Judaism Discovered - Get a Free Blog

JUDAISM DISCOVERED 456 MICHAEL HOFFMAN
the pursuer' (rodef) applied to the rabbi. One placard said: 'He is one of those
Jewish sinners for which the Talmud says their blood is permitted' (that is,
every Jew can and should kill them). On Sept. 6, a Jewish assassin
successfully entered the rabbi's home unseen, went to the kitchen and put
arsenic poison in a pot of soup that was cooking. Both Rabbi Cohen and his
small daughter died. The Hassids and their leaders did not attend the
funeral, but celebrated." 534
Avraham Cohen seems to have been a person who, in spite of being in
bondage to a religious system of darkness and delusion, sought to obtain
some scintilla of justice for the people in his care. Consider if, with these
aspirations of his, Cohen had come to know Christ, and the grace and mercy
that Jesus offers! (Matt. 18:11-13). Yet he was killed before he could begin to
strive further. There is a lesson here, and that is, not to dismiss as hopeless
the rabbi, the Nazi or any human being trapped by heinous sin. Jesus did not
come for the perfect, church-going Protestant. He did not come for the perfect,
patriot hero of the "Good war." He came for the crippled in mind, in body and
in particular, in soul. "He said unto them, 'They that are whole have no need
of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:17).
This is the reason Judaism has sought to eradicate the Christian
witness to Judaics, either by forbidding it outright, or by ensuring that
Judaics are exempted from evangelism. The late Pope John Paul II and the
majority of the Protestant preachers have consented to that catastrophic
exemption, while true Christians continue to offer the life-affirming and
liberating Good News of the Messiah to every person, whatever their
supposed exalted racial status. We cannot sincerely confess that Jesus is
Lord, however, if we are possessed by hatred, revenge or resentment toward
those who are caught within the Talmudic tyranny, as was Avraham Cohen.
Radical reform begins with us. The Cross is an offense not just to the rabbis
but to the world. The rabbis of Pharisaic Judaism do evil. Like Jesus, we are
obligated to tell the truth about their evil. Nonetheless, they are worthy, as
fellow humans, of our compassion. If we fail to love them and work for the
welfare of their souls, then our righteousness does not exceed theirs (Matt.
5:20), for they love their friends and hate their enemies (Luke 6: 32-36).
534 Allan C. Brownfeld, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March, 2000, based on the
account by Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky.