A rare philosemitic Christian narrative
By ABRAHAM RABINOVICH
April 4, 2007

Scanning the books clamoring for attention in the book editor's closet at The Jerusalem Post, Haim Chertok, an occasional reviewer for the paper, noted a festschrift - a collection of commemorative essays marking the centenary of the birth of an Anglican priest, James Parkes.

Chertok had read two books Parkes had written, including one about the unhappy history of the early church's relations with the Jews. The other, Whose Land?, examined the claims that Jews, Christians and Muslims had on the Holy Land and concluded that on historical grounds, the Jews had the strongest case. Chertok, who taught English at Ben-Gurion University, toyed with the notion of selecting a novel to read on the bus back to Beersheba but in the end his hand reached for the essays on Parkes.

That casual choice in 1997 would decide the direction of Chertok's life for the next decade. the rest