‘Messianic Jews’ attacked in Israel while US evangelicals twiddle thumbs

Your semi-regular Sunday religious commentary here. Messianic Jews (why not avoid your own quasi-hypocrisy and call yourself Jewish Christians, or just Christians) number about 10,000 in Israel, and many Jews just don’t like them.

A bombing and a church used by Jewish Christians (my blog, and my terminology prevails) are the most serious manifestations of the enmity.

Part of the problem is the Jewish Christians, which include the oft-strident Jews for Jesus, proselytize in Israel, considered a big no-no. Even the Mormons don’t do that.

And, the fact that these people were once Jewish by faith adds to the problem:

“Historically the core of Christianity ... was ‘convert or die,’ so it was seen and is still seen as an assault on Jewish existence itself,” said Rabbi David Rosen, who oversees interfaith affairs for the American Jewish Committee. “When you are called to join another religion, you are being called on to betray your people.”

And, here’s how one Jewish religious leader in Israel feels about that:

Rabbi Sholom Dov Lifschitz, head of the ultra-Orthodox Yad Leahim organization that campaigns against missionary activity in Israel, says Messianic Jews give him “great pain. They are provoking ... it’s a miracle that worse things don’t happen,” he said.

To add to the “fun,” these folks are proselytizing Muslims as well as Jews.

Now, the hypocrisy of the Religious Right here in the U.S. of A. is manifold.

The government of Israel isn’t criticized for cracking down on Jewish terrorism. The Christian Jews aren’t defended, let alone held up as the pre-Rapture “final ingathering” first fruits, as you think non-hypocritical pre-millennialists would do. The Bush Administration isn’t pressured to make foreign aid to Israel conditional on stopping these attacks.