the importance of Palestine…. We feel all the more concern as it may bind Jewish organisations to collect large sums of money for assisting Jewish refugees, and these collections are likely to interfere with our own campaigns.”(25)
Two weeks later the Jewish Agency Executive met in Jerusalem and opposition to the planned Evian Conference was openly stated.
Yitzchak Gruenbaum said
“The Evian Conference can be expected to cause us grave damage – Eretz Yisrael could be eliminated as a country for Jewish immigration … [we are] very apprehensive that in this Conference, it could be relegated to the end of the line. We have to prevent this damage… There is the danger that whilst searching for a destination country, some new territory will be found to which Jewish immigration will be directed. We must defend our principle that Jewish settlement can only succeed in Eretz Yisrael and that no other settlement can come into the calculation.”(26)
Menachem Ussishkin then addressed the meeting in a similar vein. The Evian Conference very much worried him and he supported the words of Gruenbaum. “Mr. Gruenbaum is right when he says that there is the danger that Eretz Yisrael will be removed from the agenda even by the Jews and one should see this as a tremendous blow to us.”(27)
Of course the ideal solution was for Jews to go to Eretz Yisrael. However in view of the then political situation, immigration there was not a feasible proposition. Surely the only question then should have been how to save and help as many Jews as possible. It was this fact that should have been the only concern of the speakers at that Jewish Agency Executive meeting – but it wasn’t!
A few weeks later, Weizmann wrote to Stephen Wise. Towards the beginning of his letter he wrote: “I made arrangements, before leaving for my holiday, to put in a few days at Evian.”(28) If one thinks for a moment about this sentence, one can see that it is horrific. Surely, if there was even the slightest opportunity of saving even one Jew, Weizmann who was the President of the Zionist Organization should have immediately cancelled his personal holiday arrangements and spent all his time at Evian trying to lobby the various delegates to accept Jews in their countries. But what do we see? – he will just before going on holiday “put in a few days at Evian.”
In fact he was later persuaded by his friends not to even “put in a few days” there, to which advice he followed.(29) The reason was stated by Dr. Arthur Ruppin at a meeting of the Jewish Agency Executive on 21 August. Ruppin stated “we then decided that it would not be to our prestige for Dr. Weizmann to appear in Evian”(30) – the reason being that he would only have been allowed to speak in a sub-committee! Jewish lives were at stake and to worry about prestige!!
One can immediately contrast this attitude with that of the Jewish religious leaders of the time. Rabbi Aharon Kotler had come under some criticism for meeting in the course of his rescue work with Stephen Wise, a leader of the Reform movement. He shrugged such reprobation saying, “I would prostrate myself before the Pope if I knew it would help to save even the fingernail of one Jewish child.”(31)
Unfortunately nothing concrete came out of the Evian Conference. The situation of the Jews in Germany got even worse and on 9 November 1938 there was the infamous Kristallnacht.
A few days later, Weizmann heard that there was a scheme to resettle German Jews in a country other than Eretz Yisrael. This he did not like and he immediately sent off a telegram to stop any financial backing for such a scheme. This telegram was sent to Samuel Vandenbergh in Wassemar
“Understand you are embarking large financial effort for settlement German Jews. Beg of you to be careful not disperse and dissipate energies which can nowhere be applied with greater effectiveness both immediately and lasting than in Palestine.”(32)
Since at that period emigration to Eretz Yisrael was unfortunately not a practical proposition, Weizmann is effectively saying that rather than immigrate to another country, the Jews must remain in Nazi Germany.
We can see that also Ben-Gurion thought on these same lines as the other secular Zionist leaders. It was at this period that Ben-Gurion addressed the Mapai Central Committee. He realised the seriousness of the situation and said
“On these awesome days at the start of the threatened destruction of European Jewry…. If I would know that it would be possible to save all the German [Jewish] children by bringing them over to England and only half of them by transporting them to Eretz Yisrael, I would choose the second option – since before us is not just these children but the history of the Jewish people.”(33)
At this period, the Germans had already established concentration camps and were sending Jews to them. In order to pre-empt this, it was necessary to find the means of arranging their emigration from Germany. Ben-Gurion, however, felt this could cause a diversion of resources and endanger Zionism. A few days after his above quoted speech to the Mapai Central Committee, he addressed the Executive of the Jewish Agency:
“Zionism now stands in danger.… If the Jews will have to choose on the one hand the refugee question,[namely] saving Jews from concentration camps and on the other hand assisting a national museum in Eretz Yisrael, mercy would decide the matter and all the energy of the [Jewish] people would be diverted to saving Jews in the various countries. Zionism would be struck off the agenda, not only in world opinion in England and America, but also in Jewish public opinion. The existence of Zionism would be at risk if we allow a separation between the refugee problem and the Eretz Yisrael problem.”(34) (emphasis in original)
NOT ONE PENNY, NOT ONE CENT
The mass extermination of the Jews of Europe was already well known by the end of 1942. Saving Jews could and should have been top priority. But in order to save large numbers of people from extermination costs money – whether normal expenses or money for bribery. Needless to say, the money has to come from somewhere. All the time money was donated by world Jewry to funds such as the Keren Hayesod, the JNF, and so on. It is true that this money had been specifically donated for Eretz Yisrael, but here was a case of Pikuach Nefesh and it would have been quite legitimate, indeed mandatory, to have utilised this money for the saving of Jewish lives. The Jews then living in Eretz Yisrael were even saying so.
However Yitzchak Gruenbaum, who was head of the Rescue Committee of the Jewish Agency thought otherwise. In a speech to the Zionist Smaller Actions Committee in January 1943 he expressed his views:
“Meanwhile a mood has begun to sweep over Eretz Yisrael which I think is very dangerous to Zionism…. How is it possible that such a thing can occur in Eretz Yisrael, that in a meeting they will call out to me, ‘If you don’t have any money [for rescuing European Jewry] take the money of the Keren Hayesod, take the money from the bank – there, there is money, in the Keren Hayedod there is money.’ … These days in Eretz Yisrael it is being said, ‘don’t put Eretz Yisrael at the top of your priorities at this difficult time, at the period of a Holocaust and destruction of European Jewry,’ …. I don’t accept such a thing. And when they asked me to give money of the Keren Hayesod to save Diaspora Jewry, I said no and I again said no…. I am not going to defend myself, in the same way that I will not justify or defend myself if they accuse me of murdering my mother …. But I think it is necessary to say here: Zionism is above everything.”(35)
The only consolation from reading Gruenbaum’s speech, is that the Jews living in Eretz Yisrael were demanding the diverting of Keren Hayesod money to rescue efforts, even though this meant that less money would arrive in Eretz Yisrael and could accordingly affect their living standards. In contrast Gruenbaum commented “Zionism is above everything” even though this meant not rescuing European Jewry from the Holocaust.
In his book “Perfidy”, Ben Hecht quoted how Gruenbaum said “No” to the giving of money for rescue activities.(36) In a critical “Analysis” of this book by the American Section of the Executive of the Jewish Agency, they write that this quoted sentence by Ben Hecht “has been most viciously torn out of context. The writer of this Analysis then tries to prove, quoting other parts of Gruenbaum’s speech that he wanted to do everything to save European Jewry.(37) However he conveniently omitted one crucial part of the speech: “Zionism is above everything” – namely we will certainly do everything to save European Jewry provided that it is not at the expense of Zionism!
One might add that in 1961, Gruenbaum gave an interview to the paper “Etgar” from the comfort of his house in Gan Shmuel, in which he repeated these statements he made during the war, without even hinting he had been wrong.
“Interviewer: Was there then no money in the kitty of the Jewish Agency, the JNF, the Keren Hayesod?
Gruenbaum: Yes. Even then the argument went: Isn’t there any money? Take it from the JNF. I said: No! They did not want to forgive me for this and until this day, there are murmurings about this. The money was needed for Zionism.
Interviewer: What is the meaning of “for Zionism” when the saving of lives is at stake? Does Zionism want Jews alive or dead?
Gruenbaum: The saving of life does not override Zion. For Jews, the State is essential. Therefore, in accordance with my manner I said the truth – that is No!”(38)
Gruenbaum went on to say that he then went to South Africa to raise money for rescue purposes. However we all know that the raising of money, especially when one has to travel to another continent takes time and every day taken meant more Jews were being sent to the gas chambers. Surely the correct thing was to immediately take money from these Zionist kitties and if at a later date one succeeded in raising money, one could return it to the Zionist funds.
Even before the war, when Jews were already being persecuted in Germany and Austria, it was widely accepted that money to save Jewish lives came before money for Zionism. In was in late October 1938 that the treasurer of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) said
“The upbuilding of Palestine was all very well, but Jews in Europe were starving and persecuted – and they, JDC felt, had first claim on whatever funds were available.”(39)
ALSO THE BRITISH SECULAR ZIONISTS
Placing Zionism above the saving the lives of Jews was also a phenomenon of the British secular Zionists. Towards the end of 1942, when the Nazi extermination plans became known, British Jewry decided to make representations to the British Government. At a meeting of the British section of the Jewish Agency held in December 1942, the “Nazi Extermination Policy” was on the agenda. Here is an extract from the official minutes of this meeting when discussing this item:
“Dr. Brodetsky … made it quite clear that if Palestine was not properly mentioned then he would not be a member of the Delegation to Mr. Eden….
Lord Melchett said it would be disastrous for any body of Jews to go to Mr. Eden and not put Palestine in the forefront of their plans. Such a body would not represent the views of the Jews either here or elsewhere…..
Mr. Marks said he fully agreed, and if this condition was not satisfied, then he would not be a member of the delegation. Unless Palestine was properly dealt with, they should criticise the delegation up and down the country and cause a revolution inside the Board of Deputies…. The dignity of the Jewish people was at stake and it was only in Palestine that the Jews could get their dignity back.”(40)
As we well see, the above British secular Zionists would only attend a meeting with British Government officials to save Jews from the “Nazi Extermination Policy” if Eretz Yisrael was to be given a prominent place at these meetings. Furthermore it was Jewish liveswhich were “at stake” and it was no time to worry about “dignity” being “at stake”.
It was at the same period that the British secular Zionists sabotaged negotiations that Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schonfeld was making with the British Government for the rescue of the endangered Jews in Nazi Europe. Such rescue of Jews was not a new thing with Rabbi Schonfeld. Just before the Second World War, he had organised Kindertransports and brought over to England from Germany and Austria thousands of children.(41) To accommodate some of them he even utilized his own house with him sleeping in the attic.(42)
Towards the end of 1942, Rabbi Schonfeld organised steps to rescue Jews from Nazi Europe. To this end he worked exceptionally hard to organise wide support for a Motion to be tabled in the British Parliament for the British Government to be prepared to find temporary refuge in its territories or territories under its control for those endangered by the Nazis. Within two weeks he amassed a total of 277 Parliamentary signatures of all parties for this Motion.(43)
One would have thought that the British secular Zionists would have welcomed and co-operated in such an initiative. Sadly this was not the case. In a letter to the “Jewish Chronicle” at that period, Rabbi Schonfeld wrote
“This effort was met by a persistent attempt on the part of Professor Brodetsky [President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews] and some of his colleagues to sabotage the entire move. Without even full knowledge of the details, he and his collaborators asked Members of the House [of Parliament] to desist from supporting the new effort.”(44)
Rabbi Schonfeld further elaborated on this in a letter to “The Times” of London at the time of the Eichmann trial in 1961.
“Already while the Parliamentary motion was gathering momentum voices of dissent were heard from Zionist quarters: ‘Why not Palestine?’ The obvious answers that the most urgent concern was humanitarian and not political, that the Mufti-Nazi alliance ruled out Palestine for the immediate saving of lives….When the next steps were being energetically pursued by over 100 M.Ps [Members of Parliament] and Lords, a spokesman for the Zionists announced that the Jews would oppose the motion on the grounds of its omitting to refer to Palestine …. and thereafter the motion was dead.”(45)
Rabbi Schonfeld’s initiative came up at a meeting of the British Executive of the Jewish Agency in January 1943. At this meeting, Berl Locker said that he and two of his colleagues
“had asked him [Rabbi Schonfeld] to postpone the meeting in the House of Commons and not to continue working off his own bat. They had also pointed out that the resolution which he had proposed did not mention Palestine…. Mr. Locker wondered whether it would be a good thing for him or Dr. Brodetsky to write a letter to the Chief Rabbi, who might be able to do something to stop this mischief.”(46)
What was this “mischief” of Rabbi Dr. Schonfeld’s that these British secular Zionists wanted “stopped”? This “mischief” was his trying to save the lives of Jews who were in Nazi Europe!!
EPILOGUE
In an interview given by someone who worked with the late Klausenberger Rebbe for half a century, he said in answer to a question on the Holocaust,
“When the Sabra and Shatila affair rocked the nation, and hundreds of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv, demanding a commission of inquiry into the government’s lack of response to the massacre of Palestinians by Phalangist militants in Lebanon, the Rebbe couldn’t restrain himself. During a Shiur he delivered in Bnei Brak, he asked pointedly why there was no call for a commission of inquiry into the lack of response of the Zionist leaders in Eretz Yisrael during the murder of millions of Jews in the Nazi-occupied lands. They had ignored the matter completely.”(47)
REFERENCES
1) Rabbi Moshe Grylak, “How do they “know” it all?” Mishpacha (English edition), (Monsey, NY: Tikshoret VeChinuch Dati-Yehudi), 12 January 2005, pp.6-7.
2) e.g. Genesis chap.12 verse 7.
3) Stenographisches Protokoll XVIII Zionistenkongresses, [Official Minutes of the 18th Zionist Congress], (London: Zentralbureau der Zionistischen Organisation), p.219.
4) David Kranzler, Thy Brother’s Blood, (New York: Mesorah Publications, 1987), pp.61-62, 241, 244.
5) Minutes of Interview with His Excellency the High Commissioner, 17 October 1933, pp.4-5 (Labour Archives – Lavon Institute IV-104-49-2-64. There is also a copy in Ben-Gurion Archives). At a later date Ben-Gurion wrote up these minutes (in Hebrew) in his memoirs without any suggestion that they were not what he had said at this meeting, (David Ben-Gurion, Memoirs, vol.1, (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1971), p.672).
6) Official Minutes of the 20th Zionist Congress, (Jerusalem: Executive of the Zionist Organisation and the Jewish Agency), pp.32-33.
7) Montor to Rabinowitz, 1 February 1940, pp.2, 4, (Jabotinsky Archives, HT-10/16).
8) A. Hartglas, Comments concerning assistance and rescue, (April/May 1943 – possibly 24 April 1943), p.1, (CZA S26/1306 [previous no. S26/1232]).
9) Aryeh Morgenstern, “Vaad hahatzalah hameuchad .…,” Yalkut Moreshet, (Tel Aviv: Moreshet), vol.13, June 1971, p.95 fn.67.
10) Hartglas, op. cit., p.3.
11) Evidence of Pinchas Gross, a public worker of Agudat Yisrael of Rumania, given in Tel Aviv on 27 July 1944, p.2, (CZA S26/1189 [previous no. S26/1079]).
12) Minutes, Presidium of the Rescue Committee, Jerusalem, 25 August 1944, (CZA S26/1189 [previous no. S26/1079]).
13) Evidence of Vishnitzer Rebbe taken in Tel Aviv in April 1944, p.1, (CZA S26/1189 [previous no, S26/1079]).
14) Pinchas Gross, op. cit.
15) Minutes, Rescue Committee, Jerusalem, 14 July 1944, p.7, (CZA S26/1327 [previous no. S26/1238aleph]).
16) Kranzler, op. cit., pp194-95.
17) Moshe Shertok Handwritten diary, 13 November 1939, p.66, (CZA S25/198/3. [Shertok also made a handwritten copy of his own diary CZA A245/14]
18) Minutes, Jewish Agency Executive. Jerusalem, 2 July 1944. p.8, (CZA).
19) Yigal Eilam, Letters to the Editor, Haaretz, (Tel Aviv), 15 April 1983, p.24.
20) Dina Porat, “Manipulatzit Haadmorim,” Haaretz, (Tel Aviv), 12 April 1991, p.3b.
21) Seymour Maxwell Finger, American Jewry during the Holocaust, (New York: Holmes and Meier Publishers, second printing May 1984), Comment by Rabbi Morris Sherer, p.16.
22) Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, chap.328, para.2.
23) S. Fordsham, Inbox, Mishpacha (English edition), op. cit., 9 May 2007, p.10
24) Kranzler, op. cit., p.6.
25) Landauer to Wise, 13 June 1938, p.1, (CZA S53/1552aleph).
26) Minutes, Jewish Agency Executive, Jerusalem, 26 June 1938, p.6, (CZA)
27) Ibid., p.7.
28) Weizmann to Wise. 14 July 1938, p.1, (CZA Z4/17198).
29) Ibid., p.2.
30) Minutes, Jewish Agency Executive, Jerusalem, 21 August 1938, p.7. (CZA).
31) Kranzler, op. cit., p.146.
32) Telegram, Weizmann to Vandenburgh, 16 November 1938, (CZA Z4/17335).
33) Minutes, Mapai Central Committee, 7 December 1938, p.41, (Labour Party Archives – Bet Berl 2-23-1938-21 bet).
34) Minutes, Jewish Agency Executive, Jerusalem, 11 December 1938, p.4, (CZA)
35) Minutes, Zionist Smaller Actions Committee, 18 January 1943, pp.12-13, (CZA).
36) Ben Hecht, Perfidy, (New York: Julian Messner, 1962), p.50.
37) The American Section of the Executive of the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency. Ben Hecht’s ‘Perfidy’ – An analysis of his rewriting of history, (New York: [s.n.], 1962), p.9.
38) “Mi asham b’hafkara,” conversation with Yitzchak Gruenbaum, Etgar, (Tel Aviv: Mercaz Hapeula Hashemit), no.8, 29 June 1961, p.5.
39) Yehuda Bauer, My Brother’s Keeper, (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1974), p.255.
40) Minutes, Jewish Agency Executive, London, 21 December 1942, pp.2-3. (CZA Z4/302/26).
41) e.g. David Kranzler. Holocaust Hero, (New Jersey: Ktav, 2004).
42) Ibid., pp.38-39.
43) Solomon Schonfeld, Letters to the Editor, The Times, (London), 6 June 1961, p.13.
44) Solomon Schonfeld, Letters to the Editor, The Jewish Chronicle, (London), 29 January 1943, p.5.
45) Schonfeld, The Times, op. cit.
46) Minutes, Jewish Agency Executive, London, 21 January 1943, (CZA Z4/302/26).
47) “A strength beyond nature,” Mishpacha (English edition), op. cit., 20 June 2007, p.16.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Please,
I do not know how one can be a soldier at war, and be Christian.
Didn’t Jesus command us to “turn the other cheek”, and love our enemies? How can you love someone you are shooting at?
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world (Wonderland) populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre, and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential, especially in the fantasy genre.
Three, two, or one pseudonym sociopolitical theorist[s], commenting above, have fallen into wonderland’s entry rabbit hole, constructing tales shrinking Prophetic history down to their world view, while waxing theological, where, one wonders what size any one will be when they get to where they are falling into? Once arriving, any one, above, asks from “The[ir] Pool of Tears”, how to perform multiplication which produces some odd results: “Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is—oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!”
Then seeking, “Advice from a Caterpillar”, the Pigeon asserts that little girls are some kind of serpent, for both little girls and serpents eat eggs. This general concept of abstraction occurs widely in many fields of science; an example in mathematics of employing this reasoning would be in the substitution of variables. Yes, yes, of course.
Looking ahead, from where they’ve gotten, we find a Mad Tea Party followed by changing seats at the table which takes them back to the beginning, and we ponder what that means. Next, The Cheshire cat fades until it disappears entirely, leaving only its wide grin, suspended in the air, leading these forum responders, above, marveling and noting that any one has seen a cat without a grin, but never a grin without a cat. [Apologies to the wikipedia].
God is all about truth and keeping His promises. Keep your eyes on Jerusalem. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the peace of God for all who desire peace.
“Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Psalm 37:2-4
@Leonardo:
Rom.11:1-5 “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”
But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ” -This is the part you are saying…, but it continues!
Rom.11:17-29 makes it pretty clear that after the fullness of the Gentiles has gone in, Israel as a whole will repent and thus all Israel will be saved. Because the calling of God is irrevocable.
“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.