Loren Jacobs delivers his
Sabbath sermon.
regular. At age 35 and
intermarried, she is a new
believer in Jesus. She is a
court reporter and her hus-
band is an attorney. They
own a comfortable home on
Grosse Ile. She grew up in
an unobservant household
in Oak Park, and she added
that her mother, who was
in her house during this
interview, preferred to stay
in the kitchen because of
embarrassment. Indeed,
many Messianic Jews say
that it would have been
easier to tell their families
they were gay than they
had accepted Jesus into
their lives.
"I'm a new creation in
the world," she said, bubbl-
ing over. "I'm from Oak
Park, I attended B'nai
Moshe, but God was never
fed to me in my home. Now
I'm starving for religion.
My parents never really
gave it to me. I don't think
I went to shul all that
much. My religious life
growing up was a zero, a
big fat zero, and I could cry
over that. But now I'm ex-
cited about God, and I want
to proselytize to everyone."
Ms. Vining described
herself as a "yente, a social
butterfly" who gained her
Jewish self-identification
in the West Bloomfield
stores where she shopped.
But when she and her hus-
band, a fundamentalist
Christian, almost divorced,
she "gave" herself over to
Jesus.
"This was not a crutch,"
she said. "This was a last-
ditch effort to become a
total human being. And
now that I know what I
know, my big question is
why don't other Jews
believe like I do?"
Iris Burman wonders
why also. Only Ms. Bur-
man, along with her hus-
band Steve, are more
outspoken in their
criticism of mainline
Judaism and its refusal to
recognize Jesus as the
messiah.
The Burmans' Oak Park
living room is decorated
with scenes from
Jerusalem. Bearded men in
kippot stare down from
their drawings. Their sad
eyes cast an imaginary
shrug and a "Who knew?"
Across the room is a
bookcase with a brass me-
norah and books, including
a Jewish New Testa-
ment, lining the shelves.
Ms. Burman said it is
sometimes hard to be a Jew
who believes in Jesus. It's
hard because she said
Jesus has been "gentiliz-
ed." He has been made into
a gentile messiah, not a
Jewish one.
The Burmans became
"believers" for different
reasons. Mrs. Burman, who
grew up at Temple Emanu-
El, was exposed to Jesus
through a sister. Mr. Bur-
man dated a born-again
Christian and had many
born-again friends.
Originally from London,
Ontario, he said he "knew
too much to turn away
from Jesus."
"When I started learning
about the prophecies and
how they describe Jesus,
my Jewishness came out of
my skin," he said. "It was
as if his spirit talked to me.
I saw an honesty I've never
seen before. I was a Jew
who wasn't raised with
much Judaism. It took
Jesus to make me really
Jewish."
For Mrs. Burman, the
difference between her old
life as a Reform Jew and
her new life as a "believer"
is astounding. She said
that at her synagogue,
Temple Emanu-El, so
much of the word of God
was dead.
"It's like walking from
the light into the dark."
Neither of the Burnians
considered looking, into
traditional sources that
might have disputed the
role of Jesus, especially not
Orthodox sources. Typical-
ly, the complaint of Mes-
sianic Jews who have
received exit counseling is
that when they went to a
pulpit rabbi, the Buimans
knew more about the distinc-
tions between the New and
Old Testaments than the
rabbi.
Mr. Burman said Or-
thodox people are so caught
up in "rules that they've
missed God along the way.
People can be so heavenly-
minded," he said, "they are
no earthly good. They don't
share the light of God."
"Many Jews have a coun-
try club mentality," Mrs.
Burman continued. "They
think that just being born
Jewish is enough. But it's
not enough. Steve and I are
people who love the lord,
Jesus. It just so happens
that we're Jewish."
As director of the New
Jersey office of Jews for
Judaism, Rabbi Tovia
Singer has been exit
counseling Messianic Jews
for about 12 years. Exit
counseling is a chance to
offer the Messianic Jew a
chance to "think and ex-
amine" what he's been ex-
posed to and what Judaism
has to say about it. Rabbi
Singer said it is not sur-
prising that so many Mes-
sianics are well-educated
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