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Misunderstandings between Jews and Christians No One Talks About
March 3, 2026 · 38 min
The hidden misunderstandings shaping Jewish–Christian relations might surprise you. Discover the truth behind them that is rarely discussed.
Series Out of Zion Video March 3, 2026 · 38 min · Out of Zion Video
The hidden misunderstandings shaping Jewish–Christian relations might surprise you. Discover the truth behind them that is rarely discussed. ...more Show the full description Show less The hidden misunderstandings shaping Jewish–Christian relations might surprise you. Discover the truth behind them that is rarely discussed.
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Embark on a transformative journey through the Bible and the Land of Israel with Dr. Susan Michael, President of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem
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In this video 0:00 Judaism as a Vibrant Faith Beyond Legalism10:00 Unpacking End Times and Christian Support for Israel20:00 Evangelism, History, and Biblical Interpretation Bridges
Judaism as a Vibrant Faith Beyond Legalism 0:01 Well, as we began to wrap up our series on Jews and Christians learning to relate, we wanted to have a discussion today about some of the most common misunderstandings between the0:13 2 communities. So stay with us. We'll be right back.0:18 Welcome to the Israel Answers series, connecting Israel, the Bible, and you. Join Susan Michael as she explores timely issues and current events from a scriptural perspective to equip the0:29 Christian world with a balance and biblical response. Be sure to subscribe for future episodes, which will ignite your faith and bring the Bible to life in your everyday world. Now, let's join Susan with0:41 your Israel Answers.0:46 Well, I hope you've been enjoying our series on Jews and Christians learning to relate. And as we have interviewed a number of pioneers, And 1 of those pioneers was Jonathan Feldstein, who0:58 is the founder and president of the Genesis one-two-three Foundation. We had a really interesting conversation as he shared his story of decades of Jewish1:10 Christian relations coming from the perspective of an Orthodox Jew who lives in Israel. And if you did not get to hear that interview, we're going to link to it in1:22 today's show notes so that you can get to know more about him and his story. But as I began to plan for the wrap up of this series, I thought I want to have Jonathan back so that we can
1:34 just have an informal conversation talking about some of the common misunderstandings that we've all alluded to in our stories. The various pioneers have
1:46 alluded to these things, but I thought it might be helpful for us to talk about them a little bit more in-depth. And we have some misunderstandings on the Jewish side, and we have some misunderstandings
1:58 on the Jewish side, the Christian side and the Jewish side. So, Jonathan, I want to welcome you back to the Out of Zion podcast, and thank you for taking time out of your day
2:10 to have this conversation with us.
2:12 Always a pleasure, a, to have conversations like this and, b, even more so to do it with you, Susan. Thank you.
2:19 Thank you. Thank you so much. So I'm going to start with a common misunderstanding that, we encounter. And then I'll let you bring up 1, Jonathan. And we'll just
2:31 go back and forth and see where we go with this. So I know that 1 of the common misunderstandings that I had when I first went to Israel many, many, many years ago
2:43 as a young woman was not understanding that Judaism is a vibrant faith. And in a lot of
2:55 our preaching and teaching in churches, we sort of like to juxtapose Christianity to Judaism in the Old Testament to the New.
3:06 And we bring up these comparisons, and it's sort of like, well, Judaism is about legalism and the law. And so it's a dead religion, whereas
3:18 Christianity is more about grace and forgiveness, and it's more alive. And when I went to Israel, I realized how that Judaism is very much
3:31 an alive faith. And there are really very sincere believers with a very, very sincere and active relationship with
3:43 the God of the Jewish people. And so I see that as something I'm often addressing and teaching that, no, Judaism and what we see in the Old Testament is
3:54 just as much about love and forgiveness and mercy and grace. It's built into the law. It's built into everything that God established in the Old Testament.
4:07 And we do see it also in the New Testament, but it's in both. It's the same God, the same character. And, so how would you, what would you like to add
4:19 to that, Jonathan?
4:20 Well, first of all, you're right. And people who do, who don't, it's perfect that we're speaking about misunderstandings because misunderstandings can be interpreted as a difference or just a lack of understanding.
4:32 And there is a lack of understanding because why would you know when you are growing up, unless you're completely engrossed with Jews and Judaism or myself, I,
4:44 I, I grow up in New Jersey. Why would I know much about Christians and Christianity unless I'm having conversations like we are having now and that you and I have been blessed throughout the last decades
4:56 to be able to have. So sure, it's very easy to look at, from a, from a Christian perspective and think that Jew, Jews and Judaism is very legalistic. Well, it is. But what
5:08 what a lot of Christians don't understand is that it's through that, first of all, that's preserved us as a people. But second of all, all of these legalisms,
5:20 at least how I look at it and how I experience it in my life, connect me deeper with God. So, when we speak about Shabbat, okay? A lot of Christians will understand
5:33 that Shabbat is the day that we would don't work. But what does that mean? And I'm not going to go into that right now. We can have that conversation another time. But every little time, oh, here's a great story. I don't
5:43 know if I ever shared it with you. When I had a fire in my house a few years ago, on a Friday night, it was going through my mind about how to deal with the fire on Shabbat.
5:55 Be and and of course, at the moment, I was I was concerned about protecting my family, but I was doing so through my relationship with God, through how God, how we
6:08 we interpret that. So yeah, unless you have an opportunity to come to Israel, to really experience Israel, Israeli life, or do Shabbat in a in a community
6:20 overseas and get to know, which is something we spoke about last time, get to know Jews and and the Jewish culture. It's legitimate to think that that we're only legalistic, but then, of course, I I
6:32 know some Christians many Christians, in fact, will say, well, they're not under the law. Okay. Great. Well, are they going around committing adultery? Are they going around murdering people, not honoring their parents,
6:43 and and taking god's name in vain. Also, no. And these are things that we have to kind of square the circle as far as how we real understand what that
6:55 legalism is about. But no, Judaism is much much more and you're, it's so wonderful you understand that and so wonderful that you help other people understand that.
7:04 Well, I know 1 of the things that I realized was the role of the law. So in a lot of Christian teaching, the law is looked down upon as legalistic, and
7:16 we're not under that. And yet the law, the Jewish people see it as a gift that was given to them and that they take their responsibility very seriously
7:28 to obey the law. And therefore, the whole idea of building a fence around the law. So if it says don't work on the Sabbath, fine and good, but what does that
7:39 mean? And that's where the rabbis began to interpret. Well, what does it mean? What can you do? What can you not do? Because they don't want to violate what God told them to do. And
7:51 they feel a special responsibility almost on behalf of the world, but for sure on behalf of the Jewish people, that they have a responsibility to be faithful
8:03 to God and obey what He told them to do. And it's a little bit of a different take on the law than what we get a lot of times in our churches.
8:13 And even through something as remote as I do every Friday, late afternoon or evening, depending on when Shabbat begins. And that's, I guess it's easy to fall back on the law and
8:25 relate to Shabbat because there's so many laws that are connected to Shabbat, but there are many, many laws that we follow on a regular basis. But when I flip a switch and all of the lights in my house
8:37 go on a timer, it's not just a mechanical thing legalistic because I don't I choose according to my understanding of Judaism not to turn lights on and off on Saturday on the on on the
8:49 Sabbath. But when I'm doing that, I, through through that little action, am honoring God. I'm honoring the way we interpret it. Of course, 2000 years ago when Jesus observed
9:01 Shabbat and talked about all the legalisms of Shabbat and had rabbinic debates with with people here in the in first century Israel, the the legalisms were
9:13 different because they didn't have electricity, because they didn't have elevators and lights and how to and abilities to keep food hot for 24 hours or or anything of that nature. So we have
9:25 modern interpretations. But for me, every time I do a little action, I try to make sure to remind myself that it's not a mechanical thing, but it's really my connection with God.
9:36 Yes, beautiful. Well, Johnson, do you wanna share a misunderstanding for us to discuss?
9:42 There are just a few. You know, a lot of Jews really don't understand. 1 of 1 of the things that actually it just came up again this week. I I shared
9:54 an article with a friend of the an article that I had written, a Jewish woman who's super smart and grew up in the south around Christians. She's not ignorant either. And she wrote back
Unpacking End Times and Christian Support for Israel
10:06 to me that she understands Christians because Christians only want Jews to come back to Israel in order that Jesus will return through whether it's Armageddon,
10:18 we can talk about end times, but the the the the motivation of Christian support of Israel and our returning like I did 18 years ago is simply to expedite hasten Jesus'
10:30 return. And that's a tremendous misunderstanding. Not exclusive, but maybe you can address that.
10:38 Yes, because actually the Bible doesn't say that. And I've heard it many, many times over the years that it's required that all the Jews return to Israel so Jesus can come
10:49 back. And I've been told that actually there is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that believes that, but it's not taught in Christian churches.
11:01 There's great debate as to whether anything is required to happen before Jesus returns. And there is a school of thought in Christianity that says He could return at any moment. So there is nothing that
11:13 is required to take place. There's others that quote a verse that says that the gospel will go out into all the nations, and then the end will come. So maybe
11:25 we have to be reaching all the unreached people groups in the world with the gospel before Jesus will return. Only when you began to delve
11:37 in and deal with the prophecies towards the Jewish people and about Israel, do you begin to see that, well, maybe the Jews do need to be back in
11:49 the land because Jesus isn't going to return to a gentile Jerusalem. I mean, He's going to return to Jewish Jerusalem. So maybe there is
12:01 some requirement, but I will say it's hardly ever discussed in churches. It's never talked about in that way. And so this really is a very big misunderstanding that this is like a big
12:14 requirement, and we all know it, and we're all teaching it, and that's what this is all about. And Right.
12:20 It comes across even more as a requirement. It comes across as a, nefarious ulterior motive. And by the way, I mean, first of all, we, of course, we disagree,
12:32 on on Jesus, and that's fine, and that's a much bigger conversation. But we all want Messiah. So so and and there's nothing wrong with all of the Jewish people being here in the land. But Jews look
12:44 at that as Christian support of it as somehow being 1 upsmanship as to as as a, a victory over the Jewish people. And we interpret it differently, but
12:55 we're really looking ultimately for the same
12:59 thing. That's right. So I'll bring up another misunderstanding that I find that goes along with this, and that is that when I speak to Jewish audiences, I find
13:11 that they're always concerned about these end time prophecies and that that's really why we're doing this. And And some of the end time prophecies are hard. And it may be about war. It
13:23 may be about an Armageddon. It may be, you know, and itthey're like, this is why you really support us is because you want 2 thirds of us wiped out in a war or this kind of
13:35 thing. And what I find is that actually, they're totally ignorant to the fact that most of those Scriptures are from the Jewish Bible. They're
13:47 from the Hebrew Scriptures, the Hebrew prophets, and that if somebody is talking about a war, they're usually going to be quoting out of Zechariah
13:59 or 1 of the Hebrew prophets. And then it's confirmed in the New Testament in the book of Revelation, which is full of visual.
14:14 It's not concrete. It's like there's a lot of interpretation that you have to bring into the book of Revelation to understand what it's really conveying. It's
14:26 in visions and this kind of thing. And so but the more concrete verses are found in the Hebrew prophets.
14:37 And another 1 is that, will you believe that we're all going to become Christian? Well, your Bible says that we're all going to be worshiping the God of
14:49 Israel. And it just so happens we believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. But yeah, but it's your scriptures that are saying that.
14:58 And
15:01 I remember 1 time I spoke to a Jewish group, and afterwards, an elderly man came up to me, and he was completely blown away. He had no idea that most of the Christian
15:13 Bible was actually the Hebrew Bible. He didn't even know it. And, and therefore, a lot of Jews, secular Jews, don't even know what their own Bible says, so they
15:25 don't know that we're actually quoting their Bible.
15:29 Hundred percent. You really nailed it on the head and you used the word ignorant and I and I know you didn't use it. Ignorant can become a pejorative word. It's not but people who who are not aware
15:41 of what the Hebrew Bible, the the the Torah says, really don't know. And and we, I think, I think that we
15:53 overall don't dwell on end times, theology or what's going to happen. And, and there aren't a lot of Jews who run
16:04 around. It's much, I think, much more a Christian phenomena run around saying, well, we're in the end times. It's the beginning of the end times, and we have to prepare. And there are some people who are brazen enough to
16:16 say that they know when that's happening. And that's, I I I'm sure that there are Jews who do that, but but it's not something that's very common. So when you have Jews who are secular, predominantly,
16:28 who don't know their Bible, our Bible, and you're confronted with Christians who understand it and understand where it comes from, and it connects
16:40 directly to us and Israel. And and it's not by the way, it's not real comfortable to talk about what's what's happening. The war from the north and we're we're we're seeing Russia threatening everybody right
16:52 now. None of that's comfortable. But but clearly, clearly there's a great misunderstanding about, from a Jewish perspective,
17:04 about what Christians believe and where they're getting that from, which iswhich, again, it's probably a matter of interpretation, but we're not that far off in terms of really what we're
17:16 understanding.
17:17 No, I remember watching, a video 1 time of a Hasidic rabbi teaching, and he had a whole auditorium full of young men
17:29 listening to him. And they played this eerie music, And he's referring to some of these Scriptures out of Zechariah and end time and things that are going to happen. Of course, it was with his interpretation,
17:42 which was really quite drastic, I have to say. And it's no different than what a lot of our Christian preachers preach based on those same Scriptures. The thing that we might
17:54 disagree on is just the identity of that messianic 1. But the scriptures are in the same Bible that we both have.
18:05 And you're right, I don't hear a lot of rabbis teaching on those end time prophecies. Maybe they should start.
18:13 Maybe they should start. Well, at least though we should know. But but the challenge we we we do know, but but the challenge, of course, is that when the the the people who are less
18:25 knowledgeable of their own Bible, of their own scripture, of of what that means are not getting those biblical teachings anyway. So I'm I'm I'm
18:37 praying that people will come back to to to the root of of what we need to do because ultimately, I I do believe that we through our personal actions, this is a digression but through our personal actions, we have the
18:48 ability to hasten the Messiah's arrival and and and that's what we all want. And that's our responsibility individually and as a Jewish people.
19:01 So let's talk a little bit more about motives. So I've read and heard accusations that, you know, our motives are really
19:13 antisemitic, that we want to get all the Jews back to Israel so 2 thirds of them will die. I mean, that's horrible. I've heard less betrayal accusations
19:24 that we just want to get the Jews back to Israel so they're all going to become Christian.
19:31 And
19:33 then I've heard that, you know, this and that. And when in reality, our motive, just because a person believes something is going to happen doesn't mean that that is
19:45 the motivation for what they're doing today. So I'll give an example. Our organization is so involved in Aliyah in helping bring the Jews back home to
19:57 Israel to make it their homeland. And so we're helping today with the Jews of Ethiopia. We helped with the Lost Tribe of Manasseh in India. We're helping now with the UkrainianShow more
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