Messianic Jewish Leaders Speak Out Against “Christ at the Checkpoint” Conference.

A group of international Messianic Jewish leaders including the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC) and the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) has come out with a pre-emptive response to the upcoming “Christ as the Checkpoint” Anti-Israel, anti-Zionism conference that represents the ugly resurgence in force of Christian supersessionist and anti-Jewish thought and policy.

Below is a link to a video and the text of the statement:

 

 

 

Leaders of the UMJC and MJAA joined forces again this month (see “UMJC, MJAA respond to Messer video) to issue a statement on a matter of deep concern for the Messianic Jewish community. The statement, on the “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference scheduled for March 5-9 in Bethlehem, included leaders of the International Messianic Jewish Alliance and the International Association of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues. The first “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference, held in 2010, drew much criticism for its biased treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and promotion for this year’s event raises the same concerns (see  www.christatthecheckpoint.com.) Here is the joint statement in full (or you can hear it read at http://youtu.be/Mk0GPnPqtj0):

As representatives of the international Messianic Jewish community, we raise deep concerns about the anti-Israel and, indeed, unbiblical nature of the Christ at the Checkpoint conference soon to be held in Bethlehem.

The Messianic Jewish community has noted the growing opposition to Zionism and the state of Israel within some elements of the Evangelical Christian world. Such opposition ignores the profound and ancient connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel, and the modern history of the founding of the state of Israel. Equally troubling, this opposition is often linked to a resurgent supersessionism, the doctrine that the church replaces Israel as God’s covenant partner. This theology, which has led historically to anti-Semitism and the tragic oppression of the Jewish people, appears to permeate this entire conference.

The conference is being promoted internationally and features speakers from around the world, including prominent American and European Christians, several of whom have a decidedly anti-Israel bias. We address the following to the conference organizers as evidence of our concerns:

• Your conference title, “Christ at the Checkpoint,” places the Israeli border checkpoints as the central issue of Christian concern. You frame the entire story of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in terms of Israel’s alleged oppression and abuses, with no historical or political context provided, and no allegations of oppression or abuse on the part of any Palestinians or other Arabs historically or currently.

• You state a desire for “hope in the midst of conflict,” and for peace and reconciliation among followers of Jesus. Sadly, both the structure of your conference, with its one-sided focus on the Israeli “occupation,” and the anti-Israel record of some of its key representatives, work against peace and reconciliation.

• Your website features speakers who repeatedly raise “the grim reality” of “the occupation” as virtually the only challenge that Palestinian Christians face.

• Your conference objectives discredit Zionism alone of any political movement, thereby undermining your own talk of peace and reconciliation, which would require seeing both perspectives.

• You claim to “stand resolutely against all forms of violence and racism, regardless of the perpetrators,” but the only form that you mention is Zionism. There is no mention of the violence perpetrated against Jews by Palestinians, including Hamas, which regularly attacks Israeli civilians.

In the tragedy of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict there are two claimants to justice, Jews and Arabs, and true reconciliation efforts must recognize this reality. We urge you, therefore, to be true to your own affirmations and disassociate from all anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish expressions during your upcoming conference. You have taken a stand against Zionism as “ethnocentric.” We disagree with this characterization and challenge you instead to take a stand against anti-Semitism, against jihad, against fascism in the Arab world, and against the cult of child martyrdom, as promoted by many opponents of Israel, including several that have hosted visits by your organizers.

We urge you to state support for peace efforts between Israel and the Arab world that recognize the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, and its right to firm and secure borders, without any threat of terrorism.

We urge you to remember the terrible history of Christian supersessionism, which led to invalidating the Jewish people and their unique covenant with God, stripping away the Jewishness of the Biblical message of redemption for all through the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), and promulgating Biblical interpretation that demonized the Jewish people and inevitably resulted in centuries of Christian anti-Semitism and persecution of the Jewish people.

And, finally, we urge you to remember the words of that famous Rabbi, Paul of Tarsus, who wrote these words to Gentile Christians concerning their relationship with the early Messianic Jews and the Jewish people:

But if some of the branches are broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root that supports you. Do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. (Rom. 11:17-18)

Paul Liberman, President

Joel Chernoff, General Secretary

Messianic Jewish Alliance of America

Howard Silverman, President

Russell Resnik, Executive Director

Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations

Jeff Forman, Chairman

International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues

John Fischer, President

Joel Liberman, Executive Director

International Messianic Jewish Alliance

 

Source: http://umjc.org/home-mainmenu-1/news-mainmenu-40/1-latest/750-joint-statement-on-qchrist-at-the-checkpointq

Beyond the Imot – Women Rabbis and the Future of Messianic Judaism

…God of Sarah, God of Rebecca, God of Rachel and Leah…

(Avot v’Imot, Amidah (Blessing 1))

The above words are added into the 1st blessing of the Amidah in the most recent versions of the prayerbooks of the Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements and also used in “egalitarian” liturgies of the Messianic Judaism movement.  In this one line there is a powerful acknowledgment of these women who were the co-laborers of the Patriarchs.  These women are so significant in the thought of those who added these words to the liturgy that the very name of the God of Israel is attached to them, they like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are known as the ones who were connected to and followers of the Holy One of Israel.  But unfortunately, unlike Abraham, Isaac and Jacob they could not serve as a rabbi in any of the mainstream Messianic Jewish congregations.

Egalitarianism is a buzz word in the Messianic Judaism circles that I am involved.  This in practicality means that the daily prayer times will be men and women praying together and we will use a prayerbook that includes prayers with the line about the Imot.  Sadly this is where we are with egalitarianism, we can bless God for being the God of these extraordinary women of faith, but a practical place for the extraordinary women of faith today is all but absent.   There are women as shammashim, oneg committee leaders, Shabbat school teachers and singers in worship teams, but the real key to full involvement in the life of the Messianic Jewish world is via rabbinic ordination, a step that women cannot take within the mainstream Messianic Jewish organizations, the MJAA and UMJC, where it is officially prohibited by a decades old position paper of the Union.

Rabbinic ordination beyond the practical outworking, allowing gifted women leaders the opportunity to use their God given gifts to serve God, their community and the large Messianic Jewish world, it is also the gateway to other important places of leadership and influence including leadership roles in committees of the Union, prominent speaking and teaching roles within the Messianic Jewish world and even full membership in groups like the Messianic Jewish Rabbinic Council.

The lack of female voices in these important roles is a great loss for us all and especially to deal with important issues of Jewish life, like that being done by the MJRC, without women being full participants and voices in the debate is reminiscent of Constantine’s exclusion of Messianic Jewish input at the Council of Nicea that gave the world a creed of faith that made no practical mention of Israel, do we want a Messianic Judaism that establishes halakha that will be walked by men and women, yet be fashioned only by men, mostly 50+ year old men, which also leads to concerns over the missing input of 20/30somethings in the future of our movement, to be covered later.

The issue of full involvement of women gifted by God to serve as rabbis, cantors, elders, synagogue presidents, seminary professors and umbrella organization executives is something that has to move forward and move forward now.  We have already lost some gifted younger women in our movement and will continue to in the future to our great loss because the “glass” ceiling for women in the Messianic Jewish world is reinforced by 18 inches of battleship quality steel, not only does it diminish the flames of service and use of gifting of individual women, it diminishes all women in our movement and the movement as a whole.

We have to take our “egalitarianism”  beyond just words in our prayerbooks and truly honor the blessed memory of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah and let their daughters step into the roles for which they are called and gifted.

And practically we need men of courage and character who are in leadership roles to finally take the steps to remove the barrier of ordination for women in the UMJC.  The time has come to revisit the issue of women in leadership and take that all important for women rabbis, a vote for a bright future where all members of the Messianic Jewish community can fully serve and be who God made them to be.

One of my great hopes is to see the day, may it be soon, that this barrier to our bright future is finally removed.

Let’s all do our part to make it so!

http://www.towardblog.com

Messianic Judaism Beyond the Eddie Long Debacle

Good post, Rev. Gafney. Though the Messer-Lon­g debacle was a horrible event that should have never of happened, this event has helped Messianic Jewish leaders and others voice their concerns and share the accepted boundaries of mainstream Messianic Judaism and allow for a fuller discussion on what Messianic Judaism is and what it is not. As one who personally knows Dr. David Stern, I appreciate your reference to his work on the Jewish New Testament. Thanks for your articles and I look forward to reading future articles by you.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Developing Halacha – Creating Messianic Judaism for the Future

One of the fruits of the discussions among Messianic rabbis over the issue of Messianic Jewish conversion is seeking to answer the question:

If we are converting non-Jews, what are we converting them to?

The answer to this question is: to Judaism, has led to further questions over the issue of what standards of practice these converts will be called to live and what Messianic Judaism’s halacha will be.

This is an exciting fruit of the Messianic Jewish conversion development process that there is actual discussion and development of a Messianic Jewish halacha and this is an important part of the further maturation of our movement as a Judaism.

This is a vital step in our development to be the Judaism for Yeshua in the 21st century and beyond!

The Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (http://www.ourrabbis.org) has made the huge step of working out the bounds of Messianic Judaism life via their Standards of Observance which is a document detailing the development of communal Torah values for Messianic Judaism.

You can read more on the development of Messianic Jewish Halacha and download a copy of the Standards at:

http://ourrabbis.org/main/halakhah-mainmenu-26/introduction-mainmenu-27/sources-mainmenu-28

UMJC/MJAA Denunciation of Ralph Messer Makes Article in Atlanta Journal Constitution!

Today the AJC updated there story on the Ralph Messer/Eddie Long Torah desecration debacle to include quotes from the UMJC/MJAA statement condemning Messer’s misuse of Jewish tradition and sancta, along with him not being associated with any mainstream Messianic Jewish group and him not being a rabbi.

http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/bishop-eddie-long-apologizes-1333271.html?cxtype=rss_news

It is exciting to see  Messianic Jewish leaders getting to join with the larger Jewish world to stand against this despicable act and for Torah and Jewish tradition.

Join me and thank Christian Boone, the writer of the article for updating it to include quotes from the UMJC/MJAA statement, email at: cboone@ajc.com

May we all stay vigilant for the honor of the Name of God and His Torah!

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Messianic Jewish Leaders Condemn Torah Desecration at Atlanta Church

There is a youtube video going around recorded this last Sunday at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church shows a man named Ralph Messer, instructing two men to slowly wrap Bishop Eddie Long in a large scroll that’s purported to be the Torah.

Below is a link to the video but it appears to have been scrubbed from the internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVkoQHCXSK8

I had to stop watching part way through because of what a desecration this act was, especially being led by a “self-ordained” non-Jew that was claiming his non-Biblical and non-Judaism activities were an established Jewish ritual and that he as a “Messianic rabbi” was performing them.

This horrible event does give us the opportunity to stress clearly that the Torah and other items of Jewish sancta like the talit, also used in this sham “Jewish ritual” are not props but holy objects, the Torah scroll being the very words of God handwritten with the holy language Hebrew.  The talit is not just a “prayer shawl” but a garment designed to fulfill the Divine command to wear fringes on garments and a garment that denotes the wearers submission to a Torah life.  This gives us pause and a conviction to make clear that Jewish sancta cannot and should not be seen as props and that the title of Rabbi is not something to be used without formal ordination by respected leaders and only conferred on Jews (it appears that Mr. Messer is a non-Jew from the Ephraimite error).

I was so heartened to see that the UMJC and MJAA (the two largest mainstream Messianic Jewish umbrella groups) came out today with a condemnation of this act and formally distanced Mr. Messer from having any connection to any respected Messianic Jewish group.

Below are links to the news article on the event and posts by respected Messianic Jewish leaders condemning this act of desecration of the Torah and allowing for lashon hara to be spoken against authentic Messianic Judaism.

NEWS ARTICLE:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/repulsive-jewish-leaders-angry-after-christian-church-wraps-pastor-in-torah-exalts-him-as-king/

JOINT STATEMENT BY THE UNION OF MESSIANIC JEWISH CONGREGATIONS/MESSIANIC JEWISH ALLIANCE OF AMERICA:

http://umjc.org/home-mainmenu-1/news-mainmenu-40/1-latest/746-umjc-mjaa-respond-to-messer-video

RABBI DR. STUART DAUERMANN:

http://www.messianicjudaism.me/agenda/2012/02/03/the-messer-mess-repudiating-a-disgraceful-act/

RABBI JOSHUA BRUMBACH:

http://www.messianicjudaism.me/yinon/2012/02/02/a-king-a-torah-and-ralph-messer/

RABBI DR. MICHAEL SCHIFFMAN

http://drschiffman.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/a-shonda/

RABBI DEREK LEMAN:

http://www.derekleman.com/musings/2012/02/02/ralph-messer-is-not-a-messianic-jewish-rabbi/

JONATHAN LASKO

http://gatherthesparks.blogspot.com/2012/02/no-messing-around-with-jewish-sancta.html

As we begin Shabbat may we offer ourselves more fully to glorifying the Name of our God and his Torah and outshine this desecration to God and Torah that happened last Sunday.

Shabbat Shalom…

Women Rabbis in Messianic Judaism – An important step in our maturation as a Judaism.

In 1 Corinthians 16:19 we read:

The congregations of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the congregation that is in their house.

In the Brit Chadasha we get the reference to a fellowship of believers meeting in the home of Priscilla and Aquila and it is interesting that Priscilla’s name is mentioned first in Rav Shaul’s other references to her and Aquila, possibly making reference to her prime role as spiritual leader in their fellowship. So then it appears that from this reference that Rav Shaul acknowledged a leadership role for a woman, in this case Priscilla.

So in this example we can see a woman in a leadership role of a Messianic community. I think that this is an important example for us as the next generation of leaders to see that we do do have this example in the Brit Chadasha of a woman leading a congregation.

In the larger Jewish world there have been women rabbis in Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism for the last 20 or 30 years or so. For a fascinating study of women rabbis read the book, “Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women’s Ordination, 1889-1985″ by Pamela Susan Nadell.

I appreciate the halakhic thinking of Conservative Judaism that makes innovative rulings in concert with the tradition and in the case of women rabbis they did this very thing. Being that one of the main issues blocking women from the rabbinate is that women according to Jewish law are not required to perform time bound mitzvot. So then the halakhic committee of Conservative Judaism ruled that if a woman wanted to be a rabbi she would have to take upon herself the time bound commandments (thrice daily prayers, tefillin, tzitzit, for example). This being done and taking on these mitzvot as an obligation then women could study for the rabbinate.

Even in Orthodoxy there is more room for women in leadership roles than in the larger Messianic Jewish movement including the overseeing of Jewish schools and serving as halakhic advisors on specific issues of Jewish law in relation to women (family purity and other family issues).

So then from the Brit Chadasha and from the larger Jewish world there is acceptance and openness to women in leadership roles.

I feel that is important for the current generation to make it a priority to see the first formally ordained woman rabbi in the UMJC.  We need to be willing to validate a calling that some women have to stand as rabbis within the world of Messianic Judaism and also declare formally to the women and girls in the Messianic Judaism world that there is room for women leaders in our movement, even holding the highest role of leadership that of a rabbi.

May we all seek to fill the roles that God has for us and may we build a mature Messianic Judaism for the future!