SWU choice of venue prompts controversy

By Donald H. Harrison

Donald H. Harrison
Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO – Swirling beneath the planned May 4 appearance of Pastor Dumisani Washington, a leading African-American advocate for the State of Israel is controversy over the relationship between the Jewish community and the Christians who seek to convert us.  Washington’s appearance, sponsored by the pro-Israel organization StandWithUs, is scheduled May 4 in  Rancho San Diego at the Skyline Church.

No one accuses Washington of wanting to convert Jews, but Skyline Church, a mega-church at which he will be speaking, includes the Tree of Life Messianic Jewish Congregation, part of a Christian movement that tells Jews that they can believe in Jesus as their savior and still be Jews.

The executive director of StandWithUs, Roz Rothstein, told San Diego Jewish World that her organization “does not partner on events directly with Messianic Congregations. Sometimes, however, the Christian partners we work with (because they love and honor Israel), may have their own association with members of a Messianic Congregation. In this particular case, we are holding an event (with a Christian Pastor) at a Christian church that wants to educate its congregation about Israel, and which also happens to have their own affiliation with a Messianic group, unrelated to the work of StandWithUs.”

Rothstein’s use of the word “directly” may give the impression that the relationship  between the Skyline Church and the Tree of Life Messianic Jewish Congregation is that of two separate entities.  However, according to a report on the Wesleyan website, the Tree of Life Messianic Jewish Congregation is not simply a congregation renting space from Skyline Church; it is an integral part of the church, with its “rabbi” on the staff of the Skyline Church. Dated July 22, 2014, an article by Ron McLung reads:

On July 19, 2014, the Tree of Life Messianic Jewish congregation became one with Skyline Church, a Wesleyan congregation in La Mesa, California, a suburb of San Diego. Rabbi Joel Liberman and his wife Darcie lead the Saturday morning Messianic Jewish service. ‘He leads the Saturday people,’ said Dr. Jim Garlow, Skyline’s senior pastor, ‘as I lead the Sunday people.’”  The fourth floor of Skyline’s Family Center is converted – on Saturdays – to a Jewish ‘temple’ for worship. Dr. Garlow sees in this new venture a fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer for oneness (Jew and Gentile) in John 17. The unique relationship of Skyline-Tree of Life goes beyond a group of Messianic Jews renting space from a Christian church, a practice that occurs frequently. Rather, Dr. Garlow observed, ‘The Jewish leaders and scholars do not know of another church that has done this – on a weekly basis – and with the rabbi on the staff.’

The Skyline Church is now located on Campo Road in Rancho San Diego.

Pastor Jim Garlow, the senior pastor of Skyline Church, says the Tree of Life Messianic Jewish Congregation should not be of concern to the Jewish community   at the May 4 meeting. When Washington speaks, he said, there will be absolutely no attempt to convert Jews.

The focus of the event, according to Garlow, will be the united support in both the Jewish and Christian communities for Israel.  As a regional leader of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), Garlow is an important voice in the evangelical Christian community for Israel.  Additionally, his wife, Rosemary Schindler Garlow, is well known internationally for leading many Christian tours to Israel.

While Skyline Church may be a great and well appreciated source of support for Israel, its amalgamation with the Tree of Life Messianic Jewish Congregation sends ripples of concern through the organized American Jewish community.

Explains Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal, spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue and a past president of the San Diego Rabbinical Association (SDRA):

“I have attended CUFI events in the past. At least at the events I have attended there has been absolutely no proselytizing or suggestions that Jews need to believe in Jesus to be saved.

“However, I would not be comfortable attending such an event that is co-sponsored by a church that has a “messianic congregation” as part of its ministry. Messianic congregations present to the world a false claim of Jewishness. They are actually Christian which is why this one is housed in a church. I find their claim of Jewish authenticity deceitful and offensive, and would be offended by any church that houses them.”

Rabbi Aliza Berk, the current president of the San Diego Rabbinical Association, says that she agrees with the position taken by the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) that organizations are deceptive which claim one can be Jewish and a believer in the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Adopted in 1985, the resolution of the Central Conference of American Rabbis – an arm of the Reform Judaism movement – reads:

The Jewish community is concerned about ongoing deceptive efforts to proselytize Jews. We recognize the constitutional right of religious groups to practice their faiths and to share their beliefs with others, but we condemn the deceptive practices employed by certain Christian missionary groups in their zeal to win converts.

Of paramount concern to the Jewish community is the claim of certain Christian missionary groups that they legitimately represent Jewish tradition. So-called “Jews for Jesus,” “Messianic Jews,” “Hebrew Christians, ” and other such groups, in claiming to be part of the Jewish community, make four misleading claims:

1) They misrepresent themselves as another branch of Judaism alongside the Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist branches.

2)Some of their leaders misrepresent themselves as duly ordained “rabbis.” 3) They deceptively call their places of worship “synagogues.”” And 4) they misquote and misinterpret traditional Jewish sources to support their beliefs.

The accepted bodies of Judaism, while differing on points of theology and practice, unanimously agree that belief in Jesus as God, the Messiah, Savior, or the Son of God is Christian doctrine, which is wholly apart from Jewish tradition and theology. Therefore, any movement that professes such belief cannot be considered a part of Judaism and cannot legitimately represent itself as such.

The use of these deceptive practices that distort Judaism in order to convert Jews is a moral issue of great concern, not only to the Jewish community, but to society at large. We call upon our congregations and organizations to publish this stand in their newsletters and temple bulletins. We call upon our colleagues to share this statement with leaders and friends in the Christian communities. We call upon all fair-minded Americans to condemn deception in the name of religion and not to support or sponsor such organizations.

For many years, Jewish organizations have declined to co-sponsor or cooperate with organizations that go under such names as Hebrew Christians, Messianic Jews, or Jews for Jesus, or even those with no such names but which appear to engage in proselytizing.  For example, in 2002, the United Jewish Federation of San Diego County declined to co-sponsor a speech in San Diego by then Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert because the sponsor was the openly evangelical Mission Valley Christian Fellowship led by Pastor Leo Giovinetti. The then mayor of Jerusalem subsequently spoke to a San Diego audience with only a sprinkling of Jews in attendance.

Numerous Jewish organizations rent booths and are co-sponsors with the Jewish Federation of San Diego at annual Israel Independence Day celebrations, but the Jewish Federation does not similarly invite the Messianic Jewish congregations to participate.

While the Jewish Federation has no religious tests when it comes to individual membership, according to the Federation’s CEO Michael Sonduck. Rabbi Rosenthal said similarly no religious tests are applied to people who want to pray as individuals in his congregation, so long as no attempts are made at proselytizing.

The scheduled May 4 speaker, Pastor Dumisani Washington, visited San Diego in 2014.  In an interview during that visit with San Diego Jewish World, he said that in speeches to African-Americans about Israel, he likes to emphasize three points:

First, that Israel is a multi-ethnic country.  While his fellow African-Americans may be most familiar with Jews of European origin (The Ashkenazim), other Jews have migrated to Israel from North Africa and the Middle East, from Ethiopia, India, and China.

Second, Israel has been a good friend of sub-Saharan African states since Ghana gained its independence in 1957.  It has shared its technology and has provided educational opportunities to the students of various African countries, among them Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria.

Third, Jews and Israel have the concept of “tikkun olam” which is similar to Rev.Martin Luther King Jr.’s  concept of social justice, which he said should “flow like a mighty stream.”

In a February 2014 interview with San Diego Jewish World, five months before the amalgamation of Skyline Church with the Tree of Life Messianic Jewish Congregation, Rosemary Schindler Garlow acknowledged that many in the Jewish community are suspicious that Christian Evangelicals may have a conversionary agenda underlying their support for Israel.  “My job is to convert the Christians, not the Jews,” she asserted.  Christian theologians who say that Christianity replaced Judaism are “totally wrong,” she said.  Such a concept is “evil and has led even to the Holocaust; Hitler used the quotes of church leaders to this very end.”

She added: “We are not to convert.  I do not believe in proselytization and always when I would have a gathering I would state at the beginning, ‘this meeting is non-conversionary.  This meeting is not about converting anyone but coming and supporting Jewish people.’ I am a Christian. I don’t deny my testimony in the fact that it was through Jesus that I came to have my faith, but Christians United for Israel is non-conversionary. Also; it is a solidarity organization in support of Israel.  Because our (Christian) words brought such evil we really have no right to say anything. If we want to share our faith, we need to do it through action and that is by doing good deeds and supporting Jewish causes and letting actions speak louder than words.”

Nevertheless, the Tree of Life Messianic Congregation argues on its website that being Christian and Jewish is not a contradiction:

To some, the concept of a Jew believing in Yeshua seems to be a contradiction. The reason is, many people have a dichotomy set up in their minds. On the one hand, you have Jews and Judaism and on the other hand, Christians and Christianity. You are either one or the other…..so the thinking goes.

But this simple dichotomy is in reality not so simple. If we go back 2,000 years, historically, we find that Yeshua was a Jew living in a Jewish land among Jewish people. All of His followers were Jewish as well as the writers of the B’rit Chadasha (New Covenant) and for many years this faith in Yeshua was strictly a Jewish one. …

Through the years, as the numbers of Gentile believers increased, they began to predominate in this Messianic Jewish faith. With the passing on of the Jewish s’chlichim (apostles) and the early Messianic Jews, the Jewish roots of the faith were eventually lost. This “De-Judaizing” process continued until one of the greatest paradoxes in history; it became alien for a Jewish person to believe in Yeshua as his Messiah.

Given the back and forth over Messianic Jewish organizations, scheduling Dumisani Washington’s speech at the Skyline Church raises the question: Does this help or hurt the effort to unite Christians and Jews in support of Israel?  On the one hand,  the Garlows clearly are dedicated supporters of Israel via the Christians United for Israel, and their efforts to rally other Christians are important to the Jewish State.  On the other hand, Skyline Church’s amalgamation with a Messianic Jewish congregation raises suspicions in the organized Jewish community whether that church has ulterior motives which may be inimical to Jews in the United States.

Here are some links to articles referred to in this story:
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https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2014/02/14/mega-church-emphasizes-love-scripture-israel/

https://www.wesleyan.org/2377/skyline-incorporates-messianic-jewish-congregation

https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2014/10/23/black-churches-whence-israels-help-may-come/

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com.  Comments intended for publication in the space below must be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the U.S.)

 

7 thoughts on “SWU choice of venue prompts controversy”

  1. A few years back, at another CUFI event in San Diego, Dennis Prager was the keynote speaker. He raised that issue (which seems to be as hard to kill as a zombie). After pointing out that there was no evidence of any attempt to convert Jews by any CUFI member, he concluded by asking “even if someone was to try to convert you, what’s the worse that could happen? Just say no! End of story.” He was right. Why all the fuss?

    The real question that needs to be asked here is whether Israel and the Jewish people in general have so many friends in this world that they can afford to reject an entire movement (CUFI) that is a steadfast supporter of Israel just because an offshoot group that is anathema to the Jewish community is associated to a local church. It boggles the mind. If despite all the evidence there are still members of the Jewish community who don’t trust CUFI, that’s their right, but to damage this amazing relationship based on the rejection of a tiny splinter group made of Jews claiming to be Christians (or Christians pretending to be Jews) is an astonshing display of overkill. I have met Pastor Dumisani Washington myself on several occasions and each time I was very impressed with the man. He is one of the most articulate and fearless defender of Israel. I saw him completely demolish (with kindness) the specious arguments we all know proferred by aggressive and antagonistic Muslim students. He is a sight to behold, and anyone depriving themselves of the privilege of hearing him are losing sight of what is really important here.

    Finally, to boycott this event, if it comes to that, is also to besmirch the steadfast efforts of StandWithUs, which is pretty much the only group actively working at countering pro-Palestinian efforts on campus while at the same time building bridges with Israel-friendly churches.

    It would seem that the Palestinians are not the only ones with a talent for shooting themselves in the foot. If – as I hope – you don’t belong to that crowd, I’ll see you at the Skyline Church on May 4th.
    –J.J. Surbeck, San Diego

  2. Shalom Don,

    As Publisher and author of this article, thank you for bringing light to Messianic Judaism in our local San Diego Jewish community!

    We at Tree of Life Messianic Jewish congregation have been standing ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with the rest of our landsmen in San Diego for nearly 30 years in what truly unites us (a defensible Israel, etc…). StandWithUs is a wonderful organization which is bringing unity to the Jewish community on these issues and we stand with them at this critical juncture among our people. It baffles me what the controversy really is about as I read your article. Feel free to contact me in the future for a first-hand quote of who we are, what we believe, and our positions as it relates to actively supporting Israel and our people who live there.

    My parents lived in Israel for 9 years. My brother, his wife and their children have lived and worked in Israel for decades in high-tech and investment advising firms, etc… There is more than unites us than divides us.

    Chag Pesach Sameach,

    Joel Liberman, Messianic Rabbi
    Tree of Life Messianic Jewish Congregation
    http://www.treeoflifeca.org

  3. Dumisani Washington and Pastor Jim Garlow both belong to Christians United for Israel (CUFI). I know from personal experience that both Dumisani and Pastor Garlow are incredible supporters of Israel and they have never tried to convert me or tell me that I am unfulfilled. Moreover, CUFI and other Evangelical pro-Israel groups are today among the Jews’ and Israel’s best friends in the world — and they are not working to convert us. If Evangelicals turn against Israel the way many “liberal churches” have, that would be a sad day for Israel and the Jewish people. Anyone that cares about Israel and the Jewish people should never take this relationship for granted and we certainly need to work with and cherish our good friends, people like Dumisani Washington and Pastor Garlow.

    While I personally am no fan of “Jews for Jesus,” and find their claim that you can be a “Jew” and also believe that Jesus was and is the Messiah to be inconsistent (to put it mildly) with my personal beliefs; I also happen to believe that Jews for Jesus pose a very small risk to Jewish survival in America. My view is that Jews in America should be much more concerned about Jews against Zionism, Jews who belong to JVP, Jews in Code Pink, and the many American Jews who don’t even know the basics of Jewish history (such as that those Jews who don’t even know that we Jews were regularly persecuted in most Arab countries way before there was a modern state of Israel), than we need to be concerned about “Jews for Jesus.” Jewish kids on American college campuses are not being alienated from Judaism, the Jewish people, and from Israel by “Jews for Jesus;” and they are certainly not being alienated from Judaism or Israel by churches like the Skyline Church. They are, however, often being driven from a love of Israel and “Am Yisrael” by very secular, far-left professors and the corresponding NGO’s in college who often teach them disdain (and even hate) for “organized religion,” and certainly disdain (and often hate) for Zionism and for Israel.

    My view is that this is the risk to the Jewish people we should be focusing on and that we cannot afford to take for granted, let alone alienate the good friends we do have in the Christian community. And if some of them (or even most of them) believe that I would be saved if I accepted Jesus as my savior, I am OK with that. It is their right to believe that, and it is certainly (from what I understand as a Jew) consistent with Christian theology. However, as long as Christians like Pastor Garlow and Dumisani Washington support Israel as a free, independent, and democratic Jewish state and stand with us against those that seek to demonize and de-legitimize Israel, and also stand with us against those that seek to hold Israel to a double standard solely because it is a Jewish state, then I for one, welcome and cherish their support and their friendship.

    — Micha Danzig, San Diego

  4. I am proud to have been one of the community members involved in helping launch Stand With Us. It has grown to be one of the best organizations advocating for Israel.

    That being said, it is true that Israel needs all the friends it can get, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore or push aside the very real concerns the Jewish community and Jewish parents have when we witness messianic groups deceptively enticing our children, and coercively manipulating then to accept Christianity out of fear of going to hell.

    For brevity sake, I will cite only one example beyond the numerous mistranslated bible passages. Calling yourself a “rabbi” and simultaneously renouncing rabbinical Judaism is not only hypocritical but contradicts Matthew 23:8 when Jesus said; “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi’.”

    Christian leaders should understand that in addition to loving Israel they should respect our beliefs as a legitimate path to God. Any association with messianic or Jews for Jesus groups sends a message that deception is acceptable, and Judaism in incomplete. This viewpoint is extremely disrespectful and painful for those who cherish the ancient heritage of our ancestors. For more detailed information please visit JewsForJudaism.org.

    Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz, Jews for Judaism, Los Angeles

  5. I have to say that reading this is a bit mind blowing. Why would the Jewish community want to boycott this event based on Jews who believe in Yeshua and love Israel? Do you boycott or alienate friends because they vote differently than you do? Because they like green and you don’t?

    In these times of increased anti-Semitism and a pro Palestinian loving media (feeding the nation with twisted propaganda), and a president and United Nations constantly condemning Israel, it makes no common sense at all that the Jewish community would want to shun their supporters because they have a different belief on who the Messiah is. We as Messianic Jews face the same anti-Semitism as any other Jew, and at the same time are shunned by our own blood brothers. Our belief does not change the blood inside us, or who our ancestors were. It’s obvious that Joel Liberman (and Deborah Kline for that matter) are Jewish names regardless of what belief we have. There are Jewish Buddhists, Jews that don’t believe in anything, and Bernie Sanders who condemn Israel. How about Jews against Zionism?

    Deborah Kline-Latorno, San Diego

    Even Israel herself is embracing Messianic Jewish organizations with open arms, which help holocaust survivors, send food and supplies to the hungry children, as does one of the organizations that I am on the board with, namely Israel Food Outreach.

    StandWithIsrael is an important and wonderful organization, and we should all stand together as supporters of Israel regardless of what our religious beliefs are. Fear the ones who hate Israel, not the ones who love her.

    Happy Passover!

  6. Rabbi Kravitz,

    We met once a long time ago at a ‘Jews for Judaism’ event at Temple Emanu-El in Del Cerro under the leadership of Rabbi Martin Lawson.

    With all due respect, (and this is not the proper forum to have these types of discussions no doubt), but I’d like to respond to a portion of your post for the readers of this blog/website when you cite Matthew 23:8a when Yeshua said: “But you are not to be called rabbi;” (TLV)

    Here are some thoughts:

    1. There is a difference in culture between the diaspora and Israel. In the diaspora, there is a greater plurality of “Judaism” — Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, etc. There are many different kinds of “rabbis.” In Israel, the term has a much narrower, traditional sense— an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi.

    2. The point of Yeshua saying not to use the term “rabbi” in Matthew 23:8a was not that this particular term was worse than other terms for religious leaders, but that using and emphasizing titles of honor tends to cause pride, which can be both dangerous and hypocritical.

    3. While the word “Rav” (rabbi) does in its origin mean “great one,” it is not essentially different from other terms, such as reverend, minister, father, priest, pastor, apostle, doctor.

    4. There are three positive reasons to use the term “Messianic Rabbi,” which I use. The first is to create the correct historical Jewish cultural context of the New Covenant, which has been altered by 2,000 years of Jewish-Christian polemic.

    5. Secondly, within the context of a Messianic Jewish congregation, there are many congregational functions that the leader must fulfill which are distinctly Jewish, such as presiding at B’rits, Bnai Mitzvot, weddings, holy days, liturgy, funerals, etc. These functions are performed by a rabbi in a traditional synagogue, and therefore the term Messianic rabbi allows the congregational leader to perform them within his congregation.

    6. Thirdly, in the struggle for basic religious freedom, rights of religious expression, and cultural identity, the Messianic Jewish community is a legitimate stream within the greater Jewish community and Israeli nation. Therefore the use of the term is part of establishing that identity and right of social standing.

    7. If the term “Rabbi” is to be used for the above reasons, in order not to cause misunderstanding, it would be important to affix the term “Messianic” (i.e. “Messianic Rabbi”), and not just say “Rabbi,” unless one was ordained with a traditional “s’micha.”

    I think the readers of this blog needed to hear my response since it appears that you were directing your reply specifically to me.

    B’rachot,

    Joel Liberman, Messianic Rabbi
    Tree of Life Messianic Jewish Congregation
    http://www.treeoflifeca.org

  7. Shalom Donald and Rabbi Kravitz,
    I would also, as Rabbi Liberman did, thank you for the exposure to Messianic Judaism in the greater San Diego area. However, like other commenters here I am not Jewish, though I have been practicing Messianic Judaism since 1995. Currently I am a member of Tree of Life Messianic Synagogue and, while not having an official title, I have become an integral part of the congregation helping with digitizing the Liturgy for both Jews and non-Jews to read; assisting in the services during the festivals as a Chazzan and am currently completing my BTh in Messianic Jewish Studies. My point in this is not to build myself up, but to help you understand my position in a clearer light.
    First, I would like to point out that there are two words used in both the article and Rabbi Kravitz’s response which in biblical terminology are quite appropriate, though today have become so torn away from their original meaning that it is no wonder there is such mistrust among main-stream Judaism and the sect known as Messianic Judaism. The first word is proselyte, today it means “a person who has converted from one opinion, religion, or party to another, especially recently” and the first synonym associated with it “Convert.” However, in the Greek translation of the Tanach (the Septuagint) the Rabbi’s only used this term in reference to a Gentile or stranger who dwelt among the Israelites and another term entirely to refer to a “nation” in general. At no point until after the time of Ezra and Nehemiah were Gentiles ever considered Jews (Israelites) even if they were circumcised, based on this “original” definition it would be very difficult for an Israelite to be a Proselyte, I, on the other hand, proudly say I am a Proselyte.
    The other word that causes us problems today is “Convert,” again having the same basic meaning today as proselyte, had a very different interpretation 2000 years ago. The word the King James translators translated as convert appears more than 400 times in the Septuagint, each time it replaces a Hebrew word for “turning,” “repentance,” or “to return.” and in the Brit Chadashah it is mistranslated only 3 times (or 9 times depending on the version your looking at) out of 36. Again, if we, as Gentiles are repenting from the way of the world or Israel is “returning” to a better understanding of God’s Word who would have the greatest change (hint: it would not be the ones who had studied It all or most of their lives)?
    Finally, as Debra Kline-Iantorno pointed out above, there are Jews who believe in Buddha (Idolatry), and there are Jews who are atheists (they deny God completely), yet they are accepted and in some cases even praised as progressive Jews. Messianic Jews and Gentiles follow the biblical calendar, believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David. Follow the teachings of the Rabbi’s (as long as they do not contradict the plain understanding of Torah) and generally try and live a God fearing life as laid out by the one we call Moshiach (Yeshua or Jesus). How is this any different than the Chasidim who have declared Rabbi Schneerson (of Blessed Memory) to be the Moshiach, or any of the seventy plus other Messiah’s that have come and gone over the last 2000 years?
    Thank you for your time and patience with the uneducated Goy, I hope for peaceful dialogue between brothers.
    Joseph Dowell
    Messianic Teacher
    Sheequm.org

    “Abtalyon said: You sages, be heedful of your words, lest you incur the penalty of exile and be exiled to a place of evil waters, and the disciples who come after you drink from it and die” (Avoth 1:11)

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