Things seem to be rolling for something big, politically speaking, next year in Israel.
Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman took to the Knesset podium Tuesday to try to calm the political storm he caused this week when he said that “step by step, Torah law will become the binding law in the State of Israel.” Neeman made his controversial remarks Monday evening at a convention on Jewish law in Jerusalem.
On Tuesday Neeman clarified his statements, saying they had been taken out of context. He said he meant that since the Israeli justice system is overburdened, an alternative system like the rabbinical court system could help relieve the pressure.
After his words on Monday were broadcast on Army Radio a day later, Neeman appeared in the Knesset. But he did not retract his statements. “I hear the calls from all directions and I want to point things in the right direction,” Neeman told the Knesset.
“It is difficult for me to accept the things that were attributed to me, as though I had said that the laws of this country should be replaced with Torah laws. Yesterday I emphasized the importance of the rabbinical court system to the State of Israel. The Knesset is the legislator in Israel, and the interpretation of its laws is determined by the courts.”
Justice Minister: Step by step, Torah law will become binding in Israel – Haaretz – Israel News.
December 12th, 2009 10:32 am
Interesting news. Very interesting. The so called mainstream centrists and liberals seem to be shaking in the books. I think that it is a good thing. People need their presuppositions challenged, regardless of ideology.
December 12th, 2009 3:00 pm
Now Rod,
I will certainly agree with that one!
December 12th, 2009 11:23 am
Yes I also found this to be very interesting. The liberal & secular Jews are absolutely furious by these comments from Neeman and not just them, but I think that Messianic Jews are also concerned by this, as they are already having an increasingly troubled time of late from some Orthodox Jews.
December 12th, 2009 11:56 am
I, like Stuart, am worried about what this will mean to (real) Messianic Jews and even Christians inside the state of Israel.
December 12th, 2009 12:32 pm
I did not think about that. I’ll have to give this more thought now.
December 12th, 2009 3:06 pm
I have some close friends in Israel, Jews (all kinds) and Christians. The more centrist type Jews think this was just a statement, rather than a real trend. But only time will tell I guess?
December 12th, 2009 3:30 pm
Yes Fr. Robert, many do think this was said to please his audience, however, the fact that he felt able / willing to do so, has caused concern.
December 12th, 2009 4:13 pm
For Israel to try and implement the Law of God again, would be massive. The only way would it could even begin to happen, they would need a theocracy. I am not sure they could pull this off, with all the different factions of Jews in Israel right now. It will be very interesting if they try don’t you think?
December 12th, 2009 4:40 pm
I have a question, if not too far aside the blog issue? Who would be open, or even pro-Israel? And does Israel have national promises still? Big questions really today, for not only Christians but the stability of the Mid-East, and the world. Sorry, this would take perhaps several other blogs. But just a thought.
December 12th, 2009 4:45 pm
I would say, Fr. Robert, that it is part of the issue. I note that Orthodox Jews (perhaps ultra-Orthodox) still do not in many ways recognize Israel’s existence. The Middle-East will not be steady until Christ reigns. I believe that the Remnant still has certain promises and indeed, will fulfill a very important roll in the Consummation of All Things.
December 12th, 2009 5:04 pm
We certainly agree there! We hang on the edge as never before…and those Christians that cannot see this, have their heads buried deep in the ground! I am no end time nut, but surely the signs seem to be like the handwriting on the wall! And I am not with the hardline dispensationalists either. But Israel in their land, belief or not, is major on the world stage! Yes, this could take years perhaps to work itself out? But then when the time does come, it could come fast and ferocious, but certainly with the signs falling quickly.
December 12th, 2009 5:17 pm
And Joel,
I think it is important for Christians to watch the conservative and the Orthodox Jews in Israel. They do of course interest me.
December 12th, 2009 5:24 pm
Are not both the “remnant” of Israel and the Church bound by “covenant”…(Rom. 11:23-32)?
December 12th, 2009 5:34 pm
I believe that they are bound by the New Covenant, but many see them as two. Paul said that the Jews and Gentiles were one new person.
December 12th, 2009 7:22 pm
I agree, “the one new man” (Eph. 2:15). But still within or “from the commonwealth of Israel” and “the covenants of promise” (2:12). Jews and Gentiles are “joined together” as a “holy temple in the Lord.” (2:21). In the Millennial Kingdom, both the New Jerusalem and the earthly City Jersalem will be One (Ezk. 48:31-35), and this will be enlarged in the new heaven and new earth eternal. The church as God’s temple and God’s city will consummate in the New Jerusalem and eternity. (Rev. 21:2-3, 22). The “eternal covenant.” (Heb. 13:20)
December 12th, 2009 4:32 pm
Interesting and scary considering that certain sects of Jews are already doing to Christians and what their rabbi’s are telling their soldiers.
December 12th, 2009 4:37 pm
Yes Fr. Robert, one would assume that a theocracy would be impossible in Israel, espeically given the Jews phenomenal ability online to battle against such a thing. Rightly, they witness an Islamic theocracy that opposes their own existence.
But how does this all play out Biblically and prophecy wise?
December 12th, 2009 4:48 pm
Islam, now there is the biggest outside player on the scene! An Iran with a Nuke and missles to get it to Israel, etc.! Now that is scary!!!
December 12th, 2009 7:46 pm
v15 supplants v12, so no ‘but still within the commonwealth of Israel.’
God didn’t create within Israel a portion for Gentiles, but tore down what separated us.
December 12th, 2009 8:04 pm
In Ephesians we have the spritual reality of Israel, as in Galatians 6: 15-16, both a “new creation” and “the Israel of God”. The apostolic writings are of three kinds: historical, didactic, and prophetic. And sometimes all three are seen together.
December 12th, 2009 8:40 pm
See Rom. 1:16…”to the Jew first and to the Greek.”
December 12th, 2009 8:11 pm
Fr. Robert, that didn’t answer the previous statement. The line in Paul’s thought is clear.
To see verse 12 after verse 15 and the realities represented therein as somehow existing together, or the former reality after the latter, creates a logical fallacy not found in Scripture.
December 12th, 2009 8:26 pm
That’s one of the beauties of Holy Scripture, it is not bound by even human logic or “our” so-called fallacies. This is also one of the problems in some Western philosophy, and the use of scholasticism. See the theology of Martin Luther here.
December 12th, 2009 8:38 pm
Ahh, so it is a double standard. In other words, we can twist Scripture to fit our own theology because Scripture is not bound by any sense of reality. Sounds like Origen to me.
December 12th, 2009 8:48 pm
And? Christ came to His people first and they rejected Him. Now they are blinded. It references a point in time, which we know that Salvation came to the Jews first. And as Paul wrote, but now we are made one new body in Christ. Further, Paul also wrote that in Christ their is neither Jew nor Gentile in preference and we are all heirs of Abraham without distinction. (Gal. 3.27-29)