CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

By the same author:

TORTURED FOR CHRIST

m god's underground

THE SOVIET SAINTS

SERMONS IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

THE CHURCH IN CHAINS

CHRIST

ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Richard Wurmbrand

Living Sacrifice Books

P.O. Box 938

Middlebury, IN 46540

U.S.A.

To the memory of

Isac Feinstein and others who gave their lives under the

Nazis and Communists for being

Jews and Christians

Copyright © igyô by Richard Wurmbrand. First printed in cased edition 1970. This

edition 1975. ISBN o 340 19956 3. All rights reserved. JVb part of this publication

may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without

permission in writing from the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that

it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated

without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in

which this is published and without a similar condition including this condition being

imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

CONTENTS

page

PREFACE 7

1 I SET OUT ON THE ROAD

A German carpenter shows a Jew the way to Christ 16

Rabbis help to dispel my doubts .... 19

The path of belief from reason to the heart . . 25

Isac Feinstein and my rebirth .... 30

Difficulties with some Christian traditions . . 37

I am baptised and my wife is won for the Lord . 51

2 JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST

Clarutza ........ 54

Alba 61

Mircea Petrescu 68

Holy Moishe ....... 74

Bertha 76

A witness in our family . .... 81

Converting anti-Semites 84

Christ's martyrs among the Jewish people . . 86

3 ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION

Encounter on a train ...... 96

We discover modern theology .... 107

4 THE FASCIST PERIOD

The beginning of the persecution . . .119

"What shall I do to be saved?" . . . .125

Underground religious activity . . . . 128

Pastor Magne Solheim and his wife . . .132

5

6 CONTENTS

page

Difficulties of our position ..... 136

Two old people ....... 141

5 ADDING TO THE CHURCH

The gambler and the police informer . . . 147

The struggle for a soul . . . . .150

A soul lost and a soul found .... 156

Practical action . . . . . . . 159

In-fighting . . . . . . . 162

Unusual phenomena . . . . . .166

6 CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND

OTHER JEWS

The sins of the Jews ...... 173

Discussion in a prison cell . . . . .176

"I shall stick to our old religion" . . . .183

All things to all men ...... 185

Anti-Klausner . . . . . . .188

Is Jesus God? ....... 194

7 OUR ATTITUDE TO COMMUNISM

Communism as part of God's plan . . .198

Christian revolutionism ..... 202

Conflict with Communism ..... 208

EPILOGUE 214

PREFACE

Looking back on my life, I, too, am astonished how much

I have been through.

For a Christian, life is not retrospective: he wastes no time

writing obituaries about what is past; instead, he writes, in the

hearts of men, with the pen of the Holy Spirit, the preface to a

bright and eternal future. As a rule, memoirs are written by

people who no longer have a satisfactory, rich present.

But I have a different reason for recording my memories.

A quarter of a century has passed since I started the work of

preaching the Christian message to Jews under particularly

difficult circumstances—Fascist terror, war, and later on the

Communist regime in Rumania. I have endured the heat of

battle in a most important part of the battlefield, where the

eternal struggle between light and darkness is waged.

"Thou hast chosen us from amongst the peoples," the Jews

declare daily in their synagogues. "Salvation is of the Jews,"

said Jesus (John 4.22). "The dirty Jews are the cause of all our

troubles," say the anti-Semites. The "international" Jew has

been copiously depicted in literature.

Some people find in Christianity their true happiness: others

hate Christianity and would like to see it destroyed. It is a Jew,

Jesus, who is the cause of their happiness or their fury.

Some people benefit from capitalism; others feel they are

exploited by the capitalist system, and would like to see it over-

thrown. No one would deny that the Jews were instrumental at

an early point in time in founding this system, and that they still

play a highly important role in economic and financial life, out

of all proportion to their numbers. Whether you feel attracted

8 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

or repelled by capitalism, your attitude will to a large extent be

determined by Jews, whom you will probably never have seen

face to face, as the people who have the final say in the capitalist

world are almost always anonymous.

Communism may be to you a source of joy or suffering ; it

derives from the Jew Marx and a host of Jewish champions of

this idea, without whom the revolution in the East would have

been impossible. The fate of a farmer in Vietnam, who has

never seen a Jew in his life, will, in the last resort, depend on

whether he reads the book about the Jew Jesus or the book

about the Jew Marx. Whichever triumphs, either the Christian

civilisation or the Marxist world, both are closely bound up

with a Jewish name.

Some people place their confidence in modern science, whose

peak achievement is in atomic physics, a science capable of

enabling mankind to live in a Utopia. Others wait, in fear and

terror, for the destructive atomic war which they believe will be

the final result of this science. In both the West and the East,

atomic science is to a large extent in the hands of Jews. Einstein

gave the United States a start in atomic weapons. The Jew

Teller is the father of the nuclear bomb. The Rosenbergs,

Jews, gave atomic secrets to Russia. In scientific books the

universe is named after a Jew: we speak of Einstein's

universe, as though we lived in this universe as the guests of

a Jew.

And this is really so, for we are in very fact the guests of a

Jew; only his name is not Einstein, but Jesus Christ. He is a

human being and a Jew, but also God—a marvellous God, of

whom we read in His holy book, in Paul's Epistle to the Romans :

". . . of whom [the Jews] as concerning the flesh Christ came,

who is over all, God blessed for ever" (Rom. 9.5). A people

from whom God came!

Mine has not been ordinary missionary work; I have worked

among those people who in the holy book of the Christians are

called "a chosen people", a people from whom a God has come,

but who nevertheless are ignorant of this God, a nation which

is either blessed or cursed by millions of people—as the source

of their happiness or their misery—a race whose fate has deter-

PREFACE 9

mined and will determine, more than any other nation, the

fate of the entire world.

The Jewish people have given to the world the Bible, con-

sisting of the Old and New Testaments, a book written by

Jews, but which is at the same time the Word of God—the only

book capable of satisfying the spiritual needs of the world. And

it will satisfy these needs when it is once again in the hands of

those who have written it, and when they gather round Him

who is the chief subject of the book, Jesus, the Messiah of the

Jews and the Saviour of nations.

The overwhelming majority of mankind lives in dire sin,

bereft of the true faith. Murder, exploitation, oppression, forni-

cation, defeat, envy, debauchery and slander are widespread.

Mankind is bound to suffer speedy destruction unless it is

converted and rouses itself from the spiritual death in which it

now lies. But the Scriptures tell us that the conversion of Israel

will be life from the dead (Rom. 11.15).

Jesus and the Jews are indissolubly linked to one another.

"Where is He that is born King of the Jews?" the Magi enquired

when He came into this world (Matt. 2.2). "This is Jesus, the

King of the Jews", was the inscription on the Cross (Matt.

27-37)-

The Old Testament prophecies have the same message.

Moses told the Jews: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto

thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren" (Deut.

18.15). Isaiah, who prophesied the birth of Jesus eight hundred

years before it took place, declared: "Unto us a child is born,

unto us a son is given" (Isa. 9.6)—"us" meaning the Jews. When

he foretold the new covenant which Jesus would establish by

shedding His blood on the Cross, Jeremiah declared: "Behold

... I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and

with the house ofjudah" (Jer. 31.31).

Jesus himself said: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of

the house of Israel" (Matt. 15.24). He also declared that he was

the Saviour of the world, but in the passage above and in

similar statements he established his special relationship with

the Jewish people.

The intention of my entire missionary work, of which I

IO CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

give an account in this book, was to make Israel conscious of

this relationship, a relationship which can never be broken,

however much we may oppose it. The Jew today is no longer

what he was two thousand years ago; he is not even the Jew

who lived in the ghettos of medieval Europe, from which the

French Revolution liberated us. We have made progress in

science, art, literature, and in social life: only in religion there is

stagnation, or, at least, the progress is not so rapid as in other

spheres.

Those Jews may perhaps have had good commonsense

reasons for rejecting a carpenter who declared that He was the

Saviour of the world. But we are in a much better position than

they were to realise who Jesus was. Had He been an ordinary

child born outside the bonds of matrimony, an enthusiastic

dilettante—as some people believed He was—He would not

have conquered as indeed He did.

People of brilliant intellectual powers have paid homage to

Him.

The Jew Spinoza declared: "Jesus is the highest symbol of

Jewish wisdom."

Rousseau wrote: "If the death of Socrates was the death of

a sage, then the death of Jesus was the death of a God."

Strauss, who wrote several works in order to prove that Jesus

is not God, nevertheless declares that He is the highest goal

to which we can aspire in our thoughts.

Ernest Renan, who caused a great many people to doubt

the divinity of Jesus, says that His beauty is eternal and that

His kingdom will never come to an end.

Some find it difficult to believe what His disciples said of

Him, but let us at any rate believe His enemies, such as the

Pharisees who declared: "Master, we know that thou art true,

and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men,

but teachest the way of God in truth" (Mark 12.14). Judas

confessed: "I have betrayed innocent blood." (Matt. 27.4).

Pilate said: "I am innocent of the blood of this just person"

(Matt. 27.24). The captain of the guard, in charge of the cruci-

fixion, declared: "Truly this was the Sort of God." (Matt. 27.54).

Belief in Jesus gives the believer confidence. True belief in

PREFACE II

Jesus turns stubborn minds into hearts burning with love. True

belief of Jesus breaks down barriers between races and nations.

The Court of the Gentiles in the Temple of Jerusalem was

separated from the Holy of Holies by a fence, on which was

written in three languages: "He who is not a Jew and passes

further will be punished by death". The Christian religion

breaks down national boundaries, and makes God's house a

place where all peoples meet in prayer.

But someone will raise the objection: If belief in Jesus trans-

forms us into love, how are we to explain the violent conflicts

that take place within a Christian congregation, and the disputes

between the various confessions? And if Christianity makes the

people of every nation brothers, how are we to explain the

murderous wars that are waged between Christian nations?

Do not the naked facts refute the claims of Christianity?

The answer is that we are still living in prehistoric times, as

far as the Christian Church is concerned. The various con-

fessions are merely parts of the framework of the proud and

magnificent building which will one day arise.

The task to which those Jews are called who have been

converted to belief in Jesus, is to give the world life out of

spiritual death. The Scriptures declare that the purpose of

saving the Gentiles—who have given what they could—was to

make the Jews jealous for their God. The Jews have been called,

and specially equipped by God, to give a real inner meaning to

the Christian Church. Don't look at the church as she is, but

as she will be when the Jews whom she expects will have become

Christians, and will give her an unequalled beauty. Then she

will be one and burning with love.

God has called me to bring Jews to Christ. When He calls,

He always gives a man the capacity and the facilities to obey

His call. Every human being possesses spiritual powers of

which he himself is ignorant. When he pledges himself in love

to Jesus, he discovers what powers are latent within him. Even

I, at the beginning of my Christian life, had no idea for how

many works I would be used.

For these were not my acts: the Christian believer is like a

child who Is allowed by the driver to hold the steering-wheel

12 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

of a car, while the driver himself keeps his hands over the

child's. The child is delighted to be driving a car—without being

able to make a single mistake—because there is someone who is

in charge, and knows everything. Even while we are carrying

our burdens, we ourselves are borne aloft on eagles' wings.

He who works through His children is the same God who

scattered the stars in the firmament of heaven. Within us we

have His power enabling us to sacrifice ourselves, that same

power which was in the Son when He was crucified for our sakes.

Through us the sanctifying power of the Spirit is at work. In

us it moves like a mighty storm, and through us this storm

arouses others to passionate zeal, because God dwells within us.

It is as though the fulness of His grace all but shatters the

vessel which is too narrow for Him.

When I look back on these past years, I can seldom discover

any logic between what happened and the attitude I adopted

at the time. "The heart has its reasons, which reason does not

know." The birth of a man's deepest conviction is not the result

of a process of thought; the subconscious cannot be trained,

and does not behave in a logical way. It does not think in con-

formity with the ordinary laws of reason. It is in some dreams

that one can see the magnitude of man's hidden values. This

subconsciousness is the darkness where God likes to dwell:

here He has openly done things through me that even I cannot

understand. Beyond the world of phenomena perceived through

the senses, lies the real, invisible world, the essential world.

This is where the divine works; and what is seen in our nature

is governed from it.

I do not understand everything that has happened to me,

but I believe that my whole life, and the life of all His children,

has been planned by God, down to the smallest detail. Our lives

are planned in eternity; our lives serve God's purpose. I can be

confident, even when I understand nothing.

When I first became a follower of Jesus, I did not want to

have quarrels with anyone, I merely wanted to rest from all

that had gone before. Religion must put an end to striving, it

must bring cahn. But a calm life, lived only in love and in the

interpretation of the truth, raises new storms; one's religion is

PREFACE 13

attacked, one must defend it, and so, without having wished it,

one is at war again. We have to actively put into practice faith

and love, and only Gcd knows why, as sons of peace, we do

not bring peace, but a sword.

I have come into conflict with many of the Jewish people of

whom I am a part. Jews often call Christian Jews traitors to

their people. I shall not dwell on this terrible term. It could be

said more simply, and with greater love, that the Christian

Jews use a different scale of values.

But is it really one's own people who constitute the supreme

value? Both the Old and the New Testaments depict as holy a

priestess of a Canaanite temple, where religious prostitution

was practised. Her name was Rahab. At a point of time when the

Jews were going to war, with a view to the complete destruction

of the Canaanites, Rahab concluded a pact with the Jews,

against the interests of her own people. Was she a traitor? Was

she thereby degraded? No, she was a woman who put the new

religion—represented by the Jews—above the interests of the

people to whom she belonged. In this way she became one

of the ancestors of Jesus. She is also honoured by the Mosaic

Jews.

We love our people whole-heartedly: but we consider the

glory of Christ of more value than our own people. And, faced

with the alternative of choosing between Jesus and our people,

if they demand that we should renounce Him, we choose Jesus

because we know fully that those who do not in truth serve

Him, cannot serve their own people best.

When my wife and I became Christians, we found beloved

brothers and sisters in all confessions; but no single one of these

confessions constitutes the Christian Church. None of them

possesses the unadulterated truth, nor a truly burning love.

Many Christian pastors are not what a pastor should be; a

person in whom Christ is present, an ardent soul who sees the

truth, declares it, and carries it out, a man through whom God

himself speaks. The sheep are not listened to. The gifts of grace

possessed by members of the Church are not sufficiently

utilised. They stand unemployed in the marketplace, or else

their strength and their ability are not given full scope. The

14 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

work of the Church lacks the co-ordinated action in which all

God's children should take part.

We are the most poorly organised army. Jesus's melancholy

remark, that the children of this world are wiser than the sons

of light (Luke 16.8) has not inspired us to change things. In the

old days a Christian army was recruited in order to win an empty

tomb. Why do we not organise an army to win living souls?

When we, who were new to the Christian faith, raised these

problems, Christian leaders became angry with us.

There is a club for dwarfs. Membership is open only to

persons who are not more than four feet tall. Dwarfs say that

they are closest to human perfection, because the first men were

taller than those of today; hand in hand with progress, the

human form has become smaller. We could in fact set up a club

for Christian dwarfs, with a great many members. It is the

dwarfs of Christianity who are regarded as the standard, while

the giants are considered to be fanatics. The dwarfs, the cold

and indifferent, are considered the ones who are wise. I find

myself in opposition to people who think along these lines.

Even more, I was opposed to the atheist world. The bodies

and souls of many Hebrew Christians bear the scars of wounds

received in this struggle. But only the soldier who risks his life

is a true soldier, and scars are a soldier's badge of honour.

For twenty-five years I have had one single task, because I

knew that it is only the man who concentrates on one goal who

can accomplish great things. Amateurs do not make great

athletes; nor are those clergymen the best pastors who, apart

from being clergymen, are also devoted philatelists, football

players, chess players, musicians, politicians, and a great many

other things. You may have many gifts, but they must be all

subject to the same aim.

I have done only one thing. I have worked for Christ. I am not

satisfied with what I have accomplished. If I were, I should not

be able to make any progress. But I know that Jesus will forgive

me if I have erred in my thought and sinned in my life. He has

not abandoned me, and He will help me to do better in future.

And because this is not the work of an individual—the true

Christian belongs to the assembly of God's children—I have

PREFACE^ 15

written this book, in order that what has been right and what

has been wrong in what I have accomplished, may serve as a

lesson to the Church and to the Jewish people, in order that

others may do better.

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD

A German carpenter shows a Jew the way to Christ

It was 1937. Hitler was in power.

In a small village in Rumania, a German carpenter was

spending the remaining years of his old age. His name was

Christian Wölfkes.

During a revivalist campaign in the Evangelical Lutheran

Church, conducted by Pastor Scherg, he had been converted to

Christianity. Later on, he joined a congregation of brethren

who called themselves "Christians according to the Gospel".

Wölfkes realised that a Christian who is not a missionary,

even if on a very small scale, is not fulfilling his duty, which

is to be a light for the world. One night when he was seriously

ill, a Christian Jew watched by his bedside. In gratitude, from

the depths of his heart, he now longed to be used to bring Jews

to Christ.

His daily prayer was: "O Lord, I have served Thee on earth,

and on earth I desire my reward. I pray that I may not die before

I have converted a Jew to the faith. But there are no Jews in

this neighbourhood, and I am old, sick and poor. I am not able

to go and look for them elsewhere. Thou art all-powerful.

Bring a Jew here to me in my village, and I promise I will do my

utmost to convert him to the faith."

The first Jew who came to the village that spring was myself.

I do not know if there was ever a girl so passionately wooed by

her lover as I was wooed by this old man, who saw in me the

answer to his prayer.

He gave me the Bible to read.

I had read it before, but it had not made any impression on

16

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 17

me. But the Bible I now held in my hand was not like any other

Bible: later I discovered its secret. Wölfkes and his wife were

spending many hours daily praying for the conversion of myself

and my wife. Actually, I couldn't really read it; rather, I wept

over it. My tears always started to flow whenever I compared my

selfish and wi etched life with the life of Him who went around

doing good.

Wölfkes allowed the Bible and his own prayer to work in my

heart. He hardly talked to me at all. Instinctively he knew, what

so many trained missionaries do not know, that the most

effective missionary method lies in reticence, silence, concen-

trated meditation, so as to give peace to the soul you wish to

win; so as not to arouse love precociously; to pray ceaselessly,

to be content to scatter a little seed, and allow it to take root

and grow in its own time.

A long time passed. One evening the old man asked me:

"What do you think of the Bible?"

I answered: "I was left an orphan while I was still a child,

and we were very poor. Sometimes I would stand for hours on

end in ecstasy outside a baker's shop, gazing with burning

desire at the cakes. I would say to myself, 'These are not for me.

I shall never be able to eat anything like this.' The Bible brings

back these memories. Once again I can see wonderful things,

but I know that they are not for me, because I am a Jew. I know

that there are Jews who have been converted to Christianity, in

order to marry Rumanian girls, or in order to escape anti-

Semitic persecution. But I have not yet met a Jew who believes

in Jesus."

From that moment Wölfkes became God's instrument to tear

the veil from my eyes. He spoke to me in simple words, words

that came from the heart, about things that a Jew should have

known, but that I did not know: about the fulfilment of the

messianic promise in Jesus; of Jesus's tender summons with

which he called his people; of the love which God still has

for the Jews, for the sake of their forefathers who were bearers

of the faith . . .

God opened my heart, so that I was able to believe the

gospel.

l8 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Wölfkes introduced me to a number of Christian Jews, who

were so full of purity—even in their very looks—that I could

never till then have believed in the existence of such people.

This humble carpenter provided the first impetus for my

conversion. Later, my wife also joined the faith. She brought

with her other souls, who in turn brought others, and so on,

until a Christian Jewish congregation was formed in Bucharest,

which flourished actively for many years.

The existence of this congregation, which was the fruit of

his soul's work, was the carpenter's great source of comfort in

his last years.

He died during the war. I had to fight on, and later I spent

many years in prison. Meanwhile, practically all the Rumanian

Christian Jews emigrated, and they have formed congregations

in several towns in Israel.

After my release from prison I attended a large meeting of

Christians in a village where hundreds of brothers and sisters

had come together. I was not strong enough to be able to

preach, but I was asked to tell in a few words the story of my

conversion. While I was describing it, I noticed that a very old

man was weeping. After the meeting was over, I started to talk

to him. He told me that his name was Pitter, that he was a

wheelwright, and that it was he who had brought Wölfkes to

the faith. Up to then he had believed that all he had ever

accomplished in life was to convert a carpenter. Now he realised

that he had contributed greatly to the struggle of the Christian

Jews for Jesus in Israel, and that he was a great-grandfather in

the faith to many souls.

Hitler killed the Jews. German Christians worked to save the

Jews. Here were two different worlds. When I think of these

humble Germans, who gave me spiritual birth, I am reminded

of what Martin Luther wrote to a Jew by the name of Jesel:

"Would it not be right for you to believe that because

Gentiles and Jews have always been mortal enemies, we should

not even bend the knee to the best of your kings? So much the

less to such a Jew, crucified and cursed, unless this revealed the

power and work of God, He who with His strength implanted

them in our proud Gentile hearts? You Jews would never worship

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 10,

as Lord a dead Gentile who had been crucified or suffered some

other shameful death. For this reason you must not consider us

Christians to be fools or geese, but you must one day realise that

God will lead you out of the misery which you have endured for

more than fifteen hundred years—but this he will not do unless

you, together with us Gentiles, accept the beloved Jesus, the

crucified."

It is a miracle, with no logical explanation, that even amid the

fierce anti-Semitism of Hitler's oppression, there were Germans

who believed with all their hearts in the crucified Jew as their

Saviour, some of them suffering profoundly because the Jews

remained indifferent to Him who is the glory of His people Israel.

Rabbis help to dispel my doubts

Though the rabbis are the shepherds of the Jewish people, I

had reached my twenty-seventh year without experiencing their

leadership. They did not lead me into green pastures, nor by still

waters. I do not know what other business they had; but they did

not come to find the lost sheep. It might have been just my mis-

fortune. There probably are rabbis who fulfil their duty.

Sometimes I would go to the synagogue, but I understood

nothing of what was chanted there. Nor did the other Jews. The

cantors realised that we could not understand Hebrew, but still

they sang for hours on end in that language. It was obvious that

they cared little if we knew anything about God. Indeed I wonder

whether they themselves were "in God". Reformed Judaism

was unknown in Rumania.

But I must not be unfair: Christian priests and pastors made

just as little effort to seek me out. Priests and pastors generally

have other things to do than to look for lost souls where they are

to be found, in pubs, in brothels, in gambling dens and among

the atheist organisations. I was found by a carpenter, a man

whom priests and pastors of the official denominations would

have called a "sectarian".

The rabbis did not begin to take an interest in me until their

opportunity was past, and I had been sought and found by

Israel's great shepherd, Jesus of Nazareth, of whom the Jewish*

prophets had prophesied.

2O CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

I was sitting in the house of a rabbi who was one of the out-

standing personalities of Rumanian Judaism. I had come to tell

him why I believed in Jesus as the Messiah.

Rabbi H. officiated at my marriage: I was married in the

synagogue, for the family's sake. He knew then that I was a

militant atheist and an anarchic element. Yet he made not the

slightest attempt to tell me anything about God. He carried

out the ceremony, and that was all.

Now that I had come to God by way of Jesus, he was displeased.

He asked me: "What makes you believe in Christ?"

I told him that the prophecy of Isaiah, about eight hundred

years before Jesus, had particularly struck me. Reading this

prophecy, in the fifty-third chapter, I had the impression that,

centuries before the birth of the Saviour, the prophet had fore-

seen His entire life, and had depicted it in outline, so that the

Jews should recognise Him when he came.

The rabbi stroked his beard, and said to us (my wife was also

present): "You should not have read that. That chapter is

forbidden to you."

I have subsequently verified this ban in the calendars issued by

the Orthodox Jewish congregations, which give the texts from

the prophets to be read at public services in the synagogue (the

so-called Haftorahs). After the part of the Law of Moses called

Shophtim, Isaiah Chapters 51 and 52 are to be read. On the next

Sabbath there follows Chapter 54. Chapter 53 has been omitted.

The prophecy about Jesus contained in this chapter is too

revealing.

The rabbi urged us: "My children, leave these things alone!"

I answered: "I should like to do so, but the prophecies will

not leave me in peace. What other interpretation of this part of

the Bible can you give me?"

The rabbi shook his head sadly, and dismissed us without

trying to give an explanation. I don't know why.

Several years passed. In 1940, in the course of a pogrom, the

Fascists killed two of his, sons before his very eyes. They also

fired at him, but failed to hit him.

Rabbi H. personally conducted his sons' burial service. It

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 21

greatly moved all those present to see him place his hands on

both coffins, and to hear him begin his sermon with the words of

the psalmist: "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy

in aÙ His works" (Ps. 145. 17).

Thousands of Bucharest Jews were present in the cemetery:

I was also there, though I was ostracised because of my Christian

faith. I stood by myself at the entrance to the chapel. After the

ceremony was over, as the rabbi was leaving, supported by two

Jews, he caught sight of me, and called to me from a distance:

"Richard 1" He embraced me in the sight of all who were present.

Among the thousands of Jews he had chosen me to whom to pour

out his sorrow.

I have met him several times since then, and he has always

listened to me lovingly when I have told him about my faith.

I have never tried to force myself upon him. The man who had

organised the murder of over a hundred Jews in the Jilava Forest,

and hanged about forty others in the municipal slaughterhouse

under a sign "Kosher Meat", had been a Greek Orthodox priest.

It is difficult to bring a Jew to Christianity.

The other rabbi with whom I spoke about Jesus at the

beginning of my belief, while I was still doubting and suffering

intellectual scruples, was Rabbi R. from Satu-Mare.

I met him one evening in a synagogue. When I mentioned the

Saviour to him, he answered: "If you are prepared to listen

quietly to me for half an hour, I will free you from this delusion."

I answered: "I am prepared to listen to you, not for half an

hour, but for many days."

He came home with me, and we agreed to read the New

Testament together, so that he should have an opportunity of

interrupting me from time to time, and of pointing out anything

that was incorrect. We read together from eight in the evening

until one o'clock next morning. He listened attentively, inter-

rupting me from time to time, always with the same exclamation :

"Oi, vi shein, oi vi shein! Dus hob ich nicht gewist" (Ah, how

beautiful 1 How beautiful! I never knew that.) Not once did he

contradict. That night he slept at my house. Next day, as we left

the house together, he asked me: "Please don't tell anyone in

22 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

the synagogue what has taken place." I agreed, but added : "I

think it should be a point of honour for you to tell the Jews that

you consider the New Testament a wonderfully beautiful book."

Rabbi R. did not do that. Later, he moved to Cernauti. A year

later I visited him, and found him sitting among his pupils.

When I mentioned Jesus to him, he reviled Him with ugly jokes.

During the war he was killed by the Nazis.

When he heard that I was a lost sheep, Rabbi G., who was

the successor of a well-known dynasty of miracle-working

rabbis, called me to him.

He was an impressive figure, an old man with a white beard

and white hair and a lofty forehead. His face shone with goodness.

He apologised for having asked me to come to his house; had it

not been for his advanced years, he would have come to mine.

He asked me what it was that attracted me to Christianity.

I told him briefly the story of my life in sin, and of the peace

I had achieved in my conscience through the certainty that my

sins are forgiven through Jesus. "Jesus gives me peace in my

soul, and joy. I know that He has given peace to millions of

people. I know of no evil that He has done. Tell me, Rabbi,

why should I abandon Him?"

The rabbi answered: "Jesus did no ev^- On the contrary,

through Him many people have been saved from the worship of

idols and made to know the true God. But you are a Jew. It is

your duty to remain in the Jewish religion."

"No," I replied vehemently. "The Jewish religion is false

because it is Jewish. Religion must provide men with an exact

knowledge of God, and of how man can achieve unity with Him.

Just as there can never be a Rumanian theory of physics or a

German theory of mathematics, so there can never be a Jewish

religion. There is only religion or non-religion. Religion is either

true for everyone, or else wrong for everyone.

"In religion we must apply the same principle as in justice.

No form of justice to which we give a prefix such as race, caste,

class, military, emergency, can be true justice. Justice stands by

itself, without any prefix. And for the same reason I accept no

prefixes in my belief. I am seeking for contact with God and

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 23

union with Him. Any religion which has a prefix may prove an

obstacle in this search for a union. The Jewish religion binds me

to Judaism, the Orthodox and Roman Catholic religions to

certain traditions, the Protestant religions to the ideas of their

reformers. All these are horizontal unions, not vertical unions

with God. It is this vertical union that I seek."

In amazement the rabbi asked me: "I must say with great

regret and profound sympathy—not with scorn and malice—that

in you I see a person uprooted from his people. Do you not hear

within you the voices of your forefathers, calling you back?"

I replied: "Yes, every Jew with sidecurls, the music of a

synagogue, the mere sight of the letters in the Hebrew Bible—all

these remind me of my forefathers. It is almost like the sight of

Abraham with his family, coming to Canaan on his camel. I see

before me the scenes from the Bible. I feel myself experiencing

the departure of the Jews from Egypt, all their difficulties in the

desert, the miraculous event when the Jews received the tablets

of the law through Moses. I experience the whole shattering

history of my people. But personal biographies and history are

one thing, objective truth another.

"The most profound philosophers, politicians and religious

thinkers have always offered as objective thinking a system which

was nothing but the result of the tragedy of their own personal

lives, and they themselves sometimes admit this. Marx wrote in

a letter to Engels: 'If Titus had not destroyed my fatherland,

I would not have been the enemy of all fatherlands.' One must

not allow oneself to be guided by a criterion of this kind in

deciding whether to be a patriot or an änti-patriot. And so, even

in the religious sphere we must not allow ourselves to be guided by

feelings, but we must seek the true religion. That is what I want."

The rabbi shook his head sceptically. "Which is the true

religion?"

My reply was: "I don't know, yet. But I think I have made a

long step towards discovering it, in so far as I have discovered

the religion which is certainly incomplete. That is the religion to

which I belong by birth. In my opinion it is absurd that religious

convictions should depend on the results of a sexual association.

A man of the Mosaic faith enters into a union with a woman of

24 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

the same faith. The child born of this union is regarded as an

apostate if he does not believe in Moses. One of his neighbours

is a man who is the child of a marriage between a Catholic man

and a Catholic woman: he believes that he is compelled to abide

by all Catholic dogma. The same applies to a Protestant, or a

Mohammedan, or a Buddhist, and the result of this is incom-

parable confusion. This kind of religion is obviously not the

true one, and I do not intend to abide by it."

The rabbi answered: "Jesus did not do what you are doing.

He followed in the paths of His forefathers, He kept the sabbath,

the laws pertaining to food, and the other laws. He worshipped

God in the synagogue. Why do you not do the same?"

I replied: "Jesus was a unique person with a unique vocation.

The revelation He made was new; He presented a new and

eternally valid truth. In order to win the good will of those who

heard Him, He did what every sensible creature does, He clothed

His teaching in a form that was acceptable and attractive to His

listeners. This is how we can understand His conformism. But

through Him the prophecy of Jeremiah, in Chapter 31, is fulfilled :

'Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new

covenant with the House of Israel, and with the house of Judah;

not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the

day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of

Egypt ; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband

unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the covenant that I

will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the

Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their

hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.'

"We are no longer governed by an old covenant, but by a

new revelation, which I can characterise in a few words : freedom

in our daily life, and love. One of the renowned Christian

teachers, Augustine, declared that the Christian norm in the

conduct of his life is: 'Love, and do what you will!' I no longer

find Jewish customs imperative or necessary."

To my amazement, the rabbi answered: "I cannot recall such

a passage in Jeremiah."

I asked him to take the book from his shelf, and I showed

him the reference.

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 25

Some rabbis in truth neglect the prophecies because they are

continually concerned with the Talmud, the Kabala and

numerous commentaries. As a rule, the Books of Moses are the

only parts of the Bible they know well.

Among Christian clergy, some of whom have doctors' degrees

in theology, it is even worse. I have often come across a profound

ignorance of even the simplest Bible texts. If they are Catholics,

they are well acquainted with Thomas Aquinas, and if they are

Protestants with the works of Barth or Bultmann. They are as a

rule ignorant of the theological writings of the great Christian

mystics, nor do they know the Holy Scriptures.

The rabbi tried to put an end to our discussion: "I realise

that there is no point in arguing. I shall never be able to convince

you that you should return to Judaism."

"You do not possess the truth, and therefore you have no

confidence either," I replied before I left him. "You have given

up all hope of bringing me back to the Mosaic faith, to which

I never subscribed. But I shall never give up the hope that one

day you will become a disciple of Jesus."

The rabbi shook hands with me hurriedly, and dismissed me.

As a result of what Christians had told me about Jesus, I was

still in doubt as to whether He really was the Saviour. The rabbis

removed the last shred of doubt on this score, thanks to the com-

plete inability they showed in contradicting the Christian

arguments.

The path of belief from reason to the heart

The Jews have an ancient story, so old that Jesus as a boy may

have heard it, perhaps from His mother.

One day, a taxidermist caught a beautiful bird, which he

intended to kill and stuff. But when he raised his knife to plunge

it into its body, a miracle occurred. The bird began to talk to

him in human language, saying: "Spare my life, as I have young

in my nest. If you will do so, I shall give you three simple pieces

of advice, which will prove of great use to you."

The taxidermist thought to himself: "There are many other

birds in the woods which I can stuff. But what I am now experi-

encing is a miracle from God. Who knows what advice I may

26 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

get?" And so he promised to liberate the bird, if the advice he

received was good.

The little bird pronounced three words of wisdom: "If anyone

tells you anything absurd, don't believe him, whoever he may

be. If you do someone a good turn, you must not regret it after-

wards, but rejoice that you have acted benevolently. Do not

attempt to reach what is too high for you."

The taxidermist recognised the value of this advice. He had

often made the mistake of listening to the counsel of people

merely because they were well known. He had often regretted

spending money on charity, and he had wasted a great deal of

time and energy trying to attain what he could not reach. He

released the bird, saying: "Go with God, little bird, because

your words were clever."

The bird flew off, to perch on the nearest branch. Then she

called out to the man: "Fool! Why did you release me? I have a

large diamond in my belly; if you had killed me, you would have

found it, and you would have been rich for the rest of your life."

When the taxidermist heard this, he regretted freeing the

bird, and began to climb the tree to catch her again. But it is no

easy job to catch a bird with bare hands! When he reached the

lowest branch, the bird flew off to another. When he reached

the second, the bird was yet higher up, and in this way he went

on climbing up the tree, until he missed his footing, fell down

and broke both his legs.

As he lay groaning at the foot of the tree, the bird hopped

down on to the lowest branch and called out to him: "Fool!

Did I not give you three good pieces of advice, which you knew

in your mind were correct, and admitted with your mouth were

good? The first was that you should not believe anything absurd,

whoever told you to believe it. How, then, could you be so

foolish as to believe that a bird had a diamond in its belly? The

second was that you should never regret doing a good turn. You

acted charitably by sparing my life. Why did you regret this

afterwards? And the third piece of advice was that you should

not try to reach something that was too high for you. You know

very well that it is impossible to catch a bird with your bare

hands. But there is always too great a gap between the human

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 27

head and the human heart, between the human mouth and the

human ear. You saw that my advice was good, but you did not

listen to your own words, and you did not believe in the value

of your thoughts. A few minutes after approving of my advice,

you did the exact opposite of what I had taught you."

Today, we can hear what people are saying and singing on the

other side of the world, but our own words are lost, and we live

as though we had never pronounced them. Our understanding

is one thing, our feelings something quite different. I was to

experience the truth contained in this little story.

With my understanding I knew that Jesus is the Saviour; but

my life, instead of conforming more and'more to His teaching,

became, if anything, worse. To my horror, I discovered that I

possessed the will to do good, but not the power to carry it out.

"For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I

would not, that I do ...

"I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present

with me . . .

"For I delight in the law of God after the inward man . . .

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law

of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin

which is in my members ..." (Rom. 7.19-23).

There were two aspects to my inner conflict. On the one hand

I knew—or rather I felt—instinctively that conversion would

mean that I should have to live a life of suffering and conflict.

I should have to take my stand against some of my own people,

against their customs and ideas which had survived for thousands

of years. I knew that—while it was my duty to remain patient

and mild—I should have to suffer abuse and condemnation,

and yet remain unbowed in every storm.

I should have to be prepared to oppose my people, the

people in which I was rooted with all my soul. I heard a

voice inside me saying: "Are you, you alone, wiser than all your

people? The Jewish nation has fostered so many geniuses, so

many mystics, so many men of action, and countless martyrs

for the faith of their forefathers! Are all these people wrong,

and only you—a small group of Jesus's disciples among the

Jewish people—right?" It was not until later that I was com-

28 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

pelled to realise that the multitude and the famous men who

support a cause are of no argument against God's unequivocal

word.

And then, what prospects were in store for me when this con-

flict had been resolved? Assuming that the Jews were prepared to

be converted, where should they go? Later on, I shall relate some

of the disappointments I experienced with the various Christian

confessions. Very soon I realised that in this world there was no

house of the Father to which Israel, the Prodigal Son, could

return.

All these thoughts compelled me to compare myself to some

Don Quixote going forth to a meaningless battle. The sin in me

exploited the difficulties, preventing me from being born anew.

"Eat, drink and enjoy yourself, for youth is fleeting," it always

whispered.

It was in this period of conflict that I experienced the presence

of Jesus for the first time. I cannot say that I saw Him: He had

no outward appearance, but He was present. This phenomenon

was repeated for several days running. It was at midday; I had

cast myself down on a sofa. The tears ran down my cheeks : it was

as though I heard a voice calling me—not with words—but if I

were to describe what I felt, it would be something like this:

"Come! I will give you happiness. All your sins will be forgiven.

Unspeakable joys await you." My wife was at my side, saddened

by the conflict within me, which she shared with all her heart.

But I answered: "No, no, I shall not come. You are calling me

to tread a heavy path. Too much renunciation, too many

sufferings await me. I do not want them. Depart from me!"

May God forgive me if, without wanting to do so, I appear

to blaspheme: I had the impression that Jesus, the Lord of

Heaven, was kneeling before me, a sinner, instead of the other

way round. And He begged me to turn to God. I felt that my

heart would burst with the weight of His sorrow, but I could

not. My answer was always "No".

I did not accept, because I was evil. Nevertheless, I believe

that some sermons and Christian books on which I fed my soul

at that time were in part responsible for the answer I gave. In

these sermons and books the picture of Jesus was falsified: He

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 20,

was shown as a police officer, demanding rigid obedience to

hundreds of laws. These laws started by insisting that one should

renounce smoking and the wearing of jewellery, and ended by

insisting that one should sacrifice one's life for Him. The

emphasis was on all these "don'ts", and on our duty to give to

God, instead of depicting Him as the giver of gifts of immeasure-

able worth—forgiveness of sins, peace of heart, communion with

God, truth, life in the Light, the Spirit which gives power and

holiness, the joy in fighting the good fight—with the angels

fighting on your side—an eternal life of glory, and so much

more—and all these gifts bestowed without any conditions.

In one of the Talmudic writings, we read that any love

which depends on a thing ceases when that thing ceases to

be; but a love which is not dependent on a thing, never ceases.

If the salvation which Jesus gives us depended on a state of soul,

it would not endure because the state of our soul varies. The

salvation bestowed by Jesus is free, unconditional; it does not

depend on what is in us, or on what we do. It springs from His

loving character, and for this reason it is eternal.

Christian preaching is often bound up with "don'ts" and

demands, and this gave me a false idea of Jesus. But what

restrained me, more than anything else, was the fact that I was

in bondage to sin: love of money, love of illicit pleasures, hatred,

evil, dishonesty, and much besides. I continued to commit

grave and gross sins, even after I was intellectually convinced

that Jesus is the Saviour.

But what Luther said happened in my life: "Sins do not

destroy the saints,* but they stifle only those who are without

God." There are two reasons for this. The first is that the saints

believe in Christ, in whom they are completely absorbed, and

through whom they rise again (even though in their ignorance

they do many things for which, without God, they would be

condemned), and in whom they are preserved. They do not fall

into mischief, as Solomon says (Prov. 24.16). For those who have

never experienced it, it is inconceivable how great is the power

* The word "saint" is not used here in the sense that the Roman Catholics

use it to describe a person who has been canonised, but is a title which,

according to the New Testament, all believers bear.

30 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

that faith will give, especially where sin is concerned. Those who

are without God sin, even if they were to do the deeds of all the

saints. The other reason is that the saints, through faith, realise

that they depend only on God's mercy: yet they recognise in the

depths of their hearts that their deeds are sinful and futile. This

humility and this testimony prevents them from being destroyed

by their sin, ignorance or evil, because God cannot abandon such

humble people. The mercy he shows to those who confess their

guilt is all the greater. This was true of Bernard of Clairvaux,

when he exclaimed in his grief: "I have wasted my time, for I

have lived a life which deserves condemnation!" It was true of

Augustine when he said: "Woe to the lives of all men, however

holy they may be, should they be judged without mercy!"

The seed which God planted in my heart was not corrupted by

visible sins. The inner man continued to grow; and the Holy

Ghost triumphed by transplanting my belief from my reason to

my heart.

Isac Feinstein and my rebirth

The man who was to play a very special role in all this was

Isac Feinstein, one of the most glorious triumphs the grace of

Jesus has won among the Jewish people.

At the time of his conversion he was a minor business executive.

One evening, in a Christian gathering, he heard the message of

Jesus. Immediately he believed. When he came home, he ran up

to the bedroom of his parents, who had already retired for the

night, woke them up and exclaimed : "I have found the Messiah !"

From that evening he never wavered in his faith, although

he encountered great resistance from his family.

His father, a pious Jew, tried to persuade him to deny Jesus.

When this proved unsuccessful, he arranged for the ceremony to

be carried out which is prescribed by rabbis in cases of this kind.

He declared that his son was dead, carried out a symbolic burial

with a coffin in which the branch of a tree was placed, tore his

clothes, and wept for his son together with his family, sitting

on the floor for seven whole days.

All this time the "dead man" rejoiced in a life which was

richer than ever, and he grew in grace and knowledge of God.

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 31

After he had been a Christian for some time, he prepared to

work heart and soul to spread the gospel among the Jews of

Rumania. He took a missionary training in Poland, and on his

return to Rumania he entered the service of the Norwegian

Israel Mission in Galatz.

This man had an unlimited capacity for work. He published

a periodical for adults and one for children, as well as countless

Christian pamphlets. He preached all over the country, and

wrote numerous letters. He became an outstanding personality

among the disciples of Jesus in Rumania, a pillar of God's temple.

But in order to assess a man's real value, one must consider the

conclusion of his career. Napoleon wrote: "Great men are

meteors which are extinguished in order to give light to the

universe." But Napoleon gave no light to the universe; on the

contrary, he caused the world to bleed and weep, by creating a

science without which the world would have been a better place—

the science of warfare.

Meteors do not bring light to the universe: even the biggest

meteor merely leaves behind briefly a transient stream of light

which the vast universe does not even notice. The people who

are the light of the world are those who add sacrifice to sacrifice-

just as islands are formed of coral, one tiny body upon the other.

They are the people who are seldom known, who generally re-

main anonymous, who play a humble role in raising children,

running a household, in art, in political, economic and academic

life; these are the people who shine with truth, love and faith,

shedding a light on those around them. Feinstein was such a

burning light.

Feinstein was still a young man when war broke out. He was

thirty-seven years old, a pastor in a Jewish-Christian con-

gregation he had formed in Jassy, and from here his benevolent

activity spread over the whole country.

The atmosphere in Jassy was infected with anti-Semitism,

with the ever-present overhanging threat of a pogrom. Feinstein

was on a short visit to Bucharest, staying in my flat. I suggested

that he should not return to Jassy, where death lay in wait for him.

"We could send a Rumanian brother to bring your wife and your

six small children back to Bucharest."

32 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

He answered: "The shepherd's duty is to die together with

his flock. I know they will kill me, but I cannot abandon my

brethren. I am returning to Jassy."

A few days after his return, on June 28th, 1941, the pogrom

broke loose. The number of Jews killed was eleven thousand.

Rumanians, too, were killed if they looked like Jews. Christian

Jews were also killed by the Fascist authorities and by the

incensed populace, who maintained that the country was waging

a holy crusade.

Feinstein was among those arrested. He was taken at first to

the police prison. Criminals who were in prison at that time have

recounted since their release that Feinstein told the Jews not to

have any illusions. He knew that they would be killed, and he

exhorted them to be converted in order that they might prepare

to meet their God.

Thousand of Jews were crammed together in sealed cattle-

trucks, and sent off beneath the scorching sun, without a drop of

water, with the result that most of them were suffocated. Among

these was Feinstein. The few survivors were interned in a

concentration camp.

Some of these related how, when Feinstein realised that death

was at hand, he turned to a rabbi who was standing near him

and said : "It is time for us to sing the psalms!"

He died while the rabbi was reciting the psalms aloud, and

Feinstein was explaining what they foretold about Jesus. When

death came with suffocation, his head was resting on the rabbi's

shoulder. The rabbi himself died only a few minutes later—a

Mosaic Jew and a Christian Jew were the victims of the same

hatred, the hatred which in Rumania was doubly vile because

it masqueraded behind the name of "Christian".

Not a single man from the Jewish-Christian congregation

in Jassy survived; all were killed in the pogrom. Only a few girls

escaped with their lives.

I have described Feinstein's death—a martyr of the Christian

faith who was of the Jewish race.

This outstanding man, who had a shepherd's heart such as

I have seldom come across since, played an important role in

the spiritual crisis through which I passed.

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 33

He used to visit our home and I would talk to him about my

sin, and how impossible it was for me to rid myself of it. He

explained that Jesus's words, "Judge not", referred not only to

pther people, but also to myself. "In spiritual matters any form

of self-diagnosis is wrong. When you raise your right hand in

front of a mirror, the mirror will show you that you are raising

your left hand, and when you stand in front of a mirror with

your face towards the south, it will show you standing with your

face towards the north. Your conscience mirrors your spiritual

condition, and for that reason your conscience will distort reality

unless it is illuminated by the Holy Spirit.

"The Gospels tell us of two men who went up to the temple to

pray: one was a Pharisee, the other a publican. The first man

diagnosed himself, and was sincere when he came to the con-

clusion that he was good because he fasted often, and gave

generously to the temple. The other man did the same thing, but

he discovered that he was sinful because he lived on ill-gotten

gains. The self-diagnosis of both men was wrong. God does not

take account of what is seen on the surface, but of what is hidden

in the hearts of men. In the depths of his heart the first man was

a proud person, condemning others, while the publican was

humble, and confessed his sin."

"Don't judge yourself," was the advice Feinstem always gave

me. "Don't distress yourself, don't worry yourself about your

sin. It is written, 'Take no thought for your soul* [Matt. 6.25, in

the original Greek version]. The care of the soul is Jesus's

concern. Just tell Him quite simply about your sin, and from

that moment it will be His concern to deal with it.

"Our own understanding is the hypocrite whom Jesus re-

proaches for observing the mote in his brother's eye, which is the

sin of brother flesh, a result of our heredity, a faulty upbringing,

the pressure of social circumstances, the influence of the devil,

and a large number of imponderable factors. But the hypocrisy of

the understanding lies in the fact that it does not come down from

the lofty pinnacle from which it judges all things and all men, in

order to observe the beam in its own eye—its false criteria of

truth, its selfishness, its passion, its ignorance of condemning

oneself, the fact that it is not to be trusted. The proof that the

34 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

beam is in the eye of reason, is that reason cannot remove the

mote from its brother's eye, but is merely content to reproach

him for it, and make life intolerable for him.

"Try to conquer sin by making an indirect attack on it. In the

heart, Satan is strong, because he provides the heart with

pleasures. Here it is difficult to overcome him. In the reason he is

weak, because here he creates only difficulties. 'Be ye transformed

by the renewing of your mind,' says Paul (Rom. 12.2). Jesus fought

His battle at Golgotha, which in Aramaic means 'The Place of

the Skull'. This is where you, too, must fight your battle. Make

every thought a captive, in obedience to Christ. Accept Him

as the criterion of truth. Superficial truth, which is easily grasped,

will not change men's hearts. The daily truth which you ponder

deeply, which you contantly chew over until it is transformed

within you, will undoubtedly change your life.

"The Talmud tells the story of the rabbi Akiba, who as a young

man was both ignorant and profane, and whose intelligence was

not fully developed. But he had a wife who had great faith in God,

and who asked her husband to sanctify himself and become a

teacher of the law. Akiba used to object: 'But I have no talent for

this.' She took him to a well, on the parapet of which the rope had

worn away the stonework, so that there was a small depression.

'Can you see this groove in the stone?' she said to him. 'The rope

is much softer than the stone, yet for many years it has worn away

at the hard stone, and formed a depression. Be like the rope—up

and down, up and down, always the same motion: the Scriptures

and prayer, the Scriptures and prayer. Even if the heart and

mind are as hard as stone, they will eventually be penetrated by

the Word of God.'

"Akiba listened to the words of his wife, and became one of

the great lights of Judaism; he was finally crowned with a

martyr's death. Do as he did ! Be zealous in thinking what is right

and Christian, and you will not need to run away from sin, for

sin will run away from you."

It was thanks to Feinstein, who had a beautiful singing voice,

that I was for the first time in my life introduced to Bach's hymn

"O sacred Head". The song went straight to my heart.

One afternoon in 1937, the day before Yom-Kippur, the great

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 3$

Jewish day of repentance and fasting, I was in Feinstein's office.

My soul was greatly troubled, as indeed it had been from my

earliest childhood years. I said to Feinstein: "The demands of

Christianity are too extreme, they are impossible to fulfil. It is

written in the Bible that he who says that he is Christ's must

also live as Jesus lived. But is that possible? It's like asking a wolf

to live like a lamb, and then condemning it for not succeeding.

Since I have not been Christ through all eternity, since I was not

born of a virgin, since I have not had Jesus's especially chosen rnd

holy upbringing, since I have no clear perception of spiritual

realities, nor do I have His mind, since God's angels are not

continually ascending and descending upon me, since I do not

live in celibacy, nor am I a carpenter—how, then, should I be able

to live as He did? Must the snail run like the hare? From the little

I have seen of Christians so far, conversion for some means

merely making Jesus an interesting subject of conversion; it

does not mean that they are converted to be a Jesus in miniature.

At any rate I have not seen people of Jesus's type."

Feinstein answered with his inimitable smile: "Don't allow

yourself to be guided by what you see, because it is possible that

you do not see very well. The Jews who lived two thousand years

ago didn't see in Jesus anything that made Him worthy of honour,

despite the fact that He was the incarnation of God. Unless a man

is born anew he cannot see God's kingdom, even though it is per-

fectly incarnate in the man who is standing face to face with him.

"But is it not expected of us that we should be like Jesus, that

we should live like Him? The verse in St. John's Epistle to which

you referred—'He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also

to walk' (i John 2.6)—does not make our belief absurd, it is

merely a warning to those who go round proudly declaring:

'I am in Christ.'

"There was once a country in which there were two great

painters. The country was divided into two: one half of the

population preferred one painter, the other part preferred the

other. The king of that country was asked to pronounce his

verdict. He had the marble hall in his palace divided into two by a

curtain; then he summoned the first painter, and ordered him to

paint anything he liked on one wall of the hall. He summoned the

36 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

other painter an4 ordered him to paint on the opposite wall. The

first painter, who was just as talented as he was conceited, im-

mediately set to work and painted a great many beautiful things,

assisted by his pupils. The painter on the other side was a humble

man. He said to his pupils: 'It is foolish for me to try to compete

with my excellent rival. I cannot paint as he can. But I shall ask

you to do something else. Stay here from morning to evening,

and polish the marble until it shines.' And so it was done. On one

side of the curtain they painted, and on the other side they

polished the wall. On the appointed day, the king came to see the

work of the two painters. He admired the work of the first, and

declared that he had never seen more beautiful pictures. Then

he ordered the curtain to be pulled to one side, so that he might

see what the other painter had done. He stepped back in amaze-

ment. The pictures painted by the first artist were reflected in

the marble which had been polished by the other, and their

beauty was dazzling. The second painter received the prize.

"The moral of this story is very simple. Only a very proud

person could imagine himself capable of living like Jesus. The

commandment to live like Jesus did, like all the other command-

ments in the Bible, was not given to us so that we should fulfil it,

but merely so that we should understand—as a result of our

constantly unsuccessful attempts—that it is impossible for us to

accomplish it, and so that it should reveal to us the depth of our

sinfulness. We should not attempt to live like Jesus, but we should

daily 'polish' our hearts by concentrated meditation and by faith,

and then the beauty of Jesus will be reflected in us—it will give

a still more beautiful picture than the picture of His own life,

because the living Christ, incarnate in a human being who had

been broken and had gone astray, is more beautiful than the

Christ incarnate born of a virgin."

"No, no!" I cried, with tears in my eyes. "I do not want a

Jesus who has been calculated, explained, and believed in, but

a real Jesus. And the hope of ever having this Jesus seems to me

to be an impossible ideal." So saying, I ran out of Feinstein's

office, without taking leave of him.

He ran after me; I could not escape from him. I went into a

shop—he followed me inside. He was so insistent that he per-

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 37

suaded nie to accompany him that very evening to a prayer

meeting which was being held by a small group of Christians in

Bucharest, in the hall of the Anglican Mission to the Jews.

There, after most of the congregation had offered up prayers,

I was involuntarily lifted up by the Spirit. I was astonished to

hear myself for the first time praying aloud in a public gathering.

I heard my own words, but they did not seem to be words that

I had formulated. They sprang from the depths of my soul, to

which as a rule my ego cannot gain access. Proof that the depths

had been stirred was the fact that I prayed in Yiddish—the

centuries-old language of my people in their suffering, a

language which in other circumstances I never spoke.

I consider the eve of Yom-Kippur 1937 as the day of my

rebirth, because—this is obvious—the teaching of Jesus cannot

be written clearly on a page which already bears some other

writing. What is required is a complete break with the past, and

a completely new beginning, the starting point of which is a

constant and uncompromising siege of one's thinking.

The person who was most astonished at this change, a man

who had once been a militant atheist and an active participant in

the worst anarchic disturbances, was myself. My will was not

free when this change occurred. My hand was forced. Everything

is of the grace of God.

I believe that just as there is in nature a biological timetable

which governs the time when a young bird has to emerge from

its egg and when it has to migrate to another country, and to

return at a definite date, and just as there is a biological timetable

in man's physical life, so there is a spiritual timetable which is

also determined in the same way. For every person who is chosen

by God, there is a particular foreordained hour when he dis-

covers the Son of God, who has always been in him but who

has waited patiently for the moment when He is to reveal

Himself. In that particular hour, internal and external factors,

which have been prepared a long time ago, come together in

order to produce this rebirth.

Difficulties with some Christian traditions

I had determined to be faithful to Jesus. But the man who has

38 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

made this decision must discover the true face of Jesus among the

countless forgeries that have accumulated in the course of time;

he must decide for himself on one version of this face, in order

to be able to serve Him wholly and entirely, and without doubting

that he has chosen the right confession. I was very interested in

the difference between the confessions: I was anxious to be

well-informed before I commenced my life as a Christian.

But it was not easy to make a choice.

Throughout Church history there has been much vexation of

spirit, and striving for riches. In Jassy there is a Greek Orthodox

church which is so crammed with golden ikons, candlesticks, and

vessels that the only way they have discovered of guarding all

this wealth has been not to open the church for services. In this

way the words of St. Augustine have been fulfilled when he says

that religion has produced riches and fortunes, but the daughters

have consumed their mother.

There was striving for fame; there was the blind rage felt

by a theologian when he was contradicted or eclipsed by one

who was more attractive than himself; there was a storing up

of feuds and hatreds which lasted a whole lifetime—even several

centuries—without any respect for the beautiful proverb from

the Babylonian Talmud: "The sun has set and the day is clear."

The teaching of God has been made into a "crown to glorify

oneself with, and a spade to dig with," as the Talmud says. The

word of God has been used to promote transient political

interests, and to stifle the truth with misdeeds.

The different ways of thinking, which could have led to a very

fruitful competition in the study of the word of God if only the

royal law, the law of love, had been kept, combined with repulsive

sins to replace the Church, the one Church, with many con-

fessions, some of which allow themselves to be guided by the

arrogant slogan formulated by Hitler: "Where we are, there is

no room for others." '

Between the various confessions flow the rivers of blood shed

during religious persecutions, not only in the past but also in

our own generation. During the last war the Rumanian Orthodox

Church violently persecuted not only Jews, at the killing of

whom priests assisted, but also what they call "sectarians",

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 39

that is to say, Baptists, Brethren, Adventists and the like,

thousands of whom were imprisoned.

The convert seeks in vain for "the House of the Father",

the Church that was founded by Jesus. In its place he finds

many other churches with barbarian names, which the one-time

carpenter, Jesus, would not even have understood: Catholic,

Orthodox, Lutheran, Baptist, and many others.

As far back as the fourth century St. Epiphanius, when he

spoke about the Audians—members of a sect, founded by a

certain Audius, who insisted that God has a body like that of a

man—declared: "It is a terrible thing that a member of the

Church should change the name of the Christians while the

Church only rejoices when Christians bear the name of Christ

and reject all other designations. But instead of bearing the name

of Christ, they bear the name of the founder of their sect, and as

a sign they have the name of a human being. This is in-

admissible."

This warning went unheeded: we still have confessions that

bear strange names, and the soul of the bride wanders around like

one who has lost her way, while she seeks her bridegroom.

One wonders whether the astronauts would have ventured

into space if twenty scientists had submitted their calculations,

all with divergent results, and had told them contradictory things

from the world of physics. They were launched into space,

relying on the accurate data of science and mathematics. But how

should we fly to the Throne of God, when the trumpets of the

different confessions produce such discordant noises, and each

one destroys confidence in everything that the others have said?

It was in this labyrinth that I had to find my way.

Let me describe a few episodes. I trust that the reader will

forgive me if, in doing so, I cite some examples of human frailty.

One of Melanchthon's biographers wrote: "Anyone who con-

siders it shameful to discover anything worth criticising in great

and famous men, entertains too high an opinion of human beings,

since God alone is privileged to be faultless. Human nature is

incapable of this." As the reader will soon discover, I find a great

deal of good, too, in the various confessions and their leaders,

just as my experience with rabbis was not always unfavourable.

4O CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

I was once in Sinaia, with one of my brothers-in-law, who was

later converted. We were visiting the Orthodox monasteries in

the town. It was the day after Easter Monday. We knocked at

one of the gates, and an old monk admitted us.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Father, we have come to ask what we must do to be saved."

"You are unlucky, because today of all days I have drunk

too much."

"It is Easter, Father. Have you not found a worthier way of

celebrating Easter than by getting drunk?" I asked, no longer

concerned with my original errand, which was to seek enlighten-

ment from him.

"Young man," the monk answered, with a merry laugh, "I

have drunk according to the commandment of the Scriptures,

since I have not drunk alone but in company with.two or three

other brethren. For it is written that 'where two or three are

gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,'

as the Saviour said."

I had come to learn, but I was now compelled to assume the

role of teacher, and to teach him the most elementary things.

"Father, I believe that when Jesus said that He would be

together with His people, where two or three were gathered, he

was referring to a gathering of people who had come to do good

deeds or to pray, not to get drunk."

With a humility which impressed me, he answered: "Do you

know, young man, you are right?" and he invited us into his

cell, as we had been standing talking on the threshold.

This monk was a man accustomed to drinking. The wine had

not gone to his head, and it was possible to talk to him.

I repeated my question: "What should I do to be saved?"

"Are you rich?"

"I am neither rich nor poor. I have what I need. But why do

you ask?"

"The rich man is easily saved. He gives money to the Church

and to the needy, and he goes to Heaven. But it is difficult for

a poor man to be saved, since he has nothing to give."

The man to whom I had gone in order to learn the way of

Jesus was saying the very opposite of what Jesus had taught.

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 41

I asked him: "But what role does Jesus play in our salvation?"

He answered: "I know nothing about that."

Once again I asked: "But Father, do you not say in the

liturgy: 'This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant,

which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins'? Is it not

true that the blood the Saviour shed on the Cross cleanses us

of our sins?"

The old monk started up and exclaimed: "Do you know,

young man, you are very enlightened?"

There was obviously no point in asking him to guide me. A

Christian Jew, who was still trying to find the way, had helped

the old monk to take the first steps along this very road.

I was in the office of Bishop X. At his side were two of his

advisers, priests. I told him who I was, and of my wish to be

guided in the labyrinth of the many different confessions.

When he heard tfeat I was a Jew, the bishop burst out laughing :

"Ha, ha, ha. Dumb Jew! Have you ever heard a more pre-

sumptuous dirty Jew, wanting to be a Christian?" The two

priests at his side joined deferentially in his laughter.

I was prepared for a reception of this kind. Feinstein had told

me of another bishop who raised his crozier to strike him when

he heard that he was a Christian Jew.

This was not surprising. Bishops and priests had been

nourished on the so-called holy tradition, on the writings of the

Church fathers; that is, if they had ever read them. But many

of the "holy Church fathers", often so-called quite fraudulently,

were rabid anti-Semites.

St. Cyril personally conducted a pogrom against the Jews.

The houses of Jews were destroyed, and their inhabitants driven

out of Alexandria. As an excuse for this "holy" bishop, it may

be mentioned that he did not persecute only Jews: he behaved

just as outrageously against his own colleagues in his see. He was

also involved in the murder of the philosopher Hypatia in a

church.

St. John Chrysostom declared: "I know that a great many

Christians have a certain reverence for the Jews and their

ceremonies. For this reason I consider it my duty to root out

42 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

opinions of this kind, which are fraught with danger. I have

previously declared that the synagogue is worth no more than

a theatre." He then proceeds to call the synagogue "a whore-

house", "a den of thieves", and so on, and concludes: "In their

shamelessness and greed the Jews exceed even the pigs and the

goats . .. The Jews are possessed of demons and delivered into

the hands of unclean spirits. Instead of greeting them and doing

them the honour of addressing a few words to them, you must

turn your backs on them, and avoid them like the pestilence and

a plague to humanity."

St. Ambrose insisted that the Jews, as the enemies of Christ,

cannot claim just treatment—they are not under the protection

of the law. Ambrose threatened to excommunicate the Emperor

if he sided with some Jews who had been unjustly treated. The

mild Bernard of Clairvaux was furious, and lodged an official

protest, when Anacletus II was elected Pope, because one of his

grandparents had been a Jew. The doctrine held by another

Church father is briefly set out in the Abbé Gayragand's book on

The Antisemitism of St. Thomas Aquinas: "The Jew is the enemy

of Jesus. In a Christian country Jews must be treated as a foreign

and hostile race, and must be deprived of every political right

accorded to the citizens. They must, however, be allowed to

practise their religion without being punished for it, since they

are living testimonies to our Lord's suffering. For this reason

they are scattered about in all the countries of the world,

suffering just punishment for their terrible crime, so that they

can witness to our redemption." Until recently, every Good

Friday, worshippers in the Catholic Church prayed for the

"perfidious Jews". This formula has now been omitted from

Roman Catholic services, but in the anti-Semitic writings of

their Church fathers future priests continue to imbibe this

doctrine.

It was normal for the disciples of the "holy" fathers to laugh

at me. In so doing they were following in the footsteps of their

teachers.

I rose from the chair in which I was sitting, strode over to the

bishop's desk, and struck it with my clenched fist. "Aren't you

ashamed of yourself? You are a Christian bishop, and yet you

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 43

laugh at a Jew because he believes in Jesus. What nationality

was Jesus? And His Mother? And the Apostles? You fill your

churches with pictures of 'dirty' Jews, yet you laugh at Jews.

Do you not fear God?"

The bishop was a little man, and I am very tall. When his

advisers saw me gesticulating violently, they were afraid that I

might strike him, and they got ready to restrain me. But the

bishop waved them aside, and called out: "Stop! Let him be!

There is good in this young man. I wish to speak with him."

The conversation which then ensued was calm. He congratu-

lated me on the new path on which I had set my feet. He was also

anxious that I should win over other Jews to Christ. But there

would have been no point in asking him in any detail about this

path.

The Orthodox priest in the parish to which I belonged was

sitting in the yard in front of his house. When I told him I was

a Jew who believed in Jesus, he set his dogs on me.

I could describe numerous encounters of this kind with

Orthodox priests, but it would be pointless. Such men have no

right to the title of shepherd, instituted by Jesus to lead the

Church of Christ. Anyway, I am convinced that Jesus never

instituted a separate clergy. AU disciples of Jesus are priests.

I have studied the dogma taught by the Greek Orthodox

Church, and have found that it contains a great many falsehoods.

Personally, it would never have occurred to me to join this

Church. Its ritual used at the baptism of a Jew compels the

convert to spit three times and declare: "I deny, curse and spit

on Jews," in other words on his own parents, brothers and sisters

and all his family. I know of cases where the person who was

being baptised fainted during the ceremony when compelled to

pronounce this curse. One Jewish man was quite incapable of

uttering a word.

Furthermore, as soon as the Fascist regime had been estab-

lished in Rumania, the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox

Church declared that no Jew should be received into the Church.

What wretched person can have placed this barrier in the way of

the Jews, to prevent them entering the Church of Jesus? He,

44 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

after all, once said: *'I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the

house of Israel*' (Matt. 15.24). In fairness, I must say that I have

since met Orthodox priests who were saints, but my early

experiences were bad.

In my search for the right Church the facts which proved to

my satisfaction which was not the true Church proved an

important step in the right direction.

People call me a Lutheran. The Lutheran Church is a

remarkable one, a Church which exists against the wishes of

the man who founded it.

This is what Luther wrote: "To establish and to follow many

sects and multitudes in the faith is tantamount to dividing God

into many gods, and to giving Him many names. Â sect is nothing

but a schism, which is forbidden by God, from the true, universal,

invisible Church, an act committed by an earthly being. I do not

approve of the doctrine and the people that are called Lutheran,

and yet I must suffer that God's word should be mocked

in this way by my name. I pray that my name may not be

mentioned, and that men should call themselves not Lutherans

but Christians. Why should I, a putrid bag filled with maggots,

deserve that the Children of Christ should bear my wretched

name? No one must say: 'I am a Lutheran' or 'I am a Papist', for

neither Luther nor the Pope died for us, and neither of them was

our teacher, but Christ alone was our teacher. For this reason we

should call ourselves Christians."

In his table talks he said: "Let the Devil take Luther, if he

can. Christ shall live."

Nevertheless, the Lutheran Church exists, and from Luther

it has inherited anti-Semitic doctrines which come to light as

soon as appropriate conditions exist.

You cannot ask a Jew to be pro-Hitler. How can you expect

him to be a Lutheran, when Luther wrote in a letter to his wife,

who also despised the Jews profoundly: "I must now deal with

the expulsion of the Jews. Count Albrecht is their enemy, and

he has also opposed them, but as yet no one is dealing with them.

If it is God's will, I shall assist Count Albrecht from the pulpit,

and I too shall oppose them. I am drinking Naumburger beer

... and I like it very much."

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 45

I have selected a mild passage; there are others in which he

openly incites his readers to kill Jews—just as he had incited them

to kill Catholics, peasants and Anabaptists. He criticised the

Inquisition because it had not subjected his former friend,

Thomas Münzer, to sufficient torture.

When I was converted, the bishop of the Lutheran Church in

Rumania was a pro-Hitler man by the name of Stadel, who

preached a combination of Christianity, racialism and National

Socialism. Anyone who entered the vestry of a Lutheran church

was greeted with a "Heil Hitler"—"Heil to the murderer of

millions of Jews".

In truth, this Church did not represent Christ either.

The Lutheran churches in Scandinavia and Holland rose

gallantly to the occasion during the difficult years experienced

by the Jews, and this is to their credit. But in doing so they were

obeying another Luther.

Luther was something of a split personality. He also wrote

some very beautiful things about the Jews: "We should not treat

the Jews so badly, because among them are future Christians. If

we were to live in a Christian manner and bring them to Christ

with goodness, this would be the right thing to do. Who will

become a Christian when he sees Christians acting in such an

unchristian manner towards men? Not so, dear Christians. Let

us tell them the truth with goodness. If they do not want it, give

them peace. We give peace to so many Christians who do not care

about Christ and do not listen to His words ... If I had been a

Jew and had seen such fools and idiots leading and teaching the

Christian faith, I would rather have become a pig than a Christian.

If the apostles, who also were Jews, had treated us, the Gentiles,

as we treat the Jews, no Gentile would ever have become a

Christian."

I will not tell of my experiences with Catholicism, which is

changing so much just now, even beyond what Luther would

have hoped. The Second Vatican Council has absolved the Jews

of the guilt of killing Jesus. The Crucified had absolved them long

before with the words, "No man taketh [my life] from me, but I

lay it down of myself" (John 10.18). The fathers of the Vatican

46 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Council would have done better to have apologised for killing the

Jews over the centuries. To be fair, I should add that it is not

only Christians who have hated and killed Jews. It has also some-

times been the other way round. Jews such as Trotsky in Russia,

Rakosi in Hungary and Anna Pauker in Rumania killed many

Christians, though not from religious motives. And in any case,

hatred on one side is no excuse for hatred on the other.

As time went on, all the great Christian confessions seemed

to me to be a Babel. They bore no resemblance to the Church

that Jesus left behind, as described in the Acts of the Apostles:

"And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and

of one soul : neither said any of them that ought of the things which

he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And

with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of

the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Neither was

there any among them that lacked : for as many as were possessors

of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things

that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet: and

distribution was made unto every man according as he had need"

(Acts 4.32-35).

"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and

fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear

came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done

by the apostles... And they, continuing daily with one accord in

the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat

their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God,

and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the

church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2.42-43, 46-47).

The great confessions are not the historical successors of the

first Church. But the glorious beams from the light of Jesus

penetrate even the densest cloud. The gospel breaks through the

obstacles which these confessions have set up, and brings

salvation to men and women, even to those who follow an

erroneous religious system. But the great Church congregations

cannot prove effective instruments for the salvation of Israel.

Israel will never come to Christ through them.

I felt, and still feel, at home in pietistic circles. Even before I

was familiar with the Protestant doctrine of the invisible Church,

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 47

I felt a sense of brotherhood with every child of God who had

been born anew.

I found brothers and sisters of this kind in "The Army of the

Lord", a religious movement within the Orthodox Church. I

have met brethren in the faith among Roman Catholic priests

and laymen who loved Christ with all their heart, and who did

things which I considered wrong, merely because they thought

Jesus had prescribed them. In the same way I have met many

brethren in the Lutheran Church, and in other Protestant

denominations.

Could I ever forget the Greek Orthodox Archimandrite

Scriban, who throughout the most violent anti-Semitic perse-

cutions was ready day and night to help us, intervening on our

behalf on countless occasions? This man, who had been head of

the theological seminary, and most of whose former students

were now priests in Bucharest, rebuked those at the head of the

Ministry of Culture whenever they made life difficult for us,

dismissing us as "dirty Jews". "Is this what I taught you?" he

would ask. "Was not Jesus, too, a 'dirty Jew'? And was not the

Mother of our Lord ä 'dirty Jewess'?"

Among the Lutherans, could I ever forget Bishop Friedrich

Müller, the staunch friend of Christian Jews? Or the Norwegian

Lutheran clergyman Magne Solheim, head of the Norwegian

Israel Mission in Rumania, whose life consisted of nothing but

preaching the Word of Christ to the Jews from morning till

night, and exerting every effort to help them in their hour of

misery?

I have no space to mention the many who acted as these did.

God's children, no matter to what denomination they be-

longed, were close to me. But I have felt most at my ease among

those who have left the great denominations. The hard facts I

discovered in the big denominations destroyed the picture of

Christ which I had in my heart: I rediscovered this picture in

the small Christian groups.

That they were not numerous was no disadvantage as far as

I was concerned. I knew that God looks at the heart of man, and

not at the number of men. Gregory of Nazianzus declared:

"God hath no delight in the majority. Men may be counted by

48 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

their thousands, but God counts those who accept salvation.

Men count insignificant dust, He the instruments of grace."

The pietistic circles which exist within the large denominations

and in the sects are the only Christian groups in Rumania whose

hands are not soiled with Jewish blood. During the persecutions

they assisted, sheltered and rescued Jews. With them it is easiest

and best to preach the gospel of Christ to the Jews.

But even among them there were disputes. People of profound

faith disagreed among themselves on trivial interpretations of

Bible texts.

Believers quarrel over things about which they really know

nothing. I have heard that in the Middle Ages there were two

believers who were condemned by the Inquisition to be burnt

at the stake. They asked to be bound back to back, so that they

should not look one another in the eye, as each of them regarded

the other as a heretic.

When I heard this story, I thought it was an exaggerated

legend. Later on, in prison, I saw people who gave their lives for

the same gentle Jesus, but who would not even say "Good

morning" to one another, because they belonged to different

confessions, or to two different groups within the same con-

fession. We all allow such things to be done, without realising

how difficult it will be for us to give an account of the sin we have

committed, the sin of making it difficult for those who seek the

truth to find it.

I, and other Jews with me, were almost in despair when we

,tried to find our way through the chaos of religious differences.

So far I have not discovered a single Christian organisation

which is qualified to tackle the task of preparing the world for

the Kingdom of God, and making disciples of all nations. Not a

single one of them takes this task seriously, striving towards it

according to a definite strategic plan. Many of their efforts are

wasted in trivial everyday affairs.

The grace of God helped us to overcome these difficulties,

prevented us from losing our way in petty things, and helped us

to understand the most important passages in the New Testa-

ment, which are so clear, and which alone by their teaching and

the practice of this teaching, can bring the Jews to Christ:

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 49

"Love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13.10).

"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou

shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Gal. 5.14).

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should

do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the

prophets" (Matt. 7.12).

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with

all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great

commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love

thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang

all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22.37-40).

Despite the fact that the Bible contains numerous passages

which state that God commanded circumcision, we know that

Paul rejected these holy words, declared the commandment null

and void, and wrote: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision

availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature"

(Gal. 6.15).

Should not we, too, be in a position to maintain that the various

doctrines which separate us, although they are based on im-

portant passages in the Bible, really mean nothing? Instead, we

must become "new creatures", people who rebuild their lives on

the principle of love, the principle which Jesus gave us an

example to follow. If Luther was able to write as much as four

centuries ago: "Jesus did not command us to confess, but gave

us all liberty, so that he who so desired could avail himself of

confession... You will not be condemned by God if you do not

confess ... All sacraments must be free; he who does not desire

to take the Holy Communion, is entitled by God not to do so,"

how much more should we in the twentieth century be able to

distinguish what is most important in the doctrine of the Bible-

love—from what is less important!

The spiritual condition of most Jews, especially young people,

may be described as religious indifference. Our theological dis-

cussions will surely not help to stir up enthusiasm in them. Our

sermons leave them indifferent. Dogmas do not move their

hearts.

But it is not in these dogmas that Christianity is to be found.

The divine teacher declared that love was the sign by which

5O CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

His disciples should be recognised. Love leaves no normal person

indifferent. The Jews, more than any other people, are thirsting

for love. If love were our religion, then their indifference would

melt away.

For my own part, after seeking long, to right and left, I have

found what I am seeking: my confession is love. My brothers

and sisters are all those who love one another, no matter to what

denomination they belong. My Lord is Jesus, because He is the

incarnation of love. "God is love" and "every one that loveth

is born of God" (i John 4.8, 7).

The Cross of Christ demonstrates the catastrophic results of

violating the law of love. Hate crucified truth and the Deity. But

at the same time the Cross of Christ is an expression of God's

love. Because He loves, Christ takes upon Himself the sins of

His murderers, and gives them an opportunity of starting life

afresh. This truth, of which I have been allowed to partake, has

given me freedom with regard to Christian confessions. I can

decide as I like whether I wish or do not wish to join any one of

them. They provide the background against which I can exercise

the religion of Christ, the religion of love. I am now in a position

to worship in churches and assemblies belonging to all con-

fessions. On one and the same day I have preached to Orthodox,

Catholics, Lutherans and Pentecostalists.

If you want the truth, you must renounce attitudes and

opinions, for every attitude and opinion is also a blind spot

which makes you quite incapable of understanding other views

and opinions apart from your own. Reality knows itself, because

there is spirit in it. Christ is the truth, He is the reality, as it

knows itself, without being distorted by being looked at through

prisms or from different angles.

Most of the Christian Jews who have subsequently comprised

our congregation, have adopted the same interdenominational

attitude, despite the fact that our church was formally Lutheran.

It was known as "The Church of Love". Pastor Solheim's

greeting was "Love". We were the only church in Rumania

which—long before the modern ecumenical trend—had men of

all denominations kneeling together at the Communion rail.

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 51

/ am baptised and my wife is toon for the Lord

In my wife I have truly found what the Bible describes as "a

helper who is his like". There is a certain value in celibacy, but

I have also noticed that the competence of many labourers in

God's vineyard has been to a large extent due to the fact that

they had found an excellent helpmeet in their wives. St. John

Chrysostom cannot have known our wives, otherwise this holy

father could never have recorded the monstrous statement that

"woman is a necessary evil and a deadly fascination".

. It is obvious that a woman is a worthy helpmeet if her husband

does not browbeat hen We could all take Adam as an example

of a good husband. Because of Eve, he lost à paradise, but he

did not say a word of reproach to her—whereas we abuse our

wives for the merest trifle.

At first, I had difficulties with my wife. When I left home to be

baptised, she wanted to commit suicide. My mother fainted

when she heard of my decision. Thus I grievously offended

two beloved persons when I went to receive my baptism.

At that time I thought it right; I should not advise anyone

now to behave in the same way. If one is to witness and to suffer

for Christ, it is not right to renounce this for the sake of another

person. But some Jews are not so prejudiced against Jesus as

they are against baptism. They have too many painful memories

of the time when the Inquisitors dragged the Jews by their

beards to baptism, under the threat of death. They remember

so often that their forefathers cut the throats of their own

children, after pronouncing a blessing, in order to save them in

this way from forced baptism. All too many Jews allowed them-

selves to be baptised in order to deny their people. This resulted

in an emotional antipathy which can be easily understood. I

once knew an old Jewess, who was a faithful follower of Jesus,

but who had a strong antipathy against pronouncing the word

"baptism". She used to say: "I still have to fulfil this matter."

Complexes of this kind must be carefully dealt with. The duty

to love is greater than the duty to be baptised. A person should

never be in a hurry to be baptised, before his family is familiar

with the idea, and realises what it involves and means. The

baptism should not be given unnecessary publicity. We should

52 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

witness not forthe sign of baptism, but for Him who gave it to

us. It is wrong for a missionary to make it a point of honour to

baptise as many Jews as possible.

But at that time I was of a different mind. I went to my

baptism, leaving behind a weeping wife and a sorrowing mother.

I cannot say into what confession I was baptised. My

baptism took place in the chapel of the Lutheran Norwegian

Israel Mission, the head of which was a Free Church Christian,

Feinstein. The act of baptism was carried out by Brother Ellison,

who had been an Anglican priest, but had left that Church after

being baptised a second time as an adult. He continued neverthe-

less to conduct services in the Anglican mission. Chaos has

become a commonplace in Christianity, as Jesus's last plea is

ignored: "I pray . . . that they all may be one" (Johni 7.21).

It was sufficient for me to know that Ellison was a true-hearted

disciple of Jesus, as were the others who assisted at my baptism.

Two other Jews were baptised with me. One of them,

Blitzstein, was a former Communist. The other was a much

abused man. He was small of stature, and was married to a wife

twice his size, who would assault him every Sunday on his

return from the service. The wretched man continued to attend

our meetings, and was regularly beaten up. After his baptism I

saw to it that his hair was thoroughly dried in front of the stove,

so that she should not realise that he had been baptised. Had

she guessed, she would almost certainly have killed him.

One Sunday, late at night after he had gone to bed, Feinstein

heard a knock at his door, and when he opened it he saw this

brother standing there, as pale as a ghost. He asked what had

happened. The man answered, completely heartbroken: "I have

forfeited my salvation. Today my wife beat me more than ever

before. I could stand it no longer, and I slapped her face." With

a twinkle in his eye, Feinstein replied: "Well, seeing you have

forfeited your salvation, why didn't you at least give her a proper

beating, so that she would have something to remember you by?"

Later on, this Xantippe was also baptised, but she did not remain

steadfast in the faith.

Our baptism took place in a very cordial atmosphere. Ellison,

who was of a high spirituality, warned us: "You have now

I SET OUT ON THE ROAD 53

received robes of white, and it is your duty to keep them pure."

Feinstein, who was more down-to-earth in his approach, also

preached: "You are human beings, and you will still sin like all

human beings. You will not keep your robes white, but when

you do sin, go immediately to Jesus so that He can cleanse you

of your stains."

After the ceremony was over, late that evening when everyone

had gone to bed, I was unable to sleep. That night I read The

Mysteries of the Cross by Tohoyiko Kagawa, a Japanese Christian

who had devoted not only his entire fortune, but his life and all

his knowledge, to help the poor of Japan.

The house where my baptism took place is no longer a chapel.

The Communist State now uses it for an entirely different

purpose. I am sad to think that I have not been able to see it for

many years. Saint Louis, King of France, used to make an annual

pilgrimage to the village church at Poissy, where he had been

baptised. He used to say: "In this place I received the Crown

of Life, while in Rheims I received the royal crown—which has

only occasioned me much labour and many cares."

When I returned home after my baptism, I found that my

wife had altered. During my absence she had carefully examined

her life, and had now taken a big step forward. I still took her

with me to secular gatherings, whenever she wanted to go, but

she felt more and more out of place there. Late one evening,

on our return from a party of this kind, she said to me : "I should

like to wake the pastor, so that he can baptise me, and cleanse

me of all my impurity."

Not long after this, Ellison baptised her, too. She has been

compelled to suffer a great deal since that time. She spent some

years in prison; she was separated from her husband for as many

years as Jacob served for Rachel. All the sufferings and sorrows

of the Christians were hers, too, but she considered that all her

worries had been of a few days' duration, because she loved.

JEWS WHO WITNESSED

FOR CHRIST

Clarutza

At the time of my conversion there were small groups of

Christian Jews in Bucharest, Galatz, Jassy and other towns.

Among them were souls who had reached a very high spiritual

level.

In Bucharest, the Anglican Church Mission was active,

under the guidance of the Reverend J. Adenay, a clergyman

with a rare depth of faith and spirit of sacrifice.

Gradually the number of Christian Jews grew. The first

soul I won for the Lord was Clarutza, a young girl of about

sixteen. Her great-grandfather had been a Greek Orthodox

priest, who had been converted to Mosaic Judaism during a

movement of Judaisers which originated in the Ukraine at the

beginning of the last century. (A similar movement exists to

this day in Rumania among peasants who originally belonged

to a branch of the Adventists. Native Rumanian peasants are

circumcised and worship in the synagogues with a more burning

zeal than the Jews, many of whom, truth to say, show no

particular enthusiasm in carrying out their religious duties.)

This girl had been chosen by God to make good her great-

grandfather's error, by becoming a Christian. As soon as she

started attending our meetings, her parents began to persecute

her. They forbade her to meet with us. Then she decided

to start a hunger strike. She refused to eat until she was allowed

to go and visit her brethren in the faith. She fasted for three

days; on the fourth day, when her parents saw how weak she

had become, they told her she was free to go. "Not at all," she

54

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 55

answered. "I shall continue my hunger strike, and I shall not

go until you come with me." After she had fasted for another

day, her parents yielded on this point too, and from then on

they regularly accompanied her to our meetings. '

Clarutza was young in the faith; but I, her spiritual father,

was also young in the faith. I, who had not yet been cured myself

began to cure others. It was bound to have consequences.

One day, while she was having a meal at our house, she

suddenly asked: "Brother, do you take a ticket in the lottery?"

I had a ticket in my pocket, but for a long time I had been

engaged in a spiritual struggle, because an inner voice had told

me that God's children are not allowed to indulge in a game of

chance—while at the same time the prospect of winning a large

sum tempted me considerably. My conscience had not been

appeased. Before I had time to consider, the answer came from

my lips: "No", when I should have said "Yes". This was not

the only lie I told at this time. Lying had become second nature

to me, and even after I had been converted it played many

tricks on me.

How I wished I could unsay the lie that had escaped my

lips, but it was no longer possible. Never in my life have I

regretted things I have not said, but I have often regretted words

I have said. It is a good thing to keep the door locked, and not

to let a word slip out. The man who does not take care to reduce

the volume of his spoken words, has not been converted.

Pride, and maybe fear too, fear of undermining the confidence

which this young girl had in me, prevented me from putting

things right immediately. For a week afterwards I found it

impossible to pray. When I knelt down to recite "Our Father",

I seemed to hear a voice answering: "Liar".

It is said that when the Roman general Titus, who afterwards

became Emperor, was besieging Jerusalem in the year A.D. 71,

and starvation and plague broke out in the city, the rabbi

Johanan ben Zacai, one of the Jewish leaders, broke through

the lines and made his way to Titus's tent, where he knelt before

the general and said: "Lord, spare this city, where there are

so many women and innocent children!" Titus answered: "You

are lying, old rabbi!"—"But what lie have I told?" the old man

56 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

asked in astonishment. "The lie," answered Titus, "is the first

word you said. You called me 'Lord'. If I am Lord, why do you

not open the gates of the city and receive me with triumphal

arches and flowers? If I am Lord, why do you not obey

me?"

In the same way, the first word we offer in our prayers is a

lie. We say "Father" to Him whose commandments we do not

fulfil. We lie, although the Father offers us the truth.

In the anguish of my soul, I went to Tudor Popescu, who at

that time was the "senior" believer among us in Rumania. He

had once been an Orthodox priest, but like Luther he had had

the courage to oppose his Church's hierarchy, and to preach

the true gospel. For this reason he had been expelled from the

Church. But thousands of believers followed him, and he was

now a leading personality in Christian circles in Rumania. He

was a sincere friend of Christian Jews, and he preached to the

Jews with great blessing.

I told this old brother of my affliction, and asked him what

I should do. I told him of my fear that if I confessed to the girl

that I had lied to her—I who had planted the seed of the love of

Christ in her—then perhaps she would lose her faith.

Tudor Popescu answered: "You are right to be afraid. The

least sin a man commits may prove a stumbling-block to another

soul, and condemn that soul to perdition. For this reason you

must be more vigilant another time. Nevertheless, my advice

is that you should simply confess to her that you have lied. If,

as a consequence of this, the girl loses her faith, then this will

show that she was not one of the chosen ones of the Lord. You,

on the other hand, will continue in the way of the Lord,

fulfilling His commandments."

This experience revealed to me how profitable it is for

believers to confess their sins not only to God, but also to a

wise brother, who can give them advice. The biblical word for

confession is exomohgeo, which means "to confess outwardly".

It is not wise for us to wallow in our own sin, and allow it to

remain within us until it chokes our spiritual life.

I called Clarutza to me; I placed her in a comfortable chair

facing me, told her what had happened, and asked her humbly

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 57

to forgive me. She listened earnestly, and said: "This time I

shall forgive you, but you must not do it again."

Full of joy that the burden had fallen from me, I related this

to all who were present at the meeting the following Sunday.

Immediately, one after the other, Christian Jews stood up and

confessed various lies, dishonesties, and thefts, and this con-

fession proved a great blessing to us all.

If a believer from another nation had been present and heard

all these confessions, he would have received a very poor

impression of the moral standard of the Christian Jews—and

he would have been right.

In judging the moral condition of Christian Jews, one

should first consider what is its cause. The great Christian

church communities, with their many faults, have one in-

disputable good—they educate men and women in the belief that

Christ is the Saviour. If a longing for God is aroused in the

average Rumanian, Frenchman or German, he should have no

problem in finding the road that leads to God. It is quite natural

for him to turn to Christ as the Saviour. It would not occur to

him to have to make a choice between Christ, Krishna or

Mohammed.

Those who have not had the advantage of being born of

Christian parents are in an entirely different situation. When a

longing for God is aroused in them, they are offered the way

of their own religious tradition—Mosaic, Mohammedan,

Buddhist or Hindu. If they hear the gospel, a large proportion

of their spiritual energy must be employed in overcoming the

old prejudices against Christianity and the love of the religion

into which they were born. They must overcome great intel-

lectual difficulties before they can accept what must appear

sheer madness to the human mind and logic—that my sins have

been atoned for by the death of a carpenter on a cross two

thousand years ago ; because this carpenter, who made glue and

doors, and sold his goods, just as all carpenters do, was really

God, incarnate in man. And what is more, those who believe

in Him are regarded by God not as sinners who have been for-

given, but as though they had never sinned. In the sight of God

they are regarded as though they had been as obedient to His

58 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

commandments as Jesus Christ himself, says the Heidelberg

Catechism.

Still more spiritual energy is wasted when a Jew becomes a

Protestant, because no one Protestant speaks with sufficient

authority, and you cannot therefore simply follow in his foot-

steps. From the pulpit and in their writings Protestants fight

against other Protestants. What one says is contradicted by

others. Thus a Jew inevitably wastes a great deal of his spiritual

energy before he discovers the truth. People who are Christian

by birth are saved a great deal of this trouble.

No man, however, has unlimited stores of spiritual energy.

The more energy he spends on one thing, the less he has left

for anything else. The consumption of spiritual energy which

is required to liberate him from traditional emotions derived

from the religion of his people, and to solve the intellectual

difficulties that face him, is so great that little is left for the

struggle on the moral front.

Anyone who reads the Epistles of Paul carefully will note

that this was the situation among the converts in the first

congregations. Even Paul himself, a great believer, complained

about his thorn in the flesh.

The low moral standards of Christian Jews, of converts from

other non-Christian religions and from atheism must be under-

stood and accepted as an inevitable reality. The strong souls,

those who have reached a high moral level—some because they

have centuries of Christian influence behind them—must

patiently and lovingly welcome the weaker brethren who are

making their first steps on the new road of love. They belong to

a race which for two thousand years has been separated from its

Lord. Older Christians must not be frightened by the many and

grievous lapses which the Jewish Christians suffer, nor by any

relapse.

Clarutza gave us great joy.

Once she went with us to the summer resort of Sinaia. I went

to call on the abbot of the monastery, and asked for permission

to sell gospels and other Christian literature outside the church

on Sunday morning. He was far too lazy to investigate whether

our literature was Orthodox or not. The Greek Orthodox

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 59

Church, compared to the Roman Catholic Church, is like a

village without any dogs. Its priests have fallen asleep. This

allows great scope for evangelical work within its walls—

occasionally, too, under the protection of its leaders, who take

no interest in what is going on under their roof. So we set up

a stall with Protestant literature right in front of the church

entrance, where those who came to worship at this time of year

belonged to the élite of Rumania, since Sinaia was the King's

summer residence.

Our stall was surrounded by a great crowd. They were

astonished, having never seen a gospel, because the Greek

Orthodox Church does not place these books in the hands of

believers. I had copies of St. John's Gospel, beautifully bound.

Churchgoers, even monks, asked whether it had been written

by John the Baptist, of whom they had heard. Clarutza stood

by my side, and our books sold like hot cakes; we could hardly

satisfy the demand.

On several occasions a police constable patrolled the fringe

of the crowd. We looked like suspicious characters. It is a highly

debatable point whether all criminals have typical character-

istics, but at that time in Rumania one was justified in assuming

that faces so typically Jewish obviously suggested that a

crime was in the offing; and the two of us looked decidedly

Jewish.

The police constable came nearer, and asked me politely

what my name was. I answered him pointedly: "Richard

Wurmbrand." He was somewhat taken aback, as it sounded

German. It was a name I might well have borne in common with

any of Hitler's supporters. He retired, with a salute.

A little further off he paused, and looked back at us. Our

faces were hardly what he would have described as typically

Aryan. He approached once again, and asked us to produce our

identity cards. This was our undoing. At that time our identity

cards specified our ethnic origins; and we were guilty of having

the same ethnic origins as Jesus, whom the policeman, too,

worshipped.

It is hard to describe the uproar that followed. He started to

shout at the top of his voice: "These dirty Jews have desecrated

6o CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

our church and our gospel!" A crowd soon gathered. When the

people inside the church heard the noise, they came out, and

when they heard that the gospel had been desecrated by Jews

they demanded their money back, as they refused to read any-

thing written by a Jew. The hubbub increased. One Orthodox

lady who knew us, had the courage to stand up in public and

call out aloud to those who were standing on the church steps:

"You should be ashamed of yourselves! Instead of rejoicing

with Jews who belong to the same people as Jesus, who love

Him, and give us His gospel, which our priests have not given

us, you are picking a quarrel with these innocent people!" The

others refused to listen to her; the abbot, to whom we had

appealed, excused himself and vanished. The result was that

we were arrested, and accused of the serious offence of daring

to sell Christian literature, that is, gospels written by Jews,

despite the fact that we were Jews.

We were taken to the police station. As it was Sunday morning

there was only one officer there, and we were left in his charge.

He told us that the police inspector would arrive and determine

our fate, and handed us over to a third person, omitting to tell

him that we were under arrest. The telephone rang, summoning

him to the scene of a traffic accident, which left only Clarutza,

myself, and a junior constable who did not know why we were

there. I asked Clarutza: "Are you frightened?"—"Far from it,"

she replied. "I am enjoying myself. It is lovely to have an

experience of this kind with Jesus." Calmly we awaited the

arrival of the police inspector.

When he arrived, without asking the permission of the

constable, I went up to him. I introduced myself, without

mentioning that I was a Jew, or that I had been arrested. I told

him: "I've come to sell religious literature in your town, and

I want to ask your permission first." "Have you a permit from

the Ministry of Culture?" he asked me. "No," I answered.

"Then I'm afraid you cannot sell your literature," the inspector

declared. I said: "Then I'll take my literature with me and go."

"Very good," he said, instructing the constable accordingly.

Without waiting for him to say any more, we disappeared.

We stopped the first taxi and left Sinaia. Later on, we had many

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 6l

a good laugh when we thought of the face the inspector must

have made when he discovered that we had already sold our

literature and had been under arrest.

Clarutza was baptised. Shortly after her baptism she emigrated

with her parents to the Soviet Union, to escape from Fascism,

which was then flourishing in Rumania. She wrote to us from

Russia. Not long afterwards, the Fascists penetrated deep into

Russian territory. The Rumanian brethren, who were of one

mind and heart with us, went to look for her in the ghettoes that

were set up by the Hitlerites. In answer to our prayer the Greek

Orthodox Bishop Antim Nica and other monks went through

the ghettoes, giving help to the Jews, an act of mercy that might

well have cost them their lives. They found no trace of Clarutza.

Alba

Life had dragged Alba into the mire of sin. But Christ saved

her while she was still a young girl, perhaps about twenty years

old. Seldom have I met such an ardent soul as this daughter of

Israel.

One day she came to see me, and said: "Brother, you cannot

guess where I have been." I knew that she did unusual things,

and I was prepared for anything. "Brother, I've been to see

the renowned Rabbi X."

"What should you want of him?"

"I told him I was a great sinner, and asked him what I should

do to be saved. He was not used to questions of this kind, but

looked at me in astonishment over his glasses, and said: 'If up

till now you have done many evil things, then from now on you

must do good things.' I said: 'For the simple reason that God

has given me this day as a gift, I owe it to Him to do as many

good deeds as possible. But how can the good that I do today

atone for the evil I did yesterday? This will not appease my

conscience. What can I do?' The rabbi answered: 'The only

thing I can tell you to do is to do good.' I then put this question

to him: 'Is it not true that the blood shed by Jesus on the Cross

cleanses me of my former sin?' The rabbi, who had grown

suspicious, answered with another question: 'Is it not true that

you have come from Wurmbrand?' 'Yes,' I answered, 'I have

62 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

come from him. He preaches that the sacrifice which Jesus made

on the Cross purifies us from all our sins, and I have come to

ask you whether what he preaches is true.' Shaking his head,

the rabbi replied: 'Beliefs differ. Some believe in Moses,

others in Jesus, others in the Buddha or Mohammed. Everyone

according to his wish.' 'No,' I answered, 'Jesus cannot be

compared with any of the founders of other religions. It is

written of Jesus in the Song of Solomon: "My beloved is the

chiefest among ten thousand" (Song of Sol. 5.10). All honour

to all the founders of the great religions: they are not Jesus's

competitors. Jesus cannot be rivalled. The Scriptures call them

the Saviour's companions, as in the Song of Solomon 1.7, but

Jesus is unique among them.'"

Such was Alba.

She was always present at the street meetings which we held

at that time, and which in Rumania were an entirely new and

unusual phenomenon. She was tireless in the work of dis-

tributing- gospels to Russian soldiers, and in front of the

synagogues.

One of the pamphlets we distributed caused a considerable

stir. It was called The Meaning of the Easter Ritual. On the Jewish

Easter Eve a ritual is carried out by the master of the house

in every household; this ritual is called Afikoimen. An evening

meal is prepared, and everyone in the house, including guests,

partakes of it. The meal is called Seder. During this meal the

master of the house takes a dish containing three pieees of

matza or unleavened bread, which up till then have been

covered with a towel. A special prayer is said; the first piece of

matza is placed to one side. The second piece is broken (in

Poland it was customary to pierce it). The children are sent

out of the room, and then the broken piece is hidden. The

children return. All the grown-ups taking part in the meal have

to drink three goblets of wine, but before the third goblet is

drunk, the children are told to look for the hidden pieces of

bread. When they find them, they are given presents, and cries

of delight are uttered.

The pamphlet we distributed commented on this custom,

and gave the explanation which we knew: the three pieces of

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 63

bread represent the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; thus

the second piece represents the second person of the Deity.

The breaking of bread signifies the body of our Saviour broken

on the Cross, the hiding signifies the burial. The three goblets

represent the three days he had to spend in the tomb, and the

rediscovery of the bread and the shouts of delight represent

the joy of the Resurrection.

It was then explained that Israel had received prophecies

foretelling the Messiah, both in writings and in symbolical

acts. Afikoimen is a symbolical act which has survived from the

pre-Christian era. Owing to their religious conservatism, the

religious Jews continue to practise it, but it is now an empty

husk, stripped of its contents. The Jews carry out this ritual

act without realising that it symbolises the sufferings and

resurrection of the Saviour. The pamphlet concluded with a

request to anyone who had a better explanation to let us have it.

Our pamphlets had a very attractive appearance. On the

outside was printed: Jewish Religious Library. If we had put

Christian Library, no Jew would have read them. The cover

was in the national colours of the Jews, white and blue, with

the Star of David.

Alba and the other brethren and sisters sold great quantities

of this pamphlet on the Eve of the Passover in front of the

synagogues.

The Jewish community and the Zionist papers, which

reviled me in practically every edition, fumed with rage, but

in a way that was very gratifying to .us, for under the heading

"A New Lie from Pastor Wurmbrand" they repeated the

essential points of our argument, and in this way those Jews

who had not read our booklet learned what it contained. After

the text had been reproduced, there followed such words of

abuse as "traitor", "mercenary lackey", "disgusting" and so on,

words which also convinced us of the need to examine ourselves

spiritually, and provided a serious warning from God that we

should beware of treading the slippery path to which these

terms of abuse might lead.

Alba could not bear the thought that her elder brother

hould be insulted. Without a word to us, she went to the

64 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

editor of the newspaper and asked to speak to the author of the

article attacking me.

She told him: "I have read your article, and I should like to

know what is the real interpretation of the Afikoimen ritual.

"It is not the interpretation given by that traitor Wurmbrand."

"So I understand from your article. I should now like to ask

you respectfully if you could give me the true interpretation."

"It is quite different from the one which that disgusting

Wurmbrand has given."

"Would you be so kind as to tell me what it is?"

"Mr. Wurmbrand is a man who has sold himself."

"That may be so, but what is the true interpretation of

the ritual?"

Neither he nor anyone else could disprove our statements,

neither in this respect nor in any others. All that remained was

their abuse.

At night Alba and the others fixed posters on the walls of

houses and on fences, calling on the Jews to be converted.

During the cold winter nights placards were posted, bearing the

title: "Chrjstmas-the National Holiday of the Jews". The text

underneath stated that every nation gladly celebrates the

birthday of its great men, of whom they are proud. It was at

Christmas that the greatest man, He who is celebrated and

worshipped by all peoples, was born to the Jewish people.

Everyone honours the greatest Jew, only the Jews remain

indifferent to Him who is called in the Bible "The glory of

His people Israel". The posters advised the Jews once again to

relent, and to rejoice with other peoples at the Christmas

festival.

We were now the target of a new and furious attack.

A Zionist paper wrote: "Mr. Wurmbrand wishes to introduce

Christmas and other Christian customs among the Jews. As

he is very importunate, it is possible that he might finally

convince us. We shall adopt the various customs, including that

of coiiva (a cake which is distributed at funerals in the Greek

Orthodox Church). And the first coiiva we shall eat will be

at Mr. Wurmbrand's funeral."

This was a threat of death.

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 65

Alba lived by our side: she shared with us in all our struggles,

all our dangers, and in all our battles she was in the front

line.

A poor alcoholic, a profoundly religious man, asked me to

heal him of his affliction. At that time I was still ignorant of the

technique of healing alcoholics by faith, which is very simple.

I was unsuccessful. But Alba would not give up. She went to

visit him in the tavern, where he was sitting in a drunken

stupor, and talked to him until he was converted and was

healed. He has since converted other souls to the faith, and

these again have converted others.

Let me at this point make a few general observations.

People with a burning desire to carry out missionary work

are apt to hurt the feelings of Jews, often causing a violent

reaction. It has been questioned whether this kind of missionary

work can be right. Even Jesus warned against proselytising

when He said: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo-

crites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and

when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell

than yourselves" (Matt. 23.15).

But all these considerations, both for and against, cannot

prevent people like Alba from being what they are at a particular

stage in their.development. Lamartine wrote:

Je chantais, mes amis, comme l'homme respire,

comme Voiseau gémit, comme le vent soupire

comme Veau murmure en coulant.

I sang, my friends, as a man breathes,

As the bird laments, as the wind sighs,

As the water murmurs when it flows.

The many Albas of this world speak about Jesus because it is

their nature to do so; no argument can make me stop breathing;

no argument can prevent those who love Jesus from witnessing

for Him, just as no argument can prevent some people reacting

violently to their witness instead of taking it calmly.

There are many different psychological types among human

beings; the extrovert, when he is converted, becomes a mission-

66 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

ary, the introvert becomes a contemplative. God's law is one:

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should

do to you, do ye even so to them" (Matt. 7.12). With all my

heart I long that any man who is convinced that he possesses

a truth which can make me blessed here and in eternity should

spare no effort to tell it to me. We consider as normal com-

pulsory schooling, compulsory vaccination, forcing a child to

eat something good, even though he may not appreciate it.

Why then should we consider missionary activity as morally

unjustified? I am grateful to old Wölfkes because he showed me

the way, and it is my conviction that the children of God ought

to exercise their missionary activity likewise.

We, too, say to Jesus the words which Abner, the captain of

the host, once said to David: "I will arise and go, and will

gather all Israel unto my lord the king, that they may make a

league with thee, and that thou mayest reign over all that thine

heart desireth" (2 Sam. 3.21).

The memory of Alba reminds me of something else: we

must have patience with a soul. Alba grew in grace from day

to day.

In Leviticus we read that whoever touches the carcase of

an unclean animal shall wash his clothes—and be unclean until

the evening (11.25). Even after you have washed your clothes,

you are still unclean for a while. The salvation which Jesus

gives is like medicine: one must wait a little while after taking

it before feeling its effect. With some people it is necessary to

wait longer than with others. The seed that falls on good ground

brings forth good fruit; but we sow in spring and gather the

fruit in autumn. However good the soilmay be, it is impossible

to harvest as soon as we have sown. Some trees produce fruit

only after several years.

During the period of growth we must be grateful for the

small fruits these souls produce, or for the future fruit that is

still developing. The whole intention of Leviticus Chapter 5

is to teach us that, if we cannot offer the Lord as much as we

should like to, we must offer whatever we can, at every stage

of our development. All categories of believers have the same

chances of finding favour with God.

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 67

New-born babies are usually ugly. A new-born soul who

appears beautiful is probably striking a pose.

Alba not only overcaine against sin, but in time she also wore

the garment of great virtue. Those who were like her learned

to understand a legend about Jesus which I often made use of

in my sermons.

It is said that Jesus sent a message to one of his disciples,

telling him that He would visit him together with His apostles.

The man who received the message was very glad, and said

to his son, who also loved the Saviour: "I shall make my house

ready, and you must tidy the garden, so that the Lord will find

it clean and swept."

The boy set to work energetically, sweeping and watering

the garden. When everything was ready, his father came to see

how his son had carried out his orders. He said to him: "Well

done, my dear son. I can see that you have worked with great

zeal. You have made the garden beautiful and tidy, but it is not

tidy enough for the Lord. Work at it a little more."

The boy, who felt that this was a reproach, tidied up the

garden once more. This time he gathered up every withered

leaf, spruced up every drooping flower, and did all he possibly

could to remove the least traces of disorder.

Once again his father inspected his work, and this time he

said: "Very good; now it is really tidy, but it is still not tidy

enough for the Lord."

The boy, who did not know what else he could do, asked:

"But how does one make a garden neat for the Lord?"

His father's answer was: "If you work for His sake, it is not

sufficient that you should remove all untidiness from the

garden—you must also decorate it with everything that is

beautiful, and which has not been grown in it so far. Go to the

neighbours, and see if you can find some new plants that you can

put in the ground; hang up beautiful carpets, and light lanterns.

That is the way to make everything pleasant for the Lord.""

This is precisely what Alba did.

It was her privilege to trace me to the prison where I was

being secretly held under an assumed name, and she was the

first to tell my family that I was still alive.

68 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

I did not see her for many years. Before I was released fron

prison, she left for Israel. But after coming to the West, I me

her again, the same faithful, loving woman.

Mircea Petrescu

One day, Alba was sitting on a bus; opposite her was a mai

who, judging by his appearance, was an Orthodox Jew. Sh

was filled with the desire to speak to him of Jesus.

We never missed an opportunity on the bus, in the market

place, on the street, wherever occasion offered.

The thought that all people could become like Jesus, bd

that they do not know this and die in affliction; the though

that man is second in rank after God Himself (angels are thf

ministering spirits of mankind), and that he nevertheless live

without being aware of the truth, made us weep. Our prayei

meetings were harrowing, and many tears were shed.

My suffering became unbearable; when I walked in the

streets it was like a stab in my heart every time someone passed

by and the question arose: "I wonder if he has been saved?'

One of our sisters in the faith, who is now dead, always had

tears in her eyes when she thought of the eternal fate thai

awaited the people she met in the street. I prayed God to take

this suffering from me, or I should not be able to live, and th<

Lord heard my prayer.

Alba did not weep; she always smiled her winning smile, '<

smile which had the same source as my suffering. She said t(

herself: "Since bad girls attract men with their smiles, wh]

should I not use my smile to convert men to good?"

But however would she be able to get into conversation with

this Orthodox Jew? These men are serious, sober citizens,

not in the habit of opening up a conversation with an unknown

woman. It is written in the Pirkei Abot, the Teachings of the

Parents, in the Babylonian Talmud: "Do not speak to a

woman." The rabbis say: "This refers to one's own woman-

how much more to another's woman!" For this reason the

wise men said: "As often as a man speaks to a woman, it shall

be his misfortune."

Alba therefore decided to sing a song in the crowded bus.

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 69

The message of her song, she hoped, would go straight to the

heart of the Jew.

To her amazement the man asked her: "What sort of song

is that?" She answered his question, and told him about the

Saviour who had given His life on the Cross. He listened to

her with the closest attention, and finally expressed a wish to

hear more about our faith. She asked him to leave the bus with

her, and to accompany her to my house.

And so it came about that they both walked in through my

door.

When the Jew introduced himself, I expected to hear a

Jewish name, but instead I heard a rattling good Rumanian

one. And the story he told me was a strange one.

Despite his highly Jewish appearance, he was not a Jew, but

a Rumanian who had been converted to Judaism and had

adopted Jewisn dress and all Jewish customs.

This man, who was a talented painter, told me how it had

happened. While he was still a small boy, he was incensed

when he saw Christian children hitting Jewish children. He

defended the Jews, and his reward was that he was persecuted

together with them.

When the war broke out and he realised that it was not a

question of defending his fatherland only, but of committing

crimes and sacrilege by murdering innocent Jews who were

killed in their hundreds of thousands together with their women

and children, he deserted from the front, at the risk of his life.

He would rather die than be a murderer. He loved the victims

of this cruel and senseless persecution, and he asked himself:

"If Jesus were in Rumania now, whose side would He be on:

on the side of the Jews or of the Christians who kill Jews?"

There could only be one answer to this question: on the side

of the victims.

The Pharisees, who hated Jesus with a violent and profound

hatred, remembered vividly His burning love for Israel, how He

once said: "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4.22). This clearly

emerges in a fantastic and unattractive, but highly significant,

story in the Talmud, the holy book of the Pharisees.

In the Gittim we read of Onkelos bar Kalinikos, a grandchild

7O CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAT6

of the Roman emperor Titus, the man who destroyed Jerusalem.

This young man wished to adopt the Jewish religion. But before

he did so he summoned the spirit of Titus, and asked him:

"Which people is most highly thought of in the other world?"

"Israel," answered Titus. "Shall I join them?" Titus replied

that they had too many rules and regulations, which cannot

be fulfilled. "It would be better if you persecuted them, for

then you would be great. For it is written in the Book of

Lamentations that 'her [Israel's] children are gone into cap-

tivity before the enemy'" (Lam. 1.5). Titus was then asked

what his punishment was, and he said that he had brought his

punishment down upon his own head: every day his ashes

were gathered together, he was brought to life, he was con-

demned, he was burned again, and his ashes spread over the

seven seas.

After this Onkelos summoned Balaam, the false prophet,

and asked him: "Which people is most highly thought of in the

other world?" "Israel," answered Balaam. "Shall I join them?"

Balaam answered: "You must not seek their fortune or their

prosperity eternally all your days." Then Onkelos asked him

what his punishment was, and Balaam replied that he had

boiling filth poured over him. (As Balaam had failed to carry

out the command of Balak, King of the Moabites, to curse the

Jews, he advised the Midianites, who were the neighbours of

the Moabites, to send their daughters into the Jewish camp,

in order to lead the Jews into sin, and in that way bring down

the wrath of the Lord upon them. Hence this punishment.)

Then Onkelos summoned the spirit of Jesus (this name occurs

only in the old editions of the Tahnud, which were not censored

by the Inquisition. The censored editions, instead of using the

name Jesus, have inserted the phrase Poske Israel, the Sinner

of Israel) and "asked Him: "Which people is most highly

thought of in the other world?" Jesus answered: "Israel."

"Shall I join them?" Jesus answered: "You must seek to

promote the best interests of Israel and not its destruction.

To destroy Israel is to destroy the light of God's eyes."

Even Jesus's bitterest enemies repeat the undeniable fact

that Jesus loved Israel.

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 71

Petrescu loved Jesus: for this reason it was natural for him

to side with the Jews, against anti-Semitic Christians.

Only that human soul who receives no help from the grace

of God cannot abide by the golden mean, but lapses into

extremes. Petrescu was right to deny a false Christianity, a

Christianity full of hatred. But in denying it, we must also

realise the secret of the great decline of the Church, the Church

that Jesus had promised He would be with all its days.

In Matthew's Gospel, after the account of the healing of

many who were sick and possessed of devils, we are told that

in this way Jesus "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our

sicknesses" (Matt. 8.17). (The literal translation is: He

assumed our weaknesses.)

When Christ was made man, He subjected Himself to all

the circumstances of life; He could exert His influence through

the Word, but He was also able to be moved by others. He

healed thousands of their sins, and destroyed the hatred with

which thousands of others were consumed. But the sin and

hatred which He took away from others fell on Him. All the

weaknesses which people have taken with them into church, all

the sins which Christians have committed for two thousand

years, have become His weaknesses, His powerlessness. A

refusal on His part to accept the weak would mean lack of love;

to receive them would mean that He assumed the shame of

their weakness and sin—it meant in fact allowing the crimes of

Christians to fall upon His head.

Leviticus contains the phrase "all these abominations"

(Lev. 18.27). The word for "these" is Eteh; but the text actually

contains what no translator has dared to translate, toevot ha-El,

which means nothing less than—horribile dictu—"God's abomina-

tions". The serious thing about any abomination committed

by someone who worships God, is precisely that it redounds

to the Holy Name, and in the eyes of men it passes for an

abomination of God. And is it not so that people judge God

unjustly for the injustices which they, who pass for His wor-

shippers, commit?

A Latin proverb says: Qui bette distingue^ bette docet,vt\àùi

means, "He who distinguishes well, teaches well".

72 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Sins are only reflected back on Jesus—they are associated

with His name, He bears them, but He is innocent. Nobody

should reject Christ because of crimes committed by Christians.

In this respect the Jews created confusion in the sentimental

heart of our artist friend. A Kabalistic rabbi caught him in his

net, and persuaded him to abandon the Christian faith, and

adopt the Mosaic. We endeavour to turn Jews into Christians;

he had been converted from Christianity to Judaism.

The struggle was a difficult one, because we were dealing

with an idealist, and a person with high moral standards. It is

always difficult to convert someone who knows himself to be

a decent person. Step by step, I showed him the prayers of the

synagogue, and asked him if he accepted them, because—

credulous as he had been—he had been made to say them while

at the same time he had failed to realise that in entering the

synagogue he had made a clean break with the Jesus who had

taught him to be good and to love.

Every morning the Jews say: "Blessed art Thou, Jehovah,

King of the World, because Thou hast not made me a 'goy'

(gentile), a slave or a woman." I asked him: "Do you accept

the belief that you are an inferior creature, lower than every

Jew, merely because you were born a Rumanian? What else

is this but racial prejudice? At the Feast of the Passover the

Jews stand up to pray to God : lShfoh hamotha al hagoim asher

lo iediuha, that is to say, 'Pour out Thy wrath over the peoples

that do not know Thee!' Do you agree with a prayer of

this kind? Is not Jesus's advice to His apostles superior, to

go to all people and preach the gospel, and in this way teach

them how to escape the wrath of God and to start a new life

in love?"

I also showed him the inconsistencies of the Jewish prayer

book. There were prayers used in the ritual on the great Day

of Atonement which had been inserted by Jews who believed

secretly in Jesus. They ask God that these prayers may be

received "al-iad Jeshu Metatron"—through Jesus standing

before the Throne. Metatron is the Kabalistic name for the

Messiah.

On the same day another prayer is offered up, which has

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 73

not yet been translated in any of the vernacular editions of

the Hebrew prayer books. This starts with the words "Az

milifnei beresit". The rabbis have good grounds for leaving

this prayer untranslated, because it says: "The Messiah, our

justification, has forsaken us. We are defeated, and there is

no one to bring us justice. He has been killed and pierced for

our sins. We have been healed by His wounds. The time for

the victory of the new creation is at hand. He ascendeth on high

in a chariot. He shines forth from Seir to hear us for a second

time on the mountains of Lebanon."

It is obvious that He who has been pierced for our sins, in

order that we should have forgiveness, capt be none other than

Jesus. The synagogue sings hymns of .adoration to Him,

although it rejects Him, in the same way as, some priests, while

singing of repentance in every liturgy, are furious if anyone

mentions repentance to them.

Gradually a light dawned in Petrescu's heart. He realised that

the Mosaic religion is of necessity a false religion, because it

is an autosoteric religion, that is to say, a religion in which

one's salvation depends on one's own exertions. Autosoterism

is lack of humility; neither sin nor salvation comes from us.

Men's fates have been determined a long time ago, and from a

long way away, and eternal life is a gift of God, just as sin comes

from Satan and is not an act of free will.

One Christmas Eve, when the candles were lit, Petrescu

said calmly: "Today, Jesus has been born in me, too."

Petrescu is unique: he is a pure Rumanian, and at the same

time a Christian Jew, seeing that he has come to Christianity

from Judaism. Later he also became chairman of the board of

trustees in our church. He is still a steadfast brother and a

faithful friend. He is married to a Christian Jewess.

One day I was preparing my sermon in a park; I was reading

the Bible, and a young girl beside me was also reading a book.

I tried to see what it was. It was a novel by a Rumanian author.

I said to her: "I have read your book, but do you know my

book?" Thus started a conversation which ended with the

young lady's conversion—and subsequently that of her mother.

I baptised the mother at the height of a violent bombing

74 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

attack. The girl is now married to Petrescu, and they are living

happily together.

Spurgeon says that when God closed the gates of Paradise,

He did not entirely close them; He left a small corner of it, a

truly Christian marriage. Their home is a corner of Paradise

just like that.

Holy Moishe

Let others praise their great intellectuals: I should like to

praise the fool whom God chose to shame the wise. .

Our brother Moishe was by trade a pall-bearer at funerals;

he suffered from a gentle form of madness, which was not

dangerous to others. At our meetings he would weep copiously,

and make an awful din when the preacher spoke of our

Saviour's sufferings, and laughed aloud when he spoke of His

victory.

The other believers in the congregation considered Moishe

a disturbing element. One of them promised him—he was very

poor—that if he would only keep quiet during the services, he

could come and dine at his house every Sunday, and enjoy

roast meat, cakes and fruit.

For one whole Sunday Moishe kept comparatively calm; but

the following week, when the preacher spoke of the Resurrection,

he stood up in the middle of the sermon and shouted: "Roast

or no roast, hallelujah!"

In 1939 an anti-Semite fired a shot at the Chief Rabbi

Niemerover. The intended victim was not hurt, the bullet

passing through his overcoat, but the excitement made him ill,

and he was forced to stay in bed. A great many Jews called

to congratulate him on his lucky escape. Among these was

Moishe. He said to the rabbi: "Don't you see, Your Eminence,

that God does not want sinners to die, but He wants them to

be converted and saved?"

He came to our house to dinner, and as we were about to

start he said to my wife: "Sister, will you please remove my

knife. I know that I am mad, and I have promised God never

to touch a knife, lest in an unguarded moment I should injure

someone. After all, Adam and Eve ate without using knives."

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 75

I reflected that a great many wise men had a lot to learn from

this madman.

In January 1940, a revolt took place in Bucharest led by

the Legion of the Archangel Michael, a Fascist organisation.

A great many Jews were killed; some of them were flayed, and

suspended on hooks in the slaughterhouse under the inscription

"Kosher Meat".

Moishe was sitting in a cheap teahouse when a gang of

Fascists burst in. Their leader shouted: "All dirty Jews clear

out!" The Jews went outside, where they were herded into

lorries, to be driven to the woods and shot. Moishe, who

was easily recognisable as a Jew, sat quietly drinking his tea.

The leader of the greenshirts shouted at him: "You dirty

Jew, didn't you hear me? I told you to get out!" Moishe

answered calmly: "Dear brother, dirty Jews are those who

do what Judas did—he sold Jesus. I am an Israelite who loves

our Saviour."—"Shut up and get outside!" So Moishe went

outside. The order rang out: "Into the lorry, you dirty Jew!"

Moishe repeated what he had said: "Dirty Jews are those

who do what Judas did—they sell Jesus. I am an Israelite who

loves Him." One of the leaders of the gang exclaimed: "Leave

him alone. You can see that he is a preacher." And they left

him in peace.

But Moishe, instead of departing, said to the man: "I can

see that you are good and merciful. God will reward you for

this. But don't stop at half measures; let the other Jews in

the lorry go home, too." Mad people often possess tremendous

powers of suggestion, and I believe that Moishe had this power,

but from another source. At any rate, the greenshirt ordered the

other Jews out of the lorry, and allowed them to go home.

Now Moishe was thoroughly scared; he went home and

remained in hiding throughout the time that the pogrom

lasted.

All the Jews he had saved told this story of Moishe to every-

one they met, and because he had vanished, and was believed

to be dead, he was referred to as "Holy Moishe".

He later suffered a tragic fate, dying of jaundice in a

concentration camp.

76 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Bertha

Christian missions have often been reproached for giving

material help to poor Jews, and in this way buying souls.

This is a difficult problem.

Many of the Jews lived in poverty, and our work was directed

especially to assisting these needy persons. How could we

avoid helping them materially? How could we avoid helping

Jewish refugees out of Hitler's Germany? It is written that

Jesus had compassion on the multitude. This compassion is

also a characteristic of His true followers. Jesus had compassion

on men and women because they were hungry, not only because

they were not saved. He was concerned with the problem of

feeding them. If we help a person and at the same time preach

the gospel to him, these two things will be associated in the

minds of onlookers, and of those who obtain relief. Jesus

encountered the same difficulty. He preached the new teaching,

but at the same time He gave bread to the poor and hungry.

The result of this was that many people came to Him only

to receive loaves and fishes, which He also gave them.

There is a very old Jewish legend about Abraham. One day he

invited a beggar into his tent. He wished to show him hospitality

and prepared a meal for him. But when he said grace, the

beggar began to curse God, declaring that he could not bear

to hear His name. The pious Abraham drove the beggar away;

he could not stand hearing anyone cursing his heavenly Friend

in his own tent. But God appeared to him, and said: "This

man has cursed me and reviled me for fifty years, and yet I

give him food to eat every day, and could you not show him

hospitality for one single day? You might at any rate have

waited to drive him out until after he had eaten."

If we must feed those who curse God, how much more

those who pretend they are worshipping Him! Also, it is very

difficult to be certain whether a man is pretending, or whether

he is really a believer.

In Jesus's well-known parable the prodigal son returned

to his father for material reasons, and yet he was received with

the greatest love.

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 77

Truth is weak; it has never triumphed unless it has been

able to offer material advantages, unless it has dressed itself in

beautiful apparel, and unless it has been able to make an appeal

to the emotions.

Old Simeon said of Jesus: "This child is set for the fall and

rising again of many in Israel" (Luke 2.34), in other words not

only for raising up but also for a fall.

Some Jews who were shown Christian charity in the form

of material assistance, were thereby raised to unexpected heights

of belief. Such was Bertha.

One might say of Bertha what Disraeli once said when he

was reproached for having married for money: "Yes, when

I married I knew so little about my wife that I would not have

taken her without her money. But now that I know her so well,

I would be willing to marry her even if she were poor."

Other Jews, on the other hand, have suffered a disastrous

fall as a result of material help, which brought a corruption to

their souls from which they have never been able to recover.

A certain sculptor who was profoundly moved by stories

of the first Christian martyrs had made up his mind to create

works of art which would immortalise the Christians who

had been thrown to the wild beasts. He sculpted a young man

and a young woman—the man holding a cross in his hand—

and then started to work on a lion, crouched ready to hurl

himself at the two figures.

One day he called his friends to his studio to show them

his work. The lion was still only an unshaped lump of clay.

One of his friends said: "You are a poor man. How can

you sell this work? There are many artists who make sculptures

like this, and no Jew would buy a work of art with a cross

in it. Remove the cross, and replace it with a key. The key

is a holy symbol in many religions. It might remind you of the

keys of St. Peter, but it is also a holy symbol for spiritualists

and other occultists. This will make it easier for you to find a

buyer."

And so the sculptor changed the cross into a key.

Then a wealthy American walked into his studio and ex-

claimed: "What a magnificent work of art! It symbolises

78 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

thrift. The little lump of clay might represent a money-safe,

and the young man with the key teaches people to be thrifty

in spending their money. I will give you a thousand dollars

for this work."

In this way a sculpture which was originally intended to extol

martyrdom was transformed into a work in honour of money.

There are many souls who are inspired at first with the

love of Jesus, but as they are poor and receive material aid,

the picture of the Master is gradually blotted out. What really

concerns them is how much help they can get, and where they

can get it, and above all, whether anyone else has received

more than they have.

But this only happens to some.

Bertha openly confessed that, to start with, she came to

us because she was attracted by the rumour that we helped

poor Jews. But after she believed in Jesus with all her heart,

she never again appealed to us for help, although she was

very poor.

She was married to a German citizen, who was half-Jewish.

He was not converted. They had three sons. In 1943 the

German legation in Rumania published an order to the

effect that all German citizens were to be repatriated. She

stayed behind in Rumania. He and their three children,

who according to the racial thinking at that time suffered

the great tragedy of being three-quarters Jewish, made their

way to Germany.

In Germany an informer revealed that the husband was

not only half-Jewish, but was even married to a Jewess, and

that his children therefore had mostly Jewish blood in their

veins, and only a drop of Siegfried's blood.

They were all imprisoned by the Gestapo, and over their

head hung the threat of the death camp. In order to save

his life, the man told a lie, declaring that his wife was

Rumanian. The German police offered him the chance of

writing home to ask the authorities to forward documents

to show that his wife was of Aryan extraction. If this could

be proved, the children would be three-quarters Aryan, and

they would be saved.

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 79

In those days in Rumania, everything could be arranged

with the help of money. Bertha's family obtained papers showing

she was of pure Aryan blood—more Aryan than Hitler, whose

origins, according to rumour, were a little mixed.

I was in her home when her relatives brought her the

false documents which would save her husband and three

children from the gas chambers of Auschwitz, and I witnessed

a scene which I shall remember to my dying day. She tore

the false documents to pieces and declared: "Abraham was

willing to sacrifice one child to God; I shall sacrifice three

children and a husband, but I refuse to tell a lie!"

She had no further news of her husband and children.

Meister Eckhardt wrote that he who leaves behind things

in the form in which they exist—empty, haphazard—will

receive them back in their pure essence, in the eternal essence.

He who leaves things in their lowest form, in which they

are mortal, will receive them back from God in their true

form. Bertha will have her family restored to her in glory.

Bertha will never know how magnificent was her gesture:

she is a humble sister. The brethren do not know of her

sacrifice, because she has not breathed a word of it to them.

And, what is more, when she discussed with the brethren

the case of someone who had obtained false documents in

order to escape persecution, she declared: "Let us not judge

him ! Every man must follow his own conscience."

Did Bertha do right or wrong? She judges no one, and in

this way she is raised above the judgement of men.

This raises the question of whether we should always speak

the truth.

Christian writings from the fourth century record the

lives and meditations of the first generations of monks. These

monks lived in the desert of the Thebaid, where they had

fled from the corruption which entered the Church when

Christianity became the recognised religion. In this book we

read that one day Father Agathon asked Father Alonie:

"How shall I contrive to keep my tongue from telling lies?"

The answer was: "If you do not lie you will commit many

sins." So he asked him: "How is this possible?" And he

8o CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

answered: "Lo, two men have committed a murder before

your eyes, and one of them has taken refuge in your cell.

Then comes the judge, seeking him, and he asks you: 'Was

a murder committed before your eyes?' If you do not lie you

will condemn a man to death. It is better that you should let

him be judged by God, since He knows everything."

Luther says that to lie to protect someone else or in jest

is not a lie. For myself, I believe that there is a confusion

between the concept of a lie and an untruth. Faust, Othello

and Parsifal are not the truth, but neither are they lies;

they are art. The fairy stories we tell our children, or the

jokes we tell grown-ups to amuse them, are not lies. They

belong to an entirely different sphere, the realm of fantasy

and play. Is it a lie to tell an untruth in order to save the life,

honour or property of an innocent person who is being hounded

by an executioner who persecutes truth and purity? Should

we give such an unpleasant name to an action which springs

from love?

A lie is the untruth I speak in order to injure my neighbour.

"Love and do what you will," says Augustine. Is good better

than truth; and an untruth that saves a life is better than a

truth that destroys it. In the dictatorial, anti-Christian countries,

this is an everyday and acute problem for believers.

But what about Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac? There is

a sphere of sanctity where our practical judgements lose their

power.

I wonder if truth could have survived in the many laby-

rinths of life if, here and there, there had not lived anonymous

heroes of the calibre of Bertha, who sacrificed all they held

dear for the sake of truth? I have often heard superficial

sermons, in which the preacher asked: "What would you

lose if you became a Christian? Only the brandy bottle, your

clothes, the stick with which you beat your wife, your name

and reputation, your bad conscience, or the hell that exists

in your home!" No, there are people who for the sake of

their Christian convinction are prepared to lose their fortune,

their freedom, their health, and even the persons they love

most on earth!

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 8l

A witness in our family

My wife comes from an orthodox Jewish family. After

she was converted, she was unable to sleep at night for the

thought of her parents, who were pious Jews. We travelled

to Cernauti in order to talk to them, and we arrived on Friday

evening, the start of the Jewish Sabbath.

The table was set for the ritual feast; the candles had been

lit. The three sisters, who were younger than my wife, and

my little brother-in-law who was only eight years old, looked

at us respectfully. The parents' delight was unbounded; after

all, I was the husband of their eldest daughter.

My father-in-law rose to his feet and recited the Kidush,

the blessing of the wine. He was very surprised when he

noticed me—whom he knew to be an atheist—joining in

singing the old prayer based on Genesis 2.1-3: "Thus the

heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had

made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work

which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day,

and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his

work which God created and made. Blessed art Thou,

Jehovah, King of the World, that hast created the fruit of

the vine."

After this, the bread was blessed, and the meal started.

When it was over, and only the candles cast their shadows

on the walls, I began to say: "It is written that God com-

pleted His work on the seventh day; and it is written again

that on the seventh day God rested. What was it that was not

perfect in all that had been created in the six days? What did

God complete on the seventh? How did He complete it while

He was resting?

"What He created in six days was not complete. Man

still needed one thing: rest. God created this on the seventh

day, and in this way He filled His world with His own rest.

"The Law of Moses may be compared to the first six

days of the Creation. The Law contains six hundred and

thirteen commandments, which do not give us rest, but

82 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

which torment our conscience. We are constantly trans-

gressing the Law. Who can maintain that he has kept at least

two commandments: to love God with all his heart and all

his soul and all his might and to love his neighbour as

himself? The Law cannot be kept. It is only a mirror in

which we see our own sinfulness, and how impossible it is

for us as human beings to live apart from God, the God

whose laws are just and holy and which have become a burden

which we, sinners, cannot bear.

"In the old days the Jews could not be saved by keeping

the Law—all the great men in the Bible describe how they

themselves have often transgressed it—but by the sacrifice

of atonement which was made in the temple. There was no

forgiveness of sins without bloodshed. Sin was transferred,

by the laying on of hands, to an innocent animal which

symbolically represented the sacrifice which the future Messiah

would make by His death for the sins of man. By slaughtering

the animal the Jews appeased their conscience ; it was brought

as a sacrifice for their transgressions of the Law. But now

we have neither a temple nor a sacrifice. How, then, can we

be saved?"

My father-in-law answered: "The rabbis have taught us

that if we recite daily a chapter of the Law of Moses dealing

with sacrifice, God will count this as though we ourselves had

made the sacrifice.

I answered: "I know that. One day a Christian walked

into the shop of a very orthodox Jew, and started to talk to

him on the subject we have just been discussing, the sacrifice,

and he got the same answer as you have given me. This man

did not continue the argument, but said: 'Every man should

hold to his own convictions. I have not come here to discuss

religion, but to buy goods.' And he asked for three shirts,

six pairs of socks, a dozen handkerchiefs, and various other

articles. Finally he asked the shopkeeper to give him a bill

specifying all that he had purchased. The shopkeeper, who

was delighted to have done such good business, wrote out a

bill, and wrapped the purchases. The Christian, read the bill

aloud, took the parcel in his hand, and walked out of the shop.

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 83

The shopkeeper called after him: 'You have forgotten to pay!'

The customer answered: 'Didn't I read the bill to you?' 'Yes,

but you never paid.' To which the customer replied: 'Is'nt

reading the bill the same as paying it?'

"If we reduce this to its purely practical meaning, we may

say that the merchant was not satisfied with precisely the

same approach as he used in his religion. The sacrifice must

be made; reading about it is not enough."

I spoke with my father-in-law about .the Messianic

prophecies, which were fulfilled in Jesus. But acts speak more-

eloquently than verses in the Bible. The Jews are God's

chosen people, chosen to bring the Light of God into the

world. Millions of people who in ancient times worshipped

Zeus, Jupiter, Wotan or other idols, today worship the true

God, and regard the books written by our great prophets as

their holy book. Who has raised the nations out of polytheism,

and converted them to the worship of the only just, good

God, the God of Israel, who demands a moral life? Jesus!

Through Him the Messianic vocation with which our people

had been entrusted was fufilled. Through Jesus's sufferings,

crucifixion, and resurrection on the third day, through His

life and death as a servant of God, through His existence as

a man of suffering, as Isaiah had foretold, He has caused

mankind to give their hearts to our God, and caused those

who believed in a Saviour who died and rose again, whether

they called him Adonis, Osiris, Dionysus or Heracles, to know

the fulfilment in history of these ancient myths.

Jesus is the King of the Jews, the Messiah of Israel.

I told the children a great many other stories, and they

listened to me with the deepest respect. My father-in-law

became pensive. That evening my mother-in-law knelt in

prayer with us.

The children began attending Christian meetings regularly;

not long afterwards they embraced the faith. The old man was

ashamed of being seen at a meeting, but as the time to go

came nearer, he would call out in a loud voice that re-echoed

through the house: "Hurry, hurry! Everyone gets there in

time; my daughters are the only ones who are late!"

84 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

My little brother-in-law, who was receiving religious

instruction from a great rabbi, resisted stubbornly. I have

often been forced to wonder at the independence of thought

and action shown by Jewish children when they are small.

They are living examples of Blaise Pascal's remark: "Man

is born as an original, and dies as a copy."

Converting anti-Semites

The community of Christian Jews was the very place where

a great many anti-Semitic persons found Christ, during the

period when Nazism reigned.

One anti-Semite who attended our church took part in the

ill-treatment of a number of Jews on his way to a meeting;

he had not been told by the person who had invited him that

a Jew was going to preach. He became converted that very

Sunday. He has never since that day struck a Jew.

Once, when a Rumanian sister brought another anti-Semite

to our meeting, I preached a sermon based on Jesus's saying:

"I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

(Matt. 15.24). It was a sermon meant to call the Jews to

conversion; so I quoted biblical texts which aimed to prove

that the gospel is first and foremost a message addressed to

the Jews: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into

any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the

lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 10.5-6) "Repentance

and remission of sins should be preached in his name among

all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24.47). "The

gospel of Christ ... is the power of God unto salvation to

every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the

Greek" (Rom. 1.16).

When the meeting was over, the sister reproached me

bitterly: "You know very well that we often bring to our

meetings people who are not Jews, and who usually hate you.

Why do you preach like that? The Rumanians would be

offended by your sermons, which are too pro-Jewish."

Our anti-Semitic friend went home after the meeting, and

argued to himself as follows: "Did you hear what the Bible

says? The Jew first, and then the other nations. But where

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 85

does the hater of the Jews come in? Nowhere." He gave up

his anti-Semitism, as well as his other sins, and was converted.

He became an enthusiastic fisher of men, and a true friend of

Jews and Hebrew Christians.

The Jews were often offended at the warmth and love

with which we treated those who hated Jews; they were

shocked, and often left our meetings when they heard us

praying openly for the anti-Jewish authorities. They were

angry because we maintained good relations with anti-Semitic

clergymen and laymen.

Pope Gregory VII once said: "Just as a spiritual thing

cannot be seen except through its earthly being, and just

as the soul cannot function without a body, so religion cannot

work without a Church. But if the Church has a body, then it

also has its sins and weaknesses." Anti-Semitism is one of

the many weaknesses suffered by the body of the Church;

but it is not an isolated phenomenon. It has its diametric

opposite: Jewish chauvinism and contempt for Christian

people and for Christian Jews.

We must tolerate the weaknesses of the weak, and endeavour

to cure them with love: In some cases we have succeeded

in doing this. We believe that love can triumph over hatred.

Confucius wrote: "I have seen a man trying to put out a

great fire with a cup of water. He failed, and concluded that

water does not extinguish fire. The fool! A cup of water

cannot extinguish a fire, but a great deal of water can."

The drop of love which we possess cannot extinguish

evil in this world, but a great deal of love will do so. In

any case, we do not believe that there is any sense in being

angry with the stick from which you receive your blows.

Be indignant with the man who wields the stick. Your

enemy is driven by hatred; hatred must be hated, but not

the man.

There are reasons why people turn against the Jews; one

of these reasons is to be found in the sins of which Jews,

like other nations, are guilty. There are undoubtedly many

more reasons, which have their source in the evils of the

anti-Semite's heart. We need understanding, and must try as

86 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

far as possible to remove the causes, but we must not hate the

anti-Semites.

In many cases I have seen that it is sufficient for a

number of Jew-haters to encounter Jews who are devout

Christians, for their anti-Semitism to disappear as though it

had never existed.

How many of us are personally prepared to subscribe to

the old saying that an enemy is a treasure that has fallen

from heaven? We must care for him as a means to aid our

own spiritual progress. Without anti-Semitism, the state

of Israel would never have come into being; Theodore Herzl,

the founder of Zionism, was aware of this. Without anti-

Semitism, the Jewish Christians would never have had an

opportunity of practising the valuable virtues of patience and

love of one's enemies. Our enemies are our benefactors. They

are in truth only their own enemies, because they are preparing

their own hell.

As far as the slaughtered and tortured members of our

people are concerned, we are every bit as distressed at losing

them as other Jews are ; but our sorrow is appeased by the hope

of resurrection and the hope that in the Kingdom of God

all injustices will be made good.

Christ's martyrs among the Jewish people

I have said something about Feinstein, who in his death

testified to his faith. I believe that in the better world to

which he went, he is still interested in me and in the work

which he set on foot. How else am I to explain the remark-

able coincidence that on two occasions before I was sentenced

to protracted terms of imprisonment, I preached on the

Sunday prior to my arrest in Jassy of all places, from the

pulpit where he had preached; and I lived in the house which

was still permeated by his spirit, and received strength from

his example? I must now mention other Jews who in their

love of Jesus set little store by their lives.

The first of these was Vladimir Davidmann. He was the

son of a rabbi in Balti. It was intended that he should follow

in his father's footsteps, and become a teacher in Israel.

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 87

Being indifferent, as are most Christian Jews, about the

conflicts between the various Christian confessions—which

arose at the time when the Jews were not yet incorporated

in the Church, and which they consider they would be better

advised not to participate in, unless they can bring about

conciliation—he joined the Greek Orthodox Church, at that

time the dominant one in Rumania. Such was the nature

of his soul that he would have felt equally at home in the

Lutheran Church, or among the Baptists, because he was

attracted by the essence of Christianity, and not by its con-

ditioned history. He regarded the principles separating the

various confessions as a disguise to conceal pride, material

and political interests, and personal ambitions, which are the

real sources of schism.

From his earliest years he had been taught to read aloud

the long and daily prayers of the Jews, in which the thirteen

articles of faith of the Mosaic belief are pronounced. One

of them runs: "I believe in perfect faith that all the words

of the prophets are true." But he noticed that some of these

words, which according to this pronouncement were supposed

to be true, were concealed from him, for instance the fifty-

third chapter of Isaiah. Vladimir's teacher ignored this passage,

but Vladimir himself read it, realising that the prophecies

concealed a mystery.

One day, out of curiosity, he entered the Greek Orthodox

cathedral in the town. The magnificent service made a deep

impression on him, and he repeated his visit. First of all he

pondered these things, and later on he realised that there

was a connection between the service he had witnessed in the

church and the fact that the Jews suppressed some of the

texts in the Scripture, and he was convinced that the promised

Messiah had come. Jesus was that Messiah.

Not surprisingly, the rumour spread in the town that

the young Jew with ringlets and a kaftan was often to be

seen in the Greek Orthodox church. When he refused to

obey his family's demand that he should put an end to this

"aberration", his father kept him locked up in the house

for six months. As soon as he was released, he sought contact

88 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

with the priests, left home with nothing but the clothes he

was wearing, and made his way to the monastery at Dobrovät.

Here he was baptised. On the day he was to be baptised,

he was lying in bed suffering from pneumonia. Nevertheless,

he went through with the ceremony, and emerged from the

cold baptismal water completely restored.

His parents, who had made great efforts to locate him,

discovered his hiding-place. They abducted him from the

monastery, and brought him back home. Several orthodox

rabbis were gathered in the house, and they decided to

punish the "traitor" with death. But that very night thieves

broke into the house of the Rabbi Davidmann. In the ensuing

confusion, Vladimir managed to escape. He made his way

to the monastery of Neamtul in Moldavia.

One day, as he was walking near the monastery, his young

brother, a fanatic, who had tracked him down, attacked and

wounded him.

When he had recovered, he made his way to Bucharest,

so that his family should be unable to trace him. Here he

was admitted to a school where he was to learn church music,

subsequently continuing his studies in Cernauti.

In 1937 he was on his way to this town to take his final

exam. In the train he was reading a book of prayers, while

his travelling companions were discussing various worldly

matters. They noticed that he was reading a prayer book,

and occasionally making the sign of the Cross, and they began

to mock him. Thereupon Vladimir knelt down, and started

to read the prayer book from the first page, this time aloud.

The mockers were silenced. When he had finished, they

apologised for their behaviour, and asked him, as a sign that

he had forgiven them, to read the whole prayer again.

The night after his arrival in Cernauti he had a dream,

in which he saw a desolate landscape filled with repulsive

animals. He was riding on the back of one of these animals.

In the face of another monster he recognised an uncle, who

bit him with all his^1 might. Suddenly he saw a saint, dressed

in shining ecclesiastical robes, descending a luminous ladder.

He recognised him as St. Seraphim, whose ikon he had seen

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 89

in the monastery. In his hand the saint held a chalice, on

which were the words "Consuming Fire", inscribed in Yiddish.

Flames poured out of the chalice, filling the air. Then the

vision vanished, and Vladimir saw nothing but a beautiful

green meadow. When he awoke, he wrote a letter to an

acquaintance in Bucharest, in which he recounted what had

happened on his journey, and described his dream.

The next day, Vladimir was shot and mortally wounded

by his uncle who was inflamed by religious fanaticism. He

lived for only a few hours. The matter was widely reported

in the newspapers. But the system of "hush money" was

firmly established in Rumania in those days: the authorities

and the press were bribed, and no one was punished.

The death of Vladimir Davidmann was not without its

fruits: as he lay dying he was nursed by his sister, a girl

of about seventeen. She was converted when she saw her

brother's steadfastness in the faith, while dying the death

of a martyr. She, too, was baptised into the Greek Orthodox

Church.

She figured in an unusual episode which deserves to be

mentioned.

When the German-Rumanian troops occupied .Cernauti

in 1941, this girl, together with thousands of other Jews,

was deported to Kamentz-Podolsk in the Ukraine. Suddenly,

S S troops arrived on the scene and set about massacring

the whole camp. But killing ten thousand people is no easy

task: graves had to be dug, and the bodies of the murdered

Jews had to be buried by those who were awaiting their turn

to be killed. This took two or three days, and Maria

Davidmann, with the others, was awaiting her turn. Un-

expectedly, a German officer came up to her, and without

any preamble asked her: "Are you a Christian?" Astonished,

she answered that she was. The officer then told her: "You

are not going to die. Follow me." At the risk of his own life,

this officer took her back to Cernauti, thus saving her from

an almost certain death.

It is probable that a German soldier, a Christian, who

was on duty at the time, heard her talking about Jesus to

9-O CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

the other Jews who were waiting to be slaughtered. As she

was speaking fn Yiddish—a language which is akin to German,

and which Germans can understand—he would have realised

that she was a disciple of Jesus. He must have reported this

secretly to his commanding officer, whom he knew to be

a Christian (I also have met a Gestapo officer who was a

child of God), and this man made up his mind to save her,

even at the risk of his own life.

From Cernauti Maria was taken to Bucharest—far from the

theatre of war—where she was safe.

I have often talked to her. She was a simple Christian,

not remarkable for any special gift of grace or virtue. Most

clergymen would have regarded her as one of the weaker

vessels. I have often wondered why God performed this

miracle for her. Could it have been for the sake of her brother?

The apostle Paul writes that in his day the Jews, who were

not even weak Christians but the enemies of the gospel,

were loved for the sake of their forefathers, who had lived

two thousand years before their time - Abraham, Isaac and

Jacob. Is it possible that today, too, there are those who

are loved and predestined by God to fulfil a special purpose,

for the sake of a relative or a close friend who was strong

in the faith? In the gospel we read that Jesus healed a man

sick of the palsy, not for his own sake, but for the sake of

the faith of his friends, who had carried him on a bed and

placed him before the Saviour. Should we not learn to believe

and love greatly for those who cannot do so? Theirs would

be a great blessing.

But Feinstein and Davidmann were not the only ones:

the Christian Jews had several martyrs. In Chishinau there

lived a group who were very active. Their leaders, the

engineer Tarlev,- Trachtmann and Schmil Ordienski, were

deported to Siberia because of their faith when the Russians

arrived in Bessarabia in 1940, and there they were killed.

In the hope that it may serve as a lesson to others, I will

mention that this group lived in a state of acute conflict

with the Baptist Church in the same town, a conflict which

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST ÇI

was based on purely personal grounds. The passions aroused

in the leaders acerbated the conflict to the extent that members

of the two groups would cut one another in the street. But

in Siberia, leaders of the Jewish Christian group died side by

side with the pastor of the Baptist congregation in Chishinau,

Bushilä, for their faith. Why do we have to wait for the enemy

to make us see reason?

I remember young Friedmann, a Christian Jew from Jassy,

who was killed in the pogrom. The Jews were herded into

a cattle truck, which was bursting at the seams. Friedmann

peeped out through a little window, and someone on the

platform who happened to catch sight of him told us later

that his face shone like an angel's. A German soldier fired at

him, and mortally wounded him.

During the war, Jews were forbidden to travel. It was

not until later that I was allowed to make my way to Jassy

to reorganise the Christian Jewish community there, which

after the pogrom consisted only of women. On this occasion

I visited Friedmann's mother. I tried to comfort her, and

to tell her of Jesus. It proved impossible. Her husband and

all her four sons had been killed on one and the same day

by people who called themselves Christians. Her heart was

like a stone.

God, who inspired the author of Exodus to write: "And

Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened

not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage"

(Exod. 6.9), and also inspired Job to exclaim: "Oh that

my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid

in the balances together! For now it would be heavier than

the sand of the sea" (Job. 6.2-3), would also find an excuse

for this woman, whose heart had been completely hardened.

She had but one answer to everything: "If God existed,

then he would have restored at least one of my five dear ones

to me."

I could not persist, but withdrew, in deference to this

unspeakable sorrow.

Shall I tell the story of Marica? When the Kallai govern-

92 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

ment ordered the deportation of Hungarian Jews to the

death camps of Auschwitz, Treblinka and elsewhere, ex-

ceptions were made of Christian Jews who had been born

to baptised parents. Marica, who had studied theology at the

Reformed Faculty, was one of these. But she withheld the

secret of her birth, which would have given her this privilege,

and voluntarily reported at the assembly point from which

the Jews were to be deported. She wished to accompany

the others to the death camp, so that right to the end she

could bear witness of her faith to the victims of anti-Semitic

persecution, and then die with other members of her race.

Marica was one of the few who survived Auschwitz. Together

with other women survivors she made her way through

Bucharest en route for Israel. They called her "Saint Marica".

In Israel, the unavoidable psychological reaction after the

strain of such a heroic deed followed. The Bible does not

tell us what happened to the three young men after they

left the fiery furnace. It is better so. But God is not unjust,

and has not forgotten her sacrifice. A simple understanding

of the laws of psychology would have saved her from much

depression.

Christian peasants from Cetatea Alba, who were forced

to stand by and watch, helpless and in tears, while SS troops

executed Jews from this town, have described how a young

Jewess, hitherto unknown to them, called out to other Jews

as they faced the firing-squad: "We are expiating the sin of

not receiving Jesus, the true Messiah of bur race. But believe

in Him and you will awake happy in His paradise."

There are many Christian Jews who suffered imprisonment

for their faith. Pastor Milan Haimovici was imprisoned for

many years under the Communist regime because of his faith,

and those who were imprisoned with him, including anti-

Semites, had only words of praise for him, calling him a

hero. When he was released he was met with indifference,

and even hatred, by his colleagues, for whose sake he had

even suffered the torture of having his feet placed on glowing

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 93

coals, but without informing against them. His martyrdom

was disparaged even by those who preferred not to suffer

for Jesus, but this only makes his suffering all the more

glorious.

It would of course be impossible for me to mention every-

one. Suzana Golder was arrested when she was only seventeen

because she preached the Word of God to some Fascists,

who promptly took her off to their headquarters. The com-

manding officer started his interrogation by giving her a

violent blow across the face. She immediately turned her

other cheek, and asked: "Won't you hit me again?"—"What

sort of question is that?" the officer asked. She replied:

"Jesus, whom you say you worship, commanded that when

a man strikes you on one cheek, you shall turn the other."

The man who had struck her was so astonished that he

immediately ordered her to be set free.

This is not the only incident of this nature. Another

Christian Jew, Bianca, was forced to undergo great suffering

because she distributed the gospel to some Russian soldiers.

It would be unjust not to remember Rumanian brothers and

sisters, whose names cannot for obvious reasons be mentioned

at the present time, who spent years in prison because they

had faithfully helped the Christian Mission to the Jews.

Countless young Christian Jews were ill-treated by their parents

on account of their Christian faith.

Generally speaking, Christian Jews are forced to suffer a

great deal. They suffer at the hands of some of their own people,

who do not understand them. They are forced to suffer at

the hands of the "Christian" anti-Semites, in whose eyes they

are, and will always remain, "dirty Jews"; and they suffer at

the hands of the atheists.

Hebrew Christians are often humiliated by their co-

nationals, but this should not surprise us in view of the

attitude that so-called Christians, with their disgusting anti-

Semitism, have stirred up in the souls of the Jews. The most

important anti-Semitic organisations in Rumania were named

94 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

the Legion of the Archangel Michael (despite the fact that

in the Bible the Archangel is referred to, in Daniel, Chapter 12,

as the protector of the children of Jewish people) and the

National Christian Defence League.

I asked one of the leaders of an organisation of this kind

what he meant by the word Christian. His definition was:

"Being a Christian means being against the dirty Jews." And

this man was against the Jews not only in word but also in

deeds, with his stick. It is not surprising, therefore, that at .

the opposite pole, the idea has arisen that being a Jew means

being opposed to Christianity.

The human mind is perverted by noxious complexes of

many kinds, and we Christian Jews, who stand at the cross-

roads where many a violent storm rages, are compelled to suffer

at the hands of many people.

But is this suffering not for our own good?

St. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote of the Christian Church in

the fourth century, which was liberated by Constantine the

Great: "We have lost the greatness and the strength we had

during our persecution and troubles."

Jerome wrote in similar terms: "From the time of the

coming of the Saviour until now, that is to say, from the

time of the Apostles up to the present, the congregation of

Christ, after being born and growing, became great during

its persecutions and was crowned with martyrdom. But since

the Christians have become strong, this congregation has in

truth increased because of its tradition and wealth, but has

decreased in virtue."

I am convinced that the humble position of the Christian

Jews is ordained by God. Through many tribulations they

are prepared, not only to enter into God's kingdom, but

also to play a leading role in the work of establishing it. The

Apostle Paul tells us that the receiving of the Jews, their

conversion to Jesus, will be life from the dead (Rom. n.15).

If carrying a heavy cross today did not mean preparation for

future glory, our good Lord would not allow us to endure

so much suffering.

Might it not be true that many Christians in the western

JEWS WHO WITNESSED FOR CHRIST 95

world are no longer persecuted because they no longer frighten

Satan, because they are unfaithful to Jesus? The Christian

Jews should be grateful to God for persecution and for the

martyrs they have fostered in so many parts of the world.

One Christian Jew, the well-known professor of theology,

Neander, has written: "Oh, what soft-minded and weak

witnesses, with what cold feelings, we are, who nevertheless

still call ourselves Christians! We must feel ashamed when

we remember the days of Ignatius and Polycarp [Christian

martyrs of the second century who were devoured by lions]

and others, and we shall wish that we had died a thousand

times for Christ. Most of us, even the greatest theologians,

are very different from the martyrs. We do not like to be

looked at askance, we push aside any difficulty we may have

with regard to the truth, and yet we are people of reputation

and great theologians, but only in words—not in deed."

God grant that both the Christian Jews and the Gentile

Christians will take these reproaches to heart, and openly

condemn the crimes of this world, at the risk of having to

suffer the martyr's death!

We are proud that among the Jews, too, the blood of

martyrs has been shed for the sake of Jesus. Let us learn from

these our noble pioneers to carry our cross, and to carry it

with joy!

ARGUMENTS FOR THE

RESURRECTION

Encounter on a Train

The year was 1939. I was travelling by train from Cernauti

to Bucharest, and on the seat opposite sat a renowned rabbi

from Cernauti. When he saw me reading the Bible, he asked

me who I was.

"A Christian Jew," I told him.

He was highly astonished. "If you are a Jew, why did you

become a Christian?"

"Because I believe that Jesus is the Saviour."

"But, young man, how can you maintain anything of the

kind? What makes you believe that Jesus was our Messiah?"

"In this Bible there are many proofs, and I can't reel them

all off at once for you in the train. But there is one proof

above all others: His resurrection. If Jesus had been a deceiver,

or a man who deluded himself, God would not have performed

the miracle of raising Him from the dead."

"I can see that you are a grown man. However can you

believe that nonsense, that Jesus rose from the dead?"

"Rabbi, the proofs of Jesus's resurrection are so convincing

that if you promise to listen calmly to me for twenty minutes,

then I promise you that you too wül believe in His resurrection

from the dead."

"I should like to see that happening, a young man con-

vincing a rabbi that Jesus rose from the dead. Go ahead,

young man, I'll give you twenty minutes."

Here are some of the main arguments I quoted to the

rabbi.

96

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION 97

"What is the source of our knowledge of ancient history?

The historians of their age, among them men like Homer,

Herodotus and Julius Caesar. What is the source of our

knowledge of the doings of Jesus? Contemporary historians:

their names are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and so

on. Why should we believe some historians and not others?

"Our intelligence should behave like an impartial court

of law, carefully and competently weighing the statements

of witnesses. In evaluating evidence we must consider not

only what the witness says, but also his character and his

trustworthiness. The credibility of the historians who described

the life of Jesus is undoubtedly much greater than that of

other historians. For who were the latter? Generally, they

were paid to write by a royal personage, and their aim was

not to make known the truth. They desired to flatter their

master, their people, or the social class to which they belonged.

By contrast, the historians who wrote the Gospels are of

an entirely different stature. They risked loss of liberty

and death for what they wrote. Matthew died as a martyr

in Abyssinia, John was condemned to slave labour on the

island of Patmos, and Paul was beheaded in Rome. Peter

was crucified head downwards. No impartial court would

lightly dismiss the evidence of witnesses ready to suffer

such hardships for what they assert. All of them declare

unanimously that they were convinced by seeing, hearing

and touching, of the reality of Jesus's resurrection from the

dead."

The rabbi attempted to interrupt. I reminded him that he

had promised to let me have my say.

"I know that this argument can be contradicted. What

the other historians relate are things that can easily be

understood and believed. They write about wars, court

intrigues, kings' favourites, plots, murder, things that happen

even today, whereas the writers of the Gospels tell us of

things that run counter to our human experience. Among

other things, they write about a virgin birth, of the healing

of lepers by a simple touch, of walking on the water, of the

feeding of a great multitude with a few loaves, of men rising

ç8 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

from the dead, and finally of Jesus's own resurrection, which

was followed by His ascension into heaven. All these things

come into the category of miracles, whereas we are modern

people who no longer believe in miracles."

Tradition tells us that Jesus spoke from the time of His

birth. This has been regarded by rationalists as pure fantasy.

Had this conversation taken place thirty years later, I could

have told the rabbi that in the 1960s, papers all over the

world reported that a child had been born in Yugoslavia

which spoke and answered questions from the day it was

born. The evangelists were cautious men, and anxious not

to make the gospel difficult to understand, and they did

not record whether Jesus spoke from His birth. How people

would have mocked the Gospels if they had written this!

But today an event that is so unusual in the natural order

of things has taken place before our very eyes.

In 1963 the newspapers reported that a French boy of

about sixteen, when his abdomen was opened up, was found

to be "pregnant". What should have been his twin had

developed inside his body. How the rationalists would have

laughed if the evangelists had written that a man had been

pregnant !

"As to the miracles that Jesus performed," I told the

rabbi, "they occurred in the sphere of the exceptional, whose

existence cannot be denied. In everyday life it is not only

ordinary things that occur. A man who does not believe in

miracles is not a realist.

"Furthermore, men consider as miracles things which a

person with greater than average intelligence or muscular

power can do, and which a weak person with an ordinary

intelligence is incapable of doing. Missionaries who have

worked among primitive tribes record that the savages regard

them as miracle-workers; and this is not surprising, since

primitive people spend hours rubbing two pieces of wood

together in order to produce a spark, whereas the missionary

knows how to produce fire from a box of matches. He can

even make stinking water burn. How is the savage to know

that this stinking water is petrol? The writer Pearl Buck

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION 99

tells us that when she told peasant women in backward parts

of China that in England there were houses built on top

of one another, and that carriages moved through the streets

without being drawn by horses, one of the women whispered:

'What a lie! That sort of thing is impossible.' With sixty

Spaniards under his command, Cortez conquered the powerful

Aztec kingdom, because he appeared to the people he conquered

to be a miracle-maker. In the first place; the very appearance

of the Spaniards was miraculous. Never before had the Aztecs

seen white men. Secondly, the newcomers possessed miraculous

things which the Aztecs had never seen before, horses and

firearms. And so a huge kingdom fell into the hands of a few

adventurers without a struggle.

"Jesus had a spiritual force such as no other person has

ever possessed. It is not surprising that He was capable of

performing miracles. Being exceptional, He could do unique

things, which would have been impossible for ordinary

men. ,

"It is foolish to be prejudiced, and declare that miracles

are impossible, and to reject them without carefully examining

the evidence of people as trustworthy as the apostles. Rabbi,

you cannot avoid miracles. Either you can believe in Jesus's

miraculous resurrection from the dead, or you have to believe

in another miracle which is still greater—namely, that an

effect exists without a cause, because if Jesus did not rise

from the dead, the existence of the universal Church would

be such a miraculous happening.

"Let us see how things stand: Jesus wrote no book, nor,

while He lived on earth, did He establish anything but a

very insignificant sect within Judaism, a sect consisting of

a few people who were unlearned, and who were not con-

sidered reputable citizens—sinful men, publicans and fallen

women. Finally, one of his closest followers betrayed Him,

another denied Him, and the others deserted Him. He died

on a cross, abandoned, and apparently despairing, because

as He hung on the cross He cried out: 'My God, my God,

why hast thou forsaken me?' After His death He was buried,

a large stone was placed in front of His sepulchre, and guards

IOO CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

were posted. Meanwhile, His former disciples remained in

hiding, behind locked doors, and their only concern was to

escape a death similar to that of their Master. This was how

Jesus's life on earth ended. If Jesus did not rise, how has

the Christian Church come into being?

"We have an explanation. On the third day, Jesus came

back to life from the dead, and appeared on numerous

occasions to His apostles, assuring them that it was really

Himself they saw. They came together again; the risen Jesus

worked with them guiding them and giving them power to

do signs and wonders. The very same cowardly Peter who

had previously denied any knowledge of Jesus with curses

and oaths, stood up in the marketplace in Jerusalem, courage-

ously testifying that he had seen the risen Jesus. The other

apostles did so, too. Risking death, they travelled from one

country to another, sealing with a martyr's death their con-

viction that Jesus had risen. In this way, the universal Church

was born, it has grown, and it has survived, despite persecution

and the unworthiness of its members. If you are not prepared

to admit that Jesus has risen from the dead, then this

tremendous effect, which the Christian Church represents—a

Church that has survived for two thousand years, and has

millions of members—is an effect without a cause. It takes

a greater naivety to accept the existence of such an effect

without cause than to admit that Christ has really risen.

"When a man enters a tall building, it might be a good

idea, before climbing the stairs to the tenth floor, to go down

first into the cellar and make sure that the foundations are

sound. But why should it be necessary to do this? The fact

that the building is standing is proof of the strength of the

foundations. The foundation stone on which the Christian

Church was built is the resurrection of Jesus. The large,

well-known building founded on this stone has stood for

two thousand years, and has resisted tremendous earthquakes.

After all, in every sphere of life, it is common practice to

draw conclusions from effect to cause. The existence of the

Church is a proof that Christ has risen.

"Let us proceed to another argument with regard to the

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION IOI

resurrection of Jesus. Nowhere do we find that the enemies

of the primitive Church at any time denied that the sepulchre

of Jesus was found to be empty on Easter morning. It would

have been quite natural for an investigation to have been

set on foot, to discover whether the body had been stolen

or desecrated. The reaction of the Jewish priests does not

contradict the assertion that the grave was empty; they

merely told the soldiers who had guarded the sepulchre

to spread the rumour that His disciples had come during

the night, while they were asleep, and stolen the body. Now,

if they were asleep, then how could they have identified the

thieves? Augustine rightly asks: 'Does the synagogue introduce

us to witnesses who were asleep when this deed was carried

out?' If the Jewish priests really believed that Jesus's disciples

had stolen the body, why were they not arrested, interrogated,

and punished?

"A strong movement must be carried forward by a strong

impetus. The strong movement that has lasted for two thousand

years, and which has had a world-wide effect, based on the

belief in the resurrection of Jesus, cannot have been the

product of hallucination, as none of Jesus's disciples were

men who suffered from hallucinations, certainly not Doubting

Thomas and the practical businessman Matthew, nor such

men of the sea as Andrew, nor the cautious Nathaniel, nor

Peter with his weak character. Only an event as tremendous

as a real resurrection could have produced an impetus capable

of starting a movement of this kind. Nor must we forget

that during the first thirty years after this event, most of

Jesus's disciples suffered a violent death, and many of them

were condemned to death precisely because they maintained

that Jesus had risen from the dead. These things cannot have

been invented.

"Under the very noses of the Jewish priests, Jesus's apostles

start to preach to the Jewish people, and in this way they

come into conflict with the authorities, as they declare that

Jesus is the Messiah, a fact which was proved by His resur-

rection. Any sensible person may ask: 'Would it be possible

to launch a movement of this kind, and recruit thousands

102 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

of supporters in a single day, if the dead body of Jesus had

really existed?' Peter preached his first sermon only a few

hundred yards from Jesus's sepulchre. If Jesus's enemies had

been in a position to prove that His body was still there,

the sermon would have been a failure, and would never have

persuaded thousands of people to be baptised. But their enemies

were powerless: Jesus was not in the tomb.

"The apostles did not visit the tomb of Jesus, because

it had no significance as far as they were concerned, and

because they would not be interested in it. (Saul of Tarsus,

after he was converted, came to Jerusalem and met the

apostles, but was not concerned with visiting the tomb,

not even out of mere respect.) Nor did His enemies investigate

the tomb, to convince themselves and convince others that

Jesus was still there. This is yet another proof that Jesus

really rose from the dead. A great many people undertake

pilgrimages to the tombs of minor saints. Even though the

first apostles knew of this custom in Israel (Matt. 23.29), they

were not interested in visiting Jesus's tomb, because they

knew that it was empty.

"All this was so universally accepted that the disciples

started preaching, not in a provincial town, where it would

be difficult to check their statements, but in Jerusalem itself,

arousing the enthusiasm of thousands of people and—what

was still more remarkable—facing enemies who were powerless,

because they were not in a position to deny that Jesus's tomb

was empty. When the priests maintained that the body of

Jesus had been stolen by the apostles, anyone could have

answered them: 'Why don't you arrest and sentence the men

who have carried out this theft?'

"The suggestion that Jesus did not die on the cross, but

merely fell into a deep swoon, and recovered consciousness

in the cool tomb, is still more ridiculous. How could He have

pushed aside the stone, and overpowered the guards, after

so much suffering? Could He have gone anywhere, naked as

He was? He could have sought shelter only with one or other

of His disciples. Had He done this, however, His disciples

would have realised that He had not risen from the dead.

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION 103

Would they have really given their lives for a lie which they

themselves had hatched?

"We are compelled to believe what the Gospel writers

say, because they reveal such naivety when relating terrible

things about themselves. What induced the apostles to spread

abroad by word of mouth and in their writings that their

leader, Peter, was a man whom Jesus had called Satan, and

that he had denied Him on the night that He was betrayed?

The only motive I can discover is that they showed an un-

compromising regard for the truth. The band of apostles is

a collection of men who are guided by the truth. We can

trust their evidence.

"The remarkable thing is that when the apostles affirm

the resurrection of Jesus to an audience of doubters (even in

those days people were sceptical about stories of angels,

resurrections and so on, as we can see in Matthew, Chapter 22,

verse 23, and Acts, Chapter 17, verse 32), they merely affirm,

without producing a single confirmatory piece of evidence.

This was possible because what they maintained was a well-

known and undisputed fact among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

The risen Jesus, after all, had at one time appeared to five

hundred persons, and these must have had about twenty

thousand relatives and friends whom they told about it.

"The resurrection of Jesus can also be proved by two

very famous conversions which could not be explained in any

other way.

"The first was the conversion of James, the brother of

Jesus, to a faith in Him as the Messiah. While Jesus lived

on earth, James did not believe in Him, but considered Him

to be mad. Josephus Flavius describes James as a very upright

man. How was it possible that he became an apostle and

martyr after the death of Jesus? Anyone reading James's

letter (the Straw Epistle, as Luther calls it) will note that

this is a Jewish letter, without any Christian characteristics.

This leads us to realise that it was not the teaching of Jesus

that made an impression on James, and brought about his

conversion. What was the cause? It can only have been what

we are told in the New Testament, that Jesus after His resur-

104 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

rection appeared to His brother, and that the latter admitted

his mistake, arid in remorse wrote the chapter in which he

condemns his own former sin of judging and speaking about

his brother.

"The second conversion was that of the rabbi Saul of

Tarsus. This man had a vision on the road to Damascus, in

which Jesus appeared to him and spoke to him, whereupon

Saul immediately became a disciple. Would this have been

possible on purely psychological grounds? Even though

Monammed were to appear to me ten times, I should tell

myself that I was suffering from hallucinations, and I certainly

should not become a Mohammedan. Why should things

have turned out so differently for the man who was to become

the future apostle Paul? He knew that Jesus's tomb was

empty, without being able to find a plausible explanation for

this fact, unless he admitted to himself that Jesus had risen.

This was the crux of the matter: when he saw Jesus, the

last shred.of doubt disappeared. He was converted. He later

made his way to Jerusalem, but he had not the slightest

intention of going to the tomb in order to shed tears of remorse

there. He knew it was empty. He discussed with the apostles

how to preach the resurrection. It would have been a psycho-

logical impossibility for the apostles, being the sort of men

they were, to discuss how best to preach a lie.

"And here is another argument: millions of sinners in the

history of mankind have changed their mind and become holy

people. This miracle is happening daily in the Church. If you

ask these people how this miracle of rebirth happened, their

answer is always that Jesus did it. It is certain that it is a

living Jesus, not a dead one, who has brought about these

new births. I am one of these people.

"The cumulative force of these arguments compels me

to believe in the-resurrection of Jesus. But let me turn to an

argument from a person of real authority. Professor Theodor

Mommsen, the great historian of the Roman Empire, wrote:

'The resurrection of Jesus is the event in ancient history

which has been more conclusively proved than any other

event.' That is all I need to tell you.

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION 105

"There is something more. If a woman's husband is

missing in a war and believed to be dead, and then one,

two, three, four people, in fact countless people, come and

tell her that they have seen him in a prisoner-of-war camp,

then the wife will trust those people. We are in the same

situation. Those who believed that Christ was dead, heard

the witness of the women, of the apostles, of the disciples on

the road to Emmaus, of five hundred people who had seen

Him on the same day. After this it was only normal for them

to believe that Jesus was no longer dead, but alive."

After I had finished speaking, the rabbi was silent for

several minutes. Then he got up, opened the door, and said

to me: "Even if He has risen, what has that to do with me?'

And he walked out. When he returned to the compartment,

neither he nor I spoke a word till we reached Bucharest.

During the tragic events of the war, this rabbi was killed

by the Fascists.

Many years passed. One evening, during a week of evangel-

istic mission, the church was full to bursting. Instead of

preaching a sermon, I told my listeners of my conversation

with the rabbi. When I had finished, a young Jewish woman

student came up to me and said: "You have convinced me, too,

that Jesus is risen, but for me it means a great deal."

The same arguments affected two persons quite differently.

Returning for a moment to the rabbi, I must add that,

generally speaking, I have found many rabbis very ill-

prepared to answer our arguments. I once talked to one of

the Berlin rabbis, who had fled to Rumania. I showed him

the text in the ninth chapter of Isaiah, which foretells the

coming into the world of the Messiah, declaring: "For unto

us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government

shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called

Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting

Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government

and peace there shall be no end . . ." (Isa. 9.6-7). This

passage contains an orthographical curiosity. In Hebrew, the

letter M is written at the beginning and in the middle of a

word with the sign 53, and only at the end of a word as a

I06 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

closed square. This orthography is rigidly adhered to through-

out the Old Testament, except in one particular case. In

this verse, in the word lemarbe (increase), a final M, D,

appears in the middle of the word. This orthographical

mistake has never been corrected. A final M, Q, which

should occur only at the end of the word is written in the

middle of one.

I asked the rabbi if he could explain this, but he could

give me no answer. I then told him of the Kabalistic tradition,

that Isaiah put a Q in the middle of the word, in order to

show the reader who was destined to understand it that the

Divine Child of whom this prophecy speaks would be born of

the closed womb of a virgin.

Many other arguments, which I personally consider more

conclusive, would have made a far smaller impression on

the rabbi than this one. He had no further counter-argument

when I told him that the Messiah is the man who was born

of the Virgin Mary, and when I explained that because the

Messiah bears our sins, which according to the prophet Isaiah

results in His being bruised, every person who recognizes

that the Messiah is killed for our sins will no more bear his

own guilt.

Among other rabbis I have even come across sympathy for

Jesus. When I told an old rabbi that Jesus is the Messiah

whose coming Isaiah had prophesied, he shook his head

and said: "No! Jesus does not need to be accredited by Isaiah.

Compared to Him, Isaiah is small. It is not because of Isaiah

that the world believes in Jesus, but the other way round;

because of Jesus, millions of people also appreciate Isaiah.

Jesus is the sun."

Then there are other rabbis, who are rabbis merely by

profession, as are many Christian priests and pastors.

I once spoke to a rabbi who was a liberal, and tried to

convince him that Jesus was the Son of God. After listening

politely, he answered: "You wish me to believe in the

Son, but I don't even believe in the Father. If God existed,

He would not have allowed my family to be killed in

Auschwitz."

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION IO7

We discover modern theology

The moment came for our first encounter with English books

of modern theology. We had not even known that modernists

existed: the Bible was dear to us because it contained the

message of Jesus. We accepted it, and regarded it as the word

of God. We did not dissect it, or criticise it, but rather we

allowed it to criticise" us.

Now we heard and read about various human sources of

the Bible which even contradicted one another, and that the

Bible contained some things that were later additions. It

was denied that Jesus had done wonderful things, or else

His miracles were interpreted in such a way that in the end

there was nothing left.

I was profoundly shocked. I know of a former preacher

who, after reading a book by a Christian modernist, completely

lost his faith, and «ven went so far as to write an anti-Christian,

atheistic book himself. This man was separated from God for

years. Other people, including myself after I had been released

from prison, were able subsequently to help him to recover

his faith.

Marx began as a Christian. Two liberal theologians, Bruno

Bauer and Strauss, destroyed his faith.

Rumanian Christians are fundamentalists. I do not know

a single modernist, nor do I know what benefits we could

derive from modernism.

It is true that the Bible exhorts us to "sing, unto the Lord

a new song" (Ps. 96.1). Every century must compose its

own song of praise to God in its own particular style. It is

written in Leviticus, Chapter 9, verse 3, that the animal

which is brought to the temple for sacrifice must be a benshana,

"of the first year". I do not live in the first century nor in

the Middle Ages, and it would not be normal for me to have

religious ideas belonging to those times. There must be pro-

gress in our thinking about God, too.

So modernism is not modern: it is very ancient. The

Syrian Codex Sinaiticus, a New Testament manuscript from

the second century, refers to Jesus simply as "the son of

I08 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Joseph", and omits the story of the virgin birth, about which

the man who wrote it probably knew nothing. Augustine

considered it blasphemous to believe in the first three chapters

of the Bible as the literal truth. Origen stated that the story

of the Creation, as it stands, is absurd and contradictory.

Luther said that he did not believe that God created man

"in einem Hui", all at once.

There are, of course, passages in the Bible which are very

primitive. Who would condone the methods used to diagnose and

cure leprosy as described in Leviticus Chapter 13? Even the

fundamentalists permit themselves their own modernism.

The fault of the real modernists is that they go too far:

all of a sudden the liberties they take can no longer be dis-

tinguished from others merely quantitatively; they are different

in quality.

Modernists deny miracles. In the twentieth century, when

the word "impossible" no longer exists, they declare that

miracles are impossible! The virgin birth, the miraculous

healings, the feeding of the five thousand, the physical resur-

rection from the dead; are these so impossible? In nature, it

is not only the usual that exists: Mozart, after all, was

composing music at the age of four.

Christ belongs to the sphere where the unusual is natural.

The American biologist Löbhas fertilised sea urchins,

and produced live specimens by chemical means, without

the use of male semen. Would it not be possible for God to

create out of man what the biologist can create out of a lower

form of life?

At the beginning of this century there lived in the Ukraine

a rabbi by the name of Hofetz Haim. When the first world

war broke out, one of his disciples was arrested as a result

of anti-Semitism, on the false charge that he was spying

for Germany. The rabbi was summoned as a defence witness.

He was ordered to take the oath, but he refused, saying:

"I can never remember having told a lie in my life, but I

refuse to take the oath, as I do not want to bring God's

holy name into a testimony, as an untruth might slip in against

my will."

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION IOÇ

The prosecutor was delighted to be rid of an awkward

witness. But the defence needed him badly, and so the lawyer,

a Russian, asked that the rabbi should be listened to as a

source of information, and he declared: "Your honour, allow

me to relate one episode from the life of this rabbi, so that you

may understand that he is an outstanding man who can be

believed, even without taking the oath."

The president gave his assent, and the lawyer continued:

"One day the rabbi went from one Jewish shop to another,

collecting gifts for poor Jews. A thief lay in wait for him.

That evening, when his collecting-box was full, the thief

approached the rabbi and said to him: 'Perhaps you could

change ten roubles?' The rabbi, who was glad to be rid of

so much small change, opened his box, but with a swift move-

ment the thief seized it, and ran off with it.

"The rabbi was horrified, not because he had lost the

money—he immediately made up his mind to make good the

loss from his own pocket—but because of the serious sin the

thief had committed by stealing the money that belonged to

the poor. He ran after the thief as fast as his old legs could

carry him, and cried out: 'You have not stolen this money,

it is yours. I have given it to you as a gift. I have got the poor

people's money at home.' "

In amazement the president of the court interrupted the

lawyer and asked him: "Do you really believe this story?"

The lawyer answered: "No, I don't." The judge interrupted

him angrily: "Why do you tell us stories that you do not

believe yourself? You are quite out of order."

The lawyer answered: "Your honour, please do not be

angry. Has a story of this kind ever been told about yourself,

about the prosecuting counsel, or about me? Several stories

are told about us, but these are in tune with our characters

and our habits. It may be said of me that I have chased a

lot of women, that I have often been drunk, and that I

have cheated at cards, more than I have really done. What a

just and holy man this rabbi must be, for such legends to

circulate about him!"

The significance of this story is clear enough: no medical

IIO CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

commission has ever established Mary's virginity; there is

no written evidence, submitted by scientists, to support the

miracles performed by Jesus. But this does not mean that we

can reject the stories in the Gospels.

One day, when my son was so small that he could not

possibly hiow anything about sex, or what a virgin is, hé

asked me: "Daddy, how was Jesus born?" I answered: "But

I've told you many times—he was born in a stable, and laid

in a manger." "That's not what I want to know," the child

answered. "You always say: like father, like son. If Jesus

was born just like us, then He would have been bad, like us.

So He must have been born in quite a different way."

The men and women who knew Jesus had precisely the

same feeling as my son. Those who believed in Him were

convinced of His virgin birth.

If He was so good and innocent and pure, if He was such

a unique person, why, then, should He not also have been

born in a unique manner? Why should he not also have risen

from the dead?

One day a distinguished personality in the Lutheran Church

came to see me on an administrative matter. After we had

settled the financial problems, I asked him if he believed in

Jesus. He was horrified that I should have asked him, one

of the country's leading laymen in the Church, a question

of this kind. I asked him to overlook his annoyance, and

answer my question. Finally he said: "There is no valid

juridicial proof of Jesus's resurrection." I submitted the

same evidence to him which I had submitted to the rabbi

from Cernauti. I asked him to assume the role of judge, and

to evaluate the juridicial quality of the arguments I had sub-

mitted. He confessed that he now believed in the resurrection,

was converted and also brought his wife into the faith. Later

he reproved the bishop for having nominated him to such a

high church office before making sure that he was a true child

of God.

If you, too, analyse the evidence, you will realise the truthful-

ness of what the Gospels tell. Th« Bible in itself contains

proof that it is telling the truth. Modernism sins by reducing

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION I'll

Jesus to a human personality who was nothing more than a

great leader, a martyr to the truth, but about whom we know

really very little, since the Gospels are not to be trusted.

Modernism is negative: it takes away people's faith, and gives

them nothing in return.

Of course, criticism of biblical texts is necessary, but not

in the sense understood by the liberal school of theology.

It is assumed that the Old Testament text has been violated

by rabbis.

For instance the martyr Justin, the Christian philosopher

from the second century, maintained that the original of

Psalm 96, verse 10, is: "The Lord has become King on the

tree", but that the text was subsequently modified by the

Jews. And after Ezra, Chapter 6, verse 22, there should have

been a passage which ran as follows: "And Ezra said unto the

people: this Passover is your Saviour and your refuge. And

if you believe, then it shall come into your hearts, that they

shall humiliate Him in spite of the signs that He has done,

and that afterwards we shall hope in Him again, and this

place shall never be laid desolate, saith the Lord God of

Hosts. But if you do not believe, and do not hear these words

that are spoke of Him, you shall be despised of the heathen."

It is hard to believe that Justin should have invented this

passage.

The Talmud also relates that the seventy rabbis who pro-

duced the Greek translation called the Septuagint, although

they all worked in separate places, were inspired by the

Holy Spirit to alter certain passages, all in the same way,

in order not to offend other nations and races. In this legend,

as in all others, there is undoubtedly a grain of truth: the

texts of the Old Testament have undergone various modifica-

tions with a view to concealing certain facts. Strangely enough,

the Septuagint still exerts a strong influence on practically

all the translators of the Bible, who are thus translating the

texts wrongly, as the rabbis had intended in days gone by.

Anyone comparing the manuscripts of the New Testament

from the various centuries will note that here, too, there

has been a gradual tendency to discard more and more of

112 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

the various revolutionary and social characteristics of the

primitive Church.

But we possess the most important texts dealing %with

the life, miracles, suffering and resurrection of the Saviour,

the texts dealing with the way to salvation. The efforts of

some people to undermine the faith of millions are merely to

be deplored.

But the honesty of the modernists is useful, even if their

teachings are not well received; they stimulate others to seek

the truth elsewhere.

We sought it in Christian mysticism.

. The Bible is in part only a handful of notes of discussions

which God entered into with Abraham, Moses, the prophets

and Jesus, and of conversations which Jesus had with the

apostles, when He lived on earth and after His glorification,

and of the thoughts with which the Holy Spirit inspired

them.

But has God become dumb? Is it not possible for us to

hear His voice today also? Perhaps we, too, can become pure

in heart, so that we can see Him?

I had already read a great many other theological books,

but now I also read the modernistic ones, and I got the im-

pression that their ideas were superficial. There is a great

deal of vanity in these, as in any other profane books. Theo-

logians quote one another, instead of purging their spirits of

all that is unessential in this qualified history which has

accumulated in the course of centuries, and going back to

the original source of power.

In the second place, I got the impression that this Christian

theology at best stops at Jesus. But Jesus Himself said: "No

man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14.6). He

declares that it is not He Himself, but the Father, who is

the goal. If we have come to the Father, whom the Mosaic

Jews also seek, we should be able to give them a helping hand.

We should be able to prove to them that Jesus is the way they

must follow to reach their desired goal. If we get no further

than Jesus, whom they contest, then our witness is of little

interest to them.

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION II3

Up till now, the Scriptures had been windows through

which we could see the reality of God; now we had opened

the windows, so that we could look on the God of reality.

Some of us called the new experience the Baptism of the

Holy Spirit; others called it the second blessing, or any other

name. Suddenly our eyes were opened, and we saw the nature

of things, instead of knowing merely by logic and intelligent

conception. We now saw many of the things which normally

are invisible. This meant that like butterflies or angels we

fluttered from one flower to another. "The wind bloweth

where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst

not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth" (John 3.8).

For this reason we were often misunderstood.

As it is with God, our thoughts became reality. In Hebrew

davor means both "word" and "thing". The words of the

Bible became more and more a reality in which we lived.

We broke away from the cycle of sin—forgiveness—fresh

sin, in which many believers pass their whole lives. Like Paul,

we forgot what lay behind us. Paul never forgot that he had

been a persecutor of the Church, and he regretted it. But

the power of the past to influence his present life became

less and less. And in the measure in which he became a new

creature, the old sins seemed less to have belonged to him,

but to somebody else, to the old Saul of Tarsus who was

dead. In the same way, we "forgot" the past, with its ugly

sin. We lived a present with God.

When Jesus washed His disciples' feet, He also wiped them

with a towel, because wet feet always indicate that they were

once dirty and needed to be washed. But once they have

been dried, feet are clean. The Bible tells us that in Canaan

Jesus turned water into the best wine; but old wine is the

best. Jesus transformed water not into new wine, but into

wine that was already old, that had been in existence for a

long time. We were not justified by being converted, but in

our conversion our eyes were opened, so that we could see

a purity which we had already possessed long ago: we saw

that we had always been pure in His eyes.

Our ideas took a new turn: we realised that we now partook

114 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

of eternal life, not by believing in Jesus, but that we had

always had a special form of life, eternal life, because we

were destined from eternity to be God's children. It is im-

possible to distinguish, at an early stage, the embryo of an

ape from that of a man. At a certain moment the difference

becomes visible, but it has always been there. Mary Magdalene,

during her life of sin, was indistinguishable from any other

courtesan, but she had always been one of God's elect. Her

conversion was the moment when the difference was seen.

We suddenly recognised, when the veil was taken from our

eyes, our elder brother, Jesus, whom we had known long

ago. "To know is to recognise," said Plato. We had proof of

this.

We all live without remembering anything of our very

early childhood, of our dreams or even of seventy-five per cent

of what we do when we are awake. Why then should we

nurture only the remembrance of our past sins?

Just as Jesus never made any mention of His early life before

He was thirty years old, so we, too, did not stop at what had

been, but every day we entered rejoicing into the holy of

holies.

In me this release was caused by a very simple event, which

I now recount for the first time. I was sitting writing in my

study. In the room was all I held dear on earth: my wife,

my children, my books. Suddenly the light went out ; there had

been a fuse. I could see nothing, and a great fear came over me.

"One day," it flashed through my mind, "everything will be

dark, I shall die, and my eyes will be closed. I shall be lost

to all I now love." It is difficult to explain rationally the feeling

of fear that flooded over me for a split second. But at once

I realised the great store of riches I could enjoy in the darkness

as well as in the light—the consciousness of I, the blessing of

thought. Feverishly I examined myself. God, Christ, the

angels, hope of eternal life, faith, all remained, even in the

dark. They would be with me, too, at the moment when my

eyes closed in death.

Like lightning, the thought struck me that things in this

life are like the fabric of a dream: they are very easily dissolved.

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION 115

It was then that I realised that the true nature of things is

this quality of not being.

King Lisimachus surrendered when he was surrounded by

the Scythians, forced to do so by hunger and thirst. After

eating, he exclaimed: "How brief was the pleasure for which

I sacrificed life and freedom!" So, in that fraction of a second,

I realised that the soul tends to be attracted by the body, and

neglects its great partner, God, who loves us with eternal love.

At that moment I passed over to the state where I lived

the truth about the relative value of things, instead of merely

knowing it. What I love in my human existence is transient,

and one day it will have to be left behind. But the Divine

Being, in which I have received a part through Jesus, is eternal.

I experienced the reality of this myself, and for me the light

would never be extinguished.

The words of the Scriptures: "Ye are gods" (Ps. 82.6),

became a reality to me.

Light also represents a certain mass: when light falls on

a plate, it brings a certain amount of power to bear on it.

Sunbeams bring with them the mass of the sun: light is not

an insubstantial messenger of the sun, but a part of the sun

itself which comes to us. In many ways, likewise, we are not

merely heralds of God's light, but God Himself; in a humble

form we are divine sparks scattered about the world to bring

light.

This conviction of the majesty of God's child has never

since left me. I thought, as did the first Christians, from

whom we have received the expression: "He who sees a

brother, sees God."

When I thought of Jesus, I no longer thought of Him

from the verses of the Bible. I entered into a reality where

His majesty was visible. As long as there are Jews, Jesus will

be their king, whether they recognise Him or not.

This experience had a different starting-point in the case

of'other brothers and sisters; but many were raised by the

Spirit to new faith.

A Catholic priest, who was present at one of our meetings,

said: "I have spent an evening among the first Christians."

Il6 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

The talks we had together in our gatherings took a new

turn. We no longer talked about God, but from God.

Jesus now appeared to me in a new light. The sacrifices

in the Jewish temple were consumed with fire. The sacrifice

of Jesus, too, was consumed with the fire of love, which made

us one with Him. Fire transforms all things into flames. In

this way His sacrifice ceased to be a sacrifice made by one

person for another. We are in Christ Jesus. As His elect, we

were in Him also when He hung on the Cross.

When we looked at His Cross, we no longer thought of

the use our souls could make of His suffering, for then we

should have been like the soldiers who divided His garments

among them. With such a good Saviour, salvation follows

of itself. We asked ourselves another question: What are the

reasons for which He allowed Himself to be crucified, so

that we also may sacrifice ourselves for them and "fill up

that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh"

(Col. 1.24)? In other words, how can we recruit for His service

a host of loving followers, who are prepared to suffer?

From now on a fire burned within us, as it did in the

disciples on the road to Emmaus. "Snowflakes cannot fall

on a hot stove", says an Indian proverb. The coldness of this

world could no longer harm us, although we had to pass

through bitter times.

We tried not to let love be frittered away in sentimentality,

endeavouring rather to manifest it in what St. Francis de

Sales so beautifully described as "the ecstasy of acts".

Religious meditation now received still greater emphasis.

We knew that the time spent in meditation was not wasted.

It is, after all, better to think for a whole day than to work

in vain for a whole week.

In the supreme moment of bliss the object of meditation,

the meditation itself, and the person meditating, became one

in such a way that meditation no longer became a conscious

act. God was working in the unfathomable depths of the

soul, which never reach to the surface of our consciousness.

Those who have had an experience of this kind are often

asked: "But do you no longer sin?"

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION 117

In our congregation great sins were still committed; I, too,

committed great sins, even after I had had various mystical

experiences. I shall not explain this, as I am much too small

a person, but instead I shall let Meister Eckhardt speak:

"Sin which is committed is not sin if we repent of it ... He

who has truly subjected himself to the will of God need not

even wish not to have encountered the sin into which he fell.

Not of course to the extent to which the sin is directed against

God, but because through it you are in bondage to a still

greater love, and you are cast down and humiliated . . . But if a

man arise and entirely abandon his sins, faithful God will

ensure that that man will be as though he had never fallen

into sin, and He will not for a moment punish him for his

sins. Even though his sins should be so numerous as those

the whole of mankind might have committed, God will never

punish him, and his relationship with God will be as intimate

as God has ever entered into with any man. If man is prepared

to do that now, God will not consider what has been. God is

the God of the present. He is prepared to accept you as you

are today. In this way He receives you not as the person you

have been, but as the person you are now."

There is no danger in this doctrine, provided we do not draw

Luther's conclusion from it, "Peccator fortiter"—Sin greatly!

The Holy Spirit of God, on the other hand, reminded me

that at a time when I had been a high official in a certain

company, I had often acted incorrectly. But the Devil prevented

me from making a clean breast of things. When I went to see

my former boss, in order to confess, I found him in a despondent

mood. He greeted me with the words: "You were the only

honest employee I had. Today I have been told that one of my

confidential clerks has stolen a large sum of money from me."

This man had suffered a great blow, and this was obviously

not the right moment to speak to him about my own former

dishonesty. But I was anxious not to have it weighing on my

conscience. After a few days I wrote a confession, and offered

to return what I had appropriated dishonestly, bit by bit.

Not only did he refuse to accept the money, but he told

the big-time Jewish millionaires with whom he was on friendly

Il8 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

terms, of my conversion. He became a Christian, together

with his wife and son. Throughout the whole war I was able

to devote my energies to preaching the gospel, because he,

as well as a number of others, had arranged for me to receive

a small monthly allowance.

THE FASCIST PERIOD

The beginning of the persecution

When old pastor Adeney left us, he was replaced by a

young man, Pastor Stevens. Both he and his wife were

Christians who led very pure lives, and wished to spread

the light around them. Their way of life testified to that

correct Christianity which was common in England, but

unknown in our part of the world, where even people who

had been converted permitted themselves to do things which

in the West would have been considered unworthy of a

Christian. Their fairness and sincerity gave us much food for

thought. We keep thankfulness to them. They left for what

was meant to be a short vacation. But they could not return

any more. Rumania had been taken over by a gang of anti-

Semitic fanatics, whose hands were stained with a great deal

of Jewish blood. They called themselves the Legionaires.

At that time the head of the Anglican Jewish Mission was

a young priest called Roger Allison, a man we all remembered

for his great humility. The humble man is strong in the Lord:

by reducing himself to nothing, the humble man, joined with

God, makes not two beings but one.

During the time he was our shepherd, our little community

increased greatly. But we were also in great danger. If we

went into the town, we never knew whether we should come

back. The Legionaires were hunting the Jews in the streets,

and arresting them on all sorts of trumped-up charges. On

many occasions I was only a hand's breadth from death.

I should like to relate two episodes.

One Sunday afternoon I was sitting in my flat. A meeting

119

I2O CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

of young people was taking place in the church. Suddenly

a breathless young man burst into my room, shouting: "Come

down to the church at once! There is a terrible disturbance

going on!"

As I entered the church, I saw two young men. One of them,

whom I immediately recognised as a Jew, was shouting:

"Jewish brethren! Let us make our way to Russia! There we

shall find happiness and freedom! With the victorious Soviet

Army we shall return and overthrow the Fascists!"

Bessarabia, a province which up till then had been Rumanian

territory, had been occupied by the Russians, and the Jews

were fleeing en masse because of the anti-Semitic persecution.

But the government of Rumania at that time was Fascist;

such talk in our church might lead to arrests. It might even

result in a great many people being killed.

I tried to stop the two young men, but it was impossible.

They attacked me, shouting: "You are a traitor to the Jews!

You are on the side of the Fascists!" It was impossible for me

to call in the police to put an end to the commotion, as that

would have meant informing on the two young men, and

condemning them to a certain death. So I broke up the meeting,

and asked everyone to leave the premises and go home, speaking

to no one on the way. They obeyed me.

Next Sunday this scene was repeated. I did not know what

to do. I thought of closing the church.

During those days a Legionaire was killed in the capital.

No one knew who had killed him, but the Jews were afraid that

they would be accused, and that there would be reprisals.

One evening, as I was sitting at home, the two young men

who had caused the disturbance in the church, came to see

me. "We have something on our conscience we should like

to confess to you."

"Go ahead," I said.

Then they told me that it was they who had killed the

Legionaire. Involuntarily I exclaimed: "How could you commit

a crime like that? Did it not occur to you that this man had a

mother or a wife?" They replied: "He deserved to be killed,

because he was a Fascist." I said to them : "I can understand you

THE FASCIST PERIOD 121

coming to seek advice from me if you feel oppressed by the

crime you have committed. If you are proud of it, then there is

nothing I can do for you. But now that you have told me what

you have done, I repeat: You have commited a crime. A

Fascist, too, is a man, and must be respected as such. If he is

our enemy, we must repay his hatred with love, and not kill

him."

Thereupon they went away.

After the Legionaires had been overthrown by General

Antonescu, one of the young men, the one with the Jewish

face, came again to see me.

"I must tell you how you escaped certain death," he said.

"I am a young Communist who was captured by the Legion

police while I was distributing illegal pamphlets. I was tortured,

and to escape further ordeal I agreed to act as an agent

provocateur for the Legionaires. The other man who was with

me was one of their commissars. The idea was that he would

pretend to be a Jew, and I was to go round with him, and

enter the synagogues, Zionist organisations or wherever Jews

were gathered together, and start pro-Communist discussions,

insulting the Legionaires as much as I could. Anyone who fell

for this trick, and agreed with me, would then be arrested by

the Legion police and beaten. As an agent provocateur I came

into your congregation, too, and I visited you in your home to

confess to a murder which we had not committed. When I left

your house, the Legion commissar exclaimed: 'I never thought

I should hear a Jew say that Legionaires should be loved!'"

An answer based on Jesus's teaching that we should love

our enemies had saved me from certain death. This was not

the only time.

We were faced with the problem of how to get our com-

munity recognised by the Legion state authorities, because

they did not respect the old authorisations. But how were we

to get a new one? It was dangerous for a Jew merely to try to

enter a public building in order to apply for it.

Finally, Mr. Allison and I decided to visit a priest who was

a member of the Legion, and had been appointed an inspector

in the Ministry of Cults. We went to his home, but did not

122 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

find him there. His wife asked us to wait for him. All the time,

Legionaires were coming in and out of the house, with their

greeting, "Long live the Legion and its Captain!" If they had

known who we were, they would have torn us to pieces.

At last the priest turned up. When he heard my name,

which sounds German, he was very pleasant, and asked us

with a great show of kindness what we wanted. Great was his

surprise when I told him: "I am a Jew who believes in Jesus,

and represent a congregation of similar Jews. We have come

to make two requests. In the first place, we do not want any

exception to be made of us when anti-Semitic measures are

set on foot, whether this involves confiscation of property,

deportation or death. I don't want our Christian faith to bring

us any material advantage. The second is this: the synagogues

are operating freely, and we too would like to have the right to

exercise our form of worship without interference."

The priest, who was known for his violent nature—on one

occasion, at the head of a group of Fascists, he had demolished

with an axe a Baptist church in his district—burst out laughing,

shaking all over with mirth. "There are no such things as

Christian Jews," he said. "The old Metropolitan Pimen once

baptised a Jew in the Bahlui River in winter. A hole had to be

cut in the ice, and when the Metropolitan dipped the Jew for

the third time in the water" (this is Greek Orthodox practice)

"he slipped out of his hands, slid under the ice, and vanished.

The Metropolitan exclaimed: 'This is the only Jew who has

been baptised and died a Christian!' Other Jews baptise only

their skins, and lead an un-Christian life. I do not believe that

you are Christians, either."

I answered: "You have every right to reproach us. It is

presumptuous of a man to declare that he is a Christian when

it is written that whoever says that he is in Christ Jesus must

live as Jesus lived. We have tried to do this, but as yet we

have not made a great deal of progress. So we are not.angry

when other real Christians, who are Jesuses in miniature,

reproach us for the mistakes we make in our lives. But we beg

you to give us a chance, and we shall do our very best!"

He continued for a long time to insult and mock us, but

THE FASCIST PERIOD 123

we answered by confessing our sinfulness humbly, and not

defending ourselves. Our answer was always the same: "Yes,

we are wicked, despicable hypocrites as you say we are. But we

have a faith which will save us from sin. We are liars, but our

faith is the true faith. Give us an opportunity to prove it!"

I remembered one of the beautiful incidents related in the

Patristic writings. It was said of Father Agathon that a great

many people came to see him, as he enjoyed the reputation of

being a good man. Some of them tried to make him angry,

saying: "Are you Awa Agathon? We have heard of you, that

you are an adulterer and a man of great pride." And he

answered: "That is true, that is so." And they said to him:

"Are you the Agathon who speaks ill of others?" And he said:

"I am." And they said again: "Are you Agathon the heretic?"

And he answered: "I am not a heretic." So they begged him:

"Tell us, why did you admit everything we said to you, but

refuse to admit that you were a heretic?" He answered: "I

admitted the first charges, as this is useful to my soul. But the

word 'heretic' means separation from God, and I do not wish

to be separated from Him." When they heard this, they were

amazed at his integrity, and they left his presence uplifted.

Defending oneself, when faced with accusations is not

worthy of a Christian. Neither Joseph in the Old Testament,

nor the Virgin Mary, defended themselves when they were

accused of things they had not done. Hold your peace, and

God will defend you! You will be defended by the future

development of events.

As the priest continued to rain down insults upon us, we

answered his accusations against Christian Jews by admitting

that they might be true, but we defended our faith. The

result was that the priest suddenly changed his threatening

tone: "I have been deliberately testing you, and I have dis-

covered that you are worthier of bearing the name of Christian

than we are. I shall expect you early tomorrow morning at the

Ministry, and you will get the licence to continue your work."

The next day I was received by him in his office like a

brother, and was given the authorisation that I had never

dreamed I should obtain.

124 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Soon after this we lived through the bloody days when

the Legionaires quarrelled with their friend General Antonescu

and the Jews had to pay the bill for this.

Some people wonder whether the Devil really exists: the

terrible chapters in the history of mankind are the best proof

of his existence. Where a doctor diagnoses debility, subnormal

temperatures, coughing, spitting, and strange noises in the

lungs, he is no longer in doubt. This illness is caused by an

invisible agent, the Koch microbe. And when I see misery

spreading all over this world that has been blessed by God

with all His good gifts, I assume the presence of an invisible

agent, the Devil.

Jewish blood was a commodity of no value. Jews were

collected wherever they were to be found, and taken to the

woods or to the slaughterhouse and killed.

But anyhow the Legionary government was toppled, and

now it was their turn to be arrested and killed. Our little

Christian Jewish community was now in a position to help

the families of the arrested anti-Semites. One family, in

great distress, was just about to commit suicide when we

managed to come to their rescue.

The Jews have often reproached us for extending our love

to include the enemies of the Jews. We shall answer them

with another story taken from the life of the Jews.

When the rabbi Susia from Anipole was still unknown, a

Jew from the country used to visit him, bringing gifts. This

Jew's prosperity grew from year to year.

On one occasion, when he returned to Anipole, he found

the rabbi away from home. On enquiring where he was, he

was told: "He has gone to Meserici, to visit his great master."

The Jew thought to himself: "The best thing for me to do

would be to visit the famous teacher myself. Then I could

receive a blessing from a greater authority than the rabbi

Susia." So he made his way to Meserici, gave a gift to the

teacher, and received his blessing. But from that day good

luck deserted him and his house: his fortune gradually de-

creased, his business affairs went from bad to worse, and

finally stark poverty stared him in the face.

THE FASCIST PERIOD 125

In his distress he went to see the rabbi Susia and told

him everything. The rabbi answered: "Our wise men have

said that God requites on the same scale that we offer to him.

You must know that as long as you made no choice, and

gave help to poor Susia, God did the same to you, and He

gave you riches. But as soon as you started to have preferences,

and took a gift to the great man, then God too worked by

preferences, and gave His help to someone who was more

worthy than you."

We must not be selective in our good deeds. The enemy

we have conquered must also have our help. But any help

given to an enemy while he is in power is wrong, because it

makes us his accomplices.

Of course we owe Christian love to everyone: as Christian

Jews we must learn to show humanitarianism also to suffering

and defeated anti-Semites, and to do this in deeds and not

merely in empty words.

"What shall I do to be saved?"

Now, under Antonescu, another anti-Semitic government

was in power. Our permit to worship, given by the Legionaires,

was no longer valid. When Britain broke off diplomatic relations

with Rumania, the English pastor and all the teachers had

to leave. The English Church Mission was dissolved. The

buildings which had belonged to the Mission had been ad-

ministered by a German. He closed down the assembly hall,

and ejected us from our flat.

Our little congregation, which now consisted of about one

hundred adult members, was left without a shepherd who cared

for a small flock of converted Jews.

The leader of the Lutheran Church was a Nazi bishop who

had acquired a certain notoriety as a result of a sermon in which

he declared that mankind had three great models—Jesus,

Beethoven and Hitler, but that Jesus was greater than Hitler.

In keeping with the ideas of his own idiotic sermon, instead

of using the old greeting, "Praised be Jesus", he stuck to

"Heil Hitler".

Baptists, Pentecostalists and Adventists were also persecuted.

126 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

The Greek Orthodox priests had persuaded General Antonescu

to dissolve their congregations and confiscate their meeting

houses, many of which were converted into dance halls and

cinemas. Hundreds of brethren who belonged to these con-

fessions were sentenced to as much as twenty years' imprison-

ment, and this at a time when we were told that the country

was waging a holy crusade against Bolshevik atheism. The

main accusation against all these religious groups was that

they had become Judaised. The leaders of the Baptist congre-

gation implored us: "Please don't come to us! If we receive

a large group of Jews, we shall be still more bitterly persecuted."

Among the Greek Orthodox priests and hierarchy there

were some who were my faithful friends. One priest published

my articles at a time when anti-Semitism was at its peak. The

Patriarch Nicodim himself intervened on our behalf. The old

Archimandrite Scriban was tireless in our defence, and the

same was true of others. But the bulk of the Orthodox priests

were anti-Semitic. In their churches sermons were preached

whose aim was to stir up the people against the Jews.

The Wandering Jew has no resting-place on earth; nor did

the Christian Jews have anywhere to rest their heads within

the Christian Churches. As time passed we were forced to

accept this situation, and to regard anti-Semitism as a cross that

would have to be borne patiently, gladly and without a murmur.

Nothing glorifies God more than bearing the Cross; besides,

the Cross teaches you more than the Bible does. Thomas

Münzer says that through the Cross you also learn the bitter

Christ, and not only the sweet.

We could not decide what confession we should belong

to. We were forced to accept the hospitality that was offered.

Besides, we were not interested in denominational conflict.

The Swedish and Norwegian missions to Israel, which were

Lutheran, gave us their protection and their name. We were

grateful for this.

And now we had to solve the problem of obtaining per-

mission to hold meetings in our church.

I sent my visiting card to Mr. Sandu, a cabinet minister

and head of the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs. Thanks to

THE FASCIST PERIOD 127

my German name, I was admitted, and I started with the

same approach as I had used a few months previously in my

interview with the Legion priest: I expressed the hope that no

exception would be made in our favour when anti-Semitic

measures were set on foot, but said that until then we wanted

to be allowed to practise our religion, in the same way as the

Mosaic Jews were allowed to.

The Minister tried to brush me aside, suggesting that

I should speak to the Director for Minority Groups, the

Reverend Zenovie. I told him that I had just been to see

Zenovie, but that I had not spoken to him. I had waited in his

ante-room for a chance to talk to him, and I heard him send

his servant to the devil because he had bought a different

brand of cigarette from the one he had asked for. "He sends

people to the devil, I bring them to God," I continued. "We

two cannot understand one another. I do not wish to have an

interview with him."

The Minister answered: "The Germans are in our country.

We cannot give a permit of this kind to Jews."

I told him: "Mr. Minister, then I shall withdraw my

application. We shall nevertheless continue to meet, at our

own risk. But before I go I should like to tell you something.

Priests of all denominations come to see you, to obtain assistance

in their administrative problems. I wonder if a single one of

them has spoken to you about your soul. A day will come when

we shall no longer be ministers of state, clergymen, or anything

else; we shall all stand naked and trembling before the Throne of

God. We shall then have to answer for our deeds. Consider then

what you may have to answer for, because you refused to help

Christians to assemble peaceably in order to worship Jesus."

At that moment God had taken from me all my powers of

reasoning, so that I completely forgot that I was a Jew, without

any rights, in an anti-Semitic atmosphere, in the office of a

minister of state. All he had to do would be to ring his bell,

and I should have been arrested and should have vanished

without a trace.

But the Lord invested my feeble words with authority. The

Minister was not furious ; on the contrary, I witnessed a scene

128 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

which might be compared with something from the Bible.

The Minister rose, and face to face with a Jew, he asked:

"But what shall I do to be saved?"

I was now able to talk to him about Jesus.

From then on he was our friend and our protector. A Jew

who believed in Jesus had removed a thorn of anti-Semitism

from the flesh of a minister of state in an anti-Semitic govern-

ment.

The famous Christian-Jewish poet, Franz Werfel, relates that

in 1938 in an Austrian village the German troops collected all

the Jews for deportation. With them went a Christian chaplain,

who was unwilling to desert them. On the way an officer of the

Brownshirts had a diabolical inspiration. He stole a cross from

a churchyard and made a swastika out of it. He placed the

swastika in the hands of an old rabbi, and ordered him to kiss

the blasphemous symbol. The rabbi took the spurs from the

cross, and gave it to the chaplain. A bullet struck the Jew who

had restored the cross to its true shape.

On many occasions God used Jews for such purposes.

Now once again we had our permit; but this, too, was of

short duration. Soon afterwards, together with my wife and

a group of Christian Jews, I was arrested. A Rumanian woman

reported to the police officer on duty, and demanded to be

arrested together with the brethren of Israel. This request

was granted.

When we were released, the Minister had been replaced by

another, and our permit was annulled.

Underground religious activity

Within every man who has been born again there is a desire

to retire from the cares and worries of external things, to calm

the storm which sometimes disturbs even meditation, to

achieve peace, to pass beyond the ego and to rest undisturbed

on the breast of the Saviour. He desires only to remain poor,

without knowing or desiring anything but his hidden God.

But we were not to be yet allowed contemplative lives of

this kind: it was not until later that I could savour such joys,

when I spent many years in prison.

THE FASCIST. PERIOD I2O,

We were now buffeted about in a tempestuous existence,

without much time to strengthen the inner man. Our meetings

were prohibited; we met illegally in various homes, thereby

running the risk of up to twenty years' imprisonment. On

occasions as many as a hundred of us gathered together in

this way. We had developed the technique of secrecy.

Only on one occasion were we surprised during a meeting.

The police had made the mistake of not surrounding the house,

but walking through the yard and knocking at the door. We let

them wait for a while before we opened up. After we had

opened the door, we delayed them in the entrance, asking them

who they were, what they wanted, and insisting that they

identified themselves. When they finally entered they dis-

covered that the report they had received of an illegal meeting

was false. The household consisted merely of the family. The

flat was on the ground floor, and all those present had in the

meantime jumped out of the window.

The police were furious: they were sure that we held our

meetings, but they had no proof. But in the end they were

lucky, and obtained the proof they were after.

Towards the end, our meetings, which had aroused some

interest even among a number of Rumanians, were attended by

a Greek Orthodox man who lived by selling poultry, which he

brought from the Soviet territories occupied by our troops. His

frequent journeys to this part of the country aroused the suspicion

of the police, who summoned him to their headquarters one

day, in order to ask him what was the purpose of his travels.

He answered: "I assume that you suspect me of espionage.

But you forget the proof I have that I am engaged in trade.

This is the sole purpose of my journeys. Besides, you ought to

know that converted Christians do not stoop to spying. I am a

convert: you have only to ask the Reverend Richard Wurm-

brand, and he will confirm that I attend the meetings he holds

at various houses."

The police no longer suspected espionage; but they now

questioned him about our religious meetings. Our brother had

let the cat out of the bag, and he was now trapped. The police

cunningly concealed their real purpose, and pretended that

I30 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

they wanted the names of those who took part in the meetings

merely to convince themselves that the trader was really a

convert, and above all that he was now no longer suspected of

spying. In this way they secured a great many names.

At about eleven o'clock one night, I had gone to bed and

was making notes for a sermon against the war, which was

then raging at its fiercest. Suddenly my wife walked into the

room, with a smile on her face as usual, and said: "The police

have surrounded the house!" I just had time to throw my

sermon down among the pile of papers on the table by the

bed. A group of policemen pushed their way into the house,

and declared that I was once again under arrest.

I hastened to get dressed and leave the house, as one of our

three rooms was full to the ceiling of crates containing food

which was to be distributed the next day in the women's

prison, where about two hundred women believers—Baptists,

Pentecostalists and Adventists—were interned. (We had taken

upon ourselves the task of taking aid to the imprisoned

brethren, as some of the heads of the different denominations

had not sufficient courage to do so, while others had not the

necessary initiative to set about it. When we had approached

them with the suggestion that aid of this kind should be

organised, they had backed out.) If the police had found

these crates, how could we have explained the situation?

Helping prisoners was a serious offence. Besides, we should

have had to tell them where we had obtained the money. If

we had refused to say for whom the food was intended, we

might have been accused of economic sabotage by hoarding

food. In either case, we should have been punished. But God

closed the eyes of the policemen, and they never entered the

room where the food was stored. They merely collected the

papers on the table, and bundled them together. They took

me with them. The same evening they arrested ten other

believers, including a young girl of only sixteen, who was not

yet converted, but who attended our gatherings.

When we reached the police station, we met the brother

who was responsible for our arrest. The thought that he was

the cause of our going to prison for many years made him

THE FASCIST PERIOD 131

quite desperate. The first thing we did was to console him,

and try to dispel his gloom. We succeeded, and to this very

day he is one of the brethren. We told no one of his mistake.

Later, I was to officiate at his marriage.

The young girl was struck by a police commissar because,

when asked what her religion was, she answered: "I love the

Lord Jesus, but what this religion is called, I don't know."

She could not possibly have given a better answer.

The situation might have ended tragically, had not God

sent a man to intervene on our behalf—the Swedish ambassador

in Rumania, Patrick von Reuterswärde. He was a deeply

religious man, who was always doing good. His door was always

open to anyone who was in need or who was persecuted, no

matter to what nation, race, class or denomination he belonged.

He helped Jews who had been unjustly treated* just as he

afterwards helped Germans who suffered when the situation

underwent a complete change.

The Swedish Israel Mission had taken us under its pro-

tection, and in this way we had made his acquaintance. As

soon as he heard that we had been arrested, he intervened on

our behalf, although this meant a breach of diplomatic rules,

because we were Rumanian citizens, and he really had no right

to interfere. Nevertheless, his intervention proved successful.

We were also fortunate in being able to quench the police-

men's thirst for bribes. We decided not to worry with pangs

of conscience, because we were giving our money to bandits

and blackmailers. We could not distinguish between a bandit

and a policeman persecuting us for our faith and presenting

us with the choice: "Money or several years in prison". Out

of love of money, too, the police gave me back my papers

without looking through them.

On this occasion we spent only about fourteen days in

prison.

While the war was at its height, when I was being persecuted

both as a Jew and as a preacher of the gospel, I was able to

publish several religious books under the pseudonym of Radu

Valentin. It was under this name, too, that I became known

among Rumanian believers. I had stumbled on a censor who

132 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

was so addicted to drink that he was even prepared to allow

the publication of a book condemning alcohol, provided he

received a barrel of wine for his services.

Pastor Magne Solheim and his wife

Pastor Solheim, who was head of the Norwegian Israel

Mission in Galatz, was constantly being molested. The authori-

ties would come at night and search his house. He was tireless

in visiting Jews in their shops, in their homes and in their

camps, preaching the gospel at the same time as he gave them

consolation and physical help. Finally, the authorities closed

his church.

In his zeal he was a model missionary, never losing heart

because of the cool reception he received from the Jews and

the lack of understanding from the Christians. His wife Cilgia,

a Swiss teacher, proved a faithful helpmeet.

An army captain once said to him: "What is the point of

going to the Jews to preach the gospel? They only laugh at

you." Solheim answered: "When you receive an order, what

do you do? Do you discuss it or do you carry it out?"—"I carry

it out."—"So do I. The leader of the Christian Army, Jesus, has

ordered us to preach the gospel to all mankind. I am carrying

out His order. The results are not my business, but His."

His devotion made a great impression where one might

have least expected it. Here, the saying of the Christian martyr

Ignatius became a reality: "Christianity is not a matter of

persuasion, but of greatness." Out of the clay vessel of a

devoted man shines a treasure in all its beauty, and this treasure

attracts others.

When Feinstein was arrested (at the time we did not know

that he had been killed), we wondered how we could intervene

on his behalf. Finally, we decided that we should go to the

murderers to plead on behalf of their innocent victim. We

would go to the German Legation. Hitler's gang ruled in

Rumania, constantly inciting the people to slaughter the Jews.

It was in this situation that a Christian missionary and a Jew

made their way to the German Embassy to help another Jew.

We were received by a certain Herr Dietrich. When he talked

THE FASCIST PERIOD 133

to Solheim, he was astonished and said: "You need a large

dose of idealism to leave your wonderful country of Norway

and make your way to Rumania to preach to Jewish shop-

keepers who are only interested in money and pleasure," It

was obvious that Solheim's plea had aroused his sincere

admiration. And a miracle occurred: Hitler's faithful servant

promised to do everything possible to save Feinstein's life.

We were subsequently convinced at the police station in Jassy

that the German Embassy had in fact phoned repeatedly with

this aim. But it was too late. Feinstein was dead.

The burden placed on the shoulders of the missionary who

is not himself a Jew is a heavy one. As a rule, the Jews are

indifferent, or even hostile. Anti-Semites mock .them; the

Christian clergy are often indifferent, too. In addition, there

is the deep disappointment experienced when dealing with

some Christian Jews. (

There were some Jews who were baptised m the vain hope

that in this way they would escape persecution; these people

were excellent actors but had no really deep faith. I remember

a Rumanian brother once asking me to go with him to visit

a number of converted Jews whom I did not know. We were

very well received, and for a whole hour we talked with

enthusiasm. We knelt down and we all prayed. I was extremely

happy. Then the Rumanian brother, who had some business

to do, rose and left us. After he had gone, they began to laugh:

"The goy, the fool, he really believes we are Christians!"

They were convinced that I, too, was merely acting, and so

they revealed their real feelings.

Faced with people like this, one tends to lose courage, even

though one understands people who consider baptism a mere

formality and a means of defending themselves against anti-

Semitism.

Missionaries who work among Jews constantly come across

people who have been baptised out of fear, or in order to

marry a Christian, or to remove from their consciousness the

fact that they are Jews. We tried to counteract this tendency by

constantly maintaining the Jewish character of our community,

and not allowing our members to change their names.

134 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

There are also difficulties with serious converts from

Judaism. The Bible declares that our people are a peculiar

people: and there is something peculiar about the Jew, which

leaps to the eye, and he finds it difficult to assimilate himself

into another environment. He takes this special trait with him

into the Church.

The message of Jesus is universal and has eternal validity.

The apostle Paul says that in order to win them, he will make

himself a Jew for the Jews and a Gentile for the Gentiles, but

he only "makes himself" the one or the other. In actual fact

he has passed into the sphere of pure truth, where there is

neither Jew nor Greek. Just as mathematics is the same all

over the world, so is the true religion. The difference is only

in language and method. It would be impossible to instruct

the child of a Bushman in the same way as a Scandinavian

child.

But merely because of the fact that Jesus was born a Jew,

some Christian Jews assume that they are closer to Him than

their Gentile brethren, and tend to look down on other

•Christians and patronise them. The belief in the Jew Jesus

becomes just another kind of Jewish chauvinism, which is as

intolerable as all chauvinism. This often results in conflicts,

hidden or open, between the Gentile missionary and certain

Christian Jews. A carpenter is not nearer to Jesus than a tailor

because Jesus was a carpenter, nor is a man nearer to Him than

a woman because He was a male. Neither has a Jewish Christian

any superiority over a Gentile, though he often claims it.

Missionary work among Jews offers little spiritual satisfaction,

and quickly wears missionaries out. Nevertheless, Solheim

worked at this task for thirty years, assisted by his splendid

wife, and many others.

A Norwegian deaconess, Olga Olaussen, worked unob-

trusively but under great difficulty in Jassy during the war.

Her father, who had been a fisherman, was once thrown out of

his boat during a storm. For hours he wrestled with the waves.

In his distress he promised God that, if he were saved, he

would dedicate his children to missionary work, and this he

did. "Schwester Olga" devoted all her life to the Jews, selflessly

THE FASCIST PERIOD 135

tending the sick and bringing up orphaned children. After the

murder of Feinstein she worked alone with a group of Christian

girls, as all the men in the congregation had been killed. She

brought up these souls in the spirit of faith.

On one single occasion during the war I was given a permit

to visit her congregation on a Sunday. Here I found a small

group hungry for the Word of God. Knowing that I had only

a day to spend there, I preached for eleven hours, from eight in

the morning till eight in the evening, with an hour's break for

dinner. Throughout these eleven hours the entire congregation

kept their eyes and their attention riveted on the preacher.

Having written something about Pastor Solheim and

Schwester Olga, who belong to the Norwegian Israel Mission,

it might be of interest to describe how this Mission came into

being.

During the first half of the nineteenth century, the

Norwegian Lutheran Church made great efforts to spread the

gospel among the heathen. One day a Christian lady asked her

pastor: "Do you not think the time is now ripe to start the

special task of spreading the gospel among the Jews?" The

pastor replied: "No. According to the Bible it is now the time

of the heathen. Israel has been rejected." The answer brought

the lady to the verge of tears, but she held her peace, and

bided her time.

A few months later she approached the pastor once again.

"I would like to have your advice. A relation of mine had an

only son. But he behaved so badly that finally the parents had

no option but to send him away from home. To console them

in their unhappy old age, they adopted a boy, giving him

everything their own child had enjoyed, and making him heir

to their possessions, even though blood is undoubtedly thicker

than water. They treasured a picture of the child who had

been born to them, constantly remembering him and shedding

tears at night in their longing for him. The adopted child grew

bold, and as time went on he started to abuse his foster-parents:

"I don't want to see the picture of the other boy on the wall!

How dare you mention his name? I don't want to hear you

pining for him."

136 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

At this juncture the indignant clergyman interrupted the

good lady's story: "He is an impudent boy, and does not

deserve to stay in the house. They should send him away!"

Then the woman said: "Is not Israel the genuine son of

the Heavenly Father? He was driven from home because he

had been disobedient, and we, the other peoples, were adopted

in his place. But God's heart is still fixed on Israel. Heaven,

too, sighs for him. Is it right that we, the branches, should

consider ourselves greater than the trunk, and refuse the Jews

salvation?"

The clergyman now admitted his sin, and became the

founder of the Norwegian Israel Mission.

For many decades now.this mission has carried out work

of great blessing in several Rumanian towns.

Difficulties of our position

The Jews suffered so greatly during the war, that had we

followed our feelings only, we should have done nothing but

embrace them and console them. God helped us to do some-

thing to assist the Mosaic Jews who were deported to Trans-

nistria. Through our Rumanian brothers we sometimes

succeded in abducting some of the Jewish children from the

ghettoes, and restoring them to their parents.

But we could not be satisfied with this. The prophet Jeremiah

lived during the violent attacks of the Babylonians which

marked the beginning of the destruction of the Jewish state, and

at that time he blamed the Jews for their sins. Jesus, called by

some a new Jeremiah, did the same at a time when the Jews

were suffering under the unjust rule of the Romans. Both

were considered by their contemporaries to be traitors to their

people.

In the writing known as Baba Metzia, the Babylonian

Talmud accuses the prophets of sinning in their reproaches of

Israel. The Shir Raba states that Moses, Isaiah and Elijah

were punished by God for accusing Israel before the face of

the Lord. Christians think the prophets were right.

We were in the same situation as the prophets of old. Despair,

cruel servility and their terrible sufferings turned the hearts

THE FASCIST PERIOD 137

of the Jews to stone. Constantly the cry went up: "Let God

choose another people. We are tired of being His nation!"

On the other hand, the small group of Christian Jews was

convinced of the truth of Jesus's saying that salvation must

come from the Jews, that the Jews have a task to fulfil and

that they are obliged to fulfil it.

The Jews could not understand why we should make them,

the victims of the Fascists, co-responsible for all the evil that

was taking place in the world, in this way apparently joining

forces with their accusers and persecutors.

Our reasoning was simple. As far back as four thousand

years ago the Jews were given the Ten Commandments, the

basis of morality. It was revealed to them that God is One,

and that God demanded from mankind a brotherhood of

free men and women, a community guided by love and truth.

He also promised a Messiah who would ultimately establish

such a kingdom. The Jews were the people chosen by God

to bring this revelation to all peoples. God endowed them with

the qualities necessary to carry out their mission.

Almost two thousand years after Moses, the world still

had not heard of this revelation. Julius Caesar wrote in his

De Bello Gallico that the Gauls, the ancestors of the modern

Frenchmen, still drank wine from the skulls of their conquered

enemies. The Teutons and the Slavs, too, were savages at

that time.

Today, the Jews form only 0.33 per cent of the world's

population, yet they hold key positions in the economic,

political, scientific and cultural life of a great many countries.

The position of the Jews in these fields of influence is out of

all proportion to their actual numbers.

This is a heavy responsibility for the Jews.

If the teacher fails to carry out his duty, and his pupils are

hooligans, even going so far as to ill-treat their own teacher,

who then is responsible—the pupils or the teacher? On countless

occasions I have seen both Rumanians and Germans open up

their hearts when Jews talked to them of the love of Jesus.

Often, this has quite disarmed their anti-Semitism. When a

Jew accepts the solemn task that God has given him, of being

138 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

a light and of bringing this light to the nations, this generally

produces a profound effect.

But Jews are not assuming this task: on the contrary, I know

from my own experience how often some Jews have done their

best to undermine the Christian faith. When the man who

has lost his faith in Christ and His teaching of love strikes a

Jew, we are sorry for the victim, but we cannot absolve him

from his guilt.

We had converted a Greenshirt, an anti-Semite, who was

a chauffeur by trade. This man, overjoyed at the treasure he

had found in Jesus, went to the great Jewish industrialist,

Goldenberg, by whom he was employed, and told him of his

experience, and about the Saviour, and asked Goldenberg to

accept Him. Goldenberg made fun of him: "How silly you are,

Augustin! All this is nonsense. The important thing is to

live, to have money, to drink, to enjoy life with women, because

on the other side there is nothing."

Goldenberg was a shrewd man, who had succeeded in life.

Augustin was a simple country lad. The result was that

Goldenberg's words plucked the tender plant from Augustin's

soul. Many Goldenbergs have worked in the same way, through

the medium of newspapers, magazines, books, lectures, and

through their influence in political and economic life. Is it

surprising, then, that men like Augustin should return to the

tavern and, inspired by the example Goldenberg has given

them, try to lay their hands on money? And how are they to

get hold of money, except by knocking Goldenberg on the

head?

And when Goldenberg suffered, like anyone who suffers

greatly, he was not prepared to listen to sermons of reproach,

but we were forced to show him his guilt.

It was a divine miracle that among those who were struck

down by the anti-Semitic tyranny and who were in great

distress, there were some who received faith in Christ. To

all outward appearance they were wretched, degraded, reduced

to depths of squalor, yet they were people who had discovered

the great mission of the Jews. They had accepted Jesus as the

King of the Jews, King of the people whose mission in life

THE FASCIST PERIOD 139

it was to spread the Light of God through the world. These

Jews regretted the years they had wasted by failing to do their

duty, and now joyfully witnessed to their new faith, together

with their brethren—Rumanians, Hungarians and Germans—

who with them had become the spiritual Israel.

The Jewish people are not the only chosen people. God

has given many people special vocations. The Indian people

have given the world the highest metaphysics, whose influence

can be recognised even in the Bible. The Roman people were

chosen to give justice to the whole world. Even today, the

leading minds in matters of law, such as Lombroso, Enrico

Ferri and Pendi are Italians. All over the world, wherever

justice reigns, Roman law is supreme. Wherever Roman law

does not exist, injustice rears its head. The Greeks were chosen

to give the world philosophy. It is said that since the death of

the great Greek thinkers no new ideas have emerged in

philosophy, but instead men have ruminated, again and again,

on the wisdom of the ancient Greeks. The Germans and

Italians have given the world great music; the Germans and

Anglo-Saxons have given us modern technology. The Swiss

have been chosen by God to show the world how different

nations, who are enemies in other parts of the world, can live

together in harmony. The British were chosen to begin all the

big missionary enterprises and to give the Bible to all nations.

It is the duty of every nation to discover its special mission.

But the Jews have not remained faithful to their vocation.

They have rejected, and still reject, their Messiah, who has

been proved by history to be the person who has fulfilled to

perfection the mission entrusted to the Jews, to be a light to

lighten the world.

The Jews having failed in their spiritual mission, the task

they should have fulfilled has been left to others. According

to the prophecies of Jesus, the vineyard has been handed over

to another people. From every nation, those who walk in the

footsteps of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the prophets and

Jesus, constitute the spiritual Israel. They have taken over

our neglected inheritance, and are now spreading the light

throughout the world. In this chosen band, this royal priest-

140 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

hood, this international brotherhood of love, there are also a

number of followers of Jesus from among the Jewish people.

During the bitter war years we could not make many

converts. Nor were we surprised that the Jews, who were

oppressed, hounded, starved and dogged by death at every

step, should not have opened their hearts to the gospel,

j'ust as we are not surprised that the lame man cannot dance

and the dead man cannot move. We thanked God silently

whenever He occasionally performed a miracle and a Jew,

overcoming all inner and outward impediments, embraced

the faith.

We did not ask too much of the new converts: we did not

ask that they should walk in a new way, and deny all they

had believed in up till then. After all, the Jewish religion

has values which cannot be rejected; and we did not expect

them to become model Christians overnight. The fish in lakes

needed thousands of years to effect the transformation from

salt-water to fresh-water creatures. A human being is equally

incapable of changing in a few weeks, even in a few years. We

had to be patient with our new converts. We were not afraid

when we saw what a small grain of faith some of them had,

provided this faith clung to the Great Saviour, because we

knew that He who had planted the good seed would make it

grow until His coming.

The converts did not come from celebrated circles of

Judaism; but nor did Jesus gather His apostles from among

the highest in the land. Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.

We too had women of this kind. Matthew and Zacchaeus

were embezzlers and traitors to their people. Saul of Tarsus

had committed murder. Most of the apostles were unlettered

artisans.

We did not consider that a person's past, however degraded

it might have been, had any significance. God judges a man

as he is at this particular moment. The only important thing

to us was whether a man believed in Jesus's blood and suffering,

whether he loved Him, whether he wished to be saved through

Him, whether from now on he would follow Him.

It was not only Jesus's right hand, the one He stretched

THE FASCIST PERIOD 141

out to the relatively good, pure, people which was pierced,

but also His left hand, the one He stretched out to all those

who were degraded, the pariahs.

We recalled one of the sayings of Meister Eckhardt:

"Everyone is most concerned to remove what disgusts him

most. The greater and more hideous our sins are, the more

quickly and with the greater love does God forgive them,

because he is greatly repelled." Many people who were bur-

dened with great crimes received consolation, and we set their

feet on the right path with thoughts such as these.

We did not as a rule have long conversations with people.

We proclaimed the truth, we did not discuss it. We revealed

a truth which fundamentally all of us carry inside us without

knowing it, because the human soul is Christian by nature.

We spoke to the conscience, not to the understanding. Those

who had been chosen from the beginning to be saved, came

to us. What was obvious to everyone was that they had been

anointed with the oil of joy, above all other Jews.

I remember the day when the decision to confiscate Jewish

house property was published. In the Mosaic families affected

by this order there was great sorrow. Our brethren in the

faith sang and rejoiced, for they knew that in heaven they

had a better treasure which no one could take from them.

Two old people

One day my wife and I went for a walk. Hardly had we gone

a few steps before my wife noticed an old Jew on the other

side of the street. An Orthodox Jew by outward appearance,

he shuffled along, walking with difficulty. My wife said to me:

"That man has not long to live. Go and speak to him about the

Saviour! I shall return home. We can go for a walk later."

I crossed over to the other pavement, and approached the

old man with the request: "Would you please tell me what

portion of the .Law of Moses will be read in the synagogue

next Saturday?" He told me, and then asked: "Do you believe

in Jesus?" I answered, a little surprised: "Yes. Why do you

ask?"—"Because I realise that you were looking for an oppor-

tunity of speaking to me. Young Jews don't stop people to put

142 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

questions of that sort. How old are you?"—"About thirty," I

told him. "You are young. I have believed in Jesus for forty

years, and I have spent just as many years in Satan's prison."

His answer left me speechless. We exchanged addresses, and

I promised to go to visit the old man. And what was the story

I subsequently heard?

This man, a tinsmith, had heard the gospel preached forty

years ago in the Anglican Mission, and he had believed in

Jesus. Ever since that day he had pored over his Bible, which

he knew better than I did, and had led a regular life of prayer.

But he had not confessed his faith to anyone, nor had he

been baptised, for fear that he might lose his customers, most

of whom were Jews.

The years went by, and he stubbornly refused to heed the

advice of those who urged him to side openly with Jesus, in

whom he believed in secret.

The devil rewarded him, as only the devil can: to secure

his livelihood he had refused to be baptised, and in his old

age he was reduced to beggary. Once again he was unable to

bear witness to his faith, lest he should be forbidden to ask

for alms from his fellow Jews outside the synagogue.

That was the position when I ran into him. For many

months I struggled with this man, who believed that the

Bible was the inspired word of God, and I asked him to bear

in mind the words of the Epistle to the Romans: "If thou

shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus . . . thou shalt

be saved." (Rom. 10.9). He knelt with me, we prayed together,

but he always had the same reply on his lips: "Where shall

I get my food if the Jews discover that I believe in Jesus?"

All around us were Christian Jews who had publicly confessed

their faith, and he realised that we all made a living, but the

devil had persuaded him that baptism for him would mean

starving to death.

I never ceased insisting that he should allow himself to be

baptised. Finally he came to see me, and said: "I have made

up my mind. Next week the great autumn festival starts, the

new year, and the Festival of Atonement. The synagogue will

be visited by a great many rich people who otherwise never

THE FASCIST PERIOD 143

come near it. I shall get a great deal of money. And then I can

be baptised."

I asked him how much money he expected to get, and he

told me about five hundred lei, which was a lot of money for

a beggar.

I continued to question him: "Do you believe that God

created heaven and earth?"—"I do."—"Do you believe that

God gave the Jews in the wilderness manna from heaven and

water from the rock?"—"I do."—"Do you believe that Jesus

fed thousands of people with a few loaves and fishes?"—"I do."—

"Do you believe that Jesus can give you five hundred lei, so

that you no longer need to postpone the fulfilment of God's

commandment?"—"How can Jesus get the money for me? I

must put off being baptised until after the religious festivals."

Without thinking, I said something which caught me

unawares: "God will not receive you after the festivals are

over. For forty years now you have bargained with Him, and

now you let Him wait for a mere five hundred lei. God is a great

God, and He will not allow Himself to be mocked. You will be

received by Him today, or never."

When he left me the old man was angry, because he thought

I had spoken harshly to him.

The day after the Day of Atonement, the old man's daughter

came to ask me to go to him immediately at his house. He

had been standing outside the synagogue in the cold autumn

rain, and was stricken with double pneumonia. I ran as fast as

I could, but it was too late: when I arrived he was already at

the point of death. I went to find a doctor and asked him to

restore the old man to consciousness, if only for a few seconds,

so that he could express the wish to be baptised. But it was

impossible. He died without receiving baptism.

It was my fault, too. At that time I did not know that in

such a case as this, the dying man could have been baptised,

on the assumption that he was a believer. The mere fact that

he had sent for me in his last hour was significant.

I knew another case involving a Jew who in his younger

days had heard the Word in Jerusalem, and had accepted the

faith. Later he came to Rumania. Every time the question of

144 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

baptism was broached he postponed the idea, declaring that

he wished to be baptised in the Jordan. Several decades passed

before he was able to make the journey. In his old age he

finally set off on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He died

on the way, in Istanbul, before his wish could be fulfilled. His

daughter, who was also a believer, told me this with tears in

her eyes, but she did just what her father had done. She was

converted thirty years ago, but has still not been baptised.

The young learn nothing from the old.

Horshani was the direct opposite of the old man whose

story I related above. Horshani had served the synagogue all

his life. He was now ninety-one, and had been pensioned off.

Once a month he used to visit the members of his former

congregation, and all of them would give him small gifts.

One day he went to see a man who had a young daughter,

who was a fervent believer. She gave him a New Testament.

His joy was indescribable. Despite his advanced age his mind

was perfectly clear. He recognised in Jesus, of whom he read

in the book, the Messiah for whose coming he had prayed

all his life.

I went to visit him, but there was little for us to talk about:

with all his heart he believed simply through reading the

book.

Not long afterwards, he started dreaming dreams in which,

night after night, he saw two people clad in white who advised

him to make haste, because his days were numbered.

One day, during the bitter winter of 1941, he made his

way with great difficulty to my home. I was surprised to see

him. "What brings you here, Grandfather?"—"I've come to

be baptised."

Neither the girl nor I had ever spoken to him about this.

The decision was his alone.

At his age, prolonged baptismal instruction was out of the

question. Nevertheless, I wanted to know what was passing

in his heart, and so I asked him: "Why do you wish to be

baptised?"—"Because Jesus commanded it," was his prompt

reply. In order to test him, I asked again: "And why do you

THE FASCIST PERIOD I45

feel compelled to fulfil the commandments of Jesus?" He was

very angry: "Fiddlesticks! Jesus is the Son of God and we

must all obey Him."

I continued to question him: "Have you told your family

that you are going to be baptised?" (His children were dead,

and he was cared for by his grandchildren.) "Yes," he replied.

"And what does your granddaughter say?"—"She said she

would throw me out of the house."—"What would you do at

your age? If she really throws you out of the house, you will

not be able to fend for yourself."—"I shall stand out in the

snow in the street with Jesus, but all the same I shall fulfil

His commandment."

The old man had passed his examination with flying colours.

I at once made all necessary preparations for the ceremony.

A young Christian Jewess, who up till now had hesitated to

take the step, happened to be in our house at the time. She

also decided to be baptised when she heard old Horshani's

answer, and I baptised both of them.

Thanks to the intervention of neighbours, his granddaughter

did not throw her old grandfather out that very evening, but

the next day he had to leave. He did not sleep on the street for

a single night. God, who had given manna to the Jews in the

desert, also took care of Horshani.

I procured him a Bible with large print, so that he could

continue his reading. Whenever I went to see him, I would

find him with either the Bible or a hymn book in his hand. As

he could only walk a short distance, he was unable to attend our

services, and so he did not know our hymn tunes. But this

did not bother him. He sang the hymns to tunes he knew from

the synagogue.

Horshani was an enthusiastic witness for his Lord, and was

constantly telling others of his belief. He lived for another

two years. In the end, his granddaughter took him back into

her house, out of respect for the neighbours, but she treated

him badly. He did not care. He often used to tell us how he

saw heaven in his dreams.

One evening a neighbour came to tell us that Horshani

was dying. Sister Olga and I immediately went to the house.

146 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

In a corner of the room where the dying man lay stood a

cantor, who had been hired by the family, saying in his name

the Vidui, a special formula of recantation of faith for Hebrew

Christians. But Horshani's last words were: "The Lord Jesus

is good; I am going to the Lord Jesus."

Antonescu's government had decreed that all Jews, even

those who were Christians, should be buried in the Mosaic

cemeteries, presumably in order to prevent the dead being

racially corrupted. And in the Mosaic cemetery the administra-

tion would not allow Christian funeral services to be held, out

of deference to the finer feelings of the Mosaic dead. During

this period we were allowed to bury neither Horshani nor

any other Christian Jews. Cantors sang beside their graves,

but their souls were already with the Saviour, whom the cantors

did not know.

s

ADDING TO THE CHURCH

The gambler and the police informer

When he was in prison, Oscar Wilde wrote that if Jesus had

said nothing but "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for

she loved much" (Luke 7.47) and "He that is without sin

among you, let him first cast a stone" (John 8.7), then this

would have been sufficient for us to believe that He was God,

for these words express thoughts so lofty that no human spirit

could have conceived them.

Another of Jesus's outstanding sayings is: "The Son of man

is come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19.10).

Wherever we came across a repellent sin, we did not sit

in judgement. We considered how we might cure the disease.

A good tailor never throws away a scrap of cloth. Society must

not reject people merely because they have fallen. It might be

society's fault, too.

One day a young girl who was a Christian came to me in

tears to tell me that her father, an inveterate card-player, had

stolen her mother's money, which she had scraped together by

working long hours as a dressmaker, and had gone out to

gamble the money away in some inn, which one she did not

know. We systematically visited all the inns in our part of town.

At last, very late, we ran him to earth in a tavern which was also

involved in a smuggling racket. He was absorbed in a game, and

after he had lost, I tapped him on the shoulder and told him I

wanted a word with him. We went into an adjoining room, and

sat down at a table, the three of us—the gambler, the girl and

myself. I spoke amicably, I spoke harshly; every approach was

fruitless. I talked about humanity, I talked about religion.

147

148 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

There was one single thought in his head: he would go on

gambling, to try to win back the money he had lost, in vain I

argued that in these games the only person who came out the

winner was the innkeeper. I told him I was resolved not to

leave the inn until he agreed to come with me. He now grew

insolent, and started to shout: "What rights have you over me?

I am a Jew. Let the chief rabbi come to fetch me. I am not a

member of your congregation, and I must ask you not to inter-

fere in my life." He shouted so loudly that all the other card-

players heard it, and they too began to threaten me.

I said: "Do you want the chief rabbi? I'll go and fetch him."

His daughter and I stopped the first taxi we could find and

drove to the home of the chief rabbi, but he was not in town.

So we went to the house of another leading rabbi, and rang the

bell. After a long wait a sleepy servant opened the door. I

said to him: "Please wake the rabbi, as a great misfortune has

befallen Israel."

This took place at a time when anti-Semitism was raging.

The servant imagined that I had come with news of some

new law against the Jews. I assured him that the matter was

very important.

A few moments later we were ushered into the rabbi's

bedroom. He was sitting up in bed, waiting anxiously to hear

what had happened. I told him of the great tragedy, that a sheep

from the chosen flock of Israel was losing money, as well as

endangering the sacred prestige of the Jewish race in the

inn, and that he had demanded that a rabbi should come

and fetch him. "There's a car waiting outside. Please come

with me."

The rabbi looked at me as though I were mad. "Have you

woken me up only for this? Tell the gambler that he can come

and see me tomorrow, and I will talk to him." I answered:

"It is not for the lost sheep to come to the shepherd. The

shepherd must seek out the lost sheep. The gambling dens,

the taverns and the brothels are full not only of Rumanians,

but also of Jews. I visit these places to look for lost souls, but

I never meet any rabbis there. Nor for that matter do I find

any Christian clergymen. Do your duty as a shepherd and

ADDING TO THE CHURCH 149

come with me!" He muttered a few derisory words, and rolled

over in bed to go to sleep.

The girl and I returned to the inn, which was in the Jewish

quarter, and told the gamblers, many of them Jews, what had

happened. This gave me an opportunity of speaking to them

of the Saviour, who left the ninety-nine sheep in the fold in

order to look for the one which was löst. I pleaded with them

to cross the gulf which a heedless priesthood of all religions

had placed between Jewry and Jesus.

The gambler went back to his family. And the news of what

had happened that night was talked of in all the inns.

On my wanderings into the world of the outcasts I ran

into Farcash. He was a Hungarian Jew, whose name means

"wolf", and he was a wolf by profession, a paid informer. He

went round among the Jews, worming out of them how much

foreign currency, gold or other valuables they had hidden

away. With this information he went to the police commissioner,

with whom he had an arrangement. The police would arrest

the guilty man, and extort his gold from him by threats and

torture. He would then be released, and Farcash and the

policeman would split the loot between them.

Farcash's wife was a believer, and she was stricken with

grief at her husband's misdeeds. At her request several of

the brothers spoke with him, but he merely listened without

responding.

But the seed was not lost. One day Farcash said to his wife :

"Get a bath ready for me. I want to clean myself outwardly

and inwardly, and become a new man."

He took a bath, and then he went to the police commissioner,

and told him: "I have been born anew. I deeply regret the

wrong we have done together, and I have decided to have

nothing more to do with it." The result was that the police

commissioner had him interned in a concentration camp at

Tirgul-Jiu, for fear that he himself would be exposed.

Every third month a commission visited the camp in order

to interview the internees. Farcash was one of those brought

before the commission. He reported with a Bible in his hand,

150 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

told them of his former life, and confessed his new faith. One

police inspector grabbed the Bible and flung it to the ground.

Farcash told him: "You have brought misfortune on yourself

by mocking this book. Now all the curses mentioned in it will

fall upon you." His fate was now apparently sealed. He had

forfeited any chance of release.

But that evening the commandant, touring the camp,

chanced to peep into Farcash's cell, and saw him kneeling in

prayer. Out of curiosity he opened the door, and asked him

who he was. Farcash told his whole story, concealing nothing.

The commandant was so impressed that he promised to

intervene on his behalf, and shortly afterwards he was set

free.

The policeman who had torn the Bible from his hand

later suffered many years of imprisonment under the Com-

munists. Farcash was baptised. Soon afterwards he made his

way to Hungary, where he was probably killed by the Nazis.

The struggle for a soul

Mrs. S. had decided for Christ, but her husband was

violently opposed to her conversion. Finally, he forced her

to accompany him to a rabbi, so that she could be shown the

error of her ways.

She told me the time of her appointment, and I walked

up and down in front of the synagogue, praying. I was afraid

that the joint exertions of the rabbi and the husband would

weaken her decision.

I kept it up for a while: finally I could stand it no longer,

and burst into the rabbi's ofHce. I told him who I was, and

insisted that the interview with the lady should take place in

my presence.

I am tall and of an athletic build; the rabbi was small and

thin. He was clearly nervous. He offered me a chair, and then

went on to address the lady: "Christianity is the opposite of

the great message of the revelation 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord

thy God is one God'. If God is one, the Father, where do we

get the other gods, Christ and the Holy Spirit?"

I intervened in the discussion: "Rabbi, this assertion that

ADDING TO THE CHURCH 151

God is one is part of the mystique of numbers. It contradicts

the assertions of the dualists that God is two, and of the poly-

theists that there are many gods. If God is identical with

the number one, He must have qualities in common with this

number. This shows how useful mathematics is to an under-

standing of the divine truths. All the philosophers, from Plato

and Pythagoras to Augustine and Boethius, have maintained

that no man who is ignorant of mathematics is capable of

understanding divine things.

"You persist in maintaining that God is one, without

realising what the term 'one' involves. There is no such thing

as absolute one. 'One' simply represents a synthesis of con-

flicting forces. Man is one because he is a synthesis of body,

soul and spirit. These again are syntheses of other entities.

An atom is a synthesis of conflicting elementary particles.

"You talk about the oneness of God. But the Mosaic faith

is based on a misunderstanding of the Bible meaning. The

Hebrew language has two expressions for the word 'one':

iahid, which means 'absolute unity'; and ehad, which means

composite unity, as in the book of Genesis, Chapter 1 ; 'vaihi

erev vaihi boker, torn ehad—and it was evening, and it was

morning, the first day, one day.'

"In the Bible, God is called Ehad, a composite unit. In his

thirteen articles of faith, Maimonides jumped from Ehad to

Iahid without any support from the Bible. It is in his work

that for the first time we find God portrayed as an absolute

unit, which is absurd from both a mathematical and a philo-

sophical point of view.

"We might say that the confession of faith which thousands

of Jewish martyrs had on their lips at the moment of their

death should, correctly translated, run as follows: 'Hear, O

Israel, Jehovah our gods'—Eloheinu is a plural word—'I am

Jehovah of a composite unity*. Can you deny this, Rabbi?"

The rabbi was downright astounded. Although he was a

very well-read man, he had no acquaintance with Christian

apologetics, applied to the Mosaic faith. At this moment his

intellectual curiosity gained the upper hand: "What you are

saying is new and very interesting to me. Please go on!"

152 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Mrs. S. glanced in triumph at her confused and shamefaced

husband.

I continued: "If I maintain that God is one, I maintain

that He is divisible, because the number one is divisible. He

can be the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Even the words

of Jesus which he addressed to men and women, quoting

from the Psalms, 'Ye are gods' (John 10.34), are plausible.

All God's children share His divine nature. The number one

is also capable of being multiplied. But it is unlike all other

numbers because, however much one multiplies it by itself, it

always remains one. We men and women, too, are made gods,

but God remains one. Likewise, the number one is the only

number whose square root is equal to itself. That is why

Jesus, a man, was able to say: "He that hath seen me hath

seen the Father" (John 14.9). That is why we have retained

the saying used by the early Christians: 'Every time you look

at a brother, you look at God.'

"God has been called one because every number is a quantity

related to one. In this way the whole creation is related to God.

At any rate, you cannot use the fact that God is one as an

argument against the Christian faith."

In the rabbi's office there was only one picture—a repro-

duction of "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci. Why

precisely this work of art? I put the question straight to the

rabbi.

Somewhat shamefacedly, he answered: "I admire Jesus

because He was a great Jew, just as I admire Plato, the great

Greek. They were both important thinkers and good men.

I also believe that we should bring back Jesus to the ancestral

heritage of the Jewish nation. But if Jesus had been asked what

His religion was, He would have answered: 'The Mosaic faith*.

Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian. I have nothing against this

lady loving Jesus, but that love should be an extra stimulus to

help her to remain wholeheartedly what Jesus was too, a

Mosaic Jew."

I answered: "Since you have mentioned Plato, I think we

had better remain in the pure sphere of philosophy. In

heathen religions, divinity could not be worshipped in any

ADDING TO THE CHURCH 153

other way than according to concepts which people hold

about its very nature. But the Christian and the Mosaic cults,

too, are in danger of degenerating into idolatry if we attribute

to the divine an image that springs from our own understanding.

So let us move from cult to philosophy, from images to the

final realities!

"As a rule, we do not draw conclusions from what we say

ourselves. You tell me that you admire Plato, probably for

his teaching. But if you consider this teaching correct, why

do you not adopt it?

"Platonism had many of the ideas of Christianity before

the time of Christ. Plato demonstrated the philosophical

necessity for a logos as an intermediary between God and man.

He called it Nus. No cause can produce an effect which is

not related to it. The Invisible God could not simply produce

the visible world. What first emanated from Him was the

invisible idea which, because it contained within itself, in an

ideal manner, everything that can exist as a reality, and because

it was essentially active, created the universe."

The rabbi answered: "The idea of a logos is acceptable to

us also; it is not especially Christian. We have it from Philo

of Alexandria. But the logos is not God. You say that it was

born of the Father; if it was born, then it cannot have existed

before its birth. It is not eternal, therefore it is not God. God

is only one. Perhaps Jesus will come to be appreciated and

recognised as one of the great prophets of Israel. Perhaps our

judgement of Him will be revised. But we shall never accept

the Trinity."

I explained our position to him: "The Word was born

logically, not chronologically, from the Father. He is eternal.

And the word 'Trinity' ought not to shock you. When we

talk of divinity, our words are inadequate. Human language

is the result of men's need to understand one another in their

working, family and social lives. How could we have words

for the metaphysical realities? Even Christians use the word

'Trinity' with a certain amount of reserve. As Augustine said,

when you start to count the Trinity, you abandon the truth.

And Luther, who constantly used the expression 'The Holy

154 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Trinity', wrote: 'The name "The Holy Trinity" is not to be

found anywhere in the Scriptures, but has been invented by

men. For that reason it has a cold ring about it, and it would

be better to say God than Trinity . . . There exists a Being

of divine nature; the strongest union between body and soul

is not as united as God is united . . . Not only do we believe

in and learn about a unique God, but a God of the simplest

simplicity and the most united unity.'

"On the other hand, even the Old Testament has been

unable to avoid the figure three, which is the measure of every-

thing. Here, too, we read of the Son, for example in Psalm 2 :

'Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way,'

or in Isaiah, Chapter g, where we read of a child who is to be

born, whose name is to be the Mighty God. And there are

countless passages which speak of the Spirit of God. Virgil

wrote: 'the unpaired delights the Divinity'. In God we must

look for the source of everything, for the means by which He

receives again what He has created, and for His purpose,

which is sanctification and perfection. In order to describe

God in human words we need the term 'Trinity'."

The rabbi cut me short: "Holiness means being faithful to

the past, to a treasure which was entrusted to Israel several

thousands of years ago. God appeared to Moses as one;

everything else is human speculation.

"Madam," he went on, turning to the lady, "I cannot

recommend that you should follow the adventurous road of

the Christians. Remain on the ancient rock of Mosaic belief!"

Mrs. S. and her husband, both of them intelligent people,

had attentively followed the discussion without speaking.

Now that she had an opportunity to speak, the woman gave

the conversation an entirely different twist, as she said to the

rabbi: "You are speaking against the Christian faith. You

advise me not to embrace it. Rabbi, do you wish Christianity

to disappear? Do you realise what a catastrophe would over-

whelm the world if it were to contain nothing but Hitlerism,

Communism, and terrible suffering? What would be left of the

world, what would become of Jewry without the thousands

of converted people among the Gentiles who, out of love for

ADDING TO THE CHURCH 155

Christ, spread love around, and spread what the Jews neglect

to spread—the Jewish Bible, the Revelation given to us by

God so that we in turn might give it to other nations? There

is no alternative to Christianity, because the Mosaic faith

is nationally isolated. In fact, it is passive within the Jewish

race also. The Mosaic faith cannot give light. Moses was

made known in the world because of Jesus. I ask you once

again, Rabbi, do you want Christianity to disappear?"

The rabbi made a deprecatory gesture, and exclaimed:

"God forbid!"

"Well," continued the woman, "if you want it to survive,

and if you want it to survive as the religion of perfect love,

then you must want Jews to be converted to it. Because the

Church of Christ needs Jews, just as lungs need air. And we,

the Jews, need Jesus, our King. Just as a swarm of bees,

separated from the queen, loses its sense of direction, so we

have lost our sense of direction without Him. I wish to become

a Christian."

The rabbi turned to her husband: "Let her have her way!

I can do no more."

As we left, I said to the rabbi: "What you and I said about

God might seem contradictory, but any statement about God

is fraught with danger, because we attribute to Him human

concepts. We find God only on the via negationis, the way of

negation, by denying what the human imagination has woven

around Him. We are on opposite sides, but let us both know

God as the place where opposites meet. In Him, in Him

alone, because He is eternal, the difference between a straight

line, a triangle and a circle vanishes. In infinity all geometrical

shapes are alike, and religious differences disappear. Only love

unites the lover with the beloved. The more men love and

understand one another, the more they acquire of the Divine

Being. When we reach the heights where love dwells, we find

that the King in the kingdom of love, He who showed us this

road in the most sublime way, and who Himself suffered

death for love of His creatures, is Jesus."

The rabbi was friendliness itself when he shook hands

with us and we departed, leaving him alone in his office to

156 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

gaze at the picture of the Last Supper. Shortly afterwards,

the woman was baptised.

A soul lost and a soul found

A gentleman came to see me, introducing himself by a

Rumanian name. He said he was on the verge of suicide:

I was the last person whose advice he was seeking before

taking his life.

He told me his sad story. He was a Jew, who had been

baptised twenty years previously, without a shred of belief.

He had merely wished to escape the sorry fate of being a Jew.

He had joined the Greek Orthodox Church, had adopted a

Rumanian name and married a Rumanian lady. He had been

lucky up to now.

The anti-Semitic government now in power was not inter-

ested in a man's religion, but in his race. When they discovered

that our friend was born a Jew, his house was confiscated, and

he was expelled from the Law Association of which he was

a member. When he lost his source of livelihood, his wife and

his Rumanian friends abandoned him. He had long been a

stranger to the Jews. Now he was desperate and unhappy.

I told him that I had a very influential friend whom we

could consult immediately. I was certain that this friend

would help him. He thanked me warmly, and assured me that

he would repay me handsomely. Great was his disappointment

when I told him that my friend was Jesus Christ, and suggested

that we should kneel together and speak with Him.

"But how can anyone talk to Jesus? He died two thousand

years ago."

"Don't you believe that He has risen from the dead?"-

"No."—"Don't you greet your friends every Easter, as is

the Greek Orthodox custom, with the words 'Christ is risen'?"-

"Yes."—"Then if Christ is not risen, you are a dishonest

man, because every year, when in answer to this greeting you

declare, 'He is risen indeed', you are telling a gross lie.You

must decide: either He is in truth risen, or you are a patent

liar. If you believe neither the gospel nor the Church, then

at any rate believe in what you have so many times declared.

ADDING TO THE CHURCH 157

Choose: either Christ is risen, or you are a base liar, a man

without honour."—"Christ is risen."—"Did He die again after

His resurrection?"—"No."—"Then He is alive, and we can

talk to Him."-"How can He be alive?"

Three times our argument went round in a circle. Again

and again he was faced with the alternative which must be

faced by all who confess the Christian faith without believing:

either Christ is risen, or you have been living a lie. But I

could not get him to believe in Jesus Christ as a living Saviour

and counsellor.

He did not commit suicide: he did something much worse.

He had done his national service as a wireless operator,

and now he volunteered for the army. Although Jews were

not normally accepted, his application was successful because

he had been a member of the Orthodox Church for a long

time, and also because he was a much-needed specialist. At

the front he distinguished himself by committing atrocities

against Jews and raping Jewish girls. After the fall of the

Nazis, he was sentenced as a war criminal.

This should not surprise us. There were other Jews who

took part in the Rumanian anti-Jewish atrocities. Mrs. Marin,

who was sentenced to death after the revolt of the Legionaires,

during which more than a hundred Jews were killed, was a

Jewess. Every nation has its traitors. The Jews are no exception.

Marx was an anti-Semitic Jew, so are some of the Communist

Jews who are leaders of Rumania today, such as Leonte Räutu

and Cornel Manescu.

An old Christian Jew had a shrew of a wife who hated

Christian Jews with all her heart. When her husband, a poor

man, wished to attend our meetings, she hid his only pair of

trousers. When he left the house, she would call out through

the window: "I hope you break your leg, you renegade!"

Whenever he brought home a Jewish friend and testified to

him of his Lord, she would interrupt: "Don't believe my

husband. He has sold himself!" For years the old man had

to put up with this treatment. Meanwhile, his children grew

up. One of them did very well for himself, and had an important

158 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

job with a foreign oil company. He loved his father, and invited

him to stay for two months' holiday.

When I heard of this, I had an idea. No one had been

able to talk to his wife. Several of the brethren had tried,

but she would seize the first thing that came to hand and

throw ft at them. Now I saw an opportunity of reaching her.

I asked her husband to entrust me with the task of collecting

his monthly wages and taking them to his wife, who would

be informed of this plan. She was in such need of money that

she would have to receive me.

On the first day of the following month, I turned up. She

expected me to hand over the money at the door. But I was

in no hurry. I told her I was thirsty, and asked for a glass of

water. In this way I managed to get into the house, where I

sat down on a chair. She waited for me to hand over the

money. I started to talk about the hot, dry weather we were

having. I asked for another glass of water. Then I told her

that I had heard of her aversion to the Christian Jews, and

I quite understood her attitude. I had been one of them foi

several years, and I realised what a collection of sinners I had

joined. She pricked up her ears. I launched into a long speech

about the number of hypocrites and renegades among them,

how inconsistent they were, and how their words and theii

deeds were poles apart. We were now on common ground,

I had touched on a subject which found an echo in hei

heart.

She too expatiated on the sins of the Christian Jews she

knew. I joined her in condemning their transgressions. We

got on very well. I gave her the money. I now had access to

her house, because she recognised in me a kindred spirit.

I returned several times. The first time, I merely talked to

her about the wickedness of Christian Jews. The same thinj

happened on the second occasion. Then I added, almost as ax

afterthought: "Of course, we are all sinners. Have not you and i

also sinned?" At each visit she had a little more opportunity 0:

thinking about our sins and a little less about other people's.

After a while, I had made such good progress that I managec

to persuade her to attend one of our meetings. She was vei?

ADDING TO THE CHURCH 159

embarrassed, because she knew her reputation. But I had

carefully prepared the brethren, and told then how to receive

her. One of them was to give her a hymn book; another was

to see that she got a seat near the window. One of the sisters

would ask after her rheumatism, and would tell her that the

seat near the window was no good, as there was a draught.

All the young people were to greet her with great respect.

She was enthusiastic when the meeting was over. Soon she

was converted.

Her husband knew nothing about this. When he returned,

she asked him, with tears in her eyes, for forgiveness. As he

had suffered patiently for twenty years, when he heard this

and knew that there was no longer any need for him to hold

his peace, he gave her the scolding which he had not dared

to give her in the past.

She was not dismayed; she became a loving and believing

sister, and in many ways surpassed her husband.

God chooses people by whom the world does not set great

store—simple souls who have stumbled, and who in their

ignorance have become a prey to wickedness. Our congregation

consisted mostly of simple men.

Jesus said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and

earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and

prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." (Matt. 11.25).

Why should this be? I believe that God is anxious that His

message should not be perverted, this message which is destined

to play such a great role in these days. Intellectuals are seldom

capable of coveying a message just as they have received it,

without giving it a personal twist; whereas the simple, ignorant

people transmit it faithfully. But although there were not

many intellectuals in our ranks, that does not mean that there

were none at all.

Practical action

In the conditions under which we lived, our mission em-

braced a wide range of activities apart from our main task,

which was to preach the gospel to the Jews.

When the German army occupied Rumania, we considered

l6o CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

it our duty, out of love for our enemy, to print a special edition

of St. John's Gospel, and distribute it free to German soldiers.

When they received these handouts on the streets, they

admitted to our brethren that they had been prepared for

quite a lot in Rumania, but they never expected to find Jews

giving them the Word of God as a free gift!

When Bucharest was bombed, I started systematically

preaching in air-raid shelters, thus reaching both Jews and

Rumanians with the Word of God.

When the first Russian air raids took place, I and six other

brethren were under arrest. We were just being interrogated

when the alert sounded. We were taken to the shelter under

escort of armed guards, and the judges, lawyers and members

of the public joined us. When the first bombs began to fall,

I suggested: "Let us all kneel, and I shall say a prayer."

They all knelt, including the officers and guards. They crossed

themselves as I prayed aloud. Then I preached a sermon on

the necessity of being prepared to meet God. They all listened

reverently.

When the all-clear sounded, the guards seized us by the

collar and escorted us back to the court. Once again I stood

in front of the judge who only a quarter of an hour before

had knelt at my command, and answered his questions.

After we had been released, every time we heard the air-

raid warnings we would run as quickly as we could to a

large shelter, and preach. Once we ran with Sister Olga to a

shelter in a large block of flats. Though it was forbidden

to be in the streets once the warning had sounded, I was

seized with a sudden impulse to leave the building and we

made our way to another shelter. The house we had left was

destroyed by bombs, burying a great many people in its

ruins.

During another raid a sister and myself were arrested

on a charge of spreading anti-war propaganda under the

pretext of preaching. We were released after once again having

to pay a considerable bribe.

Our activities were many-sided. One of them was to help

our brothers whom the Greek Orthodox Church called

ADDING TO THE CHURCH l6l

sectarians. Because they were Adventists or Baptists, they

were sent to prison and sometimes suffered terrible tortures.

We managed to procure the intervention on their behalf of

the Swedish Ambassador.

Much of our time was spent helping the Mosaic and

Christian Jews who were forced to do heavy manual, labour

without being paid a cent. Occasionally some of them were

able to scrape a bare pittance during the hours of the night.

I also had to ease the conscience of our brethren in connection

with this work. One of them had an illegal workshop, where

he produced crates for fruit. All day long he worked, without

any form of remuneration, for the state, which did not even

provide him with food. How was he to provide for his five

children?

One could not help admiring some of the brethren who,

in these circumstances, carried out their civic duties and

were unwilling to break a single one of the rules imposed by

the Fascist government. But I had to explain to them that

according to the Scriptures the authorities were instituted to

punish evil and reward good. If they did the very opposite,

then we were absolved from our duty to obey them.

Besides, all this time we were busy doing things which

according to the law carried the death penalty, such as helping

a number of Jews from Hungary to cross the frontier illegally,

and rescuing children from ghettos.

Towards the end of the war our little community in Jassy

was in danger. We were afraid that the Germans, as they

retreated, would start a new pogrom. The trains were crammed

with Rumanians fleeing before the approaching Russian

army. Jews were not allowed to travel. An acquaintance of

mine, a high-ranking military officer, arrested all the members

of the community on a fictitious charge. One brother, who was

a soldier and armed with a rifle, was ordered to escort the

"traitors to the state" in a carriage especially reserved for

them. At the railway station in Bucharest the order of arrest

was torn up, and the arrested persons were handed over to

the charge of my wife. Many Rumanian brethren risked their

lives to help us on this occasion.

l62 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Âs far as courage is concerned, the Babylonian Talmud

says: "The words of the Torah [the Divine Law] are only

in the keeping of him who is prepared to die for their sake.

For it is written in the Book of Numbers: 'This is the law,

when a man dies . . .'" (Num. 19.14).

In-fighting

Jesus taught the people in the synagogues. He expects

His disciples to do the same, and He warns them: "They

will scourge you in their synagogues" (Matt. 10.17). This

presupposes that we shall speak to the people, and annoy

our listeners with sermons which intentionally attack their

prejudices and superstitions.

This is precisely what we did.

It was a Friday evening: the Jews were assembling early

in their synagogues to read from the Holy Book or to debate

among themselves before the start of the service.

I sat down next to the rabbi and asked him, loudly so that

those who were sitting near us could also hear: "Rabbi, I

have been told that there is a book written by a Jewish prophet

called, so far as I can remember, Isaiah. Is it a good book,

worth reading?"

"What a question!" he answered. "If only you would read

it! It contains nothing but pure gold."

"Rabbi, I have read a great many books where I imagined

I would find valuable things, only to discover that I had

been fooled. Won't that also be the case with Isaiah?"

"Young man, the very thought is a sin. In fact, it was not

Isaiah but God Himself who wrote it. Isaiah was merely the

pen."

"Rabbi, where can I find the Book of Isaiah?"

He fetched it down from a shelf and gave it to me. Before

opening the book, I asked him again to assure me that it

contained God's own words.

Then I opened it at Chapter 53, and asked him: "Rabbi,

to whom does this refer?" and I read out aloud the passage

describing the Suffering Servant. "This description tallies

exactly with Jesus," I said. "He must be the Messiah."

ADDING TO THE CHURCH 163

The rabbi exclaimed: "You should not read that passage.

You ought rather to read Chapter 11."

I turned to the Jews. "Dear friends! You have heard

the rabbi confirm that every word in this book is God's own

word. Then this description of Jesus's sufferings must also

have been inspired by God."

The rabbi angrily left the synagogue, banging the door

behind him. He thought I would be polite enough to leave

too; but I let him go, and stayed behind with the Jews, ex-

plaining Isaiah's prophecy to them.

Another Friday several of our Rumanian brethren came

with us to the synagogue where another celebrated rabbi

was going to preach. When the service was over, one of them

asked aloud: "Please tell me what the inscription on your

synagogue means. I am a Rumanian, and I do not understand

it." The rabbi answered: "It is a verse from the prophecies:

'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.' "

Our brother asked in a puzzled voice: "But if your synagogue

is intended to be a house of prayer for all nations, why did

you mumble in Hebrew all this evening—a language which

not even the Jews can understand? Perhaps you are concealing

truths which you should be giving us, too." The rabbi left the

synagogue.

Then another Rumanian stood up and preached the good

news of Jesus. I mingled with the Orthodox Jews, whose

knowledge of Rumanian was not very good, and translated

the sermon into Yiddish. We were well received, and listened

to attentively.

The Bible tells us that if we behave like this we shall be

scourged in the Synagogues. This did not happen to us.

Instead, a number of our enemies among the Jews got together

and planned to scourge us in our own church.

Pastor Solheim came to Bucharest, where the Norwegian

Israel Mission established a station. We had taken over and

decorated the building that had formerly belonged to the

Anglican Mission to the Jews, and we were now going to

dedicate the church. We invited one of the leading pianists

of Bucharest to play to us, and we had posters put up all over

164 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

the city, inviting the Jews to come to our inaugural ceremony.

On the Sunday morning, the church, which could accom-

modate up to five hundred people, was crammed with Jews.

One could sense that some of them had come with evil

intentions, and were even organised.

Solheim preached in his usual calm way, and was listened

to attentively. I seized the bull by the horns, and told the

Jews what God meant when He declared through the mouth

of the prophet Isaiah: "Why should ye be stricken any more?"

(Isa. 1.5). Our old people had been gassed, our children

burned in the furnaces. This could not happen to a people

chosen by God, of whom it is written that whoever touches

him, touches the apple of His eye, unless a serious conflict

had arisen between him and his Creator. "In the prayer book

of the synagogue the worshippers constantly repeat that

sufferings have overwhelmed our people because of our sins.

Turn then from the great sin of rejecting the Messiah, given

to us by God in order that we might turn God's wrath from

us. Listen to what is written in the Law of Moses: 'The Lord

[not the Nazis] shall send upon thee cursing, vexation and

rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do,

until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because

of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken

me.' (Deut. 28.20).

"The Torah tells us that the disaster which strikes us down

is because of 'our wicked doings', and not the wickedness

of our persecutors. Surely our refusal of Jesus, the incarnation

of God, is the greatest sign of our being in error?"

The Good Samaritan bathed the wounded man's injuries

with oil and wine. Solheim's task was to apply oil, to soothe

pain. Mine was to bathe wounds with alcohol. One is no good

without the other, but it hurts to apply wine to open wounds.

At a pre-arranged signal, shouting, whistling and a general

hubbub broke out, reminding us of the passage in the Bible

describing how Stephen's accusers, when they heard his witness,

"gnashed on him with their teeth" (Acts 7.54). The din was

terrific. A group of Jews rushed across to strike me. But my

wife, having foreseen what would happen, had organised a

ADDING TO THE CHURCH 165

solid phalanx beside the pulpit. They could not reach me.

Pastor Solheim whispered to me delightedly. "It is good that

this should happen, that the word of God has moved them.

It is far worse when the audience is indifferent."

It was not the first time in the history of our mission that

this sort of thing had occurred. In the days of Pastor Adeney,

young Jews had smashed the windows during a service, and

danced in the church. We were used to this kifi4 of incident,

and we did not lose our heads. When our brethren tried to

calm them, the troublemakers leaped at them. But the brethren

were not prepared to give in. One sister, a stout woman,

removed her shoe and laid about her with might and main.

The result was a regular rough house, which lasted for nearly

two hours.

In the afternoon we had a repeat performance, and this

went on for the next few Sundays, until we were forced to

enlist the aid of the police, who restored order.

While all this was going on, I realised why, when the Jews

stoned Stephen, someone had to look after the clothes of the

murderers. It is true that they were zealous of the Law of

Moses, but they would not stop at stealing a colleague's

clothes, if they could. During the fighting, various articles

disappeared belonging to our attackers, who came back to look

for them; but in vain, as their own people had taken them.

When we were at last left to ourselves, I reproached the

brethren for their violence, and reminded them of Jesus's

teaching about turning the other cheek when anyone strikes

you. They replied: "When anyone strikes you, yes, but when

anyone strikes your pastor, then you must teach them a lesson

they won't forget!"

The use of force is the touchstone which proves whether a

man is in truth determined to fight for justice. On one occasion

I gave two slaps to someone who was disturbing our meeting.

St. Nicholas gave Arius a slap on the ear, too, and he was

not angry. Now and again one must use violence for the sake

of one's faith.

One Sunday I took hold of a Jew, who had long been

attending our meetings but who refused to be converted, and

l66 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

forced him to his knees. I told him: "You won't be allowed to

stand up until you have surrendered to the Lord!" He said a

prayer. Twenty years have passed since this happened, and

he and all his family are believers.

What gave us strength during this period of in-fighting

was that at this time we were in the habit of fasting often and

spending whole nights in communal prayer. In prayer, some-

thing like an echo takes place. When you strike a note on the

piano, corresponding strings in all the other pianos in the room

start to vibrate. It is just the same when we express a pure

wish in our ardent prayers: all around us we mobilise angels

who are inspired by the same wish.

Unusual phenomena

The so-called parapsychic phenomena, such as telepathy,

clairvoyance, visions of various kinds, spiritualism and so on,

are today objects of scientific investigation in several university

faculties. It is accepted that there are means of perception

other than through the senses. Through what sense did the

learned Russian Lomonosov perceive, at a distance of thousands

of miles, that his father had drowned, and that his body had

been washed up on an island where, in fact, it was subsequently

discovered?

The fact that extra-sensory perception exists explains how

it is possible for the soul to survive after separation from the

body. If the soul can transmit only by the physical senses,

then after separation from the body it must enter a state

of suspension, without pleasure and without pain, without

perception, without any possibility of growth. Investigations

into parapsychic phenomena have shown that this is not so,

that the soul has its own sources of perception and information,

since it has joys and sorrows which are not conditioned by the

state of the body. After death, the soul can live an independent

life.

Christians live in the world of miracles. I should like to

recount some of the remarkable things that have happened to

us. I know that to people who do not inhabit the same world

as us, these experiences will seem impossible, but we should

ADDING TO THE CHURCH 167

remember Hamlet's words: "There are more things in heaven

and earth . . . than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

One winter's night I was walking home with my wife.

The stars were shining with extraordinary brightness. I said:

"On a night like this, when the stars are shining in the sky

just as they are now, God took Abraham out of his tent and

said to him : 'Look up at the sky and count the stars ! I shall make

your seed as numerous as the stars in heaven and the sand on

the seashore.' "

We were both seized by the Spirit of God. Dumb with

wonder, we ran home as fast as we could. The splendour of

the promise given to our ancestor Abraham was almost more

than we could bear.

We lived on the ground floor, with the windows facing the

street. One night, at about two o'clock, we were both awakened

by something. We both thought we had heard someone

knocking on the window and shouting, and we whispered:

"It sounds like Anutza," who was one of our sisters in God.

But at the same time we were frightened that it might be

the police. We listened. All was quiet. We went to sleep again.

After a while we were awakened once again, with the same

strange feeling. Once again we went to sleep. We were awakened

a third time, and we both distinctly heard the words: "I love

you with an eternal love."

One morning I was lying on my sofa. It was after my first

imprisonment. I suffered from tuberculosis of the lungs and

spine, and had to spend a great deal of time lying down. I had

a terrible feeling of the presence of an invisible evil power.

In my terror, I cried: "Out, out, and as a sign that you, Evil

One, have been here, you shall bang the door behind you!"

The door opened, and closed again slowly, untouched by

human hand. I was free!

One day I was walking through one of the narrow streets

of Bucharest, at about eleven in the morning, a time when

the streets are crowded. Suddenly I felt an irresistible urge

to take out my fountain pen and writing pad. I leaned against

a post, and started to write, as though I were taking dictation.

I was amazed at what I wrote. After half an hour I had com-

l68 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

pleted the draft of a book, which was excellently received and

ran through three editions in Rumanian. It is called The

Mirror of the Human Soul, and deals with Christian psychology,

a branch of science which held no special interest for me at

that time.

An article of mine which was most favourably commented

on was The Shepherd on the Rock of Error, which I dreamed.

All I had to do was to write down my dream.

One night I dreamed a complete sermon on the subject

of contention among Christians. This dream proved prophetic,

as shortly afterwards our congregation was rent by a conflict.

One day, several Christians belonging to different confessions

were gathered together. My son, then about four years old,

was playing in the room. The brethren started a lively dis-

cussion on confession, contradicting one another violently.

At the height of the discussion my son, who was still playing,

called out: "Kardia kai psyche mia" (a phrase in ancient

Greek from the Acts of the Apostles, where the first Christians

are described as being of "one heart and one soul"). The

brethren cut short their argument and asked me what the

words meant. I explained, and the quarrel ended. The words

had come just at the right time.

I can think of only one explanation of the incident. I had

read the New Testament in Greek, and as I liked this ex-

pression, I had read it to my wife and explained it to her.

This explanation lay hidden in the subconscious of my child,

who was very interested in religion from his earliest years,

and who must have been present in the room at the time. The

amazing thing is that he should have used these words at

precisely the right moment.

On one occasion I had a vision. I saw myself walking along

the street, full of joy. In front of me walked an old man,

carrying two full buckets with difficulty. A voice inside me

said: "Take one of the buckets from that old man." I did so.

The bucket was very heavy. My joy grew less. Then the voice

said: "Take the other bucket, too." I took it. I was now

perspiring under my burden. My spiritual exaltation was at

an end, whereas the old man was now overjoyed.

ADDING TO THE CHURCH 169

In Bucharest there lived an Indian hypnotist, who was

married to a half-Jewish lady. He had adopted a Jewish girl,

his wife's daughter by her first marriage.

The girl had not been baptised. When the Fascist regime

came to power, he asked us to baptise her, as he imagined

this to be a mere formality. When he realised that we insisted

on conversion before baptism, he gave up the idea. He no

longer came to visit us, nor did the girl, although she felt

attracted to Christ.

She went to see a Greek Orthodox priest, and asked him:

"What shall I do to be saved?" (This was in the time of the

Nazis, when the baptism of Jews was forbidden.) The priest

answered: "As you are a Jewess, it is difficult. But send an

application to the Patriarchy. It is possible that they will

authorise it." The girl did not send in her application, but

she poured water over her own head, saying: "In the name

of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, I baptise

myself." With that she was easy in her mind.

The years went by. One Sunday morning, before going to

church, I knelt down to ask God's blessing on the sermon I

had prepared. As I did so, I heard a voice saying clearly:

"The sermon you have prepared is not suitable for today.

You must preach about Christianity and hypnosis." I argued

with the voice, insisting that I was not prepared to talk on

such an exacting subject. There was only a quarter of an hour

to go before the service was due to start. And when all was

said and done, to whom would I talk about this subject? I

could think of no one in our church who was interested in it.

But I obeyed the voice. On my way to church I hastily gathered

together a few ideas.

After the service, a young lady approached me, whom

I failed to recognise. It was the daughter of the hypnotist,

now grown up. She asked me: "How did you know that I

was going to come here today, and what made you prepare a

sermon with a subject especially designed for me, who grew

up in the aura of hypnosis?"

The girl had been ill for a week, and had promised God

that if she recovered she would come to our church. I baptised

170 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

her. She took her mother with her to our services and she,

too, was converted and became a celebrated Christian poetess,

publishing two collections of poems in honour of Jesus.

She became a valiant worker in God's vineyard. Unexpectedly

one day she was given permission to preach the gospel in

the women's prison in Bucharest. She also provided material

assistance to the prisoners, who suffered terribly from lack of

nourishment. She frequently visited the prison.

In the prison, which I often visited in her company, I had

an interesting encounter.

Some years previously, walking through the streets one

day with a Jewish brother, I had seen the sign of a fortune-

teller, who boasted that she could tell anything about a person's

past, present and future. Judging by her name, she might have

been a Jewess.

Both of us went into her office. She asked us what we

wanted. I told her that I, too, was a fortune-teller, and that

I had come to see her, not as a client, but as a colleague.

She was delighted, and told her maid to fetch us coffee. She

used cards for telling fortunes. I told her that I used a book,

the Bible. I read her a passage from Deuteronomy 18.10:

"There shall not be found among you any one . . . that useth

divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a

witch." I interpreted the passage to her, and concluded:

"Unless you are converted, you will perish. Now I have told

your fortune, and it is a prophecy promised by God."

Two days later I read in the paper that the fortune-teller

and her sister had been murdered by the maid, for her money.

Years later, I met the maid again, in prison. She was converted,

and became our sister.

Now let me recount some more examples of unusual spiritual

phenomena.

A Mosaic Jewess, who was blind, married a Rumanian who

was likewise blind. They had married without ever setting

eyes on one another. But another woman came between them.

The blind man left his wife, and set up house with her rival.

The blind woman, poor and desperate, decided to take her

own life. She gradually built up a small stock of sleeping

ADDING TO THE CHURCH 171

tablets. One afternoon she dissolved them in a glass of water,

but—as she later told us—just as she was about to drain the

glass she clearly saw Jesus in the room. He said: "What you

are doing is evil. I will show you a much better way." "Which

way?" she asked. "Life has passed me by. I no longer have

anything to hope for." Jesus answered: "Do as I say and you

will be happy. Go to the other woman and tell her to come

and stay with your husband in your house, and be her serving-

maid. Serve them with all your love, without a spark of jealousy,

and I shall make you happy!"

She followed this advice, and the other two moved in. She

tended and cared for them in every possible way.

After her vision, she became interested in Jesus. She was

converted, and I baptised her. (It is interesting to note that

I baptised Jews, a thing that was forbidden by law at that time,

in the house of a converted anti-Semite.) She obtained a Bible

in braille, and found consolation in the Saviour, so that all

grief vanished from her soul. Later, her husband quarrelled

with the other woman, and life returned to normal.

All went well until a doctor, who was a member of our

congregation, started treating her, in an attempt to restore her

sight. As soon as she could see a little, she was attracted by

the things of this world. She forgot her vision and the re-

demption she had enjoyed.

A man who had held a high position under the Communist

regime in Rumania, lost it when he was falsely informed

against. In despair, he plunged a knife into his stomach, and

collapsed in a pool of blood. One of our brethren, who lived

opposite, was just sitting down to his dinner when an in-

explicable impulse compelled him to leave the table and

hurry to the man's flat. In a flash he saw what had happened,

and called out: "Do you wish to fall into the hands of Satan?"

As he helped the man, he told him of the Saviour. His life

was saved. But who had told the brother to walk into the flat?

This question, and the warning he had been given about

Satan, started him thinking. Today he is our brother in the

faith, and is witnessing for Jesus in Israel.

For us, such experiences as these were accepted as a part

172 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

of normal life for a Christian. Both my wife and my son have

seen Jesus in our house. My son saw Him when he was about

five or six years old. He chanced to tell us about it a long

time afterwards. He was not amazed at seeing Jesus, and

did not consider it necessary to mention it to anyone.

Just as a visitor from a distant place brings a gift to the

one he loves, so I have tried to give my readers a faint im-

pression of our encounters with the Invisible World, without

necessarily placing these experiences on a high plane. God

works in man in various ways and without his knowledge. He

has spread His love over all creatures and all events, even the

most ordinary, and in this way He can be seen in every lowly

beggar and in every beautiful flower. We see God aright when

we see Him everywhere. But I would certainly not claim that

experience of these unusual phenomena is a necessity for the

Christian life.

CONVERSATIONS WITH

ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS

The sins of the Jews

During the war, the International Red Cross had organised

the immigration of Jews into Palestine. When the question

arose of sending a group of Christian Jews, a Zionist leader

vigorously opposed this move: "We do not want renegades.

We shall throw them into the sea."

We encountered this kind of hostility in conversations with

leading Zionists. We could understand their point of view,

but we, too, had our national feelings.

In the Gospels Galilee is called Jesus's fatherland and

Nazareth His town. Jesus did not consider Himself to be

a citizen of the world, as did the Stoics, but a Jew, and He

loved His people. There is a sort of nationalism which is an

integral part of Christianity: the desire to work together for

the greatest spiritual, economic, political and cultural benefit

of one's own people. If you do not love your own people,

how can you love foreigners?

The Christian Jews, each in his profession, have fulfilled

their obligations to their people, and they do so in Israel too,

playing their full part in developing and defending the

country.

Christian Jews have served their people in a very special

manner by opposing anti-Semitism, in a way of which other

Jews were incapable.

During the Fascist regime, I was travelling by train from

Galatz. The only other occupants of my compartment were

Jewish businessmen. I talked to them about Jesus, but they

173

174 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

were quite indifferent. At Ploesti, a burly Fascist entered

the compartment. He seemed almost to smell that we were

Jews. No sooner had he taken his seat than he began to be

offensive, addressing us as "circumcised", "sidelocks", and by

other similar names.

The others endured it in silence. I gave Kim time to calm

down, and then I opened my Bible and showed him a number

of passages which proved that Jesus was a Jew. I told him

that the gospel mentions Jesus's circumcision. Christians

believe that the Song of Solomon is a prophetic book about

Jesus. In this book it is written: "My head is filled with dew,

and my locks with the drops of the night" (Song of Sol. 5.2).

So Jesus, too, must have had sidelocks. "If you make fun

of Jews," I told him, "you are making fun of Jesus, too."

I went on: "I suppose that, like every Christian, you expect

the return of Christ. The first time He came, He came as a

Jew with sidelocks in Palestine. If He should choose to come

a second time as a Jew with sidelocks to Rumania, you would

mock Him and beat Him. What sort of a Christian are you?"

He apologised, and admitted that up till then no one had

ever spoken to him about these things.

In ways like these we also serve our people.

But we realised that we had another duty: it is not enough

merely to show the anti-Semites their sins. The Jews, too,

have their national failings, which must be made clear to them.

We could not agree with Dubnow or Grätz in their view

of the history of the Jews. According to these writers, in all

their conflicts with other nations, and at all times in history,

the Jews have been in the right. We have always been innocent

victims, and other people hate us without reason.

Historians often tend to write in precisely the same manner

about other nations, and this is not right. I have no time for

those who assert that the negroes, the whites, the Americans

or the Russians are always right. Every social group has its

sins. We Jews, too, have our sins, and Jewish sin has many

aspects.

Economically, we exploit the countries in which we live,

by appropriating a larger proportion of a country's wealth

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS 175

than is due to us in relation to our numbers. This is a general

characteristic which does not mean that all Jews are exploiters.

Many of them are terribly poor, some even live in slums. Most

Jews lead an honest, productive life.

There is an explanation for our share in the national income.

Jews live mainly in towns, and for this reason they enjoy the

high standard of living that exists there. In the second place,

they were excluded from the guilds of craftsmen in the Middle

Ages, and as a result a great many Jews devoted themselves

to business and banking. To this day they play an important

role in the commercial and financial life of many countries,

and often amass great wealth.

A Gentile exploiter, be he Rumanian, German or French,

proceeds in exactly the same way as a Jew. "Anti-Semitism is

the Socialism of the foolish," Engels once said, because it

attacks only Jewish exploiters, and leaves the others alone.

This is true, but there are a great many fools. When the

exploiter belongs to a different race, the social problem becomes

a national one.

Not all Jews are blameless for being hated. There is something

else which arouses the animosity of other people. Compared

with other races, Jews enjoy great intellectual superiority. As

I have already mentioned, over sixty per cent of the Nobel

prizewinners have been Jews, and nuclear science, the great

scientific achievement of the twentieth century, is to a very

great extent in Jewish hands. A Jew, Sternfeld, was the

chairman of the Committee for Russian Astronautical Co-

ordination. Jews hold key positions in political, economic and

cultural life.

If all these were used for the purpose of establishing the

Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice, peace and joy on

earth—which is the special task of the Jewish people—then the

nightmare in which mankind lives today would come to an end.

As the Apostle Paul said, if the world is reconciled to God

by the rejection of the Jews, what will their acceptance be but

life from the dead? (Rom. 11.15).

The other nations feel that there is a great deal the Jews

could do for them, which they are not doing. A member of

176 OHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

an anti-Semitic organisation was sentenced to twenty years'

imprisonment. We met in a prison cell. He was in despair.

He clasped my hand, and said: "Do something for the world,

you Jews! Only you can do it."

What is the use of a knife that will not cut, a pen that will

not write, a watch that will not show the time? What is the use

of a Jewish race which does not conscientiously, systematically

and thoroughly fulfil its role as the people chosen to bring

light to nations and to turn their steps towards God?

Jesus said to the Jews: "Ye are the salt of the earth; but if

the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is

thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be

trodden under foot of men" (Matt. 5.13). Anti-Semitism has

given us more than enough of this tragic fate. Crimes have

been committed against us which cannot be defended. But are

we all entirely innocent? I would not assert it about myself.

Discussion in a prison cell

When, in solitary confinement, I heard from a new prisoner,

by means of our system of tapping in code on the walls, about

the creation of the new state of Israel, I was overjoyed.

Afterwards, in a common cell, I spoke to an extreme right-

winger of the Zionist movement. He had avoided me for a

long time because, as he put it, we were both hard nuts, and

he could see no point in our meeting. But an explanation was

necessary, so God arranged for us to meet in a prison cell.

He was a strong personality who made a great impression on

his fellow men. Torture, and the deprivation of all creature

comforts in his old age, never made him feel sorry for himself,

but proved an opportunity for him to summon his strength

and energy to continue the fight.

I had preached in the cell about the crucifixion of Jesus, and

this was followed by a discussion, in which he openly expressed

his opinion.

"Your continual dwelling on the sufferings of Jesus is a

sign of masochism, and your constant glorification of the

virgin birth merely stimulates the libido. A normal person

doesn't continually think about a girl's virginity. It shows

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS 177

how your subconscious must be working. Christianity is a

religion of neurotics. It can still satisfy the religious needs of

some of its converts. But Judaism is the religion of life, normal

life in all its fulness; it has nothing to do with a crucified

Saviour. Our sins were expiated by the sacrifice of Isaac,

which Abraham intended to make, but which was not carried

out."

I asked him: "If Christianity is a false religion, and the

Jewish people, as God's chosen people, are in the right,

how can you explain the deep cleft between God and the

Jewish people? Why are we punished by God and scattered

among the nations?"

He replied: "We are not punished by God. The dispersion

is our mission. The ghetto prepares us for the fulfilment of

our ancient belief that the day will come when Israel will

spread among all lands. In order that this ideal shall be fulfilled,

we are scattered over the world; but we are not under any

curse."

I pointed out that this is a contradiction of the Jewish

prayer book, which repeatedly maintains: "For our sins' sake

we are driven from our land." It also contradicts what is

written in the Old Testament: "If thou wilt not hearken

unto the voice of the Lord thy God ... ye shall be plucked

from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the

Lord shall scatter thee among all peoples, from the one end of

the earth even unto the other" (Deut. 28. 15, 63, 64).

He stuck to his point of view: "In the dispersion God is

just as close to us as He was at the foot of Mount Sinai. The

rabbis who wrote the prayer book admit their guilt because

they are humble. And the curses that Moses pronounced are

a blot on an otherwise great character."

"Did Moses pronounce these curses?" I asked. "He main-

tained that it was God."

He answered categorically: "They were only the words

of Moses, and we are not guilty. We are Jehovah's favourite

children, and we are fulfilling the mission He gave us. You

have joined the ranks of the anti-Semites."

I thought it best to ignore this jibe, and went on: "Apparently

178 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

what you are trying to say is that it is the mission of Israel

to spread the Law of Moses, with which you yourself are only

partly in agreement, and belief in the God of Israel. Quite

certainly this mission still exists. But you must be half blind

if you fail to see that it is only realised through Jesus. Where-

ever in- the world a Gentile prays to the God of Israel, and

recognises the divine authority of the Jewish Bible, and the

Jewish prophets as authorities, this is due to the Church that

was founded by Jesus, and in no way to the merit of a Mosaic

Jew. If the Mosaic Jews had committed no other sin—and in

that case they would have surpassed the angels in heaven—they

have at least committed the sin of not fulfilling their mission,

but only talking about it and leaving it to others, thus increasing

their guilt."

My opponent suddenly abandoned the theme of divine

mission and contradicted what he had already said by declaring

mockingly: "You will not be able to complain much longer

about us. Our aim as Zionists is to go back to the land that

was ours, a great deal of which is still wrongfully occupied

by the Arabs. Then we shall leave you all in peace. Christian

Jews will have to choose between being Jews and being

Christians. If they choose the former, they must join us; if

the latter, they must stay with their co-religionists."

"We want to come with you," I assured him, "though I

admit that this will create difficulties, as we wish to come and

yet to retain our Christian convictions."

"We do not want to interfere in your private affairs," he

declared. "After all, you may believe, or not believe, whichever

you wish."

"That is precisely where difficulties will arise," I said.

"Our Christian faith will not remain bottled up inside us,

nor will it be satisfied with the assurance of our own eternal

salvation. It manifests its nature in true thinking, and in an

impartiality which is certain to make things difficult for you.

Take the Arab problem, which you mentioned. The Arabs

have been in Palestine for centuries; it would be wrong to

say that they have seized the country unlawfully. You might

as well insist that the Americans should be driven out of

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS 179

the United States, so that the country could be returned to

the Red Indians. If we went to Palestine, we should feel

differently from some of you. The Arabs would be our brothers.

We are opposed to chauvinism. The whole of Jerusalem and

Israel belong rightfully to the Jews, but the utmost must be

done that the Arabs should feel at home with us."

He shouted: "If you do that, you will be severely dealt

with. The Christian countries have not behaved in a Christian

way towards us, and we shall not allow anyone to start experi-

menting with Christian love towards our enemies in Palestine,

of all places, where our national interests are at stake."

I could not allow him to condemn the whole of Christianity.

"Many Christians have behaved in a Christian way towards

the Jews. All the pietiests have done so, and the Scandinavian

Lutherans and a great many Catholics, both laymen and

clergy. So have some members of the Greek Orthodox Church.

You are quick to notice the bad characteristics of Christians,

but you close your eyes to the good ones. Where the spirit

of their faith is missing, where their Christianity is a mere

formality, it might go hand in hand with anti-Semitism.

But beyond doubt there have been innumerable believing

Christians who have loved you. In any case, your chauvinism

is not at allNrepresentative of Jewish feelings. Most of our people

would agree rather with a policy of love and understanding.

Real Zionism is ethically Christian because, while fighting for

the Jewish cause, it has feelings of friendship toward Arabs."

A well-known anti-Semite, who up till now had listened

in silence, interrupted us: "Mr. Wurmbrand, you as both a

Jew and a Christian would best be able to explain something

to us Rumanians: is there or is there not a Jewish plot against

the Gentiles, led by a clandestine Jewish government called

Kahal?"

I replied, "There is no plot engineered by the Jews. Non-

Jewish people, if they follow their true instincts, do both good

and evil, without entering into any prior agreement. The Jews

behave in the same way, without the existence of a Kahal. There

are enormous differences among the Jews, between parties and

denominations. Communist Jews imprison Zionist Jews, as you

l8o CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

have an excellent opportunity of seeing. Nevertheless the Jews

are united, not by a Kahal, but by their national characteristics,

and this is true also of other nations. The special Jewish

characteristics sometimes produce positive results of enormous

value, sometimes negative results, like their attitude to Christ.

This attitude we consider to be a real curse to the nations

of the world, who are aware of it without understanding it,

because it postpones the only possible solution of the world

crisis, which is the establishment of the Kingdom of God,

based on justice and happiness, of which only Christ can be

the head. This curse must be changed into a blessing, by

converting the Jews to a belief in Jesus, because they are

called to be God's main tool in establishing His kingdom.

Anti-Semitism, too, is a curse, because it prevents the con-

version of the Jews."

The anti-Semite answered: "You will never wipe out

hostility towards the Jews. They are incapable of being

assimilated; they remain an alien element in every country.

Every organism has a natural tendency to eliminate foreign

bodies."

I admitted: "The Jews are quite different from other

people. Their unique history proves this. They cannot be

assimilated. But in His parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus

taught us, not that we should absorb people from other

nations, but that we should behave justly and kindly to

them, whoever they are. There is no justification for anti-

Semitism."

The anti-Semite, who refused to let me resume my con-

versation with the Zionist, maintained his conviction: "A

nation must defend itself. Not only are the Jews incapable

of being assimilated, but they would like to assimilate us to

their own mentality. They undermine our national institutions."

I replied: "So far as that is concerned, you have already

been defeated: you are all living in a state of perfect Judaism.

If you want to get rid of Judaic influence, you must renounce

Christianity, capitalism and Communism; you must give up

Singer sewing machines, Waxmann's streptomycin, much

of the realm of microphysics, Einstein's theory of the universe,

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS l8l

everything that sets is seal on twentieth-century man, and

return to the primitive state of a pastoral tribe. After all, it is a

fact that man rules nature, and that the white races are at present

the most advanced. It is also a fact that, for better or worse, the

Jewish mentality is the dominant one. The Jews have an un-

surpassed knack of imposing their ideas on others, and in this

respect they are invincible, though this is not necessarily always

to their credit. But neither is it always to their discredit. People

like you are trying to get rid of the Jews while at the same time

you worship Jesus, who was Himself born a member of our

race."

I turned to the Zionist and added: "We Christian Jews,

too, have this quality of invincibility. What is more, we are

the most perfect incarnation of the belief in humanitarianism,

which contains the core of Judaism. We are the true bearers

of Judaic values."

He answered: "You are heretics of the Jewish faith. As

a Protestant, you are also a heretic of the Christian faith.

Double heretic! We may be friends, but it is impossible to

reconcile our principles. Your words really conceal a seething

hatred of everything that is dear to us, just as the Red Flag

is a cover for hatred. Marx wrote an anti-Semitic book, The

Jewish Question. The Communist International, too, has

published its thesis on the Jewish problem in a book by Heller

called The End of Judaism. We are hated everywhere, utterly

hated."

Mere words are powerless to help people who have suffered

greatly, and have reached the stage when they see enmity in

people who are not their enemies.

For this reason I decided to change the subject, so I said:

"In a book which you published in 1934, you wrote that

Jewish immigration to the part of Palestine which was placed

at your disposal would reach a critical point when Palestine

cannot absorb any more Jews. An overwhelming majority of

Jews will have to remain scattered among the other nations,

and you must stop imagining that you are surrounded only

by enemies. A new adjustment will be necessary, but your

anti-Christian attitude would make this adjustment difficult.

l82 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Besides, the falling away from the Mosaic religion goes on

more rapidly in Palestine than in the dispersion. Only a small

percentage of Jews in Palestine go to the synagogues or keep

the Jewish traditions. What do you say to this?"

He answered: "We are back in our own land. At last we

shall be able to strip off the expensive and deadly garments

of the Chosen Race. We shall be just like any other nation."

"You are contradicting yourself," I reminded him. "A

few minutes ago you were talking about the holy mission of

Israel, Jehovah's favourite child."

He laughed. "Now we are in Palestine we shall complete

our mission, by sending apostles to foreign nations. But on a

material plane we shall live like them. We shall have our own

army, and it will give us victory. We shall have tractors, and

they will be our Messiah."

I pointed out: "And one day we shall die, leaving behind

us our torturers and our victims, because in the countries where

we have lived we have not only been killed, but we have also

killed. Consider the millions who were killed by Trotsky, Bela

Kun, Tibor Szamuely, Rakosi, Ana Pauker, jews who were

rulers in Communist countries. We shall also leave behind our

tractors, and we shall stand before the judgement of God. We

shall have to answer for all we have done, and even more for

what we have left undone, because we have not been obedient

bearers of light. Judaism has shone like a beacon. Salvation

has come, and still comes, from the Jews, as Jesus said. But

it comes only from the Judaism that was incarnate in Jesus.

The spirit that unites all nations does not come from the Jews,

who refused to allow other nations to enter the temple, but

from Jesus. The sense of supreme justice does not come from

the Jews, whose ultimate revelation is the Old Testament

(a very valuable book, but one which contains commands to

utterly destroy innocent people). It comes from Jesus. Jesus

was the first to preach a just and impartial God, who reveals

Himself through love to every nation that seeks Him."

The Zionist was content to answer: "We are prepared to

make a gift of Christianity to the nations, and we shall see

how they make it come true. Let them endure being struck

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS 183

on the face, and let them turn the other cheek! We have put

up with blows all too long. We no longer want the religion of

meekness."

In prison, serious discussions cannot last long. The anti-

Semite seized this moment to make a joke: "We shall receive

Christianity as a present from you, minus the commandment

about committing adultery. Jewesses are very beautiful. We

are against the Jews, but not against Jewesses!"

In the unclean atmosphere produced by a joke of this

kind the Spirit no longer vibrates. I held my peace. What

our feeble words are incapable of doing, God can do. He will

fulfil his plans of peace, even that of peace between Jews and

Arabs. He has made the miracle of giving the Jews the victory

in the Six-Day War. We hope for an even bigger miracle,

lasting peace between Israel and Arabs, with a Jewish Jerusalem

serving as lighthouse for the Moslem world. Jews and Arabs

can become friends at the foot of the cross of Jesus.

"/ shall stick to our old religion"

I spoke to another Zionist leader, and asked him: "I realise

that you are compelled to attack us. But why do you do it in

such a vulgar manner?"

He answered: "We choose our method according to public

taste. An academic style would not be very convincing."

"Let us forget it," I replied. "In Paul's Epistle to the

Romans, the Christian Church is compared to a branch

grafted on to the olive tree of Jewry. Do you realise what

this means? An organisation embracing more than a thousand

million people, and which plays an enormous role in history,

is described in the sacred book of this religion as the lawful

property of the Jews. Surely we are not so strong, wealthy

and self-confident that we can forego a position of this kind?

In the sacred book of a thousand million people Jesus is

referred to as the Glory of Israel (Luke 2.32). Can we who

are so despised afford to renounce this glory?"

He retorted: "We decline it; we refuse to have anything to

do with Jesus and Christianity."

I asked him: "In whose name do you decline? Whom do

184 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

you represent? Does the intellectual élite speak on behalf of

the nation? Because almost without exception the intellectual

élite of the Jewish people in the twentieth century have

supported Jesus."

I quoted from As I See the World by Albert Einstein,

where he said that if we cleanse the Judaism of the prophets,

and Christianity, as Jesus preached it, from all its later additions,

especially from priestcraft, we shall have a doctine which will

be able to heal mankind of all its social ills. It is the duty of all

good people, he said, to strive earnestly to introduce into their

milieu this really humane teaching, as far as lies in their power.

I continued: "The synagogue refused to bury Henry

Bergson, because he had openly avowed that he was a disciple

of Jesus. Franz Werfel, the great Jewish poet, wrote in praise

of St. Bernadette. Scholem Asch, the great Jewish novelist,

was a Christian. Nils Bohr and Piccard are Christian Jews,

and there are many like them. Emil Ludwig wrote The Son

of Man, a book full of admiration for his subject. This is also

true of Max Brod. Not to mention Martin Buber, who called

Jesus his elder brother.

"These, after all, are representative leaders of the Jewish

race. This is the first time in history that the intellectual leaders

of Judaism have rallied to Jesus. In this way, a biblical prophecy

is being fulfilled, just as the return of the Jews to Palestine,

and the fact that Jews fill leading positions in so many countries,

fulfil other biblical prophecies."

The Zionist leader laughed: "All the people you mention

were converted to Christianity in their old age, when people

tend to suffer from a hardening of the arteries. I don't bother

my head with religion, but if we must have one, I shall stick

to our old religion."

It was impossible to get him to see reason. He did not know

that the old religion familiar to Abraham was salvation by

faith, which the Christians preach; and that the new religion

is really the Mosaic religion, where salvation is the fruit of

obedience to commandments that were not written down until

four hundred years after the death of Abraham.

Another factor that distinguished us from the Zionists was

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS 185

that for them the national question was of supreme import-

ance. We were certainly not blind to it, but for us it was of

minor significance.

We are at one with the Zionists in one thing. We are in

favour of Israel. The rights of the Jews to Palestine are un-

challengeable. God, the creator of the universe, gave them this

country.

As for the Arabs, it is simply nonsense for them to be afraid

of the Jews. What can three million Jews do to three hundred

million Arabs? The Arabs should rather profit and learn from

the intellectual and financial superiority of their new neigh-

bours. I should also expect the Vatican and the World Council

of Churches to take a clear stand on the side of Israel.

We made our position clear.

The Jews enjoy intellectual and material advantages which

the Arabs do not possess. The Jews must show understanding,

kindness, indulgence, and a willingness to help the Arab

world. Difficulties can be overcome by showing them love.

How effective it would be to bombard the impoverished

Egyptians with bread, medicine and words of peace! Christian

nations could proceed in the same manner. Attacked, the

Jewish people must defend themselves with military weapons.

But the basic attitude of the heart must be love. The Arabs

are loved by every true Jew. They deserve love as much as

every other human being.

All things to all men

The doctrine which the Zionists found it particularly hard

to swallow was the commandment that men should love their

enemies.

Would any Zionist have done what we did? After Rumania

had severed its alliance with Nazi Germany, it was decreed

that any person concealing members of the German army

would be liable to the death penalty, as all Germans were to

be handed over as prisoners of war. A number of girls serving

in the German army, the so-called Blitzmädchen, appealed to

us to shelter them, to save them from being deported to Russia.

Naturally, we did so.

l86 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Some person or other informed on us, and the police

surrounded the house. A police commissar entered, and

asked me: '-'Are you sheltering German girls?" I answered:

"Do you know what my nationality is?" He said: "Richard

Wurmbrand? You're German, of course." I showed him my

identity card, issued during the Fascist regime, which stated

that I was of Jewish race. "I am a Jew," I declared. "Half of

my family have been murdered by the Nazis. Do you really

imagine that I would shelter German girls?"

The officer apologised: "The whole thing is obviously a

mistake," he admitted, and withdrew. The girls were in an

adjoining room. We made no distinction, as God makes no

distinction either, allowing the sun to shine and the rain to fall

on good and evil alike.

On other occasions we intervened successfully on behalf of

Germans who were threatened with deportation only because

they were Germans. It was a crime similar to persecuting men

only because they were Jews.

In time, this activity became widely known. The Zionists

could not forgive us for it, any more than they had forgiven

Jesus for giving His love to Romans and Samaritans alike,

even to publicans, who were traitors to their country. It was

even insinuated that He was on their side, because people

failed to realise that the love which He bestowed on sinners

did not mean that He condoned their transgressions, but that

this would heal their minds. Neither did we condone Nazism,

but we healed some of the Nazis by deeds of love.

Our position as Christian Jews is always between the devil

and the deep blue sea; as we tried to win everyone to the faith,

to be all things to all men, we were almost like actors striving

in different plays to interpret completely different characters.

By way of putting me to shame, someone once described

me as a great.actor. I took this as a compliment. I cannot

see how it is possible to be a good missionary unless one

has a certain artistic flair, and a knack of playing different

roles.

One day I left my house to carry out my duty as a fisher of

men. The first person I talked to was a noted anti-Semite.

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS 187

"I don't want to hear about Jesus, because he was a dirty

Jew," he rebuffed me. I replied: "How do you know Jesus

was a dirty Jew? He is the Son of God, and belongs to no

one nation. In driving the merchants from the temple He

showed his repugnance for a quality which you condemn in

Jews, the pursuit of money. The harshest words of condem-

nation ever written about Jews are to be found in the New

Testament. Your place is at the side of Jesus, not with those

who condemned Him to death."

I parted from him, and met a Jew, who told me that he did

not believe in Jesus, because He was the Saviour only of the

Gentiles. I asked him: "Where did you get that from? Jesus

was a Jew. The New Testament opens with the words: 'Jesus

Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham', giving His

entire genealogy and proving that He is of Jewish descent. In

the Scriptures Jesus is called 'the Glory of His people Israel'.

He loved His people passionately, and told a Samaritan woman:

'Salvation comes from the Jews' (John 4.22). Christianity is

essentially a vast undertaking to Judaise the world, because

it has been ordained that people of all races shall become

'Jews in their hearts'. Even after Jesus had been crucified,

the apostles continued to call Jerusalem the Holy City, and

the apostle Paul writes that the Jews are still loved by God for

the sake of their forefathers, and that they will play a great role

in the future. The chosen ones of heaven will consist of 144,000

people from the twelve tribes of Israel alone."

Shortly afterwards, I ran into a brother who was full of

confidence in his own faith, but not conspicuous for his good

deeds. As I was familiar with his way of life, I said to him:

"Faith without good deeds is dead" (Jas. 2.17), because men

will be judged by what they do.

I then visited a believer who was on the brink of despair

because of a sin he had committed. He could never forgive him-

self, and he doubted whether he was saved. I explained that man

is regarded as true to his faith, even without good deeds, because

God looks on the heart, and not on our actions; the opposite,

in fact, of what I had just said to the last man I had met.

After these four conversations I sat down on a park bench.

l88 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

My head was spinning. I asked myself which of the four things

I had said I believed myself. The answer I came to was that

the different ways in which one speaks to people are nothing

but bait with which to lure them to Him who is far above and

beyond our prejudices and ideas. But going from one category

of human being to another involves the use of different argu-

ments and different medicines for the soul. The anti-Semite and

the Jew brought to conversion will meet in the same Christian

love, but work of this kind is very exhausting.

Anti-Klausner

A professor at the university in Jerusalem, Josef Klausner,

wrote a book called Jesus of Nazareth, which has been translated

into all the main world languages.

Every time I talked to a Jew about the Saviour, he would

conclude his argument with: "The problem of Jesus has been

explained by Klausner." Generally the learned Jew concerned

had not taken the trouble to read Klausner, but he had the

book unopened on his bookshelves, and this was enough. He

did not need to bother his head any more with Jesus.

For this reason I considered it necessary to publish an

answer to Klausner's book, which I called The Jews and Jesus

of Nazareth. Anti-Klausner.

Klausner took an unfair advantage of his great name, which

made him confident that his assertions would be accepted by

the rank and file of Jews, and enabled him to make statements

which were completely untrue but which would never be

subject to any check.

He writes, for example, that in Paul we find no authentic

historical proof of Jesus's life and work.

Any student familiar with the Scriptures could have corrected

the professor on this point.

In Paul we find a great many details about the life of Jesus.

He says, for example, that Jesus was betrayed, that He was

killed by the Jews, and that the place of His crucifixion was

just outside Jerusalem. Paul also tells us something about the

mind of Jesus. He says that Christ "loved the church and gave

himself for it" (Eph. 5.25). He describes Jesus's humility, His

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS 189

mildness and His power. Above all, he constantly reminds us

of a "biographical detail" that Klausner has omitted, namely

that Jesus rose from the dead.

Without any historical basis in fact, Klausner proceeds to

make any statement that suits him. He says that Jesus was

born in Nazareth. Where did he get this? Any mention of

Bethlehem, which the Gospels describe as Jesus's birthplace,

would be rather awkward, because it is David's town, and it

was here that the prophets foretold that the Messiah would be

born.

He claims the story of Salome is a legend. Professor Klausner

merely decides that this is so, and argument is superfluous.

"John the Baptist considered himself to be Elias." The

Gospels state that when John was asked: "Are you Elias?",

he answered: "I am not." (John 1.21). Professor Klausner

possesses a source of information which is not available to

other people.

He goes on to say that it is obvious that John the Baptist

knew nothing of Jesus, and did not accept Him as the Messiah.

The only historical sources, the Gospels, state that Jesus and

John were related, and that the latter proclaimed Jesus as the

Messiah. No one knows where Klausner obtained his in-

formation.

The only argument Klausner uses every time he submits a

statement for which there is no proof is: "It is obvious that

this is so."

He excuses Judas Iscariot, proclaiming him to be a learned

Jew with a clear understanding. The account of Jesus being

betrayed by a trick is only a legend.

Just as all the unsavoury details about Judas are dismissed, so

all the lovable features attributed to Jesus are also put down as

legend. Klausner refuses to believe that Jesus on the Cross

would have said of His executioners: "Father, forgive them; for

they know not what they do" (Luke 23.34). His argument is

simply that Jesus could not have pronounced these words

in such terrible circumstances. I have personally known men

and women, disciples of Jesus, who have spoken the same words

under cruel torture, and what is more, who took the first oppor-

IÇO CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

tunity of doing good to those who had tortured them. But

Professor Klausner has simply made up his mind that love of

this kind is non-existent.

He swiftly dismisses the gospel story of the resurrection of

of Jesus by declaring that it is obvious (a wonderful expression

which relieves the author of the need to adduce any proof) that

Joseph of Arimathea removed the body from the tomb.

He believes "a resurrection is incomprehensible." There are

a great many things that are incomprehensible. Incompre-

hensible though it may appear, there actually exists a learned

professor who, instead of starting off by analysing facts and

documents, proceeds on the basis of certain prejudices as to

what God can or cannot do.

After writing hundreds of pages without making any con-

tribution to the problem of the life of Jesus, Klausner discusses

the differences between Judaism and the teaching of Jesus. In

this connection he states that a nation cannot survive by means

of an abstract faith and by a universal human ethic. It needs a

practical form of religion, involving forms capable of expressing

religious ideas, and capable of penetrating everyday life with

the sanctity of religion. "Jesus has not shown us new ways

for our national life." By accepting the teaching of Jesus,

"national life and the national state would entirely disappear."

"His doctrine contains no elements which can maintain the

state and regulate the community." "Jesus came to abolish

culture."

What answer is one to give to this two thousand years after

the coming of Jesus? Professor Klausner has obviously never

heard of Christian culture, he knows nothing of the national

states which still exist, which were established and maintained

thanks to Christianity. How can he explain the fact that all the

nations of Europe and America, as well as a great many African

nations, have independent national states, despite the fact that

they have accepted Christianity, which, according to Klausner,

destroys state, nation and culture?

I might go on to ask: "What did the enemies of Jesus,

Caiaphas, Annas and the others, do to the Jewish state?" They

succeeded in removing the great danger that Jesus represented,

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS ICI

on the pretext that this was necessary if the Jewish national state

was to be maintained. These were the very men who led the

Jewish state to disaster. History has proved that Christianity

establishes and maintains a state, while Pharisaism destroys it.

How can one possibly ignore these obvious historical proofs?

Klausner says that Judaism cannot accept the term "The Son

of God", or only "God", for the Messiah, even though the idea

in itself is Jewish. But if the idea of the Son of God is Jewish,

then it is obvious that only those who have renounced the

inheritance of their people can refuse to accept it. According

to Klausner, who defies, any form of logic, it is the renegades

who have accepted the Jewish idea.

Klausner dislikes Jesus's teaching that we should love those

who wrong us. Human society, he says, would not survive if

every injury remained unpunished. But why did the Jewish

national state disappear two thousand years ago? The Jews rose

in revolt against the injustice of the Roman Empire. The result

was that the Jewish state vanished from off the face of the earth.

One might have expected the professor to conclude from this

event, and thousands like it, that human society cannot survive

if we repay evil with evil, if we rise against injustice. For

thousands of years states have vanished, bloodthirsty wars have

been fought, and thousands of millions of people have been

killed because one side has refused to tolerate the injustices

of the other, and has failed to requite evil with love. This is

a historical fact. There are grave issues when violence is

justified, but the fundamental attitude should be love.

When Jesus teaches love toward enemies, he does not mean

literal practice of non-violence whatever happens around us.

He Himself used violence of language and also the whip. The

world is not yet conveniently arranged for non-violence. Sadly,

you have sometimes to exterminate enemies of your nation.

But nothing compels me to hate them. God does not look at

our deeds dictated by circumstances. Here the desire to kill

must be removed. Here only love must reign. In the end it

will triumph also over external circumstances.

It is not wrong for a nation to practise love toward those

who wrong it. Professor Klausner's reproach against Jesus is

IÇ2 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

unjust. Nations do not as a rule vanish from off the face of the

earth because they have practised love.

Klausner sums up his attitude neatly when he declares that

Judaism is in its entirety of this world. It was for this reason

that the. Jews rejected Him whose kingdom is not of this world,

but belongs to the sphere of purest truth. "He cannot be the

Messiah of the Jewish people."

Now, if you want to decide whether a person is the Messiah

or not, it would be scientifically correct if you first clearly

defined what this term means; what methods exist for recog-

nising the true Messiah, and, finally, investigate whether that

person fulfils these conditions. Klausner did not carry out any

studies of this nature. In my book I did it for him, pointing out

that all the prophecies about the Messiah who expiates the sins

of mankind by His suffering, and other biblical prophecies,

were fulfilled by Jesus.

There are a great many of these prophecies, and a large body

of literature exists about them. Without going into these in

detail, it might be worth mentioning one, which is incapable of

more than one interpretation, since it is based on mathematics.

The prophet Daniel, who lived about six hundred years b.c.,

foretold with astonishing accuracy the year in which the

Messiah would be killed. This was the year when Jesus was

crucified.

Anyone studying this prophecy with an open mind will

realise that waiting for any other saviour is fruitless. The

Talmud declares: "The time determined for the coming of the

Messiah has passed, but the Messiah has not come." The

Talmud, refusing Jesus as the Messiah had no other solution

than to declare God to be a liar, because He did not keep His

promise, and allowed the time foretold for the coming of the

Messiah to go by without keeping His word.

Let us consider the biblical text: "Seventy weeks [of years]

are determined upon thy people," the Archangel Gabriel

declared to Daniel in about 600 b.c., "and upon thy holy city

to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to

make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting

righteousness, and to ^eal up the vision and prophecy, and to

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS 193

anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that

from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to

build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven

weeks [of years], and threescore and two weeks [of years] ; the

street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

And after threescore and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut

off, but not for himself . . ." (Dan. 9.24-26).

This would give us a total of sixty-nine weeks of years, in

other words sixty-nine multiplied by seven, which is four

hundred and eighty-three years, from the time when the order

was given to rebuild Jerusalem to the death of the Messiah.

Let us check the events that actually occurred:

King Xerxes of Persia commenced his reign in the year

465 B.c. In the book of Nehemiah, Chapter 2, we read that in

the twentieth year of his reign he permitted the rebuilding of

Jerusalem. In other words, nineteen years had elapsed, which

we must subtract. Consequently the order to rebuild Jerusalem

was issued in the year 446 b.c.

Four hundred and eighty-three years after this event, the

Messiah, according to the prophecy, would be killed. For the

sake of accuracy, we should remember that Daniel calculated

the year according to the old Jewish calendar, which consisted

of three hundred and sixty days, unlike our calendar year which

has three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days.

This means that we must convert the Jewish calendar year

to years based on our present reckoning:

483 years X 360 days (based on the Hebrew calendar) =

173,880 days.

173,880 days'.365^ (the length of our present calendar

year) = 476 years.

This means that four hundred and seventy-six years would

elapse from the year 446 b.c. to the death of the Messiah. In

other words, this event would occur in the year A.D. 30 calcu-

lated according to our calendar.

And it was precisely in this year that Jesus was crucified.

It is a well-established fact that in the sixth century a.D.,

when the pre-Christian and post-Christian eras were divided,

there was a mathematical mistake in the calculation. The birth

194 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

of Christ was assigned to a date four years later than it actually

occurred. The year a.D. 30, by our modern calculations, is in

fact the thirty-fourth year of Jesus's life. And in the thirty-

fourth year of His life, in the year 30 of the Christian era,

Jesus was crucified, precisely as prophesied by Daniel.

God's vengeance was not slow to strike. Daniel had foretold

that after this unparalleled misdeed, "for the overspreading

of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the con-

summation, and that determined shall be poured upon the

desolate." (Dan. 9.27) We know that, shortly afterwards,

Palestine was ravaged by the army of Titus, that the land was

utterly laid waste, the temple was burned, and sacrifices were

no longer made.

Rashi, one of the leading biblical commentators, recognises

that Titus fulfilled these very prophecies. But in this case the

Messiah must be a man who was killed before Titus enjoyed

his great triumph. This man is Jesus; it cannot be anyone else.

Professor Klausner was one of the many intellectual leaders

of the Jews who was misled. It is astonishing that a race which

is so intelligent and so civilised can accept a book which sets

such low standards. In the last chapter of his book, Klausner

plumbs the depths of the ridiculous with the remark that

"Jesus became a Christian". This is written by a university

professor. He might as well have said that Mohammed became

a Mohammedan.

Is Jesus God?

There are a great many Jews who are prepared to accept the

Christian moral code, but refuse to accept the Christian

teaching about the divinity of Jesus.

I was one day in the office of an intellectual who was in this

position. I asked him: "Are you really able to make the

Christian moral code a reality in your life? You say you accept

this code, and in fact you have called it 'glorious'."

He began to laugh. It is depressing how seldom one manages

to start a really serious discussion with anyone. He said: "Yes,

but one cannot demand that it should be put into practice."

I answered: "In my opinion it is just as ridiculous to give

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS 195

mankind a moral code incapable of being carried out as it

would be for a shoe manufacturer to make beautiful shoes

that cannot be worn. The Christian moral code may appear

incapable of being put into practice, but it is not so for everyone.

The conditions necessary for keeping it must be fufilled.

Every businessman knows that income must cover expenditure.

Christian morals involve certain expenses—loving, serving,

helping. But where do you get the strength for this? From your

faith, a treasure-house full of truths revealed by God."

"No, no," was his answer. "The Christian dogmas are

absurd. How could I believe that a Jewish carpenter, who

bought wood, boiled glue, sold his products and went about

the everyday business of an ordinary man, could be God? The

only form of Christianity the Jews could ever hope to approach

would be Unitarianism. Jesus may be a great teacher, a great

prophet, but never God."

I explained: "That possibility does not exist. Jesus assumed

divine rights, and accepted worship that belongs only to God.

If He is not God, He cannot have been a great teacher, but

He must have been merely a fraud or a crazy fanatic. You

would not dare to regard Him as such. The only alternative

left, then, is to accept Him as God."

"We are in the sphere of words," he interrupted. "In

ancient times a great many people were regarded as gods, and

so were celestial bodies. Hercules, Romulus, and the emperors

Julius and Augustus were regarded as gods. Even the mad

Caligula was raised to the status of a divinity. The philosopher

Epicurus was considered to be a god. Even among the early

Christian fathers there were some who insisted that Christians

become gods. In human speech, the word god is not a name

reserved only for the Creator. In this sense we might perhaps

call Jesus divine, just as we could call Plato divine, or talk

about Beethoven's divine music. But no more!"

The position of a Protestant, when he is debating with a

Jew, is much easier than that of a Greek Orthodox or a Roman

Catholic. Protestants delight in their freedom of thought, and

need never be afraid of making a statement in an incautious

moment which Catholics would consider heretical.

196 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

My reply was: "As soon as we describe something or some-

one as divine, we are moving in a sphere where words have

lost their power. In what way is Jesus divine? And in what way

is the Heavenly Father divine? The French are right when they

say: 'Un Dieu défini est un Dieu fini^1 (A God defined is a God

who is finished). Lao-Tse said: 'Any Dao [god] who is named

is not the true Dao.' In calling Jesus God, I mean that He

cannot be compared with other human beings. His character

is a miracle: He cannot be explained in terms of genetic laws,

laws of environment and so on. In Him we have a fortunate

combination of all the four human types: sanguine, choleric,

phlegmatic and melancholic. The life of Jesus can only be

explained by assuming that He comes from a higher sphere

than the human.

"Brought up in a carpenter's workshop, without access to

the wisdom of other nations and races, He gave the world, at

the age of thirty, an unparalleled moral code. His death, side

by side with two criminals, was followed by a miraculous

spread of His religion. The best explanation of these facts is

that Jesus is divine.

"We cannot judge on the basis of sympathy or antipathy,

but only on the basis of proof. Let your understanding act like

an impartial tribunal, which pronounces its verdict on the basis

of proofs which are submitted to it. There are five highly

convincing arguments in favour of the divine nature of Jesus.

"First, He overcame death, which no other human being

has done.

"Second, He overcame physical laws which man cannot

overcome (raising the dead, healing lepers, multiplying loaves

and fishes, and so on).

"Third, He overcame Judaism, which wanted Him to remain

unknown. False Messiahs, who were accepted by the Jews,

such as Bar-kochba and Sabetai Zvi, are unknown to the rest

of the world, whereas Jesus, who was rejected by us, is wor-

shipped by hundreds of millions of people.

"Fourth, He conquered the Roman Empire. The great

persecutor of Christianity, Julian the Apostate, died with these

words on his lips: 'Thou has conquered, O Galilean.' It is

CONVERSATIONS WITH ZIONISTS AND OTHER JEWS 197

the strongest who conquers: If Jesus has conquered kings,

He is King of Kings.

"Fifth, by the madness of the Cross, He has overcome

human wisdom. One after another, philosophical systems are

destroyed. Who even remembers the anti-Christian philosopher

Celsus, or of the Cult of Reason introduced by the French

Revolution? Who still leads his life according to the Talmud?

But the words of the carpenter, who is both man and God—

'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not

pass away' (Matt. 24.35)—are still valid. From the purely

human point of view there was no chance whatever that Jesus's

words would be fulfilled, nor was there any chance that His

prophecy that His gospel would be spread to the ends of the

earth would ever come true.

"In no possible way could Jesus be merely a human being,

and for that reason we accept that He is God in human guise.

"It is important to know this. The medical advice given

by a doctor's assistant carries very little real weight, and is

not decisive. But the advice given by a well-known doctor

comes into an entirely different category. You can lead a

Christian life when you know that these laws come not from

another person, who is fallible like yourself, but from God. It

is this that makes it possible for people to keep God's

commandments."

The intellectual Jew had no answer to make. He grew

thoughtful. I was tired of having the last word; it is wiser to

leave it to your opponent. It is difficult to win over to belief

someone you have beaten in a debate, because in so doing you

will have wounded his pride. In this case, I had the last word,

and I did not win him.

OUR ATTITUDE TO

COMMUNISM

Communism as part of God's plan

The change in the political regime in Rumania presented new

problems for us.

Marxism had been practically unknown among us. Now,

all young people were being educated in its spirit, and a great

many Marxist and atheist books were being published.

The Jews played an important role in spreading the Com-

munist ideology in our country. We ran up against it at every

step, and were forced to adopt a new approach.

We published a series of pamphlets dealing with the prob-

lems of the relationship between Protestant Christianity and

Marxism: Conversation between a young Socialist and a Believer,

Jesus and Socialism (an answer to the book by the Socialist

theorist Karl Kautsky, The Origins of Christianity), Dialectic

Materialism and Biblical Faith (an answer to Engels' book

Anti-Dühring) and Karl Marx and Belief. We tried to make

these booklets attractive to Communist readers. On the first

page of Karl Marx and Belief there was a picture of Marx, and

on the next page a picture of "Jesus the Working Proletarian",

followed by other pictures, such as "Jesus driving the Capitalists

out of the Temple". There followed an account of Jesus's

sacrifice.

We were in no way frightened by the atheist offensive, which

persuaded a number of other people that Christianity was

finished in our country. Christianity has many times in the

past been declared dead. In The History of the Popes, Ranke

describes the spread of heresy in Italy during the fifteenth and

198

OUR ATTITUDE TO COMMUNISM 199

sixteenth centuries; at that time, too, it was believed that

Christianity was at the end of its tether.

Nor were we terrified at the thought that a small group of

real Christians were so feeble compared to the giant Goliath

of atheism.

For myself, I clung to the biblical idea that the power of

God is fulfilled only in weakness. The Tao-Te-King, the sacred

book of Taoism, rightly declares: "All creatures and plants

are delicate and weak when they are born, but when they

perish, they are strong and powerful. What is strong and

powerful is destroyed, and what is weak and delicate begins

to live. For this reason a strong army does not conquer, but

is destroyed like a strong tree. That which is strong and

powerful does not have the same advantage as that which is

weak and delicate."

It was precisely our weakness which gave us immense

strength in our struggle with the all-powerful Marxism, which

many Jews also championed.

If Communism exists in God's world, it must surely be to

fill a vacuum in God's economy. Capitalism makes a man an

individualist. Emphasis on personal salvation and personal

sanctification reflects man's conscience in the social conditions

created by capitalism. The very instigation of the Socialist

set-up made a profound difference to the thinking of a great

many Christians. They were able to stand face to face with

Communists" simply by showing that everything that is beautiful

and attractive in Communism has been derived from

Christianity.

Today the churches are divided. The Church of the early

Christian Jews in Jerusalem, organised according to the

instructions of Jesus himself to His apostles, was a Church in

which all shared their possessions. In the Acts of the Apostles

we read of the first Christians: "And the multitude of them

that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said

any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was

his own; but they had all things common . . . Neither was

there any among them that lacked: for as many as were

possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the

2OO CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the

apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man

according as he had need" (Acts 4.32-35).

This was another kind of Communism, one based on love !

It would be better not to use the same name for it, so different

is it from what we experience under Communism today.

We could come to an understanding with many Com-

munists, we could accept some of them as brothers, because

not only did we preach the individual salvation of the soul

through the blood of Jesus—which remained our main task-

but we were also interested in social problems.

We believe that it is the duty of Christians to strive to ensure

that men and women need not depart from the Christian

standard; they should not be compelled to crawl, flatter,

steal, kill in ware, or exploit other people, in order to enjoy

material sufficiency.

We do not consider that sanctification is merely a personal

matter; it is also a social vocation. Not only must I be glorified,

but the social body must be glorified, by creating the kingdom

of God on earth; in other words, a kingdom where justice,

peace and joy reign. We must fight for just laws and institutions,

as the first Christians created an ideal social institution, the

Church, which has this characteristic too. We long for a

social justice which springs from love, and is inspired by the

wish to imitate God, who makes the sun to shine and the

rain to fall on all alike.

We do not believe in all the saints canonised by the Orthodox

and Roman Catholic Churches. Their legendary and unique

deeds are enough to make us, ordinary people, despair. When

Peter tried to walk on the water by himself, he sank. We

want to walk in common with others along the road that leads

to Jesus.

Jesus reproached whole towns for not being converted

(Matt. 11.21-23); in other words, He expects conversion to

be a social phenomenon, embracing large numbers of people.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father is made to

say: "Let us eat and be merry." There are no pleasures without

food. We must make sure that everybody has food.

OUR ATTITUDE TO COMMUNISM 201

We must strive to convert not only a prostitute or a drunkard,

but prostitution, alcoholism, the prisons, man's exploitation

of other people, war—all these things must be abolished, and

this can only be done if the Christian fights his battles in the

social as well as the personal sphere. Evil has made great

strides; there is a long line stretching from Cain, who killed

a man with a staff, to the gas chambers of Auschwitz and the

Communist extermination camps. The satanic powers have

transferred their attack from the individual to an offensive

on a large social front. The powers of good must do the

same.

In the old days Paul could preach from the same pulpit

as his enemies. We have a pulpit today, but our enemies have

the schools, the press, large publishing concerns, the cinema,

the radio, television. We, too, have a right to all these things,

and if we are to achieve them, then we must strive to realise

Daniel's prophecy that "the kingdom and dominion, and the

greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be

given to the people of the saints of the most High" (Dan. 7.27).

The apostle Jude writes of the common salvation; and

something like this does exist, not only personal salvation.

Jacob prophesied of Jesus that "nations will gather around

Him" (Gen. 49.10, according to the Hebrew). The nations,

not an occasional individual here and there.

The conditions necessary for the establishment of God's

kingdom on earth are now present; this was not possible

when material conditions were so wretched. The advances of

modern technology have made it possible for all people to

have food and clothing. Modern medicine, freed from the

shackles which still hamper it, could give us physically healthy

men and women. Proper education and psychology could

help us to give us people who are mentally healthy. Modern

means of communication could ensure that a handful of people,

filled with the spirit of God, could exercise a decisive influence

for the benefit of all mankind. Modern scientific ways of

thinking could eliminate all ancient superstitions, which have

been unjustly attributed to religion, and religion could then

shine forth in all its purity and glory. With mutual under-

202 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

standing between nations, humanity could receive vigorous

international and interdenominational impulses. Soon there

will be only two religions—the religion of love and the religion

of ceremonial formalism.

The coming into power of Communism has meant prison,

torture and death for thousands of Christians, but it has

helped our thinking enormously: Communists think on a

global plane, and in terms of future generations. The children

of God, quite wrongly, have a reduced horizon: often their

thinking is narrow, and they look only one step ahead. Was

it for nothing that the leaders of the Church in the New

Testament were called "presbyters", that is to say, people who

see far ahead?

The Christian Jews, too, have learned to think on the uni-

versal plane, and to strive to achieve a distant goal. The Roman

Empire threw Christians to the wild beasts, but it also taught

them to think on an imperial scale. Christianity became the

religion of the empire, instead of that of isolated individuals.

Communism has played the same role for us.

The earth has plants which are used to heal individuals.

The Bible tells us that Heavenly Jerusalem has leaves which

serve to heal whole nations (Rev. 22.2). Christian Jews know

the secret of finding their pharmaceutical remedies here.

Yet the evangelisation of the individual still remains the

priority. Only saints can sanctify society. A social gospel

preached to unregenerate men is a fake. But men who have

been born again must bring their new life into society.

Christian revolutionism

We Christians were not frightened by Communist revo-

lutionism. After all, we ourselves are the descendants of a

revolutionary movement. Four hundred years ago, Calvin, in

his commentary on the Book of Daniel, wrote: "The princes

of this world set aside all their power when they rise against

God, and are not worthy to be reckoned among mankind. We

should rather spit in their faces than obey them when they are

so bold as to try to deprive God of His rights ... If they rise

against God, they must be humbled and regarded as valueless

OUR ATTITUDE TO COMMUNISM 203

as a pair of worn shoes." Before him, St. John Chrysostom and

St. Ambrose had valiantly opposed emperors.

We do not reproach the Communists for their revolutionism,

but .for the fact that it has not gone far enough.

The Bible is much more revolutionary than the writings of

Karl Marx and Lenin. On the very first page of the Bible we

read that God says to the human beings He has just created:

"Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of

the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the

earth" (Gen. 1.28). Only notice this! Man is to have dominion

over all nature, but not over another human being.

The Bible also tells us that God created only one couple:

the English rebels at the time of the Peasants' Revolt under-

stood this excellently when in one of their revolutionary

songs they asked: "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was

then the gentleman?"

God has made "all nations of one blood", the Bible declares

(Acts 17.26), thus putting under a question mark the value of

all titles of nobility and rank—including those in Socialist

countries, such as Party membership or working-class origins—

and all racialist theories.

The first nationalisation of landed property which aimed

at preventing the exploitation of the peasants by the rich

landowners in times of famine was put into practice by Joseph,

when he was prime minister of Egypt.

In the preamble to the Ten Commandments, God boasts

not of creating Heaven and Earth, but of something quite

different: "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee

out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

(Ex. 20.2) We are permitted no other gods apart from the

God who makes it His task to liberate mankind from every sort

of serfdom.

What a revolution the world underwent when the Sabbath

was introduced as an institution! In pagan countries slaves

were part of the machinery of production; the Bible introduced

the principle that a man should rest, and that his servant

should be given an opportunity to do likewise. In the Socialist

countries, where the fulfilment of the various state plans is

204 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

more important than Sunday rest, the fourth commandment,

to keep the Sabbath, is a revolutionary imperative.

"Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him"

(Ex. 22.21) is what the Bible teaches men in an age when being

black in America and white in Africa and a Jew in Europe

involves discrimination.

God commanded Moses not to treat the poor unjustly

(Lev. 19.15). If the capitalist countries would respect this

principle everywhere, they would have no need to fear the

Communist threat.

We must remember that the sacred book of the apostles

and the first Christians was the Old Testament, and not the

New Testament, which was not written until several decades

later. If Jesus had not intended to give His disciples a revo-

lutionary training, what point was there in letting them read

a book which was mainly an epic of revolutionary struggle?

The Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel,

the Benjamite Ehud, the man who killed the tyrant Eglon

(Judges 3). Jael was called "blessed above women" for slaying

the oppressor Sisera by driving a tent peg through his temple

(Judges 5.24); these were the very words that were later on

used about the mother of our Lord. Jael was what today

would be called a brave female partisan in the army of

liberation in an oppressed country. Other biblical characters,

such as Gideon and Jephthah, were also revolutionary

champions.

The Bible ridicules absolute monarchy in Jotham's parable

which compares tyrants with thorn bushes while the useful

trees, such as the olive, the fig and the vine, refused to play

this odious role. In his speech when the Jews wished to elect

a king, the prophet Samuel also inveighed against absolute

monarchy. In the second book of Kings we read of the bloody

revolution raised by Jehu against the tyranny of the Ahab

dynasty. The Bible tells us that this revolution was carried

out on the express orders of God. Jehu slew the two unlawful

kings, and Queen Jezebel was thrown out of the window. He

destroyed those who supported the tyranny and the sons of

tyrants, and slew without mercy all priests who had made

OUR ATTITÜDE TO COMMUNISM 205

power an excuse for plunder. Not one was allowed to escape.

After all this, the Lord said to Jehu: "Thou hast done well

in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done

unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart"

(2 Kings 10.30).

Later on, Jesus was to say: "Not everyone that saith unto

me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;

but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven"

(Matt. 7.21). And the will of God, according to the book of

Kings, in the story of the revolutionary Jehu, is the complete

destruction of tyranny.

What revolutionary songs there are in the Bible ! What is the

International compared to Psalm 109, which is directed against

the man who "persecuted the~poor and needy man, that he

might even slay the broken in heart"?

The cry for social justice echoed by the prophets of Israel

is well known; in the New Testament, too, there are numerous

revolutionary passages. The mother of our Lord establishes

a social programme for her Son, whom she had conceived

by the Holy Ghost, with the words: "He hath put down the

mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He

hath filled the hungry with good things; the rich he hath sent

empty away" (Luke 1.52-53).

"Woe unto you that are rich!" said Jesus, "for ye have

received your consolation! Woe unto you that are full! for ye

shall hunger" (Luke 6.24-25). "It is easier for a camel to go

through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into

the kingdom of God" (Matt. 19.24).

"If a man does not work, he shall not eat," the fundamental

principle in the legislation of Socialist states, is copied, almost

word for word, from the Apostle Paul (2 Thess. 3.10).

Christians know that God has a chosen people, the Jews,

and a chosen group, the Church, but how many know that

He has a chosen social class? The apostle James wrote about

something that was very familiar to his readers at that time:

"Hath not God chosen the poor of this world?" (Jas. 2.5), and

scourges the rich unmercifully.

"Christianity was formed as a religion for the poor, for

206 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

those who were exploited and oppressed, for the slaves and

freed bondmen," writes Amusin, the Soviet historian, in his

book on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Within the Christian community there have always been

those who have striven to return to the original teaching; but

most have become hypnotised by details, controversies about

baptism, speaking in tongues, and keeping the Sabbath, which

might have been practised by the early Church but are not

the essentials. But why should we not return to the revolutionism

of the first Church, and the struggle to live according to the

principles of social justice? When God chose a language in

which to express His revelations in the Bible, He chose the

Hebrew language, possibly the only language in which the

verb "to have" does not exist. In this way He wished to show

that the idea of property, of owning anything, is and must be

completely alien to the people of God. It will always be true,

as Jesus said, that the believer who wishes to attain perfection

must "sell everything he has", and "leave all he has", and

"leave home and family".

Proudhon's saying that "Property is theft" is one to which

every believing Christian can subscribe; because as God

has arranged things we are not meant to have property.

All good things must be enjoyed in fellowship; individual

ownership is an abomination. Only individual stewardship

is admissible. Though private property is economically the

best method of increasing riches, these should then be spent

not for a selfish end, but for the glory of God and the good

of one's fellow-men.

The Catholic Church, which faithfully recommends this

teaching of Jesus, adopts the selfsame ideology today, even

though it does not practise it. It declares that the man who

wishes to be perfect must renounce private ownership, and

only possess things in common, for example within the frame-

work of a monastic order.

Today, at the threshold of a new historical era, Jews who

believe in Jesus and faithfully follow His teaching are whole-

heartedly on the side of the exploited and the oppressed. But

we know of nobody more oppressed and more exploited than

OUR ATTITUDE TO COMMUNISM 207

the citizens of the Socialist states, which speak in the name

of the poor.

We utterly oppose Communist dictatorship and terror. We

abhor Communist atheism. But, as a Christian must be "a Jew

to the Jews and a Greek to the Greeks", so, in dealing with

Communists, in the same sense we must be Communists, if

we wish to win them for Christ. It is just as impossible to

win them if we adopt an anti-Communist approach as it would

be impossible to win Jews by adopting anti-Semitism.Though

we are opposed to Communism, we must show sympathy for

the individual Communist, just as St. Paul, who detested

Greek idolatry, would use words of praise for the Greeks in

order to convert them.

The writings of Socialism always offered us a great many

Christian arguments. Whenever I meet a Communist who

makes fun of the Bible as a reactionary book, I counter him

with a quotation from Marx: "When Luther translated the

Bible, he placed in the people's hands a powerful weapon

against princes, nobility and clergy."

Whenever a Communist calls the Bible absurd, I quote from

Engels' work Bruno Bauer and Primitive Christianity: "A

religion which conquered the Roman world empire, and which

has reigned for eighteen hundred years over the majority of

civilised mankind, cannot be rejected merely by declaring that

it consists of a series of absurdities, created by deceivers."

In The Revelation he praises primitive Christianity as "a great

revolutionary movement". It was, incidentally, Engels who

wrote: "We live in God. One can understand that better when

one travels on the sea."

Even the apostles took it for granted that the multitude

would have to go away from Jesus to look for food; but Jesus

showed that they could have food in plenty if they remained

with Him.

No one need abandon Jesus in order to be a revolutionary.

He can be a much better revolutionary by remaining with

Him. Without Jesus, revolutions are destructive, and costly

in blood. A revolution with Jesus is constructive, changing

social conditions peacefully, after sanctifying hearts.

2O8 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

We were always present at the great Communist rallies,

where we handed out our tracts. These started with the

subjects I have just outlined, and thanks to them we made

contact with the Communist soul, and preached the crucified

Christ.

Conflict with Communism

Yet we had no illusions; we knew that our differences with

the Communists were fundamental.

They are totalitarians ; they do not permit the slightest

deviation from the line pursued by the Party. Why should

they allow us, who are just as totalitarian, and want all people

to belong completely to God, to go free?

By practising the methods used by Jesus and His apostles

we were able to win some Communists for Christ, but this

resulted in increased opposition towards us by the Party.

They did not want understanding, loyalty and love, they

merely wanted us to identify ourselves with their plans, and

to be transformed into willing tools. But our love for them

would not allow us to be opportunists, to flatter them, or to

be their willing slaves. Out of love towards them, we had to

show them their crimes. They avoided us because we posed

the problem of sin, and the madness of the Cross as the only

way to solve this problem.

There are sins which are caused by social conditions, and

which can be removed on the social plane, as were the sins

of slavery and polygamy. But there is a limit to this. Lenin

writes: "We can abolish the law that allows the capitalist to

exploit the worker and the landowner to exploit the peasant, but

no one in the world can prevent the cunning man exploiting

the simple person, or the weak being exploited by the strong."

Communists, in the first case, would attain the limit of what

is humanly possible by changing social conditions, but they

cannot change human hearts. This only Jesus can do. He can

give us new birth. Without using coercion, he turned cunning

men like Matthew and Zacchaeus, and a terrorist like Saul

of Tarsus, into good, just people. It is only the Cross of Jesus

that can perform this miracle.

OUR ATTITUDE TO COMMUNISM 20Ç

With Communists, as with all other people, the attempt to

lead a moral life and to allow the mind to soar upwards is

frustrated by sin which weighs down the soul with its enormous

burden. They have committed injustices, they have made men

weep, they have shed blood, they have been inconsistent and

unfaithful to their own ideals, they have violated their own

moral standards. This gives them a feeling of guilt, and of the

need to be saved, but the more these are suppressed, the

more they upset their mental state, resulting in all kinds of

morbid and evil complexes.

And Communists do just what all other people do: they

try to transfer their guilt to others, they look for a scapegoat.

Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. The Com-

munists find their scapegoat in the bourgeoisie, the landowners,

the Social Democrats, the Trotskyites, the clergy, the sectarians

and their own Party members. They fight against everyone

and everything.

No one can live in a constant mental attitude of "I am not

worthy". Besides, the feeling of guilt is deaf to all argument.

■It is no good blaming our sins on bad heredity, or physical

weakness; nor can we blame a bad social environment. Nor

is it possible to blame Satan for our sin, as that would be

admitting that we had listened to him. No madness can be

healed by argument, certainly not the madness induced by

guilt. There are mad people who believe that they have a

watch ticking in their head. It is impossible to convince them

that it is not so. In cases of this kind doctors anaesthetise the

patient, make a small incision in his cranium, bandage him

and, when he wakes up, show him parts of a watch stained

with blood which, they tell him, have been extracted from his

head. This is precisely the case with the madness of an evil

conscience. The innermost heart cannot be persuaded that a

sin is the result of atavistic or social causes. We feel responsible

for our own evil doings. For this there is only one remedy,

which is another form of madness—the madness of the Cross.

"Yes, you are guilty, you are full of guilt, you are the only

guilty person," the great healer Jesus tells us. "You need a

scapegoat. You must transfer your sin to another. Do not

210 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

attempt to transfer it to an equal, because your equal will

throw it back to you, heavier than it ever was. Transfer it to

mel I represent the Creator. Like Him, I bear responsibility

for the whole of Creation and everything that is done in it.

It is right that I should take your sin upon myself. I have

expiated your sin on the Cross." The liberating effect of this

sacrificial atonement of Jesus on the soul which trusts in Him

is tremendous.

But there are sick people whose sickness has become the

very substance of their lives. The blind who live by begging

are horrified at the thought of being healed, as this will compel

them to work. Jesus's healing Cross causes the same sort of

panic. The Communists are in this plight; for them sin,

especially hatred, has become the core and substance of life.

What would they do without it? We preached a crucified Lord,

and we knew that we would be hated.

Communists are atheists; we were committed to God. The

conflict was unavoidable. We knew that many thousands of

Christians had suffered in the Soviet Union. We prepared

ourselves for the same fate.

There was another point of conflict. After the war, the

great question was as to which city was to become the capital

of the United World of the future—Moscow or Washington?

The world divided into two camps, the revolutionary and the

anti-revolutionary, and two blocs were formed. We openly

declared our conviction that the efforts of Moscow and

Washington would be equally in vain as the capital of the

future united world, under the aegis of Jesus, would be

Jerusalem, which He called the city of the great king. "Out of

Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from

Jerusalem," says the prophet Isaiah (2.3).

Some believe that salvation will come from Communism;

others believe it will come from American democracy. We

believe what Jesus says: "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4.22),

and the Jews will fulfil their role of salvation when they turn

again to Jesus,

Noah prophesied that Japheth (from whom the Indo-

European race is descended) "shall dwell in the tents of

OUR ATTITUDE TO COMMUNISM 211

Shem" (from whom the Jews are descended). In other words,

the Indo-European race will live in the temporary social

systems created by the Jews, according to the words uttered

by the prophet thousands of years ago (Gen. 9.27). And

Moses told Israel at a later date: "Thou shalt build a house,

and thou shalt not live therein . . . Thou shalt plant vineyards

. . . but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes"

(Deut. 28.30, 39).

Let us see how these remarkable prophecies have been

fulfilled!

The House of Christianity was built by Shem, by the Jews.

In primitive Christianity, everything was derived from the

Jews. It was from the Jews that "Christ came as concerning

the flesh, who is over all God, blessed for ever," wrote the

apostle Paul (Rom. 9.5). The Bible is Jewish. Luther denied

the validity of the ecumenical councils, using as his argument

the fact that they were not constituted by Jews. "God's word

was entrusted only to them," he said. The apostles were

Jews. The psalms which are sung in the churches were written

by David. For many centuries the whole of Europe has lived

in the tent of Shem. The dominant influence exercised by the

Christian civilisation embraces the entire world in its sphere.

Only the Jews remain outside the dwelling which they them-

selves erected. All races have rejoiced at the good grapes

which the vine of Jesus has borne; the Jews alone have not

tasted them.

The Renaissance, the flow of gold from the New World,

and conflict within the Church shook the House of Christianity

in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It was then that Israel,

in great haste, constructed a new house, the house of capitalism.

In his book Jewry and Capitalismt Werner Sombart described

the decisive role the Jews have played and still play in the

creation of capitalism. Japheth's descendants, the Indo-

Europeans, have all entered into this new "tent of Shem" in

the sphere of influence of capitalism.

When capitalism had triumphantly established itself, a

Jew, Karl Marx, declared war on it. The Jews have benefited

from capitalism, but Judaism finds no peace in it. Countless

212 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

young Jews have started on a crusade to create a new system,

Communism. The role played by Jews in building this new

house, in which Japheth was to live, is well known. Lenin's

mother was a Jewess named Braun. This is recorded by

Trotsky, who adds that Stalin forbade all mention of her

origins, in order not to hurt the anti-Semitic feelings of the

Russians. A great number of the leaders of the Russian

Revolution were Jews—Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kameney and others.

In Hungary, Communism was led by Bela Kun and Tibor

Szamuely, and later by Rakosi and Gero. In Rumania, too,

the Jews played an important role when Communism was

introduced. A number of people from all races dwell in this

new Socialist system, in the building of which Jews have

played such an important role, though not an exclusive one.

Many of the officers of the Communist Secret Police were

Jews, but not as many as the anti-Semites like to assert. There

were plenty of full-blood Rumanians who tortured their co-

nationals. But the Jews are also the most active against the

Soviet government. They have again built a house in which

they cannot live. Russia's anti-Communist freedom-fighters

Daniel, Litvinov, the priests Eshliman and Jakunin, Knasnov-

Levitin are Jews. Having contributed in such large measure

to the erection of the Communist regime in Rumania, a great

number of the Jews then left the country to settle in Israel.

The Jews have always been God's chosen People, entrusted

with the task of carrying out His plans in history, in creating

social regimes which, step by step, would prepare the material,

cultural and intellectual conditions for God's kingdom on

earth.

Now they have been entrusted with a new role. Once they

have returned, as a nation, to Jesus, their king, they will have

a decisive role in building a fourth house, the Kingdom of

God, where the Wandering Jew will at last find rest. This

kingdom, with its centre in Jerusalem, will constitute a rejection

of capitalism as well as of Communism, or it might even

embody the useful features of all past social systems.

The anti-Semites pay the Jews a great compliment when

they insist that this nation, numerically so insignificant,

OUR ATTITUDE TO COMMUNISM 213

exercises so much influence all over the world, and is the root

of all evil.

At one time the Niagara Falls were a nuisance to the United

States and Canada, because they laid waste thousands of

acres of fruitful soil. Wise men, however, realised that if

Niagara was capable of wreaking such great destruction, then

it should be capable of doing a great deal of good, once it was

harnessed and made to drive turbines and similar devices.

Today, these great falls are an important source of electric

power to both countries. The Jews do a great deal of evil,

contend the anti-Semites. This means that they are a source

of energy, and that they are also capable of doing a great deal

of good. But if they are to do this, they must be united with

the source of all good, Christ. Hence the tremendous importance

of the Christian Mission to the Jews. Up till now, a mission

of this kind has seemed Utopian; but we have now reached a

new phase in history, when the Jews are coming into their own.

Our working methods brought us into conflict with the

Communist authorities. In 1948, they put me in prison.

EPILOGUE

When i was released from prison, my enemies in the Church,

those who had collaborated with the Communists, declared

that I was a heretic. This aroused people's curiosity, and a

great many people were anxious to hear me preach and to

read my books. The doors of the old Lutheran churches

were opened to me, and I preached from a pulpit where

no Jew had ever stood. Nor had a Jew at any time preached

in the Greek Orthodox cathedrals and other places to which

I was now invited. The vast majority of those who came to

hear me were non-Jews. But for anyone who has dedicated

himself to preaching the gospel to the Jews, it is most

important to win non-Jews for Christ, since every person,

no matter what his race, who has been converted to Jesus

by a Jew, becomes himself a missionary to the Jews. This

indirect approach is every bit as important as the direct

approach.

As their latest attack had proved fruitless, my enemies now

adopted different tactics, spreading the rumour that I was

mad. But they spoke of my madness without any signs of

sympathy, thus rendering their motives suspect from the

very start.

I had long been used to hearing all sorts of things said about

me. I had been called a genius, an idiot; "Jesus Christ", "the

Devil"; a highly cultured person, an ignoramus; a saint, a

repulsive character; a man of exemplary honesty, a thief;

a Nazi, a Communist, an anarchist, a Jesuit; the most lovable

and the most despicable accusation was that they now said

I was mad. In believing that they were undermining the value

214

EPILOGUE . 215

of my message by calling me insane, my enemies revealed their

own ignorance.

In the first place, there is a certain affinity between insanity

and genius. Seneca wrote: "There is no great intellect that does

not possess a touch of madness."

The Christian Jews had set themselves the task of building

a road to Judaism and mankind. How could they carry out

this task without a touch of madness? Some people reproached

me for my madness but I asked, in the words of Nietzsche:

"Where is the madness that you should be inoculated with?"

Christian Jews have a great vocation: they are expected to

be grand, to attain to the stature of Christ, to do greater things

than He did (John 14.12), to conquer the fortress of Israel,

which He failed to conquer. If they attain to this greatness,

they will also share the fate of all great men, one of whose

characteristics is madness. In the prophetic Psalm 69 we hear

of the madness of the Messiah. Paul confessed himself to be

a fool. Without a touch of madness he would not have been

a great apostle. Nervous disorders are commoner among people

with a special vocation than among ordinary people. We were

not in the least surprised when a young engineer, one of the

most brilliant of our brethren, suddenly had a serious nervous

breakdown, and had to go to hospital. This in no way lessened

the value of his convictions.

The prejudice is widely held that a sound mind is valuable

not only biologically but also socially. But history has not

been moulded by normal people. Could Calvin and Luther

have introduced the Reformation if they had been normal?

Our object is to bring about a revolution within Christianity,

within Judaism and in the world. Woe to the man with a

vocation of this kind who is afraid of madness!

One of my enemies once said to me: "In Christianity every-

thing must start from the beginning." When I answered:

"Let us begin," he withdrew in fear, and to my great delight

called me mad. When madness has reached a particular stage,

it makes the intellect more sensitive, sharpening it and making

it more perceptive to contrasts. This makes the mind more

complicated, richer, more conscious of itself. Not for nothing

2l6 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

did Erasmus of Rotterdam write his book In Praise of Foolishness.

I thanked God that I had spent many years in prison in con-

ditions which might well induce madness. My intellect had

in many ways acquired new qualities, which I now used in

serving Christ.

Besides, madness is close to love. Normal people bicker

with their husbands or wives, and in some way or another

have to put up with them. Romeo and Juliet were a bit mad,

and so were the mystics. I like to call things by their right

names. It is no secret to those who have read the lives of the

great mystics that the mystic life is to a large extent nourished

by unsatisfied sexual desires. Blessed is the man who can

sublimate this desire to the spiritual world! In this respect,

too, the years I spent in prison were of great help to me.

I had a mystical experience which ordinary people, living

a normal sexual life and an abnormal family life of conflict

and family quarrels, could never have had, and could never

have understood. They would merely have dismissed it as

madness or a farce. But my experiences were of great value

because a Christian-Jewish pastor, if he were to fulfil our

tremendous task, had to have—like the living creatures of the

Revelation—four heads: the head of a mystic, the head of a

man capable of scientific thought, the head of a strategist

capable of organising, and the head of a revolutionary.

How can a normal, modern clergyman, whose chief source

of reading seems to be Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends

and Influence People rather than the evangelists' The Art of

Discovering a Meaning in Allowing Oneself to be Crucified,

sublimate the tragedy of life, be filled with pathos, and weave

his way through the infinite realms of metaphysics?

I accepted the label "mad". Has not God made foolish the

wisdom of the world? For Christ's sake I want to be a fool, and

not a peaceful, vulgar, banal, run-of-the-mill member of society.

I can look back on twenty-five years of strife. I have received

many blows, but I have also delivered my share. Christians

must be the salt of the earth, and also the mustard. They must

sting. The enemy must know that he is facing a soldier of

Jesus who is well armed.

EPILOGUE 217

I have known unspeakable joy and deep sorrow. The one

thing I have never done is to be bored. Along the path that

Jesus has prepared for us there is life in abundance.

Thanks to the grace of God I have met brethren of many

nations who have given themselves entirely to the God of

Israel. I have read that God has equipped them in this way

in order to make the Jews envious. I envied them, and tried

to be, like them, a faithful champion of the cause of Jehovah

and of His chosen Son, Jesus. In my former days I had been

an eager servant of Satan; now I wished to serve God in the

same way.

I did this in an age of great spiritual indifference. Men eat,

drink, marry and build houses without knowing the prophecies

and without realising what is happening in Israel and in the

world—that mankind is approaching the end of time, and the

clock now shows five minutes to twelve.

Mankind must either be converted, or be destroyed in a

nuclear catastrophe. We are striving to convert the world. We

wish to bring the Jewish people to Christ, because not till then

will there be new life in the Church, and not till then will

the Christians be as they were described at the beginning of

the second century by the Athenian orator Aristides:

"The Christians know God and trust in Him. They forgive

those who oppress them, and make them their friends. They are

good to their enemies. Their wives keep marriage pure; their

daughters are chaste. They love one another. They do not

refuse to help widows. When they see a stranger, they receive

him in their house, and rejoice at him as at a brother. If any

among them is poor or in need, they fast for two or three days

in order to satisfy his needs. They obey conscientiously the

commandments their Messiah has given them. Every morning

and every hour they praise God and thank Him for His good-

ness. They are the source of all that is beautiful in the world.

They do not speak publicly of their good deeds, but take good

care not to be observed by any man. They are in truth a new

people, and there is something divine in them."

The negative characteristics of the Christian Jews of today

do not discourage us. These are not the result either of their

2l8 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

Judaism or of their Christianity, but of the strong pressure

which the world exerts on them. Circumstances will change

when the whole of Israel is saved. But even today the Christian

Jew, who in truth is a Jew and in truth a Christian, who does

not claim to be a Rumanian or a German, a Lutheran or a

Catholic,- is a source of great blessing to the nation. Many

Christians, ecclesiastical as well as lay, have adopted an entirely

new attitude to Christianity, and it was the Christian Jews

who gave them the first impulse in this direction.

As yet, however, we have only taken the first steps. Those

who wish to follow us will have to work in an entirely different

way. We have only been able to work by winning a soul here

and a soul there. We shall have to think strategically, and

work on a national front, in fact we shall have to think in terms

of universal perspectives, since new factors have arisen.

Every day, the Devil takes tens of thousands of people with

him to hell. We do not bruise the serpent's head, but only

tickle its stomach a little, if we are content merely to save one

out of all these tens of thousands.

We must change the religious attitude of our people, and

of the whole world. This is undoubtedly a difficult task, but

everything is possible with God and with those who believe.

Jesus is not the Saviour whom the Jews seek. He wishes to

save us from sin. We would like to keep sin, because it provides

us with pleasures, and we only wish to be saved from the

catastrophic consequence of sin. We want Him to speak to us

about our economic and political problems, and to save Israel

from oppression by other people, and enable her to triumph

over them. But He speaks to us of lilies, of birds, and of an

eternal kingdom of justice and light for all people.

But neither God nor the universe is as we would like it to

be. It is not reality that must change into what we want, but

we who must adapt ourselves to reality. The true prayer is

"Thy will be done," and not "Lord, let my will be done."

By accepting Christ as He is, and showing Him our con-

fidence, even when we do not understand Him, Israel will

fulfil its sacred vocation, for which it has been chosen. We

must receive Christ; and together with Him we shall in love

EPILOGUE 219

embrace all His disciples, from all nations, with all their faults

and shortcomings. Even a flawed diamond is, after all, more

valuable than a perfect grain of sand.

Our Gentile brethren surrounded us at all times with their

love, and without their help our missionary work among the

Jews would not have been possible.

When the Jews hunger after God, they will no longer take

offence at the fact that the Christians possess in an earthen

vessel the spiritual treasure they have received from Israel,

that they have sins. The Talmud declares: "The man who

blows on a glass of beer to remove the froth is not thirsty.

And if anyone asks: 'What shall I eat with my bread?' thou

shalt take the bread from him, because he is not hungry." We

too received spiritual sustenance from the testimony of the

weakest Christian.

What shall we do to conquer Israel?

In the first place we must Jiot be dismayed at the magnitude

of our task. Jesus said: "Fear not, little flock; for it is your

Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12.32).

We shall not achieve our goal by analysing the enthusiasm

of our convictions, but by knowing Him in whom we believe,

and whom we preach: God.

To what does Israel owe its miraculous history? Could it

be to efficient propaganda? No, but to the fact that without

anyone else knowing about it, one of our forefathers overcame

an angel as he wrestled with him, and wrung from him an

eternal blessing.

Step by step the discovery by one man of a new source of

energy—steam, electricity, the atom—has changed the face of

the world. An unknown source of power still exists: the power

which we inherit from the good angels, and from the prophets

and the saints, who have departed this life without having

their longing fulfilled or witnessing what we are witnessing

today—the time when Jesus will come again. This power is

still latent today, and it can become effective. In one night an

angel slew 180,000 Assyrians. Having an angel on your side

is more valuable than having the support of crowds of big and

important people.

22O CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

In order to unite Christian Jews with angels I spent years

in prison, isolated from the brethren. This road is full of

secrets, but it is the road along which we must walk. When

the time comes we shall be clad in surpassing majesty, and

Israel will belong to Christ.

When will this happen? It depends on how quickly each

one of us starts out on this road.

What is demanded is that each of us should dedicate our life

to the truth that is in Christ, and then the miracle will take

place.

But here are two practical pieces of advice: first, concentrate

your missionary efforts on the key personalities among the

Jewish people; second, include in the missionary programme

of your church the one third of Jewry which lives in the

Communist world and which is subjected to heavy persecution.

What would you think of somebody who pays a pastoral

visit to a family where one member is deadly sick and converses

with the healthy ones without even inquiring about the one

who is in bed? Two thirds of the Jews live in the free world

or in their own country where, though facing troubles, they

enjoy independence. How can a mission to the Jews not give

priority to the problem of the Jews in the Soviet Union who

are terrorised, kept apart for mockery and blows, but not

allowed to cultivate their specific Jewish values, language, art

and religion?

How will it end? There is not much chance that they will be

allowed to go to Israel. Even if allowed, how could Israel take

in a short time over three million new inhabitants? And how

will they rejudaize three million men and women who certainly

hate Communism, but have been indoctrinated only with

Marxism? They know no other teaching than that of fierce

atheism, wherewith they have been brainwashed. For the time

being in any case, these Jews are in the U.S.S.R. and they are

there to stay.

Any sensible man will tell you that there is not the slightest

possibility of convincing them to become Orthodox Jews. Who

will spread this religion to them? There exists no Orthodox

mission even to the Jews in the free world. For a missionary

EPILOGUE 221

work in conditions of illegality Orthodox Judaism is completely

unprepared. Neither would such a mission have the slightest

probability of succeeding. Should liberal Judaism try the

adventure? What will it propagate? The doubts of modernism?

The criticism of the Bible? The religious problem will come to

the forefront again, and in the spirit I already see Jewish

synagogues, schools, newspapers and publishing houses, Jews

in all the key positions in political, economic, cultural, scientific

and artistic life, in every country in the world, rallying to the

service of Christ. I see people of all colours and races turning

to the Jews, so that these can show them the way to the Saviour

(Zech. 8.23). I see Jerusalem as the capital of the Christian

world. I see peace, love, justice and understanding triumphing.

I see the lion lie down with the lamb. I see a kingdom to which

Jesus has returned to rule. I see an earthly life which is

consciously used as a preparatory stage for eternal life. I see

Jews in Christian pulpits, showing the peoples of the world the

perfect way to salvation. Faith sees all these things, and this is

how it will be. For I do not believe the reality before my eyes,

but the promises of God.

The dawn is appearing; soon it will be day; soon the sun

will shine on Israel.

This was the hope that inspired Nollensen, the Batakians'

apostle from Sumatra, and with his own eyes he saw the

fulfilment of his dream. It was the hope of Skrefsrud for the

Santalis, of Paton for the New Hebrides, and many others.

The Jews live on an entirely different level, and it is much

more difficult to convert them. They are a race which has a

great many outstanding personalities. But where God is there

to help us, there is no difference between what is difficult and

what is easy.

Up to the present the majority of the Jews have not believed

in Jesus, not because they wanted it so, but because God has

concealed the truth from them (Matt. 11.25). And God has

remained hidden from them, because He wished to retain them

as His strategic reserve. They are the future hope of the

Church. God has spared them from fifteen centuries of error

and decline in the Church, because this would enable Him to

222 CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD

use the Jews, who were not tainted with these sins, to re-

establish the Church at the decisive moment

That moment has come; and now Christ will be King of

the Jews.

CHRISTIAN MISSION TO THE COMMUNIST WORLD

IN USA: P.O. Box 938

Middlebury, IN 46540

'The Jews have given to the world the Bible. . .

the only book capable of satisfying the spiritual

needs of the world. And it will satisfy those needs

when it will be once again in the hands of those

who have written it, and when they will gather

round Him who is the chief subject of the book,

Jesus, the Messiah of the Jews and the Saviour

of the nations. '

A quarter of a century has passed since Richard

Wurmbrand started the work of preaching the

Christian message to Jews. Himself a Jew, since

his conversion he has been in conflict with many

of the Jewish people, but his love for them

remains whole-hearted.

Table of Contents

Christ on the Jewish Road