My Op-Ed to the Sydney morning Herald

 The Jews, Yeshua, and the Language 

Christians Must Reject

Bob Mendelsohn | Sydney

I opened Saturday’s newspaper and was confronted by the enormous headline: “Brethren leader calls Jews ‘wicked’.”

As a Jewish man who believes in Yeshua, I couldn’t simply dismiss it as another story about antisemitism. Much of the language reported in the article is explicitly Christian language. It speaks about sin, unbelief, Judaism, Messiah and the death of Yeshua. Those are among my subjects too. I have spent 47 years speaking with Jewish people about them.

So let me begin somewhere that may surprise some readers.

Jewish people are sinners. I am a sinner. Jewish people need forgiveness. I need forgiveness. We have just remembered that on Yom Kippur this last week. Jewish people need Messiah. I have spent most of my adult life saying precisely that. So my objection to the reported comments of Exclusive Brethren leader Bruce Hales is not that he takes sin seriously, nor that he believes Jewish people need Yeshua.

My objection begins when the word “Jew” itself becomes a category of condemnation.

According to the report, Hales has spoken of “the poor Jew, still in the darkness of Judaism,” of Jewish “lies” and “iniquity,” and of Jews falling “into evil.” More disturbing is the old accusation that Jews are “Christ-killers,” collectively responsible for the death of Yeshua.

There are biblical truths hovering around some of those statements. But putting biblical words together does not necessarily produce sound biblical theology.

Who killed Yeshua?

Some Jewish leaders certainly participated in the events leading to Yeshua’s death. The New Testament does not conceal that fact, and there is no reason Christians should conceal it either.

But neither should we stop there.

Yeshua was executed by Rome. Pontius Pilate sentenced him. Roman soldiers crucified him. Herod was involved. And in Acts 4 Luke gives us an extraordinarily useful summary: Herod and Pontius Pilate gathered together “with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel” against Yeshua. That is quite a crowd.

It becomes very difficult after reading that passage to point across history at one ethnic group and say, “You killed Christ.” Christian theology takes us further still. Yeshua said, “I lay down my life of my own initiative.” The Gospel does not ultimately present him as the helpless victim of either Jews or Romans. Christians believe his death was purposeful and voluntary, and that he died because of human sin.

Including mine.

That changes the posture of the person standing at the cross. I cannot stand there pointing at someone else.

The cross is not an indictment of an ethnicity. It is God’s answer to the sin of humanity.

Paul had something to say about this

There is another reason Christians should be extraordinarily careful about how we speak about Jewish people. Paul anticipated the problem. Romans 9–11 contains some of the New Testament’s strongest language about Jewish people and some of Israel’s unbelief. Paul does not pretend that rejecting Messiah is insignificant. But notice what that conviction produces in him.

Not contempt. Grief. He wrote, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart,” he writes. He even says that he could wish himself accursed for the sake of his Jewish brothers and sisters. Later he writes, “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.” That sounds very different from disdain for “the poor Jew.”

Then Paul turns directly to Gentile believers and gives them a warning that the Church has too often forgotten: “Do not boast over the branches.” In other words: you have no grounds for superiority. Paul can simultaneously believe that many of his fellow Jews have rejected Messiah and insist that, concerning God’s election, “they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.”

Those two thoughts have to be allowed to stand together.

Evangelism is not antisemitism

This matters particularly to me because I have spent nearly five decades doing something many people in the Jewish community strongly oppose: telling my Jewish people about Yeshua.

I understand why some regard that activity itself as antisemitic. I disagree.

If I believe Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah foretold by Jewish prophets in the Jewish Scriptures, it would be a strange kind of love that required me to keep that conviction away from Jewish people. Christians are entitled to proclaim their beliefs. Jewish people are equally entitled to reject them. But evangelism and contempt are not remotely the same thing.

I don’t speak to Jewish people about Yeshua because I think Jews are uniquely wicked. I speak because I am a Jew who became convinced that Yeshua is our Messiah. I don’t believe Christianity gives me permission to despise the people from whom my Messiah came.

Quite the reverse. Yeshua was Jewish. His mother was Jewish. His apostles were Jewish. Paul was Jewish. The Scriptures from which the earliest believers preached were Jewish Scriptures. The first congregation of Yeshua-followers was overwhelmingly Jewish.

Christianity cannot detach itself from that story and then turn around and treat “the Jew” as an object of contempt.

Words have a history

And Christians cannot pretend that the expression “Christ-killer” arrives without historical baggage. For centuries, collective Jewish responsibility for the death of Yeshua was used to justify exclusion, humiliation, persecution and violence against Jewish communities. That history should make Christians particularly reluctant to use language that transfers the actions of particular people in first-century Jerusalem onto Jewish people living two thousand years later.

We can speak honestly about the New Testament without doing that. In fact, I would argue that we read the New Testament more faithfully when we refuse to do it. The question Christians should ask when confronted with Jewish unbelief is not, “What is wrong with those people?”

Paul gives us a much better response: sorrow, prayer, humility and hope. There is room in Christian proclamation for disagreement. There is room for calling people—including Jewish people—to repentance. There is room for saying that Yeshua is Messiah and inviting others to believe in him.

There is no need to soften those convictions in order to oppose antisemitism. But there is no room for contempt. After 47 years of telling my own Jewish people about Yeshua, I remain convinced of both things: the Gospel should be proclaimed without apology, and Jewish people should be spoken of without disdain.

Those convictions do not compete with one another.

For a Christian, they ought to belong together.

Bob Mendelsohn

Sydney 

Email: Bob.Mendelsohn@gmail.com

Web: TheRealBobM.com

 

Thank you for your consideration of this submission.

More than antisemitism

This is the first of two responses to the #SydneyMorningHerald after they published a front-page article about the Exclusive Brethren and the Jewish people. 

Here is my response. First, the Letter to the Editor:

 

Letter to the Editor

Bob Mendelsohn | Sydney

As a Jewish man who believes in Yeshua, I read with considerable sadness your report of Bruce Hales’ comments about Jews (“Brethren leader calls Jews ‘wicked’,” September 26).

Let me begin somewhere that may surprise some readers. Jewish people are sinners. I am a sinner. Jewish people need forgiveness. I need forgiveness. I have spent 47 years telling Jewish people that I believe Yeshua is our Messiah. My objection, therefore, is not to taking sin seriously or to Christians proclaiming their faith.

My objection begins when “the Jews” become a collective category of condemnation.

The old accusation that “the Jews killed Christ” has had a terrible history, but it is also poor Christian theology. Jewish leaders were involved in Yeshua’s death; so were Herod, Pontius Pilate and the Romans. The New Testament itself says that Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together against him (Acts 4:27). And Christians believe something more profound still: Yeshua willingly laid down his life for human sin.

The cross is not an indictment of an ethnicity. It is God’s answer to the sin of humanity.

Paul, himself a Jew and follower of Yeshua, warned Gentile Christians about precisely the arrogance that can arise toward Jewish people: “Do not boast over the branches” (Romans 11:18). Even while grieving Israel’s unbelief, he described the Jewish people as “beloved for the sake of the fathers” (11:28).

Christians may disagree profoundly with Judaism. We may seek to persuade Jewish people about Yeshua. I certainly do.

But contempt is not evangelism, and collective condemnation of Jews has no place in Christian proclamation.

Bob Mendelsohn
Sydney

Mourning the loss: A JFJ Press Release

Jews for Jesus mourns the devastating death of Yaron Lischinsky, a young Israeli diplomat and believer in Jesus, who was tragically killed alongside his soon-to-be fiancée, Sarah Milgrim, in Washington, DC. We grieve with their families, their friends, and the broader Messianic Jewish community in Israel and abroad.

Yaron’s life was marked by a sincere love for God, a deep commitment to the Jewish people, and a passion for peace. As a Messianic Jew, Yaron represented a growing, diverse, and vibrant community in Israel today: Jewish followers of Jesus who serve in the army, study in universities, and participate fully in Israeli society.

Many of our Jews for Jesus staff knew Yaron personally. He was a member of Melech Hamlachim, where several of our Israeli staff serve in leadership and attend.

“We are grieving the loss of Yaron, a member of the Messianic community in Israel and around the world,” said Aaron Abramson, CEO of Jews for Jesus. “What happened to Yaron and Sarah is not only a tragedy, but a sobering reminder that antisemitism is not bound by religious affiliation or political identity. It targets people simply for being Jewish. And hatred like this does not only threaten one group, it wounds all of us.”

As we remember Yaron and Sarah, we call on all people—Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and secular—to stand together against antisemitism and all forms of hate.

And we especially call on our fellow Christians to stand with the Jewish people during this time. We’re so grateful for the millions of believers in Jesus around the world who have been standing with us and our people since the tragedies of October 7, 2023.

We’ve all seen how hateful words and ideas become weaponized for evil. Now is the time to speak out, to show up, and to reaffirm that hatred toward any people is an offense to the heart of God.

May their memories be a blessing.

Jews for Jesus is an international, nonprofit organization made up of Jewish people who believe in Jesus and are committed to serving the Jewish community worldwide. Learn more ›

Confronting antisemitism by Michael Gawenda

 Michael Gawenda Confronting anti-Semitism

The Saturday PaperThe MonthlyAustralian Foreign Affairs

From the Saturday Paper last weekend

A few weeks ago, a young singer-songwriter booked flights to Melbourne. She did so on the basis that the venue for her gig had confirmed things were all set to go. Then last week, in the final days of the election campaign, she was informed by the venue that the gig had been cancelled following objections.

She contacted the venue and asked for a more forthright explanation. Here, in part, is what she wrote:

Look, I get that venues have their policies, but cancelling over political stuff feels pretty harsh, especially for an indie artist just trying to make music and pay the bills…

Here’s the thing – when you confirmed the show, I immediately jumped into action. I spent money and time designing a poster, and I booked flights interstate that I cannot get refunded. I’m not asking for the full amount, but half of what we agreed on would really help cover some of these costs … It would mean a lot honestly.

She received this response from the person who had booked her show:

I understand your frustration and the last thing I want to do is tell artists they’re not allowed to play, believe me. However, having identified yourself proudly and publicly as a Zionist and putting that out in the world via social media puts a small business like ours in a precarious position and immediately up for public scrutiny/backlash once the broader community connected to our business takes a hold of it…

He went on to say he was under no obligation to help with the cost of her flights.

This was not an isolated incident for the singer-songwriter. She has been unable to get gigs in Australia ever since, in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, she posted on social media that she stood with Israel and its people and condemned Hamas and those who questioned what had happened that day.

It is hard to say how many Australian musicians, and artists and writers, on the basis that they have been identified as Zionists, have been attacked and threatened on social media and have had gigs and art exhibitions and book events cancelled. It would be more than a few.

How are we to understand this? What does it mean? What are we to make of the fact that none of the publicly funded organisations – Music Australia for instance – have come to her aid or condemned her treatment?

In the same week as the singer-songwriter’s show was cancelled, flyers were distributed by a neo-Nazi group in Melbourne electorates with significant numbers of Jews, including in Macnamara – the most “Jewish” electorate in Victoria, held by the Jewish MP Josh Burns. Posters of Burns were defaced with red stars painted across his face. These flyers and the defaced posters were widely – and unanimously – condemned. It is not a hard thing to do when the pamphlets are full of Nazi stereotypes of Jews, with tentacles into every area of Australian life.

“The Jew as the devil’s worker, if not the devil himself, has figured in Jew hatred for hundreds of years. The consequences for Jews have been dire … For significant parts of the left, the anti-Zionist left in particular, left-wing anti-Semitism is considered a minor issue.”

For months, Burns has been the focus of a virulent hate campaign on social media, a campaign that has portrayed him as a genocidal Zionist. In June last year, his electoral office was vandalised, smashed up. Inside the shattered plate glass window, devil’s horns were painted on a large photograph of Burns.

The Jew as the devil’s worker, if not the devil himself, has figured in Jew hatred for hundreds of years. The consequences for Jews have been dire. The attack on Burns’s office was widely reported in the media, but the image of the Jew as a devil was not discussed.

Perhaps that was because the vandals had painted the words “Zionism is fascism” across the photograph. For many journalists, this complicated the motives of the vandals. They were, most probably, anti-Zionists who harboured no ill-feeling towards Jews as such, despite their use of an ancient and deadly anti-Semitic trope.

For significant parts of the left, the anti-Zionist left in particular, left-wing anti-Semitism is considered a minor issue. If it does exist, then it is thought of as an understandable response to what has happened in Gaza and, for that matter, what Israel – the Jews – have wrought in Palestine since 1948. Zionist Jews deserve the hostility they have been subjected to; they are not victims of racism but, rather, the victimisers.

Burns was re-elected on Saturday, part of Labor’s historic landslide. He increased his primary vote by just over 5 per cent. In the 2022 election, the Greens candidate had come within 2000 votes of winning the seat. This time, the Greens vote went backwards by more than 2 per cent.

Despite the fact the war in Gaza had been covered with such extraordinary and sustained intensity by the media over the past 18 months, despite the fact it sometimes dominated political debate, it did not have a significant effect on the election result. Not even in those seats with significant numbers of Muslim or Jewish voters.

What does all this mean for the young singer-songwriter and the writers and artists who, since October 7, 2023, have been shunned? What does it mean for the people who have had the places where they work or the small businesses they run targeted with graffiti and demonstrations and hate on social media, who have been unable to perform, unable to mount exhibitions of their work, unable to get published?

The election outcome does not diminish the way their lives have been ruined, basically because they are Jews of a particular kind, bad Jews, Zionists, which has come to be a term of abuse – Zionists as the new Nazis.

Their experience is real. The persecution is real, not a malign invention designed to cover up their support for genocide and colonialism, their support for a state that was founded on an evil ideology and is therefore unredeemable. The casting out of Jews, Zionist Jews, from the culture in which Jews have thrived and which philanthropic Jews have supported with such great enthusiasm, has had profound effects and the lives of some of these Jews will never be the same again.

It is the lack of support from those organisations that are meant to promote the work of Australian artists and writers that is disturbing. It is significant, too, that there have been virtually no artists or writers who have come out in support of these Jewish Australian artists and writers banished from participation in Australian cultural life.

In February, Creative Australia revoked the appointment of the Lebanese–Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi as Australia’s representative at the Venice Biennale. Sabsabi’s past work included controversial depictions of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York, something Creative Australia apparently did not know when the appointment was made.

It was a bad decision to revoke the appointment. Sabsabi is a major and widely praised Australian artist. It was on that basis that he was appointed. It should not have been revoked – although, to complicate the matter, Sabsabi himself had signed a petition to exclude Israel from the 2024 Biennale and had signed a letter in 2022 supporting a boycott of the Sydney Festival because of the Israeli embassy’s financial support of a Sydney Dance Company performance by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin.

There was widespread criticism of Creative Australia for its decision to revoke Sabsabi’s appointment. Many hundreds of artists and writers signed petitions demanding he be reinstated. The media covered the decision extensively and, in the main, with sympathy for Sabsabi.

A few weeks ago, the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism – a network of academics from 30 Australian universities – released a report that examined the experience of Jewish students and Jewish staff at Australian universities in the period from April to July last year.

The survey was done by two of Australia’s most respected researchers. It was not a survey about attitudes but about incidents of anti-Semitism – verbal attacks; physical attacks; lectures disrupted by pro-Palestinian students searching for “Zionists”; students being forced out of groups on the basis of their support for what is described as racism and colonialism and genocide.

A large majority of students and staff surveyed – 67 per cent – reported experiences of anti-Semitism that had a significant impact on their lives. Only a third of the students and academic staff felt physically safe on campus. Incidents of bullying and threats are detailed in the report. A majority of students and academic staff say that university administrators did not do enough to counter the hostility towards, and bullying of, Jews at Australia’s universities.

These results mirrored the recently released results of the investigation into anti-Semitism at Harvard. Jewish students have been verbally and physically attacked, made to feel unsafe on campus and subjected to ridicule and scorn by some of their lecturers.

The Harvard report had significant media coverage in the United States. The Australian report received hardly any coverage – if it received any at all – on the ABC or in the Nine newspapers.

Nor has there been significant coverage of research and surveys – conducted by major Jewish communal organisations – that has shown attacks on Jews and Jewish property have grown exponentially these past 18 months.

Individual acts of violence – a synagogue set on fire, a preschool centre vandalised – get coverage. The fact these events are part of a trend that has left Jews feeling traumatised and unheard is hardly dealt with. What this represents is a denial of the experience of Jews in Australia, the vast majority of Australian Jews.

The idea that anti-Semitism on the left does not exist, cannot exist, because Jews are the quintessential example of white privilege, because they are wealthy, successful, powerful beyond their numbers and therefore must be part of the oppressor class rather than the oppressed, is widespread among the elites at universities and in journalism and even at the Human Rights Commission.

The result has been an under-reporting at the ABC and in the Nine papers of the increased hostility towards Jews in Australia. This under-reporting exists because many journalists believe Jews have weaponised the accusation of anti-Semitism in order to deflect from the genocide by Israel of the Palestinians, a genocide they believe began in 1948 with the declaration of Israel’s independence.

At the same time, there is a view that any increased hostility to Jews must be a reasonable response to the deaths of Palestinians in the current conflict in Gaza. The suffering of Jews is trivial compared with the suffering of the Palestinians, for which Australian Jews, Zionists, must be held in some way responsible.

Journalists, like the universities, have been incapable of dealing with what is incontrovertible: there has been increased hostility to Jews in Australia since the October 7, 2023, attacks. They have been unable to accept the fact that Jews feel threatened and unheard. They have ignored the real instances of attacks against Jews, physical and verbal, and the tidal waves of hatred against them in social media, only thinly disguised as anti-Zionism.

Australia’s cultural institutions and universities – not all of them, but the sandstone universities in particular – have failed Australian Jews. The young singer-songwriter, banished from the Australian music scene because she is a “proud Zionist”, has had her life blighted by anti-Jewish hostility. What has happened to her has reverberated and affected fellow Jews in the arts, young Jews in particular.

What makes it particularly and uniquely painful is that the hostility towards her is either denied – she is making it up – or justified – that Jews who are labelled Zionists deserve what they get. 

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on May 10, 2025 as "Confronting anti-Semitism".

Zachor: Purim, Women's Day and Remembering

 

Zachor: Shabbat and command

i.                           Introduction

Shabbat shalom to each of you here in Perth and those of you watching and listening to this talk from somewhere else around the globe. 

Today is International Women’s day and that in itself is likely a highlight for half of you. We here at the Perth Messianic Assembly are part of a global Jewish movement and thus the national and dare I say international pandemic of antisemitism is also front and centre in our concerns. Antisemitism is racism. And it’s advancing in Australia and globally in unprecedented and almost unbridled strength since 7 October 2023. 

ii.                       Antisemitism abounds

The news media reports it. The government decries it and dances around avoiding taking a significant stand lest some of their constituents vote them out in the next election which here in WA is happening just now. Universities around the globe advance the notion of free speech and then get caught with tent cities of opposition to the very institution that grants them alleged freedoms. Heads roll as public outcry demands leadership do something or be stood down. Racism is a violent reality with no apparent end in sight.

On 9 October 18 months ago, the organization “Never Again is Now” was launched by my friend, Anglican minister and Jewish believer Mark Leach in Sydney. Some of you might have been involved in his new organization here in Perth rallies even a fortnight ago, as they are seeking to change all that. More associations are also speaking out. An institute in the US is dedicated to stamping out antisemitism. Zachor Legal Institute, is one such agency. It is a legal think tank and advocacy organization, taking the lead in the legal battle against antisemitism and the delegitimization of Israel, including the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS). It is based in Bozeman, Montana in the US. Their main staff are three: Marc Greendorfer, (Yeshiva Law 1996), Ron Machol, the head of all non-legal issues and a high-tech leader, and Vanessa Hites, (School of Law, University of Chile, NYU.) 

iii.                  Zachor now and in the Older Testament

Their organization is named Zachor. The Hebrew word, ‘zachor’ means ‘remember.’ This group caught my eye this week, since today in synagogues worldwide the ordinary readings in Torah are supplemented by an additional reading. This supplementing happens during all 6 weeks before Passover every year. How long is that? Think about this, 6 weeks x 7 days is 42 days, and whether the Jews had this in place, or more likely we borrowed this countdown from the Church in its 40+ days Lenten expression which begins annually with Ash Wednesday (in 2025 a few days ago), it’s unclear. What we have is the first bonus reading today. The parsha is renamed “Zachor” and begins with the citation from Deuteronomy chapter 25. There we read: “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt” (.17)

זָכ֕וֹר אֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֥ה לְךָ֖ עֲמָלֵ֑ק

Then the text continues, 

¹⁸ how Amalek met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore it shall come about when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.” (Dt. 25:18-19)

The quick story is bracketed with these words, “remember” and “don’t forget.”   

זָכ֕וֹר and לֹ֖א תִּשְׁכָּֽח

That sounds like the same thing, doesn’t it? If I forget I’m not remembering and if I remember, I’m not forgetting. But listen, each of us responds to commands differently. Some of you need to hear “Don’t covet” while others of you need to hear “Be content with what you have.” Some need to hear “Don’t commit adultery” and others require “Love your spouse.” Both are accurate; both teach us. Both are mandates, but depending on your personality, we often either choose to hear, or dare I say, only hear things in the positive or the negative. Either way, the result is the same. Make it happen. Don’t do the wrong. Make it happen.

OK, that sounds situational and a matter of compliance. And today’s command to remember and not forget has to do with this particular enemy of the Jewish people, Amalek. 

iv.          Amalek and Purim

Who was he? The leader of an ancient people who lived in the south of Canaan, in the Negev, a fierce and warlike Bedouin people, who made themselves foes of Israel during the Exodus. Then later they were marauders in Israeli territory who were defeated both by Saul (1 Sam. 15) and by David (1 Chr. 18). The head of the people of course was a grandson of Esau (Gen. 36.12) who apparently was later connected with Ephraim’s territory (Jg. 5.14)

OK, so today we remember Amalek and we don’t forget him. Oh, this coming week we celebrate Purim, the festival of lots, and eat certain foods, as almost always happens on a Jewish holiday. Do you remember that story, too? A quick retelling is warranted today on International Women’s Day.

You see, the Jewish people were in trouble in Shushan and all the 127 provinces of the Persian empire. The king’s prime minister was evil and had made the king to make declarations against the Jewish people. We had to bow to the king and his images or face the consequences. A young Jewish beauty named Hadassah (renamed to be Esther) stood up to the challenge and she helped save our people. That should make the Top Ten on International Women’s Day, don’t you reckon?

The prime minister was named Haman and you know what to do when you hear his name, right? Stomp it out, grogger over it, get his name out of the house. In Scripture he is called an Agagite (Esther 8.3). That’s his people’s identity. Who was Agag? He was once the king of the Amalekites (1 Sam 15). So Haman is from the people whom we are to remember and not forget today. No wonder next week’s story will feature this episode in Israel’s history.

V. Beyond the victim

But here’s a nuance that today I want to highlight, so that when we are long separated from one another, you will benefit greatly from this d’rash even more.

You see, simply remembering the enemies of our Jewish people often makes us ever the victims. Psychologically, a victim who perpetuates the wrongs done to him will remain a victim and live to reference the Star Wars classic ‘on the dark side.’

Now I don’t want to diminish the remembrance of Haman, Agag, Amalek and all the enemies of the Jewish people, lest we forget that we must be ever vigilant in response. Think of Pharaoh or Hitler. We remember Hamas in our day and we must be aware and decry. We must not forget. Don’t get me wrong. But where else is our vigilance?\

vi.          Zachor the Almighty and his deeds

Let me see if I can put this in perspective. 

We as Jews are also mandated to remember who God is, what he did for us in various times of our history. If we forget, we will be punished or go into exile or lose our way. Remembrance is key to any highlight reel of Jewish story.

Think back to Gideon (Judges 8) and let it sink in.

“Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god. Thus the sons of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel.” (.33-35)

If we don’t remember, we lose. Captivity happens. Failure attends us. Life leaves us. We lose.

Zachor Haman. Zachor Amalek. AND Zachor GOD. Zachor what God did and Zachor WHO HE IS. Zachor Hashem! Zachor.

Listen to these words in Torah. 

“Take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren” (Dt. 4.9)

פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֨ח

Later in chapter 4, again, “Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.”(4.23)

And again Moses said, “beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (6.12)

Get it? Remember, zachor God! One more from Moses, “And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.” (Dt. 8.2)

Isaiah even joins the chorus with “Remember the former things” (Isaiah 46:9)

Asaph, the music director under King David wrote, “I will remember the deeds of the Lord, yes, I will remember your wonders of old.” (Ps. 77.11)

David wrote, “I remember the days of old, I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.” (Ps. 143.5)

vii.               A counsellor speaks

Sarah Puebla is a biblical counsellor in the USA. She’s part of the Association of Biblical Counsellors (https://biblicalcounseling.com/) I found her article entitled, “The Power of God and The Power of Remembering” extremely helpful. (https://bit.ly/RememberingPuebla)

She cites a couple of biblical texts, especially Psalm 77 where the psalmist is despairing and then says, “When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate my spirit faints. 

You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.” (77.1-4)

That doesn’t sound like she wins, does it? In fact, Puebla says, “These four verses are the perfect description of the body, mind, and spirit of one who is suffering and is spiralling down into hopelessness. We feel no comfort. Sleep leaves us and refuses to ease our eyelids shut. We feel faint, dry-mouthed and lacking in any words. As troubling and difficult these verses may be to read, just seeing them written in God’s Word should bring about a small amount of hope that the Lord recognizes these are real and tangible. But we must not stop there. We must seek and remember.”

Then the psalm reads as follows:

“I consider the days of old, the years long ago. I said ‘Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart. Then my spirit made a diligent search. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds.” (77.5-6, 11-12)

She asks, “how do we do this?” Her dual answer is: “First, we turn to the written Word of God. “

Then, “Secondly, an important discipline in remembering is to think back on our own lives. As I have engaged counselees in this discipline, I have encouraged them to not only start in their trial now but also think back to what God has done in the past and journal about it. It can be a list form or prayer form, or journal form. It can even be a wall set aside in one’s home to display front and centre what God has done in the days, months, and years past. This practice has been invaluable in my own life as I have encountered tremendously difficult trials.”

 

viii.     Zachor in the Newer Testament

I would be remiss if we only looked at the Tenach today. We must hear the words of Messiah himself. He taught so much and lived so much. He accomplished so much. What are we to remember from Yeshua?

For that, we look to the end of this forty-day “Jewish Lenten” expression of time. You see, Yeshua gathered again with his disciples, his apprentices in Jerusalem on Passover. He had likely done so for several years, but on this occasion, we in history title it “The Last Supper.” That seder gave us what many in churches take today as the eucharist, the communion, the bread and wine, and they even use some of the words from that sacred memorial evening. 

What is Passover? It’s a Zikaron. Yes, same root, zachor. A memorial. Exodus 12 says, “Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.” (12.14)

The Passover meal was to be zachored. It was to be a memorial of what God did. He saved us from Pharaoh. He took us out of Egypt. He marched with us through the Red Sea. Eventually he took us into our promised land. Zachor God!

So on this night, in Jerusalem, when Yeshua was celebrating the memorial of that deliverance and the Exodus itself, Yeshua instituted another memorial. Luke records it for us. “And when He had taken bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.” (Luke 22.19-20)

Another memorial within the former memorial. A subroutine of memorials. A wheel within a wheel. Remember. Don’t forget. 

Paul the Apostle told us nearly a generation later, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” (1 Cor. 11.26)

         Zachor Yeshua. His death and resurrection. His soon coming again. Zachor to proclaim him. Get your eyes off yourself, o victim. Get your eyes on the One who is our life. Yeshua our Messiah and ultimate Deliverer. 

ix.                   Conclusion: Remember and proclaim

Sarah Puebla’s entire article is worth a read. 

The entire Book of Psalms is worth a read.

The entire Bible is worth a read. 

God is worthy of our attention today. 

Please don’t only Zachor Amalek.  Please don’t live in a victim state. Please remember and don’t forget all the Lord has done for you. Remember Yeshua and his ultimate love for you and for all yours. 

Yes, there will be tough times and times when we are deep in sorrow. Yes, we will remember 7 October and 1 September 1939. Our people were evicted in1492 from Granada, Spain and in 1290 when we Jews were evicted out of England. We won’t forget Babi Yar. We will remember the evils done to us, even here in Australia in Melbourne and Sydney as we’ve seen on the television news recently. AND we will remember that were the Lord not on our side, we would have fallen again and again; we would be no more. We would have perished along with the Hivites and the Agagites and the Canaanites. 

But now, go beyond that. Remember God and his mercy. Remember his covenants, that he made with our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with David and the ultimate new covenant, not like the covenant he made with Moses when we left Egypt (Jeremiah 31.31), but the new covenant Yeshua instituted that Pesach night in Jerusalem.  Remember the death and resurrection of our Messiah and love him with all your heart and soul. Proclaim the Lord’s death until he returns. 

The days are dark and evil. 

I close with these words from the Brit Hadasha, Jude verses 17 and following:

“But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Messiah Jesus to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.” (Jude 17-23)

Thank you Ross and Mei. Thank you to each of you who keeps making PMA such a light on a hill here in Perth. Thanks for standing with us as we make the name of Yeshua known near and far in these troubled and troubling times. Zachor Messiah. 

Thank you and Shabbat shalom.