Jewish Missions in the Shadow of the Holocaust (Part 3) | The Chosen People Radio Episode 21

Hebrews 12 sets the life of faith inside a great race, with a great cloud of witnesses surrounding God’s people. The great cloud is not just an idea on a page; it has names, faces, accents, sufferings, and stories that still speak. Yeshua, Jesus, stands at the center as the author and perfecter of faith, the one who endured the cross, despised the shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. The text calls tired hearts to consider him, because looking at him keeps the soul from growing weary and losing heart.

Rachmiel Friedland’s story shows what that kind of endurance looked like in Poland. The Warsaw Ghetto was packed with Jewish people from many backgrounds, secular, reform, ultra Orthodox, liberal, conservative, all pressed into starvation and terror. Jewish believers in Jesus were there too, meeting, worshiping, and sharing the gospel with their Jewish compatriots while the walls closed in around them. Rachmiel, still a young man, found holes in the wall and slipped in and out, bringing food, supplies, prayer, and Bible study to believers who knew their days were numbered.

The shrinking fellowship finally told Rachmiel to get out and stay out, because someone needed to live to tell the story. That witness matters because those Jewish believers lived as Jews and died as Jews, and yet they were also followers of Yeshua who bore witness in the darkest place imaginable. Their deaths were not because they confessed Jesus, but because they were born Jewish; still, their lives carried the gospel right into the ghetto.

Isaac Feinstein’s life gives another picture of faithfulness in perilous times. The Iron Guard in Romania dragged him away, and the road before him led toward death. Isaac stood in a jail cell on a Sunday morning, got up on a table, sang Christian songs, and preached the gospel until the guards pulled him down. The cattle car then became a place of Scripture, as Isaac sat beside an older rabbi and read psalms in Hebrew until he died leaning on that rabbi’s shoulder.

God had his people placed in horrible places so that Jewish people who were about to perish could hear the gospel. The covenant with Abraham still speaks: God blesses those who bless the Jewish people, and through them all the families of the earth are blessed. The present rise of antisemitism is not something to shrug off; it keeps popping up like whack a mole, and history warns how quickly hatred can harden into horror. The church’s calling is to stand with the Jewish people, bring comfort to the Jewish people, pray for the Jewish people, and above all bring the gospel to the Jewish people before time runs out.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Faith runs with eyes fixed Hebrews 12 does not call faith a casual walk but a race that requires endurance. The encumbrance and the entangling sin must be laid aside because divided attention weakens the runner. Yeshua’s endured cross and seated victory give tired believers something stronger than sentiment: a living object for sustained consideration. [04:09]
• 2. God plants witnesses in peril The Warsaw Ghetto was not outside the reach of God’s witness, even when starvation, walls, and deportations made hope seem unimaginable. Jewish believers gathered, prayed, studied Scripture, and shared the gospel under conditions that stripped away every illusion of comfort. God’s faithfulness often becomes visible through ordinary saints placed in places no one would choose. [09:23]
• 3. Some stories must be told Rachmiel was told to leave because someone had to survive and tell what happened. Memory becomes a sacred stewardship when the dead can no longer speak for themselves. The story of Jewish believers in the ghetto guards against a flattened history and reminds the church that Yeshua had witnesses among his own people in that terrible hour. [09:56]
• 4. The gospel traveled into death Isaac Feinstein did not wait for safe conditions before bearing witness. The jail cell heard songs and gospel preaching, and the cattle car heard Hebrew psalms shared between a believer in Jesus and an older rabbi. The nearness of death did not silence the Word; it made every remaining breath weighty. [17:33]
• 5. Blessing Israel requires gospel love God’s covenant word to Abraham is treated as unconditional and eternal, not as a relic from another age. Standing with Jewish people means more than opposing antisemitism, though that opposition is necessary and urgent. True love also longs for Jewish people to hear the gospel of their Messiah, especially when history shows how quickly danger can intensify.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [04:09] - Running with Eyes on Yeshua
• [04:45] - Jewish Missionary Heroes Remembered
• [05:26] - Rachmiel Friedland and Warsaw
• [06:46] - Jewish Believers in the Ghetto
• [08:54] - Sneaking Food and Bible Study
• [10:21] - Living and Dying as Jews
• [15:41] - Isaac Feinstein in Romania
• [17:33] - Gospel Songs in the Jail Cell
• [18:04] - Psalms in the Cattle Car
• [19:23] - Standing with the Jewish People
• [20:33] - Antisemitism Growing Darker
• [22:05] - Prayer and Gospel Urgency

1. What does Hebrews 12:1-3 compare the life of faith to, and what practical actions does it urge believers to take?
2. How did Rachmiel Friedland demonstrate endurance in the Warsaw Ghetto, and why did the group tell him to leave? [09:56]
3. What specific actions did Isaac Feinstein take to share his faith in the jail cell and cattle car? [17:33]
4. According to the sermon, what two things does God’s covenant with Abraham require of believers today?

1. Why does Hebrews 12 emphasize “fixing our eyes on Jesus” as the solution to weariness? How does His example of enduring the cross relate to daily struggles?
2. The sermon says Jewish believers in the Warsaw Ghetto “lived as Jews and died as Jews” but also bore witness to Jesus. How does this challenge or expand our understanding of cultural identity and faith? [10:21]
3. Isaac Feinstein shared Psalms with a rabbi in a cattle car. What might this moment reveal about the relationship between suffering, Scripture, and evangelism? [18:04]
4. The text warns that antisemitism “keeps popping up like whack-a-mole.” How does history validate this analogy, and why is it urgent for the church to respond?

1. What “weights” or distractions do you need to lay aside to run your faith race with endurance? Name one practical step to address this.
2. Rachmiel risked his life to bring food and Bible study to others. Who in your life is in a “ghetto” of suffering or isolation, and how could you tangibly support them this week? [09:23]
3. Isaac preached and sang even when death was near. What fears or circumstances currently silence your witness, and how could you lean on Jesus’ example to speak boldly?
4. The sermon urges believers to “stand with the Jewish people” amid rising antisemitism. What specific action (prayer, advocacy, education, etc.) will you take to bless the Jewish community? [19:23]
5. Rachmiel’s group said, “Someone needs to live to tell the story.” What story of God’s faithfulness in your life or family needs to be shared before it’s forgotten?
6. The covenant with Abraham includes blessing all nations. How can you intentionally share the gospel with someone outside your cultural or religious background this month?