Can Jews Talk About Christmas?
Christmas is probably the most popular and well-known holiday in the world, certainly in the western world. Even those of different faiths have some awareness of Christmas. Movies and television shows are devoted to the spirit of the holiday each December and the themes of Christmas are in shops and public places everywhere. But what does this holiday mean to Jews, who have always been outsiders to the Christian experience even as they live comfortable lives in Europe or North America. And do all Christians relate to this holiday in the same way?
Sondra Oster Baras, an Orthodox Jew who has devoted her life to reaching out to Christians all over the world to bless Israel, shares a Jewish perspective on Christmas and New Year’s, even as Kimberly Troup, Christian Zionist director of CFOIC Heartland’s US office, and Tommy Waller, also a Christian Zionist, share their own perspectives on both of these holidays. Whether you are Jewish or Christian, and whether you celebrate Christmas or not, you will find this discussion engaging and enlightening. Watch this video and pass it on to your friends!
If there is a topic you would like to see Sondra and Tommy discuss in a future episode, please let us know. Send us your thoughts and questions at Kim@cfoic.com
The conversation about Christmas and New Years between Jews and Christians is fraught with the experience of Jews in exile, in Europe and North America in particular. Today, as Jews have their own country and are no longer a minority in largely Christian countries, the conversation between Jews and Christians is different, more respectful and more natural. And it is this change in the conversation that defines the work of CFOIC Heartland more than anything else.
I hope you will consider becoming a regulator contributor to CFOIC Heartland, by becoming a member of Gideon’s Army. Through your support, you will be taking part in this changed conversation and moving our relationships to better and better levels of understanding and respect. And G-d is certainly blessing this amazing new relationship.
Yes, jews. Go you! Stand strong.
Your discussions and conversation has greatly helpful to understanding the truth about Xmas this is a demonic day formed by man mind i will never ever celebrate it again Kimberly has a good story which had delivered mei love her much she has a softer famininty sound which could restore death petson to.live
Bless you for openingvour mind but you need to speak slowly as English-speaking is our first language so get struck off to go eith you soeak slow slow slower to takexall to nthe mentioned DAR ESSALAM BIBLE INSTITUTE IS INVITING YOU TO SPEAK TO THE CHURCH KEADERS CALL CENTRE +255715 72 72 35 TANZANIA PRAYFOR FOCUS KOMBA KIMBERLY
If only the Jewish community would take the time to read the gospels. They would see that they were written by Jews, about Jews, on behalf of Jews. These gospels are entirely Jewish, and the Christmas story is nothing to do with the Gentile population – maybe with the exception of the wise men from the east. Unfortunately, none of the Jewish community take the time to read them let alone discuss the meanings and theological implications of these scriptures. And yes, they are scriptures, just as much as The Torah, psalms, prophets etc. Again, the Jewish community and/or their Rabbis seem unable to discern what/whom their own prophets were speaking of/ alluding to.
How then can we intelligently talk about the true meaning of Christmas if one half of the participants know nothing or deliberately choose not to know anything about the ‘Christian’ side of the story?
Or we can just ignore the core truths of Christmas and discuss the traditions surrounding the season, which is a total waste of time.
I also have a question for Tommy Waller – Why do you encourage Christians to go to Israel to do menial work on the Israeli farms? Okay, I see that you want to ‘bless’ Israel in this way, on the other hand, this encourages Israelis to see Christians as somehow inferior people who are only there to be used as free/cheap labour, which strikes me as exploitative. I do not think that we should encourage Israelis to see Christians in this way. We are not there to provide menial labour, on the contrary, Israel’s commission is to bring light to the Gentiles and share the richness of the scriptures and faith in God to the non-Jewish world, not to look at us as a means to harvest their cabbages.
To paraphrase what the apostle Paul says about us Christians – as far as God is concerned, there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, we are all one in Christ Jesus. The ultimate purpose of God is to unite the two into one people ON AN EQUAL BASIS.