Jewish Voice Ministries?
February 25th, 2009Speak Up
I am investigating a ministry that provides assistance to needy Jews. I was wondering if anyone who reads this site was aware of it. It’s called Jewish Voice Ministries.
I’ve written a lot about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. This is a wonderful organization that moves Jews to Israel, helps poor Jews, and fights anti-Semitism in the media. But that organization has one weak point. They are completely opposed to evangelism. They work with Christian minister John Hagee, who has come to the controversial conclusion that Jews are under a different salvation scheme, and that there is no reason to mention Jesus to them.
Jewish Voice is somewhat different. It’s run by messianic Jews. They evangelize, and they do it from a Jewish standpoint, which is a little unusual. And they move Jews to Israel, much as the IFCJ does, so you can donate money for pretty much the same purposes.
I talk to my sister about charities and ministries. She pointed this one out to me. She likes it better than the IFCJ, for the reasons mentioned above.
I checked it out with Charity Navigator, and their rating is slightly higher than the IFCJ’s, so it’s a reputable organization. And the leader takes a reasonable salary.
If you’ve heard of Jewish Voice, let me know.
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I may have spoken too soon. I’m looking at their site, trying to find information about moving Jews to Israel, and it doesn’t seem to be there.
February 25th, 2009 at 5:52 PM
The problem I have with organizations like Jewish Voice Ministries and the like has to do with both nomenclature and mission. Nomenclature: Given that they are so-called messianic Jews, they are, therefore, not Jews, but Christians. There’s nothing wrong with that, but to call themselves Jews is a combination of willful self-deception and deception of their target audience. Mission: Their intent is to convert Jews to Christianity, with especial focus on Jews who, through ignorance, do not understand the key points of their religious heritage…and I have a big problem with that.
I’m not a big fan of evangelism in the base case, but it is especially bothersome to me when it targets Jews. Even more bothersome is when it takes the approach of pretending to be something it is not.
To me, what you believe is less important than what you do with that belief. But beliefs have labels, the better for us to understand them. Once you accept the notion of the divinity of Jesus, or the idea that he was sacrificed to remove the sins of Mankind – the core tenets of Christianity – you can no longer call yourself Jewish – not in any meaningful sense of the word.
I’d be curious to hear Aaron’s take on this.
February 25th, 2009 at 6:10 PM
The quarrel over who gets to call himself a Jew is not my area. But I can tell you that it’s very different from the rule as to who gets to call himself a Christian.
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The central, essential belief that distinguishes a Christian from a non-Christian is the belief that faith, not works alone, leads to salvation. So Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, objectively, are not Christians. Neither are self-proclaimed “Christians” who say there are other ways to salvation, and that other religions are just as valid as Christianity.
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To a Christian, a converted Jew who keeps kosher and obeys the Torah and considers himself a Jew is one hundred percent Christian, and we have no reason to disagree when he simultaneously identifies himself as Jewish.
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It would be impossible to acknowedge a Buddhist or Muslim “Christian,” because Buddhism and Islam have tenets that are inherently incompatible with Christianity. For example, Buddhism says we attain salvation through reincarnation and enlightenment, and Muslims say God has no son, and that Jesus was not crucified. It is literally impossible to belong to either religion and be a Christian. Judaism does not have this characteristic, so it’s hard for us to understand why you can’t be a Jew and a Christian. It appears that the answer is that the rabbis have voted, and that’s the end of it. If God gave them that authority, then Messianic Jews are not Jews.
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But the nomenclature controversy is not our problem; we lack standing to resolve it.
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I will say this. It’s curious to me that an extremely pious Jew who keeps the law, prays fervently, gives to charity, studies scripture, and wears himself out doing mitzvahs is considered less Jewish than an atheist Jew who molests children and sells pornography for a living, simply because he believes Jesus is the Messiah. And it’s hard to believe God would exclude the Messianic Jew for making an honest error about the identity of the Messiah, while continuing to accept the atheist as part of Israel.
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Interesting fact: a Messianic Jew was offered the position of judge in Jerusalem’s rabbinical court. His name was Daniel Zion. He had been the chief rabbi of Bulgaria, as well as the chief rabbi of Jaffa. He confessed his belief, and he was told he could have the office anyway, if he kept quiet. He refused the honor, sparing Judaism a really spectacular scandal.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:14 PM
“It’s curious to me that an extremely pious Jew who keeps the law, prays fervently, gives to charity, studies scripture, and wears himself out doing mitzvahs is considered less Jewish than an atheist Jew who molests children and sells pornography for a living, simply because he believes Jesus is the Messiah.”
If the extremely pious person in the above example believes Jesus is in any way divine, is the Son of God, or died to save mankind from its sins, he may be a very good person – worthy of a share in the World to Come – but he is not Jewish. (The Jewish concept of the Messiah is different from the Christian version. Jews believe the Messiah will be a temporal ruler who ushers in an age of peace and Godliness, but is himself not divine.) Such a person is no more or less Jewish than a child-molesting atheist Jew. Both atheism and the belief in a non-unitary God are alien to Judaism.
And that’s really the crux (the cross!) of the matter. A person who keeps the Mosaic commandments but who believes in a divine Jesus is, by your definition and mine, a Christian. But the Torah tells us that “The Lord is our God, the Lord is unique” – the core creed of Judaism – which does not leave room for a Son who shares the Godhead with the Father.
The early Christians – the ones who believed Jesus was the Messiah – were all Jews. As the beliefs that Jesus was divine and that he was sacrificed to absolve sin – beliefs incompatible with Judaism – became part of the evolving Christian theology, the two faiths reached a point where they had to split apart. Further, Paul preached that one need no longer follow the Mosaic laws. This made Christianity attractive to the Gentiles, who wanted no truck with the Jewish dietary laws…or circumcision. So: two faiths, where there once was one.
Again, I have no problem with Messianics. I consider them to be Christians – not Jews – and as long as they don’t tell Jews that they can believe in Jesus (as God) and still retain their Jewish religious identity, I’m perfectly happy to go my own way while they go theirs.
Sorry for the long screed.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:37 PM
So an atheist can’t be a Jew, either? That would be consistent with the rule against Christian Jews, although I have never heard of anyone other than a Christian being expelled from Jewry. Many Jews practice astrology and other occult practices (tarot card reading, for example), and many Jews are Buddhists, Hare Krishnas, and Muslims, but I have never heard anyone suggest that they were not Jews. If they are excluded, then the rule against Christian Jews seems less peculiar. I know Israel has refused admission to Messianic Jews in the past, but they had no problem with atheists. The kibbutz movement, as I’m sure you know, was packed with leftists who thought God was a fantasy.
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Paul did not actually preach that the Mosaic laws had been abolished. That is an error which has been promoted by Christians as well as Jews. He continued to obey the law until his death, except that he was willing to make exceptions in order to reach new converts. He did, however, preach that Gentile converts didn’t have to observe the entire Torah. To my great relief.
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Messianic proponent Dr. Michael L. Brown, who knows a thousand times more about this subject than I do, put it this way: “Paul lived and died as a Torah-observant Jew and never taught that Jewish believers in the Messiah should abandon the Torah, although it appears that if taking the good news of the Messiah to the Gentiles meant that he sometimes had to break a certain law or tradition—such as a dietary restriction then he would be willing to do that for the sake of their salvation, a principle that could even be deduced from Rabbinic thinking as well.”
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I should add that he and his cohorts know the whole list of Jewish objections to Jesus, and they have put a great deal of time and effort into responding to each one. Rather than fight about whose religion is correct, I will leave your other points uncontested and refer you to Dr. Brown. I don’t think you’ll want to read his books, but referring you to him is better than getting into a blog-comment debate. While I am supportive of other people’s efforts to proselytize, I don’t do it, myself. Arguing about it here would amount to a clumsy and likely ill-fated effort at proselytizing.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:19 AM
Actually, I would go farther than that. Posting objections to Jesus amounts to a demand that I either a) proselytize or b) deny my faith.
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I have seen the objections to Jesus; the list is not a secret, and it’s not long, complicated, new, or surprising. I have also seen the Messianic responses to the objections. The truth is, virtually all of these things can be believed by a reasonable person of sufficient bias. It seems pointless to bring them up, knowing that there is no possibility of a clear and decisive victory for either side.
February 27th, 2009 at 3:27 PM
Acts 28:28
March 13th, 2009 at 3:07 AM
Hello, I am a member of the management team at Jewish Voice Ministries International. This is a very interesting site to say the least. I would like to clarify a couple of our positions. First and foremost we believe that there is indeed only one way to reach salvation and that is through accepting that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah of all mankind. With that said, we also believe that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah that is foretold in the Scriptures. What separates us from traditional Christianity is that we believe that a Jewish man or woman does not stop being Jewish when they accept that Yeshua is their Messiah but rather, that they have accepted the One true Messiah that Jewish People have been waiting for for thousands of years. This is commonly referred to as being a completed Jew. The first Christians were in fact all Jews – they continued following the Jewish traditions and customs – they did not stop being Jewish. Our mission is to introduce Jewish men and women, as well as all men and women, to their Jewish Messiah. Please feel free to visit our website for more information and to learn more about our mission and vision. Thank you and may the One True God truely bless each person who is seeking to follow His will.