A post by Nadav Peretz, translated into Danish.
It is my own position, only mirrored.
He sees in us what I see in them. ❤
...
What does a proud Jew like me think about Jesus and Christianity?
Many of my Christian followers, especially evangelicals, have asked me precisely that question.
For Christians, Jesus is everything. But many Christians have never had the chance to ask a Jewish Israeli what we think about him and about Christianity.
So here is my honest and personal answer.
I was born and raised in Tiberias on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is the landscape of the New Testament. Capernaum, the Jordan River, the Mount of Beatitudes and so many other places connected to Jesus's life and ministry were not distant names in a book to me. They were the landscape of my childhood.
When my father was mayor of Tiberias, Christian leaders and pilgrims from all over the world often came to visit our city. From when I was very small, I met evangelicals and Christians from many different denominations.
I saw the way they regarded this land.
I saw the tears in their eyes when they stood by the Sea of Galilee. I saw their love for Israel, their spiritual connection to the land and their excitement at walking around the places they had read about all their lives.
That love moved me deeply. In many ways, it made me love them.
I also remember how I watched Christian pilgrims being baptised in the Jordan River, near the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
They walked out into the water dressed in white, surrounded by their families and fellow believers. As a child, I was completely captivated by it. I studied their faces when they rose from the river, filled with joy, emotion and an overwhelming sense of spiritual fulfilment.
For many of them, it was not just another stop on a holiday. It was one of the defining moments of their lives. They had travelled thousands of miles to be baptised in the waters of the Jordan River, in the land where their faith was born.
Even as a Jewish child, I understood that I was witnessing something that was holy to them.
Their faith was different from mine, but their joy made me glad. I loved seeing people experience a moment that carried such deep meaning for them.
Years later, when I became a tour operator and brought thousands of visitors to Israel, I experienced the same moments again and again. I saw grown men and women walk out into the Jordan River and come up in tears. I saw families embrace each other, and people overwhelmed by the realisation that they were finally standing in the land they had read about and prayed towards all their lives.
They were often the most significant moments of their journey, and sometimes among the most significant moments of their entire lives.
For me, helping people experience those moments was never just tourism. It was a privilege. Their joy became part of my joy, and their connection to this land strengthened my own understanding of the enormous spiritual significance Israel holds for billions of people across the world.
Another memory from my childhood has stayed with me for more than thirty years.
I must have been seven or eight years old when a Christian delegation from Tulsa, Oklahoma, if I remember correctly, visited Tiberias. Some of the group's members were African-Americans.
At the same time, newly arrived Ethiopian Jewish immigrants were housed in hotels in Tiberias during their first months in Israel. They were black Jews whose families had preserved their Jewish identity, traditions and longing for Jerusalem through generations. Israel had sent planes to Africa to bring them home to the Jewish homeland.
I remember the moment when the African-American guests met the Ethiopian Jewish families at the hotels.
The emotions were overwhelming.
The guests were deeply moved to meet black Jews in Israel and to see with their own eyes that the Jewish people is not one skin colour, one ethnicity or one history.
They saw a country that had sent planes to Africa to bring their Jewish compatriots home. I saw the embraces, the tears and the immediate human connection between people with vastly different histories, but whose faith and experiences created a strong bond.
I was only a child, but I understood that I was witnessing something I would never forget.
That moment taught me that the connection between Christians, Jews and Israel is not merely political or theological. It can be deeply personal, emotional and spiritual. It connects people across continents, cultures and histories.
I have always felt drawn to people with genuine faith. I appreciate people whose spirituality can be seen in their eyes and felt in their hearts, regardless of their religion.
Meeting Christians who loved this land has never threatened my identity as a Jew. My Jewish identity is strong enough to meet another faith with curiosity, respect and friendship.
Christianity sprang from the Jewish world. Jesus was born as a Jew, lived as a Jew and died as a Jew in the land of Israel. His family, his disciples and his first followers were Jews. Christianity's language, narratives, prophets and moral foundation cannot be fully understood without Judaism.
I acknowledge Jesus as one of the most influential Jewish figures in human history. He was a strong and charismatic Jewish teacher who lived in an unusually complicated period of Jewish history under Roman rule.
His teaching helped bring ideas rooted in the Hebrew Bible - mercy, repentance, justice, human dignity and faith in one God - out to billions of people across the world. His influence on human civilisation is impossible to deny.
Later, when I moved to New York, I encountered Judeo-Christian values in a far broader sense. The USA is not a religious state, but biblical language, moral traditions and the shared heritage of Judaism and Christianity are deeply woven into the American narrative.
I also met Christians from many different communities, including black and Latin American churches, whose love for Israel and connection to the Bible was deep and very personal.
They did not see Israel as a distant political question. They saw it as the land where their faith was born.
Honesty naturally also requires that we remember the Jewish-Christian history has not always been a story of friendship.
For many centuries, Jews suffered persecution, forced conversion, expulsion and violence in Christian societies. That pain is part of Jewish memory and cannot simply be erased.
But history need not keep us captive.
The remarkable change in the relationship between Jews and Christians in recent generations shows that reconciliation is possible. We can remember the pain of the past and at the same time build a different future together.
Israel already protects Christian holy sites and ensures Christians the freedom to practise their faith, pray and celebrate. Churches, monasteries and holy places across the country are protected as an inseparable part of this land's history and spiritual character.
At a time when ancient Christian communities have shrunk dramatically in large parts of the Middle East, the Christian minority in Israel is protected and continues to grow.
Christians are not guests in Israeli society. They are an inseparable part of it.
Christian Israelis work as diplomats and ambassadors, judges, doctors, researchers, artists, musicians, teachers, business leaders and civil servants.
George Deek, an Arab Christian from Jaffa, became the first Christian to be appointed Israeli ambassador, and is today Israel's special envoy to the Christian world. Salim Joubran, also an Arab Christian, sat as a judge on Israel's Supreme Court. Christian singers and artists have represented Israel on some of the world's biggest stages.
These are not symbolic exceptions. They are part of Israel's real and diverse human story.
Every Christian who lives in Israel should know that this is also their home. Every Christian visitor should feel fully welcome here - whether standing by the Sea of Galilee, walking through Jerusalem, entering a church or being baptised in the Jordan River.
Israel is the land where Christianity was born, and it bears an enormous responsibility to protect its Christian citizens, pilgrims and holy sites. It is a responsibility Israel takes seriously.
We must never allow extremists - whether Jewish or Christian - to poison this relationship. There are rotten apples in all communities, but they must never be allowed to define the rest of us.
I am a proud Jew. I do not need to share every Christian belief to respect Christianity, and Christians do not need to become Jews to love the Jewish people.
We can be true to our own identities and at the same time acknowledge our shared roots, defend each other and work together for a better world.
That is why it means so much to me to protect and strengthen the relationship between Jews and Christians. It is not an abstract diplomatic idea.
It is part of my childhood.
It is part of my family's history.
It is part of the person I have become.
To my Christian friends and followers, especially you who have stood with Israel and the Jewish people in difficult times: I see you. I appreciate you. Your friendship is not something I take for granted.
To my Christian brothers and sisters: I love you.
You are always welcome in Israel.
And you will always be welcome in my heart.
