IFCJ and Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein: Soft on Terrorism?

That’s the question the Rosh Pina Project is posing tonight.

Would you trust Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, further than you could throw him?

JewishIsrael wouldn’t, and neither would we.

Yechiel Eckstein: sneers at Messianic Jews

With the anti-missionary organisations like Yad L’Achim and jewishisrael.com you at least know where you stand.

With Rabbi Eckstein, however, there is plenty of twisting and turning as he attempts to milk the evangelical world for all its worth.

Not known for his modesty, Eckstein boasts that:

to this day I am the only Jew in the world working full-time and more to reach out to this huge constituency and encourage their support for Israel.

And don’t believe for a second that Eckstein has any real love for Christians:

The bottom line is that Evangelical Christians are a tremendous reservoir of potential support for Israel that remains essentially untapped. They are strategic allies of Israel. 

Got that? Evangelical Christians are ’strategic allies.’

Which brings us to our next point.

Messianic Jews.

Here’s Eckstein speaking about Messianic Jews and evangelicals:

What I’m sensing now, and I’m concerned about it, is a deliberate effort on the part of some evangelical groups to affirm their messianic components,”[...]

“Until now, evangelicals “have realized that if they want to have relations with the Jewish community and Israel they have to put messianic groups aside because they know people like myself aren’t going to work with them.”

So not only does Eckstein seek the support of evangelical Christians, he also has the chutzpah to tell them which groups they may or may not associate with! Evangelical Christians should seriously think about withdrawing their funding from the IFCJ, or alternatively holding their leadership to account.

If Messianic Jews aren’t welcome, then what’s the point of the IFCJ?

Evangelical Christians genuinely wanting to help Israel would do far better donating to the nation’s indigenous messianic community and those protecting them such as the Hate Crimes Prevention Fund, rather than corrupt organisations like the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

Want more proof?

Here’s Rabbi Eckstein speaking on his ICFJ blog about serial murderer Yaakov ‘Jack’ Teitel:

It is very telling that, among the condemnation and soul-searching, are comparisons between Teitel and the terrorist masterminds of organizations like Hamas: Israel’s leading daily, Ha’aretz, called Teitel “the Jewish counterpart of ‘The Engineer,’ Yehiya Ayyash.”

What a comparison.

Ayyash was a master bomb-maker who, in the mid 1990s, transformed the effectiveness of Hamas suicide bombing campaigns. He was personally responsible for the deaths of more than 125 Israelis and left more than 500 maimed before being killed in 1996 by a booby-trapped cellphone planted by the IDF. Arab newspapers mourned that “one of the nation’s most beloved and respected sons has left this world” and more than 100,000 Palestinians attended his funeral. He continues to be lionized by many Palestinian and Muslim leaders and Syrian TV even ran a mini-series memorializing his “life and work” during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.

The comparison shows the near-impossibility of there being a Jewish counterpart to Ayyash.

In other words, Eckstein has chosen the one example he could find of someone who caused more damage than Teitel, and used it to push the line that Teitel isn’t the Jewish counterpart to Ayyash.

He is though.

As if the terrorism of Jack Teitel is dependent on public sympathy or numbers killed! Teitel is a terrorist and a murderer: plain and simple.

Teitel is on record as having told Israeli investigators:

“If the wheel were to turn back, I would do it all again.”

But instead of using his blog as a platform to call for greater tolerance and some soul-searching within Israel, Eckstein uses the forum to try to turn this into an issue of Zionism and anti-Zionism.

Most unforgiveably, Eckstein can’t even bring himself to use the term Jewish terrorist without using speech marks.

Eckstein is a thoroughly unscrupulous man who has bullied and guilt-tripped the evangelical community for decades into near-braindead support for his Orwellian outfit. And surprise, surprise, he’s turning on Orthodox Jews as well.

All in all, best not to have any dealings with Yechiel Eckstein. 

Posted by Yeze.

Assaf Wohl to religious Zionist leaders: “It is not enough to condemn”

Assaf Wohl writes on YNet News:

[...] I have a request for the rabbis and religious educators. It is not enough to condemn. Please, enter the forums your students write in. You will no doubt discover that too many “bad weeds” have taken root in your gardens. If you do not quickly start to uproot them, we can expect horrific acts that will spread to additional circles and nearby plots of land.

Perhaps right now you don’t really care that the targets are Arabs, homosexuals, Messianic Jews, and just regular radical leftists. Yet if the situation persists, we can expect to get used to phenomena that at this time do not play a major part in our world. We’ll see a bleeding Reform Jew, a secular Jew who was stoned because he drove on Shabbat, and maybe even a “too moderate” rightist being targeted.

And when these bad weeds put you in their sights, as zealots tend to do, perhaps only then you will stop claiming that the threat is being exaggerated.

 Posted by Yeze.

Ami Update November 10 2009: Jerusalem Post ignoring Ami Ortiz case

KEHILAT ARIEL – ARIEL CONGREGATION

~~~~~~~~ AMI UPDATE NOVEMBER 10, 2009~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Greetings! When the terror attack in our home first happened, there was a verse given to us from Isaiah 54:15-17:

15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. 16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc; 17 no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.

There was something there that I didn’t realize until now – that God puts the power of the weapon and the tongue on the same level. They both have the same destructive power. Someone said as I was sharing this verse that the power of the tongue is even stronger today than in the days of Isaiah because today we have the internet and mass media, and these can destroy more quickly. Of course, someone else said, the pen is mightier than the sword. So it is in this case. From the time that Teitel was arrested, we have noticed, and numerous people have written to us who were bewildered why our case and the words “Messianic Jews” are not being mentioned. Sometimes the way we are described in the papers is by the word “cult” or as by ABC news put it, “so-called Messianic Jews” and other condescending or manipulative terms that disrespect the name of Yeshua indirectly and directly. Now many news sources and especially the Jerusalem Post to name one, are omitting our case completely and saying only that the attacks were against homosexuals, and left-wing people. Of course this is not journalism. There seems to be a man-made intentional design to ignore the name of Yeshua and Messianic Jews in the media.

PRACTICAL HELP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, we come to the practical. We need you to again storm heaven and to continue to lift up our hands in the heat of the battle to break the power of the tongue until we have total victory. Secondly, we need the power of the keyboard and to put our faith in action as the Book of James tells us to do. (James 2:14-20). If you could write to the editor of the Jerusalem Post (editors@Jpost.com) and tell him that you are an Israel supporter but at the same time true friends tell the truth (Prov.27:6) . Ironically, the Jerusalem Post has the most subscribers of Evangelical Christians and congregations among the English-speaking world. They also have a Christian edition of their paper, tailor made for Evangelical Christians. In light of this, they should not continue to omit the Ortiz case from their reporting. It’s not right for the victim or victims, and even though we don’t want them to add to the truth, we don’t want them to take away from it. This type of reporting is not ethical and is not journalism, but is a deliberate attempt to undermine the attack against our family as Messianic Jews. Soon we will go to court for the indictment and then the case will proceed onward from there. We need your help so that this won’t set a pattern for others to follow. We are imparting this burden that troubles not only us but also the majority of the Messianic leaders in Israel. Please take this seriously, and help us. (Judges 61-16)

16And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites (the world system, the flesh and the devil) as one man.

Yours in Messiah, David Ortiz

TWO EXAMPLES OF SUCH ARTICLES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Teitel’s remand extended by three days Nov. 10, 2009

Ben Hartman , THE JERUSALEM POST

Police on Tuesday presented the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s court with a request to indict suspected “Jewish terrorist” Yaacov “Jake” Teitel on a litany of offenses including first degree murder, weapons charges, unlawful possession of explosives, and racist incitement.

A prosecution statement is a precursor to an indictment. The court decided to extend Teitel’s remand by an additional three days, pending an indictment which is expected to be issued on Thursday.

Teitel’s lawyer Adi Keidar told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday that his client had undergone a psychological exam he had arranged but they were still awaiting the results. An earlier exam performed by a court-appointed psychiatrist had determined that Teitel was fit to stand trial.

Keidar also said that his client is kept restrained in his cell 24 hours a day and is not given the same treatment other inmates receive. Keidar said the judge on Tuesday promised to examine the conditions of Teitel’s detention.

 The same court last Wednesday extended Teitel’s remand by seven days. Teitel, an American-Israeli Shvut Rahel, is suspected of waging a campaign of terror attacks against Palestinians as well as left-wing and homosexual Israelis.

This article can also be read at

http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1257770030252&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

SECOND ARTICLE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JERUSALEM POST

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799089168&pagename=JPost

Teitel court hearing closed to public

Nov. 3, 2009

BEN HARTMAN , THE JERUSALEM POST

A Petah Tikva court on Wednesday extended by seven days the remand of Ya’akov “Jake” Teitel, an American-Israeli settler suspected of waging a campaign of terror attacks against Palestinians as well as left-wing and homosexual Israelis.

Judge Einat Ron decided to hold the hearing behind closed doors, barring the press and family members of the accused from viewing the proceedings. Ron’s decision came after police investigators made the request, saying they feared Teitel would use the proceedings to pass secret messages to his alleged co-conspirators.

After the judge announced her decision to bar the media, veteran Israeli journalist Moshe Nussbaum rose, and speaking on behalf of the media, called the decision to bar reporters and photographers “ridiculous,” telling police, “This guy sent messages for 12 years before you noticed anything, and you’re afraid now?” Teitel’s lawyer Adi Keidar also criticized the decision, saying it harmed the public’s right to information and the right of Teitel’s relatives to appear in court and observe his proceedings.

The media circus was thus pushed outside the confines of the courtroom, as was Teitel’s wife Rivka, who sat smiling and cradling the couple’s three-month-old baby as a horde of photographers and journalists swarmed her in a crescent of camera flashes and thrusting microphones.

Teitel’s parents, Mark (Mordechai) and Dianne (Devorah) Teitel were not present at the courthouse Wednesday. Keidar told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday that his client had confessed to most of the charges, but said that Teitel had rescinded any confession to the shooting at the Tel Aviv gay center that left two dead, saying there was no connection between him and the crime. A court appointed psychiatrist ruled earlier this week that Teitel was fit to stand trial, but the defense has hired a psychiatrist to perform another examination of Teitel tomorrow.

Keidar said that his client does not feel well and that it will be up to doctors to determine what his mental health is. “He said he felt he was doing God’s work, but we will leave it up to doctors to decide if he is well or not.” Keidar added that Teitel “could be normal, but if he’s crazy, it’s inside – he’s not the type who you would see it on the outside.” Keidar added that although he is not a doctor, Teitel did tell him some strange things that made it clear to him that something is not right with his client.

After Teitel’s hearing, Keidar accused police of railroading his client in an attempt to implicate him in a series of unsolved crimes. “It is obvious that police are seeking to exploit the momentum from Teitel’s arrest, and use the case to help close other outstanding cases.” Keidar was reportedly provided to Teitel by “Honenu” an organization that seeks to protect Israeli Jews accused of serious crimes. On the English version of the Honenu Web site, the organization says it “provides aid for the ‘indirect victims’ of continued Arab terrorism – those who have been forced to respond in real-time to genuine threats on their own or on others’ lives.”

A towering representative of Honenu, Shmuel Meidad, and a colleague from Honenu stalked the hallway outside the courtroom, occasionally stopping to speak to Rivka Teitel. Later the three were seen holding a private meeting in the courthouse cafeteria. Meidad said he does not know Teitel personally, but he believes fully that Teitel is not mentally well and needs help. “This man is sick, but the state [of Israel] is sicker,” Meidad said.

Yosef Espinoza, an alleged co-conspirator of Teitel’s, was also brought for a remand extension on Wednesday, a day after he was arrested by the Shin Bet for the second time. The court extended Espinoza’s remand by seven days. Espinoza, 47, a father of two and Teitel’s neighbor in Shvut Rachel, was represented in his hearing by celebrity Israeli lawyer Zion Amir, who once represented former president Moshe Katsav and deceased television star Dudu Topaz. Honenu reportedly helped procure Amir for Espinoza’s defense, and after the hearing, the high-profile attorney was seen leaving the courthouse with Meidad.

Espinoza is said to be a close friend of Teitel, who had trouble speaking Hebrew and reportedly became close to the fellow English-speaker. Amir told reporters outside the courtroom that he doesn’t understand why police arrested his client, and added that the accusations presented in the closed-door hearing revolved around weapons charges. Amir did not say whether police are seeking charges against Espinoza or Teitel in relation to the deadly shooting of two traffic policemen in the Jordan Valley this year. Police are reportedly examining whether there is a link between Teitel and the murders of the two policemen. Amir also didn’t say if his client is accused of assisting Teitel in perpetrating the attacks, or if he is suspected of having known about them beforehand.

Amir added that his client has cooperated fully with investigators and denies all charges against him. He said he expects Espinoza to be released soon. Teitel’s attorney Keidar said that the judge refused his request to represent Espinoza, saying it could present a conflict of interest, leading to speculation that police may try to convince Espinoza to testify against his friend and neighbor.

This article can also be read at

http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799089168&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Isaiah 1:17 17

Learn to do good;

Seek justice,

Rebuke the oppressor;

Defend the fatherless,

Plead for the widow

Posted by Gever.

Anti-Messianic boycotter Yaakov Yosef endorses anti-Gentile hate book

Lubavitch messianist and former Israeli MK Yaakov Yosef is now notorious around the world for his bigotry, and not just towards Israeli believers in Yeshua. 

 

ArutzSheva reported last year that Rabbi Yaakov Yosef called for a boycott of a Bible quiz in Jerusalem because a Messianic Jewish teenage contestant had entered:

The family of Bat-El Levy, 17, the winner of the Jerusalem District Bible contest for secular public schools, is known to be active in a group whose members call themselves “Messianic Jews.” Her success in the regional competition earned Bat-El a place among four students representing Israel in the Bible Contest finals on Independence Day, this Thursday. Dozens of Jewish youth come to Israel each year for the last leg of the Bible Contest.

In reaction to the participation of a worshiper of Jesus in the Bible Contest, the head of the anti-missionary organization Yad L’Achim sent a letter to rabbinical and lay leaders in the religious community last week calling for efforts to get Levy disqualified. Several rabbis agreed to call for a boycott of the contest if Levy was allowed to compete. Among the rabbis supporting the idea of a boycott are Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who is the son of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, son of the Shas party’s spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Meir Mazuz, dean of Kissei Rachamim Yeshiva, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Motzkin Rabbi Meir Druckman, and Har Hamor Yeshiva dean Rabbi Tzvi Tau.

Yaakov Yosef has now endorsed a book which says it is okay for Jews to kill Gentile children, written by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira:

Rabbi Shapira’s book argues that revenge is a necessity under Jewish law.

“To defeat the wicked one should be vengeful, tit for tat,” the book reads. “Revenge is a necessity… and sometimes doing savage things intended to create a true balance of terror.”

The book further states that Jews are permitted to kill children “If it is clear they will grow up to harm us.”

“If hurting an evil leader’s children will pressure him to stop acting maliciously,” Rabbi Shapira wrote, “you can hurt them.”

The book discusses the laws regarding such killings in theological terms, never specifically mentioning Palestinians, Arabs or Israeli soldiers sent to remove Jewish settlements. Its release comes weeks after the arrest of Yaakov Teitel, a Jewish Israeli settler of American origin who is understood to have admitted to killing Palestinians and attacking progressive and messianic Jews.

Rabbi Shapira is head of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, a religious school for Jewish boys based in the Yitzhar Jewish settlement a few miles southwest of the Palestinian city of Nablus. Rabbi Shapira’s followers adhere to a radical form of Jewish religious nationalism and call for a Torah-based theocracy to replace the State of Israel, which they see as having abandoned core Jewish principals.

The school is best known for its former leader, American-born Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg, seen as the spiritual heir to the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, the American-Israeli founder of the extreme-right political party Kach, classified by both Israel and the U.S. as a terrorist organization. Rabbi Ginzburg was imprisoned for an article praising Baruch Goldstein, an American-born Israeli physician who killed dozens of Muslim worshipers in Hebron and injured 150 others in 1994.

Both Rabbi Ginzburg and Rabbi Ya’akov Yosef, another prominent leader of the radical Jewish religious nationalist movement, have recommended Rabbi Shapira’s new book, which was first released over the weekend at a Jerusalem memorial for Rabbi Kahane.

What is the source of Rabbi Yosef’s hatred for Gentiles and Messianic Jews?

Is he motivated by his warped interpretation of Judaism to hatred, or is he using religion as a vehicle for his hatred?

Posted by Yeze.

Rabbi’s book says Jews can kill gentiles

From the JTA:

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A West Bank rabbi has written a book that says Jews can kill non-Jews who threaten Israel.

Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar released the book Monday.

Shapira, head of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, also said in “The King’s Torah” that it is permissible to kill children if they pose a threat, Ha’aretz reported.

The book is based on Bible quotations to which Shapira has added his own opinions.

“The King’s Torah” was released shortly after the announcement of the arrest of an alleged Jewish terrorist who admitted to killing Palestinians and attacks on messianic Jews and left-wing Jews. 

Posted by Gever.

Pamela Geller accuses “Islamised” State Dept over Religious Freedom Report

Pamela Geller, who once spoke at a neo-fascist conference, and once posted a story that Obama is the secret child of Malcolm X, is  now going ape crazy over the US State Dept’s excellent 2009 report on religious freedom in Israel.

Geller complains:

There is an all-out attack on Israel being perpetrated by Obama’s America. No country is more open, equal, and democratic in the Middle East and the world (save America B.O. [before Obama]) than Israel.

This is another Islamic libel against the Jews. There is no pluralism in islamic countries. No freedom of religion. Honor Killings, clitorectomies, forced marriages, child marriages, Christian persecutions, beheadings, the evil list is endless. This is shameful.

Well, the U.S. has plenty to say about other countries too. None of which invalidates its State Dept’s criticism of the Israel’s treatment of Messianic Jews and its discrimination against non-Orthodox citizens.

Posted by Yeze.

Whose Moshiach is it anyway?

Howard Bass’ Nachlat Yeshua congregation is currently suing the Chief Rabbi of Beer Sheva Yehuda Deri and the Yad L’Achim anti-missionary organisation for causing a riot in their congregation in 2005.

Watch for yourself what happens:

Yad L’Achim leader Alex Artovsky is accused of playing a key role in organising and infiltrating the service – a charge which he denies. Artovsky is described by Haaretz as Yad L’Achim’s “chief of operations”, and by the Jerusalem Post as Yad L’Achim’s “chief field operative”. Artovsky, a former Russian policeman, has also boasted of spying on Messianic Jews who believe in Yeshua, demanded their sacking regardless of their profession, and accused Messianic Jews of setting up discothèques to lure Israeli youth. You can read an interview with Artovsky here.

Given that Artovsky is ideologically opposed to messianic missionaries spreading the gospel of the messiah’s arrival to Jews, perhaps he’d have something to say about the missionary R. Rotenbord. Here is Rotenbord explaining his missionary tactics to Nosson Avrohom in the Chabad journal Beis Moshiach: (page 21 of PDF)

R’ Rotenbord sees no problem with spreading the B’suras HaGeula ["Gospel of the Redemption"]. “People think that the topic of Moshiach is one of faith and not logic. Maybe it used to be that way but once the Rebbe taught his chiddushim, the topic is rationally understood too. If I see a Jew only accepts logical explanations, I get him to believe in Moshiach through logic. “At our shul there are all kinds of people, including Mizrachi and every one of them knows who Moshiach is and how to sing Yechi. They hear it from me in shiurim and at farbrengens and understand that it’s something true and ‘alive.’

Yet R.Rotenbord, as you may have worked out, is not a Jews for Jesus worker or a Baptist missionary, but a Chabad missionary. Rotenbord works for Lapid – a messianic Chabad group based in Russia.

Lapid clearly believe that Menachem Schneerson possesses elements of divinity and eternity; omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence; as Avrohom reports that Lapidencourage their followers to write to the Rebbe and receive answers to prayers (page 21 of PDF).

Avrohom also features Rabbi Ravina Aharonov (page 22 of the same PDF):

I spoke to Rabbi Ravina Aharonov, an activist who works for Lapid. He does tremendous work with kafkazim, immigrants from the Caucasus. There are no other shluchim in Eretz Yisroel who work with this population, whose members prefer to live in their own communities even after years of living in Eretz Yisroel. R’ Aharonov came to Chabad after attending the shiurim of Yad L’Achim activist, R’ Alex Artovsky. [...] “In 5752 I emigrated to Eretz Yisroel and I wanted to continue my studies. I took Alex Artovsky’s classes and thanks to him, I was hosted many times by the Chabad community in Netanya and I learned there too. In my city of Chadera I connected with the shliach, Rabbi Klonymous Kupchik from whom I learned a lot.”

So Alex Artovsky, so opposed to Jews who believe that Jesus is the divine Jewish Messiah, is also an inspiration to Chabad missionaries who imply that Menachem Schneerson is the divine Jewish Messiah!

The idea of Schneerson being divine crops up fairly often in Chabad circles. In the Beis Moshiach journal you can read various articles speaking of the Rebbe’s atzmus elokus (divine essence).

In another issue of Beis Moshiach (page 8 of PDF) we read :

even if we agree that 770 [the house number of the Rebbe's previous residence in Crown Heights, New York] is comparable to the Beis HaMikdash [the Temple in Jerusalem], that was true until Gimmel Tammuz [the day the Rebbe died] when we openly saw Elokus [divinity] in the Rebbe, but now that we don’t see the Rebbe or the revelation of Elokus [divinity], there’s no reason to go to 770, certainly not often.

Elsewhere in Beis Moshiach (page 10 of PDF), a panel of Chabad rabbis talk about the messianic age, and that the Rebbe will soon come to redeem the world.

Until then one must:

accustom ourselves to viewing the world as illusory, with only Elokus on our minds. It will soon be this way in Yemos HaMoshiach. The preparation for this is our avoda today, in the merit of which we will see the Rebbe come to redeem us and revealed Elokus in all of creation.

Prominent Chabad Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin has recently claimed that the Rebbe will:

“take us out of golus now [and everyone] will understand and see it’s the Rebbe who runs this world.”

The Campaign for Moshiach Consciousness’ Moshiach blog speaks about “a new theology for a new Torah” brought by the Rebbe, sounding suspiciously similar to the writer of Hebrews.

Only today, we find on ChabadInfo:

Being that Christianity was created by Jews – and to recruit Jews – it should not be shocking that they have adopted some of our basic beliefs. For one to discount an idea as a “Christian-non Jewish concept” without checking Jewish sources, is like giving credit to a new company, without seeing if they stole patents from an older company.

Alex Artovsky, who recently delivered a lecture at the Chabad of Rega Park, joins Shmuel Arkush and Bentzion Kravitz in the category of proselytising Jewish messianists who believe in a divine Messiah who oppose other proselytising Messianic Jews who believe in a divine Messiah.

The other major category of anti-missionaries are ex-Christian converts to Judaism like Gavriel Sanders, YY Rubenstein and Binyamin Klugger, who actively oppose Jewish converts to Christianity.

Fascinatingly, the anti-missionaries in both categories have far more in common with Jewish Christians than they may care to realise.

And, in disagreement about who’s really the Messiah, there’s no need for violence or intimidation of any sort.

Chabad: Christianity created by Jews and for Jews

From Chabad Info:

Being that Christianity was created by Jews – and to recruit Jews – it should not be shocking that they have adopted some of our basic beliefs. For one to discount an idea as a “Christian-non Jewish concept” without checking Jewish sources, is like giving credit to a new company, without seeing if they stole patents from an older company.

Posted by Yeze.

Mat Hausman compares J-Street to Messianic Jews

In response to an absurd article by Isi Leibler in the Jerusalem Post brandishing Jewish liberals as apostates, Carlo Strenger warned in Haaretz:

In calling for excommunication of those who disagree with him, Leibler seems to endow himself with papal infallibility in knowing what is good for Israel – but in Jewish tradition nobody can claim infallibility. I want to remind Mr. Leibler of the rules of plugta, of civilized argument and disagreement that have been held dear in Jewish tradition, and I will gladly meet with him and talk.

I want to make it clear: Leibler does not call for physical violence. Yet terms like “apostates” and “excommunication” are a clear way of delegitimizing the large proportion of the Jewish people, who disagree with him. He should not forget that there might always be somebody like Yaakov Teitel who takes him more seriously than I assume he wants to be taken. I hope that Mr. Leibler condemns such acts unequivocally as every civilized human being, Jewish or not, should.

Like Strenger, I have argued previously that the brandishing of Jewish minority voices as ‘apostate’ is rooted in medieval polemics.

None of this has deterred Mat Hausman, who writes in Israpundit:

However, just as the messianic movement employs the superficial use of Jewish ritual practices to suggest disingenuously that it is Jewish, so too J Street uses shallow statements of support for Israel to obscure its true agenda and to attract those who don’t know any better.

Hausman’s utter contempt for Jews who believe in Yeshua is palpable:

Their co-option and misuse of Jewish customs and traditions, their attempts – largely unsuccessful – to ingratiate themselves to local federations, and their bogus claims to represent a legitimate segment of the Jewish community despite their lack of halachic standing or Jewish ancestry, are simply the cynical and deceitful means to a dishonest end. Any inroads they make are blazed almost exclusively amongst Jews with weak backgrounds and little education who don’t have the tools to understand that the cult is not Judaism.

Unsurprisingly, Hausman’s bile spills over into liberal Jews:

Unfortunately, like the messianic movement, J Street has been very adept at garnering support from those who are poorly grounded in Jewish history, tradition and values, and who therefore are ill-equipped to challenge the veracity of its sales pitch. It has also been successful in attracting those who were raised to believe that progressive politics inherently subsume Jewish values. Consequently, J Street’s ultimate success will depend to a large extent on the ignorance of its prospective constituents – or their knowing rejectionism – and their willingness to accept the revisionist narrative with a religious-like faith.

Of course, if Hausman has a monopoly on what Jewish politics or religion must be, then any deviation from this must be considered apostasy. What Hausman is doing here, however, is tribalism of the most mindless variety. Instead of imploring his readers to consider the facts by themselves, he is trying to push J-Street into the taboos of Jewish life by comparing them to most controversial of all Jews: Messianic Jews.

Mat Hausman: knows an apostate when he sees one

Hausman uses Messianic Jews’ comfort with mainstream Christianity as evidence to damn them, and attempts to use J-Street’s left-wing status and its political connections as damning evidence as well. Of course  it is right and proper to critique J-Street’s political connections, just as it is right to criticise AIPAC’s, yet this is not the key issue being discussed by Mat Hausman, who seems determined to label J-Street and Messianic Jews both as enemies of the Jewish people as defined by him.

Yet the irony here is that Hausman seems determined to make his argument a self-fulfilling prophecy. By implying that liberal Jews and Messianic Jews are enemies of mainstream Jews, Hausman’s argument effectively bullies his readers not to digress or turn off the path, or they too may find themselves excommunicated by Hausman’s Papal Bull.

Posted by Yeze.

Norwegian newspaper: Yaakov Teitel believed Ortiz family was delaying the Messiah

Norwegian daily DagenMagazinet reports:

Israeli security police suspect that the arrested family man who may be behind several murders and terrorist bombs considered his actions to be religiously justified. The family father was inspired by Genesis 13:5, where it says false prophets will be killed.

He believes that “false prophets” will prevent the Messiah’s coming, according David Ortiz. David is the father of bombing victim Ami. David was probably the main target of the bomb in Ariel, since he is a pastor. The suspect’s religious ideas are warped, the Ortiz’ family attorney Yossi Greiber told Magazinet.

Perhaps DagenMagazinet was referring to Deuteronomy 13:5 rather than Genesis:

And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken rebellion against the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.

Posted by Yeze.