Jews For Jesus Director Declares "The Passion" a Godsend
by Jenni Parker
March 18, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Jewish Christian is saying that Mel Gibson's independent blockbuster film, The Passion of the Christ, is a wonderful gift to those involved in evangelistic outreach to Jews.Susan Perlman is associate executive director of Jews for Jesus, a group whose stated mission is "to make the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue" for the Jewish people. She says even though there has been considerable backlash against the film from some Jewish leaders who suspected that it would fuel anti-Semitism, she is confident that the negative talk will not keep many Jews from going to see the film for themselves.
In an Associated Press interview Perlman said, "My people have always been a pretty independent people, and when someone tells us not to go see something or not to do it, we're probably more inclined to do it than else, and so I'm kind of excited about the fact that there will be a lot of Jewish people viewing this film."
To determine whether or not the most dire predictions about the anti-Semitism effect had any basis, the Institute for Jewish and Community Research commissioned a nationwide survey. The results suggest that those who voiced concerns over the possibility that Gibson's movie would spark anti-Jewish sentiment need not have worried.
According to AP reports, the Institute's poll found that 83 percent of Americans familiar with the film say it has not made them more nor less likely to blame today's Jews for Christ's crucifixion, while nine percent said Mel Gibson's film has actually made them less likely to cast blame on modern-day Jews.
And after all, as Perlman muses, "How can anyone be blamed for the death of a person who is in fact alive?" She says those who really believe that Jesus is alive should be focused on sharing the gospel message, specifically "the fact that God came, he died for our sins, and he rose from the dead."
The Jews for Jesus spokesperson told AP that she feels her group, among others, owe Gibson a pat on the back for what he has accomplished in producing and directing the powerfully moving, biblically-based work.
"The response I think that most of us as Jewish believers should have to this film is encouragement to Mel Gibson for having made it," Perlman says, "because it's allowing us to discuss the fact that Jesus is the one who died for our sins, and that he died a voluntary death -- and more importantly, that he didn't stay dead."
Perlman's open letter to Gibson, posted on the Jews for Jesus website, states that there are Jewish people who are grateful to the producer-director for having made the film, and she says, because of "The Passion," the important topic of Jesus Christ is being passionately discussed.
