nineteen hundred and forty-six - Amazon Web Services

326 SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
SECTION VII
JEWISH WORK
JACOB GARTENHAUS, Field Secretary
"Tomorrow shall be as this day and much more abundant." (Isa. 56:12)
As I pen this report I have entered my twenty-fifth year of service with the
Home Mission Board. As I look back over the early years, with their trials,
tears, heartaches, and headaches, when I had to travel a lonely road and cry
like a voice in the wilderness, facing on the one hand the bitter opposition of my
own people, and on the other hand the indifference and callousness on the part
of Christians; when I had to travel for days and weeks, yea even months,
without meeting a single Jewish believer, or even so much as hearing of one—
for it required superhuman courage for a Jew to publicly profess Christ—1
marvel at my own endurance and thank God for His sustaining grace and
infinite patience during those pioneer days when it required
The faith of Abraham
The obedience of Isaac
The meekness of Moses
The strength of Samson
The wisdom of Solomon
The patience of Job
The missionary zeal of Peter
The statesmanship of Paul
and, above all, the love of Christ.
And now, as I compare those trying days with my present experiences
with the open doors and hungry hearts, the eagerness on the part of the great
masses to know more about this Jesus whose very name for centuries they were
not even permitted to utter except in blasphemy, and the ever-increasing number
of Jews who are ^turning to Christ as their only hope, I want to shout with
the Psalmist of old, "Jehovah hath done great things for us whereof we are
glad."
What we are witnessing today, encouraging and glorious as it is, is not to
be compared with what will come to pass tomorrow. In the words of the
prophet: "Tomorrow shall be as this day and much more abundant" (Isa.
56:12) The inspired apostle Paul likewise saw that glorious day of Israel's
acceptance of the Messiah when he said: "For if the casting away of them
be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life
from the dead."
The dyke of prejudice and ignorance which has been kept so long cemented
by some bigoted Jewish rabbis, has broken loose and nothing they can do will
stop the flood of light from penetrating the hearts of the great masses.
To satisfy the demand for knowledge, many volumes have been written by
outstanding Jewish scholars, such as the late Franz Werfel, Sholem Asch, and
others, which have accomplished more in bringing Christ and Israel together
than could a hundred missionaries. No abuse or threats of ostracism will
silence their voices.
This has led hundreds of thousands of Jews to seek further knowledge in
the New Testament, and as a result we are reaping a harvest far beyond our
expectations. According to the report of the committee on the Christian
approach to the Jew at a recent annual conference of the Home Missions
Council of North America, 100,000 Jews are members of the Christian churches
in the United States and Canada.
This unprecedented awakening is not confined to our own continent. Recently
we read the sensational announcement by the Associated Press of the
conversion of the chief rabbi of Rome, Italy, his wife, daughter, and nearly
three hundred members of his congregation. It is interesting to read the Jewish
reaction to the conversion of this world figure.
Jewish leaders, who usually try to explain away the conversion of such a
prominent Jewish person by accusing him of having sought notoriety or having
taken such a step for mercenary and other reasons, found themselves at a loss to
explain the step taken by this rabbi. They could not accuse him of having
sought notoriety for he was already a renowned and respected world figure.
Semitic criticism If anything, The truth Antiquities and he anger of was the in of aware matter his the people. University that is that such for a of a step Rome number would and of bring only years upon a he short was him time lecturer the before
severe on