By Miri -
According to Messianic
Jewish believers, a Messianic Jew is "a person who was born
Jewish or converted to Judaism, who is a genuine believer in Yeshua
[Jesus], and who continues to acknowledge his or her Jewishness."
While most Jews and
Christians would agree that the belief in Jesus as the Messiah
constitutes the main distinguishing factor between Christianity and
Judaism, Messianic Jews hold that the acceptance of Jesus does not
render someone a convert to Christianity, to the contrary, they
believe that only "after accepting Yeshua into their lives they
become fulfilled Jews".
While facing
considerable opposition especially from other Jews, but also from
Christians, Messianic Judaism is a fast growing movement. In only
four years, from 2003 to 2007, the movement grew from 150
Messianic houses of worship in the United States to as many as 438,
with over 100 in Israel and more worldwide. In 2008, the movement was
reported to have between 6,000 and 15,000 members in Israel and
250,000 in the United States.
History
of the
Movement
Messianic Judaism as a
movement gradually grew out of congregations of Jewish converts to
Christianity who wanted to retain and integrate some Jewish elements
into the new belief.
The origin of a
semi-autonomous movement is often seen in the foundation of the Bene
Abraham Association through Joseph Frey, a Christian missioner to
Jews in Britain in the early nineteenth century. The association was
the first one to allow Jews to affirm their Jewish identity while at
the same time professing their belief in Jesus as the messiah.
It was not until the 1960s
that the movement started experiencing a considerable growth. Most
scholars agree that the rise in popularity of Messianic Judaism needs
to seen in relation to a few factors: the foundation of the State of
Israel in 1948, Israel's miraculous victory of the 1967 War which led
to the beginning of a greater Jewish consciousness and to a general
heightening of Messianic expectations, which in turn acted as a
stimulus to explore Jewish identity, and finally "the growing
openness and innovative spirit of evangelical and Charismatic
Christianity from the 1970s to the 1990s" which specifically
affected the growth of Messianic Judaism in the United States.
Coinciding with a steady
decline in mainstream Christianity and Judaism, scholars and
theologians claim that the growing appeal of evangelical groups is
connected to their strongly conservative doctrines which are
associated with the promise of salvation and redemption, and which
thus give rise to a clear identity in an increasingly fast shifting
world. Personal accounts of Jews embracing Yeshua, commonly speak of
a perceived emptiness in Judaism, as well as a distance to god, which
sharply contrasts with the close intimate relationships they can
build with Yeshua.
Theology and Practice
First of all it is
necessary to stress that Messianic Judaism does not constitute a
unified or monolithic movement, and there is a remarkable variety of
Messianic Jewish expressions.
Most
of the central
Messianic Jewish beliefs are almost identical to Evangelical
Christianity, and the New Testament is being embraced as the only
divine revelation after the Torah
. Messianic Jews see god as a
trinity of the father, son and the holy spirit, and believe in the
virgin birth, the resurrection, the ascension and the future second
coming of Yeshua. Salvation is based wholly on the atonement given
through the death of Jesus, not on Torah observances, which are more
commonly seen as bringing sanctification.
Individual Messianic Jews
and congregations usually work out their own ways of relating to
Torah rulings and teachings
, and there is a whole spectrum from
total observance to complete non-observance.
Messianic Jews generally
celebrate the main Jewish holidays, such as Passover, Rosh Hashanah
(New Year), Yom Kippur etc., services are held in special
congregations by pastors or rabbis.
Sermons commonly focus
on bringing Yeshua's message to the Jews, stressing the New Testament
as a Jewish text, and also frequently feature apocalyptic themes,
especially the imminent second coming of Yeshua and Israel's central
role in this process.
Messianic Jews do not
support the so called "replacement theology" which posits
that god has abrogated his covenant with the Jews and has made a new
covenant with the Christians.
Opposition
To most Jews Messianic
Judaism does not constitute a form of Judaism. Some claim the
terminology itself was misleading, and was simply an attempt to
represent converted Jews as still Jewish. Active opposition to the
movement comes from all major Jewish denominations, as well as by the
State of Israel, whose Supreme Court ruled that Messianic Jews are
not eligible to immigrate to Israel under the law of return, unless
they can trace back their Jewishness ethnically through their family.
Hostility also comes from
the Christian side, though probably less vehemently, with some
evangelical Christians holding Messianic Jews to be “too Jewish”.
Many orthodox Jews view
members of the movement as traitors for having joined the Christian
faith, which persecuted Jews for centuries.
They also fear and warn
of the proselytising efforts of members of the movement, one of the
central aims of Messianic Judaism. Members try and spread the gospel
to fellow Jews, by distributing literature and by witnessing to
passers-by. Such attempts undoubtedly add to the opposition to the
movement and contributed to it spilling into violence several times.
Probably the most extreme case to date happened in the West Bank
settlement Ariel in 2008. A bomb disguised as a Purim gift was sent
to the family home of a Messianic Jewish pastor and critically
wounded his 15 year old son. The pastor who was ministering to
Palestinians and Jews had already received threats before the bomb
attack. "There is a campaign of harassment against the Messianic
Jewish community by radical religious organizations that are trying
to create dehumanization", the representative of the Messianic
Jewish community in Israel stated to Ynet. Flyers are commonly spread
warning of the perceived threat of the members of the "Jewish
Missionary Cult", who are "baptizing Jews into
Christianity", including photos and addresses of individual
Messianic Jews.
In 2013, Jewish extremist
Jack Teitel was found guilty of two counts of murder, two attempted
murders, including the one in Ariel, as well as a string of other
violent crimes.
Obviously, Jewish scholars
with pluralist perspectives on Judaism, see Messianic Judaism simply
as part of multi-dimensional modern Jewish life, and therefore as a
legitimate form of Judaism.
Comments
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Here's a follow-up interesting article about the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) warning soldiers to have no contact with Messianic Jews, and the Messianics have been warned to have no contact with soldiers. http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/24308/Default.aspx?hp=article_title
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