The church's history of antisemitism has led many Jewish people to believe Jesus was antisemitic—but the Gospel accounts tell us a different story! In this week's episode of Our Hope Podcast 🎙, Israeli staff member Moti Vaknin shares how he realized that believing in Jesus should never lead to antisemitism. Listen to this timely episode now!

Welcome to Our Hope,

a production of Chosen

People Ministries.

On this podcast you will hear

inspiring testimonies,

learn about Messianic

apologetics and discover

God's plan for Israel and you.

Wherever you're listening,

we hope you lean in,

listen closely and be blessed.

Many believers have

grown up in churches

that advocate for

the Jewish people.

Perhaps you have

always been taught

that the Jewish people

are God’s chosen people,

and that their return to

the land of Israel

is the fulfillment

of biblical prophecy.

You may have even heard

it is a believer’s duty

to love the Jewish people

and share the gospel with them.

Historically, however,

the Church as a whole, has

not always been a friend

to the Jewish people.

You might wonder how the Church

could ever hate

the chosen people,

but the Jewish community

remembers.

They remember the pogroms,

the crusades, the Inquisition,

expulsions, and,

of course, they remember

the Holocaust.

These horrific events

are painful reminders

to Jewish people

of how those who call

themselves believers in Jesus

have persecuted them.

And sadly, this has tainted

their view of the

Jewish Messiah–Yeshua.

One can see how Jewish

people might believe

that following Jesus

could lead to antisemitism.

But is that really true?

Does believing in Jesus

the Messiah lead

to antisemitism?

How can we acknowledge

the hurt experienced

by the Jewish community

while also sharing

the good news with them?

Joining us today

all the way from Israel

is Chosen People Ministries’

staff member, Moti Vaknin.

Moti is an Israeli,

and he shared his testimony

with us in Season 3,

so we really look forward

to hearing his perspective

on this topic.

And now, I introduce

the host of Our Hope

Podcast, Abe Vazquez!

Hello everyone,

welcome to our hope.

I'm Abe Vazquez

and I'm really excited

for our guest today.

The last time we brought him on

I think that was probably

my favorite episode.

I just had so much fun

talking about his testimony

and just hearing

just a sense of humor

that God has in our lives

and especially in Moti's life.

And so I'm just really,

really excited to have him back

to talk about this question

that's really, really powerful.

And many Jewish people

probably wonder this,

and it's, Does

believing in Jesus

the Messiah lead

to antisemitism?

Moti, welcome to Our Hope.

Hey Shalom everyone,

Shalom from Israel

from Ramat Gan,

good to be here.

Thank you

for inviting me again.

Of course,

we're going to keep

having you back, depending on

how you do in this episode.

But Moti you know,

usually we start off

on a light note, but just given

what's going on in

Israel, what's happened

in the past few weeks,

we're just wondering

what is the update,

what's happening,

how are you doing?

How is your wife?

What's going on over there?

Well, first of all,

just to say that

it feels like like

the world has stopped

and Israel is

on a first forward

because everyone is still

stuck with COVID-19

and we in a way just finished

with that here in Israel

and we jumped into

a war with Gaza.

And then after the war

with Gaza, right now

we're trying

to build our government,

which is something

that it's it's going

for a few months already.

It's a- Abe:

Just a few things happening.

Just a few things.

But somehow when the world

is going on with COVID

and fighting COVID,

it feels like we are still in

a war

against antisemitism online,

and we see that all the time.

But besides that, thank God

we live in Ramat Gan,

and if you've seen on the news,

a few rockets

fell in civilian area

in Ramat Gan, Giv'atayim,

Tel Aviv, which is something

that we don't see that often.

I can say that one rocket

fell a street behind us.

I'm pointing this side,

but it's actually

this side right there,

and it shook the entire house.

Thank God it fell on the street

in the middle of the street.

Just imagine that it happens

just you know, in,

I don't know on the corner

of of 4th avenue and 50

and 51 or something like that.

Well,

we know you're

not from New York,

'cause there's no such thing

as a 4th avenue.

No such thing?

How about third avenue?

3rd avenue, there you go.

But

just just to give you a-

just let you think that

these things happen

and somehow we Israelis

are not getting used to it,

but this is our life.

Yeah.

And this is

where we are right now

with this moment.

But thank God we finished

the Guardian On the Wall,

this is how they called

the last operation that was

with Gaza and right now

we're dealing

with our government.

But besides that God is good

and we are following Him

and preaching the gospel,

which is what we need to do,

what we've been called to do.

Yeah.

Yeah, and I'm sure

this is a very strenuous time,

and I'm probably

a lot of people

are more curious to hear

about the Messiah.

Do you have any testimonies

about what God is

doing during this time?

Well, the

entire season of COVID

and the way that Israel

dealt with it was

I can say it was bad or good

because nobody

could really know

how to deal with it.

But the outcome from

that pandemic brought

a lot of people into,

I would say becoming

more self-aware

to themselves and

and staying at home.

Even our congregations

here in Israel,

where I won't say

just a lot of people

left our congregation,

but it feels like

there was something

that was against

the Spirit of God

in this country,

but we know it

didn't really caused

a big major events

against against the church

when it comes

to this testimony.

I can say that right

after the war in Gaza

I received three

messages from friends

that I just know

online on Facebook

and and they said OK, there's

something there's

got to be something spiritual

that's going on in this country

because we can't

really understand

how the world doesn't

see the truth

that we are fighting here

in this country.

And that's by itself

opens a conversation

when people understand

that it's not political,

it's not something

that you can just deal with it.

It's not a pandemic, it's not,

it's

not a doctor that you can go

and fix, it's

something spiritual

that we need something

from outside and

and we see that

people are more open,

but then in the same time

we're trying

to bring the gospel

as much as we can.

So I don't have

any major testimony

to share with you,

but I can say that

people are becoming open

after those events.

That's awesome.

So Moti

this war in Gaza, it felt like

the whole world was watching

what was going on

and because of that

there were a lot

of different opinions as to

whose fault this was

and what's interesting to me

is that many people

will associate Jewish people

with what's happening

in Israel.

So even Jewish Americans

kind of get blamed

for what's happening in Israel.

So as a result, there's

a lot of antisemitism

going on around the world.

The funny thing is

many Israelis, even in

the government, would say

evangelical Christians are

one of their greatest

allies, right?

That's kind of what's

floating around,

but at the same time, Jewish

people still feel like

if the gospel is

shared with them, that it's

either

some sort of antisemitism

or can lead to antisemitism,

and so that really

is the point of this question

that we want to answer today.

Does believing in Jesus

actually lead to antisemitism?

So in

order to answer this question,

it would be helpful

to understand how

the Jewish people

view believers and the Church.

Can you share a little bit

about that and why?

Well,

I can give you from my

own prespective,

growing up in a religious home.

By the way you mentioned there

that the Christian

families and Christian

I would say Christian world

is the best friend

that we know that

there is in Israel

and that's true.

From around the world

I believe that the best

allies of Israel

are Christians, and in the war

that we're fighting

against an enemy

whom we know that

the only goal they've got is

to try to kill people,

we as Israelis see

that the entire world hates us

and and when we see Christians,

and that's interesting,

when we see

and I can tell for

myself as well,

but for other friends

that I know about them,

when we see Christians

that raise the flag of Israel,

or when they say that they pray

for the Jewish people

or pray for Israel,

it warms our hearts

because the only thing

we hear

all the time on the news

is how much Israel is the bad

enemies, the bad monster right?

Yeah.

And I can tell you

by myself that growing up in

a religious home

I didn't,

I didn't know anything

about Christianity.

I just knew maybe two

things about Yeshua.

One thing,

He walked on the water,

the second thing

He was Jewish,

which is important,

but they didn't know

anything about Him.

What most of the Israelis

know about Christianity

today is mostly

comes from movies,

from videos, from

friends they met,

and of course, from what they

they know from Rabbis,

which is a lot of

the time incorrect.

So when Israelis

think about Christianity,

the first thing they think

about is Catholics.

This is the big symbols

of the cross, images

of the Holocaust, and programs,

and inquisitions

that happened in the past.

And that's not because of

what Christianity is (but)

because what antisemitic is

and this is what we're trying

to do a lot in Israel

when we're trying to explain

Yeshua is that Yeshua

never mentioned

fighting against Jewish people

or against Judaism

or against every

other religion.

But we know that people,

when they have power,

they just use this

power in a bad way.

So I know for myself

and for friends that I have

that we do not hate Christians.

We do not go

against Christianity,

but in some way I do believe

that every Jewish

person in the world

has in his own mindset

somewhere over there

a fear from Gentile,

and that's and I

can, I can see why

I can see why

and then that's it.

This is how I think.

But Israelis love Christianity.

As much as it's

funny, December,

Christmas I know

we don't celebrate Christmas,

I just look at that

as a holy day.

Of course

that Christians celebrate,

but if you go to churches

you'll see a lot of Israelis.

Jewish Israelis take their kids

and go to during Christmas

to the Christmas mass

and this is amazing

because they're very open.

Israel today is very open,

especially for the West.

And this is a change.

20 years ago

you would never see things

like that happen

in this country.

We'll be right back.

During these difficult times,

we know how hard it is

to hold on to hope,

and we want you to know

that Chosen People Ministries

is here for you.

If you have any prayer

requests, our prayer team

is standing by to receive them.

You can submit your request

at chosenpeople.com/pray

again

that's chosenpeople.com/pray.

So there's a

shift happening,

but before this current shift

that's happening,

what's the historical backdrop

of why many Jewish

people around the world,

not just in Israel,

maybe Jewish Americans

or just Jewish

people in general,

what did they equate

Christianity with?

Usually paganism.

Jews look at Christianity as

I would say that

today maybe less, but

maybe even more in

in orthodox circles,

they'll see that

as a extremely different

religion, paganism,

something that you don't need

to get close to.

A religion that tries

to exterminate the Jewish faith

and this is what they use,

this is their words.

And they see

Christians as enemies.

And then on the other hand,

if you're not orthodox,

if you're not Hassidic

or something like that,

if you're more liberal or open,

then a lot of the

Jews and Israelis

will look at Christianity

as a very warm religion

that accept everyone

and the same as Yeshua

that He accepted

everyone who comes

in His, in His steps.

And anyways, when

when you look at the history

before Israel was established,

it's funny.

I just talked with a friend

about that a few days ago,

before Israel was

established, most Christians

did not did

not accept the Jews.

They did not accept,

they did not accept the way

they live.

Most of the Jews

they were in diaspora,

in Europe I would say.

Most of the programs

that happened was in Europe

and that was against

Jews from the Christian Church.

The Holocaust, which was

an event that I think

that most of us

wants to forget, but we can't

because it's such

an evil event

that happened in the history.

But we know that

the Church back then

did not even do anything

to support the Jewish people.

We do know about

some families,

Christian families

that protected Jewish Jews

and that's these

people are very important

for the Jewish people

and for Israel

they even have a place

where they are buried in

Israel in Mount Olive,

which is it's tag

of honor for them.

But coming to Israel as a state

that was established,

I believe that most

Israelis and most Jews

were kind of afraid

of different religion,

of Christianity,

especially coming

from a background

of the Holocaust or inquisition

and stuff like that.

So Moti

what made you see

that believing in Jesus doesn't

lead to antsemitism?

I read the New Testament.

That'll do it.

That's that's,

that's exactly what made me

really change my mind

about the way that

Jesus is being presented

to the Jewish people,

and I think that by reading

the New Testament

and getting to know Yeshua even

not going to Bible school.

Just when you get to know

the character,

you understand that Yeshua was

There is no words

to say what He was

because He was everything.

Accepting everyone,

protecting the homeless

and the poor, and fighting

to protect them.

And this is not an act

that you will see

from an antisemite.

This is not an act

that you will see from

someone who wants

to hate people just because

of their race or their faith.

And more than that

I do believe that

when when every Jew

or someone that believes

that has any faith in his heart

will open the New

Testament and read it,

he will see a book of love.

A book that brings

people together.

And I remember sitting there

when I, when I was

in New York back then in 2009,

and sitting in my basement

and I was searching

for evidence of of

Jesus saying, destroy

the Jewish faith,

kill all the Jews.

I was looking for that

and I just found the opposite.

Love your enemies

exactly exactly.

Love your enemies.

If someone

slap you in the face,

give him your other cheek,

it's amazing that

this is not an act.

This is not a person

who seeks for war

and I was shocked

because I was taught

that the New Testament is

is the core of of

antisemite in the world.

So what are

some other verses

in the New Testament that show

the heart of Jesus towards

the Jewish people?

I can't remember how

it goes in English,

but I remember when

Yeshua was on the cross

and when the people

that were there,

we all know

that they were Jews,

the audience that

were around him,

and they were mocking Him,

and He suffers on the cross.

And He suffers on the cross

because the people that were

there were actually people

that put Him on the cross.

It was us.

It was the entire world

that put Him on the cross

and from His deepest

pain, and I don't need

to teach anyone who listens

to this podcast

what it means to go

through a crucifixion.

It's so much pain,

and from His deepest pain,

He says, forgive them, for

they do not know

what they are doing.

Right.

And I look at this person

and I look at Yeshua

at this moment, and I say,

I am one of those people

who was probably sitting

with the audience

and mocking Yeshua.

And now He gives

me forgiveness.

So here is an amazing verse

to show that not only Yeshua

was never giving any antisemite

verses, or words, or quotes,

but He forgave the

people who hated Him.

This is this is more than what

we can understand,

and His people were Israel.

They were Jews.

So for me it's it's a big,

a big verse to hold on

for how God loves

the Jewish people

and of course everyone else.

Exactly,

Jesus never encouraged

anybody to hate, only to love.

What are some verses though

that in the Gospels

and even in the New Testament,

that have been misunderstood

as anti-Semitic?

And

how can we properly understand

what the text is really saying?

There is a verse

that I am trying to find it,

but I know that

during the Holocaust

they used it a lot

and that's the Jews

are the Church of Satan

and it's I think it's

found in Revelation.

During the Holocaust,

a lot of the times,

this verse was used to burn,

to burn synagogues

to burn, to kill Jewish people.

And until today,

we do hear that.

We sometimes we hear

those verses that comes out.

And it should-

I think that when you

look at the entire context

of the New Testament,

you can't, really,

you can't really see that

this is what God wants.

In the book of John 8:43–44,

Jesus tells the Jews

you are of your father

the devil.

In this case

Jesus was referring to those

Jewish people

with hardened hearts

that rejects Him.

He is never referring

to all Jewish people,

but

with those who have disobeyed

God, such admonishing words

were also written

by the prophets in the Tanakh.

The Prophets were always,

this is the Prophets',

the Prophet's language

was always

very rough against Israel

because it's by the way, it's

the same today, but

not with prophecy

but with commercials or

if you want to say

something you have,

you have to point something.

You have to make someone react

to what you're saying,

because if no one

reacts to what you were saying,

you actually not

saying anything.

And this is what

Yeshua is doing in

this moment is actually making

people understand

that He's here and people

need to react right now.

And as much as most of

the Prophets were doing before.

Isaiah was referring

the Jewish people to sons of

serpent, and murderers

with blood on their hands.

So are we going to look at

Isaiah as an antisemite?

Is that- No!

This is an internal

debate among Jews

and in a way that

wants to show a prophecy

to the Jewish people.

But I don't think that

we can take this verse

and use it as an

as an antisemite.

We need to understand

that the books of

the New Testament

was written by Jews, to Jews

and to the rest of the world.

So we are free

to fight among ourselves.

But when someone else

is taking one of our verses

and use it against us

then it's missing the point.

So now that

we have an understanding

of some of the

Jewish perspectives

regarding those

who follow Jesus,

what would you say

to a Jewish person

or an Israeli

who has such a view

to help them

see the actual truth?

Well, I would first of all say,

I would first of all

dare, I will dare

every Israeli and every Jew

to go by themselves

to the New Testament and find

verses that speaks against

Judaism.

Of course, with

understanding again

that this book is for Jews,

and was written by Jews.

This is the first thing

that I will do.

The second thing is

that I will ask is

Have you ever met a Christian

or a follower of Yeshua?

Did you see how he acts?

Did you see how he prayed?

Did you?

What did you didn't

agree with his faith?

What did you agree

with the things he is doing?

And then thirdly,

I would definitely go

back to Yeshua and ask,

what is so wrong with Yeshua

that makes you think that

Christianity is antisemitism?

Is antisemite.

What did Yeshua did

that make

Christianity antisemite?

And to be honest?

Most of the Israelis

that I've met

would never answer

question three because

they don't know Yeshua.

And this is also the-

Because if you know Him,

you know that He's not.

Right.

Yeah,

and so in light of all this,

how can we share

the gospel of Yeshua

with someone who

has this mindset

that Christianity

is antisemitic?

First of all,

I would go back to the verse

that I just talked

about in the beginning.

When Yeshua was on the cross,

He said He forgive them

didn't, doesn't matter

who you are, how old are you,

where you're from,

and what language do you speak.

Yeshua forgave your sins.

And I would always make

that clear to a person

that speaks to me

that He loves you.

He loves you

and you can hate Him.

You can go against Him.

You can fight against Yeshua

or you can fight against God.

This is not what I want

you to do.

This is not

what I, I don't think

that anyone needs to fight

God because we can't.

But you can.

You can be angry with Him

but Yeshua will

always love you.

And the best images

is looking at the cross

when He was there

and from His deepest pain,

still gave us forgiveness.

I don't know any other hero

that will do that

for His own people

that actually throw

Him away from the circle

or from the family.

I always love to

speak to Israelis

or to any person

that I meet with Proverbs

or just give them

like little stories.

But I remember

a story that happened

in Israel in 2011.

I'm sorry, 2007,

Second Lebanon War.

There was a soldier in Lebanon

that I think it was a grenade

that was thrown into his unit

and he jumped on the grenade

and saved his entire

unit from being hit from

that grenade, and he

of course lost his life.

And Israelis know

that story clearly,

and this is an act

that Jesus did for us.

This is an act that Jesus

would do for every person.

So

this is not antisemite,

Jesus cannot be antisemite,

the New Testament

cannot be antisemite,

the only people that make

this book antisemite

are people that don't know

Yeshua or don't know this Book.

So if people are wondering

how to share their faith

with Jewish people

who are struggling

with this question,

we have another episode

where we brought on Olivier

Melnik to talk about

this kind of same theme

that was Season 2 Episode

5 called "Sharing

Your Faith, Part 2".

It was a series tackling

some of the similar objections.

"I'm Jewish, Jews don't believe

in Jesus", or "Evangelism

is an attack on the Jewish

people", and Olivier

he also mentions this idea of

just making sure you arrive

and you show up to

that conversation

knowing that there's baggage.

That one baggage

is the Holocaust, another

baggage are the programs.

They're all, there's

this history

that we need to acknowledge,

and we can't forget

when we enter into

this conversation.

And it's just so

important to be humble

and not pretend that

these things didn't happen,

and we're not trying

to shove down

Jesus down anyone's

anyone's throat.

We need to be respectful.

I mean, of course

like what Moti, what

you've been saying

we just need to love.

You went into the New Testament

looking for hate

and you found love.

Yeah.

And that's how

we need to approach

these conversations with love

and respect for others.

So Moti

just to kind of wrap things up,

One last question,

does believing in Jesus lead

to antisemitism?

No.

But people do.

That's it.

But people do that.

It will be,

no, but people do.

Religion does and

and I will dare

any person that thinks that

the New Testament is antisemite

to just read the New Testament.

Yep, see for yourself.

And speak to us.

Moti,

thank you so much

for joining us.

We really appreciate

your insight and how personal

this is to you.

It's

it's really great to hear you.

We're glad to see you're safe

and we continue to

for you, the staff in Israel.

Yeah, just blessings over

you and your family.

Todah rabah,

thank you so much for

for having me here with you

guys.

It's a blessing

and thank you for,

and thanks for

all the listeners

that we have here

on this podcast.

Yeah, amazing.

Thank you, Moti.

Shalom, from Israel.

For many

in the Jewish community,

it is hard to forget

the Church’s

history of persecution

and rejection towards them,

but as we have seen,

Jesus loves His chosen people.

Throughout the New Testament,

we see that He was sent

first to the lost sheep

of the House of Israel,

and as we have discussed,

Jesus Himself is Jewish,

as well as His 12 disciples.

While we cannot change history,

we can ensure that history does

not repeat itself.

We can be mindful

of the Jewish community’s pain

and rebuild our relationship

and trust with them once again.

It is through kindness and love

that we can share the truth

of Yeshua’s heart towards

God’s chosen people.

In this series, we tackle

many common objections

that Jewish people have towards

believing in Yeshua.

For some people,

there is the need to debate

and research to find truth.

But one’s intellect

will only get you so far.

In next week’s episode,

we will bring to you three

testimonies

of Jewish intellectuals

and atheists who have decided

to follow Jesus.

Thank you for listening

to this week’s

episode of Our Hope,

featuring Chosen

People Ministries’ Israel

staff member, Moti Vaknin.

This episode was

produced, written,

and edited by Grace Swee.

This episode was created

thanks to Dr.

Mitch Glaser, Nicole Vacca,

and Kieran Bautista.

I’m Abe Vazquez.

Until next time.

Thanks for listening

to Our Hope.

If you like our show

and want to know more,

check out ourhopepodcast.com

or chosenpeople.com.

You can also support

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