An Appreciation for the Jews

Let’s face it: the Jews are awesome.

They’ve been around for roughly four-thousand years, during which time they’ve been almost constantly conquered, enslaved, deported, persecuted, attacked, denied rights, and suffered attempted genocide. Yet, they’re still here. Not only are they still here, but they consistently dominate in high-caliber fields like banking, medicine, and law. The crime rate among Jews is minimal. The Israeli Military is the second best in the world and consistently beats the ever-loving crap out of countries ten-times their size. They’re like human honey badgers: they look so small and insignificant, but if you try to get in their way they rip off your face and re-purpose it as a yarmulke.

Shema Ysrael

And they do all this while resisting the siren-like allure of bacon. That takes serious will-power. 

Oh, and if you’re still not convinced, get a load of this guy!

 

That’s pure manliness right there. The Jews rock.

In all seriousness, I have boundless admiration and respect for the Jewish people. To me their continued existence and continued faith, despite everything, is one of the clearest proofs of God’s existence. Some 4000 years ago, God promised a nomad named Abram that his descendents would be God’s chosen people. Today you can find still find them in almost every major city in the western world, while the Assyrians, Hittites, Babylonians, Egyptians, and whatever other civilizations that flourished around them have gone down to the dust. And the Hittites, Babylonians, etc. all had stronger civilizations and never faced the kind of persecution that the Jews have, but they’re gone and the Jews remain. Not only are the Jews still here, but they’re still practicing essentially the same faith that Moses presented from Mt. Sinai. You might find an Egyptian descendent today, but you won’t find a real, old-fashioned, Nile-worshiping Egyptian. A modern Egyptian and an ancient Egyptian would have nothing to say to one another. A modern rabbi and an ancient rabbi could probably have an excellent conversation.

It makes me sad that the relationship between Jews and Christians has so often been very contentious (regarding what I said about constant persecutions, a lot of that was at our hands). Judaism, it seems to me, ought to be looked upon as something like the elder, unwed sister of the Christianity. She never married or had children, while Christianity wedded her bridegroom and became fertile, but for that very reason Judaism commands her younger sister’s respect and friendship.

Lewis once commented that we are still the “early Christians,” and that hopefully the division of the Church is only a growing pain, so to speak. If he’s right, then I hope that the old meanness and cruelty towards our elder sister was nothing but the petulance and unreasoning vanity of a young bride, and that we are now growing out of that stage and coming to reconcile with our wronged sister. For my part, I would hope that in the future it’s considered normal for Christians and Jews to mingle among one another in mutual respect and love. 

Vive Christus Rex!