Correcting the Record

In early 2017, the Pew Research Center issued a report which implied a one-sided affinity between Evangelical Christians and the Jewish community. As described in the Washington Post, the report determined that “white evangelicals rate Jews more positively than any other non-Christian religious group, but Jews rate white evangelicals least positively among Christian groups.”

That survey, however, provided an incomplete picture, as it did not distinguish between Jewish groups in the same way that it analyzed different Christian denominations. This might make sense in a broad national overview given the relative size of the Jewish community, but the Pew survey thus failed to portray the sentiments of the fastest-growing (and, sadly, the only growing) Jewish population, the Orthodox. After sharing this document with the full Rabbinic Circle of the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), several other leading rabbis working in public affairs, and at least one of the leading Torah scholars of our generation, it is clear that it represents the overwhelming consensus of Orthodox opinion.

Our Differences

Nothing in this document should be misconstrued as minimizing the vast theological differences between Judaism and Christianity, much less tolerating proselytization of Jews to adopt Christian beliefs. Observant Jews firmly adhere to our own theology, which teaches that the distinct beliefs and practices of traditional Judaism are part of the unique inheritance of every Jew. On the contrary, we regard it as tragic that Jews never given a sufficient grounding and understanding of the traditional tenets of Judaism are so easily drawn to faiths that their ancestors refused at the cost of their very lives.

Evangelical Beliefs

Although the relationship between Christians and Jews was a painful one for most of the past two millenia, today’s Christians cannot be held responsible for what was done to Jews during the Crusades, the Inquisition, and other dark eras. Most beliefs of today’s Evangelical Christians regarding Jews fall into two categories: those which have few present-day ramifications, and those which could only fairly be described as Philo-Semitic rather than the opposite.

Orthodox Jews are secure in their own theology. It was secular Jews and adherents of the liberal movements who were incensed to learn that the Mormon Church had a program of posthumous baptism. It is Jews who rarely pray who are upset at the thought of others praying for their redemption. When people wish us well in this world, observant Jews recognize that this is generally a good thing, and trust that God knows how to sort everything out in the next.

Common Ground

With the foregoing provisos firmly in mind, we can then look at the many areas of public policy where we applaud the outspokenness of Evangelical Christians.

In general, Orthodox Jews recognize that Evangelicals trace moral values back to their origins in the Jewish Bible, and that we both regard the foundation of what the West terms “Judeo-Christian ethics” as permanent and unchanging. Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, Director of Interfaith Affairs at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, comments that “Orthodox Jews have a high regard for evangelicals, and not only because of their support for Israel, but because of their tenacity in holding on to Scripture as a guide to behavior.”

On many issues, we need no effort to find common ground; Evangelical Christians are deriving positions from explicit verses in the Five Books of Moses that are quite similar to those maintained by Rabbinic tradition. On human life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty matters, to cite but three examples, the differences between the consensus opinions of the two distinct groups are actually far smaller than the diversity of opinion between individual thought leaders and congregations within each of them.

This also leads to agreement on other issues where, despite no clear Biblical mandate, those following traditional Western beliefs tend to arrive at the same positions. Rabbi Aryeh Spero, Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the CJV, writes as follows: “We share with the conservative Evangelical community an outlook for American society that includes wholesome family life, traditional values, a less vulgar pop culture, the need for individual responsibility and accountability, religious freedom in the public square, and a nation that defends its citizens from dangers from without and within. All of this, as well as creating an environment conducive to communities that understand the importance of the sacred, is, we both believe, part of the ethos upon which our country was founded.” We owe our thanks to all who are advancing our shared viewpoints.

On Israel

In addition, many Protestants, including Evangelicals, support the right of Jews to live, build and study our Holy Texts in our Holy Land, and for reasons beyond basic human rights and the rights of an indigenous population to settle in its ancestral homeland. For many Christians, the establishment of a flourishing Jewish State in the Land of Israel is a sign of G-d’s abiding Covenant with the Jews. There are a number of opinions within Protestant Christianity, but in all cases they derive their positions directly from the Bible, in G-d’s Promises to His Nation as found in Hebrew Scriptures. They firmly reject myths of “stolen Palestinian land” sourced in ancient anti-Semitic tropes of Jewish greed and theft. Again, we regard this support as something for which to be truly grateful.

Conclusion

Much of the foregoing is not limited, of course, to Evangelical Christianity; it applies equally to adherents of other Christian denominations who also embrace the moral values and tolerance for others that come from Hebrew Scripture and find expression, however imperfect, in the systems of government of all first-world, civilized countries. We all believe that for traditional values to find expression in American public policy is critical for America to continue to flourish as the bastion of human rights, mutual tolerance and scientific and economic development that it is today.

As stated by Rabbi Dov Fischer, the leader of the Young Israel of Orange County, CA and a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the CJV:

America’s Orthodox Jews and their rabbis appreciate and are happy to stand alongside leading bodies and agencies in the Christian community who likewise advocate for traditional family values, oppose government efforts to interfere with religious beliefs and practices, and support the rights of Jews to live in all parts of the Land of Israel

It is our prayer that this friendship and shared advocacy persist until the Final Redemption.