Letters From Grandpa #498

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 498

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will be about Jews and nation of Israel. As you know, they are much in the news every day. Remarkably, there are only an estimated 15.7 Jews in the world and the tiny nation of Israel has a population of less than 10 million. Sadly, Hitler is not the only one who hated Jews. The pew research center reported that in 2020 Jewish harassment occurred in 94 different countries. Anti- semitism is also raising it’s ugly head across America. As you know, on Oct. 7, 2023 approximately 3,000 Hamas militants attacked Israel killing 1,339 Israelis, including 766 civilians and 373 security personnel. 253 Israelis and foreigners were taken as hostages including citizens of the United States. The stated goal of Hamas is the total destruction of Israel and the killing of all Jews. Their brutal massacre involved burning and beheading babies, raping and torturing women, and doing everything possible to denigrate and destroy Jews. Let us hope their goal of killing all Jews in not successful. Our world would be greatly impoverished if there were no Jews!

In spite of their small number, Jewish inventors are responsible for discoveries that have changed the world. Here are “some” discoveries made by Jews: Theory of relativity – Albert Einstein, Psychoanalysis – Sigmund Freud, Chemotherapy – Paul Ehrkich, Rh blood factor – Karl Landsteiner, Streptomycin – Abraham Waksman, Television – Boris Rosing, Jeans - Levi Strauss, 20 th Century Fox – William Fox, Microphone – Emile Berliner, Google – Sergey Brin, VCR & FAX machines – Jerome Lemelson, Sewing machine – Isaac Singer, Telegraph – Samuel Morse, Bulletproof glass – Edouard Benedictus, MI Helicopters – Mikhail Mil, Electromagnetic field – James Maxwell, Vitamins – Casimir Funk, Quantum mechanics – Max Born, Measuring blood insulin levels – Rosalyn Yalow, Polaroid camera – Edwin Land, Birth control pills – Gregory Pincus. Anti-cholera vaccines – Vladimir Khavkin, Quantum theory of gravity – Matvei Bronstein, Microbiology – Julius Cohn, Ascorbic acid – Taeusz Reichstein, Counters for X-rays and gamma rays – Robert Hofstadter. Genetic engineering – Paul Berg, Big Bang Theory – Alexander Friedmann, Electric motor – Boris Jacobi, Nuclear powered submarine – Hyman Rickover, Test for typhoid fever – Fernand Widal. Internet – Paul Baran, Facebook – Mark Zuckerberg, Google – Larry Page, H-Bomb – Edward Teller, Pulitzer Prizes – Joseph Pulitzer, A-Bomb – Julius Oppenheimer, Shopping cart – Sylvan Goldman, Remote control – Robert Adler, Drinking straw – Joseph Friedman, MiG aircraft – MikHil Iosifovich Gurevich, Smart cards – Roland Moreno, USB flash drive – Dov Moran, Holography – Dennis Gabor, Laser – Theodore Maiman, Instant photo sharing online – Philippe Kahn, First automobile – Siegfried Marcus, Aspirin – Arthur Eichengrun, Drip irrigation – Simcha Blass, Ball point pen – Laszlo Biro, Cell phone – Amos Joel Jr., Defibrillator – Bernard Lown, Pager and walkie-talkie – Alfred Gross, Father of video games – Ralph Baer, Pregnancy test – Bernhard Zondek, Bra – Ida Rosenthan, Rubber condoms Julius Fromm. Color photography – Godowsky and Mannes, Barcode – Bernard Silver, The Nanocar – Dr. James Tour, etc., etc., etc.

Not all efforts by Jews to change the world have been helpful. Karl Marx was a Jew and his writings have poisoned the minds of millions. George Soros is also a Jew. This evil man apparently has a messianic complex. He once wrote: “If truth be known, I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise they might get me in trouble.” At present he has spent millions to elect progressive District Attorneys who will release criminals without bail and refuse to punish crime. But what if such brilliant men were converted to Christ? What if Jews used their brilliance to convert others? What if the Jews, who have consistently rejected Christ, would suddenly be converted to Christ “en masse”?

Isaiah reminds us that God will never forget the promises He made to Israel: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you.” (Isaiah 49:15) This seems to be the very thing Paul wrote about to the Romans. Reflecting on the many Jews who rejected Jesus he explained: “Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!” (Romans 11:11-12)

Paul argues that it is actually normal for Jews to accept Jesus. When Jews come to believe in Jesus it is only “natural” for them to be “grafted in” to a saving relationship with Jesus. Writing to gentiles about the Jews he said: “And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.” (Romans 11:23-26) “for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.” (Romans 11:29-32)

As incredible as it is, the Scriptures still divide the population of the world into three groups - “Jews,” “Gentiles,” and the “Church of God” (1 Corinthians 10:32). If God has not forgotten the Jews, perhaps we should not forget them either!

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce