By José Galicot
TIJUANA, Mexico — On Sunday, January 26, I went to Grace Church in San Marcos, a Christian Church on the U.S. side of the border, because I had been asked by the StandWithUs organization to speak to a group of Spanish-speaking congregants who met there for prayer and were eager for someone to discuss the calamities of antisemitism.
The invitation resulted from a collaboration between the Moral Hearts Alliance and Eagles’ Wings to engage with evangelical and Christian congregations. The event commemorated the second annual Solidarity Sunday, aimed at fostering interfaith connections, occurring on the Sunday before Holocaust Remembrance Day.
As a soldier for Israel, I was ready to speak about the Jews who left Israel 2000 years ago, the Spanish Inquisition, and the persecution faced in Monterrey, Mexico, where the Carvajal family, a crypto-Jewish family that ruled the region, was burned.
I began my intervention by stating that I did not choose to be Jewish, that I was born in Santa Barbara, Chihuahua, to Jewish parents, and that I was not asked for my opinion on religion when I was born, nor was I consulted about being circumcised at 8 days old. So, I suppose it was God’s will that determined my religion and, in part, my destiny. This automatically connected me with the audience because, like all religious people, they believe in God’s will, which allowed them to empathize with me.
Being Jewish has filled me with knowledge and pride in the immense cultural and religious heritage that has shaped my life. This connection has made me confident and proud to be part of these extraordinary people who have marked the centuries with their remarkable talent and legacy, alongside a lineage of blood and pain passed down through generations. These are people who have been unjustly and perpetually hurt.
I arrived at the church, which has room for 350 devotees gathered to listen to an orchestra that performs in English to a syncopated rhythm that lifts spirits and brings forth joy with love for God. Thus, a series of lectures begins, praising the Lord with the day’s messages and an invitation to engage in charitable acts. The next gathering was all Spanish speakers, and the Latino orchestra entered, taking their places as another 300 Spanish-speaking parishioners arrived, outnumbering the Anglo attendees.
They begin singing rhythmic, joyful, repetitive songs that boost enthusiasm in the room. Ultimately, Pastor Brian Bauer, the English-speaking Pastor, shared the following in English, which Pastor Jaime Bermudez, immediately translated into Spanish. His words were so moving that I have to transcribe them here (with some editing for your improved reading):
“We are joining churches nationwide and standing in solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters. This is so important because, as disciples of Jesus Christ, our job is to live out the word of God. We don’t want to bend the Word to our will; we align our lives with the Word of God. One of the things the Bible is clear about is how Christians and disciples think about God’s people, the Jewish people. Tomorrow is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Churches around the nation are choosing to stand in solidarity with our Jewish friends. Some of you may know that on October 7, we saw the horrific attack that Hamas terrorized Israel. Hamas Sorry. Right? I was there that day. It is real with about a dozen people from our church. And I remember having to go to the bomb shelters at the airport in Tel Aviv when that attack was launched.
“We were on one of the last flights out of Israel before they shut down all the flights. I remember thinking when I was in Israel that we had met with various Jewish leaders during our tour, and three different leaders mentioned that Israel needs Christians to stand with them. Now more than ever. But I remember thinking to myself, I don’t think that’s true. It seems like you really needed us, like during the Holocaust. Things are better now.
“Three days later, after I had that thought, we witnessed the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. I realized how ignorant I was. After that attack, we saw the pro-Hamas protests in major cities across our nation, including London, LA, and New York. I remember driving home after church on a Sunday, right here at Twin Oaks and Barham, and there was a giant pro-Hamas rally just half a mile from our church. I understood then that when those leaders told me that Israel needs Christians to stand with them now more than ever, they meant it. He was telling a truth that I didn’t understand.
“This morning, I want to take a few minutes to share from the Word of God why this is true and how we can stand with our Jewish friends. The Bible says that every disciple must stand with Israel. It’s a biblical responsibility. Where do we see this in Scripture? We find it in many places, but I’ll share three key verses.
“In Genesis 12:3, God promises Abraham: ‘I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.’ Through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed. That is a promise from the word of God. In fact, it’s more than a promise; it’s a covenant. How can you know that we serve a promise-keeping, covenant-making God? How many of you are glad that God keeps His promises? So, God has made a covenant with the Jewish people.
“Genesis 12:7 says, ‘I will give this land to your offspring.’ God has made promises to the people and to the land. We serve a promise-keeping God. Finally, Psalms 122:6 outlines our biblical responsibility: ‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and may those who love you prosper.’ God calls us as disciples to pray for Jerusalem.
And here’s the wonderful thing: here’s God’s promise. There is a blessing when we act on it, and God fulfills His promises. Therefore, there is a biblical responsibility. Secondly, we have a personal responsibility. God calls us to be people of prayer, as stated in Isaiah 56:7: ‘My house shall be a house of prayer.’ God calls us to be intercessors. There are ways to pray where we come to worship and pray where we present our requests.
“There are times for prayer when we come together to intercede. Intercession involves standing in the place of someone else. In Ezekiel 22:30, the Lord says, ‘I looked for a man to stand in the gap.’ God is searching for people who will rise and intercede for others, advocating for righteousness. The tragedy in that verse is that it concludes with, ‘and I found no one.’ When God looks at us today, I hope He sees us ready to stand in the gap. And I found Grace San Marcos.
Because it’s our responsibility to be people of prayer and stand for righteousness. The third aspect I want us to grasp is our biblical responsibility—our personal responsibility—to be people of prayer. Additionally, we must recognize who our enemy is and understand who we are fighting against. Too often, when discussing Israel and the Middle East, we focus on the conflict and see people taking sides.
“But the apostle Paul says in the book of Ephesians that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against spirits and principalities. That is why our stance needs to be one of prayer. When we take on that spiritual responsibility, we recognize that we are standing with God. We’re standing in prayer. Standing with Israel doesn’t mean we are standing against the Arab people. Standing with Israel means that we are standing with who God has chosen.
“And I don’t know about you, but I want to be on God’s side. So, I want us to take a few minutes to help understand our biblical and personal responsibilities and act as people of prayer. This means recognizing that we are aligning ourselves with the word of God, which requires practical steps. Part of these valuable steps involves listening to others, especially our Jewish brothers, who can help us avoid ignorance like I once did.
“When I had that encounter while flying back home, I remember sitting on the airplane watching the news. We realized how devastating October 7 was. At that moment, I asked the Lord, ‘What are we to do? What is our response?’ I felt the Spirit of the Lord say this: it’s our responsibility to be a voice and an influence to speak His word in this situation. I mean. This morning, I’d like to invite a friend to help us understand from a Jewish perspective.
“Why is it so important? The Christian stance with Jews. The book of Romans says we are linked together, and the book of Revelation says we both testify to the truth of who God is. Standing with Israel, standing with the land, and standing with the Jewish people aligns us with God. Often, in the Jewish community, they don’t know who their friends are, and they feel like they are standing alone. Today, I want to say that for us in Grace Church, our Jewish friends do not stand alone.”
My dear reader, I can’t tell you how moved I was by his words. I can only express my gratitude to Pastor Bauer and Bermudez and to all the parishes that extended such warm love and welcome.
Ultimately, it was my turn to speak. I didn’t possess the eloquence of the pastor, but I did my best to express myself.
I left the church feeling moved after experiencing the generosity of another religion, with its beauty, grace, kindness, and goodness. It was a marvelous experience that touched my soul.
God’s justice unites us.
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José Galicot, a businessman who founded Tijuana Innovadora, is a leader of the Mexican Jewish community on both sides of the border.
These characterizations or imagining of Jews as “a people,” “a race,” and “a nation” was widespread in Protestant evangelical circles by the 1830s, well
before secular, profane Zionism was the will.of the world’s Jews.
The liberation of Jews from the yoke of the Torah and its commandments promised by Zionism was and is considered a sin by the devout.
Thinking Jews as a “nation”, exiled from their original homeland, to which this people would have “returned” of their own accord after two thousand years, is part of a modern mythology breaking both with Jewish tradition and with current historical knowledge.