Israel Gains Interfaith Support in North Fulton

Supporters of Israel, both Jews and Christians, came together before a standing room only crowd earlier this month at Chabad of North Fulton. They were there to gain a better understanding of the critical underpinnings of how and why each supports the Jewish state.

The evening of earnest interfaith dialogue, sponsored by Israel’s Consulate in Atlanta, included the participation of Deputy Consul General Anna Shteingart and Chabad Rabbi Hirshy Minkowicz of the Alpharetta congregation. They were joined by a Presbyterian minister, Randy Schlichting. who is a Christian Zionist and president of the recently organized Metro Atlanta Seminary to train a new generation of Protestant ministers.

Leading the discussion was Sebastian Parra from Passages, a national organization that has worked to develop support for Israel on the nation’s college campuses. Over the last decade, the organization has trained over 12,000 non-Jewish college students as advocates for Israel in more than 700 universities. With him was Mary Karp who has led student tours of Israel for Passages for the past five years. Her work with Passages, particularly in the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023, changed her life. It cemented her commitment to Israel.

“As a Christian, and I can tell you all that working there before Oct. 7 and post-Oct. 7 has really, really shaped me, changed me, and it’s really made it easy for me to be able to see right from wrong,” Karp emphasized. “And I can tell you that’s one of the biggest things that I’ve gained from being so involved in the Jewish community and in the Zionist world. I’ve got a great moral compass for being here right now and for standing with Israel.”

Support for Israel, particularly among many Christians in the United States, has continued to grow. America’s ambassador to Israel is Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, who is a former governor and Baptist minister. He is a strong supporter of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He’s also been a strong supporter of religious Zionists on the West Bank and last year he held out the possibility that the annexation by Israel of that side of the Jordan River was “of course” a possibility.

Christians United For Israel (CUFI), which has nearly 11 million supporters, was among the first to step up in the days following the Oct. 7 attack. They bought ads on the jumbo video screens that surround Times Square in New York City and flashed pictures of the 240 hostages taken by Hamas. Mingled among the images were pictures of a bloodied pacifier, a mangled wheelchair and a close-up of a pair of hands crudely bound by thick strands of rope.

CUFI held their 20th annual Summit that ended July 1 in Oxan, Md., just outside Washington, D.C. It wound up with an intense round of lobbying on Capitol Hill by the attendees.

Sheri Dollinger, who is Jewish and an executive director of the organization, said the relationship between the Christians who make up her organization “could not be more kosher.” Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, who spoke to the organization’s meeting this year, was impressed by their full-throated support for his nation. “You don’t hear the ifs and the buts,” he was quoted as saying.

And there was no mention there of the conversion of Jews and the need to preserve Israel for the second coming of the Christian Messiah that is often heard among some Christians.

“CUFI is non-conversionary. CUFI is non-partisan,” Dollinger says. “And CUFI unilaterally supports the Israeli government. I’ve been here for 18 years, and I have never once been proselytized to.”

That same kind of bond was evident at the interfaith event at Chabad of North Fulton. The Rev. Randy Schlichting reaffirmed the bond that exists between Jews and Christians that originates through the nation of Israel and that is such a prominent part of Jewish scripture.

“We support you because you’re the people of G-d, and G-d loves you. And we want to love what G-d loves truly. Maybe there are some other Christians who love you with ulterior motives or whatever. We just love you because G-d loves you. And I hope you believe that we have no other agenda but to support you when tragedy happens to show up so that you’re not alone.”

The gathering at the synagogue was the third such meeting Rabbi Minkowicz has convened recently. He has been motivated, he told the group, not just by his concern for Israel, but for the future support of the American Jewish community.

“We want to be friends with everybody. We want to be connected.”