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This past fall, I attended an event honouring the late Rabbi Reuven Bulka, a loved and respected rabbi from Ottawa. I was struck by the high level of security and how such measures are now common in Jewish circles. I thought, How sad we’ve come to this point in Canada where Jews are constantly forced to prepare for potential physical violence!

Antisemitism isn’t new. For millennia, Jews have faced slander, hatred and violence – and far too often from the Church. In the latter half of the 20th century, many hoped for the end of antisemitism after Auschwitz. Alarmingly, antisemitism is rising yet again.

What is antisemitism? An internationally recognised definition offered in 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance puts it this way: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed towards Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, towards Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

This widely adopted definition is worth considering. It distinguishes between hatred towards Jewish individuals, institutions or religious facilities, and critique of the modern State of Israel. A nation’s people are never to be equated to the decisions and policies of their political leadership, let alone Jews living outside Israel.

Christians too often assume they must unwaveringly support the State of Israel, arguing that Israel represents the chosen people of God. But this is a serious theological and philosophical error. Indeed, if I could insist upon a fundamental interpretive corrective, especially among evangelical Christians, it would be to stop equating the word “Israel” in the Bible to the modern state of Israel.

Christians should sense real moral danger when Jews are either subject to contempt or portrayed as persons without fault.

Though theologians differ on the details, Scripture clearly teaches that the land and the people descended from Abraham are central to God’s promised redemptive purposes. God chose to send His only son, Jesus, a Jewish man, the Judean of Nazareth, to be the Saviour of the world. Thus, if we deny the Jewishness of the gospel, we already have a false gospel.

So how should Christians resist antisemitism?

First, Christians need to discern the twin dangers of what happens when either criticism or affirmation of modern political policy bleeds through to our assessment of Jewish persons. Christians should sense real moral danger when Jews are either subject to contempt or portrayed as persons without fault. Jews and non-Jews alike are persons created in God’s glorious image (Genesis 1:27) but also sinners who fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).

Second, Christians need practically to love our Jewish neighbours. Jesus’ command to love our neighbours is not qualified by their ethnicity. Yet because of the complicated history of Christian treatment of Jews over the centuries, Christian obligation to love them well is intensified. Loving our Jewish neighbours means being willing to defend them when they are maligned, stand with them when they are threatened, and refuse fear to harden into moral indifference. It can be all too easy to fear being targeted because we defend Jews when they are attacked (whether verbally, physically or judicially).

One of the best ways to begin to understand and support those who suffer injustices is relationships with those very persons. Whenever possible, Christians should make efforts to get to know our Jewish neighbours, learn what they believe and stand for and, yes, learn to agree and disagree with them just as we would anyone else with whom we have a strong relationship that matters.

And whenever possible, we ought respectfully to share our conviction that Jesus Christ is the Messiah promised in Scripture whom they have waited and hoped for. Whether they accept that conviction or not doesn’t cancel our relationship – we continue to love.

The (Jewish) Apostle Paul models in Romans 9–11 how we ought to relate to Jews. Of his “kinsmen according to the flesh,” he says, “theirs is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises” (9:3–4). For Paul, these aren’t words conveying ethnic superiority as much as theological fact.

But neither does he speak of the Jewish people as rejected, irrelevant or replaced. Rather, he sees Gentile Christians as wild branches grafted into a story not originally their own. The proper Christian posture towards Jews is humility and gratitude – never arrogance. “Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either,” Paul warns (11:20–21).

Resisting antisemitism is a gospel imperative. When we resist antisemitism, we aren’t merely making a moral stand. We’re living out our adoption as people grafted into Israel’s story, saved by Israel’s Messiah and called into Israel’s hope, the shalom peace of God our Creator.

David Guretzki is the EFC’s president and CEO. Read more of these columns at FaithToday.ca/CrossConnections.

Posted: Jan. 2, 2026 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14732
Categories: News, Opinion • In this article: anti-semitism, Judaism, religious hatred Transmis : 2 janv. 2026 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14732
Catégorie : News, Opinion • Dans cet article : anti-semitism, Judaism, religious hatred