Messianic Judaism Quest

An interesting post on the perspectives of Rabbi Dan Cohn-Sherbok on the subject of Messianic Judaism. He visited the Messianic Jewish Alliance Conference in 1998, and I believe also visited an annual conference of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations.

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The idea of the “Ten Lost” tribes of Israel is popular within a variety of corners in the Messianic and “Hebraic” movements, for a variety of reasons. Part of it may lie in the ability of such a view to provide an relatively “easy” resolution to questions of identity for many non-Jewish individuals. It may also reflect the tendency towards the eschatological leanings of many.

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Many congregations approach this subject with a great deal of apprehension because they fear that incorporating “rabbinic tradition” is theologically problematic. This trepidation is partially predicated upon the notion that the early rabbis developed a system, which explicitly eliminated God from an active role in the halakhic decision-making process.

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According to Rabbi Hartman, the Torah provides the Jewish community with a historical memory of a living G-d who selected the Jewish people from among the nations through whom which He would be sanctified in history.

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So what is the halakhically oriented Messianic synagogue to do when presented with these and other issues which confront the validity of halakhah? The choices of course are difficult and may either serve to rebuff the individual or compromise the standards of halakhah which may serve to buttress their fledging existence.

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The other issue which has to be raised is the character and connection to Judaism of the individuals in question. This will come as a hard blow to many, but knowing the father of one of the individuals in question, and the very problematic and disappointing view of Judaism, in my opinion, that this individuals holds, raises the question of what emigrating to Israel really accomplishes.

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The board should be responsible for the overall day to day affairs of the synagogue and the financial administration of the congregation.

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The simply fact is that the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community is Democratic in political affiliation and many within the Jewish community find themselves on the far left wing of the party. The number of Jews who are actually Conservative is quite small with likely no more than 10-20% at best.

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That being said, Jews should not be so offended that evangelical Christians are intent on evangelizing them. Why? Because evangelicals are intent on evangelizing everyone including Christians from other non-evangelical denominations. Evangelicals try to evangelize Messianic Jews, in part because they believe (those who are observant) that they are in error. The concern that evangelicals might believe that Jews are destined to hell should be irrelevant to most Jews…since most reject this view.

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“Messianic” groups looking to the Karaites as a model should realize that at best, Karaism at best is surviving, not thriving. The ultimate reason behind this was the disconnect created with the greater Jewish community. While one might argue that a similar disconnect is at work in the normative Jewish community and Messianic Jews because of the Yeshua factor, a break with the classical tradition as the basis of identity as in the case of the Karaites would spell the death null for Messianic Jews.

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