Wednesday, October 1, 1997
Jews for Jesus: Is it really an oxymoran?
International group that preaches a love of Jesus as the Messiah
has elicited curiosity, anger with their paradoxical message
By Trina Enriquez
Daily Bruin Contributor
A woman stands in the middle of Bruin Walk, armed with brightly
colored pamphlets which she thrusts in front of students hurrying
to class. Some refuse to take one, or accept it before throwing it
away. Others read the pamphlet and encounter the ‘oxymoron:’ "Jews
for Jesus."
Representatives of this organization have elicited both
curiosity and animosity on campus.
"Jews for Jesus are hypocrites because Jews don’t believe in
Jesus," said Danielle Bereskin, a third-year psychology student.
"He isn’t any part of our religion. I don’t know about Jews for
Jesus, but they bother me."
Jews for Jesus is both an international organization and grass
roots movement of Jews advocating a love of Jesus as the Messiah.
The scope of the organization goes beyond what people first
perceive.
"Introducing people to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob gives
people hope. It gives them someone to believe in, and it tells them
that they’ve got a future. And the key is Jesus the Messiah," said
Tuvya Zaretsky, director of Jews for Jesus’ Southern California
district. "Without Him, none of that is possible."
Consequently, the organization has angered certain members of
the Jewish community who feel that Jews for Jesus misrepresents
Judaism to Jews and non-Jews alike.
"Every Jewish person feels this is wrong," said Rabbi Mendy
Cunin of Chabad House at UCLA. "Christians come up to me and say,
‘Be up front about who you are.’"
A fundamental belief of Judaism is that the Messiah shall come
when all people everywhere perform deeds of goodness and kindness.
Without this basic concept, Judaism cannot stand.
The name "Jews for Jesus" overturns this precept by advocating a
love for Jesus as the Messiah who has already come. Certain members
of the Jewish community feel this strikes at the foundation of
Judaism, to a certain extent negating the perseverance with which
the Jews endured such persecution as the Crusades and the
Holocaust.
"Jews for Jesus is out to destroy the Jewish people," said Rabbi
Cunin. "In America, they can’t get away with killing us physically,
so they pump millions of dollars into marketing to try to get
Jewish people to convert. They are interested in seeing the
annihilation of the Jewish people."
Jews for Jesus is neither a church nor a spokesman for Judaism.
"Our mission is to make the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable
issue for our own Jewish people," said Tuvya Zaretsky, director of
Jews for Jesus’ Southern California district. "Yet we are also an
information agency, because we don’t speak only to Jewish
people."
Still, many ask, how can a Jew be for Jesus? Organization
members contend that being Jewish is a bloodline, a heritage that
no one can convert any more than he can convert his ethnicity.
"We are born Jews," Zaretsky said. "That is our lineage. That
can never change. Judaism, on the other hand, is a system of
belief, which is not adhered to by all Jews."
According to a 1992 issue of Moment, a Jewish magazine, between
60 and 70 percent of core Jews are unaffiliated and belong to no
synagogue.
"The religion, Judaism, does not define what makes one a Jew,"
Zaretsky said. "Jesus himself was a Jew."
The organization has a number of recognized connections within
the Christian community.
"They’re in kind of a lonely position, alienated from their
great Jewish religion, because they’ve accepted Jesus as the
Messiah," said Father Ted Vierra, director of the University
Catholic Center. "I wouldn’t accuse them of (proselytizing),
because I believe Jesus is the Messiah."
According to Father Vierra, the Roman Catholic church recognizes
the validity of the covenant the Jews have with God.
The Documents of Vatican II, first published in 1966, say, "The
Jews still remain most dear to God because of their fathers, for
God does not repent of the gifts He makes nor the calls He issues.
The Church awaits the day, known to God alone, at which all people
will address the Lord in a single voice and serve Him with one
accord."
Rabbi Cunin stresses the importance of educating people on what
it means to be Jewish. "Learn more about it on the Internet," he
said, "Even here on Bruin Walk." While you’re at it, you just might
bump into that woman handing out those brightly colored
pamphlets.
AARON TOUT / Daily Bruin
Stan Meyer, who has been with Jews for Jesus since 1985, passes
out fliers on Bruin Walk to
students on their way to class.
"It gives them someone to believe in, and … that they’ve got a
future."
Tuvya Zaretsky
Jews for Jesus