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The Jewishness of Christmas

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The Good News (Luke 2:1-20)

When the angel appeared to the shepherds that night in the fields of Israel, surrounded by the glory of the Lord that shone around them, a great fear fell on them. The angel told them not to fear because they were chosen to be the first ones to receive the good news of the great joy of the Messiah’s birth. It would be for all people. (Luke 2:5-10) The good news (good tidings) is that God so loved all the people of the world that He gave His only begotten Son, to be born of a virgin in Beth Lehem, in the land of Judea, Israel, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish (a just sentence of death for their sins) but have everlasting (eternal) life.

The angel announced to them that the Savior of the world, the Lord Messiah (Christ) would be born that day. He is the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Hebrew bible about the redeemer, the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world that humanity inherited from the first man, Adam, who was cursed with the sentence of death because of his sin of disobedience against God, Who created him.

According to the apostle John’s account, the Word of Father God was with God in the very beginning. He was actually God (God the Son) Who became flesh and blood (Human), sent to dwell among men for this purpose, to die for the sins of humanity. He came first to His own, the people of Israel. He was born to a Jewish mother, Miriam (known as Mary), and an adoptive Jewish father, Yoseph (known as Joseph) in the land of Israel (the city of the Jewish King David, Beth Lehem, the house of bread in Hebrew).
 
Sadly, He was rejected as the Messiah by His own, even though many of His people did receive Him, believe in Him, and follow Him. His disciples were Jewish, He spoke to them in Hebrew.
 
He went around the Land of Israel, healed many of His own people, and did many miracles among them. He lived and died in the Promised Land, the Land of Israel.

After Messiah’s death and resurrection, His Jewish disciples went to the world to preach to the nations the “Good News” of salvation, the Gospel of Messiah Yeshua, known as Jesus Christ the Lord.

The Jewish shepherds who were the first to hear the good news of the Savior’s birth were amazed to see the host of angels who appeared after the announcement of His birth, praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!”

It was truly good tidings of great joy for all people.

Our calling is to

“go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach (the good news of salvation,) saying, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” 
 

Jewish People Do Not Recognize the Jewishness of the Good News Because It is Dressed in a Foreign Religion

One of the most serious obstacles for Jews to believe in Messiah Yeshua is religion. They immediately associate faith in Yeshua with the Christian religion. Christianity, to them, is Roman Catholicism, created in the 3rd century, which completely denied any connection to the roots of biblical Judaism.
 
Most Jews in Israel and around the world reject the idea that Christmas has anything to do with the Jews. As far as they are concerned, Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of someone they don’t believe to be the Jewish Messiah and is in direct opposition to their Jewish faith. 
 
Many Holocaust survivors claim that Hitler and the Nazis were Christians and that the Christian church is anti-Semitic; that in the Name of Jesus, the Church persecuted Jews as “Christ-killers.”

Even non-Jews around the world who celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day do not realize that, as well as being the savior of the world, He is also the Messiah of Israel.

The prophet Isaiah in chapter 9:6 made this Messianic prophecy to Israel about the Jewish Messiah, Who also fulfilled God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12, that through the Messiah all nations would be blessed. Therefore, the prophecies of the Messiah’s coming, His sacrifice for humanity, His resurrection, and return to earth apply to Israel as well as to all nations.

“The people living in darkness have seen a great light; upon those living in the land that lies in the shadow of death, light has dawned. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; dominion will rest on His shoulders, and He will be given the name Pele-Yo‘etz (wonderful counselor,) El Gibbor (mighty God,) Avi-‘Ad (everlasting Father) Sar-Shalom (Prince of Peace)”. Isaiah 9:6

The world celebrates Christmas with cheer, decorated evergreen trees, flickering lights, manger scenes, and baby Jesus, all the while unaware of its Jewish roots and connection. That the story took place in Israel with Israelites and angels who spoke Hebrew seems far away.
 
But the fact is that Mary’s original name was Miriam, Joseph was Yoseph, and Jesus was Yeshua – all Hebrew names. Yeshua (baby Jesus) was born in Beth Lehem (the house of bread in Hebrew), fulfilling the Hebrew prophet Micah’s words as recorded in the Hebrew bible, Micah 5:1:

“But you, Beth Lehem Ephratah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting days.”

The Christmas story starts with God’s angel appearing to the priest Zecharya (Zechariah in English, which means in Hebrew God remembers), who was chosen by lot to enter the Temple of the God of Israel for the incense offering (Luke 1:9-11).
 
This was in accordance with God’s law given to Moses for the priests from the tribe of Levi. Exodus 30:7-8: 

“Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.”

The angel announced to Zecharya that his barren wife would conceive and bear a child to fulfill Malachi’s prophecy 

“to go as a forerunner before Him (the Messiah) in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children.” Luke 1:16 -17

The child’s name would be Yohanan, meaning God pardons (known as John the Baptist in English). A short time later, the angel Gavriel (Gabriel, meaning God is my strength) appeared to Miriam (Mary), announcing that she would conceive by the Holy Spirit of God. 
 
Miriam was a young Jewish virgin from the Jewish village of Natzeret, Israel, engaged to a Jewish man, Yoseph, of the house of David. 
 
The angel told her (in Hebrew):

“Do not be afraid, Miriam; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Yeshua” (meaning Salvation in Hebrew). (Jesus is the Hebrew letters of the name of Yeshua transliterated to English.)
 
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and God will give Him the throne of His father David (the Jewish king.) And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
(Luke 1:26-33).

The Jewish connection is very clear in this account of the birth of Jesua/Yeshua. It is no coincidence that the Savior of the world would have a Hebrew name and would be born of a Jewish mother in a Jewish town near Jerusalem, the Jewish capital. He is Emmanuel (God with us in Hebrew), Who will sit on King David’s throne forever and rule from Jerusalem. All nations will come to hear the Word of the Lord from Zion (Jerusalem). (Isaiah 2:3.)

When Yoseph (Josheph) learned Miriam was pregnant, he feared she had been unfaithful to him. As a righteous man, he didn’t want to expose Miriam to public disgrace and planned to divorce her in secret. But the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said to him (in Hebrew:)

“Yoseph,, son of David, do not be afraid to take Miriam as your wife because what is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Yeshua (meaning Salvation) because He Yoshia (will save) his people (Israel) from their sins.“

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet Isaiah 7:14:

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means (in Hebrew); God with us.”

We present this holiday to our Jewish people in this Jewish setting with Jewish characters, saying that Yeshua is our Jewish Messiah, as well as the Savior of the world, and that He didn’t come to start a new religion. As a matter of fact, Yeshua was against religion as well as man’s traditions.

Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our Jewish friends, family, and neighbors to see that Christmas celebrates the birth of our Jewish Messiah Who came to the world in Israel.

From the first verses in the New Testament, we see how Jewish the New Testament is:

“This is the genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah (a Hebrew word,) the son of David, the son of Abraham” (the father of the Jewish nation). 

Yeshua’s birth and reincarnation WERE prophesied in the Hebrew bible, written in Hebrew, by Hebrew prophets. His Jewish parents took him to the Jewish Holy Temple when He was eight days to be circumcised; how more Jewish can you get?

We wish you a very Merry Holiday of Yeshua’s birth and a very Happy New Year in 2026.

The Name of Jesus

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What’s in a Name?

Jesus’s original name was not Jesus. Jesus is derived from a German transliteration of the Latin name that itself was transliterated from a Greek transliteration of His original Hebrew name, Yeshua, that became Jesus in English.

Jesus and his first followers were all Jews whose Hebrew names (with meanings only in Hebrew) were all transliterated into other languages.  Yohanan became John in English, Matityahu became Matthew and Yehuda Ish-Krayot became Judas Iscariot etc . Even the angels are called by Hebrew names like Gavriel (Gebriel) and Michael, all having meaning only in Hebrew. Gavriel means God is mighty, and Michael means Who is like God (a rhetorical question.) The letter “J” in Jesus doesn’t exist in Hebrew, the language which Yeshua and His disciples spoke. Neither does “J” exist in Aramaic, another language that Jesus and His disciples sometimes spoke.

Greek and Latin

The New Testament was originally written in Greek, which uses an entirely different alphabet than Hebrew and English. There is no “sh” sound in Greek as in the Hebrew name Ye-sh-ua, so in Greek the letter “s” replaced the “sh.” Furthermore, Greek names ending in the sound “a” as Yeshu-a ends are usually feminine. Hence, the “a” at the end of the name Yeshua became “s” to make it masculine. So, Yeshua became Yaysoos. When the bible was translated into Latin from the original Greek His name became “Yesus” since there is no J in Latin either.

As the Latin-speaking Catholic church grew, the Latin Name, Yesus, spread throughout Europe. Even the original English King James translation of the bible used the name “Yesus,” until it evolved into the name “Jesus. “

Swiss German

There are speculations as to the origin of the name Jesus, which is being used today by Anglophone believers. Some say it originated in Swiss German where “J” resembles the English Y.

When Catholic Mary the 1st became Queen of England in 1553, many English Protestant scholars fled the country and settled in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1560, they composed the English edition of the Geneva bible and used the name, Jesus. which became very popular among Anglophones even with Shakespeare. 

America

Eventually the Geneva bible came to the New World with the Mayflower. By 1769, most English translations of the Bible used the name “Jesus.”

Many Jews know Him by the name Jesus which sounds nothing like His Hebrew original name, Yeshua. The name Yeshua was known and used in Jewish history in the bible – (1 Chronicles 24:11, 2 Chronicles 31:15, Ezra 2:2,6,36). It’s a version of Yehoshua (Joshua,) which means “God is salvation”.

The Jewish People

To Jews, the person and name Jesus mean nothing. To them Jesus is the former Jew who created “Christianity,” a new religion where gentiles worship Him as their God and savior and Christ.

Most Jews never read the Gospels nor the New Testament writings that contain many quotes from the Old Testament. However, Yeshua never created a new religion. As a matter of fact, He was against man-made religion and the traditions of man. 

During the time He walked on earth, Yeshua wasn’t Jesus. Neither was His mother the Catholic “Holy Mary,” nor Yohanan John the Baptist, nor  Simon-Kaipha St. Peter. 

They were all Jewish followers of Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah and all had Hebrew names. In Hebrew they were called Notzrim, which means from Natzereth (the Jewish city of Nazareth in the Galilee, where Yeshua grew up.)

Today, Jews use the name “Yeshu” instead of His real name “Yeshua.” 

Israeli Misunderstanding

The Rabbis, however, out of contempt, omitted (and still do)  the last letter, A, to form the name “Yeshu” which is also a derogatory acronym for “Y’mach Sh’mo V’Zichrono” (“May his name and memory be blotted out”.) Sadly, today most Hebrew-speaking Jewish Israelis call Him “YESHU”, totally unaware of the negative connotation, thinking it is His real name, which means nothing, while Yeshu-a means Salvation. 

Each letter in the Hebrew alphabet has a name. The letter A,  pronounced “ah,” (ע in Hebrew,) is named Ayin, which also means “eye”. 

When  the last letter “Ayin”  was removed and with it the true meaning of His name, Salvation,  the “eye ” as it were, was removed as well, thereby spiritually blinding Jewish people from seeing His true nature, the Savior.

When Israel rejected Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah, Salvation went out to the rest of the world and the transliteration of His Name became known to every nation in their own language.

Many non-believers who know Him as Jesus Christ think that “Christ” is His last name, like the family name, “Smith,” John Smith.

Even here in Israel, most don’t know that “Christ” is the Greek word for Messiah, and that “Jesus Christ” really means “Yeshua the Messiah.”

The Truth of His Name

When The Angel of the Lord appeared to Yoseph (Joseph) and told him not to fear taking pregnant Miriam (Mary) as his wife because the baby was of the Holy Spirit, He actually spoke Hebrew and told Joseph to call His name “YESHUA”- “Ki hu YOSHIA et amo mehatotehem.” (“and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, as written in Psalm 130:8: “and He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”)

Only in Hebrew does the Name and the reason for it have meaning; “YESHUA is the noun for Salvation and YOSHIA is the verb, will save, both stemming from the root letters YESHA ( ישע ).  In English, SAVE is not a verb derived from the word JESUS.

We don’t expect our English-speaking friends to stop calling Him Jesus but rather to understand the origin of His name. 

However, here in Israel, His original Name is important as we witness to Israelis about “Yeshua/Salvation,” declaring He is our Jewish Messiah Who saves them from their sins and leads them to Our Father in heaven.

We want to bring back the “eye,” the letter Ayin ע to the One called  Yeshu, that He is not “ישו”” but “ישו–ע” Salvation. 

He is not a foreign personality of a non-Jewish religion but our Jewish Savior, Who was prophesied in our own Hebrew Bible. He is One of us, an Israeli, born and reared in Israel. He never left the land of Israel, except when He rose to heaven after His resurrection from the dead.

One day all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26.) and will look upon Him Whom they pierced (Zechariah 12:10.) They will know Him by His real name, YESHU-A, when the “A” or “eye” is restored. Then they will recognize Him as their Jewish Messiah.

For now, He is still Yeshu to them, a foreign gentile figure, as depicted in many museums worldwide.

However, one day He will reveal Himself to Jews and Israelis as their brother, from the  tribe of Yehuda (Judah) and say to them, “It is I, Yeshua your brother.”

Much like when Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt  for food, they met an Egyptian monarch, dressed and speaking like an Egyptian (he spoke to them through an interpreter.)

Never in a million years would they have known him as their Hebrew brother, Joseph, who appeared so foreign.

They were shocked when he revealed himself to them and said in Hebrew: 

“I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

(Genesis 45:4-5)

Please pray that the eyes of understanding of Israel will be opened to recognize and receive Messiah Yeshua as their Jewish savior. In Yeshua’s Name we pray! AMEN! AMEN AND AMEN!

Image from christianforums website

The Override Law

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God’s kingdom is not a democracy. He is the Supreme Judge and we must abide by His rules and law. We affirm, “the world is filled with His glory.” We appropriate the concept of His divine sovereignty. Until Lord Yeshua returns and establishes His Kingdom on earth, ungodly dictatorships rule many nations. Although there are democracies elected by the people, these are also ungodly, but at least they are not dictatorships.

In a democracy, there must be a separation of powers, in which the essential tasks of governance are divided among the three branches of government in accordance with the perceived strengths of each.

  1. The coalition: the Legislative branch, which in almost every democracy is the main, most important power. It is first because it is elected by the people, and represents most of the people.
  2. The second is the Executive branch, ensuring the state is doing what it legislated. This is equally important.
  3. The third ruling power is the Judicial branch, which is appointed (not elected) to oversee that the government acts according to the law it legislated.

In every democracy, the Judicial branch is independent of the other branches. They cannot force the judges in their rulings.

According to Israel’s state law, only the law is above any judge. The Judicial branch is the lesser of the three branches since it is not elected by the people. Its authority is not from the people, who are sovereign in a democracy. This was the condition of the ruling powers in Israel until the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s.

Early in the 80s, a gradual change in the balance of powers occurred when the Judicial branch slowly became the most important branch imposing its power on the other two branches.

How did it happen?

In all democracies, the Judicial branch is the third in power. Even when it supervises the actions of the government according to its authority, it is limited in the scope of supervision it allows itself over the Executive branch, and especially the Legislative branch, which in Israel is the Knesset. The Judicial branch must restrain itself as the law permits since it is not an elected body. Judicial doctrines were developed to give substance to that restraint.

Judicial Restraints Removed

The first doctrine is the separation between the elected government, the ruling power, from the appointed Judicial branch.

This separation discourages courts from intervening in political questions best left to more representative branches of government. The Supreme Court’s role is to safeguard the rule of law and protect individual rights, ensuring that government action violates no explicit law while reviewing the activities of the Executive and Legislative branches. The Judicial branch has no right to abolish government laws or make up new laws that were not voted on and approved by the government. However, such is the case now in Israel wherein exists a sort of Supreme Court dictatorship.

In recent years, the State of Israel has undergone a constitutional revolution, especially with the 1992 passage of the Basic Law: ‘Human Dignity and Liberty.’ This law has only 6 conditions, not including freedom of speech or the right for the Supreme Court to abolish or add laws.

Nevertheless, the Supreme Court gave itself rights and the power to abolish Knesset legislation that in the Supreme Court’s opinion violates normative human rights guarantees.

The result is that today virtually every controversy in Israeli public life ends up, sooner or later, in a courtroom.

Justice Aharon Barak

The Supreme Court’s unprecedented power to shape the ideological debate in Israel started and is now dependent on Aharon Barak’s judicial worldview, which is mainly left-wing progressive liberal, with the excuse that the views serve the values of Israel as a “Jewish and democratic” state.

Aharon Barak – photo from Wiki

A brilliant and accomplished lawyer and judge, Aharon Barak was Attorney-General in 1975, and in 1995 became the Supreme Court president, a post he held until he retired in 2006.

Barak’s legal philosophy is that the law always has its say, on everything, and that every human behavior is subject to a legal norm, including politics, by keeping the actions of the government under his view of the law.

However, in a democracy, the court’s capacity to protect the rule of law is limited by the judge’s inherently passive role in politics. No matter how much a government action may offend his sensibilities, a judge can only review a case that comes before him in court, and even then only if the plaintiff has a sufficiently direct interest in the case, and if the issue at hand is of the kind that courts are allowed to adjudicate.

There are principles that limit the power of the judges:

The principle of “standing” dictates that only a party or someone who has suffered an injury to a right or personal interest can be heard (stand before a judge.) This restriction is important for courts to protect themselves from being overwhelmed by what the legal literature calls “unnecessary” litigation cases that do not require a judicial remedy, whose adjudication only distracts the court from properly being used. In other countries, there are laws concerning the principle of standing and the desired scope of limitation. The higher the level of limitations, the less involvement of judges in the ruling of government cases. So, the first thing that Aharon Barak did was to eliminate this requirement for the right of standing from the Israeli Judicial system. Now everyone can petition the Supreme Court in any case and matter, and the government has to be subject to the Judicial branch, meaning his view of the law.

The second principle Aharon Barak canceled was the principle of non-judgment or “justifiability;” determining which issue the court will hear. Because it is the third branch, subject to the other two elected branches, the court should exclude itself from being involved in political matters such as the conduct of foreign affairs best left in the hands of the Executive or Legislative Branches. 

However, now, the Supreme Court can rule in any case and matter presented, without exception, especially in political matters.

Aharon Barak cannot stand the prospect of restricting the Supreme Court, therefore it must intervene even in government, which is an elected legislative power that in a democracy must stay separated from the appointed judiciary power.

Thirdly, Aharon Barak added to the Supreme Court the principle of reasonableness. The Supreme Court decides what is reasonable and what isn’t. Now the Supreme Court can cancel any decision made by the government without exception just because it isn’t reasonable in the judges’ opinion.

Therefore, from now on the name should be: “The Supreme Court of Reasonableness” – the “authority” without authority the Supreme Court gave itself to cancel and add laws.

These are some of the foundations Aharon Barak formed that made the Supreme Court the supreme and only ruler in the State of Israel, not in order to enforce the law, but to make the Supreme Court the ruler of law enforcement, which is contrary to real law enforcement.

The Supreme Court is now the body that decides in any matter, big or small.

Just two examples: 

1. Lately, opposing the office of finances’ opinion, the Supreme Court ordered that loose tobacco be taxed.

2. When Netanyahu was PM last time and legally held several portfolios, the Supreme Court ordered Netanyahu to give up some of them.

To get rid of, not the original Supreme Court, but this Supreme Court dictatorship, there needs to be a Basic Law that will be called, “the law of separation of the ruling powers”, separating the authority of the courts in public law enforcement. This Basic Law will destroy the foundations of the Supreme Court dictatorship formed by Aharon Barak by re-establishing the laws that the Supreme Court abolished without authority. The Supreme Court would be once again the way it is supposed to be.

In recent years, former Supreme Court President Barak and his fellow justices have overruled a number of governmental decisions and actions.

Today any government official in Israel can be brought before the Supreme Court. Indeed, a sizeable number of government moves have already been stopped by the Supreme Court with the excuse of enforcement of the “rule of law.” It has become an ever-expanding empire ruled by judges. As a result, there are serious difficulties for Israel’s democratic political system, and society as a whole. The new government intends to do something about it.

The System of Voting in Israel

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Only a party or a group of parties that runs together in the elections can present a list of candidates and participate in the elections.

Voting papers in the box. Times of Israel

There is a Basic Israeli Law that blocks any party from registration if any of its purposes or deeds, explicitly or implicitly, contain:

  • negation of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state;
  • incitement to racism or support for an armed struggle of an enemy state or a terrorist organization against the State of Israel.

The law also prohibits the registration of a party if there is reasonable ground to deduce that it will serve as a cover for illegal activities.

According to the Basic Law:

Knesset elections should take place once every four years, but the Knesset or the Prime Minister may attempt to move up the elections through the Knesset Dissolution Law, for instance. Early elections may also be held if the budget is not approved.

Certain parties hold primary elections. These parties directly elect their candidates for the Knesset. Some parties elect their candidates through their institutions (usually a party’s central committee). In other parties, the candidates are elected by their leaders.

The electoral system is based primarily on two laws – the Basic Law: the Knesset (1958) and the Knesset Elections Law (combined version) – 1969.

Article 4 of the Basic Law:

  • the Knesset is to be elected in general, country-wide, direct, equal, secret, and proportional elections.

General election: the right to elect and be elected

Every Israeli citizen who is at least 18 years old has the right to vote; every Israeli citizen who is at least 21 years old has the right to run for office.

Voting takes place in private, behind a screen, and putting a small note with the letters of the party in a sealed envelope which they insert into a big box called Kalpi.

The principle of secrecy ensures fairness in the elections and prevents the exertion of undue pressure.

Missionary Law in Israel

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Israel is a Jewish and Democratic state, and as such its laws reflect both the Jewish Rabbinic traditions, as well as the obligation to international norms regarding human rights and freedoms. The courts and law enforcement authorities uphold the right of freedom of expression and freedom of religion for minority groups in Israel. A precedent was established when judges ruled that: “The spread of opinions by way of distribution of flyers to passersby in public places deserves special recognition and protection of the court…”

Questions regarding missionary activity in Israel usually concern Christian organizations, or Messianic Jewish groups, such as Jews for Jesus. The reason is that these believers often see evangelizing Israel as a fundamental expression of their faith.

In Israel, it is legal to express one’s worldview, including religious beliefs, even if they are not accepted by the majority of the public. The exception to this rule is what is known in Israel as the “Missionary Law.” The “law” is actually composed of two separate sections of the Israeli criminal code:

  1. Section 174 of the Penal Code – 1977 forbids a person to entice another to change his or her religion in exchange for material benefits (such as financial support and/or donations, helping feed and clothe the poor, or in any way give charity while evangelizing.)
  2. Section 368 of the Penal Code forbids persuading or encouraging a minor (under the age of 18) to change his or her religion. This law prohibits conducting any ceremony for a minor to change religion without the consent of both parents.

The Israeli Declaration of Independence, signed by David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister and the nation’s founding fathers, states the following:

“Israel will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

In 1992, the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) passed the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, which declares Israel as a “Jewish and Democratic” State. The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that basic human rights–such as the right of freedom of religion and conscience, as well as freedom of speech and expression–are protected in Israel since they are an inherent part of a person’s dignity as a human being.

Demographic statistics of the population in Israel

Israel’s population is estimated at 9,300,000 residents. Out of these, close to 7,000,000 (about 74% of the total population) are confirmed Jews. 1,966,000 (about 21.1%) are Arabs and 467,000 (5.0%) are considered Others.

Those identified as “Others” include; non-Arab Christians, Seventh-Day Adventists Bahai’s, Samaritans. Other “Others” are Karaite Jews, Messianic Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and immigrants from the former Soviet Union. They identify themselves as Jews but do not satisfy the Orthodox Rabbinical Authorities’ definition of “Jewish” which the Israeli government uses for civil procedures.

The Jewish (recognized as such by the government) population of Israel can be divided into three groups: Orthodox, Traditional, and Secular. Secular Jews make up 41.4% of the Jewish population, Traditional Jews 38.5% of the population, 20% are Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox. In Israel, the Reform and Conservative movements are estimated to make up 7.6% of the Jewish population, a significantly lower number compared to the Jewish diaspora.

Secular Jews

Secular Jews make up a little over 40% of the Jewish population. They identify themselves as Jewish, but not in a religious way and many don’t even believe in God. Many secular Jews practice certain aspects of the religion, such as celebrating the traditional Passover evening meal with family and friends, and/or observing the day of Yom Kippur by fasting and even attending synagogue services. They may even have Friday evening/ Saturday meals with the lighting of candles and blessing the wine and bread, but would drive afterward and light a cigarette. Secular Jews are largely supporters of the Israeli Labor Party and a Secular Zionist state.

Traditional Jews make up about 30% of the Jewish population in Israel.Many of these “traditional Jews” differ from the Orthodox only by less severe observance of the Rabbinic laws. As far as political involvement, many traditional Jews join the Likud political party (the largest party headed by PM Benyamin Netanyahu) or the Sephardic (Jews from Middle East countries) religious party, Shas. they are often seen wearing knitted Kippahs (a small brimless cap.)

30% of the Jewish population identifies as Orthodox (“dati”) or “ultra-Orthodox” (“Haredi”).Politically, they join one of the major religious parties, such as Torah Judaism (Yahadut HaTorah, mainly Ashkenazi, Jews from eastern and western Europe.) Orthodox Jews also wear Kippas, not necessarily knitted.

The ultra-Orthodox (Charedi) is the smallest part of the population, representing only 12% of Jews living in Israel. The Charedim tend to live in their own communities, observing stricter Jewish law by following moral and dress codes passed down from many generations. This part of the population is seen wearing black hats and black Kippahs, and include some Hasidic (sect of ultra-orthodox Jews).

The Arab Population in Israel

Among the 17% of the Arab population in Israel (citizens,) 83% are Muslims, 9% are Arab Christians (mostly Nominal) 8% are Druze. About 10% of the ones who consider themselves Muslims are secular, about 30% are traditional – not so religious. About 50% are religious and 9% are very religious.

Enforcing the Messianic Law

There have been cases where the police detained people accused of illegal missionary activity in Israel, but no one has been charged or sentenced according to these laws. Thus, the authorities’ anti-missionary activity is largely in the form of border controls by the immigration authorities and through the Ministry of Interior’s limitations on aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel) for missionary activists or those suspected of being involved in missionary activity in Israel.

The Israeli border control immigration officers are authorized to approve or refuse entry to Israel for foreign visitors who wish to enter the country as tourists. The border control officials have a wide range of discretion when making the crucial decision to deny entry to a potential visitor. In July 2017, the Ministry of Interior published an updated list of reasons that may cause denial of entry to Israel. Suspicion of missionary activity was also placed on this list for the first time in 2017.

It has happened that tourists have been expelled due to allegations of missionary activity. These cases usually involve participation in a public missionary campaign with a high-profile organization. This activity may attract resistance from the local public and complaints to the police. Although the allegations may be false, it is extremely difficult to stop the expulsion process once it starts.

The Ministry of Interior is particularly suspicious of Christians and Messianic Jews in relation to aliyah to Israel. It is therefore recommended to receive legal counsel prior to starting such a process. Regardless of the legally grey zone surrounding these issues, a person actively engaging in missionary activity in Israel will almost certainly be denied the right to immigrate. This is because Christian proselytizing is considered contrary to the purpose of the Law of Return.

In accordance with the Law of Return, any Jewish person (or descendant of a Jewish person up until the third generation) is entitled to obtain citizenship as a new Oleh (new immigrant) of Israel, so long as they did not convert to another religion. In general, the State of Israel considers Messianic Jews to be Christians, and so, any Jew in the Messianic stream of Judaism is deemed a convert to Christianity. Thus, aliyah becomes very difficult for a Jew who embraces faith in Yeshua (Jesus). That said, there is no legal prohibition against someone who is not Jewish according to Jewish Rabbinic Law (does not have a Jewish mother) making Aliyah if the father has a Jewish mother. This applies even if they are part of another religion, as long as they did not convert. This applies also to Messianic Jews whose mother converted to Christianity before they were born.