Messianic Judaism

I have spent every New Years in New Orleans since I was in the fifth grade. Every year all the Jews in the South flock to New Orleans to celebrate; it's become known as Jew Years. It's a great time for all the people from my camp and from my NFTY region (which includes New Orleans) to get together for a reunion. It normally includes well over 100 Jews taking over the French Quarter and sometimes organized Mitzvah Projects the following morning (I mean we have do our part in Tikkun Olam right?)

Last year everything changed. After Hurricane Katrina, we didn't know what was going to happen to Jew Years. None of our Jewish friends had homes to host people, and several of them had moved away. After a long debate (conducted mainly through a facebook group), everyone decided we wanted our lives to be normal despite the storm so Jew Years was going to happen in New Orleans once again.

Call me silly, but one of the first thoughts that went through my head when I realized I would be ringing in the New Year once again on Bourbon Street was, "I hope the crazies are back!" (By "back" I mean that they have returned to the city since the Hurricanes.)

"The Crazies": endearing term given to those eager Christian Evangelists who stand and preach on the corners of Bourbon Street.

I always laugh at the signs that they hold up and the way that they preach; I've been told several times in the French Quarter that I'm going to Hell. And for a lot of great reasons: drinking (my kiddush wine of course), laughing at them, being a Jew, etc...

Flash forward to New Years Eve 2006: I'm walking down Bourbon Street with some friends on our way to meet the rest of the group and that's when I saw the big signs: JESUS SAVES. "Yay! The Crazies are back!" I run to greet them, and then I notice something strange...kippot? Why are these crazies wearing kippot? I decided to find out.

I went and talked to the guys for a while. I told them that my biggest problem with them was the fact that they use the term "Jew" when they are not Jews...they belive in Jesus. To me, this seems like a fundamental difference. They tried to assure me that it wasn't.I don't remember all of what the man said to me, but I do remember one main point that he hit on. I asked him something about taking the Bible literally, then he should keep kosher and all that stuff (which he didn't...which is fine becuase I don't either!). I also told him that he should be making sacrifices like the Bible commands. This opened the door for him to preach "Jesus" to me. He told me that Messianic Jews believe that Jesus was the "ultimate sacrifice" and therefore, there shouldn't be any sacrifices made anymore. I thought that was an interesting way to look at it. I'd pick the Amidah over Jesus any day though.

I have no problem with the beliefs of Messianic Jews; I would just rather that they not call themselves Jews. Their belief system is fine with me; who am I to critique the beliefs of someone else. I only wish they wouldn't label themselves as Jews when there is such a fundamental difference between the two religions.

On a different note, I just waned to make one comment about something I found very interesting on the website for the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America website. The site says, "We recognize that Jewish people (physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, whether through the mother's or the father's blood-line) who place their faith in Israel's Messiah, Yeshua, continue to be Jewish according to the Scriptures (Rom. 2:28-29)." They make sure to refer to the bloodline of Jews. I thought this was very interesting after our discussion in class about whether Judaism is only a belief or if it is a race. This statement leads me to believe that Messianic Jews would consider it to be a race--it's in one's blood. But does this mean that a Christian (in the normative sense of the word) could convert to be a Messianic Jew?