Identity & Faith
Monday, April 05, 2010
From the JPost's most recent interview with Natan Sharansky:
I was speaking just a few days ago to a group of Americans, all religious, who made aliya in the last year. They asked me, how is it that you, who made such a difficult aliya and fought to come for so many years, are now shifting from a focus on aliya to Jewish identity.
I told them, “You know what, you know that the Kadosh baruch hu [God] gave the order – ‘lech lecha [Go].’” If there are Jews who don’t want to hear the voice of God, do you think that they will hear a shaliah [emissary] from the Jewish Agency telling them to make aliya?
It’s impossible to force our emissaries to compete with God and try to shout even louder than Him to make the message heard. You can’t be louder than God.
So what we have to do is help the Jews hear the voice of God. And how do we do that? By strengthening their feeling of Jewish connection, of Jewish pride and tradition, and their connection to Israel. That’s our function. Our function is not to impose on them what God doesn’t succeed in imposing, but to make them hear the voice.
Labels: Israel, Jewish, Jewishness, Judaism, Passover, Sharansky
posted by Shoshana @ 5:33 PM
Confluence of Cultures: Evangelicals Addressing Birthright on Zionism?
Friday, November 06, 2009
Gordon Robertson to Speak at Birthright Alum Event
Last year, Birthright said it wouldn’t permit Messianic Jews to take advantage of its free trips. "There is unanimity in Jewish life that individuals who choose the Messianic path have chosen a path that separates them from the accepted parameters of Jewishness in contemporary Jewish society," Birthright's CEO, Gidi Mark, said at the time. The alumni network says it’s not troubled by that disconnect. "We're not asking him to come and talk about Christianity or Jews trying to get Jews to believe in Christianity. It's not the topic," a Birthright NEXT official told the Jewish Week.I just want to make one thing perfectly clear: The day there is "unanimity in Jewish life" is the day the pigs stop flying and land on our Passover dinner plates.
Labels: Birthright, Christian Zionism, Israel, Jewish Identity, Jewishness, Judaism, Messianic Judaism, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 4:53 PM
Zionism: A Badge of Honor
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Olmert Announces Tough Concessions Ahead in Talks with Syria [Israel National News]
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Israelis Wednesday night talks with Syria could mean "concessions which will not be simple." He did not elaborate.
Exclusive: Syrian tourism industry makes plans for Golan [JPost]
"We understand that there is a [peace] process Israel must pursue and we understand that the prime minister [Ehud Olmert] is preparing to face a police investigation, but we also know that most Israeli Knesset members reject the idea of withdrawing from the Golan and that there is a strong majority in the Knesset that opposes the idea, as does most of the Israeli public.Anti-Jewish Attacks in LA, England and NYC [Israel National News]
"Although it is worrisome, we can't imagine the Israeli government would dare to give important Israeli territory to the hands of the Iranians, the Syrians and Hizbullah, and thereby endanger the existence of the Israeli state," Malka said.
Violent attacks against Jews in recent weeks have taken place in Los Angeles, England and New York City. In Ireland, a Jewish man had graffiti daubed on his home reading: "Go Home, Jew."They won't stop attacking us until we stand up for ourselves. Until we denounce, reject, and erradicate the corruption, fear, and self-doubt in our own ranks, we cannot and will not survive against outside attack.
Now is the time for all of Israel to stand up and fight back. This begins by throwing out the 2,000 year old diaspora scapegoat "woe-are-we" mentality. We are not the victims here: We are the victors. And the sooner we accept that, the better.
We are Israel. We. Always. Win.
Labels: Anti-Semitism, Golan Heights, Israel, Jewish, Jewishness, Syria, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 10:37 PM
Messianic Jewish Impact in Israel
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
While the American Messianic Jewish community continues to spin on its heels, debating over such poignant issues as the incorporation of Talmud study and requiring gentiles to undergo official conversion ceremonies, the Messianic community in Israel is making some serious in-roads into being recognized as a legitimate, culturally and ethnically Jewish sect. While all of the credit goes to HaShem, the work of Calev Myers of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice deserves a serious round of applause. This guy is basically THE spokesperson for Israeli Messianics. Some clips:
Orthodox youth burn New Testaments [JPost May 20, '08]
Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in a religious Israeli town.Court applies Law of Return to Messianic Jews because of fathers [JPost April 22, '08]
Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.
...
Calev Myers, an attorney who represents Messianic Jews, or Jews who accept Jesus as their savior, demanded in an interview with Army Radio that all those involved be put on trial. He estimated there were 10,000 Messianic Jews, who are also known as Jews for Jesus, in Israel.
Messianic Jews are entitled to Israeli citizenship according to the Law of Return if their father is Jewish, according to a precedent-setting ruling handed down last week by the High Court of Justice.What is truly amazing is the story surrounding the participation of a Messianic Jewish girl in Israel's annual Bible quiz:
...
These petitioners, represented by attorneys Yehuda Raveh and Calev Myers, argued that they were eligible for new immigrant status and citizenship because they were the offsprings of fathers who were Jewish, not because they themselves were Jewish according to the definition of "Who is a Jew" in the Law of Return.
Organizers of Bible Quiz in Israel Get Question of Their Own: 'Who is a Jew?' [Jewish Daily Forward May 6, '08]
The organizers of Israel's annual state-run Bible Quiz are used to asking tough questions. But as this year's contest approached, the tables were turned as they were forced to answer one: Who is a Jew?Pushing our legitimate identity as Jews from a legal angle, Myers is bringing the crux of the "Who is a Jew" argument to the forefront of the Israeli legal landscape. By doing so, he is laying the groundwork to secure a future for Messianic Jews to live as Jews in Israel. Baruch HaShem!
The Bible Quiz is a popular highlight of the country's yearly Independence Day celebrations, introduced by the prime minister and broadcast live on national television. Thousands of Israelis tune in to see teenagers battle to determine who knows the most about the Good Book.
Contestants come from Israel and the Diaspora. The only prerequisite for entry is that you have to be Jewish.
There are no records of contestants who had been excluded because their Jewishness was contested at any point in the quiz's 45-year history. In mid-April, however, a furious controversy erupted following the disclosure that Bat-El Levy, one of the four Israeli finalists this year, comes from a West Bank family of so-called messianic Jews who believe in Jesus as the messiah.
Rabbis and anti-missionary activists, already shaken by a recent Supreme Court decision permitting 12 messianics to immigrate under the Law of Return, demanded that the 17-year-old be disqualified. Opponents charged that her participation would help her community advance what critics call creeping legitimacy as a variant of Judaism.
...
"The reaction to this contestant shines a light on a phobia that exists toward messianic Jews in Israel," said attorney Calev Myers, de facto spokesman for Israel's 100 messianic congregations.
...
Among the quiz organizers, “nobody was happy” upon learning of the contestant’s faith, said Shlomo Ben-Tzura, who is in charge of Israeli entries.
"We talked with lawyers, but couldn't do anything," he said. "Everybody wanted to say she isn't a Jew, but nobody could do anything." He said that as the daughter of a Jewish woman, she meets the standard criteria to be considered a Jew under Halacha, or traditional rabbinic law. Legally, he added, there was no room to challenge her status, since she is listed as Jewish in her state papers — which do not always follow halachic definitions.
...
"Messianic Jews are widely despised because they claim to be Jewish while declaring a belief in 'Yeshua,'" explained Dan Cohn Sherbok, a Reform rabbi who is a theology professor at the University of Wales in Britain and has written widely on messianic Judaism. "However, what is accepted as the Jewish community is so diverse and pluralistic, even including groups like humanists who are actually nontheists, that anybody will have a hard time excluding messianics and justifying doing so."
The cultural implications of these legal decisions are radical. Not only do they legitimize our Jewish identity in the eyes of our fellow Jews; they establish our inherent Jewishness in the eyes of our gentile counterparts. This will have a massive effect on the way Messianic Judaism is practiced by future generations.
However, by arguing that Messianic Jews are Jewish on the basis of genetics, i.e.; the Messianic Jews with patrilineal Jewish blood are deemed to be ethnic Jews, may be an argument that winds up setting us back in certain ways. As long as Jewishness is viewed as any kind of genetically-bestowed identity (whether it is termed a "race" or an "ethnicity" if it's blood-dependent, you're either born into it or you're not) we run the risk of contradicting Torah principles. Remember: the foreigner was accepted into the tribe as long as they accepted the cultural norms (Torah practice) of the Hebrew people. We cannot ignore the lessons of Ruth and Romans 9-11, among other scriptures, if we are to truly understand who we are as a people.
I would also warn against portraying the Messianic population in Israel as a "persecuted minority." Jews the world-over are a persecuted minority; the major world powers persecute Israel on a daily basis. It is absurd to begin crying foul when your own brother picks on you if you're both under the knife. We'll never establish any kind of true unity if we enter into a race with the Orthodox sect to see who is the most persecuted Jew. That's ridiculous. We should simply state the facts of our case and rest on the truth, because it is the truth--not whining--that will set us free.
Exciting things are happening in the land of Israel. Baruch haShem for the servants of Adonai!
Labels: Calev Myers, Israel, Jerusalem Institute of Justice, Jewish Identity, Jewishness, Messianic Judaism
posted by Shoshana @ 6:58 PM
Yom HaShoah & Israel Independence: Thoughts
Saturday, May 03, 2008
When asked who held the most blame for the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel answered "the American Jews." He's right. Jewish Americans were in places of power and authority within the FDR Administration, and they willingly chose to do nothing despite having full knowledge of what was going on. The Editor-in-Cheif of the NY Times openly made it a point to keep reports about European Jewry in the back pages of the largest newspaper in America--that is, when he chose to cover the story at all. Hollywood Jews did make an effort to draw attention to Hitler's atrocities in Europe in the late 1930s, as well as to help European Jews emigrate to the US, until the US Government sent Joe Kennedy to warn them against their commentary, lest America blame the Jews for being drawn into the war.
Sure, there were average Jewish Americans who did what they could to speak out, to bring family and friends over from Europe, and even to fight. But the Jewish Americans with the greatest power and authority by and large did nothing.
Today, American Jews claim that without Jewish American money, the State of Israel couldn't survive. They're wrong. Don't tell the survivors and descendants of an army that fashioned lipstick cases into bullets that they need greenbacks to function. That's plain bull. I can't help but wonder if the money argument doesn't have a twofold purpose: to ease the guilt of not taking on the burden of responsibility for leaving our European brothers and sisters in the dust, and to justify the lack of willingness to make aliyah. In any case, it's an argument that's got to stop if we are to ever begin healing the rift between American and Israeli Jewry, a great number of whom are of European descent.
Related Links:
NEVER AGAIN: Speech by the IDF Chief of the General Staff for the 'March of the Living' [Israpundit]
Lebanon Palestinians to march on border [JPost]
More than 100,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon are expected to march toward the border with Israel on May 14 in the context of the Palestinian Authority's plan to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Israel, PA officials told The Jerusalem Post Thursday.If you get 'Shalom TV' you'll recall that Israel Update covered this story months ago. Whether it will really happen or not, I don't know. Trying to get those forces to unify has failed more than once in the past. But, trust that if it does, it should be one hell of an Israel Independence Day.
...
The plan calls on the refugees to return to Israel with suitcases and tents so that they can settle down in their former villages. The refuges are requested to carry UN flags upon their return and to be equipped with their UNRWA-issued ID cards.
The plan asks Arab countries hosting the refugees to facilitate their return by opening their borders. The plan specifically refers to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.
Palestinian refugees living in the US, EU, Canada and Latin America have been requested to use their foreign passports to fly to Ben- Gurion Airport, while dozens of ships carrying refugees will converge on Israeli ports.
Labels: American Jewry, Holocaust, Israel, Israel Independence Day, Jewishness, Judaism, Yom HaShoah, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 11:48 AM
It's a Pesach MIRACLE!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Israeli Supreme Court rules in favor of Messianic Jews [israeltoday.co.il]
The following is a press release issued by Jerusalem Institute for Justice co-founder Calev Meyers:
In a landmark decision this week, the Supreme Court of Israel ratified a settlement between twelve Messianic Jewish believers and the State of Israel, which states that being a Messianic Jew does not prevent one from receiving citizenship in Israel under the Law of Return or the Law of Citizenship, if one is a descendent of Jews on one's father's side (and thus not Jewish according to halacha).
Added Bonus: "This important victory paves the way for persons who have Jewish ancestry on their father's side to immigrate to Israel freely, whether or not they belong to the Messianic Jewish community. This is yet another battle won in our war to establish equality in Israel for the Messianic Jewish community just like every other legitimate stream of faith within the Jewish world."
YAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Labels: aliyah, Israel, Jewishness, Messianic Jewish, Messianic Judaism, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 9:46 PM
Jewish Unity... the Stumblingblock
Monday, February 18, 2008
I'm digging around the blogosphere for something to write about, anything that hasn't been trudged over 5,000 times already, when I find this post, titled Pulse of the People from Blogs of Zion, buried in a conglomeration of Friday's listings on Israeli Bloggers in English:
What is the greatest challenge facing the Jewish People?I don't know when it first started, but our self-reflexive trait can be a rather positive one, as long as we demand solutions to the problems we're so willing to expose.
A few of the answers:
* "Hatred between different streams of Judaism."
* "The mis-transmission of what Judaism has to offer, because a watered down Judaism is a stagnant Judaism"
* "Apathy"
* "Freedom: Why be Jewish?"
* "Lack of a perceivable and compelling reason to be Jewish"
* "A tendency to get stuck in old habits and a tendency to forget the lesson of the past."
* "Acceptance in the Middle East"
* "Jewish Unity"
* "Self-Esteem"
Notice, that but for one, these are largely internal challenges–and that's representative of the rest of the answers that were not posted. And no one said Iran.
All of these issues plague Jewish people, whether they're religious or secular, no matter what denomination they subscribe to, no matter where they live. What I don't understand-- perhaps because I'm tired of it-- is the idea that being Jewish is a problematic thing. Everyone has drek in their lives, but isn't being Jewish about having answers to clean up the drek? Isn't being Jewish the solution, not the problem? The issues listed above are issues that arise not within the individual, but within the group-- reading the list reminds me of a line from a favorite TV show: "This is what happens to love when people are in love." We're always participating in a struggle, whether it be between our humanity and our holiness, or between ourselves and our G-d, or between our nation and the world at large, that we wind up transmitting that struggle into our relationships with one another. We don't trust our G-d, we don't trust our individual identity (or, consequently, our ability to carry the responsibility of the identity we've been given), we don't trust the world around us-- so, naturally, we begin to view each other with suspicion.
How derranged and destructive is that?
There are so many Jewish people out there--famous, powerful, rich Jewish people--who have made careers out of reaching out to develop relationships with different groups of gentiles. There are Jews reaching out to Christians, Jews reaching out to Arabs, Jews reaching out to palestinians, Jews reaching out to every possible ethnic and religious group in existence in order to establish friendships and alliances. Where are the Jewish people reaching out to their fellow Jews? I'm not famous, or powerful, or rich, but I if I could reach out to anyone in this world, I would reach out to my fellow Jewish people-- for the sake of establishing friendships and alliances among us all, for the good of us all.
So many people argue over what it means to be created in the image of Adonai, that they forget the most dominant aspect of His character: He is One. Sometimes, I think the reason the Shema was commanded by HaShem wasn't just to remind us that He is One, but that we are one in Him. We won't have success until we stop treating each other like drek. Look at it this way: Nobody can get through life successfully when they keep slapping themselves in the face.
Labels: Israel, Jewish unity, Jewishness, Judaism, Messianic Judaism, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 8:07 PM
Israeli Music is Amazing
Monday, February 11, 2008
I picked up 15 new Israeli CDs this weekend.
Yes, fifteen. Hey, I get to this store twice a year at best-- I have to stock up.
Among the albums, I bought Sarit Hadad's "Ashlayot Metukot" ("Sweet Illusions"):
The album contains one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard. Titled, "Shma Elohai (Kshe'Halev Bocheh)" it was written after the "brutal lynching and mutilation" of two IDF reservists, Vadim Nurzhitz and Yossi Avrahami in October of 2000. If you don't recall the incident, perhaps the infamous picture will shake your memory bank:
The palestinian terrorist holds up hands covered in Israeli blood, moments before the bodies of the soldiers are thrown out of the window for the crowd below to pummel and destroy.
Here are the lyrics in English, translation via HebrewSongs.com:
SHMA ELOHAI (KSHE'HALEV BOCHEH)The store owner, who is Israeli, always plays the CDs for me before I buy them. "Listen before you buy! We'll play anything you like-- that way you know you like it before you buy it!" My Hebrew is rough, so I always ask her what the songs are about; inevitably, she replies, "They're all love songs, always love songs." But they're more than that. The crap you listen to on Top 40 constitutes "love songs" to most Americans. Israeli musicians may sing a lot about love, but it isn't always romantic and fun-- sometimes it is hard and painful, like the love lost through senseless murder, and love sought from enemies out of the desire to live in peace.
HEAR MY GOD (WHEN THE HEART CRIES)
When the heart cries
only God hears
The pain rises out of the soul
A man falls down before he sinks down
With a little prayer (he) cuts the silence
Shma (Hear) Israel my God,
you're the omnipotent
You gave me my life,
you gave me everything
In my eyes a tear,
the heart cries quietly
And when the heart is quiet,
the soul screams
Shma (Hear) Israel my God,
now I am alone
Make me strong my God;
make it that I won't be afraid
The pain is big,
and there's no where to run away
End it because I can't take it anymore
(make the end of it because I have no more energy left within me)
When the heart cries,
Time stands still
All of a sudden, the man sees his entire life
He doesn't want to go to the unknown
He cries to his God right before a big fall
Israeli music is powerful. The store owner was amazed at my interest in and knowledge of Israeli pop culture. "American Jewishness doesn't really have much to offer," I explained to her, "Israel is where our culture is."
"Right?! Exactly!" And then she gave me four CDs for free.
Labels: culture, Israel, Jewish American, Jewishness, Judaism, music, Sarit Hadad, Shma Elohai, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 9:45 PM
Know Your People
Sunday, October 14, 2007
I'm watching a DVD of Broza doing one of his infamous Masada concerts, where he plays all night until the sun rises for a crowd of thousands. There used to be this great blog on Israeli culture called Shaister, but since it's "temporarily unavailable" I'll summarize by stating that Broza on Masada is like a one-man Woodstock without all the mud and chaos. A folk artist on the popularity level of Bob Dylan, David Broza has been writing, composing, and performing since the 70s in Hebrew, English, and Spanish. He's lived in various places around the world (including the U.S.) and, most recently, he toured the bomb shelters of northern Israel during the War with Lebanon in 2006. His music incorporates Israeli, Spanish, and American rock/jazz sounds and is mainly acoustic in nature, carrying with it a very mellow, easy-going vibe, without being as meditative/ethreal as, say, Idan Raichel. The crowd ranges in age from 16 to 45, or thereabouts, and looks to be composed mainly of hippies. From what I've observed, there's a pretty big hippie population in Israel, mainly due to the fact that life is so incredibly hard that most young people seek release in a free love lifestyle (and all the drugs, alcohol, and sex that goes along with it).
Yesterday I made a trip to my favorite Judaica store in the city and was happily surprised to see that the Israeli owner was stateside for a change. She carries a growing selection of Israeli music in her store, and over the course of a few years I've developed a great collection of CDs by many Israeli artists including Shoshana Damari, Boaz Sharibi, Arik Einstein, Ofra Haza, Ruchama Raz, Sarit Hadad,Idan Raichel, and (of course) David Broza, to name a few. (You know, this blog post is going to take me an hour to write because this DVD is so distractingly good.) Each time I go, I pick up a few CDs and we talk Israeli music. Yesterday, the owner's jaw practically dropped to the floor when she looked through my selections. "You like Broza? You like Sarit? I love Sarit! Her music is so happy! Here," she digs through the box, "I'm giving you this CD complimentary-- on me. Is good!" It's as if she can't get over the fact that I'm not just there because I like Israeli jewelry-- it's because I like Israel, I like the culture, I like the sound and the language, and I want to know more. A Jewish woman from the 'burbs was next to me in line, and when I told the owner I listened to Israeli music to familiarize myself with Hebrew, not only did her jaw drop, but the woman next to me was floored. The Israeli owner was charmed, and the Jewish American thought I was nuts.
Before I popped the DVD in the machine, I hopped past one of those 24-hour Christian networks and caught Preacher X telling his listeners that if they "sowed the $1000 seed" HaShem would begin to sew seeds for them in abundance, and they would receive the "Boaz blessing." I don't know what he meant by that, but I do know that Boaz didn't love Ruth because she was rich, he loved her because she cared--about the people and the land of Israel--even if that meant picking scraps and living the life of an outcast. Boaz loved Ruth because she didn't walk away, instead she walked towards-- Ruth made both a spiritual and a literal aliyah. What kind of a testimony of love could we Messianics make if we followed Ruth's example and showed a genuine interest, not just in the fiscal welfare of Israel, but in the lifestyle and the culture of the land? "We don't just want to bless you for tax purposes or heavenly reward," we'd say, "we want to bless you because we care about you, about what you think and what you do, and as your family we're proud of you and all of your amazing accomplishments."
American Jews like to say that without Jewish American money, Israel would never survive; I know for a fact that without Israeli courage and tenacity, Jewry the world over would be up the creek without a paddle. So, the next time you want to send some money Israel's way, don't just draft a check to a charity, seek out alternative ways you can bless Israel while learning about the people of the land at the same time. Seek out places to buy Israeli media; there are tons of places across America that are Israeli owned and operated, and get their stock from the land. FYI: A great artist to seek out is Ahron Razel, a Modern Orthodox musician who sings songs about Israel and HaShem: the lyrics of his album "The Burning Bush" are taken straight from Tanak. And, of course, you can't truly consider yourself an educated Jew until you've listened to the music of Ofra Haza, including her infamous rendition of Carlebach's "Am Yisrael Chai" for the Eurovision song contest.
Labels: Broza, culture, Israel, Jewishness, Messianic Judaism, music, Ofra Haza
posted by Shoshana @ 3:34 PM
And People Wonder Why I Shake My Head
Thursday, August 09, 2007
"We Jews are a Biblical example of getting it wrong."
-Paul Liberman
Publisher, Messianic Times
Executive Director, International Messianic Jewish Alliance
Co-Founder, Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations
former Executive, Messianic Jewish Alliance of America
founder of 2 Messianic Congregations (Washington D.C. & San Diego, CA)
former Messianic Congregational Leader, Israel
former Chairman of the Messianic Action Committee, Israel
former Executive Director of the Joseph Project
author of The Fig Tree Blossoms
Quoted from the August 2007 fundraising newsletter issued by the IMJA
His was a contextual reference to Jewish pride. You heard me right: "Jewish Pride," a.k.a. the greatest oxymoron since "Muslim Intelligence." If Jews had any pride, let alone the right kind of pride-- in their G-d, in their identity, in their land-- they wouldn't be surrendering their homes to Muslim interlopers, let alone condescending to Christian supporters in monthly fundraiser mailings.
This is the second month in a row Paul Liberman has felt the need to praise Christians at Jewish expense. Since when did we become traitors to our own people? Since when did Yeshua say it was okay to down yourself in the name of dollars? All puns intended, that doesn't make any sense.
"And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory." --Romans 8:30
We aren't in a position to bow down to anyone. Unfortunately, until we realize this truth and abide in it, we will forever be doomed to self-subjugation at the hands of the powers that seek to keep us powerless by the simple act of denying our rightful pride as servants of the Most High G-d.
Labels: Israel, Jewish, Jewishness, Judaism, Messianic Judaism
posted by Shoshana @ 6:36 PM
Where is Our Wilberforce?
Saturday, February 24, 2007
This afternoon, I was afforded the opportunity to catch Amazing Grace, the story of British Parliamentarian William Wilberforce, who successfully championed a bill outlawing the slave trade in the early 1800s. As a young man, Wilberforce experienced a spiritual awakening, and considered leaving politics for the church before he was convinced by friend and future Prime Minister William Pitt to gauge his moral compass towards spearheading the issue of abolition. Wilberforce committed himself, heart, soul, and strength, to outlawing slavery, a commitment that resulted in ulceritive colitis so painful that he relied on large quantities of laudnum, a potentially deadly painkiller, just to function in daily life.
Where is our William Wilberforce? Where is the Wilberforce of the Jewish people? Where is the Wilberforce of the Messianic Movement? I have yet to meet one person who would commit themselves to the pains of death in order to inspire our movement to seek out and meet realistic goals. 75% of Israelis are in favor of joining the European Union, which would require the State of Israel to give up its Jewish religious and ethnic identity. We can poo-poo this action, but do we really have the right? What are we as Messianic Jews doing to support Israel? Writing a check? Remembering the name in our prayers? Wow. Big deal. Do you even have the ability to identify with Israel, the knowledge to understand what it means to be all alone in the world, the courageous determination to turn your tube of lipstick into a bullet and fire it into the face of the enemy who is bent on your anhiliation?
I recently received a mass-mailing from the International Messianic Jewish Alliance, informing me that they have taken over the publication of The Messianic Times. In the letter, Executive Director Paul Liberman writes, "[The Messianic Times] will remain independent in its contents, but linked to us economically and in other ways. We both try to take a global and non-partisan position." The IMJA is Presided over by Joel Chernoff, who also acts as the General Secretary of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America. The IMJA also claims a relationship with a number of sister organizations, including the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations. Can we assume that these organizations share the same opinions regarding global, non-partisan persectives?
Let's be clear, here: The soul of our people is on the chopping block, bound and gagged with a knife to her throat, waiting for G-d to shout, "STOP!" and provide the sacrifical lamb to take her place. We, the ones who have faith in that Sacrificial Lamb, are too busy figuring out "Who's a Jew" and "What's a Jew" to even be bothered defending our own Jewish people, our own Jewish land!
Tell me: If a true Jew is one whose heart is right with G-d, then who are you to even begin to claim to know how to identify a Jew? What, you think you're so special because your parents called themselves Jews, because you daven three times a day, because you don't eat pork in public? Is that it? Do all these things give you the authority to put a label on another person, to decide who they are and what their subsequent role is in life in relation to yours? Who are you to play G-d when there is work to be done! Yeshua didn't preach, "The hour is late and the workers are few, so you'd better figure out which ones are in and which ones are out." The GATHERING is our job; the winnowing belongs to HIM.
We are a pathetic people. It does not surprise me that our scriptures are filled with detailed accounts of G-d's wrath set loose upon us. We have not changed. In nearly 3,000 years, we have not changed. We are still the same prideful, deceitful, self-involved, easily-led-astray creatures despite the piety we claim through our faith in Messiah. We begin by preaching to seek the good in others and end up judging one another instead. I am tired of fruitlessness in our movement; I would rather we be the tree Yeshua condemned to death than to remain sitting here, in the presence of the Son, bearing no fruit.
How long will it be until we raise our voices, until we put our plows to the ground, until we take that step out of the pathetic and into the prophetic? I refuse to stand by and watch as the faithful are ripped to shreds and the wanton whore our soul to our enemies in fear and self-loathing. I will not stand idly by and accept destruction. My generation will not be another one condemned to Babylon, or to the Pale, or to Warsaw or Auschwitz; I refuse to let that happen to my people. I refuse to hand over my G-d given identity to the wills and whims of men who claim to be both my enemy and my friend. I will not waste my time judging nor being judged.
Nor will I waste my time with defeatist logic that argues against my support of my people and my land out of an offense to my pride. How many in our movement refuse to consider aliyah because of the difficulties facing believing Jews in the land of Israel? Still, how many more have hardened their hearts to our land because they are refused entry, and some of their bretheren stand persecuted in the land for their beliefs? SO WHAT? Did the talmidim turn their backs on their nation and their people because they faced the threat of persecution? How weak are we in Spirit that our souls seek consolation in the flesh? To those who make these ridiculous arguments, I must ask: Do you know Messiah, or do you just claim an affiliation for the eternal perks?
Where are our William Wilberforces? Where are our Devorahs, our Joshuas, our Gideons, our Davids? Where are the Messianic Jews who are willing to stand up as a united Army of G-d and defend all that is holy and true in the face of an evil that seeks to destroy us? Is everyone just sitting around, waiting for G-d to do their bidding? If so, then take up space in someone else's waiting room, in the pews of the churches that are sorely lacking in members and crumbling to the ground in self-destruct. Our G-d is a G-d of action and responsibility, not ambivalence and sloth. We did not become a people by saying, "Uh, well, my supervisor is unavailable at the moment; may I take a message?"
It took William Wilberforce nearly an entire lifetime, lived mostly in gruling pain, to see his goal accomplished. Are you willing? Are you willing to see our movement grow, to see Messianic Jews take on real issues facing the Jewish people, to take ownership in the land, and to unite with all believers in Adonai as one in the name of Israel? Or are you just in it for the kitsch?
You're either in, or out. There is no in-between.
Labels: Amazing Grace, IMJA, Israel, Jewish Identity, Jewishness, Judaism, Messianic Judaism, Messianic Times, MJAA, UMJC
posted by Shoshana @ 6:16 PM
How do you Do your Jewishness?
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Firstly, thanks to Boaz at Scaling the Soreg and to my favourite Anonymous commenter (I'm pretty sure you're consistently the same person...;) for their condolences at the passing of my grandfather. I truly appreciate the comments and welcome the unity of the Messianic community over all things physical and spiritual, happy and sad. There is great strength in unity; it is the oil of joy for mourning that flows within our midst. May all of Israel be so greatly blessed through it.
Secondly, I go ahead and take a few weeks off because I've started a new job, and what do I have when I return but a riot at the Temple Mount, a demand from Blogger to convert to their upgraded system, and a new post on Jewish identity brewing in my head!
As I've said, I've started a new job. It seems to be going well so far. Interestingly, my new boss is Jewish. Even more interesting, though, is the way he identifies and relates to his Jewishness. Every time he explains the business to me (because, along with being my boss, he's the owner of the business) he relates his cost-effectiveness and keen business saavy to the fact that he's Jewish. "You don't get anything by this Jewish boy," he'd remark when talking about different clients/competitors. He buys lunch for the staff at my location every day. While he'll splurge on a buffet, he won't buy drinks because, "It kills me to spent $1.89 on a soda. I buy Snapple. You can drink Snapple. You know why? Because I pay 48 cents a can. At ten o'clock at night, I'm in the grocery store, going in and out six times, just so I can stock up on their two-for specials. You don't see a Jewish boy paying $1.89 for a soda when you can get drinks at 48 cents each."
So, here's my question to you: How do you identify with and express your Jewishness? Do you find yourself relating to it through stereotypes, or scripture? How many times have you relied on phrases like, "Two Jews: Three opinions," or "I'm running on Jewish time," or even, "I'm a cheap Jew"? Is your Jewishness based in the beauty of your knish, or your skill at Mah Jongg? Or is it based in what you wear-- your Star of David, your tefillin, tallitot, kipot? How many times have you put a piece of Judaica on and thought, "Okay, now I'm being a good Jew," or, "I don't care what the world thinks"? Is your Jewishness based in the fact that you pray three times a day from a Siddur, or that you eat a family meal every Shabbat? Is your Jewishess about doing what G-d wants you to do, or is it about not doing what the rest of the world does? What is your Jewishness to you? And how does that definition define who you are in your own eyes? In the eyes of the world? In the eyes of Adonai?
To give you a bit of perspective to work from, I'll share this one simple fact that, when I first learned it, really blew my mind. In Israel, Jewishness is an identity of action, not wardrobe. Kippot, tefillin, tallitot, all of the things Jews in the Diaspora (believer and non-believer alike) wear to the hilt (and sometimes even argue over or use to out-do one another) are hardly even worn in Israel. Sure, you have the Orthodox, but to the average Israeli Jew, Jewish garb isn't necessary. They see the garb as adornments worn by Jews in galut to distinguish themselves from the gentiles around them. Even religious Jews in Israel (believers included) don't place special emphasis on religious garb the way we in the Diaspora do. To them, it's glorified kitsch. In Israel, being Jewish is about the people you associate with, how you interact with them, and how you live your life.
So, what is being Jewish to you?
Judaism
Messianic Judaism
Jewishness
identity
Israel
Labels: identity, Jewishness, Messianic Judaism
posted by Shoshana @ 12:13 PM
