About Rabbi Lapin
|
American Alliance of Jews & Christians
 American Alliance of Jews and Christians (AAJC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization working to advance our nation toward the traditional Judeo-Christian values that defined America’s creation and became the blueprint for her greatness. American Alliance of Jews and Christians:
We have been sending Thought Tools out every single week now for a long time. I hope you receive it and enjoy it. More than that, I hope that along with the tens of thousands of other recipients, you find meaning and value in it for your life.
However, if you long-time readers have read Thought Tool with eagle-eyed care, you will have noticed that this weekly spiritual strategy is sent out by the not-for-profit American Alliance of Jews and Christians. Since we began sending Thought Tools in January, 2008, I have never explained what the AAJC is. I would like to tell you about it now.
I began building bridges between Jews and Christians back in 1991. I had become aware that Jews lived more benignly, more tranquilly and more prosperously today in the United States than anywhere else in the world during the past two thousand years. It was clear to me that this was not in spite of America being a Christian country but precisely because of it.
Yet, paradoxically, it was obvious to me that only one group in America was vilified and granted little respect by large elements of society. That group which was insulted and demonized with impunity was religious Christians. I thought it was crazy that Christians were being condemned for holding values that I shared as well; they were the values of my forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
I began to see that many in this country desired to discourage meaningful communication between Jews and Christians, because united we would present an almost irresistible force for spiritual renewal.
I was blessed with some wonderful Jewish and Christian brothers and sisters who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me as we began building the bridges that would one day become The American Alliance of Jews and Christians.
We knew we needed a virtual community of Jews and Christians who felt bonded by what we share. We recognized that the central core of our culture was a majestic and mysterious book that has never been out of print since Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press. We realized we passionately yearned for an organization made up of real people who care.
Out of this came the American Alliance of Jews and Christians. Now if you’ve been involved for a while already, you’ll know that you only very rarely do we appeal for help. Many of you generously contribute regularly, enough to allow the AAJC to cover the budget of our program. But because of critical events and the frightening footsteps of approaching turbulence we need to do much more this coming year.
I am asking for your help and support today and I am telling you this now so if you are unable to help at this time or simply do not wish to do so, you don’t have to take time to continue reading.
But if you’re still reading, I assume that you would like to know more about our work and perhaps help our work continue by means of an appropriate gesture of financial support. Let me tell you a little more about the idea behind the AAJC and its goals and dreams.
The American Alliance of Jews and Christians grew from my deep conviction that despite theological differences, millions of Jews and Christians share a common vision of civilization.
We prefer tranquility to violence; we prefer men to treat women with respect and deference; we prefer freedom to centrally planned tyranny; we prefer people enjoying economic independence through their own efforts to socialism; we believe in charity by choice rather than in government redistribution by force; we believe that marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman devoted to one another and to their children, and we believe that both the beginning and end of life are sacred. Like the American Founders, we prefer a Biblically inspired culture to the sordid stain of secularism.
I believe that America’s great blessings as well as the tranquil haven of prosperity she has provided for members of so many religious groups and nations are a result of these principles.
The ideas and systematic spiritual strategies of ancient Jewish wisdom were well known to and appreciated by most Christian leaders of colonial America.
This is why Mayflower Pilgrim, William Bradford, wrote the first few pages of his book of the history of the Plymouth Plantation in the Hebrew language. This is why great spiritual leaders like Ezra Styles, later to become president of Yale University and pastors like Cotton Mather all knew the Lord’s language, Hebrew.
One New England pastor, Abiel Abbot wrote in 1799 these words, “The people of the United States come nearer to a parallel with Ancient Israel, than any other nation upon the globe.” By the way his parents named him Abiel because in Hebrew the name means God is my father.
Just as ancient Israel arrived in the Promised Land with nothing but a set of Biblically-based ideas and proceeded to carve a civilization out of a wilderness, those great early Americans did the same thing. They crossed an ocean bearing little more than those timeless truths of the Bible and they too carved a great civilization out of a great wilderness.
Now plucking a flower from its roots and bringing it indoors to enjoy might seem like a good idea but pretty soon we discover that anything severed from its roots dies mighty quickly. Similarly, the great ideas of western civilization have roots too. Those roots are enshrined in the page of Scripture. And trying to disconnect civilization from its roots assures it of a rapid demise.
Therein lays the sacred mission of the American Alliance of Jews and Christians. Keeping civilization attached to its Judeo-Christian spiritual roots to maintain it as a fresh, strong, and influential force.
Our weekly Thought Tools as well as the books and audio CDs we help make available are part of how we provide the intellectual ammunition for good men and women all over the world to deploy in the struggle to defend civilization.
Today, steadfast vision and calm courage is needed to protect that civilization, the culmination of two millennia of Judeo-Christian achievement. Helping it remain attached to its roots, able to draw nourishment and endurance from those roots is our task.
Your generosity over the years has enabled the AAJC to bring the tools and the inspiration to hundreds of thousands of people via radio, television, personal appearances, and the books and audio CDs that today are found on every continent.
This coming year, in 2010, we want to do more. We would like to expand the scope of AAJC’s activities reaching many more. We would like to be able to supply CDs and books to worthwhile groups and people such as prison chaplains, military personnel, youth organizations and impoverished overseas missionaries. We hope to increase the opportunities for injecting the civilization-protecting principles into all corners of the culture.
With your help this can be done. I am not going to suggest how much you should or can give. This is an intensely personal decision; however I will tell you that for our programmed activities in 2010, we have planned a program requiring a budget of seven hundred thousand dollars.
This is a lot of money but I have prayed about this and know that it can happen. It is up to you and up to me. If you give us the tools, we will do the job.
Whatever support you can give to our work will be very much appreciated. You can make your tax-deductible gift by clicking the DONATE button above, or by mailing in your gift to AAJC, P.O. Box 58, Mercer Island, WA 98040 or by calling 1-888-722-2441 (888) RABBI-41 and telling the operator you wish to support the American Alliance of Jews and Christians with a gift.
May God bless you and protect you and may we all be privileged to do our part in protecting the legacy He entrusted to humanity on Mount Sinai just over three thousand years ago.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin
President
American Alliance of Jews and Christians
|
