This month, I want to write about what the Jewish community on my doorstep is experiencing. Britain’s Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has described it as “a sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK”, which he says is “gathering momentum.” It came with the warning that we cannot wait until we actually see fatalities before fully understanding the danger that we face. Because of these events, the government has raised the country’s threat level, meaning we are living in unprecedented times.
Last week, just before our weekly bible study, which the congregation hosts from the Chosen People Ministry offices in Golders Green. I walked with a march that gathered in Golders Green on the evening of the stabbing of two Jewish men in a terror attack. The banners they carried read: “Are we really here again?” and “New Hate”. Antisemitism is an ancient anti-Jewish hatred; today, it is dressed up as anti- Zionism or a political anti-Israelism. But for Britain’s Jewish community, who sought refuge in Britain from the pogroms of Russia and Eastern Europe or came as a place of safety to rebuild their lives after the Holocaust, Britain has become a place where Jewish schoolchildren have security guards at the schools and the fences grow ever higher, and many are afraid to wear a Star of David or wear their kippah in public.
So far, four Hatzola volunteer Jewish ambulances have been set on fire and destroyed, and there have been multiple attempted fire-bombings at synagogues and Jewish premises, leaving the London Jewish community struggling to make sense of what has been termed the ‘New Hate’. The Statistics are shocking. In 2012, only 11% of British Jews were very concerned about antisemitism. The figure is now 47%, with 82% of all surveyed Jewish people reporting some level of concern.1 Last month, the police recorded double the number of antisemitic hate crimes in April than in February of this year.2
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has stated: “Words of condemnation are no longer sufficient. This must be a moment that demands meaningful action from every institution, every community, every leader, and every decent person in our country.3” When Jewish houses of prayer are under attack, we should remember that the Words of Jesus when He quoted Isaiah 56: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Mk 11:17) And when God’s people are targeted, silenced, and afraid, the church’s calling is to stand with them and to point to them to the One whose very name, Yeshua, means salvation.
What is happening in Golders Green and London is not a question of police patrols or a problem for the government to solve. This is a question about the heart of our nation and the voices that speak to it. Now is the time for the Church to speak up, for Bible-believing Christians who understand the significance of the Jewish people in God’s redemptive purposes, to respond in prayer and in the faithful proclamation of the Gospel.
This crisis brings a Gospel imperative, and we ask you to join us in praying that, in the darkness of these days which the Jewish community is facing, many would turn to see the light of the Messiah and put their hope and trust in Him. Pray also for our staff who are out sharing the Gospel in earnest this month.
Chosen People Ministries offers resources to equip believers to speak up for God’s Truth and respond to antisemitism. We believe all people are made in God’s image, and we oppose all forms of prejudice, especially antisemitism, which is a particular offence to the God who chose the Jewish people for His holy purposes (Genesis 12:1–3).
Crowded airport. (Photo: Unsplash/Briana Tozour)