CCAR RESPONSA
5761.2
Donations to Synagogue by Messianic Jews
She’elah
Our synagogue suffered a tragic fire. The community, especially the non-Jewish community, has been supportive on many levels. Local churches, some of them evangelical, have contributed to our rebuilding effort. Recently, we received a significant check from the local Messianic Jewish congregation. Do we return it, or do we accept it with gratitude in the same way we have accepted funds from other Christian groups? (Rabbi Daniel Weiner, Harrisburg, PA)
Teshuvah
“Messianic Jews,” along with the Jewish members of such similar groups as “Jews for Jesus,”are apostates (mumarim), Jews who have abandoned Judaism for other religions.1 The religion of the “Messianic Jews” is not a version of Judaism but of fundamentalist Christianity, and it does not cease to be Christian in essence and character merely because it is draped in the Hebrew language and Jewish religious symbolism. The Responsa Committee, basing itself upon Jewish tradition and an evaluation of the challenges that confront our community today, has long advocated that we approach apostates with a policy of strict separation tempered with openness.2 Apostates “should not be accorded membership in the congregation or treated in any way which makes them appear as if they were affiliated with the Jewish community.” They are not permitted to lead communal worship, to address the congregation, to be counted in the minyan, or to receive synagogue honors such as an aliyah to the Torah. This separation is necessary in order to make two points: first, that it is inappropriate for those who have renounced Judaism to participate in our religious and social life as though they remain Jews in good standing; and second, that their decision in no way constitutes a legitimate Jewish religious choice.3 At the same time, “we can not, and should not, exclude these individuals from attendance at services, classes, or any other activity of the community, for we always hold the hope that they will return to Judaism and disassociate themselves from Christianity.”4
How does this policy apply to the issue of gifts by apostates to our synagogues? Jewish law deals in some detail with the question of donations to our religious institutions by those outside of our community. Gentiles, for example, were permitted to donate certain sacrifices to the ancient Temple;5 accordingly, since many of the rules relating to the synagogue are derived from those that governed the Temple,6 the Rabbis determined that it is permissible to accept donations from Gentiles to our synagogues today.7 By contrast, the apostate (mumar) who rejects Judaism was not permitted to donate sacrifices to the Temple,8 for by his actions he had separated himself from the community of Israel.9 R. Moshe Isserles, one of the authors of the Shulchan Arukh, draws the analogy from Temple to synagogue: just as the mumarwas not permitted to donate sacrifices, so we do not accept synagogue donations from apostates.10 This comparison, however, is rejected by Isserles
’ sixteenth-century contemporary R. Moshe Trani, who declares that the prohibition against accepting donations from the mumar applied only to sacrifices and other appurtenances of the Temple and that it is therefore permissible for a synagogue to accept a gift from an apostate.10 Subsequent halachic writers do not clearly resolve this dispute.11 It is not certain, therefore, that the halachah would prohibit the synagogue from receiving this gift.
On the other hand, there is another perspective from which we might consider this question. That perspective is g’neivat daat, the prohibition against deceptive speech and behavior.12 “Messianic Judaism” in its various guises is based upon just such a deception. It promotes the false impression that Christianity is a legitimate form of Judaism; it preaches that a Jew who adopts that religion does not abandon Judaism but rather becomes a “fulfilled” or “completed” Jew through the acceptance of Jesus as Messiah and personal savior. This false message is communicated through the very name of the group as well as through a series of deceptive practices. These congregations conduct their worship services in something of a Jewish style and structure; they celebrate the Jewish holy days; their spiritual leaders are called “rabbis,” and so forth. Such practices make the “Messianic” religion “look Jewish,” thereby blurring the very real distinction between Judaism—in the various forms of religious expression that partake of that experience—and Christianity. This quality of deception, moreover, sharply distinguishes the “Messianic Jews” from other Christian denominations, for while those other churches may seek to preach the Gospel to the Jews, they neither mimic Jewish practices nor present their faith as a form of Judaism. Your acceptance of this donation will be interpreted by many in the community as an acknowledgment of the religious legitimacy of the “Messianic Jewish” movement. This acknowledgment would amount to a reward paid by the Jewish community to a group whose very existence presumes a calculated deception aimed at our people.13 We should not pay them such a reward.
We say this with no feeling of bitterness toward those Jews who have affiliated with “Messianic” congregations. Though they may have found a religious satisfaction in Christianity that for some reason seems to have eluded them in our synagogues, we do not wish to drive them away permanently. On the contrary: they remain our fellow Jews, our brothers and sisters. As we have said, we welcome them to our services and other congregational activities; our doors are always open to their return.14 But our openness to them does not require that we affirm their religious choice, a choice that effaces the lines separating us from Christianity and that defines us as a distinct religious community. We recognize that “Messianic Jews” may sincerely believe that belief in Jesus Christ is compatible with Judaism. Yet from our perspective, a perspective born of and educated through centuries of religious life and experience, that doctrine is a falsehood, for it runs counter to everything we believe and know about the faith and tradition we profess. To present a falsehood as though it is the truth is the essence of deception. And a falsehood is still a falsehood even if those who proclaim it regard it to be true. For these reasons, we think it best that your synagogue refuse, with all due thanks, the donation from the “Messianic Jewish” congregation.
A DISSENT
One member of this Committee disagrees with this decision and is persuaded that the synagogue may accept the donation. In this member’s view, the “Messianic Jewish” congregation should be treated as other Christian evangelizing groups in this regard. The Talmud makes a distinction regarding the intent of gifts from non-Jews.15 Clearly a contribution primarily designed to win legitimacy and potential converts in the Jewish community comes with idolatrous intent and would be forbidden. Since these contributions come in response to a tragic fire (possible arson) in the synagogue, however, it is possible to assume that the “Messianic Jewish” congregation gives, as do the other congregations, to demonstrate broad support for the synagogue among all religious communities in the area. The gift, if offered mipnei darchei shalom, to advance the cause of peace, should be accepted in that spirit. The majority of our Committee believe that the groups known as “Messianic Judaism” should be treated as “apostates” (for such is how they present themselves) rather than as “non-Jews.” We also believe that, given the deceptive nature of their religious program, any contribution from a “Messianic” congregation would be made with the desire “to win legitimacy and potential converts in the Jewish community” and should therefore be rejected.
NOTES
1 It is true that a number of members of “Messianic Jewish” congregations are gentiles, that is, individuals who were not born as Jews but who join these communities because they like the Judaic style of their religious life. We use the word “apostates” to refer to the group in general, because they present themselves as a form of Judaism and because their message is aimed at encouraging apostasy among our people.
2. See the following responsa: Teshuvot for the Nineties (TFN), no. 5754.1, pp. 143–46, and no. 5753.13, pp. 81–85; New American Reform Responsa (NARR), no. 110 and no. 242; Contemporary American Reform Responsa (CARR), no. 66, no. 67, and no. 68; and American Reform Responsa, no. 150.
3. Judaism and Christianity are separate, distinct, and mutually exclusive religions; one cannot simultaneously be Jewish and Christian. See TFN, no. 5755.17, pp. 251–58, and no. 5754.3, pp. 263– 64; CARR, no. 61; NARR, no. 88 and no. 109.
4. CARR, no. 68, at p. 112. On our relationship to returning apostates, see TFN, no. 5754.13, pp. 259– 60 and the sources cited therein.
5. BT M’nachot 73b, on Lev. 22:18; Yad, Maaseh HaKorbanot 3:3.
6. The analogy between Temple and synagogue is commonly based upon the designation of the synagogue as mikdash m’at, “the sanctuary in miniature.” See BT M’gillah 29a, on Ezek. 11:16 (“I have become to [the House of Israel] a mikdash m’at in the countries whither they have gone”).
7. BT Arachin 6a; Yad, Matanot Aniyim 8:8; SA, YD 254:2 (Isserles) and 259:4. See Siftei Kohein, YD 254:4, who makes the explicit connection between donations of sacrifices to the Temple and gifts to synagogues.
8. See BT Chulin 5a. The rule is derived from Lev. 1:2, “one from among you who offers a sacrifice to God . . . ,” suggesting that others “from among you” may not offer sacrifices. The excluded category is the mumar.
9. Isserles’ position is registered in SA, YD 254:2 and OC 154:11. It is apparently based upon a ruling by R. Yaakov Weil (fifteenth-century Germany), Piskei Mahari Weil, no. 67.
10. Resp. Mabit, 1:214. See also Sefer Chasidim, chap. 687: under certain conditions it is permitted to accept donations from a mumar for the writing of a Torah scroll.
11. Two leading commentators to the SA (Siftei Kohein, YD 254:4, and Magen Avraham, OC 154:18) cite both opinions without deciding between them. See as well Aruch HaShulchan, YD 254:4. R. Moshe Schick (nineteenth-century Hungary) suggests that the mumar’s gift might be accepted under two conditions: that we not identify him publicly as a donor (“since it is a contemptible thing” to inscribe his name in the synagogue) and that his gift constitute less than half of the total donations, the rest of which would come from “legitimate” donors. In this way, the mumar’s gift would be “nullified” by the preponderance of other donations (batel barov); see Resp. Maharam Schick, YD, no. 231. Even were we to accept Rabbi Schick’s view in principle (and one can raise serious objections to the theory upon which he bases his ruling), we could not apply it here, since the “Messianic Jewish” congregation would want to be acknowledged as one of the donor churches; indeed, it would be manifestly unfair to accept their money and not to thank them publicly.
12. See BT Chulin 94a; Yad, Dei-ot 2:6 and M’chirah 18:1ff.; and SA, CM 228:6.
13. To offer “aid and comfort” to transgressors is also a transgression, even if one does not commit the prohibited act. See BT N’darim 22a and parallels, and SA, CM 266:1, 356:1, and 358:5.
14. See D’varim Rabbah 2:7: “The gates of repentance are always open.”
15. See the sources cited in notes 5–7.