I S S U E S

A • M E S S I A N I C • J E W I S H • P E R S P E C T I V E

HITLER’S “F
or almost twenty centuries . . . the
church was the archenemy of the
Jews—our most powerful and

THEOLOGIANS relentless oppressor and the worlds’ greatest force

for the dissemination of Anti-Semitic beliefs and
the instigation of the acts of hatred. Many of the
The Genesis of Genocide same people who operated the gas chambers
worshiped in Christian churches on Sunday. . . .
The question of the complicity of the church in
the murder of the Jews is a living one. We must
By Stan Meyer understand the truths of our history.”
—Abraham Foxman, Anti-Defamation League i
Volume 16 • 10
(continued inside)
(continued from cover)

WAS HITLER FOLLOWING THE instructors, the spiritual leaders of Germany’s church in
TEACHINGS OF JESUS? the 1930s? What “religion” were they really teaching?
Could it be that a Germany that was leading the world in
Most Christians would say that Adolf Hitler was not a art, physics and literature—producing Mahler and
Christian because he did not follow the teachings of Jesus Wagner, Uhlmann, Klaus Fuchs and Max Born—was
nor did he understand the meaning of the New Testament sending the world down the road of genocidal mania?
writings. Yet, in his own way, perverse though it was, he Could a Germany that was pioneering in the fields of
saw the genocide of the Jewish people as a “sacred” theology, religious study and biblical scholarship be
mission. Writing in Mein Kampf, Hitler said: “Today, I morally bankrupt? And how could those whose profession
believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the was to study God’s Word and lead pastors into God’s
Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I truth, based on the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the New
am fighting for the work of the Lord” [italics in the Testament, condone or even advocate Hitler’s demonic
original].” In addition, there are those who would allege course? Who were Hitler’s theologians? And what
that it was not only Hitler’s personal “theology” but also “Christianity” did they teach?
two thousand years of anti-Semitism by the church in the
name of Jesus that laid the foundation for the Holocaust. BIRTH OF THE MODERN ERA

Nazi anti-Judaism was the work of godless, anti- To understand the religious climate of a pre-Holocaust
Christian criminals. But it would not have been Germany (circa 1930s) it is helpful to re-visit the seventeenth
possible without the almost two thousand years’ pre- century when the Modern Era dawned on Western Europe.
history of ‘Christian’ anti-Judaism. . . . —Hans Küngii The Age of Reason, also known as the Enlightenment and the
Age of Rationalism,iv was a period in history when
It is a painful but inescapable truth that anti- philosophers emphasized the use of reason as the best method
Semitism, which seethes with hate, was spawned of learning truth. Thinkers relied heavily on the scientific
and nourished by Christianity, which reveres a method to discover truth in all disciplines. Philosophers
Jewish prophet who preached love and compassion. emphasized experimentation and careful observation.v These
. . .Two thousand years of Christian anti-Judaism . . . modern thinkers believed that reason could be tested and was
hardened hearts against Jews. . . .This mind-set, therefore reliable, but revelation (which claims to be God-
deeply embedded in the Christian outlook, helps to given) was beyond testing and therefore unreliable. Many
explain why so many people were receptive to anti- believed that reason must “validate” the claims of the Bible for
Jewish propaganda. —Marvin Perry
iii
those claims to be true. John Locke (1632-1704) asserted that
reason is “the candle of the Lord set up by Himself in men’s
minds” and “must be our final judge and guide in everything.”vi
From the standpoint of history, was it really Christian The Age of Reason produced a generation of Bible
teaching that supplied the fuel for the crematoria? Did scholars known as Rationalists. They argued that only
conservative Christian doctrine really pave the way for the through reason could we learn about God.
poison that filled the showers? Is there anything in
orthodox Christian theology that would lead Germany’s Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834)
church leaders to advocate murdering six million Jews? Friedrich Schleiermacher, called the founder of Liberal
Who were the heads of the church, the seminary Protestantism, argued that God is unknowable. He taught

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JEWISH EDITOR: SUSAN PERLMAN
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 that it is not possible to verify the Israel and the life of Jesus as inaccurate. In 1906 Albert
historical events described in the Schweitzer published The Quest for the Historical Jesus,
Scriptures, such as the parting of arguing that we can know very little about the real Jesus.
the Red Sea, the Exodus from Jesus’ life, the New Testament and even the Torah were
Egypt, or even the giving of the cloaked in mythology.
Ten Commandments. Therefore, Schweitzer claimed that
according to him, faith is merely historians needed to “de-
a “religious feeling.” He wrote, mythologize” the Bible—strip
“. . . belief in God, and in away the miracles and ask
Friedrich Schleiermacher
personal immortality, are not questions such as “who really
necessarily a part of religion; one can conceive of religion wrote these books?” He
without God, and it would be pure contemplation of the maintained that only an
universe.”vii According to Schleiermacher, religious truth is historical method rather than
subjective; it is not derived from the Scriptures but rather a religious one was needed to
Albert Schweitzer
is relative to a person’s conscience. Consequently, religious get a verifiable biography of
principles of right and wrong are merely interpretations Jesus. A scientific approach to the Bible was developed,
based on an individual’s perspective. known as the historical-critical approach. In this
approach, readers attempted to reconstruct what they
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) believed was the original text. Important to note is that
The German philosopher this method denied divine inspiration, rejected miracles,
Friedrich Nietzsche carried reason’s and presumed that the biblical text we have is a
critique of religion much further. composite of editions and alterations by various parties
In Thus Spake Zarathustra the with varying and unique interests.
protagonist proclaimed, “God is
dead.” This was Nietzsche’s Julius Wellhausen (1844-1918)
dramatic way of alleging that most Julius Wellhausen was born in Westphalia, Germany.
people no longer believed in God. He earned his doctorate in theology at the University of
Friedrich Nietzsche
He lamented that civilization was Gottingen. After teaching theology for twelve years, he
left with a terrible void since religion no longer provided a resigned his position because he began to doubt the
basis for making moral choices. He put forth the idea of authority of the Scriptures to teach religious truth. In
the übermensch (super human), who through his “will to 1882, he took a position at the University of Halle,
power” could bring down false ideals and moral codes of teaching Middle-Eastern and Semitic languages. He
his day. This übermensch could overcome nihilism by applied the historical-critical approach to studying the
creating new or better ideals. Jewish Bible. Wellhausen proposed the Documentary
Hypothesis, which argued that Moses did not write the
CRITICIZING THE JEWISH first five books of the Bible. Rather, Wellhausen suggested
SCRIPTURES that the Pentateuch is a composite originating from four
sources that he designated as J, E, P and D. J stood for
By the late nineteenth century Liberal Protestant Jehovah and referred to those documents in which God is
Bible scholars regarded the historical accounts of both identified by his four-letter name. E represented those

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3
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documents in which God was referred to as Elohim. P are now extinct, then perhaps modern religion evolved
stood for the Priestly source used to identify those parts of from primitive religions, such as Judaism. The corollary,
the Torah that Wellhausen believed had been added by the based on natural selection, was that the “primitive”
Jewish priesthood. Finally, D stood for Deuteronomy, religion should also become extinct to make way for more
referring to those portions of the text that were repeated in evolved religion. If the source of the Hebrew Scriptures
the final book of the Torah. Wellhausen believed that the was not divine, then Judaism and her Scriptures were
D source possibly originated in the era of a late Judean merely the products of anthropological evolutionary
king. According to his hypothesis, different groups added forces, acted out in ancient Semitic societies.
portions of text, with each redaction reflecting that source’s In 1875, Professor Robert Smith of Edinburgh,
human agenda and version of Israel’s history. Scotland delivered a series of lectures titled “The Religion
The Documentary Hypothesis quickly spread among of the Semites.” Smith outlined the primitive origins of
Bible scholars in Central Europe. It eventually crossed the the Jewish beliefs as follows:
Atlantic and debuted at Union
Theological Seminary in New We have seen that ancient
York. Rabbinic scholars faiths must be looked
Is there an
immediately protested what they on as matters of in orthodox Chri
perceived as an attack on the institution rather
holiest books in Judaism. than of doctrines that would lead G
Solomon Schechter, the founder of or formulated
leaders to advoc
Conservative Judaism, stated his beliefs, and that the
concerns in a 1903 seminary system of an antique six millio
Julius Wellhausen address titled “Higher Criticism— religion was part of the social
Higher Anti-Semitism.” Schechter order under which its adherents lived . . .
believed that the Documentary Hypothesis would lead to broadly speaking, religion was made up of a series of
an attack on Judaism and ultimately an assault on the acts and observances, the correct performance of
Jewish people. Jewish historian Marc Zvi Brettler which was necessary to secure the favour of the gods
summarized Schechter’s comments, which in hindsight or avert their anger.ix
seem rather prophetic:
In The History of Israel and Judah, Wellhausen
[He] equated Wellhausen’s approach with predicted that Judaism and the Jewish people would
“professional and imperial anti-Semitism,” calling it become extinct:
an “intellectual persecution” of Judaism. viii
The . . . emancipation [i.e. assimilation] of the Jews
THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGION must inevitably lead to the extinction of Judaism
wherever the process is extended beyond the
As historical-critical tools sought to explain textual political to the social sphere. For the
origins, new theories such as those put forth in Darwin’s accomplishment of this centuries may be required.x
Origin of the Species attempted to explain human origins
in purely scientific terms. Darwin alleged that humans Following this progression, Liberal Christianity would
were evolved from more primitive animal species. take center stage.
Theologians adopted his language and began explaining
religion in terms of evolutionary forces as well—the Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930)
“Evolution of Religion.” They reasoned that if modern Adolf von Harnack, born in Estonia, earned his
man evolved from more primitive species, many of which doctorate at the University of Leipzig. He taught church

4
 history at the University of developed in opposition to Judaism. When we
Giessen and later at the speak of Christianity and Judaism today, the two in
University of Berlin. Over time their most fundamental essence stand in glaring
he became convinced that Jesus contrast to one another. There is no bond between
was not divine. The main focus them, rather the sharpest opposition. (Reich Bishop
of Liberal Protestantism is the Ludwig Muller, 1934)xii
fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood of man. As one of Church leaders endeavored to remove all Jewish
its proponents, von Harnack influence from German society in both the political and
Adolf von Harnack
tried to show that Jesus was a religious spheres. Alfred Rosenberg, publisher of Der
progressive teacher, but not divine. According to his Stürmer, (the weekly Nazi newspaper most notorious for
theories, the god of the Hebrew Scriptures was a tribal its anti-Semitic cartoons) was the link between nineteenth-
war god, jealous for his subjects’ worship century Liberal Protestantism and Hitler’s twentieth-
and waging war on his enemies. century Aryan agenda. Doris Bergen, professor of history
nything The Jewish belief that God at Notre Dame explains:
istian theology required an atonement for
sin was dismissed as Alfred Rosenberg dubbed the Old Testament a
Germany’s church merely stemming from collection of “stories of pimps and cattle traders”;
the primitive semitic but the high school religion teacher and German
cate murdering
belief in a tribal god who Christian agitator Reinhold Krause earned sustained
on Jews? demanded blood to satisfy his applause in November 1933, when he repeated that
wrath. Von Harnack maintained phrase at a rally of twenty thousand people.xii
that the Christian teaching that Jesus’ death
atoned for sin was Hebrew in origin, obsolete, and should It was in this setting that Liberal Protestant pastors
be discarded. Von Harnack’s views are not original. In the founded the German Christian
second century, the Gnostic Marcion taught that the god of Movement in 1932. They
the New Testament had defeated the war god of the Hebrew wanted to create a “Reich” or
Scriptures. Marcion and many Gnostics urged the church “state” church that all German
to reject the Jewish Scriptures. Von Harnack asserted that: Protestant Christians would rally
around; their symbol was a
To reject the Old Testament in the second century Christian cross with a swastika in
perhaps was a mistake which the great Church the middle. They did not hold to
refused rightfully . . . but to conserve it after the a high view of Scripture;
Alfred Rosenberg
nineteenth century as a canonical text in conversely they were devoted to
Protestantism, was the result of a religious and eradicating Old Testament readings from their worship
ecclesiastical paralysis.xi services and they even altered the New Testament so as to
excise references to the Jewish people or worse, demonize
By 1930, Liberal Protestant church leaders in Germany them. They did not want Jews to believe in Jesus either—
had come to believe that the Jewish people, like their they saw all Jews as a cancer to be excised. Point nine of
Bible, had served their purpose and therefore the Jewish the German Christian Movement’s 1932 platform stated:
roots of Christianity were to be denied as well:
In the mission to the Jews we see a serious threat to
We must emphasize with all decisiveness that our Volkstrum (race). That mission is an entryway for
Christianity did not grow out of Judaism but foreign blood into the body of our Volk. . . . We
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(continued from page 5)
reject missions to the Jews [because of ] . . . the Conservative German church leaders such as Bonhoeffer
danger of fraud and bastardization [of the German publicly denounced Hitler and even plotted his
race].xiii assassination. As a result, he and many in the Confessing
Church were executed. But the resistance was not
In 1939, they issued the Godesberg Declaration, which limited to theologians and church leaders.
said, “Christianity is the irreconcilable religious opposite Yad Vashem contains the records of over 18,000
of Judaism.” The declaration also announced the individuals deemed “Righteous Gentiles.” These men and
establishment of the Institute for Research into and women risked their own safety and that of their families to
Elimination of Jewish Influence in German Church Life.xiv oppose the Nazis and save Jewish lives. One of the most
well known among them was Corrie ten Boom, whose
CONSERVATIVE PROTESTANTS story was told in the book The
RESPOND Hiding Place. She and her family
held to a conservative Christian
Conservative Protestants maintained that both the theology and their faith led them
Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament were inspired to risk hiding Jews in their home.
by God, and they were incensed by the platform of the Eventually they ended up in a
German Christian Movement and their advocacy for concentration camp. Others, like
altering the Scriptures. They contended there was nothing Diet Eman, joined the
“Christian” about the German Christian Movement. underground and fought in the
Corrie ten Boom
They saw the movement’s agenda as a collapse both of Dutch resistance, risking their
faith and Judeo-Christian morals. In 1934, theologically lives to stop Hitler and save our people from his evil.
conservative pastors and theologians founded the
Confessing Church, a movement broad enough to MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL
include Lutheran, Reformed and United churches of
Germany. Committed to In looking back at the theology that marked the
resisting the downward tide of Modern Era, it becomes apparent that era ended with the
the German Christian Holocaust. Most historians conclude that the Holocaust
Movement, their theological was the lid on its coffin. After all, the Modern Era failed
underpinnings can be found in to lead humanity to a higher level but instead brought it to
the Barmen Declaration written the depths of degradation. And Liberal Protestantism,
largely by Swiss Reformed which rejected the foundational beliefs of Christianity and
theologian Karl Barth. This instead embraced Hitler’s ideology, was part and parcel of
statement not only affirmed the that failure. Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford, in his
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
key doctrines of the Christian popular work After the Evil—Christianity and Judaism in
faith, but also served as a protest against the Liberal the Shadow of the Holocaust, points out that Hitler’s
Protestant Church that embraced Hitler’s ideology. The ideology “was not only not Christian, it was anti-
declaration repudiated any other doctrine as false that Christian.”xv
made the church “an organ of the State” or that gave Though Hitler used Christian jargon to spout his
religious status to “ruling powers.” venom, his actions opposed the teachings of both the
Notable Lutheran leaders such as Martin Niemoller Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. He certainly
and Dietrich Bonhoeffer also had a hand in crafting the couldn’t embrace the promise made to the first Jew,
Barmen Declaration. These theologians were devoted to Abraham:
belief in the inspiration and authority of both the Hebrew
Scriptures and the New Testament. They were opposed I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses
to Hitler and his perversion of the Scriptures. you I will curse. (Genesis 12:3)
6
 Nor could Hitler acknowledge the words of the action for self-preservation, the danger of the clever
psalmist that the Jewish people would be set apart as God’s Jew (i.e. the slave who has re-valuated strong as evil
prized possession: and weak as good), and the prophesy of a new type
of man that will question the Jewish values and
For the Lord has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel return the glory of the blond beast.xvi
to be his treasured possession. (Psalm 135:4)
Hitler did not follow the biblical teachings of Christianity;
Nor could he admit that the New Testament makes God’s nor did he emulate those theologians who held to the
commitment to the Jewish people clear: authority of the Scriptures. Instead, he burlesqued Christian
teachings, twisting them to his own purposes. By using
Theirs [the Jewish people] is the adoption as sons; language that sounded familiar to Christians, he was able to
theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving pose as an adherent to the religion when in actuality he was a
of the law, the temple worship and the promises. self-proclaimed pagan: “I am myself a heathen to the core.”xvii
Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced Hitler took advantage of a time in which people had
the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, learned to measure the Bible according to their own
forever praised! (Romans 9:4, 5) thoughts and perspectives, rather than the other way
around. God was deemed unnecessary to religion. Reason
So what was Hitler’s personal theology? Did he see himself and science, both important disciplines, were revered
as the übermensch (superman) espoused by Nietzsche 75 years beyond anything that true reason or science would suggest
earlier, the precursor of the master race? Some, like William or even tolerate. And science and reason proved to be
Shirir, have indicated that Hitler was influenced by Nietzsche’s cruel gods that produced heartless followers.
philosophy. Writing in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Hitler’s theologians got it wrong. Their theology was
Shirrer, points out: “Hitler often visited the Nietzsche museum fatally flawed. They denied the truth of the Hebrew and
in Weimar and published his veneration for the philosopher by New Testament Scriptures. They denied that the Jewish
posing for photographs of himself staring in rapture at the bust people were special to God. They denied that Y’shua the Jew
of the great man.” Michael Kalish in his research paper, was God’s way of salvation for all people. In their revised
“Friedrich Nietzsche’s Influence on Hitler’s Mein Kampf,” Bible, John 4:22, which originally read, “Salvation is from
makes a convincing case for this connection as well: the Jews,” was changed to read, “Jews are our misfortune,” xviii
What a sad irony! In the end, Hitler’s theologians tragically
The underlying themes in Nietzsche and Hitler’s missed the mark by denying the very people whom God
philosophies are the importance of impulses and chose to use to bring redemption, the Messiah Y’shua. ■

End Notes
i. Abraham Foxman, Never Again: The Threat of Anti-Semitism Edition (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1891) pp. 201-203.
(New York: Harper-Rowe, 2004) pp. 74-75. xi. Adolf Harnack, Marcion: Das Evangelium Von Fremden Gott, (Leipzig,
ii. Hans Küng, On Being a Christian, Edward Quinn, Transl. Germany: J.C. Hinrichs, 1921) p. 248.
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976) p. 169. xii. Doris L. Bergen, The Twisted Cross. (Chapel Hill, NC : University of North
iii. Marvin Perry and Frederick Schweitzer, Antisemitism: Myth and Carolina Press, 1996) p. 21.
Hate from Antiquity to the Present (New York: Palgrave, 2002) p. 3 xiii. Doris L. Bergen, “Old Testament, New Hatreds: The Hebrew Bible and
iv. James Creech, “Age of Reason,” in World Book Encyclopedia (Chicago, IL: Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany,” Sacred Text, Secular Times: The Hebrew
World Book Inc., 2002), [CD-ROM Ed.]. Bible in the Modern World, Leonard Greenspoon and Bryan LeBeau, eds.
v. Ibid. (Omaha, NE: Creighton University Press, 2000) pp. 35-46.
vi. Ibid. xiv. Bergen, The Twisted Cross, p. 24.
vii. Quoted in Elie Kedourie, “Nationalism.” (Praeger University xv. Richard Harries, After the Evil (Oxford, England: Oxford
Series, 1961) p. 26 University Press, 2003) p.14.
viii. Marc Z. Brettler, How to Read the Bible (Philadelphia: Jewish xvi. http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/133p/
Publication Society, 2005) p. 4. 133p04papers/MKalishNietzNazi046.htm
ix. Robertson Smith, Lectures on the Religion of the Semites, Lecture II xvii. Harries, op.cit., p.14.
(London: Adam and Charles Black, 1894) p. 28. xviii. Sussannah Herschel: “Nazifying Christian Theology,” Church
x. Julius Wellhausen, Sketch of the History of Israel and Judah, Third History, Dec. 1994, Vol. 63, p.595.

7
Why I, a German, Love the Jewish People
by Dr. Irmhild Bärend
Love often begins with a discovery. We discover adopted family member.
someone to whom we feel deeply drawn and who Let me explain. The
then inspires our devotion. My love for my Jewish book of Romans describes
brothers and sisters started with a discovery. the Jewish people as the
Discovery and an empty chair. root and branches of an
The conference dining room was filled with the olive tree. It addresses
sound of hundreds of participants from around the gentile believers in Y’shua:
world chatting in various languages, and I was one of “If . . . you, though a wild
several people searching for a vacant seat. I was relieved olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and
to finally spot one, and sank gratefully into it. As I set now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,
my tray down, a woman’s voice greeted me warmly in do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider
German, “Now you should take your time to eat.” this: You do not support the root, but the root
I turned to my new neighbor, who watched me with supports you (Romans 11:17,18).”
two kind brown eyes. We started talking and I felt as God grafts the goyim who believe in Y’shua, the
though she had known me from childhood. She told Jewish Messiah, into the olive tree, and these grafted
me that she was writing books, and that one of them branches grow along with the natural branches of the
had been published in German. However, she did not tree. The roots and the nourishing sap of the olive
disclose the subject of the book. She only said, tree support the grafted branches and they identify
“Kindele, you can order in any bookstore, my dear.” with the tree.
When I returned home to Germany I did read her So the connection I felt to Hansi was a completely
book, which turned out to be her personal story of natural one. Yet I, too, felt a need for forgiveness. I was
how she survived the Holocaust. I wept as I read how haunted by my heritage as a German. A maniac from
the Nazis had thrown her whole family in gas my country had exterminated millions of people whom
chambers. She was the only one to survive. God calls the apple of his eye. Hitler had threatened to
How was it, I wondered, that Hansi’s experiences destroy the root of the tree. How could I apologize for
had not made her bitter and vengeful toward her family’s my German history? Didn’t I have to feel guilty?
murderers, or even to someone like me, a German? I was driven back to the pages of the Bible. I
Hansi’s book described the many people who had realized that only Y’shua could grant the forgiveness I
risked their lives in order to rescue her. The man who needed. In the life of my wonderful new friend, he had
coordinated hiding places for her was a believer in set free the floods of love, and he had set them free in
Y’shua, and because of his love for God’s chosen people, me as well. Because of Y’shua’s forgiveness of all our
he was prepared to bear any consequences for his actions. sins, I, a German, and Hansi, a Jew, were now bonded
In the end, his love for the Jews cost him his life. together in his love. We belonged together. She does
My friend saw the love of Y’shua in the life of this not cease being Jewish, nor do I cease to be German,
man. Because of his sacrifice, she began to read the but we share a bond that, in a sense, makes us sisters.
Bible and learned that Y’shua was the promised I discovered it is only right that I love all of my
Messiah, and that he had given his life for her, too. Jewish siblings. As the man who rescued Hansi
Through the discovery of Y’shua’s amazing love for realized, God loves his chosen people. So should I.
her, Hansi was able to release her bitterness toward The New Testament clearly states that God will fulfill
Germans. That same love gave her the strength to forgive all of his promises to the Jews. As a gentile, I thank
the Nazis for what they had done to her and her family. God for the Jews, through whom Y’shua the Messiah
Hansi’s story struck me, and I could not get it out was born, and through whom I have inherited a
of my mind. I already believed that Y’shua was the relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Son of God, and that he was Jewish. Now I suddenly As a German believer in Y’shua, I love the Jewish
realized that through Y’shua, the Jewish Messiah, I people for giving me a place in the olive tree, and for
had a place in the Jewish family. I was, in fact, an giving me an empty chair next to them. ■
8