Judaism in Mexico
A special time in my life was a year I spent at a Spanish language school preparing to go to Latin America as a missionary. It was a difficult time trying to learn a new language at age 27. Some fellow students that were in their 50s and older found it nearly impossible to learn a new language. During a short stay in Puerto Rico later, my small children picked it up in just 2 weeks playing with neighbor children. I have heard that very small children have the ability to learn 2 or more languages at the same time and not get them mixed up. I resent it very much.
One good thing that came out of my time at the language school was making new friends. One was a man my age named John. He was an entertaining character. He was always joking. He would tell me things that would make me laugh, in spite of the difficulty of learning the language. One day he told me that he was Jewish. The idea of a believer in Jesus that was in Texas preparing to go to Mexico as a Christian missionary yet being a Jew was humorous. It was the kind of thing he would always say to me.
Sometime later my family and I were living in Veracruz, Mexico. One day while I was gone to the bank or something, John came with his wife and another missionary couple to our house. They worked in extreme southern Mexico and stopped by our place on their way to Texas unannounced but very welcome. I returned home to find our surprise guests. It was about lunch time.
My wife went to work preparing an impromptu lunch. We had just bought some deli meat. This was very expensive. Fresh produce was cheap but processed lunch meat was a special treat. We could seldom purchase it. My wife decided to make a ham sandwich for everyone. It was a very expensive move but we were glad to do it for our guests.
Lunch was ready by the time I got home that day so I hurried to wash my hands to eat. Everyone was already seated, waiting for me so they could start eating. My chair was next to John. I noticed that he did not have a sandwich like everyone else. I could see that he was the only one that had a peanut butter sandwich. It did not take me 5 seconds to realize what was happening. In my absence John had obviously asked my wife for something other than what everyone else was eating. I, through my wife who was unaware of these things, had just given a ham sandwich to a Jew! He was a Christian but had chosen to abide by some of his Jewish dietary laws. We never spoke about it. We finally all realized what was going on.
I started a new church in an urban yet still poor area of Mexico. While the work was still quite new a distinguished couple would often join our worship time. A friend and Mexican coworker was fond of playing upbeat minor key worship songs from the book of The Psalms. This new couple would often be thoroughly involved in the worship. They really enjoyed it. Strangely, I would see them sometimes with their arms folded with a rather stern and unapproving look on their faces. That is odd, I thought. They either enjoyed the worship greatly or disliked it greatly. I could not understand what was going on.
One day I went to this couple's house to visit them and get to know them more. As I knocked on the front door I noticed something on the door frame. It was a mezuzah!
In Judaism, parchment contained in a decorative case, inscribed with Torah verses, placed on right sides of doors and doorposts
They were Jewish! I felt so ignorant. That is why they liked the Old Testament Jewish-type of music and were offended when we worshiped the name of Jesus. I never expected or considered Judaism in Latin America.
I think Catholicism in some parts of Mexico would be unrecognizable to American Catholics. They may have allegiance to the same Pope but after that, it resembles paganism or witchcraft. Something similar could be said about Judaism. There are “synagogues” in Mexico that do animal sacrifices outside of their meeting places. It is just pagan witchcraft that does public animal sacrifices using Old Testament verses as an excuse.
No wonder I did not consider Mexican “Judaism” as something valid.
No matter what the label is; no matter what the culture is, we need to be proclaiming the message about Jesus, His person and His work.
Mar. 7, 2024