Friday, July 06, 2012

The Mitzvah of Social Witnessing

I caught this here on the issue of divesting from companies doing business with Israel:

...pro-Palestinian activists consider the withdrawal of funds an act of social witness.
The Rev. Walt Davis, of the Israel Palestine Mission Network, a pro-Palestinian Presbyterian group, argued the denomination would have divested years ago from the companies under church’s socially responsible investment guidelines “were it not for the Israel lobby.”
“They said first that it’s anti-Semitic, then that it’s anti-Israel, then that it delegitimizes Israel. It’s none of those,” Davis said. “It’s us being true to our values.”
But the liberal-leaning Americans for Peace Now, which calls for the evacuation of Jewish settlements in the territories and supports a Palestinian state, said the Presbyterian effort was “misguided and counterproductive.”

I really wonder how active this "social witnessing" is from persons and groups engaged in anti-Israel policy operations when in comes to the rest of the Middle East.

Like in Syria.

And it is also good to know from where the theological basis for this Christian social witnessing originates:

“You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

The territory of the Jewish national home.  Where Jesus, a Jew, who "was born in Bethlehem in Judea" walked and where his disciples walked such as John the Baptist who "came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea" as mentioned throughout the New Testament, like here in Acts 8:1-6:

the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria...

And even farther afield (Matthew 4:25):

Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan

So why are all these Christians seeking to dislodge Jews from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria?

Why can't they be true to their values?

Or at least our Jewish values?

It would be a mitzvah.

^

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