The day of Easter is the culmination of the story of God's plan for salvation -- a reminder that death does not have the last word. But before Easter, a happy day is festivity, comes Good Friday: a day of darkness when Jesus was crucified, and the Jews were blamed for it. Good Friday is… Continue reading The trouble with Good Friday
This week I had an article published on Sojourners: When I was studying biblical counseling at a conservative Baptist seminary five years ago, a student invited me to a Passover Seder on campus. I was reluctant to respond because the student was a Messianic Judaism major and the Seder was being hosted by his department.… Continue reading How Some Christians Mistake Honoring Jewish Culture With Appropriating It
The observance of Passover seders in churches is a fairly recent trend, as more Christians seek to connect with the Jewish roots of their faith. While this seems like a good idea, my conviction is that this well-intentioned practice is better left where it began: within Judaism. Of course, there is nothing wrong with Christians… Continue reading The problem with Christian seders
As a Jew who converted to Christianity, I learned to appreciate Christmas. Easter, on the other hand, has always been difficult. There is no other day of the year when one-foot-in-both-worlds syndrome hits me harder, but I’ve never been able to articulate why. Thankfully, there’s Amy-Jill Levine, who wrote an enlightened piece for Religion and… Continue reading Thoughts and responses to Amy-Jill Levine’s “Holy Week and the Hatred of Jews”
This post was recently shared in a Facebook group I’m part of: “No ‘Christian Seders,’ Please!” Having grown up Jewish before discovering Christianity in college, this piece did a great job explaining all the reasons I feel squicky about this trend in churches. I always thought that the best way to “observe” Passover as a… Continue reading Gentiles explain things to me
