There hasn’t been a meeting like it since World War 2. The Oppose Antisemitism rally at Times Square, led by Messianic Jews, seems destined to be a benchmark in Jewish-Christian relations. Over 600 participants heard stories, songs, and speeches about the historic importance of Christians in defending Jews from antisemitic attacks and schemes of genocide.
The reactions to the massive terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, was much like the reaction to early rumors about the Holocaust. Jews were in disbelief, fixed with incredulous stares at the television clips, then came a heavy feeling in the stomach as it settled in that many former defenders of the Jews were siding with the terrorists. The soaring rates of antisemitic attacks in New York City now began to be seen as a part of a pattern of turning against the Jews, Israel, and, particularly, Zionists’ dreams for a Jewish homeland. Chants of “from the river to the sea” conveyed that there would be no room for Israel between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Of course, Hamas’ 1988 Covenant declares, “The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a jew behind me, come and kill him.”
It was shocking that prominent university presidents were reluctant to identify calls on their campuses for the genocide of the Jews as hate speech. Some of the extremist rhetoric and actions by the pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University left Jewish students with a sense of abandonment and aloneness. Jewish student leaders gathered at a meeting at New York University to share that they felt isolated and alone and wanted a friendly embrace of reassurance.
This rally on Times Square was a big embrace, a multi-media hug for Jews.
Mitch Glaser, the president of Chosen People Ministries, talked with A Journey off-stage just before he opened the speechifying for the evening. The 130-year-old organization is a global Messianic Jewish ministry with headquarters in Manhattan, a seminary in Brooklyn, and multiple centers in Israel.
The Messianic Jewish leader felt a personal sense of destiny in the convening of the Oppose Antisemitism rally. He reflected that his career and the history of Chosen People Ministries is one of loving fellow Jews in tough times and bad. He recalled how the son of the founder of Chosen People Ministries brought bags of cash to Europe in a desperate bid to buy the freedom of Messianic and non-Messianic Jews.
“Many of those people escaped the Holocaust by traveling to Argentina,” he recalled. “In fact, this was how Chosen People started in Argentina.”
Then, the Chosen People ministers visited displaced people camps and helped truly forlorn and desperate people. “Of course, we wanted to rescue Messianic Jews in the European capitals who couldn’t get help from anyone else. But we also helped non-Messianic Jews who had survived the Holocaust. They had no homes to go back to, so we visited and helped them too.
Glaser’s sense of a calling overcomes whatever bad vibes that he is getting from some Jewish leaders who are mainly focused on rejecting Jesus as the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. In The Jewish Forward, some Jewish leaders opposed this event, claiming that it is duplicitous for a Jew to say he or she is a Jew while believing in Jesus. Glaser laments that such attitudes against the Gospel dismiss Chosen People’s help with fighting oppression, antisemitism, and material deprivations of the Jewish people. Indeed, many Jewish leaders wouldn’t dismiss the opportunity for Christian help, which is essential for the well-being of the Jewish people.
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, the leader of the New York Board of Rabbis has a more generous and far-sighted perspective. He answered differently The Forward’s question, “Should Jews attend a rally against antisemitism hosted by people who try to convert them?” The rabbinical leader’s answer is pretty straightforward, “Jewish people have allies of all different denominations with whom we don’t fully agree. But when someone says, ‘I am with you,” why should we reject them?… During this painful period, we need friends.”
Glaser says his organization feels that its destiny is to love and help fellow Jews, particularly when they are under attack for just being Jews. The last year has been pivotal in Chosen People’s sense of calling. It is always on his mind that the pivotal moment for ministry to the Jews is “right now.”
“Right now in Israel, we are delivering thousands of meals for soldiers, the families of victims, and displaced people. Right now, we have held in the last year eight retreats for new immigrants to Israel, mainly Russians and Ukrainians, so that their families, particularly their kids, can gain a respite from the stress, strife, and hatred. Right now, we are providing laundry rooms with up to six washing machines each, to the displaced. And we are going to do more. And because we care about them, we too will tell them about the hope of Yeshua (Jesus).”
If Potasnik and Glaser want to elevate a common front against antisemitism, another speaker Thursday night sees an opportunity to bring Americans together across the political divides.
Reverend Dr. A.R. Bernard, the founder of the Christian Cultural Center, a megachurch in Brooklyn, sees the rally as a way to overcome “the deep national divide that we are experiencing.” The rally is a peacemaking event for the nation, and for all Americans. He asked, how often can we cross the divide of politics and polemics in our nation? In fighting antisemitism, we can all join together.
“We are elevating the conversation above the partisan politics,” he told A Journey, “to talk about the worth and dignity of all human beings. I am here simply because I want to elevate the conversation above partisan politics.”
Michael Brown, a Messianic Jewish host of the radio program “The Line of Fire,” podcaster, and theologian, received enthusiastic applause from his followers who seem to be present in significant numbers. He discerned a millennial spiritual war in which current antisemitism is one of the most recent battles. For him. the attacks are not just about politics but by an adversarial spiritual warfare prosecuted by the Devil against God’s plan of forgiveness and healing of all peoples through the ministry of the Jewish prophets and, particularly, of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God.
At first, Brown’s approach sounded a little foreign to the discussion of earthly politics and hatreds, but he made an interesting case that socio-psychological, political theories of antisemitism can’t easily account for the deep, centuries-old antagonism against the Jews. He offered that this means that prayer is a necessary ingredient in any fight against the antisemitism generated occultly by spiritual principles and powers. This is a fight against a death cult that wants Jews as sacrificial lambs.
“If they are going to come for you, they have to come through us first.”
Pastor Mark leach
Anglican pastor Mark Leach and his daughter Freya have become famous in Australia for peacefully facing down very hostile pro-Hamas belligerents. They talked about their “Never Again is Now” movement. In an informal talk with pastors and ministry leaders the day before the rally, he said that their slogan should be, “If they are going to come for you, they have to come through us first.”
Israeli musicians Joshua Aaron and Yaron Cherniak and American worship leader Aaron Shust shared music for the warriors against antisemitism Joshya Aaron’s daughter is currently serving in the Israeli Defense Force and his son soon will be. He adapted Psalm 137’s lyrics “Bring us back” into “Bring them back,” a soulful call for a return of the hostages.
Historian Alan Shore, who was attending the meeting, told Journey that he drew parallels between the Jews and Christians rallying in 1933 at the Madison Square Garden against the antisemitism in Nazi Germany and the rally in the Times Square Palladium theater. He thinks that the event is a time for translating the old strategies and rhetorics into a new vernacular for newer generations. He sees this as a process that will take patience and persistence.
Chosen People’s Glaser says he thinks destiny is not done with the Jews nor with the problem of antisemitism. His organization and the related Alliance for the Peace of Jerusalem are already planning rallies around the country and are looking for partners to put them on. “Christians want to say something about antisemitism,” he offers, “but don’t have the opportunity to do a public statement.” The next rally is planned for August with college students in Chicago.
