Jews for Jesus
Jews for Jesus is a non-profit Messianic Jewish Christian organization that proselytizes to Jews. They believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God, unlike Judaism, which views Jesus as a false prophet. Jews for Jesus is not considered a Jewish organization by any Jewish authorities.
History
Jews for Jesus was first founded as Hineni Ministries, led by Moishe Rosen. By 1973, “Jews for Jesus” became the name of the 5013 nonprofit organization.Originally, "Jews for Jesus" was simply one of the organization's several slogans but after the media began to call the group "Jews for Jesus" the organization adopted that name.
Rosen and a small group of like-minded people began conducting community outreach on the streets and college campuses of San Francisco. As the organization grew, it was registered as a 5013. In the following years, branches were established in New York, Chicago, and Boston. In 1978, the Jews for Jesus headquarters relocated to San Francisco, California where it remains to this day. In 1981, the organization expanded internationally. Today, Jews for Jesus has offices in 13 countries and 20 cities around the world.
David Brickner has been the executive director of Jews for Jesus since 1996.
Beliefs
Jews for Jesus claims to have found spiritual harmony between Jewish heritage and the Christian faith.A summary of Jews for Jesus' beliefs:
- The Torah, the Writings, the Prophets, and the New Testament are divinely inspired, without error, and are the final authority in all matters of faith and life.
- Traditional Jewish literature is valued, especially where it is supported by Scripture.
- There is one sovereign God, existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They believe that this concept is rooted in Judaism.
- Mankind was created in the image of God, but due to sin, has been separated from the Creator.
- Jesus is the Messiah and died for the sin of mankind as a substitutionary sacrifice. All who believe in Him have salvation.
- The Church is an elect people in accordance with the New Covenant, both Jews and Gentiles who acknowledge Jesus as Messiah.
- Jesus will return in order to fulfill the Jewish prophecies of the Messianic era.
- After the Messiah’s return, there will be a resurrection of the dead. Those who accept the Messiah will have everlasting communion with God, and those who do not will be eternally separated from Him.
Operations
Once well-known for their distribution of hand-drawn and punny religious tracts, today, Jews for Jesus conducts community engagement through wider means. Examples of their outreach methods include: Jewish holiday events, one-on-one and group Bible studies, service projects, internet evangelism, and multi-purpose spaces such as the Moishe Rosen Center in Tel Aviv and the Upside Down cafe in Los Angeles.
Funding and organization
Jews for Jesus’ income comes primarily from Christian donors. The nonprofit’s annual income breakdown is as follows: 87% individual support, 5% miscellaneous revenue, 5% congregational support, 3% congregational offerings. Their annual expenditures are as follows: 77% outreach, 12% administration, 11% fundraising.According to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, the group's total income in FY 2018 was US$24,767,732 and total assets were $39,596,245.
They are a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and are also members of MissioNexus. Donations are tax deductible. An independent auditing firm, Eckhoff Accountancy, conducts the organization’s annual audit.
Jews for Jesus is governed by international boards of directors in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Israel, and Europe. The CEO, a position currently filled by David Brickner, is advised by an Executive Leadership Team, consisting of seven members.
Opposition and criticism
Jews for Jesus has a contentious relationship with the Jewish community, and their methods have generated a lot of controversy. Jewish authorities, as well as the governing bodies of the State of Israel, hold the view that Messianic Judaism, the religious movement which Jews for Jesus is affiliated with, is not a sect of Judaism but a form of Evangelical Christianity. Additionally, Gentiles who convert to Messianic Judaism are not recognized as Jewish by any Jewish sect.Belief in Jesus as deity, son of God, or even a non-divine Christ/Messiah or prophet, is held as incompatible with Judaism by all Jewish religious movements. In a 2013 Pew Forum study, 60% of American Jews said that belief in Jesus as the Messiah was not "compatible with being Jewish", while 34% found it compatible and 4% did not know.
In 1993 the Task Force on Missionaries and Cults of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York issued a statement which has been endorsed by the four major Jewish denominations: Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism, and Reconstructionist Judaism, as well as national Jewish organizations. Based on this statement, the Spiritual Deception Prevention Project at the JCRCNY stated:
On several occasions leaders of the four major Jewish movements have signed on to joint statements opposing Hebrew-Christian theology and tactics. In part they said: "Though Hebrew Christianity claims to be a form of Judaism, it is not... It deceptively uses the sacred symbols of Jewish observance... as a cover to convert Jews to Christianity, a belief system antithetical to Judaism... Hebrew Christians are in radical conflict with the communal interests and the destiny of the Jewish people. They have crossed an unbridgeable chasm by accepting another religion. Despite this separation, they continue to attempt to convert their former co-religionists."
The director of a counter-missionary group Torah Atlanta, Rabbi Efraim Davidson, stated that "the Jews for Jesus use aggressive proselytizing to target disenfranchised or unaffiliated Jews, Russian immigrants and college students" and that "their techniques are manipulative, deceptive and anti-Semitic."
In an interview for Beliefnet, Orthodox Rabbi Irving Greenberg, the author of For the Sake of Heaven and Earth, said:
Christian
Some Western Christians object to evangelizing Jews because they see Jewish religious practice as valid in and of itself. Some Liberal Protestant denominations that have issued statements criticizing evangelism of Jews include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church USA, which said in 1988 that Jews have their own covenant with God. The Board of Governors of the Long Island Council of Churches opposes proselytizing of Jews, and voiced these sentiments in a statement that "noted with alarm" the "subterfuge and dishonesty" inherent in the "mixing religious symbols in ways which distort their essential meaning", and named Jews for Jesus as one of the three groups about whom such behavior was alleged.In 2003, the sponsorship of Jews for Jesus by All Souls Church, Langham Place, a Conservative Evangelical Church in London, with a launch event on Rosh Hashanah launching a UK mission targeting the Jewish community, led to the Interfaith Alliance UK, a coalition of Jewish, Christian and Islamic religious leaders, issuing a letter of protest to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Other
The Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington includes Muslims, Jews, and liberal church groups. The Conference states that they "support the right of all religions to share their message in the spirit of good will"; however, Rev. Clark Lobenstine has condemned the "proselytizing efforts" of "Jews for Jesus and other messianic Jewish groups". His wording matched the Conference's 1987 "Statement on Proselytism", which makes claims against "groups that have adopted the label of Hebrew Christianity, Messianic Judaism, or Jews for Jesus", so it is unclear which claims are directed at Jews for Jesus in particular.America's Religions. An Educator's Guide to Beliefs and Practices contains " note about Jews for Jesus, Messianic Jews, Hebrew Christians, and similar groups: Jews in these groups who have converted to Christianity but continue to observe various Jewish practices are no longer considered part of the Jewish community in the usual sense".
There are several other organizations that oppose identification of Jews for Jesus as a Jewish group.
Litigation
1987 – Freedom of speech
In Board of Airport Commissioners of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc. the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Jews for Jesus in a free speech case against the Los Angeles International Airport.1998 and 2005–2006 – Online name
Jews for Jesus has been involved in litigation regarding Internet use of its name. In 1998 they successfully sued Steven Brodsky for cybersquatting — registering the domain name jewsforjesus.org for a site criticizing the organization. The domain now belongs to Jews for Jesus and is used for their main site.In 2005 Jews for Jesus sued Google for allowing a Blogspot user to put up a site at the third-level subdomain jewsforjesus.blogspot.com. In September 2006 Christianity Today reported that "Jews for Jesus settled out of court with a critical blogger identified as 'Whistle Blower' on jewsforjesus.blogspot.com. The evangelistic ministry assumed control of the site."
2006 – misuse of Jackie Mason name
In 2006 comedian and actor Jackie Mason filed a lawsuit against Jews for Jesus, alleging that they unlawfully distributed a pamphlet which used his name and likeness in a way that suggested he was a member of the group. In fact, Mason is Jewish and not associated with Jews for Jesus. Jews for Jesus issued a detailed response to the allegation on their website.A judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a preliminary injunction against Jews for Jesus over the pamphlet, finding the distribution of the pamphlet to be protected by the First Amendment, and also stated that the pamphlet did not suggest that Mason was a Christian.
In December 2006, Mason dropped the lawsuit against Jews for Jesus after they issued a letter of apology to him. The group's executive director, David Brickner, stated in the letter to Mason that he wanted "to convey my sincere apologies for any distress that you felt over our tract." Brickner continued that he believed its publication was protected by the Constitution, but the group was willing in the interest of peace and love for Israel to retire the pamphlet. Mason replied in front of the federal court in Manhattan where he accepted the apology, "There's no such thing as a Jew for Jesus. It's like saying a black man is for the KKK. You can't be a table and a chair. You're either a Jew or a Gentile."