Dear Friends,
In January, Mark Levitt informed you that this ministry’s five national television
networks reach a combined total of 343 million households. Bible teaching is timeless,
priceless, and fruitful in every generation. You’ve seen this inspiration guide our recent
TV series covering these subjects:
Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount (Sar Shalom)
Paul’s travels (In the Footsteps of the Rabbi from Tarsus)
David’s rise, demise, and comeback (The Warrior King)
The Book of Esther (For Such a Time as This)
Israel in Scripture (Eretz Israel)—our newest
Keep watching for two upcoming television series on the Psalms and the Book of Ruth. While Bible study is always worthwhile (2 Tim. 3:16), Jewish/Israel-friendly Bible teaching is vital given the resurgence in anti-Semitism (examples below).
The sad truth is that mainstream churches abandoned the Jews long ago. Many seem determined to continue their downward spirals, with anti-Semitic theologies and practices. Even some conservative evangelical congregations that are usually Jewish-friendly are reverting to anti-Judaic traditions. You can expect this trend to continue.
Clergyman Ray Gannon, a good friend of mine, took his doctorate from Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He wrote his dissertation on American Christian vacillation toward Israel. He observed that his denomination’s literature over the years was hot, cold, and lukewarm regarding Israel and the Jews.
For those not committed to the Bible’s teaching, today’s global political climate makes it expedient to abandon the Jews and Israel. The following are events from the website of the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish watchdog organization. They exclude the Islamic countries’ incessant anti-Semitism.
Argentina
July 21, 2010 – Junin—Anti-Semitic graffiti was spray-painted at the local offices of the political party Coalicion Civica Reencuentro, with swastikas and the words “Death to the Jew,” an apparent reference to the Jewish president of the party. The incident followed a death threat received by the party president days earlier.
April 1, 2010 – Santa Teresita—Swastikas and anti-Semitic phrases, such as “Morten Juden” (Death to Jews), were spray-painted near a hotel where more than 200 people were celebrating Passover.
Austria
July 30, 2010 – Villach—Five teenagers between 17 and 19 years old vandalized a memorial for Nazi victims. The memorial, with the names of residents who were killed by the Nazis, has been repeatedly damaged since it was unveiled in 1999.
March 5, 2010 – Upper Austria—Vandals defaced the walls of the former Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen with anti-Jewish slurs.
Belgium
May 21, 2010 – Brussels—An identifiably Jewish rabbi was walking down the street when a bucket of water was dumped on him from an apartment balcony.
April 5, 2010 – Antwerp—According to a complaint to the police, three Arab women around 20 years old yelled insults at Jewish pedestrians from a car. One woman reportedly got out of the car, grabbed a young Jewish girl by the throat, and threatened to kill her. When a young man tried to separate them, the other two women got out of the car, shouting anti-Semitic insults, and one hit the young man.
April 1, 2010 – Antwerp—A visibly identifiable Jew was accosted as he approached his car, parked on a street near a mosque, and told “If we see you again, we’ll kill you.”
January 15, 2010 – Antwerp—A Molotov cocktail was thrown at the main entrance of the Bouwmeester synagogue. Police are investigating.
Bulgaria
May 14, 2010 – Sofia—A memorial to Soviet World War II soldiers was spray-painted with Stars of David and the phrase “Occupiers from distant lands.”
Canada
April 5, 2010 – Gatineau, Quebec—Two students at Carleton University, including vice-president of the Carleton University Students’ Association, were allegedly harassed and chased by a group of men brandishing a machete and screaming anti-Semitic remarks in English and Arabic. After running to a nearby parking lot, the assailants allegedly reappeared in a car, calling the students F***ing Jews” and wielding a machete. As the students ran from the parking lot, one of the attackers threw the machete, narrowly missing them.
Czech Republic
August 30, 2010 – Prague—A swastika was drawn on the front stoop of the Jubilee Synagogue.
Denmark
June 15, 2010 – Copenhagen—Tombstones were broken in the Jewish cemetery.
Egypt
February 21, 2010 – Cairo—A man claiming to be angry at Israel threw a suitcase containing
a homemade bomb at the city’s last active synagogue, Shaar Hashamyim. A 49-year-old
man was arrested and charged in the incident.
France
October 3, 2010 – Strasbourg—Swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti were painted on the house of a Jewish doctor.
September 29, 2010 – Aubervilliers—A Jewish teenager on his way to a synagogue was attacked and robbed by several individuals, who said “Dirty Jew, I’m going to take out my knife” and “We Algerians are going to kill you.”
August 17, 2010 – Toulouse—A Jewish woman was accosted in a plaza by two men, who reproached her for buying food and not respecting the Ramadan fast. When the woman responded that she was Jewish, the two men called her a “dirty Jew” and hit her in the head, causing her to fall to the ground. A security guard who was present did not intervene. When police investigators later asked the guard why he did nothing, he responded that he was in a hurry to get home to break the Ramadan fast at sundown.
July 29, 2010 – Paris—Swastikas were spray-painted on several kosher shops and a Jewish school in the center of Paris.
July 21, 2010 – Wolfisheim—Twenty-seven graves were desecrated at a Jewish cemetery near Strasbourg.
June 7, 2010 – Paris—A North African man walked up the aisle of a train, shouting, “Are you a Jew? Are you a Jew?” When he came upon a man whom he took for a Jew, he shouted, “I don’t like Jews! I’m going to beat you. Did you see what your cousins did in Gaza?” He punched him in the face and threw him to the ground. The victim was hospitalized.
June 4, 2010 – Paris—Five students, ages 14 to 21, were subjected to anti-Semitic taunts and threats at a subway station in the Paris suburb of Brunoy. Two men reportedly insulted them, yelled “Death to you,” “Jews, we’ll kill you all….” One reportedly brandished a knife and made a sign of throat-cutting. After a student called the police, the men were arrested in a nearby supermarket.
April 30, 2010 – Nimes—Three men, described as Arabs, assaulted an 80-year-old Jewish man with tear gas in front of the town’s synagogue and spray-painted “F—–– the Jews” on the wall.
March 18, 2010 – Marseille—“Jews are whores” was spray-painted on the Ohel Yaacov synagogue.
January 26, 2010 – Strasbourg—Swastikas and anti-Semitic phrases such as “Juden Raus” (Jews out) were painted on more than 30 headstones in a local Jewish cemetery. Some of the headstones were also damaged or overturned.
Germany
August 4, 2010 – Bocholt—Ten gravestones were vandalized at a Jewish cemetery with swastikas and other anti-Semitic slogans.
June 22, 2010 – Sahlkamp, Hanover—Members of a Jewish dance troupe were forced off stage during a neighborhood street festival, after a group of children and teenagers pelted the dancers with stones and used a bullhorn to scream anti-Semitic remarks. One of the dancers was injured. The dance group of the Liberal Jewish Congregation in Hanover ended their performance. The assailants were reportedly of Lebanese, Palestinian, Iraqi, Iranian, and Turkish origin.
May 16, 2010 – Worms—A synagogue was doused with flammable liquid and set on fire during the night. Police found eight copies of a note that stated, “So long as you do not give the Palestinians peace, we are not going to give you peace.”
March 26, 2010 – Berlin—A man and two women, all in their 20s, were beaten on a subway station platform. The three were approached by a man who asked if they were Jewish. He reportedly returned some time later with a group of youths who attacked the three, beating and kicking them and hitting them over the head with beer bottles.
Greece
June 22, 2010 – Athens—Red swastikas were painted on walls of the Jewish Museum of Greece.
May 17, 2010 – Rhodes—The Holocaust monument on the island of Rhodes was vandalized. A heavy object was used to damage the granite façade in several places.
January 6, 2010 – Crete—Unknown vandals broke into the island’s only synagogue and set fire to the building using an improvised firebomb. The perpetrators also threw a bar of soap at the building, to illustrate the common Greek anti-Semitic expression “I’ll make you into a bar of soap.” The building sustained significant water and smoke damage.
India
January 5, 2010 – Mumbai—The local Chabad house received a letter threatening another
attack. The letter read, “Israel is dogs. We will strike again—heil, Hitler,” and was accompanied
by a photo of Hitler. The letter was received at the site of a terrorist attack that more than a
year ago killed six Jews, including the rabbis who ran the center.
Italy
May 13, 2010 – Rome—Graffiti mocking Anne Frank and a swastika were spray-painted on a wall near an old fort where Nazis shot anti-fascists during World War II and which in 2009 was dedicated to victims of Nazism and fascism. The graffiti used a play on words in Italian to read, “Anne Frank didn’t get away with it.” Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno denounced the incident as “obscene and shameful.”
Kyrgyzstan
September 8, 2010 – Bishkek—A pipe bomb was thrown at the synagogue an hour before services began for the Jewish New Year.
Latvia
December 7, 2010 – Riga—Swastikas were spray-painted on more than 100 tombstones at the New Jewish Cemetery. At a news conference, Latvian President Valdis Zatlers said, “We absolutely condemn vandalism in Jewish cemeteries and call for everything to be done to find those responsible and repair the damage.”
Lithuania
August 21, 2010 – Kaunas—A pig’s head, costumed with a hat and sidelocks, was placed outside a synagogue.
Poland
July 15, 2010 – Warsaw—Vandals desecrated the grave of a Polish woman who saved about 2,500 Jewish children from death during World War II. The words “Jews out” were spray-painted on the Warsaw grave of Irena Sendler, who was recognized as one of the Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel.
May 8, 2010 – Rzeszow—During a soccer match, fans of a local team displayed a large banner showing a caricature of a hook-nosed Jew with a blue and white yarmulke—the colors of the opposing team—and the phrase, “Death to the Crooked Noses.”
Romania
April 2010 – Miercurea Ciuc—Three young ethnic Hungarians were arrested in a Transylvanian town for placing a poster on the wall of a supermarket that said, “Be ashamed. You have bought from Jews again.” The three are members of the local Hungarian Guard that is affiliated with the radical Jobbik party in Hungary. The phrase on the poster was used in Hungary during World War II.
Russia
October 6, 2010 – Barnaul—“The Holocaust is a myth,” “Adolf was right,” and “Death to the Jews” were spray-painted on the city’s synagogue.
March 17, 2010 – Tver—Leaflets with photos of Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar were hung on lampposts with the phrases: “Remember, our main enemy is the Jew. If you see him, beat him!”
Spain
February 1, 2010 – Madrid—A young Hasidic Jew was stopped on the street in the center of Madrid by a woman who slapped him and repeatedly hurled insults, including “Dirty Jew,” “You Jews are responsible for all the evil in the world,” and “You Jews are thieves.”
Sweden
October 10, 2010 – Malmo—About 10 teenagers threw eggs and trash cans at the building where a weekend retreat for Jewish children was taking place. The teenagers also reportedly shouted, “Heil Hitler” and “Jewish pigs” during the attack.
July 7, 2010 – Stockholm—A rabbi was walking home from Stockholm’s central train station when four young men of Arab descent yelled, “You will die, f—— Israeli, f—— killer, you will be beaten.” The four then ran towards the rabbi, who escaped by jumping into a nearby taxi.
Ukraine
October 27, 2010 – Evpatoria—“Die dirty kikes” and swastikas were spray-painted on a synagogue.
April 21, 2010 –Kyiv—“Death to the Jews”and “The Holocaust Continues” were painted on walls of a Jewish school.
April 19, 2010 – Ternopil—Twenty-six graves in the town’s old Jewish cemetery were vandalized with anti-Semitic and other graffiti.
See the complete list, including the two dozen (24!) incidents deleted for lack of space.
Beyond the samplings above, consider the wholesale disdain for Jews in the twenty-two Islamic countries that surround Israel, and in the ninety-some nations in league with those countries. Anti-Semitism is certainly flourishing.
Destructive as these acts of vandalism are, the perpetrators are only working with meager resources—e.g., a can of paint, a stone, a small incendiary device, a fist, or a voice. Thanks to friends like you, Zola Levitt Presents mobilizes substantial resources to broadcast the biblical side of the story.
Thanks to your support, we make state-of-the-art, Bible-based teaching programs in the Land of Israel. With your donations, we hire Israeli actors and build stage sets in Israel, where I take Bible in hand and offer a Messianic Jewish teaching. With your help, Zola Levitt Ministries repudiates the demon-inspired, anti-Semitic insanity.
I thank you for your help in the past, and ask you to please continue your support. As you may recall, we’re gearing up for on-location television production this spring and summer. Marching on in anticipation of funds—not with funds in hand—is what some call reckless; we call it “walking by faith.”
Our most joyous activities include our trips to Israel. If you’d like to join us on one of them, call Tracie at 1-800-WONDERS or 214-696-9760. The Spring Tour is already sold out. Our Summer Discovery Tour, that includes time at an archaeological dig, travels from June 12–22.
The four options for our Fall Tour include extensions to Petra and/or Athens. The departure dates for these tours are October 18 and 23, with return dates of November 2 and 6, depending on which extensions you choose. We’d like to take you to Israel—it will benefit both you and Israel.
During February, please tune into Zola Levitt Presents for the programs described below:
The Warning. David Dolan talks with author Tsvi Misinai who asserts that nearly 90 percent of Palestinians are genetically Jewish. Jerusalem Post columnist Saul Singer talks about the “settlement” issue and the problem of Iran. British documentary producer Hugh Kitson warns America not to turn its back on Israel, as Great Britain has done. Author Lance Lambert echoes Zechariah 12:3 in warning those nations who come against Israel.
A Burdensome Stone. In Jerusalem, Jeff interviews Dr. Gabi Barkay, who oversees the only official excavation of the Temple Mount. Our Man in Jerusalem David Dolan gives viewers the history of the Old City. Author Lance Lambert reminds us of how Jerusalem has become the burdensome stone.
Temple Plans. David Dolan speaks to Dr. Jon Seligman, Jerusalem Regional Archaeologist for the Israel Department of Antiquities, who offers physical evidence of the Jewish Temple. Jeff converses with Rabbi Yehuda Kroizer and Levi Chazen, director of the Third Temple Project, who are building a school near Jericho for training priests to serve in the next Temple.
The Land That Was Promised. In this first segment of ZLM’s newest TV series, Eretz
Israel—The Land of Israel, we take you to Bethel and explore God’s promise to Abraham.
It is indeed appropriate to call it the “Promised Land” since the destiny of the seed of
Abraham is eternally bound in the Sacred Soil.
Thanks for being a living ambassador who, like me, opposes the anti-Judaic rhetoric that abounds in the world at large. On Judgment Day, all anti-Semites will sit before The King of the Jews. You and I must work together now to enlighten them regarding the devil’s ruse.
Your Messenger,
Jeff
P.S. While we Zionists who love Israel can’t count on the American church anymore, we thank God for people like you who help us spread the Jewish roots of God’s Good News.
Dear Jeff,
I’m bowled over by the vast array of anti-Semitic events from 2010. It is unimaginable that the world has learned so little since WWII.
“Here is my contribution for February. Please expose and oppose the anti-Semitism that is resurging in our churches and beyond.”
