Sabbath Coffee in Jerusalem

More than a decade ago I heard that a Jewish author turned Christian had recently published a simple Torah commentary for young people from a Christian perspective. After I learned he would be signing copies of his volume at a local Christian bookstore, I decided to stop by to purchase the book and chat with him briefly.

Knowing that he was a member of a Sundaykeeping church, I felt compelled to approach him and asked him about his perspective, as a Jew turned Christian, about the Sabbath rest.

“What about the Sabbath?” I finally asked him as he signed my copy.

“The Sabbath,” he sighed as he paused for a few seconds. “I don’t see it as important after Jesus’ death. When I read the New Testament, I just don’t see it. It’s not important to me.”

In his words, embracing Jesus became a reason to move away not only from his (and presumably Jesus’) Jewish roots but also from the special day of rest and fellowship that Jesus considered dear.

I left visibly disappointed that day.

Coffee on the Sabbath

Move forward to 2026 and, from North America, across the ocean all the way to Israel.

A small coffee shop in the heart of Jerusalem recently became the center of daily protests and ongoing press coverage. The reason? Its owners advertised that their business, which opened its doors in May, would also be opened on the Jewish Shabbat—the biblical day of rest.

In a multicultural society like Jerusalem, it was not big news at the beginning. After all, across Israel adherence to biblical and rabbinic Sabbath rules vary, especially between the more religious Jerusalem and the more secular Tel Aviv.

Eventually, however, members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem—the Haredim—rallied to decry the move. Concurrently, many self-defined “secular Jews” and other religious but not Orthodox residents opposed the former, telling them that at heart the issue was a matter of religious freedom. If we say we defend religious freedom, so the argument went, we should be open to let others live their lives according to their conscience, even when it goes against what we might hold dear. Even a major Jerusalem soccer team announced that they would give the new café free advertising on players’ uniforms as a way of showing support.

Who Is Behind It

After a few days, however, the landscape got muddier, as the press uncovered who was behind the new business. According to the investigation, Jews for Jesus is the organization behind the business and the move to keep open on the Sabbath. Jews for Jesus is an international Christian organization that seeks to proselytize Jews by inviting them to convert to Christianity. It has roots with the broad Evangelical movement and, according to some scholars, connections with the Baptist and the Reformed faiths. Generally speaking, mainstream Jewish communities see the organization not as a variant of Judaism but as a Christian missionary movement.

After the press uncovered the connection, the secular Jewish support to the new café option weakened. The soccer team in question rescinded the offer of free advertising on the players’ uniforms. Apparently the uproar is currently focused not so much on the act of supposedly desecrating the Sabbath, but on the Christian organization that is using that marketing gimmick to indirectly promote religious discussions around the figure of Jesus as the Messiah.

Who Is Actually Responsible?

Overall, the snafu resulting from the whole incident and my interaction with the Jewish-turned-Christian author more than a decade ago boils down to one big question: Can you say you love and follow Jesus while despising or even ignoring what He held dear?

The irony is too big to be missed. Can anyone seek to promote Jesus as Lord while moving away from one of the practices and teachings He never renounced but fulfilled and reinterpreted (see Matt. 5:18) instead? How can moving away from what Jesus followed help anyone to become closer to Him? Think of a visiting guest you’d like to feel comfortable at your home. Would you try to get closer to them by doing something you well know they oppose and reject? Unless you detest your visitor, why would you ever do something like that? It’s like trying to promote more democracy by electing an absolutist monarch or pretending to save the forest by chopping every single forest tree down. It would be absolute insanity, right?

At the end of the day, it’s Christians, not Jews, who must uphold what Jesus upheld. And if doing it implies going against what Jesus advocated and extolled, everyone—Jew and Christian alike—has gotten the basic theology wrong. After all, “the Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable” (Isa. 42:21). And if, as a key part of His law, Jesus loved and resignified the Sabbath day, who are we to say otherwise?

There’s no elaborate drink in the world—caffeinated or otherwise—that can ever make up for such a strategic blunder.