Jews and Christians Learning to Relate: Dr. Tricia Miller's Story

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Well, welcome back.

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For those of you interested in Jewish-Christian relations and beginning a relationship with

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your local Jewish community, we have a treat for you today.

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We're going to be meeting a pioneer in Jewish-Christian relations and someone who has spent a great

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deal of time interacting with the Jewish community and has some great words of wisdom for us.

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So please stick with us.

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Welcome to the Israel Answers series, Connecting Israel, the Bible, and You.

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Join Susan Michael as she explores timely issues and current events from a scriptural

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perspective to equip the Christian world with a balance and biblical response.

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Be sure to subscribe for future episodes, which will ignite your faith in bringing the

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Bible to life in your everyday world.

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Now let's join Susan with your Israel Answers.

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So it's my privilege today to welcome a dear friend and a colleague, Dr. Trisha Miller.

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And Trisha is now working with us at the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem as part of our

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U.S. branch team.

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And she is our education coordinator and helping us as we are developing a lot of new content.

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And so we're just so happy to have her as a part of our team.

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But Trisha also is on part of the team for camera where she serves as the director of

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their partnership of Jews and Christians.

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And camera stands for the Committee on Accuracy and Middle East Reporting and Analysis.

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And in addition to that, she serves as president of Christians and Jews United for Israel, which

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is a Boston-based organization.

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So she has a great deal of experience and I would say has probably spoken in as many

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synagogues as she has churches, as she's carried out these responsibilities in building

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a partnership and also educating the two communities about each other.

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And so we have a lot that we can learn from Trisha.

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And the first thing I want to ask her, though, is how she got started.

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So Trisha, what in your background was there something in your childhood or some momentous

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occasion that launched this for you?

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Well, thank you, Susan, for that introduction.

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And thank you for being here, everyone.

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Yes, I would say this is a work that the Lord was preparing me for since childhood.

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I grew up in a Christian home that was very phyllosomatic, pro-Israel, and I never went

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to a church where I heard anything anti-Israel.

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So I thought that was the norm.

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And I grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland area where there's a very high Jewish population.

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So I had Jewish friends, my parents had Jewish friends, and I thought this was normal.

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I didn't know anything about the history of Christian anti-Semitism.

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As a young adult, I started studying the Holocaust in depth.

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And it was because of that that I started questioning how could this have happened in

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a, quote, Christian country?

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What was wrong with the Christians in Germany and then the rest of Europe to allow this

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to happen?

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And what started that study was when I was 21, I was privileged to meet Corey Ten Boom

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and hear her speak, share her testimony of what the Ten Boom family did to rescue Jews

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during the Holocaust.

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And she's the one who really drove the point home to me that Christians have a responsibility

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to stand with the Jewish people and to support Israel.

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So that's what got me started.

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Wow.

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And I remember when I first read Corey Ten Boom's book, The Hiding Place.

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And if you haven't read it, I highly recommend you get it.

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It's a simple little paperback, but it's an amazing story of this family and their background

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in prayer and their love for the Jewish people.

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And they put it all on the line in order to save Jews.

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So it's really a very impactful story, but Corey herself, who has since gone to be with

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the Lord, spoke quite a lot in the United States and in various churches back then.

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And she was really a force for the Lord.

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So Atresha, then you ended up actually getting a PhD in Hebrew Bible, and you did your dissertation

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on a really interesting subject, so tell us a bit about that.

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All right.

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Well, because of learning about the Holocaust on my own, after being just, you know, it's

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one of those turning points in life.

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Every now and then you have one of those moments in life where you know this is your life's

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calling.

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Well, that's what happened to me after hearing Corey Ten Boom.

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And so I just started studying the Holocaust on my own.

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Always with that question in mind, what were the churches doing?

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What were they thinking?

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What were Christians thinking and doing?

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So eventually I went to seminary.

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I lived in California at the time, so I went to Fuller Seminary, got a Master's in theology

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because I wanted to study church history, theology, all of that to get a better grasp

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and the writings of Martin Luther, which were used by the Nazis to justify what they did

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and to get the churches on board.

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So everything I was doing was for the purpose of trying to understand why the churches did

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what they did and why they didn't stand up in general.

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Obviously there were some who did, but the majority didn't.

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And so then I realized that to really have an impact and I thought it was going to go

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into academia.

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So I needed a PhD because academia is very anti-Semitic and very anti-Israel.

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So I thought I'll go into academia.

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If I can teach, I can have some effect.

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So I got a PhD in Hebrew Bible and did my dissertation on Esther because it is a story

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about an attempted annihilation of the Jewish people and I could look at the history of

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anti-Semitism by looking at the history of Christian interpretation of Esther, which

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is very anti-Semitic.

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So that's what I did.

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Now you're going to have to explain a little bit of that more for us.

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What exactly you were tracing in the story of Esther, because we know the story of Esther

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is a wonderful story, the salvation of the Jewish people.

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So how were you detecting anti-Semitism?

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How was this used against Israel and the Jewish people?

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Well, it is a story about the attempted annihilation of the Jewish people because of the hatred

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in Haman for the Jewish people.

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And that goes back to the history between the Amalekites and the Israelites that we

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can trace all the way from the time of the Exodus.

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But what I was looking at specifically was Christian interpretation of Esther and just

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how it was used even back to Martin Luther who said the book of Esther shouldn't even

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be in our Bible, that it's a godless book.

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It's the only book in the Bible that doesn't mention the name of God.

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And in Martin Luther's interpretation, and then many Christians who picked that up said

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it's a book about Jews who love to kill people.

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They're bloodthirsty, they like to kill people, and then have a party and eat, which is not

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what the story is about at all.

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Well, that's shocking.

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But it shows the misinterpretation that happens so often because of people's personal biases.

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You did your dissertation on this, and then it was produced into a book.

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Give us the name of your book.

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Well, then what was behind this, besides what I wanted to do in the dissertation is I really

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wanted to write about how this applies to Christian support for Israel today, and how

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Christian support for Israel is under attack for the same reasons, for misconceptions, misinterpretations

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of the Bible, misunderstandings.

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So I used some of the work from the dissertation and wrote a book called Jews and Anti-Judaism

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in Esther and the Church to talk about, to expose the anti-Semitism that is still in

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the Christian world today, and unfortunately way too prevalent in our churches, and it's

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now morphed into being anti-Israel in some Christian circles.

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So Trisha, in your work then in educating Christians and educating Jews about Christians

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and developing this relationship, what has it meant to you personally?

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You're off, obviously you are a driven individual with a calling of God on your life to work

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in this arena, and you've known it for many years, and you've pursued it diligently and

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with wholeheartedly, and what you've been able to do professionally is really quite

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amazing, but what has this relationship done for you personally?

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It's completely transformed and deepened my relationship with the Lord, because through

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getting to know Jewish people and getting to know, understand our Jewish roots, the Jewish

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roots of Christianity, which we can really best do in relationship with Jews.

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As I mentioned, I did my master's degree to seminary, but then I went, I wanted to do

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my PhD with Jewish scholars, because I wanted to study the Hebrew Bible with Jews, because

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I needed to learn how they approach their scriptures.

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Jews have been studying the Hebrew Bible many, many centuries longer than Christians have.

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They have a phenomenal insight into their scriptures, so I wanted to study with them,

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and it's deepened my faith, my understanding of our faith, the Christian faith.

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We have nothing without our Jewish roots, without the Jewish faith that came before us,

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and that is still really quite vibrant today.

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So then would you share with us some lessons that you've learned along the way?

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You probably have more experience at Jews and Christians working together than most

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people, for sure, and we'd like to learn from you.

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So if you could share with us a few pointers of what you've learned along the way and what

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you'd like for those of us just getting started in this to understand.

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First of all, to build any relationship, you need to have humility, and you need to be

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able to listen.

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A relationship involves communication and listening, and it has to be entered into with humility.

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This is particularly important with Jewish-Christian relations because for almost 2000 years, Christians

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have had the attitude that we're superior.

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And obviously, again, I'm speaking in generalities, there's always been Christians who understood

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the reality.

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But in general, there's been too many Christians who have thought that the Christian faith

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was superior, that it has superseded Judaism, that Christians have replaced Jews and Israel

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and the purposes of God, you get supersessionism, replacement theology, which if you read the

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scriptures and understand that's wrong, all the way from Genesis to Revelation, it's

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obvious that those are erroneous.

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So the first thing is humility.

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And I'd just like to reference Romans 11.

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Paul wrote in chapters 9 through 11, Paul's really wrestling with this whole subject of

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Jews and Christians.

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And he's writing this letter, especially in chapter 11, to tell believers in Rome how

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that it relate to the Jewish people.

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And he uses the image of an olive tree, and he says, Israel is the root of that tree,

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and that we as Gentile believers are grafted in.

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We are the wild branches, but the Jews are the natural branches.

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And so he says, don't be arrogant, don't be proud.

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And then he offers a warning.

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Also, he gives a warning to be kind, and he says, if you're not kind, you might lose

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your branch in the tree to be kind to the Jews.

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So that's where I approach it from is to understand that we have to be humble.

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Paul said, don't be arrogant.

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And he gave this warning in the first century, and we're still seeing that happen today.

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Well, you know, I think few of us really grasp what Romans 11 is saying there.

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Paul is actually warning us of a separation from the root if we don't handle, if our attitude

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isn't right towards the root.

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And I think that a church that severs itself from its Jewish roots is a church that begins

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to lose its spiritual vitality because it has separated itself from the very root that

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feeds it and sustains it.

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So Trisha, you mentioned that even today in academia that there's a good deal of anti-Israelism,

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even anti-Semitism.

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What would be one of the most shocking examples that you've come across?

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Do you have a story you can tell of how you've encountered anti-Semitism from a Christian

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source?

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From a Christian source or in academia?

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Either one.

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Either one?

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Well, because I taught for a year after I got my PhD, but I didn't actually get fully

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immersed in academia.

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I went to work for camera.

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And so I've mostly been dealing with what's happening in the Christian world.

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And with that, I'm specifically focused on organizations or individuals who are teaching

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replacement theology and supersessionism.

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And to go back to what we were talking about with Paul, they've just taken this arrogant

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attitude that we don't need the Jews.

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God doesn't need the Jews.

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God's finished with the Jews.

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And can I just give an example of how I learned going back to the word humility that I was

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using when I was in the coursework for the PhD program.

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I met a Holocaust survivor.

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He's still alive.

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He's in LA.

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He's in his 90s.

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His name is Rolf.

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And I met him because he spoke at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

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And I went to hear him speak.

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And it was another one of those God moments where you connect with someone.

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And we got together at least once a month for lunch.

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And what I did in those lunches was ask him.

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I wanted to ask him because here I am learning.

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I'm trying to learn from Jewish people.

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And this is, in order to build relationships, this is what you have to do.

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And I would ask him question after question, well, what is the Jewish faith teach about

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this?

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What is Judaism teach about this?

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And every time without fail, the answers he gave me was as if he was quoting Jesus or

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Paul.

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And that was when the lights really started going off for me.

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And I told him that.

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I said, well, Jesus said that.

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Well, Paul said that.

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And that's when the lights were really going off for me that how Jewish our faith is and

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how Jewish Jesus and Paul were teaching.

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So that's the best story I have for an example of learning.

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And what about in your work with Jews and Christians then?

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Do you have a one of your favorite stories of maybe something that you saw happen or that

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you were involved in or just showed the blessing of this relationship that you've been help,

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you've been helping to start?

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Well, I actually have two favorite stories.

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One of them is because of Ralph.

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I started going to services with him.

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First service I haven't went to with him at his synagogue forum because I was obviously

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very interested in the holiday forum because of my work in Esther.

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But then I started going to Shabbat services, got to know the rabbis, they got to know me.

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Eventually what that turned into is they asked me to be one of the teachers for Shavu'l

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Oat.

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Now the Jewish people observed three major, they have more holidays, but three major festivals

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a year where in the biblical times they all went up to Jerusalem.

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So Shavu'l Oat is what we call Pentecost and they study the book of Ruth on Shavu'l Oat.

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And so the program for the evening was one of the rabbis was going to teach, then I was

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going to teach and then another rabbi and in between you have cheesecake breaks because

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that's what for Shavu'l Oat they eat dairy and they like cheesecake.

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So I was totally intimidated by this.

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What did I, what could I possibly teach on Ruth in the presence of two rabbis and for

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their whole congregation?

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They asked me a couple months in advance thankfully so I had time to prepare and what the Lord

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showed me was that this was my calling.

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You know put made it very specific that God's called me to be a Ruth where it says were Ruth

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she was the Gentile woman joining herself to the Jewish people.

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So I was to teach for an hour but I took a few minutes to give an introduction because

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I asked Rawls he's gone to the synagogue for 60 years and I said have you ever had a Gentile

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speaker for any of your holidays and he said no.

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So now I'm more intimidated.

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So I started off with an introduction as to why I was there and I just said this is what

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God's called me to do.

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I made it very clear my Christian identity but God's called me to be a Ruth and to join

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myself and I quoted that passage from Ruth you could have heard a pin drop and you have

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to understand that that's unusual because in a synagogue it's never quiet.

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They talk they get up to greet people and when the rabbi taught before I taught they

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people interrupted him with a question you know they interrupt they want to make it more

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of a dialogue.

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You could have heard a pin drop for an hour and then their questions afterwards were you

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know showed how much they had been affected and moved.

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So that's another thing not only do we need humility when we're trying to build these

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relationships but authenticity.

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You must be authentic in your Christian faith.

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They know you're a Christian but if they sense that you're trying to hide something it's

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not going to go anywhere.

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You have to be authentic.

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Be ready as Paul said in season and out of season to answer any questions that are given

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to you.

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Be authentic, be a real Christian, don't hide anything and they respect that.

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That's wonderful.

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Did you say you had a second story to tell?

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Yes, I did.

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This is about Rhode Island once I was in Massachusetts.

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I was asked to speak in a synagogue that was in Massachusetts but two men were there from

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Rhode Island and they came up to me afterwards.

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One was a Jew and one was a Christian pastor and they have been trying for years to build

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something between Christians and Jews in Rhode Island and were totally frustrated.

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They decided that they wanted to have me come and help and try to build these Jewish Christian

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relations.

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But from what they told me I said this isn't going to work if we just try to get Jews and

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Christians together right away because what they were telling me was it was going to be

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a disaster without first teaching Christians about the history of Christian anti-Semitism

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so they understand why Jews are keeping them at arm's distance and then to teach the Jews

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about why do Christians really support Israel.

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To make a very long story short, the Jewish man in Rhode Island managed to convince an

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Orthodox synagogue to let me come speak.

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That's a miracle on two fronts because I'm not Jewish and I'm a woman and it's an Orthodox

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synagogue.

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He planned this event but before it he knew he had to get this group of Jewish lawyers

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on board.

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Orthodox lawyers in Rhode Island or else there wouldn't be enough support.

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So the leader of this Jewish Lawyers organization literally interrogated me for about three months

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before the event to find out why I was really doing this if I was genuine and it was a phenomenal

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evening where he ended up defending me against a couple hecklers who were there who were

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challenging me.

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He was the one who spoke up and defended me.

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That's beautiful and I can see that happening.

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Well, Tricia, do you have any other advice for those of us that are wanting to just get

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started in a relationship?

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I mean what you've said so far is so right, the humility, the not to be arrogant, to be

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authentic and sincere.

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Do you have any other advice for us?

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Patience.

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It takes time.

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I was stretched by this Jewish lawyer who kept calling me and emailing me and asking

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me questions.

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I literally felt like I was being interrogated by a lawyer because I was.

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But it takes time and they have good reason not to trust us and it takes time to build

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any relationship but in this case even more.

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So patience.

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And with that I will say that Tricia is helping us to build a seminar that can be taken to

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churches and to communities around the country.

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So if you have, if your church is interested, please introduce us so that she can bring

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this seminar into your community and into your church to educate them about the history.

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And it's so important that we know the history because the Jewish community knows the history

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and they're looking at us through the lens of that history.

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And we need to learn the really important lessons from that history so that we can be

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careful, we can be articulate and we can learn from it.

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The other thing that Tricia and I are working on is building courses that can be taught

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even at the college level.

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They'll be available online for anyone but we're building them so that they can be taught

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at the college level for credit.

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We want to educate the next generation of Christian leaders about the significance of our Jewish

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roots, of just the beautiful relationship here and the potential of it and learning

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from our history and our past that we can forge a whole new day in Jewish Christian

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relations.

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So if you would like any information on any of this, we'll put a link in today's show

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notes to the ICJ and how you can request information.

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We would love to bring this into your community.

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So with that, I'll just ask Tricia if she has any last comments for us, any lessons learned

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or experiences that you want to share before we bring today to a close.

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Yes, take an effort to get to know Jewish people.

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There's been surveys done that show that most of the people who are very anti-Semitic don't

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even know a Jewish person.

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So this is coming from ignorance.

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It's coming from being influenced by whatever you read or hear or see in the media.

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So take effort.

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It takes time.

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And like I said, it takes patience.

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It takes humility.

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But get to know Jewish people.

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Go to a synagogue service.

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See how they worship.

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See their faith.

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See when they take that Torah scroll out of the ark, they call it an ark.

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It's like a closet in the front and they take it out to read it during the service.

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How they reverence the scroll, how they reverence it.

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They love the Word of God.

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They love the Word of God.

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And we know for us, the Word became flesh in the form of Jesus, but they love the Word.

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So understand that we have a lot in common and build relationships on what we have in

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common.

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Love them genuinely and be patient and take the time to build the relationship.

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Thank you so much, Tricia.

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What a wonderful opportunity to learn from a pioneer of Jewish Christian relations.

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Someone who has been very involved in it has more so than most of us.

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And so we just thank you for sharing your words of wisdom and your experiences.

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So please contact us if you want more information in today's show notes.

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And we will see you back here next week to hear from another pioneer.

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And until then, may God bless.

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We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Out of Zion with Susan Michael.

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Be sure to subscribe to Out of Zion now on Apple Podcasts, CPNshows.com, YouTube, or

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wherever you like to listen and learn.

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Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJUSA, All Rights Reserved.