The Faith Column

9 comments from readers

Veritas
28 January 2008 at 12:23

Sorry! But, the idea of a man becoming a god is anathema to the Bible. In fact, Deutoronomy 13:1-10 predicts and condemns both Christianity and the idea that a man could do what Christianity claims. If you look in the original text, in Isaiah 45, Cyrus the Great is called "God's Messiah." The KJV ignores the fact that the Hebrew uses the word "moshiach." That is proof enough that a messiah was anyone who could restore Jews to Israel, and not a word to describe a Greek-Pagan man-god. A Jew who believes in Jesus as a Christ has abandoned Judaism.

GVJudy
29 January 2008 at 14:13

The reason Jews did not (and still don't) accept Jesus as the messiah is because the messiah will not be divine. For Jews, the belief that God would become human is the ultimate heresy.

mama pajama
29 January 2008 at 14:28

I don't think many Jews take this issue seriously enough.

I can't tell you how many of the elderly Jewish folk I speak to who think the whole concept is so " absurd"..I have heard ...

"This is just a fringe cult that will go away, who would take this idiocy seriously? It mocks both Christianity and Judaism, don't even given them any attention"

That was the attitude in the early 70’s when the Jews for Jesus first started with their handouts that were so full of appeal to bad Jewish stereotypes they came off as jokes.

Many still continue with that head in the sand attitude. Because while they’ve not been successful in taking Jews who are of the Jewish FAITH into their fold, they have been successful in some instances with the disenfranchised among the elderly and very young. Their largest growth has been a VERY large number of other Christians who now claim that they are Jews.

Right now, across many communities in the South, there are more Christians posing as Jews, some of whom make an outward physical appearance of being more frum than the Lubavitcher Rebbe..than there are Jews.

The VAST majority of these people never even had a Jewish Bubbe, let alone a Jewish mother.

And the worst part is..the rest of the Christian community is taking THEIR word as AUTHORITATIVE about Judaism.. They see a kippah wearing, talit wearing, bearded man who peppers his speech with Yiddish sayings standing next to a blonde, blue eyed Waspy looking Reform Jew who tells them..that man isn't Jewish but Christian..and he can easily convince that Church....oh these "secular" Jews are "bigoted" to those of us who are "Torah observant" "messianics" .

Never the mind that the Reform Jew isn't "secular" at all and simply being honest about what ALL Jews believe. That is not being bigoted to another..but honest about Torah.

They easily convince these churches because not only are there so few Jews for them to see as examples of Judaism, but often their images of Jews is the stereotype that the "messianic" often plays full tilt.

Most I've met make my Orthodox Bubbe look like a WASP.

They ally themselves closely with the Christian churches because their beliefs are identical..They can quickly feel a connection of brotherhood and felicity through faith since they share the Christian faith. By teaching that their practices are actually the "original" form of Christianity they appeal to Christians who want to get back to their "roots". Both those claims are patently false if comparing modern Christian belief and ancient Jewish belief, even of the earliest followers of Jesus before the NT was written.

This form of teaching and appeal creates animosity to JEWS who are often miniscule in number already in the area..where before..the animosity did not exist..

The animosity and distrust result because they convince the Churches that the Jews are PERSECUTING THEM for their beliefs in Jesus! They often PREFACE their instruction with this. When the reality is..Jews are only trying to speak out for the AUTHENTICITY of Judaism! Jews are not speaking out against Christians or their right to worship to or through Jesus

When Christian evangelic groups spend upwards of 25 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR (Jews for Jesus ALONE spends this, this number does not include other well known Hebrew Christian groups that have sprung up) to target almost 6 million people for conversion ..something is seriously wrong. When these same people present themselves AS JEWS to the secular and disenfranchised among us..they're doing bad enough..but when they convince the larger CHRISTIAN community that they are the "REAL" Torah observant Jews and the REAL people of the Jewish faith are "bigoted" to them..they're in essence saying Jews are bigoted to CHRISTIANITY!

This promotes hatred of JEWS!

The Jewish community isn't speaking out against Christianity..the Jewish community is speaking out against Christianity HIJACKING JUDAISM in order to convert Jews and misrepresent Judaism to gain converts. More than 80 percent of these "messianics" are still Protestants from other Christian denominations..people for whom their adaptation of the Tanakh ( the Old Testament) appeals to them and who want to identify with Israel and the Jews but keep their Christian faith..

Many SINCERELY believe they're showing love for Judaism and the Jewish people by adopting this belief system..

They are not.

They are hurting Jews very badly. They are perverting the most deeply spiritual rituals and customs that honor our connection to God through Torah and teaching their children a false sense of identity while teaching them to not trust the VERY people they identify with in NAME!

If you are a Christian..CALL YOURSELF A CHRISTIAN.

Jews are not being bigoted to Christianity in these pleas..we are asking for Christians to be honest with themselves and with everyone else.

I pray for the day when good hearted Christians will also take up this cause not to see people who claim to hold dear the same tenets of faith they honor..dishonor it by deception to convert.

If a faith is valid..it will be known by the lives of the followers.

Wasn't it said in your own New Testament that by your fruits you shall know? Right now, the fruits of this form of Christian evangelizing result in a deepening divide in acceptance and understanding between the Jewish community and the Christian community THIS is the reason it should also be a major concern to Chrisians of integrity.

In the Jews for Jesus organization and in some other evangelic ministries..if they get a "real" Jew..they indoctrinate them well enough to be paraded out to churches to TEACH ..and it's always as " one who grew up in an observant home"..or if from Reform..they'll make a claim that Reform don't believe in God ( false) or their Rabbi didn't ( I have never met a Rabbi who was atheist..Reform Rabbis uphold the principles of faith to GOD and lead our congregations in prayers to God) They always claim that they could not find a rabbi to answer their questions about God or aspects of Jewish belief that a GREAT MANY Jews would and could be able to do, rabbi or not . We could answer, if only we were asked.

AT any rate..then they go to churches and put on programs to teach the Churches about CHRIST in the PASSOVER of all things..taking every element about the real meaning of Passover and corrupting it with either topsy turvy meaning or not even mentioning things that are commanded to remember in Torah.

No matter how LITTLE Jewish education this apostate Jew ( real Jew to them) had before they became a Jew for Jesus missionary..if they had a Jewish mother..they're a PRIZE for them to parade and show off.

The big difference in simply being a Jew who may follow a false messiah during his life and adoption of Christianity is that 1)no other failed messiahs were worshipped as a deity 2) those other failed messiahs don't have a religion that sprung up around them that teaches to abandon commandments from the Torah or add too or take away from direct commandments ..thus effectively creating a very DIFFERENT religion altogether

When the vast majority of Christian responses I read declare ..Jews are just waiting for "Jesus return"..or Jews are waiting for their messiah and missed the boat..without realizing they're talking about a very different concept of what the messiah is from the standpoint of Jewish scripture.

Jews are not waiting for the Christian concept of Messiah, period.

Reliance on the Messiah to pardon sin is a NO NO for Judaism because of God's commandments in Torah. Jews won't be worshipping any "false messiah" because worship to or through one is not a Jewish thing to do, period. Worship of a dead Jew is not a Torah thing to do.

There have been many failed messiah hopefuls..we know they're failed because of the world around us. When someone comes along and does the job, everyone will know for CERTAIN and they'll go from messiah HOPEFUL to the real thing. If like all others, they die without doing the job, then they're just another hopeful..who may or may not have been a good spiritual leader during his lifetime or not.

Who the Messiah is..isn't the big problem. WHAT he is..and what God is and the very fact that Christian dogma attempts to turn so much of Torah topsy-turvy and demonize Jews..even to the point of fabrication of a "custom" to do so..is the reason NO Jew whose faith through God in Torah, could ever abandon our faith to adopt. I am not sure how much more clear I can be. The "Torah observant" Messianics..violate Torah by reliance on Jesus to pardon sin..by interjecting him into the Passover and replacing very significant aspects of faith with the "New Testament" etc..Their core statement of beliefs are contradictory to that of Judaism.but fit Christian dogma to a T.

It wasn't Jewish people that started "Messianic Judaism" it was the Southern Baptists. Christians named it.

THIS IS THE ONLY THING ALL JEWS AGREE ON

There is an old saying, “ You get two Jews in a room and you’ll have at least three opinions”. This derives from the longstanding tradition of debate in Jewish history. We’re not taught that it’s a sin to question or to test our beliefs. However, we’re not allowed to alter Torah commandments, and much of the debate over the centuries has been how to apply Torah to changing cultures, times and technologies. There are different ways of Jewish life in every part of the world, but this is one thing none of them debate. The following proclamations I lifted (copy pasted in portions in 1999) from a now defunct page ( it went down in 2001) at amhaaretz.com. However, these proclamations still exist and apply, and Jesus is still entirely insignificant to the religion of Judaism.

THIS IS THE ONLY THING ALL JEWS AGREE ON.

What Jews Think of Messianic Jews

CHIEF Ashkenazi and CHIEF Sephardi Rabbis of Israel

"There are Christian groups that call themselves "Messianic Jews" whose

faith is totally alien to the Jewish faith, and members of these groups who

were born to Jewish parents have a status of apostates who removed

themselves from the Jewish Nation."

-Official proclamation of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, 1998.

--------------------------------------...

Rabbi Y. Eliezer Danzinger of Tzefat, Israel (Chabad)

"Messianic Judaism is both a logical and theological absurdity. It's

perverse goal is to seduce uneducated Jews away from their heritage and

people, without the ensnared realizing the enormity of their betrayal."

"Although Jews who subscribe to such heresy are clearly apostates--and as

such, forfeit all rights as Jews, including the right of being buried in a

Jewish cemetery--the gates of repentance are open to them."

--------------------------------------...

Hebrew Union College / Jewish Institute of Religion (Reform)

....being Jewish and accepting Christ is entirely incompatible. In the Winter

1996 issue of Reform Judaism, Mark Washofsky, called Messianic Jews

"apostates." "We see Messianic Jews as dishonest, deceptive and ultimately

dangerous to our existence as a religious community."

--------------------------------------...

Central Conference of American Rabbis (Reform)

For us in the Jewish community anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior

is no longer a Jew and is an apostate. Through that belief she has placed

herself outside the Jewish community. Whether she cares to define herself as

a Christian or as a "fulfilled Jew," "Messianic Jew," or any other

designation is irrelevant; to us she is clearly a Christian. We should,

therefore, consider a "completed Jew" [Messianic Jew] as an apostate.

....they should be seen as outsiders who have placed themselves outside the

Jewish community. This should be made very clear to them and to the Jewish

and general community, especially as many such individuals are active

proselytizers. Such individuals should not be accorded membership in the

congregation or treated in any way which makes them appear as if they were

affiliated with the Jewish community, for that poses a clear danger to the

Jewish community and also to its relationships with the general community.

We certainly do not want these individuals to speak for Judaism in any

public forum. In conclusion, we should make the distinction between

ourselves and these individuals very clear to them, to the Jewish community

and to the general community around us.

-proclamation September 1983.

And now the second blog entry:

The following is an exceprt from a longer piece I wrote and have copyright on it

I AM A JEWISH BELIEVER IN MONOTHEISTIC JUDAISM

Sound redundant? Of course it does. Judaism's primary tenet is belief there is only one eternal God of all creation. Judaism brought monotheistic belief to the world.

Hear O' Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is ONE

There is absolutely no need to designate any particular branch of Judaism as monotheistic. It is every bit as illogical and redundant to have a phrase naming a separate branch of the Jewish religion as "Messianic Judaism".

The very notion of a Davidic Messiah of Israel, Judaism presented to the world and its still very much a part of Judaism. The religion of Judaism is messianic. It is one of the principles of the faith of Judaism to have belief that God will make good the promise of an anointed human King of Israel who will deliver Israel and all who are persecuted and oppressed and usher in an age when all peoples shall know and worship God. The events of the Messianic age prophesied quite obviously would require no sales pitch to convince anyone on the planet if they had transpired.

So, when you ask a person of the Jewish faith, " Are you a messianic believer?" You may get a mixed reaction before you get an answer. The straightforward, logical, and truthful answer from anyone whose faith is found in the religion of Judaism would be to answer in the affirmative. Belief that God will do as promised to bring the Davidic messiah is one of the 13 principles of Judaism. If you know what Judaism is about, a single simple yes would suffice, yet, because there is a fast growing number of Christians who willfully misrepresent Christian dogma as a part of a sect of Judaism, an answer in the affirmative usually requires clarification. My hope is that here I can help at least one person understand why they may get an exasperated look or a frustrated response from a Jew if they ask a Jewish believer, " Are you a Messianic Jew? Are you a Jewish believer?" Perhaps this may in some small way help slow the growth of misinformation, misunderstanding and and misrepresentation, and a better understanding may develop and allow for actual dialog.

As I have done many times, I offer a wonderful web page from my friend Rabbi Stuart Federow has presented on the internet to help demystify for our Christian brethren just what it is Jews believe that is so different from Christianity. Whether you are curious or confused about Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, or Reform Judaism, this web page found at http://www.whatjewsbelieve.org will help you to understand the basic beliefs from a purely Scriptural perspective, while acknowledging and addressing the target audiences Christian perspective in relation to it. Hint: The major irreconcilable difference isn’t over the messiah.

I repeat, there is absolutely no reason to distinguish one sect of Judaism as " Messianic Judaism". If you follow the Christian doctrine found in the New Testament no matter how you Hebraicise the terms or Jesus name, you're not following the Jewish faith. You misrepresent yourself and in so doing, you are committing a sin according to Torah. If you call yourself a "Messianic Rabbi" and you are leading worshippers in prayers to or through Jesus or in his name you are misrepresenting yourself to others. You are no Rabbi. The Jewish concept of messiah is very different than the Christian as you can learn in detail at the web site listed above.

I rarely claim to speak for anyone other than myself, however, as a Jew, and on this issue, I believe I can speak for all Jews in my request. Please, be honest with yourself, your fellow man, and God if you follow the religion of the New Testament by any name, do not call it Judaism.

I wonder if the evangelic Hebrew Christian realizes what harsh feelings they are stirring up within their own children in teaching them a false identity and teaching that Jews who do not “accept Yeshuah” hate them for their beliefs. Sometimes it appears that is, in fact, their goal, to create animosity to Judaism. This teaches those children to mistrust Jews and believe that the very people they identify with in name, reject them as their own out of hate! These young people then go on to ally themselves with evangelic Christians ( because their beliefs are identical ) while cloaking their dogma in Jewish custom and practice that is often more outwardly Jewish “looking” than that of modern Orthodox Jews! They also assign meaning to deeply reverent Jewish customs or prayers, which were never intended and usually offensive or contradictory to the aspect of faith the custom is intended to honor. The customs and rituals of Jewish people around the world developed to honor the laws of Torah and teach each generation about the faith of Judaism. To see these customs and rituals used to honor a replacement theology is extremely disturbing to the believing Jew for whom these things have deep spiritual significance. The feeling of a Jew watching a Christian use the Passover to represent Jesus as a deity, or represent the blood of the Passover lamb as a sin sacrifice and try to change every deeply significant aspect of the service and remove the meaning to replace it with another is incredibly painful. to the faithful Jew. The Passover is deeply important as a part of our spiritual identity as Jews and of our connection to God. . How can a people who claim to love Torah or who claim to love Jews do such a thing?

Would a Christian wish to see their customs and rituals they perform to honor their faith in Jesus being used to justify a belief in Vishnu or Allah or any deity that Christianity does not believe to be a deity?

Why do Christians then tell Jews to be tolerant when Christianity does this to the Jewish religion?

Why is a Jew speaking out against such a hijacking called intolerant? What kind of logic allows accusations of hate to be hurled unchallenged to Jews when we cry out for others to stop trying to hijack Judaism? Tolerance does not require that one must accept misrepresentation and ignore it.

They also speak of the Jewish faith as being narrow and blinded to God. Christians and the Christian religion should not define for the Jewish people the dogma of Judaism. This is what I see happening today. I see Christians teaching other Christians what is and isn’t REAL Judaism and the Christians ignoring the Jewish voice of what Judaism is. I see a widespread practice has emerged whereby Christians present themselves as scholarly Jews to go to churches and teach their fellow Christians that Jews are taught to hate Jesus and Jews who come to embrace him. That is the most dangerous lie of all being spread today.

Judaism does not teach this. I know of no Jewish synagogue, rabbi or Jewish parent who teaches our children to hate Christians or Jews who convert to Christianity. It pains us to see one convert away from Judaism, but we do not hate them as a people. I cannot deny that there are individual Jews who hate or those who may hate a Jew who converts and then pursues a path to mislead Jews. Bigotry knows no boundaries. Unfortunately, bigotry can be taught by any human if your baser inclinations are not controlled.. Some Jews, who have felt abuse and hate, react likewise. That too, is human nature. It is not the best part of our nature but no group is immune. Jews are known for being hardest on our own that turn to bigotry. Torah teaches that we can master these inclinations.

I find myself often feeling hate when I see someone teach a child to hate or fear others... I am human. I work on that and do my best not to let my gut reaction to such abuse lead me into irrational behavior in response. Instead, I resort to writing things such as this to try to educate to dispel such hatreds and fears.

Teaching children lies instills fear and hate of others.. When I hear someone tell a Jewish child, “You are the kind of “unbelieving” Jew who hates me because I believe in Yeshua“, the level of frustration I feel is off the chart. That is a lie without a shred of truth! But it is a lie that cannot easily be refuted. It makes no difference what the Jew responds with, they will not be believed or trusted because the speaker holds so many misconceptions about Judaism and has just revealed their distrust! I can sometimes understand at that point the denial by Jews in not dealing with this because this task can feel overwhelming at such a moment.

What else CAN we do other than try to educate? But who will listen? Are their voices already louder and more accepted as being “Jewish” among non-Jews?

A Jew who embraces the Jewish faith and refuses to abandon it for acceptance of the New Testament dogma is not an “unbelieving“ but a “believing Jew“. Jews simply hate our religion being DERAILED. Jews the world over loathe seeing every aspect of Jewish life HIJACKED and completely misrepresented to support beliefs that are completely contradictory to the faith of Israel. I hate watching children be taught lies! I cannot hate those children who grow up thinking they are Jewish. I am greatly saddened, often to the point of tears because they are being taught that believing Jews hate them! That means they have NO CLUE what Judaism’s CORE ESSENCE of TORAH teaches us about being Jews!

To Israel, the chosen part means the Jew chooses to be a light unto the nations in our path of life in Tikkun Olam. (Repair of the world, fixing what is wrong and working alongside all peoples in our walk with God and the ongoing creation of life in the world we are blessed with) Evangelizing, selling, or coercion is not necessary if your life reflects a walk with God, NO MATTER WHAT religion you embrace... It makes no difference if you are a Jew or not..Jews believe that ANYONE CAN WALK with GOD in righteousness!

There are righteous among all peoples and every human, Jew or Gentile, atheist, theist, agnostic etc, has worth. However, you cannot be of the Jewish faith if you do not accept the TERMS OF THE COVENANT OF TORAH. The differences in the sects of Judaism have to do more with observances and customs of how to honor this covenant, not over the nature of God or the covenant itself. The prophetic belief is that in the messianic age one day all will come to know God. “Faith” will essentially be unnecessary because “knowing” and understanding will replace that. This has not happened and you are free to believe it will not ever happen. I cannot help but hope with faith that it will one day happen because right now religiosity, bigotry and greed are tearing apart the human species and the balance of life on earth itself..

Miriam
29 January 2008 at 17:27

The original article is all sweetness and light. That's not the case if you look at the larger picture.

Jews for Jesus is a Christian missionary program designed specifically to target Jews. They consistently misrepresent Judaism, Torah and Jewish belief.

They hide behind an ethnic or hereditary association with Judasim, saying that it's 'not about religion'. If they wish to have 'a personal relationship with Jesus', that is their choice.

My choice is to call them on their tangled language. They are Christians and their beliefs go directly contrary to the heart of Judaism. If they choose to deny that heart, then they are no longer Jews.

Moishe
29 January 2008 at 18:19

It seems as though Pacht is being bullied in public comment to discourage other Jews from taking him seriously. Why should this kind of dissent throw Jews into a Frenzy

Moishe
29 January 2008 at 18:24

It seems that the previous commentators ganged up to bully Pacht and Jews for Jesus. Maybe they are other Jews who are trying to discredit him. I as a Jew, agree with everything he says.

mazaluk
30 January 2008 at 21:18

The New Statesman, not content with its anti-Semitic attacks on the Jews as a nation, now turns its unholy attention on to the Jewish religion as well.

Not content with villifying the Jewish state, they desecrate the core belief of Judaism - that there is but one G-d in heaven and earth, incorpreal and who alone created the heavens and the earth.

The Jewish people will never accept the pagan concept that a mere man can become a god.

How much longer must the Jewish community suffer this Jew-baiting by the New Statesman? Julius Streicher must be laughing in hell!

Perhaps the New Statesman believes that the eternal Jew is an easy target with its small world wide 13 million adherents, representing 0.02% of the world's population.

I wonder how soon the editorial offices of your mag would suffer if you publicised a "Muslims for Jesus" group?

Jonathan
02 February 2008 at 07:59

http://exjewsforjesus.org/

'Jews for Jesus' is a nasty, fraudulent abusive cult which sucks naive people in and then will not let them go. They are Christian missionaries who try to convert Jews. Fortunately they have been supremely unsuccessful. Example: they have hired halls near synagogues and arranged Chanukah parties for elderly Jews, who think they are a Jewish organisation.

Shame on the New Statesman for allowing this fraudulent pernicious cult to publicise itself!

Mr Fnortner
20 February 2008 at 19:17

This from an atheist: I have no axe to grind here. But the fact is, my Jewish friends, a man did not turn into a god. It's the other way around.

To fulfill prophesies, the god of Abraham, Solomon and David sent an element of himself, his son according to Christians, to earth to redeem Man. This god took human form so that he could walk around and preach among the people, then "die" as a sacrificial offering for Man's sins.

Now, you don't have to believe the story. I don't. But don't make up straw men just to tear them down.

And the Jesus of legend was a Jew, plain and simple, who hung out with Jews who became his converts. Jews made up the earliest churches. This is not a scurrilous attack on your faith, but the reality of first century Christianity. JFJ evangelists are merely following in their footsteps.

The wisest move here, instead of attacking each other over religion, is to realize the total dysfunctional delusion of it all, and give it up. Rationality is a much healthier mental state than depending on invisible space aliens to swoop in and fix the problems in your lives.