Some years ago I was very troubled, yet not surprised, by two articles published by the Jewish Bulletin of North California. One article is entitled, “Messianics use survivors in latest ads, enraging Jews” (4-27-01) the other, “Meditation deepens Judaism for Makor Or participants” (6-8-01). These two articles are a perfect (perfectly sad) example of the manner in which some Jews are being encouraged to tackle issues, a manner that is being adopted by many people and thus becoming all too common in our relativistic / syncretistic society.
The first article is a disapproving report on a video entitled Survivor Stories that the organization Jews for Jesus has produced. The video features seven Jewish holocaust survivors telling their stories about how they came to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. The other article praises a combination of Zen Buddhist meditation and Jewish worship.
On The One Hand:
Generally speaking, it is common to find an attitude within Judaism which states that a Jewish person (born to a Jewish mother, or properly converted) can be Jewish even without practicing Judaism. A person can be completely secular and still be Jewish. A person can be agnostic and still be Jewish. And yes, a person can be an atheist and still be Jewish. But if a Jewish person believes that Jesus is the Messiah, that person is in no way shape or form any longer Jewish. They have been trapped by a cult and out of ignorance have renounced Judaism. The two articles are a perfect example of this sort of two-sided viewpoint (these points were evidenced in my essay: Jewish and Christian? Is Messianic Judaism Possible?).
No Jew in their right mind would confront a Jewish holocaust survivor and attack them with the usual arsenal of arguments such as “You’re not a real Jew. You are ignorant of Judaism. You are betraying your people!” Forgoing the wise saying, “Don’t kill the messenger if you don’t like the message,” the article states, “Plenty in the Jewish community are fuming-not at the message but at its source: Jews for Jesus.”
Jewish holocaust survivors deserve our utmost respect and therefore, generally Jewish organizations would personally criticize them. Rather, they will state that the survivors have a right to say what they wish while the Jewish organizations have the right to censor the forum of their message. The article is also peppered with affirmations of the First Amendment, the politically correct mantra, and so Jews for Jesus is besmirched for giving the survivors the ability to have their message heard.
Holocaust survivor Marion Parkhurst who survived Bergen-Belsen1 states,
Before you dismiss my beliefs you should hear my story_My decision to embrace Jesus came only after many years of soul searching and study. All I ask is that you hear my story and those of several other remarkable Jews who have suffered greatly and now truly believe in Jesus.
My people, the Jews, are so very articulate and intelligent and have always considered illiteracy a sin, lest one not be able to study the Torah. What is extremely sad is that these same people are now being encouraged by publications such as the Jewish Bulletin to respond to extremely important issues out of pure irrational emotionalism.
The article is peppered with emotionally charged statements such as, “fuming,” “cheap shot,” “tasteless and offensive,” “a new low,” “shameful and disgusting,” “very low,” “falling prey,” “very vulnerable,” “this depressed me so much,” “Just when you think they’ve gone too far_they pull something out of their hats that’s even worse.” The few arguments that attempt to go beyond emotionalism fall far short of being reasonable.
Rabbi Doug Kahn (executive director, Jewish Community Relations Council) stated,
Logically one cannot believe that the messiah has not yet come, as traditional Jews do, and that he also has come, as Christians believe_One can be a Jew who converted to Christianity_The concern that has always existed is that [Jews for Jesus tries] to distort that fundamental impossibility that one can be both a Jew and a Christian at the same time.
This is very logical on the surface and only on the surface. It must be understood that Rabbinic Judaism means that interpretations and emphasis have a potential of changing from generation to generation as the Rabbis determine Judaism’s doctrines. Maybe we cannot logically be Christians and follow the doctrines of modern Rabbinic Judaism. But we know that the religion of God as prescribed in the Tanakh points to the Messiah Jesus.
Jews for Jesus does not distort the assumed impossibility that one can be both a Jew and a Christian at the same time. Let us consider what Jewish religious law has to say on this issue. The Encyclopedia Judaica 3:211 states,
In Jewish religious law, it is technically impossible for a Jew (born to a Jewish mother or properly converted to Judaism) to change his religion. Even though a Jew undergoes the rites of admission to another religious faith and formally renounces the Jewish religion he remains-as far as the Halakah is concerned-a Jew, albeit a sinner (Sanh. 44a)_For the born Jew, Judaism is not a matter of choice_in the technical halakhic sense, apostasy is impossible.
Such sentiments were evidenced in my aforementioned essay Jewish and Christian? Is Messianic Judaism Possible?
I have no problem being called a sinner by the Jewish community yet, as we saw here, Jewish religious law has no problem calling me a Jew even if individual Jews choose to act and speak against their own Jewish law which they claim to uphold and admit is still binding.
One holocaust survivor who has not accepted Jesus states,
if Jewish children who spent the war in hiding with Christian families chose to remain the religion of their rescuers, it was not for him to pass judgment. But since that was not the case for any of those in the video, he said, the tactics used by Jews for Jesus in this case were “shameful and disgusting.”
A narrow qualification for acceptability is offered and since the requirement is not met the true stories are rejected. Why is it acceptable for scared, suffering children to convert while it is not acceptable for a grown person to convert “after many years of soul searching and study.” This gentleman did pass judgment by discrediting the very life stories of seven survivors merely because they did not meet his subjective criteria for authenticity.
While the article admits, “The video is like many documentaries that feature survivors” it is considered a scandalous video because the survivors cannot be discredited. Rabbi H. David Teitelbaum (executive director, Board of Rabbis of Northern California) stated, “They have every right to publicize their organization but to use Holocaust survivors is a cheap shot.” Why then is it acceptable to use the Holocaust to publicize the Jewish spirit, survival, hope and strength? And why then is it acceptable to use the Holocaust to raise money for Jewish organizations and synagogues?
One person stated, “Religion ought to reach towards people’s hopes and aspirations, not their doubts and fears.” What could be more positive, hopeful and inspiring than the stories of people who were hunted down like animals by a cruel, well numbered, well armed predator, and yet survive and have a belief in God which is sure and firm, the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The life verse of the Jewish-Christian may just be,
you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name (Isaiah 63:16).
On The Other Hand:
The article on Zen Buddhist meditation and Judaism is the exact opposite of the one about Jews for Jesus. It tells of Makor Or, a Jewish meditation center of San Francisco’s Congregation Beth Sholom.
One of the two leaders of the center was the former abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center. The Makor Or project was funded by a grant from The Nathan Cummings Foundation which is “rooted in the Jewish tradition.”2Rabbi Alan Lew, the other leader, who had been a practitioner of Zen before he became a Rabbi states,
At Makor Or, we freely admit the meditation we learn comes from Buddhist teachings. But then, Judaism has always borrowed techniques from other cultures when it served to make Judaism more vital.
The first article employs the often-leveled charge that organization such as Jews for Jesus are “opportunists of Jewish ignorance.” We are told that Jews who do not have much knowledge of Judaism are falling prey to such evangelistic organizations. However, in the second article we find tolerance and encouragement of exploiting this very same ignorance.
The article proudly tells of the ignorance of some of the participant in this Zen / Judaism concoction. One person “drifted away from Judaism for about two decades and said that he was even more of a novice at Jewish prayer than he was at meditation.” Another person’s practice of Judaism was reduced to “I just paid the check and went to the High Holy Day services.” Others “have prior experience with Zen meditation.” One proudly states, “I’m passionately indifferent to the question of what precedent there is in Judaism for meditation.”
Are these people seen as manipulated victims of a cult? By no means. This is because the article claims that the Zen Buddhist meditation is a facilitator of a deeper Jewish worship and a sense of community.
Buddhism is a Gentile-Pagan, and for all practical purposes, atheistic religion. Zen meditation is not the meditation on the Word of God of which the Scriptures do speak. Rather, it is a way in which a person can work herself into an altered state of consciousness. It is a way in which to harmonize one’s karma. Karma is a works based concept of “salvation” that involves believing that the universe is an illusion and the belief in reincarnation into human, animal, mineral or ghostly lives in the next world (conceptual variations exist under the umbrella term “reincarnation”). These are the very things that God prohibited and exposed as false over and over in His Word.
Messianic Jews are Jewish people who believe that the Jewish Messiah has come in the person of the Jewish man Jesus of Nazareth as predicted in the Jewish Scripture. We know with all of our hearts, minds and strength that we are worshipping, living and dying for the one and only God, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We have not converted to a gentile-pagan religion rather, we know that we are living the life of a Jew as it is laid out under the New Covenant just as the life of a Jew, before Jesus, was laid out under the Old Covenant-the Tanakh. May God speedily bless my people with the knowledge of the truth.
These issues are far too important to be handled in an emotional manner. Instead, we are to have intelligent opinions and arguments. We are not to let our prejudices cloud the facts nor our ability to reason.
Susan Perlman, executive director of the Survivor Stories video states,
These stories of Holocaust survivors who have come to believe in Jesus is a story that must be told.
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORDIsaiah 1:18