6 March 1982 Pope John Paul II’s speech on Jewish-Catholic relations explores mystery of Church and Israel #otdimjh

Posted on March 6, 2015 by richardsh

On March 6, 1982, Pope John Paul II gave a speech regarding Jewish – Catholic relations in which he said:

Our Common spiritual inheritance is particularly significant at the level of our faith in a single God, one, good and merciful, who loves men and leads them to love Him, the master of history and of the destiny of mankind, who is our Father and who chose Israel, the cultivated olive-tree onto which has been grafted the wild-olive branch of the gentiles.

To study ‘relations with Judaism’, the Secretariat for Christian Unity convened a meeting in Rome in 1982, bringing together delegates from the bishops’ conferences of the whole world as well as representatives of the Orthodox churches, the Anglican communion, the World Lutheran Federation and the World Council of Churches.

This meeting provided John Paul II with an audience for his speech of March 6th 1982 (repeating what he had already said on March 12th 1979 to a gathering of representatives of Jewish organisations and communities): ‘Our two religious communities (i.e. Christianity, and Judaism) are linked at the level of their very identity itself’; Christianity is ‘a new branch on the common trunk’ a traditional expression, but one which it is important not, to use one-sidedly – it needs to be properly explained if it is not to be wrongly understood. The Pope did not explain the expression in any way, but went on to invite Christians to ‘gather with their Semitic brothers around the common heritage’, for ‘we have a considerable spiritual legacy in common’.

This thought was developed further in the important document put out in 1985 by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews entitled “Notes on the correct way to present the Jews and Judaism in preaching and catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church”:-

The permanence of Israel (while so many ancient peoples have disappeared without trace) is a historic fact and a sign to be interpreted within God’s design. We must in any case rid ourselves of the traditional idea of a people punished, preserved as a living argument for Christian apologetic. It remains a chosen people, “the pure olive on which were grafted the branches of the wild olive which are the gentiles” (John Paul II, 6th March, 1982, alluding to Romans 11:17-24). We must remember how much the balance of relations between Jews and Christians over two thousand years has been negative. We must remind ourselves how the permanence of Israel is accompanied by a continuous spiritual fecundity, in the rabbinical period, in the Middle Ages and in modern times, taking its start from a patrimony which we long shared, so much so that “the faith and religious life of the Jewish people as they are professed and practised still today, can greatly help us to understand better certain aspects of the life of the Church” (John Paul II, March 6th, 1982). Catechesis should on the other hand help in understanding the meaning for the Jews of the extermination during the years 1939-1945, and its consequences.

On March 6th, 1982, Pope John Paul II told delegates of episcopal conferences and other experts, meeting in Rome to study relations between the Church and Judaism:

“‘you yourselves were concerned, during your sessions, with Catholic teaching and catechesis regarding Jews and Judaism’ We should aim, in this field, that Catholic teaching at its different levels, in catechesis to children and young people, presents Jews and Judaism, not only in an honest and objective manner, free from prejudices and without any offences, but also with full awareness of the heritage common” to Jews and Christians.

In this passage, so charged with meaning, the Holy Father plainly drew inspiration from the Council Declaration Nostra Aetate, 4, which says:

“All should take pains, then, lest in catechetical instruction and in the preaching of God’s Word they teach anything out of harmony with the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ”; as also from these words: “Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred Synod wishes to foster and recommend mutual understanding and respect”.

In the same way, the Guidelines and Suggestions for implementing the conciliar declaration Nostra Aetate (4) ends its chapter III, entitled “Teaching and education”, which lists a number of practical things to be done, with this recommendation:

“Information concerning these questions is important at all levels of Christian instruction and education. Among sources of information, special attention should be paid to the following:

– catechisms and religious textbooks;

– history books;

– the mass media (press, radio, cinema, television).

The effective use of these means presupposes the thorough formation of instructors and educators in training schools, seminaries and universities” (AAS 77, 1975, p. 73).

The rest of the guidelines, a document of some 5,000 words, is intended to serve this purpose.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the way that many have come to explore further the mystery of the Church and Israel, and repudiate the “teaching of contempt” that allowed Christian anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism to be used to victimise, persecute and oppress the Jewish people. Thank you for the teaching on a new relationship between Roman Catholics and the Jewish people. Thank you also for the Roman Catholic -Messianic Jewish dialogue group, and its work to develop mutual understanding between Roman Catholics and Messianic Jews. Lord, in your mercy, help us as believers in you to develop true unity in the body of Messiah, through listening, learning, love and your Lordship. In your name we pray. Amen.

One commentator noted:

We have two new ideas, then: those of THE SAME GOD and of CLOSE COLLABORATION, two ideas which seem to derive consistently from the logic of the Council (at least, I suspect they do), though the Council text did not go as far as spelling them out clearly, and they, have had to wait for John Paul II to incorporate them into the Church’s new, official attitude, and this at the price of a terrible ambiguity.

In fact, the intellectual process making it possible to assert that Christians and Jews believe in the same God has led the Pope to the further step of claiming that Christians and Muslims, too, believe in the same God. The rationale here seems to be that (unlike the pagans of antiquity who had numerous gods, and modern atheists who have none at all), Christians Jews and Muslims share a common view of the Deity since they are all monotheists.

This raises Interesting points of nomenclature and semantics for the lexicographers, and seems to lead to the view that any sincere and humble prayer that does not contradict this idea of one common God, or which does not contradict it too crassly, even if not always directed to the right heavenly addressee, will be graciously accepted by the same One and Merciful Godhead. But this is not the sum of our faith; it is barely even its beginning. For us, Jesus Christ is God, and has revealed to us that God is a Trinity; this is the God of Christians, who is not the same as that worshipped either by Muslims or Jews.

Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, Notes on the Correct Way to Present Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Teaching in the Roman Catholic Church (1985), VI, 25. Available at:http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/meta-elements/texts/cjrelations/resources/documents/catholic/Vatican_Notes.htm

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/relations-jews-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19820306_jews-judaism_en.html

http://sspx.org/en/news-events/news/judaism-church-after-vatican-ii-1342

http://theeye-witness.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/jean-madiran-1920-2013.html

http://www.apropos.org.uk/documents/TheJewishQuestionintheChurch_002.pdf

Posted in otdimjh | Tagged article, catholic-jewish relations, john paul II, otdimjh, vatican 2 | 1 Comment

5 March 1901 Death of Rabbi Dr. Paul Bendix, Scholar and Gentleman #otdimjh

Posted on March 5, 2015 by richardsh

Marc Chagall – Jeremiah 31

Bendix, Paul, Dr., was born at Rummelsberg in Prussia, Aug. 29, 1823. He was early sent to a Christian school, where he was often moved to tears when hearing of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. At the age of seventeen he went to Danzig for rabbinical study, and afterwards to the Berlin University, where he gained the diploma of Ph.D. in 1850.

Bernstein records:

Subsequently he became a rabbi, and worked at Berent and Grandenz. He disapproved of many of the old Jewish customs, but his congregation refused to allow the introduction of any reforms. The wardens of the synagogue at Grandenz,

where he officiated from 1854 to 1858, wrote of him in a testimonial: “The sermons of Dr. Bendix were instructive and edifying, and owing to his splendid delivery and great oratorical power they never failed to make a deep impression on his hearers.”

While at Grandenz he made the acquaintance of a Christian clergyman, through whom he was led to study the New Testament. The [105] reading of this deeply affected him. Later on he went to live in the house of a converted Jew, which caused many of his hearers to warn him not to hold intercourse with him on Christianity. But he was now seeking for truth and peace, and though he avoided conversation, he could not help noticing the upright and serious life of his landlord, who closed his place of business on the Lord’s Day, held family worship morning and evening, and took a keen interest in home and foreign missions.

All this made an impression on him, and made him say: “This man, surely, possesses the peace I am seeking. He asked me one day what took the place of sacrifices since the Temple was destroyed, what were the essential contents of the Jewish Prayer Book. I could only say to myself, ‘Where is the atonement for sin? I began to read the Old Testament with a terrified conscience, and soon I found that my religious system was built on the sand.’”

At last he felt that he must give up his position as rabbi, and he retired, not without much opposition, to Berlin, where he spent his whole time in the closest study of the Word of God. He became convinced at last that the old covenant was merely a preparation for the new one (Jer. xxxi. 31-34). One difficulty was the word “virgin” in Isa. vii. 14, but when he saw that it was always used in opposition to married women, he at once accepted Christ as his Saviour, and was baptized with his wife and children in 1860, in St. Matthew’s Church, Berlin.

With a recommendation from Queen Elizabeth of Prussia he came over to England, and from 1883 [106] worked in connexion with the L.J.S. [CMJ] He died March 5, 1901, deeply regretted by both Jews and Christians.

Princess Elisabeth of Prussia

Gidney adds: Dr. Bendix died early in 1901. He was formerly a rabbi and made a public confession of Christianity in St Matthew’s Church, Berlin, in 1860. He was a very learned man, and, in 1883 became missionary in Prebendary Gordon Calthrop’s parish in Highbury. He continued in his work amongst the well-to-do Jews until his death, and was also lecturer in rabbinic Hebrew at the Society’s College.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the simplicity of faith and integrity of character we see in Rabbi Dr. Paul Bendix, a man of scholarship and learning who made a decision to accept you that cost him his credentials as a rabbi, but gave him freedom of faith and conscience. Even so today, may many have the courage of their convictions to confess Yeshua openly as Lord and Risen Messiah. In your name we pray. Amen.

His son David was a well-known scientist

http://www.stjohnse15.co.uk/fabric/bendix.html

DAVID BENDIX was born in 1856 and educated at the Kaiserlich-Konigliche Realschule, Berlin. In 1872 he entered Mr. Arthur Vacher’s laboratory, in London, as a pupil-assistant; in 1874 he obtained an appointment with Messrs. Burt, Boulton & Haywood, and shortly after became managing chemist in their anthraquinone works at Victoria Docks; and finally he became Head Chemist and Works Manager to British Alizarine Co., which position he held for thirty-two years. He acted for many years as an abstractor for the Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Chemistry in 1888.

David’s wife Alice Bendix was born Alice Farman (or Farmen) in 1860 in Plomesgate, Suffolk. They were married in 1880 in Lambeth, where Davids family lived. They lived in Caernarvon Road and Romford Road from at least 1886. She died in 1951.

Den omvände rabbinen doktor Paulus Bendix. : Öfversättning ur tidskriften “Der Freund Israels”, julihäftet 1862.

Posted in otdimjh | Tagged article, cmj, otdimjh, Paul Bendix | 1 Comment

4 March 2014 Love and Latkas – Death of Clara Rubin, Pioneer Evangelist and Inspirer of the Modern Messianic Movement #otdimjh

Posted on March 4, 2015 by richardsh

Clara, who passed away in Florida at the age of 97, was one of the pioneers of the 20th-century Jewish Messianic movement and a dedicated evangelist, along with her husband, Joe Rubin, who had previously passed into the presence of the Lord. She was also one of the last living links with Chosen People Ministries’ early work, the Williamsburg Mission to the Jews in Brooklyn. In 1956, the Rubins relocated to Huntington, Long Island, where they served the Lord for the next quarter century.

My Story by Clara Rubin

My parents came from Russia to the United States in 1911. My mother used to tell me stories of the atrocities and pogroms suffered by our people there at Passover time. A gentile child would be hidden, and we Jews would be accused of killing him and using his blood to make matzohs. Then great persecution would follow. At Easter time the Russian priests, wearing expensive robes, marched through the streets carrying a very large cross, which frightened many people and started new riots.

Jews were not allowed to own land in Russia. My grandfather, a peddler, would keep his horse on a gentile’s land. One Saturday night, he went to pay the rent for this privilege and was attacked by the peasant’s dog, causing my grandfather a very painful death by rabies. This left my grandmother a young widow with many small children.

These were the memories passed on to me, a first-generation American. I was born in 1916 in Brooklyn, New York. My family fled Russia for this haven of freedom. But life was difficult and money was scarce. Nearby in Williamsburg, there was a dispensary run by a former rabbi, Leopold Cohn. It was called Beth Sar Shalom (the American Board of Missions to the Jews shown on the left). The doctor’s fee was 15 cents if you could afford it, or else it was free. The medicine was also free.

A Miss Sussdorf of the mission came to our home to inquire about our health and invited the family to come to meetings where we could learn about Jesus, their Messiah. I was taught by my mother that gentiles go to hell because they worship three gods, and we Jews go to heaven because we worship one God (Deut. 6:4). Also, the more good deeds we do to earn mitzvahs, the greater our reward in heaven. My mother was not interested in Jesus, but the mission had a women’s sewing class; and since she was a trained seamstress, she joined that class. As for me, she let me attend meetings since she regarded the mission as a lace for lonely people without means to meet and make friends.

I enjoyed the kindergarten classes at Beth Sar Shalom. Being very bright, I learned to memorize verses from the Bible, even whole chapters. Friday and Sunday night meetings were in Yiddish only. After kindergarten, I attended other classes geared to my age and was impressed by the love these predominantly gentile teachers had for us Jewish children.

You see, there was no love between Jew and gentile in my youth. When gentile children accused me of killing their God, I learned to make a fist, sock them in both eyes quickly and under the chin, then bang them hard on the back. I did not know Jesus and I did not kill him: that was my answer to them.

On Friday nights we would go to the public baths to be clean for Shabbos. We were forced to go a roundabout way to avoid the gentiles who were waiting to persecute us. In some ways, Brooklyn was similar to the Russia my mother knew.

Yet I continued to be drawn to the mission and the classes they taught. Our fellow Jews said that the mission would make me into a gentile and that no Jewish boy would want to marry me. False stories were spread of how the mission branded us with crosses. We kids made sure that if anyone suspicious was at the front door of the mission, we would exit the side door. I didn’t want to become a gentile, so at Bible time in class my behavior was atrocious, causing the teacher much grief.

At 14 years of age, I realized that I had to come to terms with God and His truth. I was a bright but unloving child, a ringleader in a fight and a sinner. I wanted the peace and love that my Bible teacher, Miss Dorothy Rose, had. I realized that for me to be a true Jew, I had to believe like, Moses, Isaiah, Zechariah, Daniel and all the prophets that Jesus was God come in the form of man. He died for me that I might spend eternity with him. I invited Jesus to come into my life and he did.

I asked my teacher, Miss Rose, to forgive me for all the tearful nights I caused her. She said they were not only tearful, but prayerful. God heard her prayers!

I was not exactly quiet about my new-found faith. The neighbors, knowing what I now believed, would shame my mother and curse after me in the streets and call me names. When I wanted to be baptized, my mother said she’d throw herself off the roof if I did. My mother would cry to God, asking Him what sin she had committed that her daughter should become a gentile. She would ask me, Are you smarter than the rabbis?” My answer to her was from Isaiah 29: 13-14.

Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be concealed.”

“Ma,” I would say, “which one of my accusers has opened the Tenach and which one believes what the prophets say? Don’t blame me if I prefer to believe what God wrote in the only book that tells the truth of God, the Bible.”

I do believe, you see not because it’s convenient, for that’s hardly been the case. I believe because God has given me a peace and a joy in my heart that only He can give—a joy that’s hard to contain.

Oh, I did marry a Jewish boy, Joe. He too believes in Jesus, and how he came to the same conclusion I did is another story. Together, we’ve seen many Jews and gentiles come to know the Jewish Messiah. I could write many more pages about our 46 years of marriage and ministry for the Messiah, but the editor says it’s better to get some letters asking more about what God has done to and through Clara Rubin before I go on anymore. so I’ll wait for you to write and ask for more.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the life and ministry of Clara and Joe Rubin, and their influence on the next generation of Messianic Jews that would flower into the modern Messianic movement. Thank you for the lives they touched with your love, the welcome they gave to many, and the living faith they handed on to others. In Yeshua’s name we ask that our lives might similarly inspire and encourage others with the knowledge and love of You. Amen.

http://shiloh-ministries.org/html/clara_rubin.html

http://www.jewsforjesus.org/publications/realtime/march-2014/in-memory-of-clara-rubin

http://www.jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/v04-n07/testimony_of_clara_rubin

http://jewsforjesus.org/publications/havurah/v02-n04/claraskitchen

http://www.chosenpeople.com/main/newsletters/0101NL.pdf

http://www.aohe-mo.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/march2014nl1up.pdf

http://www.chosenpeople.com/main/index.php/ministry-news?start=28

Clara’s Latka Recipe

Clara Rubin’s parents came from Russia to the United States in 1911. She was born five years later in Brooklyn, New York. Her family had fled the pogroms of Russia for this haven of freedom, but life was difficult and money was scarce. The medical dispensary in Williamsburg, run by Beth Sar Shalom, met the real physical needs of the Rubin family, and it also satisfied their spiritual longings. At the age of fourteen, Clara came to faith in Y’shua. She and her husband Joe, also Jewish, have spent their entire adult lives sharing the message of our Jewish Messiah with others.

While 82-year-old Clara Rubin is a missionary first and foremost, she is also a balaboosta in the kitchen, and it is her culinary skills we’d like to profile here. When I tried to get a recipe from her, it wasn’t easy. She told me there is a saying in Yiddish that cooking is like an art and there aren’t any measurements. Clara assured me that she was a fine artist in the kitchen and couldn’t be pinned down to precise teaspoons of salt and cups of flour. She said, I’m an old timer cook. I go by what my tongue tastes and what my nose smells. I know. The things I cook, I eat. Whatever I make is my favorite. Young people, they eat junk today. I’m a fusspot. I can look at a recipe in a book and just see that it isn’t going to taste any good by the list of ingredients. I don’t want to look crazy by giving you an actual recipe.”

Clara’s grandson once made a commercial on video for a college project. He filmed Clara in the kitchen, holding a chicken over a pot, ready to make her famous chicken soup. He moved to a scene of a sick person in bed receiving a sip and getting out of bed immediately, instantly cured! When I asked Clara about her soup she reminisced, “We used to buy live chickens; now all you get is the dead stuff in the stores. You could smell the soup five blocks away! I don’t understand what’s with the bouillons?!”

When I asked her about a latke recipe for our readers in time for Hanukkah, she responded, “Anybody can make latkes. You just grab a few potatoes, rub ’em together and don’t cook them in too much oil. You can make latkes from any leftovers you have in the fridge as long as you use an egg and maybe some bread crumbs. Try cabbage, rice, zucchini—whatever. And when you make the applesauce, just use a little water and some lemon so they don’t turn brown. Sweeten it with honey. It should be thick and smooth like silk.”

Clara has given us one of her winter warmers that should more than fill your tummies. Here’s a taste of her kasha varnishkes:

“Get a box of whole kasha, not the broken stuff. Put in an egg; use more eggs if you use more kasha (like when you’re making extra for your grandchildren to take back to college; this freezes well.) Stir it in a Teflon frying pan until it’s dry, then cover it generously with water and boil it until it’s soft, not mushy. Then drain it. Boil the bowtie pasta separately and drain it. In another pan, fry onions in chicken fat or vegetable oil. Mix everything together and spice with salt and pepper to taste. It takes a lot more than a pinch of salt.”

Clara’s family loves her cooking so I hope you can make some of it part of your family tradition too. And just so you won’t be left high and dry for latkes this Hanukkah, here is a recipe from the Jews for Jesus Family Cookbook for “Award-Winning Potato Pancakes.” Melissa Moskowitz doesn’t like to brag, but she did win first place for this recipe at a Hanukkah party held by the Chicagoland area Messianic community. What won the judges over? “We loved the onions,” they said. Latkes are traditionally eaten with homemade applesauce or sour cream, but for some reason, her husband Jhan always eats his with ketchup.

4 large potatoes, scrubbed and left unpeeled
1 medium onion
3 small eggs or egg substitute
1/3 cup flour (for Passover these can be made with 1/4 cup matzo meal)
salt and pepper to taste
vegetable oil
applesauce or sour cream (or ketchup)

Grate potatoes with the onion, either by hand (if you have the energy and the knuckles!) or in the food processor, using the steel blade. You should have a mixture the consistency of coarsely chopped apples for applesauce. Place potatoes and onions in colander to drain over sink. When drained, put mixture in large bowl and mix in eggs and flour (or matzo meal). Season with salt and pepper. Pour vegetable oil to 1/4″ depth in heavy skillet. Heat until very hot, but not smoking. Spoon batter into skillet, flattening pancakes into 3″ ovals. Fry until deep golden brown and crisp on both sides. Repeat with all the mixture. Lay several newspapers on kitchen counter; cover with several paper towels and place cooked pancakes on this to drain. Serve immediately or if you have to, keep warm in a 400 degree oven (they will lose some of their crispness, but will taste just as good). Makes 24 latkes. Serve with applesauce or sour cream (or ketchup).

From Clara Rubin, and the rest of us aspiring balaboostas at Jews for Jesus, a healthy and hearty holiday season!

CLARA RUBIN – A Legacy

I first met Clara Rubin on a hot Summer night in 1974. It was August 15th, and I had been invited to a Bible study at the home of Richie & Patty Saxon, by Ralph & Kathy Curtin, long time friends from High School. Kathy is Patty’s sister. I didn’t go there with the intent of learning about the Bible. Truth be told, I had never even opened a Bible before, didn’t own one and God had no part in my life. I went there because I heard that the people running the Bible study were Jews who believed in Jesus. Well, everyone knows that Jews don’t believe in Jesus so these people must be some kind of a cult, I figured, so I went there, in my arrogance, with the intent of exposing these frauds, not knowing a thing about scripture.

When I walked into that room full of people, I had no idea what to expect, but I was ready for battle. Immediately, from across the room, this short, plump women in a house dress locked her eyes on me like radar. She made a bee line right to me, wrapped her arms around my neck and planted a big kiss on my cheek. She said, “Darling, do you know Jesus”? My hard heart just melted. As I stammered trying to find words to say, she sat me down and shared the gospel with me. No deep theology; no fancy words; no long Bible quotes, none of which I would have understood anyway. Sho told me how much Jesus loved me, how lost I was, and how he died for me. I knew instantly that what she was telling me was the truth, by the love that was coming from her. I gave my heart to the Lord that very night and she gave me my first Bible as a gift. A paperback King James. Little did I know that this was the beginning a wonderful, 40 year frindship with my Yiddisha Momma, and the start of a spiritual journey with Jesus! She was a friend, a mentor and a teacher by example.

I remember asking her once, “what is the best way to reach Jews with the gospel”! She looked at me and said, “Ronnie, do you know why Jews have big noses”! I said, er, no! She answered, “because we can smell the love”! She had just shared with me the secret of her amazing ministry. Go with love! I was thinking of a verse of scripture that best describes Clara and the first verse that came to mind is John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” I knew Clara was a disciple of Jesus.

Clara did not just pay lip service, she lived it! While going through a rough time where I was unable to work because if illness, and money was very tight, Clara and Joe would stop over my home every week bringing milk and other staples to help feed the kids, and always slipped some money into my pocket, even though her and Joe were just getting by themselves. If someone had a need, spiritually or physically, Clara gave from her heart. She walked the walk!
Clara opened up her home for weekly Bible studies taught first by Raymond Cohen and then By Marty Fromm, where I gained a foundation in the Word of God and a love for the Jewishness of the scriptures and the Jewish people. While Clara had a burning desire to bring the gospel to her Jewish brethren, she had a burden to reach everyone with the good news about Yeshua. Countless lives were touched by that little Bible study and many found salvation through the words of truth spoken there. When the time came to sing to the Lord, Clara would be up singing the loudest, dancing and encouraging everyone to be joyful, praising God continually.

Every year we would have a Passover Seder, usually in the basement of a local church that was a friend of the ministry! Sometimes we would have 100 or more people attend. For days ahead of time, Clara would single handedly make gallons of motzoh ball soup, clean and prepare chickens, and pretty much cook for the entire seder by herself in her little kitchen. She made a great motzoh ball!

As the result of Clara & Joe’s ministry, in addition to so many coming to faith, many pastors, missionaries and ministries were birthed. While Clare lived a humble and modest life, she must be a spiritually wealthy lady in heaven today because she lived Matthew 6:20, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:”

About 3 years ago, I felt let to go to Florida to visit Clara, and my wife wanted to meet this lady I was always talking about. I believe she was 93 years old at the time. My wife and I went to lunch with Clara and Ilayna to a local Chinese restaurant. Even at 93, Clara still loved to eat. When we were done and trying to leave, Clara made two of the Chinese waiters sit down with her as she shared Jesus with them. That was Clara! Anyone who came into her company heard the gospel. I have never known anyone who was as bold for Messiah, and she was about as close as you could come to a modern day Paul! 🙂

Because of love her for Jesus and her love for me, Clara led me to salvation and blessed me with 40 years of friendship and godly love, and for that I am eternally grateful. At the end of her life and ministry, most of those she had ministered to were no longer around, but she held fast to her Messiah and ministered until her last breath. I know the first words she heard in Heaven were “well done thou good and faithful servant”. The last words she said to me just a week ago were, “I’ll see you up there”! I look forward to the time when I will see her again in Heaven and will fellowship with her for eternity. Love you Clara!

Ron Cusano

In Memoriam – Joe Rubin Chosen People Ministries is saddened by the passing of retired missionary Joseph Rubin. Joe came to the Lord through the witness of Clara Krop,whom he later married on October 10,1937. They settled in Brooklyn and are especially well remembered for their work with children at the Mission’s Summer Camping Program. Joe and Clara opened a branch of the Mission in their home on Long Island in 1956.They labored there until their retirement in 1983. One of Joe’s former co-workers remembers the impact of Joe and Clara’s ministry: “Ridicule and persecution did not discourage them from their witness.They exhibited their love for the Lord with a holy boldness in life and word.” Joe Rubin will be greatly missed.

Steve Cohen: I’ve known Clara for seemingly ages. She and her husband Joe, were models of faithfulness to me! Clara unashamedly gave bold witness to her faith for many years as a missionary. In retirement Clara saw each interaction with another person as her chance to tell them of Y’shua. When we lived close together in Florida, I would regularly visit Clara to pray and encourage her. I never came empty handed! She loved chocolate cream pie, and there was a place that made them just blocks from her apartment. For many years, Clara just wanted to go home. Now her prayers have been answered.

A 97-year-old Jewish missionary who inspired Jews for Jesus’ founder was called home to heaven on March 4. Probably the oldest living person ever to spend her entire adult life telling Jewish people about Jesus, Clara Rubin was definitely one of the most fearless … and lovable.

Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1916, Clara Rubin embraced Yeshua (Jesus) as her Messiah at the age of 14 and immediately began telling everyone she could about her discovery. As an adult, Clara became a missionary with the agency that had led her to faith, Chosen People Ministries (formerly ABMJ).

It was through that agency that brand new missionaries Moishe and Ceil Rosen met Clara. Ceil recalls, “She was relentless in preaching the gospel but she always showed a lot of love. When Clara grabbed you and hugged you, you knew you were hugged!”

Ceil continued, “She was a mother figure to us when we began in ministry, always there when we needed her. She and [her husband] Joe [also a Jewish believer in Jesus, pictured here with Clara] were really anchors of the work at that time. They were an example of unselfish and fearless service – nothing phased Clara! She was always outspoken about her faith. And she was a real inspiration to Moishe.”

Clara continued to inspire all the Jews for Jesus who knew her with her love for the Lord, her direct approach and a sense of humor that was … well, it was just Clara. We had many opportunities to partner with her; one year she showed up at one of our Passover banquets with eighteen of her relatives! That night, her great-granddaughter prayed to receive the Lord.

We at Jews for Jesus were saddened when Clara’s daughter Ilayna Klayman (also a believer in Jesus) told us of Clara’s passing. This world has lost a unique and shining testimony for Jesus. But Clara’s back with her Joe, and even more, she’s with her Jesus. Enjoy your well-deserved reward, dear Clara!

Posted in otdimjh | Tagged abmj, article, clara rubin, latka, otdimjh | 2 Comments

3 March 1240 Confiscation and burning of the Talmud in Paris at instigation of Nicholas Donin #otdimjh

Posted on March 3, 2015 by richardsh

Around 1236, shortly after his conversion to Roman Catholicism, Nicholas Donin of La Rochelle, pressed charges against the Talmud to Pope Gregory IX. According to Donin, the Talmud claims greater authority than the Bible, it blasphemes against God, Jesus and Mary, and contains laws and stories that are outrageous and plainly stupid.

In 1225, had been Donin was excommunicated from the ghetto of Paris by Rabbi Yechiel of Paris in the presence of the whole community and with the usual ceremonies. Having for ten years lived in the state of excommunication, though still clinging to Judaism, he was baptised into the Catholic Church and joined the Franciscan Order. Some say, however, that he converted well before meeting Rabbi Yechiel of Paris.

From Zonca 167: Throughout his life, Nicholas Donin made several unsuccessful attempts to incite Christian officials against his former coreligionists. Donin‘s calculated goading was characterized by a flair for novelty. In the wake of four blood libels in 1235, Frederick II investigated the accusations leveled against the Jews, which included statements from a number of converts from across northwestern Europe. We can positively identify only one former Jew: Nicholas Donin. He said that Jews require human sacrifice and blood in their Passover rituals, an unprecedented accusation. His accusations stirred up some Crusaders to the bloody persecutions in Brittany, Poitou, and Anjou, in which 3,000 Jews were killed, 500 accepting the alternative of baptism.

Donin broke new ground in anti-Jewish polemic when he chose to focus his attacks on the Talmud. His allegations fall into four broad claims:

The Talmud is an autonomous body of literature;
The Talmud contains anti-Christian, anti-social, passages;
The Talmud directly attacks Christian beliefs; and
The Talmud contains anthropomorphic passages mocking the Incarnation and transubstantiation.

In June 1239, the pope issued a bull calling all Christian rulers to inspect Jewish writings on the first Sabbath of Lent 1240. His call fell on deaf ears everywhere except Paris, where King Louis IX, directly influenced by Nicholas, who delivered the bull in person, confiscated rabbinic texts and summoned leading French rabbis to defend the Talmud against charges brought up by Donin.

This order was generally ignored, except in France, where the Jews were compelled under pain of death to surrender their Talmuds (March, 1240). Louis IX ordered four of the most distinguished rabbis of France — Yechiel of Paris, Moses of Coucy, Judah of Melun, and Samuel ben Solomon of Château-Thierry—to answer Donin in a public debate. In vain, however, did the rabbis argue against the charges of blasphemy and immorality which were the main points of Donin’s arraignment. The commission condemned the Talmud to be burned. On June 6, 1242, fire was set accordingly to twenty-four carriage loads (ten to twelve-thousand volumes) of written works.

Prayer: Lord, it is with great shame and sorrow that we remember this day. As Jewish believers we have often been accused of being disloyal to our people Israel by believing in Yeshua, and here is a terrible example of someone turning against their own people. That Nicolas Donin was used by others goes without saying, as the medieval church sought to impose sanctions on those who referred to any other ‘sacred text’ or interpret it without the authority of ecclesiastical power. That he was caught up in the anti-Judaism of his day does not excuse his own complicity and misplaced zeal. Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, and may we as Jewish believers in Yeshua today give not cause for such a charge, but rather be seen as faithful servants of yours and of your people Israel. In our Messiah’s name we pray. Amen.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/TalmudBurning.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disputation_of_Paris

http://www.medievalists.net/2012/02/06/reading-medieval-religious-disputation-the-1240-debate-between-rabbi-yehiel-of-paris-and-friar-nicholas-donin/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Donin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_pnL6D2iJs

Reading Medieval Religious Disputation: The 1240 “debate” Between Rabbi Yehiel of Paris and Friar Nicholas Donin by Saadia R. Eisenberg

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/60741/seisenbe_2.pdf?sequence=2

Milan Žonca: Apostasy and Authority: The Transformation of Christian Anti-Jewish Polemic in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries.

https://www.academia.edu/1037239/Apostasy_and_Authority_The_Transformation_of_Christian_Anti-Jewish_Polemic_in_the_Twelfth_and_Thirteenth_Centuries

Isidore Loeb Latin edition in French

Click to access FR_AIU_L_J9529C.pdf

Reading Medieval Religious Disputation: The 1240 “Debate” Between Rabbi Yehiel of Paris and Friar Nicholas Donin

By Saadia R. Eisenberg – PhD Dissertation, University of Michigan, 2008

Abstract: This dissertation takes as its subject the Latin and Hebrew accounts of a much-studied event: the Jewish-Christian Disputation of 1240. In medieval Europe’s first formal religious debate, Friar Nicholas Donin challenged Rabbi Yeḥiel of Paris over the legitimacy of the Talmud. After the disputation, Donin and Yeḥiel wrote individual accounts of their experiences. This dissertation concentrates on the texts of the two disputants and suggests a new approach to reading these texts. Based on the records of the 1240 Debate, this dissertation demonstrates that the authors’ goals in writing polemic were not necessarily or exclusively to offer a response to their antagonists. Read as a historical narrative, Yeḥiel’s document reveals that it is less an account of the debate than a manual for future Jewish disputants. Moreover, because Yeḥiel’s intended audience consisted of learned Jews, he was able to write in melitza, a pastiche of biblical verses in rhymed prose which is impenetrable to the uninitiated. Both explicitly and subtextually, Yeḥiel provided words of encouragement to his readers, as well as subtle anti-Christian invective. Donin’s Latin record addressed a Christian, clerical audience, as this was the population with both the ability and the interest in reading such literature. As such, Donin’s account must be understood as addressing ecclesiastical concerns, notably the development of unmonitored texts. In an increasingly text-oriented environment, unmonitored texts such as the Talmud were feared as potential catalysts for heretical or offensive ideas. This dissertation places the debate in a Christian context of increasingly tight systems of religious control over books. This dissertation concludes with a comparison of cultural developments in the Jewish and Christian world such as the rise of textual communities, questions of anthropomorphism, heresy, and the structure of academic institutions. Through cognizance of the milieu and audiences of the authors, both Jewish and Christian, we can come to a more nuanced understanding of religious, cultural, and intellectual currents of thirteenth-century northern France.

Posted in otdimjh | Tagged article, disputation, donin, otdimjh, talmud, yehiel | 6 Comments

2 March 1925 – Letter of Invitation to the First International Hebrew Christian Alliance Conference Issued – #otdimjh

Posted on March 2, 2015 by richardsh

Hugh Schonfield wrote in The History of Jewish Christianity:

The initiative was taken by the Hebrew Christian Alliance of America (founded in 1915). They suggested as a preliminary measure the convening of an International Hebrew Christian Conference. Mark John Levy crossed the Atlantic several times in the interests of the proposal. After protracted discussion and correspondence with the British Hebrew Christian Alliance (founded in 1866), a joint letter of invitation was sent to Hebrew Christians in all parts of the world. In its way, the letter was as significant as that famous epistle to the Gentile believers issued by the first Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). It was dated for March, 1925 [exact date not given], and read as follows:

Dear brethren in the Lord Jesus our Messiah,

We, members of the Hebrew Christian Alliances of Great Britain and America send you hearty greetings. [124]

Since the days of the Apostles, Hebrew Christians have been scattered units in the diaspora, ostracized by our unbelieving brethren and lost among the nations. We believe, however, that the times of the Gentiles are being fulfilled and that the God of our fathers, according to His gracious promise, is about to restore Israel to her ancient heritage. We also believe that as Hebrew Christians, though a remnant weak and small we have a share in the building up of “the Tabernacle of David that is fallen down.”

We deem it an opportune time to meet and confer together, seeking Divine guidance by prayer and the Word of God.

We have therefore decided to hold D.V. an INTERNATIONAL HEBREW CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE in London. England, this year from Saturday, September 5 to Saturday, September 12, and to this we heartily invite you.

Many living in distant parts, maybe prevented from joining us by the heavy travelling expenses, but it is hoped that the Hebrew Christians of various towns or countries may be willing to raise the means and send delegates to represent them at the Conference; they will then be able to take back a report of the proceedings.

The Hebrew Christian Alliance of London will, however, during the period of the Conference. September 5-12, give themselves the pleasure of providing hospitality to all delegates who will have registered beforehand and will have received cards and badges. To such delegates full particulars, together with the [168] programme, will be sent in due course.

With cordial greetings.

On behalf of the Hebrew Christian Alliances of Great Britain and America,

Yours in our Common Master,

Samuel Schor, President

J.J. Lowe, Treasurer

Bendor Samuel, Hon. Secretary

The Conference duly met at the Wilson Memorial Hall, Islington, the only shadow over the proceedings being the absence of The Rev. Samuel Schor, owing to illness. Rarely can there have been witnessed such a fervent gathering. Eighteen countries were represented. On the rostrum are proudly displayed die Union Jack and the Jewish Flag, while between them hung the Jewish Christian motto, “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.”

It was on September 8 that the historic resolution was carried unanimously:

That we Hebrew Christians from different parts of the world standing for the Evangelical Faith now met in Conference, re-affirm our living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as our Messiah, and our oneness in Him; and do hereby declare that we now form ourselves into an INTERNATIONAL HEBREW CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the formation of the International Hebrew Christian Alliance in 1925, a landmark in the history of Jewish believers in Yeshua. The Messianic Jewish movement worldwide owes a debt of gratitude to these pioneers, and builds on their legacy. May we too continue in our day to live our lives with integrity and faith, building and renewing the institutions they foresaw, and continue to bring healing, reconciliation and proclamation to our people Israel and the wider church. In Yeshua’s name we pray. Amen.

Posted in otdimjh | Tagged article, ihca, schonfield, schor | 3 Comments

1 March 1349 Black Death reaches Worms where 580 Jews commit suicide rather than face death at the stake #otdimjh

Posted on March 1, 2015 by richardsh

Adapted from Jspace:

The Jewish community of Worms on the Rhine, which is one of the oldest in Germany, is reached by the Black Death Persecutions. The alderman of Worms sentences the Jews to death at the stake, but they set fire to their own houses and more than 580 die in the flames.

The Black Death—the 14th century global pandemic—killed somewhere between 75 million and 200 million people. From 1348 to 1350, approximately half the population of Europe succumbed to the Black Death; it must have seemed like the apocalypse. Every part of medieval society was affected. In villages and cities, graveyards filled with corpses. And no one knew why.

Now we know that fleas on rats carried the plague from China all across Europe. At the time, however, many considered the plague the final judgment—an act of God. Faced with the end of the world, which it was for one out of every two Europeans, civil society broke down. People turned on one another. In particular, people turned on the Jews

Blaming the Jews was widespread, and the scapegoating resulted in the murder of tens of thousands of Jews and the destruction of over 200 Jewish communities.

The plague resulted in a grisly death. Once infected, people developed a flu-like fever. They began vomiting and developed buboes—puss-filled swellings—around their necks, armpits and groins. Victims developed purple and black blotches on the skin due to internal haemorrhaging. They would likely be dead within a week, due to flooding of the lungs.

The speed with which the plague killed and the pandemic spread was shocking to behold. As corpses piled up in the streets, those who weren’t dead were left stunned and petrified. Some believed that the Black Death was God punishing humans for their transgression. Religious zealots named the flagellants whipped themselves in public displays of self-flagellation to show God how sorry they were. But in addition to whipping themselves, the flagellants also persecuted Jews for the plague. They did so based on the premise that because Jews were dying in smaller numbers relative to Christians, they were poisoning wells.

Compared with Christian populations, Jewish communities seemed—at least in the eyes of antisemites—to be less affected by the plague, which of course added to their perceived guilt. The veracity of the perception that Jews were less affected is unclear but if it were the case it may stem from differing sanitary practices among Europe’s Christians and Jews.

In the non-Jewish world in the late 14th century, one might go extended periods without washing one’s hands. In contrast, Judaism prescribes regular washing of the hands throughout the day including on awakening and before meals. Jewish law also instructs Jews to bathe for the Sabbath and to wash bodies before a burial. Jews were also isolated in ghettoes, and thus set apart from the mainstream population, which may have insulated them from some contagion.

If indeed Jews were less affected than gentiles, another theory speculates that the holiday of Passover may have been a contributing factor. The New York Times reported New York University professor Dr. Martin Blaser’s theory that when Jews removed chametz (leavened food forbidden on Passover) from their homes ahead of the holiday, they deprived the plague-carrying rats of food and shelter thereby unwittingly defending against the spread of the disease. Blaser pointed to the fact that the plague peaked in the spring, around the time that Passover falls, in support of his theory.

Whether or not fewer Jews were affected, for some people the feeling that Jews were getting off comparatively lightly—even if it were due to cleanliness—was evidence enough of a nefarious Jewish plot against Christians. In the absence of any scientific explanation, a reason for how and why so many people were dropping like flies had to be found. That the Jews were poisoning wells seemed as decent a reason as any.

So the conspiracy theorists of the time believed that Jewish community leaders had devised a scheme to poison Christendom. As a result of the false claims, pogroms against Jews started in 1348, initially mainly in France. The accusations against Jews was so widespread and elicited such fury that by September 1348, Pope Clement VI had issued two papal bulls, or edict, stating that Jews were not at fault for the plague. Yet his words had little effect.

In the area around Lake Geneva, the Count of Savoy ordered the arrest of the Jewish population, who were then tortured and, under torture, confessed to their inquisitors’ accusations. News of the spurious confessions went the mid-14th century version of viral, quickly travelling from town to town in Switzerland, east into France, and down the river Rhine into Germany.

The Black Death wasn’t the only deadly phenomenon that went viral and in January 1349 the entire adult Jewish population of the Swiss city of Basel was murdered due to the accusation that they had poisoned wells. Jewish children were taken from their parents and forcibly converted to Christianity while the remaining Jewish population, approximately 600 men and women, was shackled inside a wooden structure, which the anti-Jewish mob set ablaze.

In one fell swoop the Basel’s entire Jewish population burned to death. In the aftermath of the massacre, a decree banned all Jews from settling in the city for 200 years. However when the city subsequently suffered financial ruin, Jews were readmitted a few decades later.

Only weeks after the murder of Basel’s Jews, the larger Jewish community of Strasbourg met a similar fate. Once again officials—in this case, the bishop of Strasbourg and the city council—tried to protect the city’s Jews from a braying mob demanding their murder; once again, the will of the public triumphed. Due to its opposition to attacks on Jews, the city council was dissolved and replaced with a new council more amenable to antisemitic demands.

On Valentine’s Day 1349, Strasbourg’s Jews were taken to the city’s cemetery and given an ultimatum: baptism or death. It is estimated that around 2,000 Jews were placed on a makeshift pyre and burned alive. As in Basel, the city of Strasbourg barred Jews from the city for a hundred years although once again the decree was lifted within a generation.

These were not isolated incidents. Similar pogroms took place in towns and villages all along the Rhine. In some instances, similar to in Savoy, ‘confessions’ extracted by torture gave the veneer of legality, while in others local peasants carried out extra judicial massacres.

In March 1349, in Erfurt, Germany, the Jewish population was attacked and perhaps as many as 3,000 murdered. Centuries later, artifacts from the community were excavated from the city’s old Jewish quarter. They point to how vibrant the community once was, and how abruptly it met its end. The found artifacts, which went on exhibition at Yeshiva University Museum under the title ‘The Erfurt Treasure,’ included a chest with more than 600 pieces of gold jewelry, 3,141 silver coins, most with royal portraits (the last king depicted on them died in 1350) and a glorious 14th-century wedding ring.

The New York Times reported that “Gabriel M. Goldstein, the museum’s associate director of exhibitions, strongly suggests the hoard was buried in 1349, the year the plague reached Erfurt […] Seemingly, whoever hid it died and never came back.’” Perhaps word of pogroms elsewhere reached the Jewish community, who attempted to shield their assets from looters.

Financial reasons may have been an important factor in the persecution of Jews during the Black Death. Due to professional restrictions whereby they were forbidden from many jobs and guilds, Jews occupied an unpopular role in medieval economies, most notoriously as moneylenders. Anti-Jewish riots and pogroms were often used as a pretext to cancel debts owed to Jews, as well as a means of pillaging valuables.

Jews took other precautions against this onslaught. In Mainz, which had one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe, Jews defended themselves against antisemitic attack and killed over 200 Christians. In response, a Christian mob burned to death all of the city’s 6,000 Jews in just one day, August 24, 1349.

Elsewhere, in Worms, 400 Jews had burned to death in March 1349. In Frankfurt, in July 1349, the Jewish community committed mass suicide in preference to forcible baptism or murder. In August that year, the Cologne Jewish population was murdered en masse. In 1350, the Jewish communities of Antwerp and Brussels, in Belgium, were exterminated.

Anti-Jewish persecution associated with the Black Death resulted in the destruction of thousands of Jewish lives and hundreds of Jewish communities across Europe. German Jewry, in particular, suffered a catastrophic blow. With the loss of so many Jews, the population declined so drastically it took until the 17th century for Jews to be of demographic relevance once more in Germany. The minority who survived found themselves impoverished—any debts they were owed were canceled; any valuables they owned were plundered.

This persecution also reshaped Jewish history. After the Black Death, Germany and the Netherlands was almost devoid of Jews. Those who survived left Western Europe for the east, especially Poland, which had not suffered from the Black Death and was therefore less hostile to Jews.

As a result of the Black Death, the center of Jewish life in Europe shifted from west to east, with profound effects on Jewish culture. If your family’s history goes back to Poland or Russia, this may be due to the bubonic plague. Were it not for the pandemic, perhaps your 14th century antecedents would have remained by the Ruhr. That’s some food for thought this Passover.

Prayer: In those dark days where all of Europe was engulfed in this terrible plague, it is hardly surprising that the Jews were held responsible. Lord, have mercy on us for blaming others for our sufferings, and have mercy on your people Israel. In Yeshua’s name we pray. Amen.

http://www.jspacenews.com/february-14-1349-black-death-jewish-ultimatum/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Cemetery,_Worms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death_Jewish_persecutions

Posted in otdimjh | Tagged black death, otdimjh, worms | 1 Comment

28 February 1594 Trial of Rodrigo Lopez finds him guilty of plot to poison Queen Elizabeth I #otdimjh

Posted on February 28, 2015 by richardsh

The Jewish Encyclopedia gives the following account:

Court physician to Queen Elizabeth; born in Portugal about 1525; executed June 7, 1594, for having attempted to poison the queen. He settled in London in 1559, and in 1571 was residing in the parish of St. Peter le Poer. Previous to this he had become a member of the College of Physicians, and was selected in the lastmentioned year to read the anatomy lecture at the college—an honor which he declined. Before 1584 he had become body-physician to the Earl of Leicester; and he was accused of assisting that nobleman in removing some of his enemies by poison. Two years later he became chief physician to Queen Elizabeth, who in 1589 granted him the monopoly of importing aniseed and sumac into England.

Relations with Don Antonio.

At court Lopez became acquainted with the Earl of Essex, and was thus brought into relations with Don Antonio, the pretender to the crown of Portugal, and with Antonio Perez, the discharged secretary of Philip II. He assisted them in inducing the queen to permit the attempted invasion of Portugal in 1589, and suffered some loss of influence through its failure. An indiscreet revelation of some of Essex’s ailments set that nobleman against him; and about 1590 Lopez began intriguing against Antonio with the court of Spain, at first with the connivance of Walsingham, who hoped through Manuel de Andrada, one of Lopez’s adherents, to obtain useful information of Spanish projects. Andrada brought back a diamondand ruby ring worth £100 as an earnest of the reward Lopez would get if he removed Don Antonio. Lopez offered the ring to the queen, who refused it, presumptive evidence, according to Major Hume, that she knew it came from Philip II. Later on, the ring was used as evidence of Lopez’s designs against the queen.

His Execution.

In Oct., 1593, one Esteban de Gama was seized in Lopez’s house on a charge of conspiring against Don Antonio; and shortly afterward a person named Gomez d’Avila was likewise seized on landing at Dover. He proved to have mysterious correspondence relating to “the price of pearls” and to musk and amber, and to be in some relation with Lopez. A third conspirator, Ticino, was induced to come over from Brussels with an invalid safe-conduct. By confronting the prisoners some evidence was elicited leading to the conclusion that the “price of pearls” referred to a plot against the queen, in which Lopez was implicated. He was seized and examined by the Earl of Essex, who failed, however, to find any definite cause for suspicion. Later, confessions of the minor conspirators led to Lopez being put on the rack, where he confessed to having entertained suggestions as to poisoning the queen for the sum of 50,000 ducats, but, as he alleged, merely with the design of cozening the King of Spain and of getting as much money out of him as possible. This excuse was not accepted; and, after lingering some time in the Tower, he, with D’Avila and Ticino, was hanged, drawn, and quartered as a traitor, declaring with his last breath amid the derision of the spectators that he loved the queen as well as he loved Jesus Christ.

His trial created a great sensation at the time. References are made to it in Marlowe’s “Faustus,” Dekker’s “Whore of Babylon,” and Middleton’s “Game at Chess”; while it has been suggested by Sidney Lee that he was the original Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice,” a version of which appears to have been put on the stage about two months after Lopez’s execution. The fact that Shakespeare was on the side of the Earl of Essex, and that Antonio is adopted as the name of the hero, lends some plausibility to this suggestion. See Shylock.

Historians are divided as to the exact amount of criminality involved in Lopez’s connection with Spanish plots. Dimock (“English Historical Review,” 1894, pp. 440-472) denies his innocence on the ground that he kept the negotiations secret. Major Hume (“Treason and Plot,” pp. 115-152, New York, 1901) considers his guilt unproved, as he had been permitted to make similar false suggestions with the connivance of Walsingham in 1590.

Prayer and Reflection: This historical event, full of intrigue, suspicion of Jews and Jewish Christians, and high politics and treason, does shed light on the genuineness of significance of Lopez’s character and faith, but rather on the turbulent times in which he lives, and the precarious nature of his existence in the corridors of power. His identity as a Jewish believer in Yeshua cannot be separated from the currents of social exclusion, blame and distrust. Lopez is reported to have proclaimed his innocence with the words “For I love Queen Elizabeth better than I love Jesus Christ” (Stewart, p 194), yet these words are thrown back at him by the crowd with the retort “but he is a Jew” and therefore he was guilty.

Lord, help us in our day not to construct the enemy as ‘other’ but to put into practice the harder challenge of loving our enemies, as you commanded. Help us, as Jewish believers in Yeshua, to protect the rights of others who have been falsely accused of wrongs they have not committed, and to stand for truth, justice and right thought and action wherever we find ourselves. Forgive us our prejudices as we forgive those who are prejudiced against us. In Yeshua’s name. Amen.

Bibliography:

Lee, in Gentleman’s Magazine, Feb., 1880; idem, in Tr. New Shakespeare Society, 1887-92, pt. ii., pp. 158-162; idem, in Dict. Nat. Biog. s.v.;
Graetz, Shylock in der Sage, im Drama, und in der Gesch. Krotoschin, 1880; Forneron, Philippe II. vol. ii., Paris, 1890; Hume, Treason and Plot, p. 116, note.

A discussion of the historiographic issues, including the “narrative assault” on Jews and Judaism, is found here:

http://www.brunel.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/111024/Alan-Stewart,-The-Birth-of-a-National-Biography-The-Lives-of-Roderigo-Lopez,-Solomon-Lazarus-Levi-and-Sidney-Lee.pdf

http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/lopez_plot.htm

https://prezi.com/6c1yanzyhivm/the-1593-trial-of-dr-roderigo-lopez/

More information here at tudorplace.com:

Rodrigo Lopez, a Jewish-Portuguese doctor, driven from the country of his birth by the Inquisition, had come to England at the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign and set up as a doctor in London. He had been extremely successful; had become house physician at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; had obtained, in spite of professional jealousy and racial prejudice, a large practice among persons of distinction; Leicester and Walsingham were his patients; and, after he had been in England for seventeen years, in 1586 he reached the highest place in his profession: he was made physician-in-chief to the Queen. It was rumoured that he owed his advancement less to medical skill than flattery and self-advertisement; and in a libellous pamphlet against Leicester it was hinted that he had served that nobleman all too well – by distilling his poisons for him. But Dr. Lopez was safe in the Queen’s favour; in Oct 1593 he was a prosperous elderly man -a practising Christian, with a son at Winchester, a house in Holborn, and all the appearances of wealth and consideration.

In 1594, his position as Queen Elizabeth’s personal physician put him at the center of court intrigue, he was accused by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex of having conspired with Spanish emissaries to poison the Queen.

In Jan that year, news reached Essex House that a certain Esteban Ferreira, a Pórtuguese gentleman, who had been ruined by his adherence to the cause of Don Antonio, and Emanuel Loisie, another servant of the Portuguese pretender, were arrested on suspicion of being double agents in the pay of Spain. The information was certainly trustworthy, and Essex obtained from Elizabeth an order for the arrest of Ferreira and Loisie. Ferreira was accordingly seized; no definite charge was brought against him, but he was put into the custody of Don Antonio at Eton. At the same time instructions were sent to Rye, Sandwich and Dover, ordering all Portuguese correspondence that might arrive at those ports to be detained and read. While they were being questioned in Guildhall at London, it emerged they had had some dealings with Rodrigo Lopez.

A fortnight later, Gomez d’Avila, a Portuguese of low birth, who lived near Lopez’s house in Holborn, was arrested at Sandwich. He was returning from Flanders, and a Portuguese letter was discovered upon his person. The names of the writer and the addressee were unknown to the English authorities. The contents, though they appeared to refer to a commercial transaction, were suspicious; there were phrases that wore an ambiguous look. “The bearer will inform your Worship in what price your pearls are held. I will advise your Worship presently of the uttermost penny that can be given for them… Also this bearer shall teIl you in what resolution we rested about a little musk and amber, the which I determined to buy… But before I resolve myself I will be advised of the price thereof; and if it shall please your Worship to be my partner, I am persuaded we shaIl make good profit”. Gomez d’Avila would say nothing about the hidden meaning of this. He was removed to London, in close custody. When there, while waiting in an ante-chamber before being examined by those in charge of the case, he recognised a gentleman who could speak Spanish. He begged the gentleman to take the news of his arrest to Dr. Lopez.

Ferreira managed to convey a note from Eton, in which he warned Dr. Lopez to prevent the coming over of Gomez d’ Avila from Brussels, ‘for if he should be taken the Doctor would be undone without remedy’. Lopez had not yet heard of the arrest of Gomez, and replied that ‘he had already sent twice or thrice to Flanders to prevent the arrival of Gomez, and would spare no expense, if it cost him £300’. Both the letters were intercepted, then Ferreira was sent for, confronted with the contents of his letter, and informed that Dr. Lopez had betrayed him. He immediately declared that the Doctor had been for years in the pay of Spain. There was a plot, he said, and Lopez was the principal agent in the negotiations. He added that, three years previously, Lopez had secured the release from prison of a Portuguese spy, named Andrada, in order that he should go to Spain and arrange for the poisoning of Don Antonio. The information was complicated and strange; the authorities waited for further developments.

At the same time, Gomez d’Avila was shown the rack in the Tower. His courage forsook him, and he confessed that he was an intermediary, employed to carry letters backwards and forwards between Ferreira in England and another Portuguese, Tinoco, in Brussels, who was in the pay of the Spanish Government. It was quite true, he admitted, that there was a plot to buy over Don Antonio’s son and heir to the interests of King Felipe.

Two months later Lord Burghley received a communication from Tinoco. He wished, he said, to go to England, to reveal to the Queen secrets of the highest importance for the safety of her realm, which he had learnt at Brussels; and he asked for a safe-conduct. A safe-conduct was despatched; it allowed the bearer safe ingress into England, but it made no mention of his going away again. Shortly afterwards Tinoco arrived at Dover; upon which he was at once arrested, and taken to London. His person was searched, and bills of exchange for a large sum of money were found upon him, together with two letters from the Spanish governor of Flanders, addressed to Ferreira.

The letters, vague and mysterious, were sent to Essex, who decided himself to interrogate the young man. The examination was conducted in French; Tinoco had a story ready -that he had come to England to reveal to the Queen a Jesuit plot against her life; but he broke down under the cross-examination of the Earl, prevaricated, and contradicted himself. Next day he wrote a letter to Burghley, protesting his innocence. He said that with his small knowledge of French, he had failed to understand the drift of the inquiry, or to express his own meaning; and he begged to be sent back to Flanders. He was more rigorously confined after this letter. Again examined by Essex, he avowed that he had been sent to England by the Spanish authorities in order to see Ferreira and with him to win over Dr. Lopez to do a service to the King of Spain.

Every line of inquiry, so it seemed to Essex, led straight to the Jew. His secret note to Ferreira had been deeply incriminating. Ferreira himself, Gomez d’Avila, and now Tinoco all agreed that Lopez was the central point in a Spanish conspiracy. That conspiracy, if they were to be believed, was aimed against Don Antonio; but the matter must be sifted to the bottom. Essex went to the Queen; and on the 1 Jan 1594, Dr. Lopez, principal physician to her Majesty, was arrested.

He was taken to Essex House, and there kept in close custody, while his house in Holborn was searched from top to bottom; but nothing suspicious was found there. Lopez was thereupon examined at Burghley’s house by Essex, Robert Cecil and Burghley and, though Essex was not satisfied with his explanations, the doctor succeeded in convincing the Cecils that there was nothing sinister in his connections with the arrested men. The Cecils were convinced that Essex had discovered a mare’s nest. In their opinion, the whole affair was merely a symptom of the Earl’s anti-Spanish obsession; he saw plots and spies everywhere; and now he was trying to get up a ridiculous agitation against this unfortunate Jew. When Cecil told the Queen that Lopez was in the clear, Elizabeth became irritated that he had been detained in the first place. At her next encounter with Essex, she had burst out that he was “a rash and temerarious youth, to enter into the matter against the poor man, which he could not prove, but whose innocence she knew well enough”. The flood of words poured on, while Essex stood in furious silence, and Sir Robert surveyed the scene wilh gentle satisfaction. Furiously Essex flung himself away to sulk in his chamber for two days, and the Queen could only coax him out by agreeing that he might, after all, pursue his enquiries further.

Lopez was removed to the Tower, and further pressure was applied to Don Antonio’s servants, and after much prodding they volunteered evidence which incriminated Lopez. One of them deposed that Lopez had sent “obscurely worded” letters to Spanish agents, promising “to do all the King required”, whereupon his colleague capped this by saying that Lopez had agreed to undertake the Queen’s murder for a payment of 50,000 crowns. Lopez himself had staunchly maintained his innocence in the face of a remorseless interrogation, but when confronted with these claims, he broke down and confessed “that he had indeed spoken of this matter [the Queen’s murder] and promised it, but all to cozen the King of Spain”. He said that it was at Secretary Walsingham’s behest that he had established contact with the Spanish Court, and explained that the Secretary had used him to pass false information to the enemy, but unfortunately Walsingham was not available to confirm the Doctor’s version of events.

To Essex, the facts were clear. He wrote jubilantly to a friend, “I have discovered a most dangerous and desperate treason. The point of conspiracy was her Majesty’s death. The executioner should have been Dr Lopez; the manner poison. This I have so followed as I will make it appear clear as noon day”. And indeed, when Lopez went to trial in Feb 1594, the fact that he claimed to have made his confession under fear of torture did not prevent him being found guilty and having “judgment … passed against him, with the applause of all the world”.

The Queen, however, still seems to have had her doubts about Lopez’s guilt, and for three months his death warrant remained insigned. On 7 Jun he was finally executed, hanged, drawn, and quartered before a jeering London mob. But the fact that Elizabeth agreed that Lopez’s widow could retain valuable lease, which theoretically should have been forfeit to the crown on his conviction, suggest that she continued to be troubled by his fate.

The hostility stirred up against Lopez spawned a number of comically villainous stage Jews, perhaps including Shakespeare’s Shylock.

A discussion of the historiographic issues, including the “narrative assault” on Jews and Judaism, is found here:

http://www.brunel.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/111024/Alan-Stewart,-The-Birth-of-a-National-Biography-The-Lives-of-Roderigo-Lopez,-Solomon-Lazarus-Levi-and-Sidney-Lee.pdf

http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/lopez_plot.htm

https://prezi.com/6c1yanzyhivm/the-1593-trial-of-dr-roderigo-lopez/

The Double Life of Doctor Lopez: Spies, Shakespeare and the Plot to Poison Elizabeth I

Dominic Green

Born a into a Converso family in Portugal in 1525, Roderigo Lopez studied medicine in Spain before moving to London in 1559. A talented surgeon, Lopez soon rose to prominence at court, and displayed a capacity for intrigue and espionage. In the service of spy networks, he became deeply entwined in English foreign policy. When the 1st Earl of Essex was poisoned to death, Lopez numbered amongst those suspected. But in 1586, undeterred by the scandal, he was appointed personal physician to the Queen. However, Lopez was financially over-extended and became so desperate, that he embarked on a high-risk enterprise as a freelance diplomat and spymaster, contacting the Spanish in an attempt to set up a conduit for peace talks. Suspicious of Lopez’s involvement in his father’s death, the 2nd Earl of Essex began an investigation. The case against Lopez was damning. Lacking vital corroboration of his story by the Spanish, and despite the Queen’s support, amidst an atmosphere of anti-Semitism stirred up by Essex, Lopez was executed in 1594. He protested his loyalty and Christianity to the last, and provided the young Shakespeare with inspiration for a topical new play, the Merchant of Venice.

Posted in otdimjh | Tagged article, elizabeth I, otdimjh, rodrigo lopez | Leave a comment

4 March 1215 Historians reveal the Magna Carta was first written in Hebrew #otdimjh

Posted on February 27, 2015 by richardsh

By Paul Rimm, February 26, 2015

King John signs the Magna Carta in 1215. A Jewish lawyer drew it up

The original copy of the Magna Carta was written in Hebrew, newly discovered evidence has shown.

Clerks at King John’s court charged with compiling the “Great Document” 800 years ago turned for help to a Jewish lawyer, known as David of Cheapside, it is now believed.

Esther Smythe, professor of historical documentation at University College London, said recently unearthed papers showed that David was brought in to draft the complex legal clauses that had proved beyond the skill of John’s scribes.

Ms Smythe said documents dating back to the 13th century had been uncovered in the archive at Taschen Castle, in Lincolnshire, which contained an account by a clerk called Gerald Haman.

Gerald describes how courtiers sought out David and begged him to draw up the charter. He writes that the first copy delivered to the court was in English but with an original in Hebrew, entitled Ha megila Hagdola, attached.

Among Magna Carta’s 63 clauses is the right of every person to fair trial and the principle that even the king is subject to the law. “It’s very exciting,” said Ms Smythe. “It seems the charter guaranteeing many of the rights we now take for granted was Jewish in origin.”

Medieval historian Hugo Mord-Kay, said that the evidence suggested that David had taken the opportunity to add clauses, including one allowing Jews to own castles and another lifting taxes on all schmaltz products. These were excised from the final document.

http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/130607/historians-reveal-magna-carta-was-first-written-hebrew

Posted in otdimjh | Tagged article, john, magna carta, otdimjh | 4 Comments

27 February 2011 and 2012 – Meetings of Roman Catholics, Jews, Ecumenicals and Palestinians – where are the Messianics? #otdimjh

Posted on February 27, 2015 by richardsh

Two conferences – one of Roman Catholics and Jews, and the other of Ecumenicals on the Israel-Palestine Conflict, recently took place on this day. The question for the history of Messianic Jews is: “where were we?”

The 21st meeting of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee (ILC) was held in Paris, France from February 27 – March 2, 2011.

The conference, titled “Forty Years of Dialogue – Reflections and Future Perspectives” addressed the past, present and future of Catholic-Jewish dialogue in its international settings. The event began with a review of the 40-year history of the ILC, which was begun in 1970. For the current conference, delegates came from the United States, Europe, Israel, Australia, Latin America and Africa. The conference highlighted the positive relationship that began with the Second Vatican Council and the promulgation of Nostra Aetate (the declaration on the relationship of the Church to non-Christian Religions) in 1965.

The ILC sponsored a special three-day pre-conference called the “Emerging Leadership Delegation”, which brought together young people from both faith communities to discuss the challenges of the future and to help expand the dialogue to involve more young people around the world. These delegates were invited to participate fully in the ILC plenary sessions where their insights and fresh ideas contributed positively to the proceedings.

A principal outcome of the conference was the deepening of personal relationships and of a shared desire to confront together the enormous challenges facing Catholics and Jews in a world in rapid and unpredictable transformation. Also acknowledged was a common religious duty to help relieve the global consequences of poverty, injustice, discrimination and the denial of universal human rights. Participants were especially sensitive to the call of the younger generation for true freedom and full participation in their societies.

The second conference:

Message from conference in Hofgeismar, Germany:

27 February 2012

“As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24)

The world is filled with violence. Too often, the violent narratives contained in the Bible are used to perpetuate rather than limit worldly violence. We are called, therefore, to confront the violence in the biblical texts and work through them toward a world of peace. As Christians, we respond to pain with empathy, looking to love and respect even those who would be our enemies.

Christians and Jews from around the world gathered in Hofgeismar, Germany, on February 23-27, 2012, in a conference organized by the Palestine-Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF) of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in cooperation with the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck. Framed by daily experiences of liturgy and prayer that opened the spiritual dimensions of the texts, the conference aimed to intensify ecumenical reflection on theological aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Our call is clear: no more violence in the name of God!

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5)

Adopted by conference participants in Hofgeismar: February 27, 2012

Reflection:

It is good for us to meet to discuss areas of common interest and concern, in an atmosphere of mutual respect and willingness to hold different views whilst listening carefully to the other.
The issues for which such conferences are convened are vitally important and affect the lives of Messianic Jews and the growth of the Messianic movement.
It appears that no Messianic Jews were present – otherwise the dynamics of both meetings may have been quite different.
For both conferences a Messianic Jewish voice and contribution would be helpful and significant. Roman Catholics and Palestinian Christians need to dialogue with their Messianic Jewish brothers and sisters, or else a vital voice is missing from the discussions.
Messianic Jews have a responsibility to share their contributions with the whole church as the body of Messiah, not just those who agree with them. They also have much to learn through meeting with such groups.
Messianic Jews should also be calling for such meetings, especially to encourage the next generation of younger leaders to have a broad vision of their role and ministry in, personal relationships, theological education and prophetic engagement with others.

These are my own personal reflections – so my prayer echoes the Hofgeismar quotation:

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5)

Lord, help us to be peacemakers in a world full of conflicts, and where peace with you is only possible through your Son, our Messiah Yeshua. Help Messianic Jews to play a useful and strategic role within the whole body of believers, and towards your people Israel. Help us to serve you and serve others in this way. In Yeshua’s name we pray. Amen.

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2011/03/03/0131/00329.html

http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-programmes/public-witness-addressing-power-affirming-peace/middle-east-peace/message-from-conference-in-hofgeismar-germany

Posted in otdimjh | Tagged article, dialogue, otdimjh, roman catholic church, wcc | 2 Comments

26 February 1569 Pope Pius V expels Jews unless they become Roman Catholics #otdimjh

Posted on February 26, 2015 by richardsh

Pope Pius V (who became a Saint in 1712) issues the papal bull Hebraeorum gens (“the people of the Hebrews”). Except for Rome and Verona, all Jews are to be expelled from the Papal States unless they convert to Christianity.

According to the Bull – a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope and named after the lead seal (bulla) that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it:

“The Jewish people fell from the heights because of their faithlessness and condemned their Redeemer to a shameful death. Their godlessness has assumed such forms that, for the salvation of our own people, it becomes necessary to prevent their disease.

Besides usury, through which Jews everywhere have sucked dry the property of impoverished Christians, they are accomplices of thieves and robbers; and the most damaging aspect of the matter is that they allure the unsuspecting through magical incantations, superstition, and witchcraft to the Synagogue of Satan and boast of being able to predict the future. We have carefully investigated how this revolting sect abuses the name of Christ and how harmful they are to those whose life is threatened by their deceit.

On account of these and other serious matters, and because of the gravity of their crimes which increase day to day more and more, We order that, within 90 days, all Jews in our entire earthly realm of justice – in all towns, districts, and places – must depart these regions.

After this time limit shall all at the present or in the future, who dwell or wander into that city or other already mentioned, be affected, their property confiscated and handed over to the Siscus, and they shall becomes slaves of the Roman Church, live in perpetual servitude and the Roman Church shall have the same rights over them as the remaining [worldly] lords over slaves and property.”

Jews were able to take refuge in the slums of Rome and Verona, where the bull never took effect, but several thousand were forced into exile. The towns of Ravenna, Orvieto, Viterbo, Perugia, Spoleto, and Terracina were emptied of Jews, and the Papal States lost numerous entrepreneurs, craftsmen, merchants, and professionals.

They were permitted to return by the next pope, Gregory XIII. (1572-85), who, while he showed an occasional leniency, introduced a large number of severe restrictions.

Reflection: In order to preserve the truth of the Catholic faith, it was felt necessary to prevent the influence of Jews and Judaism. This was combined with strong anti-Jewish feeling as a sign of true devotion to the Church. Over hundreds of years such institutionalised antisemitism paved the way for the Holocaust in Modernity and gave sufficient cause for the Jewish people never to feel safe, and to keep the Christians and their message at arms length wherever possible. Today, especially after the Second Vatican Council (1962), the climate has changed. The work of the Roman Catholic – Messianic Jewish Dialogue Group made up of Catholic leaders and theologians, and Messianic Jews from different streams of the Messianic movement, addresses some of the issues that have prevented Jewish identity and expression in the Catholic Church. There are other signs of rapprochement between the two faith communities, (which should never have been divided) but there is still a long way to go.

Prayer: Lord, have mercy on your people, both the Church and Israel. Help Messianic Jews to bring healing and reconciliation between the different parts of your divided Body, so that the fullness of the unity of the One New Man that you have made us to be through your life, ministry, death and resurrection, may be restored, both in theory and in practical ways, as we prepare for the restoration of all things on your return. In Yeshua’s name we pray. Amen.

Posted in otdimjh | Tagged antisemitism, article, onthisday, otdimjh, papal bull, pius V | 2 Comments

On This Day In Messianic Jewish History

6 March 1982 Pope John Paul II’s speech on Jewish-Catholic relations explores mystery of Church and Israel #otdimjh

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5 March 1901 Death of Rabbi Dr. Paul Bendix, Scholar and Gentleman #otdimjh

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4 March 2014 Love and Latkas – Death of Clara Rubin, Pioneer Evangelist and Inspirer of the Modern Messianic Movement #otdimjh

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3 March 1240 Confiscation and burning of the Talmud in Paris at instigation of Nicholas Donin #otdimjh

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2 March 1925 – Letter of Invitation to the First International Hebrew Christian Alliance Conference Issued – #otdimjh

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1 March 1349 Black Death reaches Worms where 580 Jews commit suicide rather than face death at the stake #otdimjh

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28 February 1594 Trial of Rodrigo Lopez finds him guilty of plot to poison Queen Elizabeth I #otdimjh

The Double Life of Doctor Lopez: Spies, Shakespeare and the Plot to Poison Elizabeth I

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4 March 1215 Historians reveal the Magna Carta was first written in Hebrew #otdimjh

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27 February 2011 and 2012 – Meetings of Roman Catholics, Jews, Ecumenicals and Palestinians – where are the Messianics? #otdimjh

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26 February 1569 Pope Pius V expels Jews unless they become Roman Catholics #otdimjh

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The Double Life of Doctor Lopez: Spies, Shakespeare and the Plot to Poison Elizabeth I

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