Defining Messianic Judaism Published by the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations

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1 Defining Messianic Judaism Published by the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations PREFACE At the mid-year Steering Committee meeting of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC) in January 2000, our Executive Committee directed the Theology Committee to oversee a multi-year project of self-definition entitled "Defining Messianic Judaism." This project was to include defining both the center and the perimeters of our movement. This was especially necessary in view of the heterodox groups that had attached themselves to us, and to determine just how much unity needed to be maintained among congregations that make up the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations. Around what definition were we as a union to be united, and what was the Messianic Judaism to which we as congregations ascribed? Our task was to answer such questions. Our progress in this task was reported through Theological Forums held successively at our National Conferences in 2000 and After the 2001 Forum, it became apparent that consensus was building more rapidly than we had at first envisioned. Theology Committee members Mark Kinzer and Dan Juster were enlisted to draft a consensus statement reflecting the work done in the previous two Theological Forums. After reading this statement, General Secretary Russ Resnik suggested that it be presented for ratification by our delegates at the 2002 Conference in Orlando, Florida. Russ Resnik was assigned to review and respond to the statement in the 2002 Theological Forum. After the definition was strongly ratified by the assembled delegates, it was presented, along with Russ Resnik's reflections, to conference participants at the Theological Forum, and followed by discussion. To facilitate further discussion by our member congregations, this publication of the statement and commentary is sent forth. Knowing who we are and who we are not is sure to help us understand more clearly what work we should be about as we occupy ourselves until Messiah returns. May the words of our mouths, the meditation of our hearts, and the work of our hands be pleasing in His sight. For the Theology Committee, and chairman, STUART DAUERMANN; special thanks to presenters, Mark Kinzer, Dan Juster, Russ Resnik, and respondents Jamie Cowen, Michael Schiffman, and Jerry Feldman. DEFINING MESSIANIC JUDAISM Basic Statement Messianic Judaism is a movement of Jewish congregations and congregation-like groupings committed to Yeshua the Messiah that embrace the covenantal responsibility of Jewish life and identity rooted in Torah, expressed in tradition, and renewed and applied in the context of the New Covenant.

2 Expanded Statement Jewish life is life in a concrete, historical community. Thus, Messianic Jewish groupings must be fully part of the Jewish people, sharing its history and its covenantal responsibility as a people chosen by God. At the same time, faith in Yeshua also has a crucial communal dimension. This faith unites Messianic Judaism and the Gentile Christian Church, which is the assembly of the faithful from the nations who are joined to Israel through the Messiah. Together Messianic Judaism and the Gentile Church constitute the one Body of Messiah, a community of Jews and Gentiles who in their ongoing distinction and mutual blessing anticipate the shalom of the world to come. For a Messianic Jewish grouping 1) to fulfill the covenantal responsibility incumbent upon all Jews, 2) to bear witness to Yeshua within the people of Israel, and 3) to serve as an authentic and effective representative of the Jewish people within the body of Messiah, it must place a priority on integration with the wider Jewish world. Such integration must then be followed by a vital corporate relationship with the Gentile Christian Church. The Messianic Jewish way of life involves an attempt to fulfill Israel's covenantal responsibility embodied in the Torah within a New Covenant context. Messianic Jewish halakhah is rooted in Scripture (Tanakh and the New Covenant writings), which is of unique sanctity and authority. However, it also draws upon Jewish tradition, especially those practices and concepts that have won near-universal acceptance by devout Jews through the centuries. Furthermore, like most other branches of Judaism, Messianic Judaism recognizes that halakhah must be dynamic as well as faithful, for it involves the application of the Torah to a wide variety of changing situations and circumstances. Messianic Judaism embraces the fullness of New Covenant realities available through Yeshua, and seeks to express them in forms drawn from Jewish experience and accessible 10 Jewish people. UMJC Theology Committee: affirmed by delegate vote, July 31, Defining Messianic Judaism UMJC Theology Committee, Summer 2002, Commentary by Russ Resnik Recently I was leafing through the catalog of a major Christian book supplier and came across a section they had termed "Messianic Judaism." There were a few books in this section, but most of its space was given to a nice selection of tallitot and kippot, challah covers and candle holders, along with an offering of tambourines and shofars. This supplier may be sympathetic to Messianic Judaism, but it treats the movement like a song-and-dance show. Likewise, we can all think of a bearded friend dressed mostly in black, who was not raised in a Jewish home, has no Jewish ancestry and minimal Yiddishkeit, but still calls himself a "Messianic Jew." However we decide to define Messianic Judaism, both our friends and our detractors are already forming definitions of their own, which we may not want to live with. Even apart from this threat, however, it remains our responsibility to define ourselves. We must say who we are before others can properly hear us, respond to us, and perhaps

3 join us. When I have the opportunity to speak to a new audience, I find that I must tell some of my own story before I gain their hearing. In telling my story, however briefly, I establish who I am, and how I claim any right to speak to them. Likewise, in Messianic Judaism we must tell our own story before we will gain an audience with anyone beyond ourselves. Furthermore, we must tell a shared story, if we are to develop a common identity and evolve from religious movement into true community. After three decades as a movement, we are still in search of a shared story, in need of a viable identity that we can pass on to the next generation. The time has come for us to define ourselves as Messianic Jews. This common, self-defined identity is the subject of the Theology Committee statement endorsed by the UMJC delegates at our 2002 annual meeting. The basic statement says: Messianic Judaism is a movement of Jewish congregations and congregation-like groupings committed to Yeshua the Messiah that embrace the covenantal responsibility of Jewish life and identity rooted in Torah, expressed in tradition, and renewed and applied in the context of the New Covenant. I will comment briefly on the expanded statement, paragraph by paragraph, and provide two addenda, the first offering a working definition of Jewishness in general, and the second proposing a model for Gentile involvement in Messianic Judaism. Jewish life is life in a concrete, historical community. Thus, Messianic Jewish groupings must be fully part of the Jewish people, sharing its history and its covenantal responsibility as a people chosen by God. At the same time, faith in Yeshua also has a crucial communal dimension. This faith unites Messianic Judaism and the Gentile Christian Church, which is the assembly of the faithful from the nations who are joined to Israel through the Messiah. Together Messianic Judaism and the Gentile Church constitute the one Body of Messiah, a community of Jews and Gentiles who in their ongoing distinction and mutual blessing anticipate the shalom of the world to come. Our story is not told in isolation, but within the context of a larger story. To be "fully part of the Jewish people" means that in Messianic Judaism we tell our story within the larger Jewish story, as we must do to be true to our calling as a Jewish movement for Messiah. We are Jewish not only in a biblical sense, but also in living interaction with the whole of our community and tradition, the "concrete, historical community" of which this paragraph speaks. We are making the revolutionary claim that we are at home in the Jewish community as we identify with Messiah. We do not leave our people, join what this paragraph terms "the Gentile Christian Church", and then return to testify of Messiah, but we bear that testimony as part of the living, breathing Jewish people of today. Our identity as human beings begins with our creation in the image of God, and it reaches fulfillment in Messiah, as Dan Juster pointed out in last year's Theology Forum. Such identity, however, does not obliterate the categories of Jew and Gentile. In Scripture, as Rich Nichol puts it, "the irreducible dyad of human existence is Israel and the nations." This dyad remains in effect within the body of Messiah. The "Gentile Christian Church," like the Jewish people, is a "concrete, historical community." It is not

4 a theological abstraction, but "the assembly of the faithful from the nations who are joined to Israel through the Messiah." These two groups the Messianic Jewish community and the Gentile Christian Church represent within the Body of Messiah Israel and the nations, the two components of humankind portrayed throughout Scripture. In his groundbreaking study The God of Israel and Christian Theology, R. Kendall Soulen speaks of "God's economy of consummation," that is, God's work of perfecting the goodness and holiness of his entire creation, including humankind. This work, writes Soulen, "is essentially constituted as an economy of mutual blessing between those who are and who remain different" (Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 1996, p. 111). It is to God's glory that both components of the human race meet in mutual blessing within the Body of Messiah, and yet remain distinct. God is glorified when Jews practice their unique calling and traditions even as they honor Gentile believers as brothers and sisters in Messiah. God is glorified when Gentile believers serve him as representatives of all the nations alongside a remnant of the priestly nation Israel. For a Messianic Jewish grouping (1) to fulfill the covenantal responsibility incumbent upon all Jews, (2) to bear witness to Yeshua within the people of Israel, and (3) to serve as an authentic and effective representative of the Jewish people within the body of Messiah, it must place a priority on integration with the wider Jewish world. Such integration must then be followed by a vital corporate relationship with the Gentile Christian Church. The "priority on integration with the wider Jewish world" for which this statement rightly calls could imply a separation from the rest of the Body of Messiah. But to make such an inference would be to accept as axiomatic the rift between Israel and Messiah, and to assume that we must choose one or the other. Instead, we affirm a both/ and approach, in which our Jewishness does not counter our "Messianicness", but is rather the Godgiven vehicle of expressing it. As Mark Kinzer demonstrated in an earlier Theology Forum, Israel and Body of Messiah are qualitatively different categories, so that they are in no way mutually exclusive or contradictory. This needs to become a new axiom in our thinking. Only if we ignore the biblical context of Messiah's coming within Israel would we be moved to deny our full participation in Israel's story, or the priority of "integration with the wider Jewish world". Yeshua, after all, is indeed the Jewish Messiah. His coming and promised return fulfills the messianic hope founded in the Hebrew Scriptures and maintained by our people for millennia. Indeed, Messiah does not enter history in isolation but in the context of the Jewish story. As Soulen writes, "Faith in the gospel presupposes the God of Israel's antecedent purpose for creation, a purpose threatened by destructive powers but vindicated by God in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus" (p. 156). Scripture begins, not with Messiah, but with creation, then sin and exile, then the promise of restoration, the calling of Israel, the expansion of the promise, and finally the appearing of Messiah, "whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21). When Messiah does appear, as Stuart Dauermann points out in a recent article in Kesher (Do You See Wlmt I See? Issue 14, Winter 2002, p. 78), "He is first the Messiah of Israel,

5 who unambiguously self-identified as a Jew, and was recognized as a Jew by all who met him. You cannot have a Lord of the Jewish tradition, especially those practices and concepts that have won near-universal acceptance by devout Jews through the centuries, furthermore, like most other brandies of Judaism, Messianic Judaism recognizes that halakhah must be dynamic as well as faithful, for it involves the application of the Torah to a wide variety of changing situations and circumstances. Halakhah is a sign that we take covenantal responsibility seriously. The life of obedience will not just happen, but requires deliberate communal effort. This realization is a key factor defining Messianic Judaism as a form of Judaism rather than as a Jewish subgroup within the church. The communal discussion and application of Torah to the details of everyday life is a uniquely Jewish enterprise. Some would contrast the Christian emphasis on the guidance of the Spirit with the guidance of this communal norm. But a Messianic Jewish halakhic process will seek the Spirit's guidance even as it embraces the human responsibility to articulate the divine instruction for a specific community. The most important word in this paragraph may be "attempt." We recognize the innovative nature of Messianic Judaism as we envision it. To speak of halakhah at this stage is prescriptive rather than descriptive. But we must take responsibility for halakhah, if we are to develop a genuine Judaism that can be passed on to the next generation. "R. Tarfon says: The day is short, the task is great, the workers are lazy, the reward is great and the Master is insistent. You are not expected to complete the work and yet you are not free to evade it" (Pirke Avot 2:15-16). Messianic Judaism embraces the fullness of New Covenant realities available through Yeshua, and seeks to express them in forms drawn from Jewish experience and accessible to Jewish people. We recognize that all Judaisms are in a sense messianic. Michael Wyschogrod goes so far as to write, "Authentic Judaism must be messianic Judaism. Messianic Judaism is Judaism that takes seriously the belief that Jewish history, in spite of everything that has happened, is prelude to an extraordinary act of God by which history will come to its climax and the reconciliation between God and man, and man and man realized" (The Body of Faith, Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1996, pp ). In what way, then, are we unique among Judaisms? First, because our messianic hope is centered on Yeshua the Nazarene. And, second, because we are the Judaism of Messianic presence. We share in the unfinished story of Israel, but our Messiah has appeared already. He is the first fruits of all that is to come, and he remains present among us through his Spirit. This is what distinguishes us within Judaism: the activity and life of the Spirit in our midst, a sense of the immediacy of the divine and evident healings, words, visions, and power. Through the Spirit, the justice and peace of the age to come are already being established among us. Such conditions create a faith community that becomes a viable option for Jewish people. We await the same messianic hope as all Israel. Hence, we participate fully in the yearly cycle and the prayers of the siddur, which are filled with Messianic expectancy. We cry out with our people for the restoration of Israel and the redemption to come. Our distinction is that we

6 claim through Yeshua to experience a foretaste in this age in that redemption before it conies in fullness in the age to come. To speak of Messianic Judaism as a branch or form of Judaism implies a pluralistic view of Judaism that some might find troubling. But to see ourselves as Judaism does not deny a unique claim for Messianic Judaism, because of the presence of Messiah in our midst. It simply expresses respect for other forms, since we recognize God at work in them. We do not claim to supersede other Judaisms, even though we claim to have found the Messiah that they still await. Furthermore, defining ourselves within Judaism and the Jewish people is essential to true intercession, for the intercessor must identify with those for whom he intercedes. We can think of Moses, who refused to distance himself from Israel, even after the sin of the Golden Calf, of Jeremiah, who went with the disobedient remnant down to Egypt, or of Rav Shaul, who wrote, "For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Messiah for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh" (Romans 9:3). We maintain a Jewish identity because we stand with our people, and this stand is in no way diminished because we are also in Messiah. Abraham Joshua Heschel placed a challenge before us nearly a half century ago: "For us Jews there can be no fellowship with God without the fellowship with the people Israel. Abandoning Israel, we desert God" (God in Search of Man, New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1976, p. 423). In Messiah Yeshua, of course, we have been freely granted fellowship with God. Nevertheless, if we stand within Israel for Messiah, we have both Israel and Messiah. If we stand outside Israel, even though we proclaim Messiah to Israel, we lose our share in Israel's calling, our intercessory position on behalf of Israel and the nations, and our hold on a significant aspect of God's eternal purpose. When we imagine our primary community of reference to be the visible church, we must define ourselves within that church by our Jewishness, but when our community of reference is Israel our Jewish people and their tradition we define ourselves within that setting by our loyalty to Messiah. It is far more compelling to the Jewish people we are called to serve, and more biblically consistent, to place ourselves within Israel standing for Messiah, than within the visible church standing for Jewish roots. Too long have we sought to distinguish ourselves within the Christian community by our Jewish emphasis. Instead, let us be recognizably Jewish, a movement within the Jewish community that distinguishes itself by our response to the spirit of Messiah in our midst. Addendum 1. What do we mean by "Jewish"? The UMJC Theology Committee defines Messianic Judaism as a Jewish congregational movement for Messiah: Messianic Judaism is a movement of Jewish congregations and congregation-like groupings committed to Yeshua the Messiah that embrace the covenantal responsibility of Jewish life and identity rooted in Torah, expressed in tradition, and renewed and applied in the context of the New Covenant.

7 Since the adjective "Jewish" appears twice in this basic statement, and is clearly at the heart of our self-definition, we must define what we mean by the term. Such a definition may not reach theological finality, but should be functionally clear and useful for the larger Messianic Jewish self-definition. It may be helpful to begin by setting aside two modern distortions of the term Jewish. 1. Jewish as a religious category. Obviously, Jewishness has tremendous religious implications, but it is a modernist error to see being Jewish as primarily a matter of religious identification. There is much confusion in Messianic Jewish circles over this question. Sometimes non-jewish adherents begin to call themselves Jews because they worship in a Jewish context. Instead, we would say that Judaism in all its range and diversity is the religion of the Jewish people, but that adherence to the teachings and practices of Judaism does not make one Jewish. And one who is Jewish and neglects the teachings and practices of Judaism nevertheless remains Jewish. Judaism overlaps with Jewishness but is not synonymous with it. 2. Jewish as a racial category. This is another modernist distortion, one with far more bitter fruit than the first. Scripture speaks of nations, tribes, peoples, and tunguca (e.g. Kev. 7.9), that is, corporate sub-groupings of humanity, but not of race in the modern biological sense. It does not use the term "blood" as often heard in contemporary discussions: "Jewish blood runs in my veins." "He is a full-blooded Jew." Indeed, such terminology could not be used because Scripture sees all humanity as one (or one blood; Acts 17:26 in some manuscripts) and manifest in many peoples (ethnoi in Greek; goyim in Hebrew). We see in the contemporary Jewish world a great diversity of "races". Jewishness, therefore, is best understood as membership in a people. This definition would seem to underlie Paul's language in Philippians 3:4-5: "If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews..." Michael Wyschogrod terms this "membership in a people" a "family identity." Judaism is not a set of beliefs, however broadly that term be interpreted. A full definition of Judaism does, of course, involve a whole complex of ideas, beliefs, values, and obligations posed by Judaism... But however crucial these are, they are, in a sense, superstructure rather than foundation. The foundation of Judaism is the family identity of the Jewish people as the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Whatever else is added to this must be seen as growing out of and related to the basic identity of the Jewish people as the seed of Abraham elected by God through descent from Abraham. This is the crux of the mystery of Israel's election... By electing the seed of Abraham, God creates a people that are in his service in the totality of its human being and not just in its moral and spiritual existence (The Body of faith, pp , 67). Such an understanding is particularly helpful in developing a practical definition of Messianic Judaism, because Jewish thinking has already developed the boundaries of membership in the Jewish people. We can build our own definition and practice upon these existing boundaries, as informed by our reading of Scripture.

8 The primary meaning of Jewishness, then, is Jewish birth. Traditionally, one born of a Jewish mother is Jewish. Messianic Judaism has functionally decided to agree with the Reform Jewish ruling that descent from either parent who is Jewish makes one Jewish, if one maintains some connection with Jewish community and practice. This usage, although not officially sanctioned, seems to be almost universal among us, and is in accord with models provided in Scripture. It reveals two other aspects of Jewishness: First, Jewishness is communal. A strictly religious definition is faulty because it tends to view identity in primarily individual terms. In this understanding, an individual Gentile could become Jewish because he has decided to follow Jewish ways. Thus we see selfdesignated "Messianic Jewish" congregations with no Jewish members and no real connection with their local Jewish community. Instead, they comprise a group of individuals who have decided to pursue a form of Judaism that they derive from Scripture and a smattering of Jewish sources in isolation from the living Jewish community. Jewishness, however, must always mean connection with the larger Jewish community and its life. One cannot be part of the Jewish people and at the same time completely disregard Jewish communal boundaries and self-definitions. The statement brings out this point well: Jewish life is life in a concrete, historical community. Thus, Messianic Jewish groupings must be fully part of the Jewish people, sharing its history and its covenantal responsibility as a people chosen by God. We may be able to stretch the boundaries and self-definitions on the basis of our distinct reading of Scripture (just as Reform, for example, stretches them in its engagement with the modern world), but we cannot disregard them. Second, Jewishness has continuity. A Jew is someone born of at least one Jewish parent, heir to a continuous thread of Jewish identity over generations, even if that thread has become slender in recent decades. Since Jewish identity is not racial, the discovery of Jewish ancestry does not render one Jewish, unless there has been some sort of continued identification. One who discovers a Jewish ancestry and feels drawn to identify with the Jewish people should be encouraged to learn and grow in awareness and practice. The time may come when we have within Messianic Judaism a ritual of return to Jewishness. But without some form of ritual and communal recognition, such an individual should simply describe himself as having Jewish ancestry and a love for the Jewish people, not as being Jewish himself. This raises the question of conversion to Judaism. Scripture clearly provides a model for those outside of the Jewish people to become part of the people, and sets a precedent for a ritual of conversion through circumcision. Whether or not we develop such a ritual within our own circles, we must recognize its validity in the larger Jewish world. If we seek to be part of the Jewish people, we must accept the broad norms of conversion prevalent within the Jewish community. Thus, like all forms of Judaism, we see a convert, whether from a Reform, Conservative, or Orthodox context, as a Jew, and their offspring normally as Jews.

9 This broad norm for the meaning of Jewishness covers most cases in the real world. There will always be exceptions and here again we need to behave like a form of Judaism. Individuals with claims or questions concerning Jewish identity need to be directed to the communal leadership of our congregations. The question of Jewish identity is not the sort of question one can resolve by oneself. Nor in more difficult instances is it one that an individual leader can resolve. Here we need to provide communal rabbinic leadership to guide the members of the Messianic Jewish family. Addendum 2. A model for Gentile participation in Messianic Judaism. If we envision Messianic Judaism as a Jewish movement for Yeshua, and even as a form of Judaism, then how do we understand the presence of many committed and contributing Gentiles in our midst? I propose that Ahavat Yisrael love for Israel provides the best model for full Gentile participation in Messianic Judaism. Michael Wyschogrod writes, Hasliem's infinite, eternal, and absolute love for Israel... is the central theme of the Bible. Nothing else ultimately matters. Everything must be seen in its light. Only because it is true is everything else true (Body of faith, p. 118). In contrast, one might claim that Messiah, not God's love for Israel, is "the central theme of the Bible." In one sense, however, both claims are wrong. Both Ahavat Yisrael (Hashem's infinite love for Israel) and the promise of Messiah must be understood within the larger biblical story beginning at Creation. God's purpose of redemption is revealed as soon as he calls out to Adam who is hiding in the garden, Eyeka where are you? It moves forward with the election of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and reaches a pinnacle with the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of Torah. The understanding of redemption expands under the prophets of Israel, and reaches a higher pinnacle with the coming of Messiah. The final redemption, the consummation of God's original purpose in creation, awaits Messiah's return. Within this larger context, the two themes Ahavat Yisrael and the coming of Messiah are entirely compatible. Messiah is the perfect Israelite, the Israel within Israel (Isaiah 49:6-7) in whom Israel responds fully to the love of God. The I-Thou relationship between God and Israel is completed in God-Messiah, so that in Messiah anyone may partake of God's "infinite, eternal, and absolute love for Israel." Israel is the priestly nation; Messiah is the High Priest, mediating the love of God for Israel to those of the nations who identify with Israel through him, the true Israelite. Hence, Hashem's love for Israel remains central within the larger story of the Bible. But Ahavat Yisrael speaks not only of God's love for Israel, but also of our love for Israel, for the living Jewish people around us. Believers from among the Gentiles may share in this aspect of Ahavat Yisrael as well, and this share is the key to fruitful Gentile participation in Messianic Judaism. Ahavat Yisrael, more than any other model, describes the calling of Gentiles within Messianic Judaism. Let us consider briefly three common alternative models for Gentile involvement. If

10 properly understood and applied, each of these can provide beneficial direction, but each is liable to much distortion and is inappropriate as a primary motivation. 1. Jewish evangelism. Messianic Judaism must bear testimony to Yeshua as Messiah within the larger Jewish world, and will normally seek to influence other Jews toward faith in Messiah. Indeed, the future of our movement depends upon attracting new Jewish adherents. Still, our congregations cannot be mere platforms for evangelism, but must be genuine Jewish communal expressions for Messiah within the larger Jewish community. If Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, then there must be a way that his followers can bear witness with integrity to the Jewish people, despite centuries of abuse and misunderstanding. Gentiles who desire to promote the good news of Messiah to the Jewish people must be lovers of Israel, sensitive to the pain of Israel's millennia-long interaction with Christianity. Indeed, only Ahavat Yisrael, not evangelistic zeal, will find a way to proclaim Yeshua as Messiah that does not rend Jewish souls and Jewish families. Viewing the Messianic Jewish congregation as a mission station distorts our divine calling to build Jewish communities for Messiah, but Gentile members moved by love for the Jewish people can have a vital role in building such communities. 2. Unity of Jews and Gentiles in Messiah. Defining Messianic Judaism states that Jewish-Gentile unity in Messiah is best expressed corporately, as Messianic Jewish congregations build deep relationships with Gentile churches. Jewish and Gentile congregations within the larger Body of Messiah, in their ongoing distinction and mutual blessing anticipate the shalom of the world to come. To attempt to anticipate this shalom within a local Jewish-Gentile congregation will diminish the "ongoing distinction" between Jew and Gentile that is necessary for "mutual blessing." Gentiles are certainly welcome within Messianic Jewish congregations, and often essential to the task of building these congregations, but the congregations remain Jewish, not expressions of "one new man" that is neither Jew nor Greek. Much of their life is based, not strictly on Scripture or on universal precepts for all believers, but on Jewish teaching and tradition. Gentiles moved by Ahavat Yisrael will participate in the Messianic Jewish congregation on these terms. 3. Return to Torah. It is not the mission of Messianic Judaism to call Gentiles to Torah and Jewish roots. Indeed, promotion of Jewish roots (depending on what one means by that phrase) could diminish the unique place of Israel in God's plan. Torah remains a living and relevant document for all believers, Jewish and Gentile, but many of its specifics are intended for Israel alone. Messianic Jews are to draw upon the rich tradition of Torah, not necessarily because this tradition is mandated for all believers, but because we are Jews. Gentiles may also participate in this tradition out of love for Israel and the God of Israel, but they must be careful to affirm the unique relationship of Israel to Torah. Gentile members of Messianic Jewish congregations should participate fully in the life of the congregation, including Shabbat observance, worship traditions, Jewish

11 family customs, and more. They do so, however, because they are part of this particular community, not because these ways are necessarily mandated for all believers. Gentiles called to Messianic-Judaism are full members of our congregations, but these remain distinctly Jewish congregations. There is, of course, some tension in this position, just as there is inherent tension in being a Jew who follows Yeshua as Messiah. Scripture portrays Israel as a people called to remain distinct - a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations" (Numbers 23:9, JPS). Much of the Torah is given to express and preserve Israel's distinct destiny. A Jewish roots movement that is not careful to respect the distinction between Jews and Gentiles can obstruct God's purposes for both. And it can miss the focal point of the New Covenant the redemptive presence of Messiah in this age through his Spirit. Ahavat Yisrael as primary motivation does not diminish Gentile participation in Messianic Judaism, but elevates it, for its participation in God's own love for his people. This love for Israel is described in the blessing that precedes the morning Shema: With an abundant love You have loved us, Hasliem, our God; with exceedingly great pity have You pitied us... You have chosen us from among every people and tongue. And you have brought us close to Your great Name forever in truth, to offer praiseful thanks to You, and proclaim Your Oneness with love. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who chooses His people Israel with love (from the Artscroll Siddur). Ahavat Yisrael draws us all Jews and Gentiles alike into the servant hood embodied by Messiah himself. Gentiles in Messianic Judaism are not here for themselves, but for Messiah's own people, who have been wounded in his name by others Gentiles. And Jews in Messianic Judaism are not here for themselves either, but must accept the rejection and misunderstanding that Messiah endures in the midst of his own people. Together, Jews and Gentiles in Messianic Judaism have the rare privilege of embodying the sacrificial life of the Messiah we proclaim. UMJC 529 Jefferson Street NE Albuquerque, NM Phone: (800) 692-UMJC Fax: (877) Check out our website at: