My Pointless Point of View....

In my later high school years, my oldest friend, J, and I would spend random evenings wandering around the South Street Seaport. Truth be told, we chose that destination because there were numerous spots that would serve the under-21 crowd. It was also a lot of fun to wander the waterfront in the days before the piers on the west side of Manhattan were destinations.

But almost every time we went down to the Seaport, we were accosted by the vigilant members of the Jews for Jesus crowd, proselytizing and distributing literature.

Most people would just walk away. But I felt a deep need to engage with them, to try to explain to them that their entire belief system made absolutely no sense. I get it; Jesus was a good guy, a guy worth following for many. Yet, those who choose to follow him cannot, by definition, be Jewish as one of the defining characteristics of being Jewish is that you do not worship Jesus.

As I type this, I hear my husband’s voice in my head, telling me not to engage, telling me that nothing I say will change anyone’s mind…but he wasn’t around way back then. And I felt a deep need to express, to quote the venerable Billy Joel, “my pointless point of view.” I mean, really, was any indoctrinated person going to listen to me spew facts about Judaism and say, “She’s right. There’s no way that Jews can believe Jesus is their Lord and Savior?”

Growing up, I knew so many people “with a Jewish heritage” who recognized that they couldn’t be both for Jesus and Jewish, many of whom chose a path different from Judaism. Some believed in nothing, feeling that organized religion only caused problems. Others chose to follow in Christ’s path. A few were half Jewish but raised in the Christian, Catholic, or Protestant faith. Others were baptized as adults, or were raised by parents who were baptized as adults. As I learned each person’s story, I was fascinated by their paths and choices. They retained no attachment to Judaism – it was a footnote in their stories, typically something they never mentioned.

I attended one friend’s formal conversion to Christianity, celebrating with the really cool pastor after the ceremony. I recall one friend who was “born Jewish” but raised in the Christian faith saying that she wouldn’t date Jewish men because they didn’t want to marry “shiksas” – her word, not mine – like her. I went to a double baptism of a friend and her newborn baby; she was raised by her Jewish mother and Baptist father without any formal religion and chose to be baptized and embrace Christianity when her son was born. Over the years, I enjoyed many holidays around beautiful Christmas trees, attended confirmations, and celebrated at big church weddings. I was always proud of those around me for embracing their beliefs, for picking a lane and choosing the path that made sense for them.

Flash forward decades later. As antisemitism – Jew hatred – is at a record high, some of the same people who chose no attachment to their Jewish heritage are now reclaiming their Judaism. To weaponize it. To justify their antisemitic posturing. I can’t tell you how many times over the past two years I’ve heard some of these people say to me, “as a Jew” or “as someone from a Jewish heritage,” right before they victim-shamed the Jews, ignorantly screamed about a genocide against Gazans that isn’t happening, or suggested that someone who says “globalize the intifada” isn’t a Jew hater.

And, with that, I finally figured out why the whole Jews for Jesus thing bothered me at all.

Everyone has a right to believe whatever they want – I don’t care if people worship the Teletubbies as long as they don’t prevent me from believing what I want to believe or spew antisemitic rhetoric. If someone really wants to say that they’re Jewish and still believes in Jesus as a Lord and Savior, I shouldn’t take issue with the contradictory nature of their beliefs. But by not picking a lane, it gives them the wiggle room to weaponize their Judaism under the guise of being born Jewish, having a Jewish heritage. Even though they never embraced Jewish customs, Jewish traditions, Jewish values, the Jewish religion, when they only acknowledge their Judaism to justify positions that promote, support, or fortify Jew-hatred.

I couldn’t convince these Seaport proselytizers that it’s impossible to be Jewish and still worship Jesus. They were indoctrinated. And, I won’t be able to convince those who suddenly reclaimed their “Jewish heritage” – the “as a Jews” – that they are deeply misguided when they put forth antisemitic conspiracy theories under the guise of “being a humanitarian” or “as a Jew who doesn’t support what Israel is doing in Gaza” (read – “doesn’t support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish democracy”). They feel empowered when they quote opinions shared in The New York Times or The Washington Post. Sadly, I fully believe that these people are as indoctrinated as the Jews for Jesus crowd at the Seaport.

My oldest friend, J, laughs when I say I’m trying not to waste my breath. Or exert my old and tired fingers as the “as a Jew” crowd sides with the Jew-haters, supporting the right to “globalize the intifada” “from the river to the sea.” She knows that I desperately want people to return from the dark side, to stop blaming the victims, to simply support the return of innocent, tortured, suffocating Jewish hostages.

I guess, in the end, my only hope, is that Billy Joel is right, and life will “go on no matter who is wrong or right.” Even though on this one, I know I’m right.