‘Henceforth I am no longer a Jew.’

A message to the Jews

Luncheon (21 November 1919)

Shortly after breakfast, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá suddenly appeared in the doorway. He had heard that Dr Esslemont, having had a relapse, was confined to his bed, and in tender solicitude had come to see him. With words of cheer He left him, saying that as He had suffered a great deal at Haifa, the Doctor was receiving a similar bounty by suffering a little. Gladly would we all have been sick for the blessing of a similar visit.

When He returned for lunch, the Master was in radiant spirits, recounting to us several amazing stories bringing out the humility and greatness of Christ.

Mr Latimer spoke of the attraction of a number of Rabbis to the Cause and that the Message had been given in a number of Synagogues, but apparently their interest had waned.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “Its influence still remains and it will flame up. All of you, your major work is service and giving the Message.”

The Master gave a vivid reproduction of his talk to the Jews, in substance:

“In one of the American cities I was invited by the Jews to speak. As they had strong enmity, it was now the time to prove the validity of Christ. The Jewish Rabbi came to me and protested that I had spoken in churches, so why not speak in a Synagogue. I told him: ‘Maybe you will find my talk against your ideas. If so will you stamp and whistle?’ He assured me they would make no disturbance. I replied: ‘You may do whatever you like at the end of the service, but do not disturb me until I finish speaking.’

“Then I spoke extensively on their history. After preparing them in detail with their own history, I told them that Christ did not appear when they were in manifest glory. Had they followed Christ they would have become the beloved of all regions. But they did not follow Christ, except some of the members who were very poor. Some were fishermen. The Jews did not follow, but Christ established His Cause and the lowly ones became great, such as Peter, John, Paul and so on. See to what glory they have attained, and how they are worshipped. And, being Jews, they have glorified you. But you have denied them and brought shame upon yourselves. The fishermen did not act in this way. If you had followed in their footsteps you would have attained eternal glory.

“O ye Jews, ye believe that Christ was the enemy of Moses. That He has destroyed his edifice, abrogated his law and changed his regulations. If that is the case we shall leave Christ also, because Christ has admitted He is a man of God, a prophet of God, the Bible is a divine book and the Mosaic law is divine. For Him to believe He is a prophet and is divine and at the same time be his enemy, this cannot be so.

“We should investigate the truth. Refer to history. You have striven for eleven hundred years. Have you caused the name of Moses to reach Constantinople? If you mention the name there, they say they have never heard of it. The Bible had not reached Damascus. But Christ spread the Bible all over the world and had it translated two hundred times. Can you find a single home in America without a Bible? Who did this? Had Christ not come, the name of Moses would not have reached America. Christ has proven that the Jews are the chosen of God. Only Christ has proved that Daniel, Solomon, Moses, Jeremiah, etc., were all Prophets of God.

“Is this the conduct of an enemy or a friend? You must be just. Consider to what an extent Christ has promulgated the teachings of Moses. Ask the people in America who is Moses. They will say: ‘He is a man of God, the Torah is the book of God, his law is the divine law.’ Ask them: ‘Who is Aaron?’ They will answer: ‘A Prophet.’ So also with Solomon, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, all of these. Does this hurt Christ, this confession? No. And if you will say Christ is a Prophet of God there will be no more conflict. What harm can there be in it? For two thousand years you have been killed and dispersed only because of these two words. Had ye admitted Christ was a Prophet of God none of these things would have happened.

When I had finished one Jew got up in the audience and said: ‘Henceforth I am no longer a Jew.’”

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