Crossing religious lines

Christian groups vie for Jewish souls

BARRY COHEN
Editor

Beth Simchat HaMashiach, a Messianic Jewish Congregation, holds worship services at the Biltmore Church of the Nazarene, located in Phoenix.

Photo by Barry Cohen

Sam used to be a "Hebrew Christian," with a goal of converting Jews to Christianity. Now he is an Orthodox Jew.

Sam - not his real name - used to be a deacon at a fundamentalist Christian church. He felt something was missing in his Christian upbringing and looked to the "Old Testament" to fill the void.

Within the Hebrew Scriptures, he discovered a social structure and the anchor of "the Jewish worldview" that the New Testament lacked, he notes, and chose to become a Hebrew Christian.

As a Hebrew Christian, he engaged in evangelism - to Jews primarily, but also to Christians.

A fundamental teaching in the New Testament is that Jews must be the first in line to hear the message that Jesus is the Messiah, he explains. Another teaching states that all Jews must convert or at least return to Israel before the Messiah can return, he says.

Evangelistic activity was exciting because "we were winning the Jewish people back to God," he recalls.

Both Jews and Christians were attracted to his message. Christians who felt they lacked a connection with God found it by turning to the Hebrew Scriptures, "to hear Hebrew words and feel closer to God," says Sam. Jews were attracted to his message for the "apparent simplicity of Christianity," he says. Some Jews felt there were "too many laws" and that there was "too much to observe" in Judaism, he says.

But the more he learned about Judaism, the more he began to doubt the fundamental teachings he once held as absolute truth.

Such truths included the virgin birth, how Jesus could be both divine and human, and the veracity of the Christian Scriptures, says Sam. He began to question whether Jesus was the only path to salvation after reading "equally powerful" quotes in the original Hebrew of the "Old Testament" about other paths to salvation.

In time, Sam chose to convert to Judaism through an Orthodox beit din (court of law).

Sam has now found a home with Young Israel in Phoenix.

The jump to Judaism

Valley resident Tom Gagliano grew up Christian, but 13 years ago began to explore Judaism with his wife, Corie.

"We learned and grew in our understanding of the Jewish world, Judaism, our love for the rabbis and Jewish traditions," says Tom. "Naturally, being not Jewish, we felt that the Messianic (Jewish) movement would be the place for us."

Three years ago, the Gaglianos helped form Kol Tikvah, a Messianic Jewish congregation.

Some of its members are Jews who rejected Judaism but re-embraced it after having become "thoroughly assimilated into the Christian world," he says. Other members are Christians with a deep love for Israel, he adds.

The more the Gaglianos learned about Judaism at Kol Tikvah, the more out of place they felt in Messianic Judaism.

"Our feeling is that many of the Messianic congregations have a thin veneer of Jewish traditions," he says.

Moreover, he has concluded that Messianic Judaism is inherently anti-Semitic.

"They love Israel and the Jewish people, but when it comes to being Jewish ... you know, it's like the hair stands up on the back of their necks," he explains.

The Gaglianos - including their two children - now view themselves as Jewish because they live a Jewish lifestyle.

"We feel as if we've converted in our hearts. Whether we're accepted in the Jewish community or not, we continue to observe Jewish tradition and study what the rabbis say," he notes.

Embracing the message of the messiah

Nathan, a Chandler resident who only wanted to be identified by his first name, grew up in a Conservative Jewish household. But in the early 1970s, when he was in his 20s, he "became a believer."

"I asked Yeshua to be my Messiah," he says, as a bridge to cross over "the sin that blocked me from having a close relationship with Adonai."

Nathan became the president of the Messianic Jewish Movement International in 1999, which is based locally.

He explains that the mission of the organization is two-fold: to help Jews in the Former Soviet Union make aliyah and to educate churches about the Jewish roots of the Christian faith.

However, he adds that MJMI devotes some resources to share their concept of the messiah with secular Jews and youth in Israel.

"If you think you have something good ... like healthy food, you want to share it with your child or spouse," he says, referring to the notion that "Yeshua is the Messiah."

A clear distinction

According to Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz, director of the Los Angeles office of Jews for Judaism - an organization that provides counseling, education and outreach to strengthen Jewish identities - there is a clear difference between a "Jew for Jesus" and a "Messianic Jew."

Jews for Jesus is not a membership organization, but rather "an evangelical missionary group," he says. It draws from an $18 million budget and has 145 staff members, including missionaries, who crisscross the United States, he explains.

Messianic Jews tend to emphasize congregational participation rather than evangelism, he notes. They also organize themselves into the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations.

However, Jews for Jesus has become a generic term for any Jew who believes that Jesus is the Messiah.

But for Rabbi Zvi Holland, director of Phoenix Community Kollel and Aish Hatorah in Scottsdale, there is no difference between a Messianic Jew or a Jew for Jesus - who he prefers to label "Hebrew Christian."

Both talk about the same goal - converting Jews to Christianity, he says. They are "packaging Christianity as Judaism to trap Jews."

Both groups use the words "menorah," "Jewish star," "Torah," "Shabbat" to draw Jews in; their leaders claim to be rabbis, and they label their followers as Jews, Holland explains. "It's dishonest."

Hebrew Christians target "the uneducated ... and those who need emotional support," he says.

Rabbi B. Charles Herring of Temple Kol Ami agrees.

Those attracted to Messianic Judaism/Jews for Jesus are people struggling with emotional problems; they are "socially inept" and feel "ostracized and alienated," says Herring. These groups are responding to their needs, he adds.

According to Holland, Jewish communal leaders have not provided enough education or social services to the community.

"We have given Hebrew Christians an opening," and they are taking advantage of it, says Holland.

Contact with a Messianic rabbi

Such "openings" include Messianic "rabbi' Jack Zimmerman's involvement with the Valley's Jewish community.

Zimmerman for a time visited Grand Court, a retirement community in Phoenix, and interacted with some of the Jewish residents.

"He was the only 'rabbi' giving consolation to the residents," says Melvin Stein, Grand Court resident.

Stein says he contacted various synagogues, asking for someone to conduct a Shabbat worship service, but was disappointed by the lack of response.

After meeting with Zimmerman during one of his visits to Grand Court, Stein asked him to lead worship services, but "we had an understanding that there would be nothing more than the basic Jewish service," says Stein.

A group of Jewish residents also received permission from the Grand Court management for Zimmerman to lead worship, recalls Stein.

Last August and September, Zimmerman conducted four Friday Shabbat worship services.

"Not one word came out of his mouth except what was part of the service," says Stein.

After the residents learned that Zimmerman was a Messianic rabbi, there was disagreement about whether he should continue, notes Stein.

"Zimmerman has not come back, even for hospice (visits)," he says.

Jack Zimmerman grew up a Conservative Jew in Brooklyn, N.Y. He arrived in the Valley six years ago, moving here for the sake of his wife's health, he says.

He became a Messianic Jew after accepting "Yeshua as his Messiah," he says, and became a Messianic "rabbi" when representatives of the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues (IAMCS) "laid hands on me and commissioned me into this service," he recalls.

He helped establish Beth Simchat HaMashiach, a Messianic Jewish congregation, nearly four years ago. The pastor of Faith Christian Community Church of the Nazarene, located at Thunderbird Road and 52nd Street in Scottsdale, extended an invitation to Zimmerman to start a congregation there on Saturday mornings, in keeping with Messianic Jewish practices, says Zimmerman.

Beth Simchat HaMashiach, affiliated with IAMCS, the congregational arm of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), is now located at Biltmore Church of the Nazarene, 5604 N. 24th St.

Average attendance at worship is 120-130 people, says Zimmerman.

"Many (of them) are in mixed marriages, and I think that for them, Messianic Judaism seems to be something very comforting," because it enables both partners to observe holidays, worship and raise children in ways that they are accustomed, says Zimmerman.

Those who grew up in Christian homes are attracted because Jesus was a Jew, and because Jews primarily wrote the Bible, he adds. "They realize that if we want to get a better depth of Scripture and a better spiritual understanding of God, let's go back to the cultural context and understand the Hebraic roots of our faith," he explains.

Zimmerman has little to say about his involvement with Grand Court last fall.

"On that, the only reason I am going to decline comment is out of respect for those at that facility, and I'll just leave it at that," says Zimmerman.

He officiated two times at Jewish funerals with arrangements made by Sinai Mortuary. One of the funerals took place in November 2002.

A hospice organization that worked with the deceased recommended Zimmerman, says Ray Perlman, owner of Sinai Mortuary, which only provides arrangements for Jewish funerals.

The hospice of record is Trinity Hospice, which employs a number of staff chaplains.

"Both the hospice and the family assumed he was a rabbi," says Perlman. "I thought he was new off the boat in Phoenix."

After learning that Zimmerman was a Messianic rabbi, greater efforts have been made to learn the professional background of all clergy unknown to Sinai Mortuary who claim to be rabbis, says Perlman.

"If I don't know who the rabbi is, I'm going to figure it out," he adds.

Zimmerman says he did not know that Sinai Mortuary had made the arrangements for the November 2002 funeral.

"I officiate at many funerals," he says. "However, I don't always know which mortuary they might be connected with."

Zimmerman bristles at the charge that Messianic Jews engage in efforts to missionize the Jewish people.

"I think it really depends upon what one's definition of missionary or evangelizing is," he says.

Zimmerman recalls the Jewish community's Israeli Independence Day celebration two years ago. He says at the event, he received invitations to visit congregations and to put on tefillin and recite prayers for Israeli soldiers.

"We in Messianic Judaism don't do anything differently," he says, referring to extending invitations to worship and reciting prayers for the safety of Israel.

"Many people today have this dichotomy in their mind on the one hand (that) there are Jews in Judaism and on the other hand there are Christians in Christianity. You're either one or the other," says Zimmerman, and that when someone accepts Jesus as the Messiah, he becomes Christian.

"We believe just the opposite occurs. We believe that we found the Jewish Messiah and that we are now fulfilled Jews in him and consequently we call ourselves Messianic Jews," he says.

Corie and Tom Gagliano disagree with this assessment of Messianic Judaism.

They say they are breaking from Kol Tikvah and from Messianic Judaism because they view themselves exclusively as Jews and now desire to join one of the Valley's synagogues. But they understand that some in the Jewish community may view them with suspicion and believe they will try to spread an evangelical message once they are part of the congregation.

"It's a justified response by the Jewish community ... but I know that over time, we can prove the sincerity of our hearts and our unconditional acceptance of the Jewish people," says Tom Gagliano.

However, they are not sure about whether they will seek a formal conversion to Judaism.

"A lot will hinge on how the Jewish community receives us and whether or not there can be open dialogue," he notes.

Contact the writer at barry_cohen@jewishaz.com.

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