Messianic Jewish Zionism... Where is it?
Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Mainstream American Judaism (for lack of a better term) has a number of organizations dedicated strictly to Zionism. A few that come readily to mind are the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), Hadassah, and the American-Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC). These organizations are fairly secular in nature, preferring to focus on the surival and success of the Jewish State from a non-denominational perspective. Their work is mainly social and/or political in nature. Both organizations are extremely well-known and well supported among and by the American Jewish community, regardless of denominational affiliation (or lack thereof) and both have made an enormous impact on the nation of Israel.

From what I've observed, Messianic Judaism tends to couple its Zionist efforts with ongoing ministry work. Many Messianic organizations incorporate ministry to Israel (i.e. the MJAA's "Restoration of Israel" Project and the UMJC's Tikkun Olam Project, both of which focus on giving humanitarian aid to Israel) into their greater package of objectives. There are also a number of Messianic ministries in the land of Israel, such as MAOZ and the Joseph Storehouse, that act as recipients of much of the Zionistic will of the Messianic community in America. Generally, I have absolutely no argument with the organization of these efforts. In fact, I encourage them. But, my question is: Where is the collectivity in all of this?

The problem with ministy-centered Zionist efforts is simple: There is too much to focus on. Instead of having one core body to distribute news, calls to action, and to solicit tzedekah, we have a number of smaller ministries with Israel listed as one of the many projects on their list. Often, as a result, news and information about the goings on in Israel becomes extremely limited, if not completely non-existant in much of the literature distributed by these organizations. In turn, their Zionistic efforts become less and less about the survival of the Jewish State and more and more about raising funds for simple humanitarian aid.

Moreover, the majority of the focus is put on aiding the Messianic Jews in the State of Israel, versus the nation as a whole. Now, it should be made clear that not every ministry is like this: the Joseph Storehouse Ministry and Netivyah both focus on aiding those in need, believer or not. However, with the backlash against Christian Zionism's anti-Evangelical efforts, some Israel-focused ministries within the movement are beginning to target fellow believers as the only recipients of their support. For example, the most recent MAOZ newsletter contains a slogan of support for the "Messianic" Jewish people in Israel.

As a result, the Messianic community by and large is given a definition of Zionism that doesn't extend far past the basic idea that supporting the Jewish State means donating money to starving, homeless Jews in the Promised Land. Of course, these ministries also couple their humanitarian efforts with touring opportunities, most of which give believers the chance to connect with Israel for 10 days through a bus window. Humanitarian Aid is good. Tourism is good. But there's more to Zionism than all that. Mainstream American Jews have organization on top of organization, blogs, websites, parades, protests, and tons of resources advocating for the State of Israel on a daily basis. Messianic Jews acknowledge that Israel is important by making sure to give her a cut from their tzedekah boxes and taking a ten day trip at least once in their lifetime.

I just don't get it. Where's all the Messianic passion for Zion? They talk about it in metaphorical terms, about the "restoration of Israel" and "returning to Zion" but they aren't doing very much to excite their congregants about it all. I'll be that most Messianics couldn't even tell you who the current Prime Minister of Israel is, let alone what Gush Katif and Yesha are. Today's Messianic Jewish community has no real way of relating to Israel at all-- at least, not that I've seen.

Weird.

Labels: Israel, Messianic Judaism, Zionism