In the previous chapter, we noted that the twentieth century Messianic congregational movement is not directly linked with the first century Jewish disciples of Jesus. Both the American and Israeli Messianic congregations are modern phenomena linked more closely to evangelical Protestantism. Nevertheless, the reappearance of Messianic Jewish congregations in Israel after an absence of 1,600 years merits examination. In this chapter, we examine contemporary Israeli Messianic congregations in their functions of fellowship, discipleship, and evangelism.
Sources
Much of the material for this chapter was gathered by means of personal interviews conducted in Israel January and February of 1997. There is little available written material on Israeli Messianic congregations. The movement is still in its inception and there are few who have reflected on it. The threat of persecution by Jewish religious authorities causes Israeli Messianic Jews caution in committing information to writing that might somehow be used against them.[1]
Out of the fifteen interviews conducted, I have selected six as an introduction to the breadth, variety, and development of the Messianic congregational movement in Israel. These include Zvi, a pioneer-pastor; Yakov, a product of the sixties from America; Reuven, a psalmist; Shlomo, an “almost” rabbi; Natan, a leader for a new generation; and Daniel and Sarah, an Eastern-bloc immigrant couple. Their stories highlight the principal characteristics and significant events in contemporary Israeli Messianic Judaism.
A Pioneer-Pastor (Zvi)[2]
The first twentieth-century efforts to develop Messianic congregational life in Israel began in earnest in the sixties. During this time, a Christian family befriended Zvi, a young Israeli man living in Eilat. Though he was not interested in their religion, their Jesus, or for that matter, their God, the friendship and loving compassion they showed him eventually drew his curiosity. He had been living a life that he described as “wild,” but this Gentile Christian family continued to be his friends. Eventually Zvi became interested in what it was that motivated the extraordinary “love and life” that this family exhibited.
I had come to an atheistic persuasion. In the course of my military service in Eilat, I met a Christian family whose faith impressed me greatly. I was attracted to it, but repulsed by the association of Jesus and Gentiles and their religion. I was trying to get at what they had without treading their path. Having failed that, I finally broke off relations with them. A short time afterwards, I met a Jewish Christian. He tore the façade off my argument. My argument was that however wonderful a religion this may be, it is not for me; I’m Jewish. Here was someone who was as warmly Jewish as I was. This was 1963.
Convinced of his own need for divine forgiveness, he expressed his faith in Yeshua and was baptized. Subsequently, he was encouraged to get some theological education in England. After completing his studies, he returned to Israel where he became one of several “pioneer” leaders in forming a congregation of believers in the Jerusalem area.
After a time, he chafed under the authoritarian dominance of a co-elder with whom he shared leadership responsibilities. This led him to start a new congregation in the Tel Aviv area. Today he and three co-elders lead this congregation of approximately two hundred members. They have an extensive publishing ministry that has distributed 40,000 Hebrew copies of American Messianic Jew, Stan Telchin’s, Betrayed. Other publications include John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, J.I. Packer’s Knowing God, and works by Leon Morris. The ministry also produces educational materials (Shabbat School) for children, teens, and adults. An illustrated children’s Hebrew Bible that reflects the middle-eastern complexion and way of life is an ongoing four-year project.
Zvi has been involved with other Jewish congregational leaders in organizing nationwide evangelistic events, Bible conferences, and camps. His concern for theological education led him to develop and organize ministry and leadership training seminars that he could use in his own congregation. As his congregation grows, he hopes to plant new congregations with leaders developed under his own ministry. One such congregation is now in the formative stages in a nearby coastal town.
A Product of the Sixties (Yakov)[3]
There is a strong connection, and even a direct relationship, between the American “Jesus Movement” of the sixties and the development of Israeli Messianic Judaism. The Jews for Jesus movement led by Moishe Rosen in San Francisco spoke to a generation of American Jews who had “dropped out” of the Jewish synagogue and family life under the prospect of participation in the Vietnam War to pursue “reality” through alternative lifestyles. These lifestyles included rock music, hallucinogenic drugs, and Eastern mystical religious elements. One such Jewish drop-out who found his way into the Jesus Movement as a Jew, felt a stirring in his heart to express his new life in Yeshua in the land of Yeshua, which itself had been transformed by the 1967 War.
When he arrived in Israel, the nation was experiencing a rebirth of national identity. It had just recently successfully defeated overwhelming odds in the Six-Day War and had recovered possession of the Western Wall of the Jerusalem Temple. To be a Jew was no longer primarily associated with the horror and shame of the Holocaust. For the first time in two thousand years, Jewish identity was something in which one could take pride. For this American the question would be not only one of Jewish identity reborn, but of the expression of that identity as a believer in Yeshua.
After a time in which Yakov and his wife, Ariella, found their way in the Hebrew language and Israeli culture and business environment, they became part of a congregation of Jewish believers. At this point in time, this was one of a handful of Messianic congregations in Israel. In such a setting, he was able to bring together all the elements of his identity. Here he could give bold and exuberant expression to his Jewishness and his love for Yeshua.
Unfortunately, this was not possible in his everyday life. He was not persecuted per se, but Israeli society in general had traditionally not been receptive to a Jewish witness concerning Yeshua. On one occasion, some religious bullies stoned their house, shouting that they were “missionaries.” Other similar instances had occurred in earlier years, but by the time of our interview, after 30 years of life in Israel, Yakov told me that his coworkers and neighbors all knew of his faith. They had accepted him and his family as genuinely Israeli, authentically Jewish, and evidently believers in Yeshua.
As the years have passed, he has participated in leadership of several Messianic congregations. Based on the comments of others, it is obvious that he is looked up to by other Israeli believers as one with a compassionate and faithful heart. His children have grown up and been fully integrated into Israeli society, yet they still reflect the faith of their parents. One of his children told me how he had experienced childhood teasing and bullying during his adolescence while he struggled with his own identity as a believer. This ceased after his military service. He said,
There were times when kids would tease me at school because of the faith of my parents and their public stance as believers. But, when I graduated from high school and went for my army service, I found that everything changed. Because I served as an Israeli in an elite army unit, differences with regard to personal religious beliefs became inconsequential. After my army service, I found that other Israeli men related to me based on my service in an elite unit. Common army experiences are the basis of male interaction in Israeli life. I went to college in America, but my wife and I felt that we should come back to Israel to live and raise our family. My identity as a believer is as an Israeli.[4]
A Psalmist (Reuven)[5]
Another American believer who also made aliyah[6] to Israel in the early seventies found that his background as a musical artist led him to a broad audience in Israeli society. This same talent also led to a leadership role in Messianic congregations, especially in the development of Messianic worship and praise. Although not direct products of the Jesus Movement, Reuven and his wife, Roz, were living alternative lifestyles on the American Pacific coast when they encountered a Gentile layman whose simplicity of life and gentle Christian spirit attracted them to consider the claims of Yeshua (although at the time they would have known him as Jesus). In a weeknight home Bible study, they were gradually convinced to abandon Eastern religious affectations and put their trust in Yeshua. A short time later they joined a Messianic music and dance troupe in which they experienced first hand the power of the arts in evangelism.
In the early seventies when Reuven and Roz made their aliyah to Israel, they found themselves in an immigrant absorption center with only twenty-four dollars to their name. In need of an occupation, they began to teach Hebrew folk songs to other immigrants in the absorption center. Soon they were dispatched to other absorption centers and even army camps to share their musical gifts. As their musical career developed, they met other Jews who were believers and began to gather for congregational worship. They had begun writing songs that had a “messianic” flavor. Soon they found themselves fully employed in giving voice to the praises of the Messianic congregational movement.
Reuven and Roz have continued to interact with the Israeli public, recently writing and producing an opera with a Messianic message. However, their contribution has not been confined to music. They have also grown into the leadership of a Messianic congregation that began as a Bible study in their own home. Today that congregation meets in its own building, a remodeled home in a suburban neighborhood.
Their teen-aged daughter has grown up as a full participant in Israeli society, attending Israeli schools, pursuing musical interests, and interacting with other Israeli young people, while at the same time maintaining her own faith identity.
In recent months they have begun to reflect on ways that their continued involvement in the arts might lead to greater opportunity for testimony to their faith as Messianic Jews. Their opera production attracted both attention and ire from parts of Israeli society. They are encouraged by the various reactions, feeling this has been “of the Lord,” and they are considering other projects related to the arts for the purpose of evangelism.
Almost a Rabbi (Shlomo)[7]
Shlomo grew up in a secular Israeli home in Jerusalem. Neither he nor his parents were interested in the religious practice of Judaism as they understood it. In high school, he wrote a paper on Christianity for history class. His research included reading the New Testament, which kindled a great interest for him in the person of Jesus. After two additional years of personal research on Jesus and conversation with Christians, “I gave my life to the Lord and was baptized, and got kicked out of my home at the age of sixteen, despite the fact that my parents were secular.” Concerned and compassionate Christians arranged for him to attend a Christian boarding school in America to finish high school. Returning to Israel, he attended Hebrew University in Jerusalem, majoring in Semitic Studies. Later he completed Greek and New Testament studies in the United States. Subsequently he married an American Christian, and together they returned to Israel at the beginning of the seventies.
At that time, none of the missions (there were no indigenous works here) would allow Jews who had studied at university to take any leadership in the congregation at all. I left the mission congregation and went to an Orthodox Yeshiva. I told the head Rabbi that I was a Jew who believes Jesus is the Messiah, but knows nothing about Judaism. He asked me one question. He said, “Are you coming here to teach or to learn? If you are coming here to teach there is no room for you. If you are coming here to learn, you have to put Jesus aside and learn Judaism.” I said, “Okay, I am willing.” After four years of study I was ready to enter the rabbinate. The question came up as to whether I still believed in Jesus. Answering that I believed in Jesus even more than before, the Rabbi said, “We will remain friends, but a rabbi you are not going to be.”
With the Rabbi’s permission Shlomo had begun to teach New Testament at the Yeshiva. He met some Jews there who were Orthodox but were secret believers. As they revealed their faith to one another, they discovered there was no room for them in the mission churches as Jews living like Jews and believing in Jesus. Only “gentilized” Jews were welcome in the missions. Together with five others, Shlomo started a Messianic Jewish group that met from house to house. This group quickly grew to thirty people. Persecutions started coming to the homes of the people, so they rented space in a building owned by a mission organization. Nine years later, they were able to purchase their own building.
With this we had become totally indigenous and local. We are the first [Messianic Jewish] congregation of Jews to start using Jewish liturgy, first to become 100% local. Our congregation receives no funds from abroad, from any mission, church, or any denomination from anywhere. This makes us unique in the area of Jewish missiology.
Now with one hundred members, who contributed $25,000 last year, all of their congregational leaders are salaried through the local congregation. “Theologically we were the first ones to emphasize the Jewishness of the message and the Jewishness of the New Testament.” Their ministry does Bible instruction and research and has developed a New Testament research institute. In addition he claims,
We are the only ministry in Israel that has planted congregations in Tel Aviv, Galilee, Golan, Western Galilee, all over the country. No missionaries are working with us. Theologically, we are Jewish. We do not accept the tradition of Christianity as authoritative for us whether it is the Creeds, or whether it is the traditions of the Church. For us the only authority is the New Testament as well as we can accomplish seeing it through the eyes of the Jewish world of the first century. We worship as an Orthodox Synagogue and keep the traditions of Judaism. Even though we are not under the law, we must be to the Jew as a Jew.[8]
A Leader for a New Generation (Natan)[9]
Natan is a sabra, a Jew who was born and raised in Israel. While in university in the United States he became a believer through the ministry of the Navigators. When he wrote home to Israel to tell his parents about his new faith they were shocked. Their first reaction was to say nothing. Then he heard through his cousin that his parents were coming to the States to take him out of his studies so that he would not be under Christian influence. Before any of this could transpire, Natan was called back to Israel as part of his military duty. Before his return to Israel, he had managed to get a list of some Messianic congregations in the Tel Aviv area. At first, he had problems attending any of the congregations because his parents and his military duty restricted his movements. When he finished his active military service, he was finally able to attend on a more regular basis. After about four years as an active participant, he became part of the eldership.
Natan’s position as an elder caused him some difficulties in his profession.
One of the mistakes that I made, which I learned from, was that I never told my employer about my faith. As a result, my position as an elder in the congregation was later to become a conflict of interest for my employer, and it became necessary for me to take another position. About fifteen years ago if you had said that you were a Jewish believer, they would not have understood what you were talking about. You were either a Jew, Christian or Muslim. A Christian might mean a Catholic or a Nazi to them, so I did not talk with my employers about it. Part of it is also my personality. I am not very outspoken. My faith was not a problem, but my eldership was considered a conflict of interest when my company-owned car was seen parked at a Christian Youth Camp at which I was teaching. My superior felt that the presence of my car might indicate company sponsorship of an event which involved proselytizing children, which is not allowed in Israel. Even though this is not what happened, I understood how it could be viewed as a conflict of interest. They were very civil about the whole thing, and my boss saw to it that I was able to get another job with better pay in the same industry so that I could afford my own private car.
Natan asserts that there have been very few cases of personal persecution of Jewish believers.
In our church, we have had hassles from the Orthodox, breaking chairs on Shabbat and tearing up Bibles. The police station was about two minutes away, but it took them forty-five minutes to get there. In general, there is not the great persecution that many think there is. It is a lot worse in Islamic countries. Usually here the worst problems come from the parents for whom the faith of a child is a big shock. In my own case, for about two years, my parents did not speak with me and when I got married none of my family was present at the wedding. But, the thing that began to help with the relationship is our persistence in loving them. This was especially significant when my parents began to experience illness. They are still very hostile about my faith, but they do not talk about it. They would rather talk about politics or the weather. We don’t have much opportunity to share the gospel by witnessing. We try to do it through our lives. In some ways this is difficult.
Although Natan hopes to go into full-time ministry at some time in the future, he feels that it is important for him as a believer to stay involved in his profession. At the present time, he is beginning courses given by his pastor to prepare him for increasing leadership responsibilities that include visitation of congregation members, leading a Bible study, and helping to start a new congregation. Natan dreams that in the near future there will be adequate theological and ministerial training in Israel to prepare him and the next generation of leaders.
Immigrants from the Eastern Bloc (Daniel and Sarah)[10]
This young couple is representative of the hundreds of thousands of Russians and Eastern Bloc citizens who, having only recently discovered the meaning of their Jewish heritage, are simultaneously adjusting to life in modern Israel. For some time Daniel and Sarah had been frustrated with life in the former Soviet Union. Everything they needed for daily life was in short supply, expensive, and at the end of interminably long queues. Just before they were married, they visited with a relative who had been to America. He encouraged them that there was an alternative to the bleak prospects of life in the remains of the former Soviet Union. He suggested that their future might be in Israel, so Daniel and Sarah began to consider aliyah for materialistic purposes. Israel represented a place where they would be free to start their married lives without hindrance.
We were only twenty-two and we lived with Daniel’s mother. We had nothing to lose. We had nothing, just our relationship. We were searching for God, but certainly would not consider what we knew of Christianity. Actually, we were quite interested in Hinduism and Buddhism, practicing yoga, but we were not satisfied. While we were meditating, we felt that we were approaching God, but as soon as you stopped meditating it was like a fog that disappeared. Therefore, we began to look for religious experience which was substantial. Right before immigrating, we saw a sign for the “Jesus Film.” We watched it and liked it a lot. I [Daniel] prayed the prayer of commitment at the end of the movie, but I was just saying it in my mind and was not really a believer yet. I felt that I was missing something important.
When Daniel and Sarah arrived in Israel, they were staying in an absorption center for new immigrants. There they met another Russian Jew from Kiev who was a believer in Yeshua. As they got to know him, he gave them an address of some Messianic Jews in Tel Aviv. It turned out to be the address of the pastor of a Messianic congregation. The pastor visited Daniel and Sarah, inviting them to both his home and the congregational meetings. After only seven days in Israel, they were in a congregation of Messianic Jews, although they themselves were not yet believers. Over time they were won over by the friendship and genuine warmth that people in the congregation showed. Sarah remarks,
At that stage what we liked the most was just to communicate with the nice friendly people who showed real interest in us. It was real and they were real and normal people. There was no fabrication. Just real life, real people, so nice and so friendly. We felt comfortable there but we were not yet believers. I liked the people but felt that they just met once a week and experienced something and went home and forgot all about it. It was just like yoga to me. It did not seem that it was an “experience that lasts throughout the week.”
One of the people started coming to our place every week and gave us Bible studies. They were really pressing us that we had to accept Yeshua. We didn’t like that at all and were so tired of those people because they were really pressing without sensitivity. I know they had really good motives but we didn’t like it. I remember once after months of their coming, I decided that I would pray just to get them to leave me alone. It was such a bad experience! Next time we came to the congregation everyone was saying, “Congratulations! Why didn’t you tell us that you have accepted Yeshua?” I had forgotten completely that I had prayed! It was a very bad experience. Definitely we were not believers at that time. We couldn’t really understand what was going on.
They continued to go to the Saturday meetings, all the time watching to see if this life that people had was real and lasted throughout the week. The arrival of a Russian speaking Jewish minister in the congregation was a fortunate development for Daniel and Sarah as they struggled with understanding the Hebrew in the worship services. Daniel explained,
The Russian [Jewish] pastor explained everything to us from the standpoint of Messianic Judaism, not from Christianity. After a couple of months of this, we were understanding more and more and enjoying more and more of the congregational life. In one of the lessons he mentioned that they were going to go the next week to the Jordan River and if someone wanted to be baptized they should talk to him. That was the moment when we started to think [about] if we were just interested or should we make some decision. He explained baptism as a serious thing in a Jewish country. We couldn’t sleep the night before. We were thinking, “Should we do it, or should we not. If we do it, that is it. There is no way out.” In the morning when we woke up, it was a clear decision. We wanted to. Yes, we were ready. In the moment that we were baptized, it was in that moment that I think we became believers. Practically, we have been in the congregation from the seventh day we were in Israel. But it took probably nine months till we made a decision.
Since their baptism, Daniel and Sarah have become leaders in the congregation, conducting a Russian language Bible study in their home. Daniel has a strong burden to do formal study of the Bible so that he might be better equipped for the opportunities he has to share “the experience that lasts throughout the week” with others.
Daniel and Sarah’s story, like that of the others we have related here, has not taken place in isolation from other Jewish believers. Each individual Messianic Jewish identity developed in community with others in the context of a Messianic congregation. In the next section, we examine the importance of fellowship and community identity in congregational growth and development.
Fellowship
According to Baruch Maoz, pastor of Chesed Ve Emet (Grace and Truth) Congregation in the Tel Aviv area, there are as many as fifty Messianic congregations in Israel that could be classified as churches and another fifty home groups or fellowships.[11] He estimates there are five to six thousand Jewish believers who participate in these churches and fellowships. Bodil Skjøtt, of the Caspari Center in Jerusalem, gives a similar estimate of forty to fifty congregations and six thousand believers.[12] A 1996 study by Dutch researcher Leon Meier catalogued twenty-three Messianic congregations with memberships of thirty-five and above.[13] Total membership of the twenty-three congregations was 2,526, with 1,472 (58%) of those being Jewish by background. According to Meier, of the twenty-three leaders, fourteen are born Jews, five are converted Jews, and four are Gentiles. Only three of these congregations, Immanuel Church (1949), Beit Immanuel (1960) in Tel Aviv, and Beit Eliahu (1949) in Haifa, were founded before the 1967 War. Five were founded in the seventies, nine in the eighties, and six so far in the nineties.
Messianic congregations meet in homes and rented public buildings, and a few have purchased their own buildings.[14] House groups generally number from ten to fifteen people,[15] and most congregations number from fifty to one hundred. Five congregations have 200 members or more.[16] King of Kings Congregation, that meets in a Jerusalem hotel, boasts 350 members, but is only 30% Jewish.[17]
Many of the older Messianic congregations owe their origins to Protestant mission organizations. However, today one is hard-pressed to discover these connections, since Messianic Jews are more diligent to develop their own indigenous organizational identities. Shlomo, in particular, was very definite about the indigeneity and financial and doctrinal independence of his congregation, although others point out the strong connection he has had over the years with an American denominational agency. The last ten years have seen an increase in the number of congregations that owe their existence to nothing more than an individual who had a “vision” or heard a “call” to be a pastor.[18] Consequently, it is not surprising that most of the leaders in Israel have had little or no theological or ministerial training. Baruch Maoz laments,
I am ashamed of the Jewish Christian community in this country. I think it is intellectually impoverished, socially irrelevant, morally mediocre, and organizationally defunct. These are strong words, but I am prepared to back each one of them. And if we do not, in the goodness of God, undergo some meaningful transformation, I do not see how we as a community will be able to impact our society. We need some significant efforts to be invested in the transformation of ourselves first in those areas. The other side [of this issue], however poorly conceived and inconsistently embraced, [is that] the gospel is the truth. I am therefore, quite apart from any promise the scripture might make both in eschatological or evangelistic sense, in the very long run, very hopeful. In fact, most of what we are doing here is in terms of the very long run.[19]
Nevertheless, even without theological training for their leaders, congregations are proliferating and Israeli Messianic Jews experience a strong identity with one another as a minority group within the larger Jewish religious environment. For the last decade there has been an informal and unofficial Hebrew-speaking elders’ fellowship that meets periodically to discuss matters of theology and congregational polity.[20] Messianic congregations have also organized joint Bible conferences and summer camps for the education and fellowship of their members.
On a local level, the congregation is the center of the lives of Messianic Jews.[21] Because they cannot worship with other Israelis in synagogues, nor are they comfortable in traditional Gentile churches, they identify strongly with other members of their congregations. As a small community, marginalized, and often discriminated against by the religious majority for their beliefs,[22] their Shabbat services and midweek meetings are infused with an impressive enthusiasm.
Meeting in homes and rented buildings, the typical Shabbat service begins with song in Hebrew. Most of the songs are “praise choruses” set to Israeli folk tunes. The lyrics are usually scripture portions expressing praise and adoration of the Lord, magnifying Yeshua for his love and sacrifice, and thanking the Heavenly Father for the presence of the Spirit of God in the lives of the believers. Many focus on the theme of a restored kingdom in a Messiah-ruled Zion, looking to that day as the hope (ha tiqvah) when God’s enemies are defeated and righteousness reigns in the place of sin.[23] The following are representative excerpts from songs by David Loden of Netanya, Israel:[24]
P’siat HaMashiach
Behold, the footsteps of the Messiah, the Son of David.
A hundred generations have we waited and dreamed.
A hundred generations have we expected and have erred.
An ancient voice is heard, listen, listen –
Behold, the footsteps of the Messiah, the Son of David.
Mi Ha’Ish
Who has ascended into the heavens and descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has bound the waters in His garments?
Who has established the ends of the earth?
What is His name and what is His son’s name,
if you know?
What is His name if you know?
And what is His son’s name if you know?
What is this name that calls forth a curse?
Is not the meaning of this name Salvation?
Who is this Man, and who is His Father?
What is His name? Who can tell if you know?
Ma’amik HaChoshekh
Here He comes with thousands of His Hosts.
Here He comes with millions of His angels.
Here He comes on the wings of the clouds.
Here He comes, the heavens are opened.
Here He comes, here He comes!
I believe with perfect faith in the Coming of the Messiah.
Save us, we beseech You!
Instrumental accompaniment is typically on guitar and tambourine. Hands are lifted in worship, even in non-charismatic congregations, and the worship is reminiscent of contemporary style American evangelical churches. There are few symbols, neither stars of David, banners in Hebrew, candlesticks, nor furnishings reminiscent of the synagogue.[25]
Worship experience in Israeli Messianic congregations reminds one of the informality and warmth experienced in “house churches” in America, except in Hebrew. The entire congregation chants the Shema and there is a reading from the Torah or some other Tanakh (Old Testament) passage, followed by one from the B’rit Chadashah (New Testament). More singing and an offering follow a time of prayer for personal, congregational, and national needs.
The proclamation portion of the service is in Hebrew, with most congregations providing simultaneous translation into English and often Russian. Israel is a nation of immigrants from over 100 countries. Consequently, each person will be at a different level of Hebrew language acquisition. Therefore, most leaders seek to minister to their congregations first in Hebrew and secondarily in their national “heart language.” I visited a Tel Aviv congregation that has been extremely effective in reaching Israelis both sabra and immigrant. Its pastor attributes this success to the day it ceased offering simultaneous translation in favor of Hebrew alone:
We found that international congregations where they translated into different languages would not work to bring in Israelis. The congregation we were in which was like this had not had a person come to faith in 20 years of its existence! Everything was diluted. We decided to focus on Israelis. That is where we came up with the idea of no translation. We wanted to develop a congregation where Israelis can come and feel comfortable, where they can be in the majority, where they can bring the family and invite friends. We did not want to take them into something that was strange. It is strange enough as it is–the content and who we are.[26]
Other leaders are just as confident that translation is essential. Somehow, fellowship grows out of a common spiritual desire that connects across language barriers.
Refreshments often follow the Shabbat morning service. This allows time for personal interaction. Few are in a hurry to depart to their homes. There is a sense that when Messianic Jews are together, they are home. Neither is there competition from other activities to draw people to their separate lives. Friday evening to Saturday evening (Shabbat) is a time of rest in Israel. Shops and restaurants are closed; there are no sporting events on television or anywhere else (except for the few who have satellite dishes or cable hookups). There is very little traffic on the roads, nowhere to go on Saturdays anyway, so Shabbat becomes fellowship time.
Congregations have midweek meetings in smaller groups, meeting in apartments and houses. These small gatherings are often grouped according to language needs and geographical proximity. Other opportunities for fellowship include special Friday evening Shabbat meetings. The Kabbalat Shabbat (welcoming the Sabbath) service is celebrated with the entire congregation of adults and children gathered in a home. There is a time of song, followed by the Sabbath breaking of bread and cup of wine. A short devotional message is followed by a “pot-luck” meal.[27] The pastor’s wife explained,
Kabbalat Shabbat is fellowship, family time, touchy feely too, and eating together, fun, more singing, a great place to bring non-believers just to feel the congregation.
Messianic congregations celebrate biblical feasts and holidays as part of their Israeli national identity. Kvarme observes that Messianic congregations have,
little regard for traditions and feasts of the Church that are not biblically founded. . . . [Instead they] celebrate the Old Testament festivals with Messianic and new Testament content, as well as . . . observing Jewish traditions and customs, p[a]rtly as belonging to the national heritage, partly as a renewal of biblical traditions.[28]
Bodil Skjøtt adds:
Just as it is natural for most Messianic Believers to come together for worship on the Sabbath because it is the day of rest, so they also keep the other Jewish holidays. Israel has both national and biblical holidays in which Messianic Jews take part. There are different opinions among them as to what part of the Jewish traditions to keep, but the majority of Messianic Believers observe the elements that are biblical and which remind them of the history of Israel and God’s election, redemption and final hope for his people.[29]
In stark contrast to American Messianic congregations, which utilize these occasions to establish their Jewish religious identity, Israeli Messianic congregations choose to emphasize their differences from traditional synagogue worship. Kvarme observes a
minimalist approach to both Church and Synagogue . . . [with] an extreme congregationalism, a strong fundamentalism, and a rejection of all tradition. . . . [T]hese circles do not show particular concern for expressing Jewish identity within their communal life, which they try to develop according to a New Testament pattern, in the manner of the Plymouth Brethren. . . . At one and the same time these Hebrew Christians are conscious of a Jewish nationality which, on a secular level, is not irrelevant to their faith in Christ, but is not conditioned by it, and are aware that their belonging to Christ binds them to a community, which takes precedence over their nationality.[30]
Pesach (Passover) has a special significance for Messianic Jews, with a focus on Yeshua as the slain Passover lamb.
Messianic Believers celebrate Pesach (Passover) and remember how Israel was redeemed from slavery. But, they will also remember that Jesus interpreted this in light of his own death and resurrection. Many Messianic congregations have written their own Pesach Haggadah (Passover liturgy). Other religious holidays are celebrated too, using the biblical traditions and remembering how Jesus himself celebrated these feasts, often relating them to his own life. Just as Jesus did not do away with the feasts and traditions of Israel, but observed them, Messianic Believers do the same, recognizing that Jesus completed and fulfilled God’s salvation plan.[31]
Passover is traditionally a family celebration rather than a congregational one. Other holidays like Chanukah, Purim, and Shavuot (Pentecost) are observed as part of the Israeli national celebrations.
Messianic Jews in Israel are very conscious of their identities as Israelis. As a nation, it is less than fifty years old and the sense of re-emergent nationhood is still strong. Under the pressure of the constant threat of war and the reality of political terrorism, Israeli Messianic Jews are strongly assertive of their national identity. A recent publication of the Messianic Action Committee illustrates:
. . . Messianic Jews are in no way a threat to the Jewishness of Israeli society. All Messianic Jews maintain as much a Jewish lifestyle as does any average Jew, profess and practice a heartfelt attachment to their own people and are eager supporters of the State of Israel, whatever their political persuasions might be. While the religious authority of the rabbis is rejected by most of us, the important cultural role the rabbis have played in our history [is] recognised and respected. In view of determined attempts on the part of the rabbinically Orthodox to drive a wedge between us and our people, and in spite of the mistreatment often meted out to us by our fellow-Jews, in no way do we wish to dilute our Jewishness or to weaken that of our society. We only insist upon our duty to love, obey and serve God according to our conscience rather than the dictates of the rabbis.
Habad Hassidism has developed a distinct theology in many areas of Jewish life. They have also acclaimed their (now dead) leader, Rabbi Mendel Schneerson, to be the Messiah. They are not looked upon as a threat to the Jewish nature of Israeli society. Messianic Jews and or Jewish Christians are not either and they too should be allowed freedom of their conscience and their religious convictions.[32]
This national Jewish identity is a constant in most of Israeli Messianic congregational life. However, like American Messianic congregations, there are differences between charismatic and non-charismatic Israeli Messianic congregations. Nevertheless, even among charismatic congregations, there is often less of an emphasis on the practice of charismatic sign gifts. The greater emphasis is rather on Yeshua as the Messiah. One charismatic leader told me, “The older I get, the less charismatic I become.”[33] Another leader observed that as an unrespected religious minority, there is little room for spiritual specialization in congregational life. Instead, congregations must focus on the essentials of knowing and walking with Yeshua.
Another significant element in the nature of Israeli congregation fellowship is the large number of recent immigrants in Israeli Messianic congregations. This is first because Israel is a nation of immigrants. Secondly, immigrants are inherently needy, often struggling just to find suitable housing, food, and employment. This makes them a promising audience for Messianic Jews who are conscious of social needs. Immigrants are in a vulnerable position. They usually speak little or no Hebrew, have few contacts in Israel, and often have come from Third World or former Communist Bloc countries. In the case of those immigrating from the former Soviet Union, there is little knowledge or understanding of their Jewish religious or cultural heritage. This makes them prime “targets” for improper influence and persuasion. In recognition of this, the 1977 “Anti-Missionary Law” was passed by Israel’s Knesset to prevent the inducement of conversion by “means,” especially by financial means. In spite of this restrictive legislation, some congregations have doubled in size in the last five years, mostly due to an influx of Russian immigrants who have been successfully incorporated into Messianic life.[34] Recent legal activity centers on an amendment to this law to include the possession of literature that might be used in inducing someone to convert.[35]
Not all the participants in Israeli Messianic life are Jewish. Especially in the major cities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, where there are large international communities, Gentile participation in Messianic Jewish congregations is significant. Many of these Gentiles are representatives of international denominational agencies or members of the diplomatic and business community. Since most of the Messianic congregations in Israel are located in these three cities, this means that most of the congregations have some Gentile participation. Those congregations that speak only Hebrew have fewer Gentile participants.
Overall, there are few sabras involved in Messianic congregations. Most sabras, as well as the mostly secular Israeli population,[36] are not attracted to rabbinic Judaism. Since most Messianic Jews come from a secular background, there is little interest in Torah observance. Fascination with Torah observance is most commonly found among American Messianic Jews who have immigrated to Israel or among those Israelis who are American educated.[37]
I asked Shlomo how all of this works out practically. Stern is a member of his congregation as well as five other “former American Messianic leaders.” Shlomo’s congregation boasts a “synagogal” worship style and claims to be Torah observant. He explained that Torah observance was an intensely personal matter. Some in his congregation would not drive on the Sabbath, although he personally did. Others felt the need to keep kashrut (kosher) dietary laws fastidiously, while others were not as strict.
He told me the story of an Orthodox man who became a believer a few years ago. At first, this man had felt the need to wear the kippah all of the time as had been his custom as an observant Jew. He came to Shlomo and asked him whether this was right. Shlomo counseled him that he should do as his conscience dictated. A few months later the man told Shlomo that he no longer felt that it was necessary to wear the kippah to show his devotion to God, and he stopped wearing it for the first time since childhood.
Even Stern, as an Israeli citizen, is less specific about elements of Torah observance than American Dan Juster.[38] Once again, this seems to be an issue of identity. Israeli Messianic Jews have their Jewish identity as Israelis and there is therefore less motivation to adopt a “Jewish” style in their worship. Neither is there a need for their fellowship to be “Jewish” in order for them to feel that they are participating in Jewish society and community life.
For some Messianic Jews, congregational life must substitute for family life. This may be the family left behind in their home country, or an unsympathetic spouse, parent, or child. I met several “single” adults who found the Messianic congregations to be a place where they could recuperate from unsuccessful relationships. I noticed that, at least in one case, a non-romantic friendship had developed for a single couple in their late forties within the context of a Messianic congregation. Another woman I met in one of the congregations had come to faith through a relative in that congregation after arriving in Israel. To-date her husband has not shown interest in the gospel, so her times in fellowship with other Messianic Jews serve as a surrogate for the spiritual aspects of her marriage relationship.
Marriage is always an important issue for Jews, since it is through marriage that Jewish existence is preserved. For the younger generation, there is a small pool of future marriage prospects. Although some congregations are 50% children, Messianic Judaism is largely a movement of adults.[39] It is illegal to proselytize children without parental permission in Israel. This means that any increase in child participation in the fellowship is dependent on the expansion of the adult married membership. Therefore, the few children who have grown up in Messianic Judaism have found their life partners overseas, and mostly among Gentile Christians.[40] The prospects for the future are not much better. The movement is much too small for good prospects of Messianic intermarriage. Indeed, there is a common parental concern that children will marry outside the Messianic faith and return to Judaism in marriage. By way of contrast, the American Messianic concern is that children will grow up knowing themselves more as Christians and lose track of their Jewish identities. In Israel, there is the additional pressure of the rabbinic and legal position that children born to Gentile mothers are not considered Jewish, regardless of their father’s background. Since national identity is so important for Israeli Messianic Jews, conformance to the rabbinic understanding of Jewishness is an added pressure to marry Jewish.
We have previously noted that many of the Messianic Jewish congregations in Israel have their origins through international denominational agencies. The American Church of Christ has strong ties with Shlomo; the Canadian Assemblies of God is involved in the support of King of Kings Bible College; the Caspari Center is owned by the Norwegian Church Ministry to Israel; and American Southern Baptists have their Baptist Village outside Tel Aviv that is used by Messianic congregations. The Southern Baptists do not directly support any Jewish workers or congregations other than their own agency representatives. Nevertheless, Southern Baptists have encouraged voluntary participation of several of their representatives in Messianic congregations. One has served as a pastor in a Jerusalem Hebrew-speaking congregation. Two others have been elders in congregations in Tel Aviv.
Yakov laments, “All of the Messianic leaders have their support from outside Israel.” There is a general resistance in Israeli congregations to the idea of financial support for their pastors. There is a strong emphasis on “tent-making” in the manner of the Apostle Paul. In the larger congregations, some pastors are supported by foreign denominational agencies and a few of them are quite well off by Israeli standards. Some have their sources in family money or publishing royalties, while others are supported by independent evangelical churches in America and Europe. One leader and his wife are supported through a network of American charismatic churches that have been influenced by his wife’s mother and the Bible school she founded.
In spite of the strong financial connections of Israeli leaders with foreign organizations, Messianic congregations in Israel evidence a healthy independence. Decisions are made congregationally, albeit under the sometimes strong hand of their own leadership. But they are, nevertheless, local decisions. There seems to be little toleration of any type of interference from foreign supporters. It is true that Messianic leaders spend an inordinate amount of time outside Israel relating to their supporters,[41] but I saw no evidence that they are pressured or feel the pressure to conform to their supporters’ wishes. They appear to have successfully convinced foreign Christian supporters that, as Messianic Jews they know what they are doing, and are best supported by a “hands-off” policy by foreigners.
The downside of their independence is that there is a distance from other “Great Commission” evangelistic organizations. This means that Israeli Messianic Jews are not benefiting from lessons already learned by their Gentile brothers and sisters over the last 1,900 years. Unaware of the history of the larger body of Messiah, they are repeating some of the same errors.
Several Messianic leaders expressed a concern that, as leaders, they often tend to have too strong a hand in leadership. They feel that this spiritual prominence in the lives of their members impacts the effectiveness of discipleship, the subject of our next section.
Discipleship
I was impressed by the confidence and apparent spiritual strength of the Messianic Jews I met. This may be attributed to effective discipleship training in the face of the pressures of Israeli life. Yakov told me,
Life here in Israel is very hectic. There is a new crisis every week. This makes life for the believer very intense. In this “pressure cooker” believers must either grow up quickly or perish.
Israelis work six days a week, taking off only from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Most are early risers, arriving at their businesses as early as 6:00 a.m. Israeli traffic is treacherous, making commuting and shopping fraught with tension. Israelis are notoriously rude in public, and it is rare to encounter a smiling face. There is the constant specter of war and terrorism in the midst of political turmoil. The unceasing debate among Jews concerning religious observance, immigration, and Palestinian rights makes the atmosphere tense.
Although 80% of Israelis are secular in their orientation, all Israelis feel the impact of religious conflicts concerning Sabbath observance, Jewish identity, and relations with their Palestinian neighbors. Messianic Jews are caught in the middle of all of this and receive little sympathy from others. There is a persistent pressure from employers, family members, and governmental officials for Messianic Jews to abandon their own distinctiveness and align themselves with one or another of the competing factions. Congregations have been picketed, stoned, had their meetings disrupted, their Bibles confiscated, and their livelihoods threatened. Messianic Jews are regularly ostracized from their families, often denounced as cult members, and subjected to bureaucratic intimidation.[42]
Messianic Jewish pastors see the urgent need for religious education that will equip congregational members to cope with the stresses of life in Israel. Pastor Noam Hendren explains:
This has been one of the great challenges—that we have been dealing with baby believers with no faith framework in their family at all. That has meant that stage one discipleship is helping that person come from minus ten and work toward zero. We have had to deal with dysfunctional families and value systems which are totally different from a biblical value system. A good number of those in the congregation came to faith through the congregation or through some evangelistic outreach, but they came as new believers. Discipleship has meant laying the foundation for them of what it means to be a believer in Yeshua.[43]
This discipleship training is mostly done in the context of Shabbat sermons and series taught at midweek meetings. Hendren is conscious that discipleship “is not just always the content [of teaching], but it is modeling an approach to life in the Lord.” His approach is to draw truth from the scriptures and “let it speak to our lives.” This perspective that “we can trust the Word and it speaks to our lives is the fundamental of discipleship.” He continues,
I am frequently talking about process rather than just product when I am speaking or teaching. Last Shabbat I mentioned that there is a repetition of certain phrases in the Song of Moses which [provides a framework for it.] I want people to look for those [sic] kind of clues.
Hendren has done a series of teachings on the biblical covenants as found in the Tanakh (Old Testament) to demonstrate the inherent Jewishness of faith in Yeshua. For him, Jewishness does not come from the incorporation of Jewish religious traditions:
Our ultimate Jewishness comes from the fact that this [New Covenant] is an essential part of God’s program for the Jewish people. He is the one who determines who a Jew is. The New Testament is understood as in continuity with the Old Testament. We really emphasize Jewish identity from a biblical perspective. But, there is also a dual citizenship of Jew and Gentile in the church (kehilah). We teach these kinds of things in our midweek studies.
Messianic congregational leaders supplement their teaching with materials available through evangelical Christian distributors. Much of the material found in Avery Willis’ Masterlife discipleship series and Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God has been translated into Hebrew. Though designed in the Christian West, when translated into Hebrew these materials are still effective for Israeli Messianic Jews. Noam Hendren remarks, “Hebrew improves many of these study materials. Many of the terms that are very harsh in English, when translated into Hebrew, lose their emotional valence.” Baruch Maoz’s Ha Gefen publications are widely disseminated and utilized in Messianic congregations.
Most Messianic congregational leaders spend much of their time in personal visits for the instruction of new believers. There is a recognized need for training others to minister to the needs of the congregation. Hendren relates,
I have also worked just individually with people. There are so many needs, the big challenge has been to have people who could work with me in Hebrew. We have just had to do what we could do in groups. But in the last couple of years, there have been those who are developing in their leadership and teaching skills who have been able to help me. I have been meeting with them personally to work with them so that they will be able to teach others. We don’t translate on Shabbat, but we do realize that immigrants need to get some input. These new leaders conduct separate meetings for non-Hebrew speakers. These meet once a week because these people cannot benefit from the Hebrew service while their language is so weak. So we run these in parallel with our regular meetings.
These alternate occasions provide further opportunities for contact and fellowship. It is here, in times of organized as well as spontaneous fellowship, that much of discipling is effected. Relational discipling, believer to believer and life to life, is a common means of instruction. Discipleship takes place, then, through fellowship.[44]
More structured facilities for discipleship training exist through the periodic camps and seminars organized jointly between Messianic congregations. The Caspari Center for Judaic Studies and Biblical Research in Jerusalem and the United Christian Council in Israel publish Mishkan, a quarterly journal that treats Messianic issues, drawing articles from Israeli Messianic leaders as well as from Messianic and Christian scholars. Louis Goldberg of Moody Bible Institute offered a series of Bible study courses during summers for many years. Both Westminster Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary have made periodic course offerings.[45] On the local level, King of Kings College, run by Israeli Messianic Jews, is offering basic Bible courses at both its Tel Aviv and Jerusalem campuses. Shlomo has begun a Messianic Midrasha (Bible college) that is attempting to develop a Messianic Jewish halachah (way of walking) to substitute for that of the rabbis:
Our ministry does Bible instruction and research with a research institute. We are studying the New Testament in light of its first century Jewish background in rabbinic literature. We approach these rabbinic materials critically. One of our projects is to write a rabbinical commentary on the New Testament. The first volume is at publishers. We are trying to put Paul and his epistles, specifically Romans, back into the first century context, looking at the Jewish literature and the halachic literature of the period, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls. We have started a project of a Messianic Jewish Midrashah, a college, I guess you would say night school, for the education of the local believers. This project is about two years old. We have over ten students each semester. This is taught only in Hebrew without translation.
However, it is difficult for most Messianic Jews to take advantage of these course offerings. The reason for this is the intensity of daily life in Israel. Aside from the hectic six-day workweek, and the cost of living that strains the Israeli budget, there is the annual interruption of military service for many. It has been suggested that a modular and itinerant Bible training curriculum be developed that could be made available in various cities on Sabbaths. Such an approach would permit greater participation and would allow students to continue in their own congregations where they could get ministry experience.[46] Hendren noted that there were some in his congregation who were ready for systematic Bible training:
A number of those who have been involved in leading our language fellowships, could benefit from a seminary-like curriculum. It would be especially good for them if they can continue to be involved in the work while they study. Currently, we get together once a week Sunday morning early before work. We go over what they will be teaching in the fellowship, any problems or questions that have or may come up. This helps them to develop as teachers and learn what it means to be in ministry.
One of these fellowship leaders,
had an infiltrator from an anti missionary organization. He had to confront the person. He had to deal with it on his own. I was only able to advise since the whole event transpired in the Russian language. That kind of thing is the bottom line. You have to start them on this level where they are involved. Another thing that I did was to start to meet with most of the men in the congregation because we were going to be away for a few months. I said, “Look, you guys are going to have to do the work. So let’s talk about what is necessary and what ministry is all about and let us divide up responsibilities and handle it.” Things went very well. The hard thing was that when I got back, they said, “Oh good, we get a break.” And they just dumped it back on me. This was an opportunity for people to get some experience, see how they function for themselves. We could not have done this two years before when they were all babes.
Except for Hendren, Maoz, Shlomo, and a few others, most Israeli Messianic pastors have not had any ministerial training or systematic biblical instruction. Therefore, they are ill-equipped to provide any type of serious discipleship training for those in their congregations. Despite this disability, Israeli Messianic Jews evidence a vitality and courage of conviction that one rarely encounters in the West. Yakov explained it this way:
As I said, living in Israel is intense. If you become a believer in Yeshua, you had better be for real or you will not last. There are few weak or nominal Jewish believers in Israel. The pressure makes you strong.
The critical issue for the future of Messianic Jewish congregations in Israel will be the development of leadership. Most of the Messianic congregations have known only one leader. Conflict among leaders has led to the start of new congregations. So far, none of those congregations has outlasted its founding leadership. A hopeful sign is the development of new leadership taking place in Shlomo’s, Maoz’s, and Hendren’s congregations. Each of these is expanding their outreach to start new fellowships under leaders who have been raised up from their congregations. In January, the Hebrew speaking Narkiss Street congregation that had been under the leadership of a Baptist missionary for 14 years, called an Israeli as their new pastor. Developments like these bode well for the future of Messianic Jewish congregations in Israel as they continue to grow in number as a result of successful Jewish evangelism.
Evangelism
A question I asked on every interview in Israel was, “What is working in evangelism?” My goal was to determine what, if any, methods, techniques, programs, or approaches are effective in convincing Israelis to believe in the gospel and affiliate with Messianic Jewish congregations. One of the first answers I heard was from a Baptist representative, Mark Davis, who has had measurable success in evangelism over the last six years.[47] His answer was, “Nothing works here!” He was expressing a common frustration for many who have moved to Israel with the hope of evangelizing the Jewish people. In contrast to Davis’ experience, one Messianic Jewish pastor told me about the evangelistic success that he had experienced in his own congregation:
In our own situation, one of primary reasons for establishing the congregation which is just seven years old now, was to provide a biblically based culturally focused congregation in the Tel Aviv area. There was a lot of evangelism going on at the time. But there weren’t congregations in the Tel Aviv area that were biblically based not just experientially based. We wanted to reach out to Israeli Jews, Tel Aviv types who are basically secular, mildly traditional, and Hebrew speaking. We wanted to provide a framework where new believers could be built up and there would be an ongoing outreach that would be a focus of the congregation.[48]
What this congregation discovered was that Israelis like to be around other Israelis. They like being in a situation they feel that is for them, and not some sort of imported model that they are being asked to join:
A lot of it was them seeing one another. It is Israelis drawing Israelis. The more Israeli the congregation is, the more comfortable Israelis will feel. It is also that, generally speaking, the Jewish people are community oriented. It is not just, “What is this faith content—do I believe it or not?” but “Who are you people, and what do you do when you get together?” By providing a culturally sensitive and focused environment on Shabbat, when unbelievers come to visit our congregation, they see a living Jewish Israeli community, a loving community. People always comment, “You people really like each other, really seem to enjoy each other.”[49]
Israeli Messianic congregations have a strong sense of community that helps to overcome psychological barriers to faith. Israeli Jews are concerned about the personal cost that is incurred in adopting Messianic faith, thinking, “I am going to lose if I move into this faith. What am I going to gain? Who is going to support me in it?” An Israeli pastor explained:
One of the key factors for us has been having people who are gifted in evangelism, people who make contact with people and bring them to our worship services. The key thing in successful evangelism is making contacts. We have had contact through relatives, friendships, or even street evangelism. But, in the congregation, we found that the community was the key factor. We felt that we needed what McGavran called a culturally “homogeneous unit” of North Tel Aviv Israelis. We didn’t feel that this targeted approach was immoral, because there were other congregations that could pick up the slack for the expatriate community and other immigrant language groups. Our goal is to disciple Israelis, to equip them so they can evangelize their own community.
As the congregation has grown, enthusiasm for congregational life and evangelism,
. . . began to take on a life of its own where people were joining and everyone was very excited. There were family connections. We did a wedding for a couple that met in the congregation. His cousin came to the wedding and she said, “You guys have something.” She came to know the Lord and more of that family has come to know the Lord. Now her husband has come to faith. A couple with a big family here has had a number of people coming to the meetings and many of them are coming to faith. One time the whole congregation went to visit a mother who was religious and would not travel on the Shabbat. This had a great impact on her. She saw that we were not some sort of cult, but were a real group of loving people.
One of the problems faced in Israel is that many view Messianic Jews as some sort of aberrant religious cult. Noam Hendren explains:
It is kind of like the States in the seventies. About ten years ago there was very little recognition of Messianic Jews. In the mid eighties the National Evangelism Committee was put together as a cooperative effort of the Hebrew-speaking elders’ fellowship. This committee started in 1984. We did some open air preaching, rented planes pulling signs, and took out newspaper ads to raise the awareness that Jews can and do believe in Yeshua. These things were similar to what Jews for Jesus did in the early seventies in the States. In Israel, we are dealing with a lot more ignorance concerning the essentials of the gospel. Even Jewish people in the States are exposed to Christmas and Easter. Here there is much less exposure. There is a basic ignorance of the basic facts of the life of Jesus.
Hendren published a book in Hebrew treating the life of Yeshua in a Gospel-style format, but addressing questions that Israelis would be thinking as they read. We have already noted Baruch Maoz’s Ha Gefen publications and David Stern’s Jewish New Testament. Ari Sorko Ram, an American-born Israeli congregational leader, is currently publishing a series of pamphlets on gospel-related themes. In 1996 his ministry served as the inquiry address for a mailing to over one million Israeli households. This unsolicited mailing, initiated by American Pentecostal evangelist Morris Cerrullo, caused a storm of controversy. In an attempt to stop the spread of evangelistic literature, as said earlier, a law has been proposed that would make the possession or distribution of evangelistic literature illegal[JW1] .[50]
For some new immigrants, their first exposure to the claims of Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah comes in an immigrant absorption center. Immigrants spend anywhere from six weeks to six months in these centers as they learn Hebrew, seek permanent accommodation and employment, and otherwise adjust to Israeli life. Several of the present members of Messianic congregations were already believers when they left their home countries. In the process of immigration (aliyah), they entered absorption centers. Once in an Israeli absorption center, they found many opportunities to share their faith.[51] We have already noted how Reuven and Roz found opportunity for gospel witness through music in the centers. Daniel and Sarah had their first contact with the gospel through a Russian Messianic Jew whom they met in one of these centers. Especially among those immigrants who are disconnected from rabbinic Judaism, exposure to the gospel in absorption centers has been effective. Russians and other former Communist Bloc immigrants are accustomed to a normative atheism in their home countries. They have little, if any, understanding of their Jewish heritage from a rabbinic point of view. Likewise, Ethiopian Jews, who trace their lineage to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, have little history with rabbinic traditions. Successful evangelism among these peoples has doubled the membership of some Messianic congregations.[52]
This evangelistic success among new immigrants has led to the accusation that Messianic Jews are “marginal misfits,” people who cannot find their way in Israeli society.[53] Hendren explains that contact with Israelis must be made in a way that participation in a Messianic congregation is neither seen as “joining a cult” nor as something for only marginal people:
Somehow the contact must be made and they must see that this is not some sort of cult. Community is important and also content. The various things that are going on evangelistically address those things differently. Most of the campaigns are just name recognition, but can also reinforce the cult identity. If it just starts there, you will get only the people who are really marginal, which tends to be anyway the people who come to faith. Because there is so much to lose in this society by becoming a believer, it is the people who have little to lose who are more open to making that step at this point. And I think that is true in a lot of resistant societies.[54]
What Hendren and others have done to overcome this perception of cult and marginality is to organize home-based Bible studies. These studies approach the Old Testament understanding of the relationship between God and the Jewish people. Attention is focused on the Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic and New Covenants (Jer 31), with reference to prophetic passages that treat the coming of the Messiah.
We did a long-term inductive Bible series entirely on the Tanakh with everything about Yeshua without mentioning his name. . . . These types of study series have a better chance to reach out to unbelieving Jews. The people who came were all educated. . . . What happened in . . . [one] case was that years after having been exposed to the Bible’s teachings concerning Messiah [in this type of study], this woman found a Gospel tract in her deceased father’s possessions. This was the indication that she needed that it must be okay to believe in Yeshua. She called up a friend and said, “I am ready to believe.”[55]
Joan Hendren adds:
Jews need a sign. You can go all through all kinds of evangelistic effort, and that is good, but for a lot of people they have to have some sort of experience that says, “This is God.”[56]
Aside from the advertising campaigns carried out in the 1980s, there have been other cooperative efforts among Messianic congregations. One such cooperative venture is a coffeehouse and bookshop in a busy section of downtown Tel Aviv. This location has served as the venue for street witnessing campaigns and tract distribution, as well as musical and dramatic presentations. Ari Sorko Ram narrates one such encounter he had:
There were three bums lying on the sidewalk near the coffeehouse one evening. I went up and just asked them how they were doing. I asked one if we could chat. “Tell me your story. I want to hear your life story. How did you end up sleeping on the street?” For forty-five minutes, he told me a terrible story of being born in Israel, now fifty years old, unable to read or write, no job or family, and no hope. I said, “I can’t help you; however, I can pray.” He didn’t mind that since I had just listened to him for forty-five minutes. I had not talked about Yeshua yet. I prayed that God would reveal Himself in such a way that he would know that not only did God exist, but that he was important to Him. “He knows you are here and He wants your attention.” I prayed that way and left.
A few weeks later, I was setting up for a musical evangelistic event near the coffee shop. My wife, Shira, was speaking with a neatly dressed man who said, “Your husband is a man of God.” It turns out it was the bum! He told me that two days after we had met, someone had come to him from the city [government] and told him that his name was on a list that the city wanted to help. They gave him a stipend, apartment, and a job. He was learning to read and write. He recognized that God had answered my prayer. I asked him if he wanted to know what God wanted from him and how to know God personally. He said that he did. I set up a meeting with him at Dugit (the coffeehouse), and when he showed up the two other bums were with him, now all cleaned up. He said, “I couldn’t keep the story to myself, so I told them, and the exact same thing happened to them.” I still had not preached the gospel. Within two weeks, they were all saved.[57]
Ari may have sensationalized this account a bit, but it is consistent with his philosophy:
I believe that evangelism is first finding people with needs, then bringing the kingdom of heaven to touch those needs. Once they have experienced some of the kingdom, they will be glad to meet the King. We feel that some of the most effective evangelism is being quiet for a while and listening to someone else instead of telling everyone what you know before you know who you are talking to.
During my visits to Israeli Messianic congregations, I met people who had come to faith through a variety of means. One middle-aged man had been handed a tract on a busy street. After reading it, his curiosity led him to the Shabbat meeting of the congregation whose address was stamped on the back of the tract. After attending for several months, he became a believer. Another spoke of having first heard the gospel from a coworker. Several had become believers while serving in the Army, and a number had developed friendships with Messianic Jews while doing their university studies. One congregation is currently experimenting with placing ads in Russian language publications. They have had a number of inquiries as a result.[58]
It seems that contrary to Mark Davis’ comment that “nothing works” evangelistically, that anything and everything works in Israel. The key is the full engagement of Messianic Jews in every aspect of life. Messianic Jews are in the military, industry, business, the arts, agriculture, medicine, manufacturing, the service industry, and even the Synagogue and the Knesset.[59] One pastor confirms this success:
In the seven years that we have been a congregation, we have immersed 30-40 people who came to faith in or through the congregation. We see baptism as a first step in faith. A number of children have also been baptized. We did a couple of baptismal services at the beach. Sometimes we go to Galilee on a bus for baptisms. Often times it draws a crowd. Evangelism goes on right on the spot.[60]
Conclusion
The Messianic Jewish congregational movement in Israel is not yet a mature movement, but something about it is working. In the last thirty years, the number of Messianic Jews involved in congregational life has increased from a handful of about 200 to as many as 6,000.[61] What is it that makes this expression of Messianic Judaism successful in fellowship, discipleship, and evangelism? Why is it that Israeli congregations evidence life and spontaneous growth? What is it about them that makes for congregational success? What lessons can be gleaned from their religious history? How does the Israeli experience compare and contrast with that of Messianic Jewish congregations in North America. These and other questions will be the focus of our concluding chapter.
Notes
[1] Some of the participants expressed concern that information and identities delineated here could impact both the lives of Jewish believers and their Messianic congregations in the tense Israeli context, as well as reveal elements of Messianic Jewish evangelistic technique that would be compromised if it were public knowledge. Other participants assured me that they would be happy for their comments to be published. Even in such a circumstance some comments were directly critical of others both in America and Israel. In the light of this and the concern for confidentiality I have created titles and pseudonyms for each of the participants, though the participants themselves and many of those familiar with Messianic congregational life in Israel will be able to easily surmise their true identities. The quoted material found here and background information that was provided “on the record,” unless otherwise noted, comes from these same interviews and those cited in the bibliography.
[2] Zvi, Messianic Jewish pastor, interview by author, February 1997, Israel.
[3] Yakov, interview by author, January 1997, Israel.
[4] Son of Yakov, interview by author, February 1997, Israel.
[5] Reuven and Roz, interview by author, January 1997, Israel.
[6] Making aliyah (ascent) is the term used to refer to immigration to Israel by Jews under the Law of Return.
[7] Shlomo, Messianic pastor, interview by author, January 1997, Israel.
[8] Others in Israel whom I interviewed disputed the accuracy of Shlomo’s assertions of financial and doctrinal independence. Nevertheless, this accurately portrays his passion for an indigenous expression of Jewish faith in Yeshua.
[9] Natan, interview by author, January 1997, Israel.
[10] Daniel and Sarah, interview by author, January 1997, Israel.
[11] Baruch Maoz, Messianic pastor, interview by author, 3 February 1997, Rishion LeTsion, Israel.
[12] Bodil Skjøtt, Caspari Center for Judaic Studies and Biblical Research, interview by author, 31 January 1997, Jerusalem.
[13] Leon Meier, unpublished study, Caspari Center for Judaic Studies and Biblical Research, Jerusalem, 1996.
[14] As an example, Beit Asaf Congregation in Netanya has purchased a home in a residential area that has been converted into a meeting center with rooms for congregational worship and children’s classes.
[15] Bodil Skjøtt, interview.
[16] Leon Meier, survey.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Zvi, interview.
[19] Baruch Maoz, interview.
[20] Baruch Maoz told me that he felt that the elders’ fellowship had lost some its purpose of late, and so he had stopped participating in its leadership. Baruch Maoz, interview.
But the recent attempt to pass a law that would “render illegal the possession, production, reproduction, importation and distribution of literature or information that may serve to persuade another to change his religious views or affiliations,” revived the fellowship of elders and expanded it into the Messianic Action Committee. Pastors and denominational leaders from Messianic congregations, Arab congregations, and mission organizations have banded together to fight this legislation spiritually, legally, and in the court of international opinion. When a decisive leader was needed for the Messianic Action Committee, Maoz responded to the call of the other leaders and assumed the Chair of the organization. David Smith, to author, Tel Aviv, Israel, 20 March 1997.
[21] Carol Harris-Shapiro points out that Messianic congregations fit the definition of a social movement as:
a group of people who are organized for, ideologically motivated by, and committed to a purpose which implements some form of personal or social change; who are actively engaged in the recruitment of others; and whose influence is spreading in opposition to the established order within which it originated.
Carol Harris-Shapiro, “Syncretism or Struggle: The Case of Messianic Judaism” (Ph.D. diss., Temple University, 1992), 42.
[22] Baruch Maoz cites three recent examples of discrimination against Messianic Jews in Israel:
Two thousand children in Israel do not receive National Insurance nor National Health Insurance because they are “of questionable Jewish lineage” (ominously familiar to those who remember recent European history). A couple from Jerusalem that immigrated to Israel in the mid 1980’s has had their passports withheld until they sign a statement to the effect that they have no connections with Messianic or evangelical organizations. Andrei Milesh, who completed his basic training with honours and was assigned to a crack unit of the Israeli army, has been removed from his unit because “it was discovered that he converted to [some form of] Christianity”–as if to say that Christians are second class citizens who are not to be trusted in battle-worthy units of the army.
Baruch Maoz, Rishon LeTsion, Israel, to author, 11 April 1997.
[23] Kvarme notes that “a Jewish millenarianism is expressed through mention of the rebirth of Zion according to the word of God, and the establishment of the messianic kingdom on earth.” Ole Chr. M. Kvarme, “The Development of Hebrew Christianity: Credal and Ecclesiological Questions—The Problem of Contextualization,” in Per Østerbye, The Church in Israel (Lund, Sweden: C.W.K. Gleerup, 1970), 326.
[24] David Loden, Bo’i Ruach, Beit Asaph Productions, Jerusalem, 1988.
[25] Whether this is the result of an Israeli predilection for simplicity or the fact that few congregations have their own buildings is unclear. A number of Messianic leaders told me they had no desire for such accoutrements. Neither was there interest in possessing a Torah scroll, the wearing of kippah or tallit, nor the incorporation of synagogal archecture like the bimah (raised platform or pulpit) or mechitzah (partition that divides men from women).
[26] Name suppressed, Messianic pastor, interview by author, January 1997, Israel.
[27] The example cited here is the practice of a Tel Aviv congregation that I visited. Their custom is to “welcome the Sabbath” one Friday a month.
[28] Kvarme, “Development of Hebrew Christianity,” 327.
[29] Bodil Skjøtt, “Messianic Believers in Israel and their Messiah,” in The Death of the Messiah, ed. Kai Kjær-Hansen (Baltimore: Lederer Publications, 1994),116.
[30] Kvarme, “Development of Hebrew Christianity,” 329.
[31] Skjøtt, “Messianic Believers in Israel,” 116.
[32] Baruch Maoz, “Report 11–Anti-Christian Legislation,” Rishion LeTsion, Israel, 31 March 1997.
[33] Reuven, interview.
[34] David Smith, Baptist representative in Israel, interview by author, 17 June 1996, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.
[35] Baruch Maoz, Noam Hendren, and Marvin Kramer, Tel Aviv, Israel, to author, 10 March 1997. The authors provided this translation of proposed amendment (174C) to the Penal Law 5757-1996.
Prohibition of inducement for religious conversion 174C: A) Whoever possesses contrary to the law or prints or reproduces or disseminates or distributes or imports tracts or publicizes things in which there is an inducement to religious conversion is punishable by–one year imprisonment. B) Any tract or publication in which there is inducement to religious conversion will be confiscated.
[36] Most estimates are that as much as 80% of the population is secular in orientation.
Jewish society in Israel today is comprised of observant and nonobservant Jews, running a spectrum from the anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox to those who regard themselves as secular. However, any attempt to describe the dichotomy between them is not clear-cut. If Orthodoxy is determined by the degree of adherence to Jewish religious laws and practices, then 20 percent of the population fulfills all religious precepts, 60 percent follow some combination of the laws according to personal wishes and ethnic traditions, and 20 percent is essentially non-observant. Other indicators of Orthodoxy might be the percentage of parents choosing to give their children a religiously-oriented education (nearly 30 percent) or the percentage of voters who cast their ballot for religious political parties in national elections (10-15 percent). The accuracy of such measurements, however, is uncertain, as nonobservant parents may enroll their children in religious schools and many Orthodox citizens vote for non-religious political parties.
In general, the majority of Israel’s Jewish society is comprised of secular Jews who manifest a liberal way of life, with varied degrees of respect for and practice of religious precepts.
Israel Information Center, Facts About Israel: Society (Jerusalem: Hamakor Press, 1994), 8.
[37] One of the preeminent advocates of Torah observance is David Stern. A former professor of Economics at UCLA, Stern made aliyah in 1979. His Messianic Jewish Manifesto (Jerusalem: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1988), is a passionate appeal for a return to a Jewish lifestyle including Torah observance. A more recent publication by American immigrants Ariel (Rick) Berkowitz and D’vorah Berkowitz, Torah Rediscovered: Challenging Centuries of Misinterpretation and Neglect (Lakewood, CO: First Fruits of Zion, 1996), is a more popular approach to the subject. In a section extolling the value of Mosaic female menstruation regulations, D’vorah Berkowitz makes the incredible assertion:
The women of the redeemed community have many wonderful callings and gifts that serve the whole community. One very special calling is that which happens to those of menstruating ages. In Vayikra (Leviticus) 15:19-24, God gives very descriptive instructions about the menstruating process. . . . All of the instructions given in Torah about this seven-day period form a vital monthly teaching reminder. . . . She is called by God to live a very special teaching reminder of a crucially important truth within the redeemed community. (46)
[38] See David H. Stern, Messianic Jewish Manifesto (Jerusalem: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1988, 1991), and Daniel Juster, Jewish Roots: A Foundation of Biblical Theology for Messianic Judaism (Rockville, MD: DAVAR Publishing Co., 1986).
[39] Shlomo told me that only about 50% of the children of Messianic Jews remain in the faith at maturity. Even one of his own children has abandoned a faithful lifestyle in favor of secular Israeli life. B.Z. Sobel noted in his study of Israeli and American Messianic Jews that “the children of Hebrew Christians inevitably opt for the Christian rather than the Hebrew element of their parents’ faith.” B.Z. Sobel, Hebrew Christianity: The Thirteenth Tribe (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1974), 309.
[40] I met one young man who had grown up in a Messianic family in Jerusalem. After serving in the Israeli Army, he traveled to the United States to attend a Bible college. While he was there, he met a Gentile Christian. The two married and have returned to Israel to live and minister as members of a Messianic congregation.
[41] The itinerary of one Israeli pastor kept him in Europe and America for four months out of the last twelve. Another actually took more than a year in America to reorganize and restructure his supporting apparatus. When I visited with him in February 1997, his wife was on a several-month American visit to continue raising support for their ministry.
Some observers are encouraged by the recent developments concerning finances for defending Messianic Jews from persecution: “We are delighted to be able to report that 1/3 of the contributions received so far for our struggle came from congregations and organisations in Israel.” Baruch Maoz, Rishon LeTsion, Israel, “Anti-Freedom Bill-Report No. 14,” 11 April 1997.
[42] Messianic Jews are normally denied citizenship and the right to immigrate to Israel as “converts” to another religion. For a history of this struggle, see David H. Stern, “Court Cases and the Struggle for Aliyah,” in Jewish Identity and Faith in Jesus, ed. Kai Kjær-Hansen (Jerusalem: Caspari Center, 1996), 87-96.
[43] Noam Hendren, Messianic pastor, interview by author, 27 January 1997, Kfar Saba, Israel.
[44] Daniel and Sarah, interview.
[45] Skjøtt, interview.
[46] Both Noam Hendren and Baruch Maoz spoke of this as a possible solution, particularly for the development of the next generation of congregational leaders.
[47] Mark Davis, Baptist representative in Israel, 29 January 1997, Tel Aviv, Israel. As a personal evangelist, Davis estimates that between thirty and forty Israelis have come to faith in Yeshua through his efforts.
[48] Name supressed, Israeli Messianic pastor, January 1997, Israel.
[49] Name supressed, Israeli Messianic pastor, January 1997, Israel. Sociologist Rodney Stark suggests that movement to a new religious community has less to do with “faith content” and more with human relationships. “For the fact is that typically people do not seek a faith; they encounter one through their ties to other people who already accept this faith.” Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 56.
[50] See page 144, note 35.
[51] A number of Israeli Messianic Jews consistently appeal to American Messianic Jews to make aliyah for the purpose of evangelism. Stern, “Court Cases and the Struggle for Aliyah,” 93-95. This same position was taken during interviews by Baruch Maoz, Yosi Shulam, and Ari Sorko Ram.
[52] Raymond Gannon, “An Update on Israeli Russian Ministry,” Mishkan 23, no. 2 (1995): 56-59. I visited a Messianic congregation located near an absorption center. One third of its members were Russian and there were many Ethiopians.
[53] Ariella Halperin, former resident of Jerusalem, interview by author, 14 June 1996, Louisville, Kentucky. Sobel interviewed several Israeli Messianic Jews in the early seventies. His conclusion was that “Hebrew-Christians tend to be essentially marginal people who suffer from a long list of defeats and frustrations. . . .” Sobel, Hebrew Christianity, 9.
[54] Noam Hendren, interview.
[55] Noam Hendren, interview.
[56] Joan Hendren, interview by author, 27 January 1997, Tel Aviv, Israel.
[57] Ari Sorko Ram, Messianic congregational leader, interview by author, 30 January 1997, Tel Aviv, Israel.
[58] Maoz, interview.
[59] Several sources confirmed two cases in which practicing Orthodox rabbis have become secret believers, as well as a number of members of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament).
[60] Noam Hendren, interview.
[61] Maoz, interview. This reflects an annual growth rate of 12%.