NO. 365B: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT - PART TWO

by Epiphany Bible Students


THE JEWS

Group’s 40th Anniversary Honors David Horowitz: Both this writer [Jeffrey Ellis Aronin] and Mr. Abrahams addressed the assembled guests in paying tribute to Mr. Horowitz. The writer read out a number of communications from prominent rabbis and others congratulating the honoree. Mr. Abraham’s tribute follows:

“In honoring David, he stated: ‘It is with profound appreciation of David Horowitz’ unique record of righteousness and compassion that the Committee has bestowed this 1982 prize. The founder of the Award, Ambassador Enrico Garda, would have enthusiastically endorsed the choice of Mr. Horowitz, the universally honored creator of United Israel World Union and editor of the Bulletin.

“‘A valiant fighter against cruelty and hypocrisy, he has been a heroic champion of the Torah’s program of justice, facing in the name of God all ecclesiastical or political scoundrels who are abusing biblical texts for devilish propaganda in shameless violation of the Holocaust.

“‘In the United Nations, whose majority are oil‑bribed for heathen irresponsibility, David Horowitz has proclaimed wisely, forcefully and consistently Israel’s rights, Soviet Jewry’s rights to stay Jewish, the right of all God’s children to live in peace and to enjoy basic human opportunity’... ‘We all share in this tribute to our David,’ said Dr. Jung. ‘Shalom.’

“Significantly, Congressman Siljander, a Christian, indicated that he had fallen in love with Israel and the Jewish people to such a great extent that he turned to study of the Hebrew language and that he considers the Hebraic faith as a part of his own religion.

“Thus, as he arrived at the banquet, he began to speak Hebrew with Mr. Horowitz who, he said in his speech, he had met at the UN upon his return from Israel last year and discussed issues held in common. Siljander enthusiastically hailed United Israel World Union for having stood firm to its principles and in its educational activities for forty years on behalf of biblical truths, paying high tribute to Mr. Horowitz and the local unit’s leaders who had found a common denominator in the Sinaitic Code.

“The main part of Congressman Siljander’s speech dealt with Israel, America’s faithful ally in the Middle East, which, he stated, had accomplished miracles in all fields of endeavor. Thunderous applause greeted him when he referred to Judea and Samaria, the so‑called West Bank, as being part of historic Israel. .... He was proud of the role he had played in preventing the UN’s PLO Observer from visiting Washington and addressing Congressmen at the invitation of Rep. Crockett.

“Upon learning of the invitation, he said he was shocked that a representative of a group seeking the destruction of Israel be given the chance to address congressmen. He immediately intervened by sending a letter of protest to Secretary of State Shultz. The visit was called off. There’s a 25‑mile limit for travel for the PLO.

“He noted that what’s happening to Jews in USSR is a tragedy, noting that his wife has joined a group of Washingtonian women on behalf of Soviet Jewry. In pride, he informed the audience that he had marched in New York’s recent Salute to Israel Parade.

“Congressman Siljander is a Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and also serves in the Middle East subcommittee. United Israel World Union, in addition to units in the US, has many members in Ghana and other African states, in the Philippines, Mexico and North Africa.” (By Jeffrey Ellis Aronin)

Behind The Scenes At The United Nations – September 19: Precisely one week before this World Organization opened its 40th session with a minute of silent much‑needed prayer – while at the same time the Jewish people throughout the world assembled in their houses of worship to meaningful worship the second day of Rosh Hashana – a significant event took place here in New York, bringing to‑mind the miracle that is Israel. The inspiring occasion marked the Ninth Annual Dinner of the American Associates of the Ben‑Gurion University during which the phenomenal progress involving the revivification of the Negev desert was brought into full focus.

“What was especially unique about the Ben‑Gurion University Dinner was the presence of two outstanding souls, Rhoda and Rudy Boyko, as the recipients of the Ben-Gurion Negev Award.

“But, more importantly, the name Boyko is synonymous with the resurrection of the Negev. It was Rudolph’s late brother, Hugo Boyko, along with his scientist wife, Elizabeth, who, after settling in the old Palestine in 1935, pioneered in Israeli agriculture, growing crops with saline water from undergound desert sources. They studied the factors enabling desert plants to thrive in an arid environment. Elizabeth Boyko, in her ingenuity, brought vegetation to primitive Eilat, transforming the desert town with more than 180 species of plants. [The desert shall blossom as a rose. Isa. 35:1]            

“In the spirit of Hugo and Elizabeth, Rudolph and Rhoda along with a friend, Ike Schine, as far back as 1959, established an Israeli company known as the Desert Plants, Ltd. The project flourished and today the Ben‑Gurion University, a jewel in the heart of Beer Sheba, is benefiting greatly from the seeds they have sown. The Boyko Institute is directed by Dr. Dov Pasternak, an internationally‑renowned scientist whose pilot project in desert revivification has brought new hope to several African states including Egypt.”

“THE GREENING OF ISRAEL: The economic crisis won’t stop the trees from growing, but it will put extra pressures on the budget of the Jewish National Fund. The JNF, says world chairman Moshe Rivlin, funds its multifaceted operations from contributions, leasing fees on lands and government payments for clearing land and building infrastructure for new settlements... Today, the JNF mountains over 250,000 acres of forest, the majority of which it has planted. ....

“Within four or five years, the city of Jerusalem will be completely encircled by forest, including its outermost suburbs. Once far from the city, forests have come within the city’s expanding borders.

“From Augusta Victoria Hospital on Mt. Scopus, one can see a new forest being planted in the Judean Desert that will eventually forge a link of trees with the town of Ma’ale Adumin. ‘The desert is being pushed away, bit by bit,’ says Rivlin. ‘The forest area will serve both Arabs and Jews.”’ (By Judy Siegel, Jerusalem Post Reporter – September 7, 1985)

The American Jewish Congress has called Pope John Paul’s assertion that the Moslem view of the future status of Jerusalem is also the Vatican’s view a ‘puzzling and distressing’ remark. Henry Siegman, executive director of AJCongress and an authority on Catholic‑Jewish relations, disputed the Pontiff’s statement in Morocco on Monday (Aug. 19) that Moslems view Jerusalem as ‘the capital of three monotheistic religions’ – Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

“‘We are not aware of any Moslem leader who has ever expressed such a view of Jerusalem,’ Mr. Siegman said. ‘Moslems,’ he noted, ‘have consistently called for the removal of Jerusalem from the State of Israel.’ Mr. Siegman called the Pope’s statement ‘an apparent effort to find some common ground with his Moroccan hosts.’

“The AJCongress official, a founder of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, which includes leading Jewish organizations, acknowledged that the ‘intention and spirit’ of the Pope’s statement may have been misconstrued and said a clarification of his remarks ‘is most urgently needed.’

“The text of Mr. Siegman’s statement follows: Pope John Paul’s statement in Morocco on the subjects of Jerusalem ‘is also the view of the Holy See,’ is puzzling and distressing.

“Either Pope John Paul is uninformed about the Moslem view of Jerusalem, or he has now repudiated the Vatican’s long‑standing position on this subject.

“In an apparent effort to find some common ground with his Moroccan hosts, the Pope attributes to Moslems the view that Jerusalem serves ‘as a central point, the capital of three monotheistic religions.’ We are not aware of any Moslem leader who has ever expressed such a view of Jerusalem. We are aware, however, as Pope John Paul himself must be, that Moslems have consistently called for the removal of Jerusalem from the State of Israel.

“In recent years, Vatican officials have earnestly sought to convey the impression that the Vatican is anxious to improve its relations with the State of Israel. The Pope’s statements in Morocco are hardly calculated to bring that goal any closer.

“It is possible that both the intention and spirit of Pope John Paul’s remarks in Morocco were misconstrued. If so, a clarification is most urgently needed.” (Israel E. Levine, Director of Communications, American Jewish Congress, Aug. 21, 1985)

Judaism – The ‘Eternal Fire’; Christianity – The ‘Eternal Rays’: Philosopher theologian Franz Rosenzweig, the son of a well‑to‑do Jewish family, was born in Cassel, Germany, in 1886. He spent two years in the study of medicine, then switched to modern history and philosophy. He became deeply interested in Hegel’s philosophic idealism. However, while attending a Day of Atonement service in a traditional synagogue in Berlin in 1913, Rosenzweig experienced a ‘closeness to God,’ and that experience became the turning point in his life. He gained a conviction of the impotence of Hegel’s idealism when confronted with existential problems of human life and life’s ultimate question: Who am I and what is the purpose of my existence?

“While in the Balkan foxholes with the German army in the First World War, he began to compose The Star of Redemption, which became his magnum opus (1921). He wrote it on army postal cards, which he sent on to his mother. During the postwar period, he and Dr. Martin Buber collaborated in a new German translation of the Hebrew Bible, which is said to be the finest since Martin Luther’s translation.

“According to Rosensweig, Judaism and Christianity possess equal religious validity and represent complimentary aspects of God’s revealed truth. Judaism is ‘the eternal fire’ – Christianity, ‘the eternal rays.’ Judaism is oriented inward to the Jews, whereas Christianity is facing outward to the Gentiles. In fact, Christianity is ‘Judaism for the Gentiles.’ Israel stays with God, Christianity goes out into the world to bring the unredeemed peoples to the God of Israel. Christianity’s function is well symbolized by the cross, the vertical beam of which looks heavenward to God and the horizontal beam is outstretched toward mankind. Only in the endtime, when the task of mankind’s redemption will have been completed, will Judaism and Christianity fuse into one faith.

“Rosenzweig is considered to have been the ‘single greatest influence on the religious thought of North American Jewry.’ At one time he came very close to embracing the Messianic faith of Jesus. He carried on an extensive correspondence with knowledgeable Christians, some of whom were his own kinsmen, and gained a sympathetic understanding of the Christian faith.” (The Messiahship of Jesus, p. 56)

Christians who believe in Pastor Russell’s teaching have no trouble in recognizing and approving of the faithful Jews who believe in His promises to them. He never tried to convert the Jews to Christianity, because he knew that God’s promises to the faithful Jew were unconditional. He said, Let us leave the Jew in the future to his God, and let the Christians in general go on in their blindness as the Scriptures foretell, to their destruction.

Salvation is of the Jews. It was to the Jew first at our Lord’s First Advent, and then to the Gentiles; and it will be “to the Jew first” in the earthly phase of the Kingdom – and then to the Gentiles. The New Covenant will be made with the Jews. The Kingdom will be Israelitish. “Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness; I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my Glory.” (Isa. 46:12,13)

“At the inauguration of the New Age of blessing, natural Israel will be granted a special place and privilege; “for the gifts and calling of God are not things to be repented of.” (Romans 11:29) The orthodox Jews will be more ready to receive the blessing of the new dispensation promptly than will other people. Therefore they will have the first blessing – not by reason of partiality on God’s part in showing favor to these people, but by virtue of the fact that He made a covenant with them as the posterity of faithful Abraham.

“This special privilege of preeminence in the Messianic Kingdom, however, will not be granted to all who are Jews by blood; but only to those who prove loyal to the Law and the Prophets – those who are Jews at heart, and not merely outwardly. All others are merely Gentiles. (Rom. 2:28,29)” (By Pastor Russell, Reprint 5964 – October, 1916)

Bible Not Written By Man Say Scientists In Israel: Researchers at Israel’s Technion say they have discovered secrets hidden in the Bible that can prove to scholars that the Five Books of Moses were not written by man.

“The researchers – in the fields of computers and Bible – have discovered that the Torah contained many names and future bits of history by forming words using every 26th or 49th letter.

“‘We are not presenting any conclusions,” said Yosef Katz, one of the researchers. ‘This is only initial research.” (By Yaakov Rodan)

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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Sister Emily: Loving Christian greetings! –

We want to compliment you and the brethren on the way you have carried on the Lord’s work. No one could have done better. We hope you are not working too hard. We do appreciate getting the monthly papers. We are as well as we can expect to be, considering our ages. We have some good days and some not so good.

Friday (November 29) is our Mother’s birthday. We are thankful that we were lucky enough to have her for our “Mom.” Now we know what this trouble in the world today is all about, and we are not worried or afraid. Instead we rejoice and look forward to the future. Thanks to her teaching! Am sending a check to the EBSA, but please use it as you wish. Sorry it is not more.

The Season’s greetings to you and the others with you. We think of you often.

You are always in our prayers. With Christian love, ------- (OHIO)

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Dear Brethren: Grace and peace!

We enjoyed your November and December 1985 papers, especially the paper about Casimir Lanowick’s work for the Jews. He was a wonderful and courageous man!

The September‑October Present Truth all about Brother Russell and Zionism is very good. It sounds like the LHMM is now in harmony with the teaching of Brother Russell about the Jews – “To the Jew first.” I earnestly hope they have abandoned the error of Epiphany Campers Consecrated being first, and ahead of the Jews – and are no longer casting God’s Word aside.

Do you think your paper refuting their May‑June 1985 Present Truth on the nonexistent class of Epiphany Campers Consecrated, together with the book coming out “About Pastor Russell,” may have influenced them to write this September‑October 1985 Present Truth? They should know that if they should preach this doctrine to the Jews it would not be acceptable to them. However, they use Brother Russell’s teaching to the Jews.

So keep up the good fight of faith! The Truth is powerful and will eventually overthrow all errors. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two‑edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12) Warm Christian love, ------- (MISSOURI)

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We wish to convey our deep appreciation and thanks for the many beautiful Christmas cards received, expressing their love and prayers. We heartily reciprocate these sentiments and regret that we were unable to do so by individual cards. May “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and addeth no sorrow with it” (Prov. 10:22) be your portion.

We wish all our readers a Happy and Blessed New Year! “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowl­edge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” (Prov. 3:5,6)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

On January 11 and 12 Mr. David Horowitz and Ms. Runes, the publisher, will come to Florida to announce the publication of the book “About Pastor Russell.” This announcement will be made in Leesburg January 11 after a dinner party at 6:30 p.m. Also in Orlando after a luncheon at 12:30 p.m. The publication of this book has been joyfully anticipated by many. Much praise has been expressed about the publication of this book.

“David Horowitz sets the record straight about the beliefs and achievements of Charles Taze Russell. A recognition of Pastor Russell’s important role as an early American Christian advocate of Zionism is long overdue. Mr. Horowitz has performed an admirable service in restoring to public knowledge the story of this important Christian Zionist.” (By Ambassador Benjamin Netanyahu