From: friedenb@fir.egr.msu.edu (Gedaliah Friedenberg)
Newsgroups: alt.messianic,soc.culture.jewish
Subject: *Classic Testimony: Reb Asher Wade*
Date: 22 Jan 93 16:29:17 GMT
Reply-To: friedenb@fir.egr.msu.edu (Gedaliah Friedenberg)
Organization: College of Engineering, Michigan State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: 35.8.14.25


This is the story of a Lutheran Minister and PhD student who
found truth in Judaism and Yiddishkeit.  This is the brief
account of his story.  It is a bit long, bit I recommend taking
5 minutes to read it.  

==================================================================
In about 1984, Minister Asher Wade, a Christain scholar was reading
his local newspaper in Frankfurt, Germany.  It was Sunday morning, 
when Minister Wade was waiting for his wife so that they could
leave for Church where he led an English speaking congregation.

In that mornings paper were reprints of old photos of Frankfurt.
Not just any pictures.  These were pictures Kristallnacht -
the night of broken glass.  They were not just any pictures of
Kristallnacht - they were pictures from Frankfurt.  

See, that Sunday morning was the anniversary of Kristallnacht,
so the newspaper printed the photos.  Many of the photos
were of Jewish homes and businesses with broken windows, or
in flames.  The most striking part of the photos is that Reb
Wade recognized the buildings and backgrounds to the photos.
After all, he walked past many of them every day on the way
to work.  There was one photo where a Nazi was beating an old 
Jewish man to death.  Reb Wade was appauled.  He was even more
appauled to see that he recognized the building in the background
as the clock tower.  It was on this very corner that Reb Wade
met a friend every Wednesday for their standing lunch date.
All this time, and all those Wednesdays, and Reb Wade had not idea
that a man was murdered there just for being Jewish.

Reb Asher Wade was also in the final months of his PhD in Lutheran
philosophy at a Christian Seminary in Frankfurt.  He decided to
have a look into the Lutheran perspective on Kristallnacht.  He
wanted to see which of his teachers (then students) in Frankfurt
were out doing all that they could for the Jews.  He found out
that no one from his school did anything.  So Reb Wade decided
to see what the Lutheran teachings said about Kristallnacht.
He found only one reference in a textbook.  Not much really,
but the reference had a footnote.  The footnote said: "Even
though Martin Luther wrote of some tainted views on the Jewish
people, that this was not the corrent Lutheran perspective."

But the footnote did not cite where Martin Luther wrote about Jews.
So Reb Wade went into the Libraries at his Seminary.  We found
the complete works of Martin Luther.  Volumes 1 to 50, 500-700
pages each.  Reb Wade poured over the index and found nothing.
He decided to scan through the volumes page by page, a few each day,
until he found what the author of the textbook meant.  After all
this was the complete writings of Martin Luther.  If Martin Luther
*had* written something anything about the Jews (tainted or not),
surely it would be in his complete works.

After 7 months, and all of the volumes paged through, Reb Wade was 
about to give up.  Obviously the author of the textbook must have
been mistaken.  But as he was walking out of the library (the 
volumes were reference material, all of the time he was in the 
library scanning the pages), he noticed a flickering light out
of the corner of his eye.  It was only a burning-out flourescent
light bulb in a fixture on the ceiling.  He glanced at the fixture
for a moment, and noticed a book on the top shelf.  Already
far from the location of the works of Martin Luther, Red Wade
was astonished to see what appeared to be another volume.  The same 
burgundy leather cover, the same gold stripe down the spine.  He
quickly got a ladder and got the volume down.  750 page volume
left out from the others.  But this volume was not numbered on the
binding as the others were.  Reb Wade opened the cover and discovered 
why:  There was a stamp on the inside of the volume stating that this
book was restricted from re-publishing by the Lutheran Church.  This
was the book that the textbook author was citing.  

Martin Luther had 750 pages of hatred writings about Jews.  Martin
Luther even has a "solution" to the Jewish problem:  Take away their
money and possesions; Force their teachers to stop teaching their
Talmud, do not let Jews own businesses; and PUT THE JEWS INTO 
CONCENTRATED WORK CAMPS WHERE THEY CAN BE PRODUCTIVE TO SOCIETY.

Reb Wade was aghast.  This was strikingly similar to Nazi beliefs.
Reb Wade knew that he had found something so hidden that he may 
never find it again.  So Reb Wade snuck the book out of the library
and photocopied all 750 pages which he still has today.  He replaced
the volume where he found it, and went to meet the nearest Rabbi in
Frankfurt.  The Rabbi and Reb Wade had a number of discussions about
the Holocaust, the Jewish life in Frankfurt (the old Fankfurt synagogue,
one of the leagest in Europe, was burnt down and made into a parking
lot for the Lutheran Seminary athletic facilities) before and after
the Holocaust.

Reb Asher Wade, and his wife, were seeing that they were finding the
truth that they had been looking for, in Judaism.  Reb and Mrs. Wade
began meeting with the Rabbi more often and for longer periods of time.

Subsequently, Reb Wade was found out by his advising professor at the 
seminary where he had only a few more months before getting his PhD.
Reb Wade was fired as the minister of congregation, and was expelled
from his school.

Reb Wade and his wife decided that the truth was in their grasp and
both had Orthodox conversions into Judaism.

Reb Asher Wade is now learning and lecturing full time in Israel 
as part of Ohr Somayach Yeshiva and Aish HaTorah Yeshiva, where you
can hear him tell his story in person, instead of reading it here.
He is also an international consultant to Jews for Judaism, an
organization to combat Messianic cults and other groups louring
Jews away from Judaism. 
====================================================================


This story is so touching, it gives me an almost "chilling" sensation.


Gedaliah Friedenberg
-=-Department of Mechanical Engineering
-=-Department of Metallurgy, Mechanics and Materials Science
-=-Michigan State University


                   
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