In late 2015, a group of Orthodox rabbis released a statement calling for a “fraternal partnership” between Christians and Jews, citing their commonalities and improving relations. Here is a portion of their statement:
We Jews and Christians have more in common than what divides us: the ethical monotheism of Abraham; the relationship with the One Creator of Heaven and Earth, Who loves and cares for all of us; Jewish Sacred Scriptures; a belief in a binding tradition; and the values of life, family, compassionate righteousness, justice, inalienable freedom, universal love and ultimate world peace.
Signed by more than 60 prominent Orthodox rabbis from Israel, the U.S., and Europe, the statement urged Jews and Christians to be “models of service, unconditional love and holiness.” Citing Jewish scholars such as Maimonides and Yehudah Halevi, the statement also acknowledged Christianity as “neither an accident nor an error, but the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations.” It also quoted Rabbi Jacob Emden, who said, “Christians are congregations that work for the sake of heaven who are destined to endure, whose intent is for the sake of heaven and whose reward will not denied.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, a member of the Israeli Rabbinate said, “Jews and Christians must be in the forefront of teaching basic moral values to the world,” while also “acknowledging the positive theological status of the Christian faith.”
Tellingly, the statement also confessed that Jesus “strengthened the Torah majestically” and removed idols from the nations, “[instilling] them firmly with moral traits.”
Orthodox theologian Rabbi Irving Greenberg said there is room in traditional Judaism “to see Christianity as part of God’s covenantal plan for humanity, as a development out of Judaism that was willed by God.” Representing a shift in Orthodox Jewish attitudes toward Christianity, the statement concluded, “Both Jews and Christians have a common covenantal mission to perfect the world under the sovereignty of the Almighty, so that all humanity will call on His name and abominations will be removed from the earth.”
In addition to praying for the peace of Jerusalem as Israel battles against satanic evil at its doorstep, we fervently pray that the window of hope this statement represented will continue to open.
(Lamb & Lion Ministries actively supports a number of ministries that share the Gospel and the love of Christ with Jews—in Israel and beyond. We invite you to join us in doing both.)
Great and important article!