Leading Rabbi: Evangelists More Exalted than Persia's Cyrus.

[Ephraim Ben Noach]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/181649#.U5nXwTco6BY

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed says US evangelists deserve love and respect for assisting Israel with no strings attached.


By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 6/12/2014, 6:16 PM



Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, Dean of the Har Bracha Yeshiva and Rabbi of the Samaria town of Har Bracha, wrote in his influential weekly column inBesheva Magazine that there is no problem with the Ministry of Education's accepting funds from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) for children's summer camps, and that it is alright for parents toregister their children to the camps.

Rabbi Melamed's column goes much further, however, and indicates a newfound openness in the way part of the leadership of the strictly orthodox leadership stream in religious Zionism – the hareidi religious Zionists, or “hardalim” – views Zionist Christians.

Rabbi Melamed's column, which is very popular in the religious Zionist public, brushes off as false the claims that the summer camps serve Christian missionary aims and that the children in them will be exposed to missionary materials. “It is hard to understand where such a libelous claim sprang from,” the rabbi adds.

The rabbi took issue with the IFCJ's policy of collecting funds by presenting Israel as a poverty-stricken country, when in fact its economy is growing, and poverty is not as bad as in the US. The fund would have done better to ask for support in a more respectable way, for scientific and spiritual endeavors. However, he said, “after the evangelists donated their money with kindness of heart and with love for the people of Israel, unconditionally and with no involvement in where the money goes, they must not be insulted by throwing their contribution back in their faces, while accusing them of trying to proselytize Jews.”

He notes that the IFCG funding is only a small fraction of the total funding for the camps: 36 million shekels, compared to 260 million shekels that the Ministry of Education allotted.

"As for the claim that this contribution could cause the Jewish masses in Israel to view evangelists – who are Christians who love Israel – favorably, there is no fault in this, because they deserve recognition for their support for us. We must battle missionaries, not moral Christians who respect our religion and support us.”

The rabbi goes even further and says: “It appears that we can say that the American evangelists are the most important and meaningful group supporting Israel nowadays. These are about 70 million citizens of the largest superpower in the world, who believe that the words of the Bible hold true today, and that the nation of Israel needs to return to its land and follow its Torah and Mitzvot. Their moral stature is higher and more exalted than that of Coresh [Persian King Cyrus], who assisted the Return to Zion.”

Rabbi Melamed quotes Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook ztz”l, who wrote that “The love of human beings must be alive in the heart and soul, the love of every person individually, and the love of all the nations... despite all of the different opinions, religions and beliefs.”

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Some evangelicals are genuine Zionists and others are phonies and frauds. There are also some Catholic, Orthodox, etc. Zionists too, don't forget.

[Every Jew AK47]

I have lot of respect for some evangelical Christians who do unconditionally love Jewish people and want Israel to be a Jewish land ruled by Jewish leaders.

Sadly, I will have to be honest that probably only about 10% of Evangelical Christians fall into this category and a majority of them believe that all Jews will go to hell if they do not accept Jesus as G-d.

For those 10% of Christians who truly support Jews and are not seeking to convert them into their religion, I have utmost respect and admiration.

I think I am more knowledgeable than most about CHristians, as I grew up mostly around gentiles and CHristian people in the Pacific Northwest and have met and talked with many pastors and CHristian people and have built my own personal consensus about their mentality.  Sadly, it seems more times than not, they usually consider me an "Uncompleted Jew", because I do not worship their Jesus as G-d.   However, I do meet a minority of them who have great admiration that I am Jewish and follow Jewish Torah and think that all Jews have special place in the Kingdom of G-d and do not try to enforce their own personal beliefs of who is G-d or Moshiach on me.

[edu]

Sefer Hachinuch Mitzva 426

ספר החינוך מצוה תכו

והעובר על זה ושיבח עובדי עבודה זרה ומעשיהם, זולתי בענין שימצא שבח יתר מאד לאומתנו מתוך שבחם, עבר על לאו זה, ואין בו מלקות לפי שאין בו מעשה, אבל ענשו גדול מאד כי הוא סיבה לתקלה מרובה שאין לה תשלומין, כי הדברים ירדו לפעמים בחדרי בטן השומעים, וכל יודע דעת יבין זה

[kahaneloyalist]

If Rabbi Melamed truly believes there are no strings attached there is a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell him.

The problem is the Rabbi and his supporters have been the recipient of major donations which has blinded them to what they are truly dealing with.

[Ephraim Ben Noach]

What kind of strings?

[muman613]

What kind of strings?

They really seek to convert us to believe their 'messiah'.

[Ephraim Ben Noach]

They really seek to convert us to believe their 'messiah'.

Okay, thanks. Why would they give all that money? Do they get a place or platform in Israel to talk to Jew's about Jesus. I guess I just don't understand.

Don't get me wrong I know there are missionaries in Israel.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Chaim has said Eckstein's ICFJ is a counterproductive and money-grubbing organization, but do you all really believe that no Christians are allies of Jewry? Tell me, who were the people who helped Chaim when he was in prison? Typical American Jews? The big Jewish establishment orgs? What's the Jewish mainstream doing to help the pioneers on the hilltops today or Jewish prisoners in Israel or Jonathan Pollard or Jews who live in negro-besieged neighborhoods?

Rabbi Eckstein may be a charlatan, sure, but the people who donate to his movement care more about Israel than 95% of American Jewry and Chaim himself would agree with that.

[muman613]

Chaim has said Eckstein's ICFJ is a counterproductive and money-grubbing organization, but do you all really believe that no Christians are allies of Jewry? Tell me, who were the people who helped Chaim when he was in prison? Typical American Jews? The big Jewish establishment orgs? What's the Jewish mainstream doing to help the pioneers on the hilltops today or Jewish prisoners in Israel or Jonathan Pollard or Jews who live in negro-besieged neighborhoods?

Rabbi Eckstein may be a charlatan, sure, but the people who donate to his movement care more about Israel than 95% of American Jewry and Chaim himself would agree with that.

I personally have not seen this... All Jews I know, from reform to Orthodox, all support Israel. Of course the 'support' varies from the 'two-state' vision to the Jewish homeland vision... Even here in liberal California most Jews (over 80% of them) support Israel very strongly.

If Jews don't support Israel they may as well assimilate and become Christians. And I have to really ask why Christians would support Jews at this stage in the game. The only reason, according to my opinion, is that they truly seek to convert us.

[Every Jew AK47]

I personally have not seen this... All Jews I know, from reform to Orthodox, all support Israel. Of course the 'support' varies from the 'two-state' vision to the Jewish homeland vision... Even here in liberal California most Jews (over 80% of them) support Israel very strongly.

If Jews don't support Israel they may as well assimilate and become Christians. And I have to really ask why Christians would support Jews at this stage in the game. The only reason, according to my opinion, is that they truly seek to convert us.

I have met many Jews who are against Israel and some of the biggest adversaries I have had in debates have been Jews who claim that the "Israelis" stole the land of Palestine..  However, I will say on average, most Jews support there being an Israel..  One of the heads of the Olympia Food Co-op who runs the Anti-Israel initiative , banning all products made by Israeli Jews, is a Jew, herself.   Also, some of the worst, Anti-Israel/Islamic supporting politicians are Jews.   Did not Hillary Clinton's daughter marry a Jewish guy?

My uncle , who is now dead, was a gun-toting ultra-left wing communist who thought Israel should be wiped out..   He ended up being murdered by his wife..  As much as I prayed he changed his ways, Hashem administered justice to him.

[muman613]

I have met many Jews who are against Israel and some of the biggest adversaries I have had in debates have been Jews who claim that the "Israelis" stole the land of Palestine..  However, I will say on average, most Jews support there being an Israel..  One of the heads of the Olympia Food Co-op who runs the Anti-Israel initiative , banning all products made by Israeli Jews, is a Jew, herself.   Also, some of the worst, Anti-Israel/Islamic supporting politicians are Jews.   Did not Hillary Clinton's daughter marry a Jewish guy?

My uncle , who is now dead, was a gun-toting ultra-left wing communist who thought Israel should be wiped out..   He ended up being murdered by his wife..  As much as I prayed he changed his ways, Hashem administered justice to him.

I feel sorry for you that you have so many bad Jews around you. But I swear my experience is completely the opposite.

If we cannot rely on Jews we have nobody else to turn to...

[Chaim Ben Pesach]

I personally have not seen this... All Jews I know, from reform to Orthodox, all support Israel. Of course the 'support' varies from the 'two-state' vision to the Jewish homeland vision... Even here in liberal California most Jews (over 80% of them) support Israel very strongly.

If Jews don't support Israel they may as well assimilate and become Christians. And I have to really ask why Christians would support Jews at this stage in the game. The only reason, according to my opinion, is that they truly seek to convert us.

בס''ד

A "two state final solution" is supporting Israel?! The 78% of American Jews who voted for the Muslim Jew-hater Barack Hussein Obama support Israel?!

That's like saying that the 90% of American Jews who voted for the Nazi Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the holocaust were supporting the millions of European Jews who were being murdered by Roosevelt's monstrous policies.

The vast majority of American Jews are self-hating enemies of Israel. Israel's worst enemies are the Jews in the news media, in Hollywood, in politics, in the business world, in the universities, in the labor unions and in the Jewish establishment organizations.

Jews are, and always have been, their own worst enemies.

The prophets of the Bible warned us that our destroyers would come from within.

[Every Jew AK47]

I feel sorry for you that you have so many bad Jews around you. But I swear my experience is completely the opposite.

If we cannot rely on Jews we have nobody else to turn to...

Would you call the liberal leftist Jews, like Shalom Akshav, pro-Israel Jews??    Haven't they done more to pain our nation than even some evangelicals, like Pat Robertson, who cursed Arial Sharon for giving away holy Jewish land to the Arabs?   Even if some of these Christians intentions are conversions, as long as they believe all the land of Israel belongs to the Jews and are are virulently against partitioning more land to the Arabians, I will say I think they are much more an ally than some of these self-hating Jews. 

I believe we Jews sometimes need to rely on the outside, especially if the inside is corrupt.  However, my feelings are that no outsider can truly corrupt us, in the end, we have only ourselves to blame.  IMO, there is nothing greater than a Jewish nation that relies wholeheartedly on Hashem and his power.  But, so many Jewish people have decided to wage war on Hashem and as we know from history the outcome is never good.  To claim there is not a large number of enemies among our ranks is short-sighted.

Also, there is dissension among Jewish people, themselves.  The Charedim want Israel to become Ultra-Orthodox, whereas the secularists on the other side want all religious laws abolished and promote events like "Gay Pride Parades", sex, drugs and party lifestyle of the Western world.

I suppose King Cyrus would be an example of when we Jews needed to turn to people from the outside, to help us return to our land and restore the Temple and nation. 

In the end, I don't know if we can rely on anyone else but Hashem, himself, as even our own Jewish people have betrayed Hashem.    In the end it is all about Hashem restoring Israel to its former glory and bringing Moshiach to our Nation so that it can flourish, perpetually.

Anyhow, this is my take.  I do not see things in black and white..  From my perspective, I see good and evil from all sides.  I did say about 10% of the evangelical Christians and to a much lesser extent, Orthodox Christians and Catholics are bold supporters of Israel and Jewish people.  That is not a small number and we should not overlook the support of that noble and honorable group of people.   I have actually met some Christian people who seem more zealous to make Israel a Jewish nation than many Jews  I know who could care less about Israel's existence or Judaism, for that matter.

[Every Jew AK47]

בס''ד

A "two state final solution" is supporting Israel?! The 78% of American Jews who voted for the Muslim Jew-hater Barack Hussein Obama support Israel?!

That's like saying that the 90% of American Jews who voted for the Nazi Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the holocaust were supporting the millions of European Jews who were being murdered by Roosevelt's monstrous policies.

The vast majority of American Jews are self-hating enemies of Israel. Israel's worst enemies are the Jews in the news media, in politics, in the business world, in the universities, in the labor unions and in the Jewish establishment organizations.

Jews are, and always have been, their own worst enemies.

The prophets of the Bible warned us that our destroyers would come from within.

Chaim, you typed this while I was making my post.. I agree 100% with everything you wrote and I believe you shared my exact sentiments with this post as I was trying to explain to Muman in my last post..

A Two-State Solution is national suicide, which is the equivalent of a One-State Arabic Solution.  I rather them just give the land to the Arabs than play anymore of these stupid games..  Either defend your land or give it away, but stop partitioning the land of Israel!  Pat Robertson , IMO, would have made a better Prime Minister of Israel than any of the self-loathing, greedy, corrupt goons who currently are Israel's heads of state.  That is not to say I would ever want him as the Prime Minister of Israel.. I am just explaining to you the bleak situation we Jews are facing among ourselves.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

An "evangelist" is by definition someone who evangelizes or preaches to people with the intention of converting them, so there is no such thing as an "evangelist" with no strings attached.  True Christians always have wanted and still do want to see Jews evangelized.  It is only modern sectarian Christians and secularized Christians who do not.  Just like only modern sectarian and secularized Muslims do not support terrorism.  I don't think most religious Zionist rabbis agree with Rabbi Melamed on his stance on evangelicals having no strings attached.  He has been opposed by Rabbi Dov Lior (Rabbi of Kiryat Arba/Hebron) and other rabbis.  There are many links of religious Zionist rabbis' rulings that I can post on the subject, but they are all in Hebrew.  Perhaps I will take some time to translate some of them and open one or more topics in the Torah section.

Wouldn't most JTFers *prefer* that Christians become Noahides? I know that, I accept it, I don't care so long as basic respect is there. I don't think that any of these so-called evil evangelicals have ever denied that they want everyone on earth to be Christians. The question is are they actually engaging in missionizing or are people just looking for reasons to bash them. I can live with a difference of opinion in religion so long as it's polite and cordial. I don't care what someone wants me to become so long as they are being honest about it and not constantly shoving it down my throat. I don't support deceptive proselytizing by anyone, for any religion.

I don't care who this offends, a spade is a spade--the majority of supporters of Israel in the West are devout Christians, evangelical and otherwise. Most Jews in the Galut are either indifferent towards Israel (bad enough) or auto anti-Semitic enemies (even worse).

[muman613]

בס''ד

A "two state final solution" is supporting Israel?! The 78% of American Jews who voted for the Muslim Jew-hater Barack Hussein Obama support Israel?!

That's like saying that the 90% of American Jews who voted for the Nazi Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the holocaust were supporting the millions of European Jews who were being murdered by Roosevelt's monstrous policies.

The vast majority of American Jews are self-hating enemies of Israel. Israel's worst enemies are the Jews in the news media, in Hollywood, in politics, in the business world, in the universities, in the labor unions and in the Jewish establishment organizations.

Jews are, and always have been, their own worst enemies.

The prophets of the Bible warned us that our destroyers would come from within.

Chaim,

While I respect your opinion and am proud of your accomplishments I will have to strongly disagree with your approach.

To claim all Jews who support a 'two state solution' are 'self-haters' and we should curse them is utterly and completely RIDICULOUS. If you do that you will cause more divisions within the Jewish people. Judaism is not about forcing your approach on others, rather about convincing the Jewish people that our way is correct.

I feel more in common with Jews who support a 2 state solution than with non-Jews. I know Jews who support such a plan who regularly make Aliyah to Eretz Yisroel every year. They are hardly self-haters (as we refer to them here).

The Jewish people will only succeed when we have Unity between the majority of the remaining Jewish population. To constantly belittle and curse Jews who foolishly support a 'peace plan' which we know is suicidal will not result in anything but pushing Jews who could have been persuaded away from our message.

I truly do not think that the savior of the Jewish people will come from Christianity. I have learned that the best approach is to bring more Jews back to traditional and Torah principles. I do not subscribe to what I see a lot of people here doing which is knocking the entire Jewish nation for our problems.

Indeed the Jewish people have always had issues. And this will only change if we work according to how the Torah says we should work, by spreading the light of Torah and mitzvot and instilling the pride of being Jewish.

I hope you can understand that I can disagree with you and yet still feel that you are a great force for good within the Jewish nation. But I wish you could think about how the approach of cursing and belittling Jews may be hurting the cause.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Christians are often accused of only caring about Jews because we want to bring about the end-times. Even if this is true, and it's not, isn't God using the Gentiles to bring about the final redemption of the Jews? Everybody believes their own religion is right. Chaim may not be among them but there are JTFers who believe that anyone who is not a frum Jew (or Noahide if Gentile) is going to hell. So long as they aren't acting like jerks, what do I care?

DBN, you know full well that Jews donate money to Gentiles of other religions every single day. It's true that the majority of this may be for self-hating causes, but some of it is genuine, legitimate charity for whatever reason.

[muman613]

A lesson from this coming Shabbats portion regarding the 'sin of the spies'...

http://www.torah.org/advanced/shem-meshmuel/5762/shlach.html

.
.
.
While the sin of the Golden Calf remained with Israel till the destruction of the First Temple, that of the Spies remained till the destruction of the Second Temple. The destruction of the First Temple was due primarily to idolatry, which is a sin of the human wisdom, but the Second Temple was destroyed by gossip, slander and needless hatred. These destroy or rupture the unity of Israel that was first caused by the sin of the Spies. So their sin was reflected in the gossip, slander and needless hatred that caused the destruction of the Temple.

[muman613]

This video, a Dvar Torah for parsha Shelach (the portion read this Shabbat) written by Rabbi Binyamin Kahane (may his blood be avenged)... It explains some of the issues concerning the motivations of the spies.



If only we could truly learn the nature of the sin of the spies and strengthen our Jewish soul so that the element of fear will be removed then we would be able to conquer the land and remove the evil from our midst.

[edu]

Some of you may not be aware of an important historical fact.
The founders of what is called the old yishuv - Pre-Zionist settlements in the land of Israel, that is to say the immigrants that came in the early 1800's (of the secular calendar) were actually religious Zionists.
What changed much of their group eventually to be non-zionists or even anti-zionists charedis?
Two reasons.
From time to time certain Protestant Christian Groups (who believed Jewish settlement of Israel served the ideological interests of their own religion or who were strong missionaries) used their influence to annul threats to the Jewish community in Israel who were threatened by the Muslims and even the Druze population.
Some of the leadership of the Jews although aware of the spiritual dangers of being allies with these Christian Groups nevertheless encouraged at least a partial alliance (between the head of the Jewish group and the Christian groups) because they thought that was the best way to protect the community and move the redemption forward. They thought they could have a more friendly and cooperative relationship without causing much damage.
This coupled with messianic calculations by many that the secular year 1840 (Jewish year 5600) would bring a major breakthrough in the redemption and perhaps the messiah, followed by a major disappointment when it did not happen led some of the mid-level leadership to come to the conclusion that maybe the Christian messiah was the messiah after all and some of them ended up converting to Christianity.
These failures of the movement and the shame that some of the mid-level leadership even converted to Christianity caused such a backlash against the previous pro-zionist ideology of the settlers that it ended up transforming much of the community into the type of Charedi community we see today in Israel.
The source of this information is from historian Aryeh Morgenstern's book in Hebrew, Geula Bderech Hateva.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Some of you may not be aware of an important historical fact.
The founders of what is called the old yishuv - Pre-Zionist settlements in the land of Israel, that is to say the immigrants that came in the early 1800's (of the secular calendar) were actually religious Zionists.
What changed much of their group eventually to be non-zionists or even anti-zionists charedis?
Two reasons.
From time to time certain Protestant Christian Groups (who believed Jewish settlement of Israel served the ideological interests of their own religion or who were strong missionaries) used their influence to annul threats to the Jewish community in Israel who were threatened by the Muslims and even the Druze population.
Some of the leadership of the Jews although aware of the spiritual dangers of being allies with these Christian Groups nevertheless encouraged at least a partial alliance (between the head of the Jewish group and the Christian groups) because they thought that was the best way to protect the community and move the redemption forward. They thought they could have a more friendly and cooperative relationship without causing much damage.
This coupled with messianic calculations by many that the secular year 1840 (Jewish year 5600) would bring a major breakthrough in the redemption and perhaps the messiah, followed by a major disappointment when it did not happen led some of the mid-level leadership to come to the conclusion that maybe the Christian messiah was the messiah after all and some of them ended up converting to Christianity.
These failures of the movement and the shame that some of the mid-level leadership even converted to Christianity caused such a backlash against the previous pro-zionist ideology of the settlers that it ended up transforming much of the community into the type of Charedi community we see today in Israel.
The source of this information is from historian Aryeh Morgenstern's book in Hebrew, Geula Bderech Hateva.

Shouldn't the anger be directed at the false prophets who predicted the coming of the coming of the Messiah in 1840?

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Chaim,

While I respect your opinion and am proud of your accomplishments I will have to strongly disagree with your approach.

To claim all Jews who support a 'two state solution' are 'self-haters' and we should curse them is utterly and completely RIDICULOUS. If you do that you will cause more divisions within the Jewish people. Judaism is not about forcing your approach on others, rather about convincing the Jewish people that our way is correct.

It's "ridiculous", eh? Tell me what these proud, loyal American Jews are doing for Israel. Tell me one thing. (Donating to extreme-leftist Jewish establishment organizations that denounce the hilltop pioneers and the "settlements" in general and whine and cry about the "human rights" of the Arabs doesn't count.)

I feel more in common with Jews who support a 2 state solution than with non-Jews. I know Jews who support such a plan who regularly make Aliyah to Eretz Yisroel every year. They are hardly self-haters (as we refer to them here).

You support cowards and appeaseniks more than Gentiles that are actually fighting for the Jewish people? And you're accusing others of "needless hatred"? It's time to look in the mirror, buddy. Israel does not need more leftists making aliyah, either, and I guarantee you that the moment Kahanism takes power, most of these will flee back to the Galut.

The Jewish people will only succeed when we have Unity between the majority of the remaining Jewish population. To constantly belittle and curse Jews who foolishly support a 'peace plan' which we know is suicidal will not result in anything but pushing Jews who could have been persuaded away from our message.

You and I both know that Jews are the most educated and economically successful per capita of all the major US religious groups. How can Jews be so skilled and talented in worldly things and somehow uninformed and naive on spiritual things? What's more logical--to pretend that they are all ignorant or to accept that they have chosen what they want due to free will? The great majority of your left-wing, pro-"peace" friends are assimilating rapidly (if they haven't already) and will cease to exist completely within a generation or two. Are these people the hope for the future of Judaism?

I truly do not think that the savior of the Jewish people will come from Christianity. I have learned that the best approach is to bring more Jews back to traditional and Torah principles. I do not subscribe to what I see a lot of people here doing which is knocking the entire Jewish nation for our problems.

The Christians that you so detest are not telling Jews to intermarry and assimilate and practice leftism and give up on Zionism, believe it or not, but I think you already know that. It's too bad I can't say the same of Jewish establishment leaders or the American Jewish Main Street.

Also, can you please tell us who you mean by "knocking the entire Jewish nation for our problems"? Your problem seems to be with the entirety of JTF doctrine, so why not name names and put it all out there?

Indeed the Jewish people have always had issues. And this will only change if we work according to how the Torah says we should work, by spreading the light of Torah and mitzvot and instilling the pride of being Jewish.

I'm not Jewish but I know for a fact that the Torah says that these traitors and beasts are Erev Rav, without any hope either in this life or for mercy on Judgment Day. Their only hope is if they choose to repent; they certainly will not do so just because we ask them to.

I hope you can understand that I can disagree with you and yet still feel that you are a great force for good within the Jewish nation. But I wish you could think about how the approach of cursing and belittling Jews may be hurting the cause.

Muman, American Jews wanted Chaim to receive the maximum sentence for his acts of civil disobedience to free Soviet Jews, supported the imprisonment of Jonathan Pollard on kangaroo charges, serve as mouthpieces for Pisslam every single day, and care more about the right to butcher babies than the right of Jewish babies to survive in the Holy Land without being blown to pieces. If the vast majority of evangelicals were like that, and a substantial portion of Jews (or Hindus, or Mormons, or even Muslims for that matter) were my genuine allies on these issues, I can promise you that I'd support them and have their back rather than the phony evil self-hating Christians.

[edu]

Shouldn't the anger be directed at the false prophets who predicted the coming of the coming of the Messiah in 1840?

That was also a mistake.

[edu]

This is for Chaim Ben Pesach and other Hebrew speakers concerning the spiritual problems of making alliances

אליהו רבה (איש שלום) פרשה ח

ישמר אדם דברים בלבו שלא יעשה שותפות עם הגוי, ולא יכרת עמו ברית, שכן מצאנו באברהם אבינו שעשה שותפות, וסוף דברים שעשו עמו ברית, שנאמר ויקח אברהם צאן ובקר וגו' (בראשית כ"א כ"ז). אברהם כרת ברית עם אבימלך, נתקבצו (לפניו) מלאכי שרת אמרו לפניו, רבון כל העולמים, אדם יחיד שבחרתה (כך) [לך] משבעים לשונות כרת ברית עם אומות העולם, אמר להן, בן יחיד נתתי לו למאה שנה ואמרתי לו, יקרא לך זרע (שם שם /בראשית כ"א/ י"ב), אומר לו להעלהו לעולה, אם יעלהו הריני אדע, ואם לאו יפה אתם אומרים, שנאמר ויהי אחר הדברים האלה והאלהים נסה את אברהם וגו' (שם /בראשית/ כ"ב א'), מאחר שכרת ברית עם אבימלך והאלהים נסה, ויאמר קח נא את בנך וגו' (שם /בראשית כ"ב/ ב'), וישלח אברהם את ידו וגו' (שם /בראשית כ"ב/ י'), אף על פי כן לא היתה שעינו את ישראל ולחצו אותם יותר משלש מאות שנה, בשכר שכרת ברית עם אומות העולם אלא לשתים בלבד, מיכן אמרו כל העושה שותפות עם הגוי כאילו עובד עבודה זרה וכורת עמו ברית, ואם תלמיד חכם [הוא], מזלזל את תורתו ומחלל שמו של אביו [שבשמים], ומבזבז את ממונו ומוסר את בניו [ומפיל אותם] בחרב, ומגלה אותם מארצם ומוכרן לעבודה זרה. סליק פירקא

To sum it up very briefly, the major disasters that came upon Avraham (Abraham) and his descendants stemmed from his alliances with the Gentiles.