Messianic Judaism
[4][5][6][2][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][excessive citations] It emerged in the United States between the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier Hebrew Christian movement,[14][15] and was most prominently propelled through the non-profit organization Jews for Jesus founded in 1973 by Martin "Moishe" Rosen, an American minister under the Conservative Baptist Association.
[28][needs update] Efforts by Jewish Christians to proselytize to Jews began in the 1st century, when Paul the Apostle preached at the synagogues in each city that he visited.
[31] In the 19th century, some groups attempted to create congregations and societies of Jewish converts to Christianity, though most of these early organizations were short-lived.
[32] Early formal organizations run by converted Jews include: the Anglican London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews of Joseph Frey (1809),[33] which published the first Yiddish New Testament in 1821;[34][verification needed] the "Beni Abraham" association, established by Frey in 1813 with a group of 41 Jewish Christians who started meeting at Jews' Chapel, London for prayers Friday night and Sunday morning;[35] and the London Hebrew Christian Alliance of Great Britain founded by Dr. Carl Schwartz in 1866.
[36] The September 1813 meeting of Frey's "Beni Abraham" congregation at the rented "Jews' Chapel" in Spitalfields is sometimes pointed to as the birth of the semi-autonomous Hebrew Christian movement within Anglican and other established churches in Britain.
[39] In Eastern Europe, Joseph Rabinowitz established a Hebrew Christian mission and congregation called "Israelites of the New Covenant" in Kishinev, Bessarabia, in 1884.
[40][41][42] In 1865, Rabinowitz created a sample order of worship for Sabbath morning service based on a mixture of Jewish and Christian elements.
[6][49] In the 1940s and 1950s, missionaries in Israel, including the Southern Baptists, adopted the term meshichyim (משיחיים, "messianics") to counter negative connotations of the word notsrim (נוצרים, "Christians").
[56] David Rausch writes that the change "signified far more than a semantical expression—it represented an evolution in the thought processes and religious and philosophical outlook toward a more fervent expression of Jewish identity.
[77] With a few exceptions, Messianic believers generally consider the written Torah, the five books of Moses, to remain in force as a continuing covenant, revised by Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament, that is to be observed both morally and ritually.
Disagreeing with these rites and practices, other Messianics hold to a belief that all sin (whether committed yet or not) is already atoned for because of Jesus's death and resurrection.
Dan Juster of Tikkun, and Russ Resnik of the UMJC, have argued against the One Law movement's insistence on gentiles being required to observe the entirety of Torah in the same way as Jews.
Like One Law groups, the Two House movement has many superficial similarities to Messianic Judaism, such as their belief in the ongoing validity of the Mosaic Covenant.
While much of the Two House teaching is based on interpretations of Biblical prophecy, the biggest disagreements are due to inability to identify the genealogy of the Lost Tribes.
Messianic Jews, in varying degrees, challenge both thoughts,[93] and instead believing that although Israel has rejected Jesus, it has not forfeited its status as God's chosen people.
All Messianic Jews hold to certain eschatological beliefs such as the End of Days, the Second Coming of Jesus as the conquering Messiah, the re-gathering of Israel, a rebuilt Third Temple, a resurrection of the dead, and many believe in the Millennial Sabbath, although some are Amillenialist.
Some also believe in a literal 7000-year period for the human history of the world, with a Millennial Messianic kingdom prior to a final judgment.
[81] According to the Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship (SBMF), services are held on Saturday to "open the doors to Jewish people who also wish to keep the Sabbath".
[95] Other branches of the movement have attempted to "eliminate the elements of Christian worship [such as frequent communion[d]] that cannot be directly linked to their Jewish roots".
[22] The movement has several recording artists who consider their music to be Messianic in message, such as Joel Chernoff of the duo Lamb,[106] Ted Pearce,[107] and Chuck King.
[109] In Israel, the linguistic distinction between Messianic Jews and mainstream Christians is less clear, and the name meshihiy (משיחי, 'messianic') is commonly used by churches in lieu of notsri (נוצרי, 'Christian').
Even if considered shituf (literally, "partnership")—an association of other individuals with the God of Israel—this is only permitted for gentiles, and that only according to some rabbinic opinions.
[10][117] The Central Conference of American Rabbis states that ""Jewish Christians" or "Messianic Jews" have never been considered believers in Judaism.
[120] Rabbi Tovia Singer, founder of the anti-missionary organization Outreach Judaism, noted of a Messianic religious leader in Toledo: "He's not running a Jewish synagogue.[...]
[126] However, on April 16, 2008, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled in a case brought by a number of Messianic Jews with Jewish fathers and grandfathers.
[125][127][128] The International Religious Freedom Report 2008, released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the US, stated that discrimination against Messianic Jews in Israel was increasing.
[129] Some acts of violence have also occurred; in one incident on March 20, 2008, a bomb concealed as a Purim gift basket was delivered to the house of a prominent Messianic Jewish family in Ariel, in the West Bank, which severely wounded the son.
[132] In another incident, the mayor of Or Yehuda, a suburb of Tel Aviv, held a public book-burning of literature passed out to Ethiopian immigrants.
According to Yeshiva World News, the Navy Uniform Board commanded that Michael Hiles, a candidate for chaplaincy, wear the Christian insignia.
"[137] A Birmingham, Alabama, police employee's religious discrimination case was settled in her favor after she filed suit over having to work on the Jewish Sabbath.
