Messianic Judaism

Various Christian leaders have publicly criticized Messianic Jews for their aggressive attempts to convert Jews in the Jewish community and for misrepresenting themselves as Jews, but if you are Jewish by blood are you not a Jew, and would God not want his elect to accept his son Jesus Christ? Then way would Christians not support the return of the Jews to our heavenly father?

Messianic Judaism

Messianic Judaism, is a religious group that has tried to straddle the line between Judaism and Christianity. According to this group, Jesus, or Yeshua in Aramaic, was the Messiah, and he died on behalf of the world’s sins. They also believe that the Jews are the chosen people, and that the explicit laws of the Torah, such as observing Shabbat, holidays, and circumcision must be obeyed today.

The origins of this group can be traced back to the Hebrew Christian missions to the Jews in the 19th and early 20th centuries. By the 1960s and ’70s Messianic Judaism was gaining popularity, known by many as “the Jesus people,” and eventually Jews for Jesus.

Because of Messianic Judaism’s identification with Jesus, all of the major denominations of Judaism have rejected Messianic Judaism as a form of Judaism. Within Christianity Messianic Judaism is sometimes seen as a group within the evangelical community, and sometimes seen as a separate sect. At times, various Christian leaders have publicly criticized Messianic Jews for their aggressive attempts to convert Jews in the Jewish community and for misrepresenting themselves as Jews.(But if you are Jewish by blood are you not a Jew, and would God not want his elect to accept his son Jesus Christ? The way would Christians not support the return of the Jews to our heavenly father?)

There is a growing community of Messianic Jews in Israel, particularly in the village of Yad-Hashmona. Many of the Messianic Jews in Israel are native Israelis.

In a ruling handed down by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1989, Messianic Jews are not allowed citizenship in Israel via the Law of Return because there is a condition on the Law of Return that it cannot be employed by those who were Jews and voluntarily took on another faith. However, in 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in a strange legal twist that because the Law of Return is granted to anyone with one Jewish grandparent, Messianic Jews who are not considered halakhically Jewish (i.e. their mother is not Jewish) are granted citizenship via the Law of Return.

Messianic Jewish prayer services include much of the traditional Jewish liturgy, often edited and amended to include references to Yeshua. Hebrew is common in Messianic Jewish congregations, and there is a growing trend towards including dance in their services. The dances are in the spirit of Israeli folk dancing.

Today, there are an estimated 400 Messianic Jewish congregations worldwide, with 10,000-15,000 Messianic Jews in Israel, and about 200,000 in the United States. Synagogues can be found across the country, mainly in communities with a large existing Jewish community.