Separated by faith, clergy bond over Israel

Pastors, rabbis from Nashville tour Holy Land

By Anita Wadhwani, The Tennessean, November 17, 2006

They disagree on a multitude of core beliefs, but not this one: the preservation of Israel.

A group of Nashville rabbis and evangelical Christian pastors have somewhat different motivations for their budding alliance, which this week has taken them on an unusual joint tour of Christian and Jewish holy sites in Israel.

For the Christian pastors, it's their view of Israel and the Jewish people as integral to God's design for Christians and in the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies.

For the Jewish rabbis, it's the old Arabic proverb: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Most Jews and rabbis disagree on virtually every social and political agenda with evangelical Christian churches, so it's not a group of like-minded clergy," said Rabbi Mark Schiftan, of The Temple in west Nashville, who organized the trip to Israel.

"Though we have huge differences in theology and how we perceive one another, the one thing we agree on -- albeit for very different reasons -- is this love for the state of Israel."

The local alliance of a dozen clergy -- half of them rabbis, half evangelical Christian pastors -- mirrors growing support on the part of evangelical Christians for Israel and Jewish acceptance of their new allies. Such alliances have been solidifying for the past decade but have seen renewed growth since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Earlier this week an opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post said the "new answer" to the future of Israel "must be Christian love and support for the Jewish people and the state of Israel."

National groups such as the Chicago-based International Fellowship for Christians and Jews and the Christians United for Israel in San Antonio, Texas, have raised millions of dollars for Israel and reached out to evangelical churches to rally support.

"I think 9/11 accelerated a pre-existing trend in both communities to see each other as allies," said David Brog, executive director of Christians United for Israel. Brog is Jewish. "As the nature of the threat has been more clear and more immediate, we see this trend accelerating. All of a sudden, the theological differences that may exist don't loom as large as they used to."

In Nashville, the small group of clergy began meeting a year ago at the behest of Laurie Moore, a lay evangelical Christian who has organized pro-Israel rallies.

"To be frankly honest, the rabbis were very apprehensive about having a meeting," Schiftan said. Some Christian faiths have long blamed Jews for killing Jesus, engendering anti-Semitism.

But the rabbis who are part of the Nashville Board of Rabbis eventually agreed.

At that first meeting, "we were sitting in a room with them and one by one (the pastors) made an apology and, coupled with their statements of support of Israel, said they were horrified, embarrassed, ashamed by the things done to the Jewish people, the anti-Semitism that has been done in the name of their faith," Schiftan said. "We were very moved."

Since then, the group has met monthly to discuss a wide range of topics: gay rights, abortion, the afterlife, the coming of the Messiah -- subjects on which there was a wide range of views. On the topic of Israel, however, there was consensus.

Nashville pastor Doug Mann said his views on Israel were shaped by biblical prophecies.

"There are many promises yet to be fulfilled about the destiny of Israel," said Mann, pastor of the Belmont Church, a nondenominational, charismatic church.

Schiftan said it was apparent that the Christian pastors had different reasons for their support of Israel than Jews, who have historical, emotional and family ties to the nation.

"For much of the evangelical Christian world, a large part -- but not the only part -- of their understanding of biblical texts and of biblical prophecy has to do with creating a vehicle for Jews to gather in the land of Israel to herald the Messiah," Schiftan said. Many evangelicals believe the Second Coming is predicated on the existence of Israel.

"And while that is a noble goal for them, it is not one shared by members of the Jewish community. However, that being said, we're most grateful to that reason and many more for their support of the Jewish people's right to a Jewish homeland."

But end-time prophecies are far from the only motivation for Christian evangelicals, Mann said.

"I don't want to be a Bible thumper, but in Jeremiah, it basically says that we believers in the word are to declare to the nations that the God of Israel who scattered the Jewish people is the God that would re-gather them," Mann said. "The fact that Jewish culture has been scattered worldwide, other cultures annihilated, yet they have been coming back to Israel in unprecedented numbers, is a fact that supports my faith."

And there's the Book of Genesis, where it says:

"The Lord said to Abraham after Lot had parted from him, 'Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.' "

That covenant with Abraham giving Israel to the Jewish people is still a sacred covenant that Christians must honor, Moore said.

Mann said that evangelical Christians have increasingly rejected "replacement theology" that teaches that the Christian church is the replacement for Israel in that covenant and that the many promises made to Abraham's descendants in the Bible are fulfilled in the Christian church, not Israel.

Moore and Mann say that despite their evangelical faith, there is no thought of converting Jews. "Conversion is not on the table," Mann said. "I view Jews differently than other non-Christians. They're God's chosen people. They don't like that sometimes; they say don't call attention that we're God's chosen people, but they are."

"I guess this is with very tepid waters that we begin these steps towards one another," Schiftan said. "But the threat against Israel and the threat against the West is both significant and one and the same. And the reality for the Jewish world is that there are no stronger Christian supporters for the state of Israel than the evangelical church."

The group returns from Israel on Tuesday.

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