Chalav U'Dvash

"Messianic Jews"

I am writing first and foremost to applaud Elana Kieffer for writing about such an important topic ("Blood or Belief?"; Chalav U'Dvash, Vol. 1, No. 1), which few in the Jewish community wish to address. It is clear that she did some serious research, and is fairly knowledgeable about the issues. Nevertheless, I think there are a few issues that need clarification.

I agree with Elana: the term "Messianic Jews" is a very blurry one. There are many different kinds of groups, movements, and people who use this name, or something similar. Some of these are Church movements, such as the well-known "Jews for Jesus," an organization that was founded and is still funded by the Baptist Church. Those who lead and attend these "Hebrew" churches are usually Christians (Jews and Gentiles) who believe in Protestant theology and Church doctrines, and seek to convert Jews to Christianity.

At the same time, we must be very careful not to make such generalizations about all Jews who believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah. There are Jews (and Gentiles) in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere—including myself—who believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, but also reject the doctrines of the Church. They do not believe that he is God, nor do they believe in the Trinity. They see him as the "traditional" Jewish Messiah, the one who Jews have awaited his coming for thousands of years. (Some prefer not to use the term "Messianic," because of the Christian label it attaches to them.)

Furthermore, they do not seek to convert Jews to Christianity. On the contrary, they wish to bring Jews from the Church back to Judaism. The level of Torah and Halacha (Jewish law) observance among these Jews varies, just like in the general Jewish community. There are those who are strictly Orthodox, and there are others who take more of a Conservative or Reform approach. (It would be unfair to characterize all of these Jews as "uninformed," as there are many like myself who are quite knowledgeable in Torah, Talmud, Halacha and Jewish tradition). In any case, it would be ridiculous to label any of them  as "members of another religion." They are clearly part of only one faith—the Jewish faith.

When it comes to the question of who should be given the "right of return" to Israel, the details of a person's faith should be completely irrelevant. Although many would like to believe otherwise, the truth is that there never was a monolithic Judaism. There were always many sects and various perspectives on Torah, and as Jason Lustig illustrates in his article ("In the End of Days"; Chalav U'Dvash, Vol. 1, No. 1)—there were also many Messianic figures. As an Israeli, I think it would be inconceivable to exclude from citizenship any Jew who believes in something a bit different than "mainstream" Judaism.

There are many Jews who believe in certain aspects of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, or Hinduism. In fact, since Christianity and Islam both originated to some degree in Judaism, virtually all Jews believe in some aspects of those religions.

Besides, one of the great scholars of our nation—Rabbi Akiva—believed that Shimon Bar Kosiba (Bar Kochba) was the Messiah. Would he be denied the right of return because of his belief in a "false" Messiah? What about those members of Chabad-Lubavich who still hold to the belief that their dead Rebbe is the Messiah—should they be excluded too?

During high school, I spent a year working with the Ethiopian community, and I served with Ethiopians in the army. I observed that their version of Judaism is very different than the faith and practices of other Jews. In fact, Messianic Jews probably have more in common with "mainstream" Orthodoxy than the Ethiopians do. But these observations are unimportant when it comes to their right to live in Israel.

A Jew is a Jew­—no matter what he believes. A person's faith is between him and God. The State of Israel was created as a home for all Jews, and all should be welcome.

Aharon HaCohen (‘09)