Anti-Messianic “JewishIsrael.com” promotes anti-Gentile bloggers

The JewishIsrael site was set up to ‘protect’ Israel from ‘religious destruction’. It insists on ‘exposing’ something which everyone already knows - Christian and Messianic Jewish beliefs include a ‘go-and-tell’ message. But where are JewishIsrael coming from?

JewishIsrael link to a number of religious blogs: Esser Agaroth, Tomer Devorah, The Key to Redemption, Truth About Moshiach and Esav Exposed.

Interestingly, the Truth About Moshiach blogger ‘Bar Kochba’ (ironically named after a false Jewish Messiah) and Key to Redemption’s GeulaGirl do not link to each other as GeulaGirl is offended by Bar Kochba’s friendships with non-Jews (see this thread). 

On Esav Exposed, blogger Devash celebrates Israel’s deportation of a Thai Christian visiting his girlfriend, writing:

To the airport officials: GREAT JOB! KOL HAKAVOD!! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

We learn on Tomer Devorah that Devash is the mother of GeulaGirl. GeulaGirl is opposed to taking Gentiles as friends, claiming that relations with non-Jews are prohibited. GeulaGirl speaks of “the prohibition against social contact with the non-Jew”. GeulaGirl identifies Christians and the West as ‘Esav’, and predicts Esav’s destruction:

Esav represented by western civilization is coming down. Hashem is bringing them down. This must happen for Ya’aqov (Israel) to rise up and take his rightful place. Anyone “attached” to Esav (America, Europe, western values and philosophy, etc.) will go down also. It’s just a fact. Detach yourselves, financially, physically and spiritually before it is too late. Our only hope is in Eretz Yisrael and Hashem.  

GeulaGirl identifies ‘Esav’ with Christianity:

I want to focus on the separation from Esav (the christian world) particularly the ones who claim to “love Israel”. Not only is our connection to them the most dangerous, because most Jews do not recognize them as a threat, but it is completely in our power to sever, as opposed to Yishmael which is much more complicated. When we left galut, that should have been the end of our connection to Esav but instead we brought them, along with their foreign culture, ideas and idolatry with us.

JewishIsrael have also identified ‘Esav’ with Christianity:

 

“And Esav spurned the birthright.” (25:34)

Well, Parashat Toldot is this week, so Jewish Israel is rightfully dedicating some posts to the “Birthright Parsha” – a story of youths and deception – unfolding right here and now in Israel.

Geula Girl believes that religious Jews must separate themselves from Westerners, Muslims and secular Jews in order for Messiah to come:

We must separate ourselves from Esav, from Yishmael and from the Erev Rav [lit.: mixed multitude], this is our mission.

Regarding the ‘Erev Rav’, JewishIsrael-linked blog Esser Agaroth pushed a conspiracy theory about the arrest of Jack Teitel, writing:

No matter how much apologizing the mamachtim do, the Erev Rav-controled, Israeli government still sees this as the primary, impending threat to its control over Israel.

This, I say, is the real story. Ya’akov Teitel is only a distraction, allowing the Erev Rav to continue its anti-Torah, anti-Eretz Yisrael operations, or an excuse for incitement (wag the dog), desperately trying to maintain its un-Jewish control. Look at it either way you choose.

On GeulaGirl’s mother’s Tomer Devorah blog,  Devash boasts of a new website against Jews who believe in Yeshua (“Yeshu”), using disturbing terminology:

The Jewish neshama comes humbly and submissively, requesting. The Erev Rav come haughtily and arrogantly, demanding. While the Jewish neshamas convert back into the family, these refuse and insist that they be “recognized” and “accepted” as they are. They intend to come to Eretz Yisrael and “reclaim” their “rightful heritage.” They promote a new religion called Judeo-xianity. They use this symbol …

 representing Jew and xian coming together to form “One New Man” (the “Judeo-Xian?) observing the Torah, living in the Land, and accepting Yeshu as the “Mashiach.”

Most unfortunately, many good Jews and others, maybe not so good, are joining with these people, whether in a misguided attempt to rectify them I cannot say, but it is playing with fire in a room full of gas fumes.

…there is a fourth kind: `and they have mingled (in Hebrew, Vayitarvu, related to the term Erev Rav) with the nations and learned from their deeds’ – these are themselves Jews who adhered to the `erev rav and became like them…and this fourth kind is the most difficult of them all, and they are our brothers who have soured” – (Imre No`am, his commentary to B’rakhot 54)

This is as far as I can go with this subject for now. B’ezrat Hashem, I am working on a major project with regard to this, an expose of sorts, which will require its own website with many references and resources. I am available by email for any specific questions you may have and as the material becomes available online, I will make mention of it here. 

JewishIsrael is endorsed by Rabbi Emanuel Feldman of Beth Jacob, Atlanta, Georgia, USA and Rabbi Sholom Gold – the Rabbi Emeritus of Kehilat Zichron Yosef in Har Nof, Jerusalem. Gold is also the Dean of the Avrom Silver Jerusalem College for Adults.

Why are these men endorsing a site which promotes the blogs of anti-Gentile racists?

And why does Richard Landes endorse JewishIsrael, as is evident here?

 It gets worse: JewishIsrael have also assisted Americans for a Safe Israel and Manhigut Yehudit.

Messianic Jews can take comfort from the fact that they are not hated because of what they do or what they say, but because of how they are perceived within JewishIsrael’s own ideology and assumptions.

So what are JewishIsrael aiming for exactly? Do JewishIsrael’s eager contributors hate all non-Orthodox Jews, or just ones who believe in Jesus?

The same blogs linked to by JewishIsrael promote the idea that the Moshiach is coming soon, and through ’separation’, redemption (geula) will be achieved. The Key to Redemption links to the site of Aish HaTorah rabbi Rabbi Pinchas Winston, who thinks 4/5ths of Jews will die in an apocalyptic holocaust – an even higher estimate than the 2/3rds proposed by Christian fundamentalists whom JewishIsrael oppose so much.

Tomer Devorah links to Jewish End of Days and Dreaming of Moshiach. The latter blog has previously claimed that the Jewish year 5769 ( a year which ended in September 2009) was the guaranteed year of geula. Tomer Devorah also links to the Jewish Fist, a website which describes itself thus:

The Jewish Fist is also a warning to the enemies of the Almighty, whether it be the Arab Amalakites, or the mixed multitude within the Jewish community. The Jewish Fist has risen, and when it descends, G-d help you!

TheJewishFist advocates the death penalty in certain circumstances for missionaries, proposing:

Missionaries & cults will be forbidden to enter the country. Prosletyzing will result in long term imprisonment and/or state sanctioned death in extenuating circumstances.

Jewish terrorist Jack Teitel, who attacked Arabs, homosexuals, Christians, left-wingers and Messianic Jews saw himself as an emissary of God who wanted to establish the kingdom of Judea and Samaria.

Earlier this year, Leah Ortiz, mother of one of Teitel’s terrorism victims Ami Ortiz, warned:

The newspapers report, and journalists have told us, about an Orthodox group who hold to the doctrine of what is called “Redemption” which claims that the reason the coming of the Messiah has been delayed is because of the tolerance of the State of Israel for Christians, left wingers and Homosexuals. All of these groups are classified as false prophets that have to be dealt with.

Leah Ortiz has also commented:

We’ve been asked if anti-human rights groups like Yad L’ achim and http://www.jewishisrael.com/, which are dedicated to demonizing and harassing Messianic Jews, were involved. I will say that Teitel is a perfect example of a man that has taken their ideology and message of hate and suspicion, and has taken it to the next level of acting out that message.

Yet JewishIsrael have been afforded the oxygen of publicity by Arutz Sheva journalist Hillel Fendel.

In the light of the Teitel’s arrest and indictment, law-abiding citizens should be very concerned by those who see a conspiracy in his arrest or perpetuate an ideology which made his terrorism possible.

Posted by Yeze.

Christians harassed and spat upon in Jerusalem

Larry Derfner of the Jerusalem Post reports: 

A nun in her 60s who’s lived in an east Jerusalem convent for decades says she was spat at for the first time by a haredi man on Rehov Agron about 25 years ago. “As I was walking past, he spat on the ground right next to my shoes and he gave me a look of contempt,” said the black-robed nun, sitting inside the convent. “It took me a moment, but then I understood.”

Since then, the nun, who didn’t want to be identified, recalls being spat at three different times by young national Orthodox Jews on Jaffa Road, three different times by haredi youth near Mea She’arim and once by a young Jewish woman from her second-story window in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter.

But the spitting incidents weren’t the worst, she said – the worst was the time she was walking down Jaffa Road and a group of middle-aged haredi men coming her way pointed wordlessly to the curb, motioning her to move off the sidewalk to let them pass, which she did.

“That made me terribly sad,” said the nun, speaking in ulpan-trained Hebrew. Taking personal responsibility for the history of Christian anti-Semitism, she said that in her native European country, such behavior “was the kind of thing that they – no, that we used to do to Jews.”

News stories about young Jewish bigots in the Old City spitting on Christian clergy – who make conspicuous targets in their long dark robes and crucifix symbols around their necks – surface in the media every few years or so. It’s natural, then, to conclude that such incidents are rare, but in fact they are habitual. Anti-Christian Orthodox Jews, overwhelmingly boys and young men, have been spitting with regularity on priests and nuns in the Old City for about 20 years, and the problem is only getting worse.

[...]

Yisca Harani, a veteran Jewish interfaith activist who lectures on Christianity to Israeli tour guides at Touro College, likewise says the change for the worse came about 20 years ago. She blames the spitting attacks on the view of Christianity that’s propagated at haredi and national Orthodox yeshivot.

“I move around the Old City a lot,” she said, “I come in contact with these people, and what they learn in these fundamentalist yeshivot is that the goy is the enemy, a hater of Israel. All they learn about Christianity is the Holocaust, pogroms, anti-Semitism.”

Read it all.

Davidic dancing versus Breslov dancing

The Breslov Institute’s defence against being called a ‘cult’ by other segments of Judaism would apply perfectly to Messianic Jews who believe in Yeshua. This from their FAQs:

15. Is Breslov a cult?

What is a cult? Today there are growing numbers of insidious fringe movements and organizations offering various routes to `salvation’ or other forms of `religious’ experience, including literal idolatry. The often unscrupulous individuals who are behind them may use a variety of brainwashing and other techniques to keep hold of unwary recruits ag ainst their own best interests.

The public is justly apprehensive about the activities of such cults, and the very word `cult’ has pejorative overtones. For this reason it is easy for opponents of established religious movements to exploit fears about cults and use the term to smear any group they happen to disagree with.

Whilst I think Breslov Chasidim have a lot to learn from Messianic Jews, perhaps we also have a lot to learn from them.

A case in point – this beats Messianic/Davidic dancing by miles:

Let me know if you disagree in the comments, but my vote goes to the Breslov on this one…

Compare it to this ‘Davidic’ dance that Gev just found:

No contest!

Posted by Yeze.

Beware: proselytising missionaries dressed as Jews!

Pay attention from 3:30 onwards!

Sephardic Turin Shroud?

Have a look at this video about an image of the Baba Sali:

I wonder if anti-missionary groups like Jewish Israel make fun of this as much as they would the Turin Shroud, both are verging on avoda zara – idolatry – in my opinion.

Posted by Gever.

Jewish enough for you?

Here’s Avi’s story from Medabrim - a site where ”subversive” Israeli Messianic Jews tell their stories about their faith in Yeshua:

Here’s Shoshi’s story:

Here’s Sharon’s story:

The site is in Hebrew, because all the stories are from Israeli citizens.
 
As one anti-missionary activist wrote on this blog “Messianic Christians in Israel will continue to misrepresent themselves as Jews, and will continue to draw the hatred and disgust of the nation.”

Blogger Tabatha writes today “So next time someone tries to insist that ‘jews4jesus’ or any other Messianic group is ‘jewish’, do feel free to stand up for Judaism, and share all these facts. Because no Christian group has any right to masquerade as ‘jewish’.”

Well then, let’s see just how non-Jewish these Israelis really are and how much you are really disgusted!

Posted by Gever.

Derek Leman meets N.T. Wright

Read all about it.

Nazi war on Christmas revealed

Have a look at this piece from The Times:

For the perfect Nazi Christmas you had to hang glittering swastikas and toy grenades from the pine tree in the living room and, in your freshly pressed uniform, belt out carols urging German women to make babies for the Führer rather than worship the Jewish Baby Jesus. Then came the moment to light the pagan candle-holders — hand-made by labourers at Dachau.

Hitler’s dream of a 1,000-year Reich came to an end long before the world was subjected to 1,000 of his Christmases but an exhibition in Cologne is highlighting how the Nazis, in particular Heinrich Himmler, tried to take Christ out of Christmas.

Read on.

(Hat tip: TabletMag)

Shmarya Rosenberg: resurrection of Moshiach once considered kosher

For all their institutional hatred of Messianic Jews, Chabad have seemingly more in common with believers in Yeshua than they care to realise: both group believe in a divine, resurrected Jewish Messiah, and both groups proselytise. 

Following news from COL Live that the Rabbinical Council of America is banning messianic Chabad rabbis, Shmarya Rosenberg of FailedMessiah comments:

COL Live misquotes Aaron Solevetchik, who clearly held that, while such messianism was not heresy, it was insanity and foolishness and should not be followed. At any rate, the declaration rabbis are asked to sign seems to be historically incorrect. There apparently was a time when resurrection of the messiah was, after the fact, ‘kosher.’ That time was in the first centuryof the Common Era, when the rabbis were still sorting out the theological issues caused by the Jesus Movement. Once the rabbis definitively ruled (circa 90 CE), this belief was no longer allowed. What this seems to have meant was, in the years before the ruing rabbis placed a lot of hope in the idea that Jesus messianism would simply fade away. When it did not do so, they ruled against it – in other words, we appear to be seeing a redux of this process now.

 

Posted by Yeze.

Don’t Cross “the Red Line”

A new anti-missionary group in Israel called The Red Line (Kav ha-adom) has been threatening Messianic Jews and missionaries with even more violence. John Theodor, one of the pastors at Beit Geula Messianic Congregation in Jerusalem, reported in October 2008 that hate material was distributed throughout his neighbourhood which included photos, names and addresses of Israeli citizens in leadership in Messianic congregations.

 

“We received a phone call from a group calling themselves “the Red Line”. They warned us that they are worse than any other anti-missionary group in the country and have contacts with criminal figures and know who we are and where we live.”

Such threats are no longer taken lightly following the murder attempt on a Messianic Jewish pastor’s son in Ariel. Theodor went to the police and quoted Israeli law: “A person who commits an illegal act because of racist motivations, as described in section A1, or because of hostility directed at a population on the basis of religion, ethnic heritage, sexual orientation, or foreign worker status shall be sentenced to the lesser between twice the appropriate sentence, and ten years’ imprisonment” (Penal Code, Hate Crimes paragraph 144f).

Theodor commented in October of last year that “a few days later a police investigator called me for some follow up questions. I am not so optimistic with their efforts, the authorities still have not found or arrested the people responsible for planning, making and delivering the bomb [to the Ortiz family home in Ariel], even though this family had a security camera installed that caught the person delivering this package on tape.”

Whilst some religious leaders in Israel are claiming that Teitel is a lone wolf, there are clearly more religious terrorists willing to strike against Messianic Jews, or at least intimidate them. How long will they continue to operate unchallenged by Israel’s law enforcement agencies?

Posted by Gever.