EDITORIAL
When Death Enriches Life
When Evelyn Liberman, Hospice of
Southeastern Michigan's director of vol-
unteer services, speaks to Jewish groups,
she often finds herself in the position of
starting from scratch, teaching the basic
concepts of Hospice.
Hospice, where terminally ill people of
all creeds can be cared for and taught to
live lives of dignity before dying at home, is
a new word for many Jews.
This week's Close-up, beginning on Page
24, indicates that Hospice is a "Jewish"
way to live and die. There is even a Na-
tional Institute of Jewish Hospice, a data
base and counseling center based in
California, that is spreading the word to
such a degree that Jews of all denomina-
tions are looking into their local hospices
for help.
Ms. Liberman has said that Hospice is a
concept so right for humanity that Jews
should include themselves. While there are
no real numbers, she said that more and
more Jews are learning and taking part in
Hospice.
United Jewish Charities and the Jewish
Family Service have announced this week
the creation of a $250,000 endowment fund
by Jerry and Eileen Bielfield for support of
hospice care for Jewish hospice patients.
The word is spreading. •
Hospice not only controls the patient's
pain, but it also gives the patient and fami-
ly someone to lean on. Sometimes leaning
means two or three hours a day of home
care so that a caregiving family member
can sleep. Sometimes leaning is bereave-
ment counseling after a patient's death.
Hospice professionals talk about the need
for closure, a need to settle all disputes a
dying person might have with family
members or friends. The Jewish commun-
ity is so blessed with a thriving, living
community. We know how to rally well for
Israel. We know how to take care of our
new Americans. We educate our young, br-
ing families together and take care of our
old. To borrow the word "closure," from the
Hospice, now we need to do a better job of
helping our dying to live, to complete their
lives.
If that sounds confusing, please under-
stand that terminally ill people aren't
automatically comatose and bedridden
For many, there is on-going day-to-day life.
To admit that the curative is no longer in
their plans is an act of courage none of us
who haven't lived through it can really
understand.
Through Hospice, we help Jews still con-
tribute to their families and to the Jewish
community. We help them maintain their
dignity. They respond by enriching the rest
of us, so that we may go on.
How many have been told to remember a
person as they lived, not as they died.
Hospice of Southeastern Michigan makes
the end of living something to hold onto as
well.
"Messianic Jews" are not
Jews with a capital "J."
However Jews may think of
themselves in 1991 America,
they would most likely all
agree on one point: They
aren't Christian. Isn't it true
that Jews today, by definition,
do not believe that Jesus
Christ is God? If you believe
that Jesus Christ is God, you
are a Christian, not a "Jew."
Transliterations like
"yeshua" are, to my mind, dis-
ingenuous. It says to me that
they want to have feet in both
camps. I've heard their
rationalizations, i.e. Jews for
Jesus, etc. They want to claim
the same status as first cen-
tury believers, who were
Jewish. This is misleading.
They were Jewish up until
the point they accepted Jesus
of Nazareth as the Lord God,
God's anointed, the promised
Messiah, whose crucifixion
was the atonement, necessary
for justification. Those Jews
who rejected Jesus' divinity
did not stop being Jews. They
became and are still today
what constitutes world Jewry.
Those who accepted Christ
are the ones who changed, or
were changed. Their faith
changed, and so did their
destiny. It was inevitable that
profound distinctions should .
arise between Jews and those
who followed Jesus and
believed him to be God. They
became Christians.
If I, as a Christian, want to
believe that a Jew can retain
his Jewishness and still
believe in the Trinity, that is
my belief as a Christian, not
as a Jew. Would these mes-
sianics consider themselves
Christian Jews? I don't think
so. Jew becomes the noun, it
becomes their primary iden-
tity, at the expense of their
faith in Christ.
No, I believe they see
themselves as Jewish Chris-
tians. However, I have never
read or heard anywhere that
any Jewish body will accept
as legitimate, the concept of
the "Jewish Christian." It is
the prerogative of the Jewish
community to make that
determination, not Chris-
tians of Jewish descent.
I can be sympathetic to
those former Jews who con-
vert, who find it emotionally
satisfying to maintain their
•J,..
former cultural habits. This is
natural. Every ethnic group
has the duty to maintain
their roots and distinctives,
provided they aren't immoral.
So too of Christians of Jewish
descent. But in taking the
course they are, they give the
misleading impression that a
Jewish Christian is someone
who is Jewish but merely
happens to believe that Jesus
or "Yeshua" is the promised
Messiah; it's not that simple.
In suggesting this, they do
dishonor to the teachings of
Christ, in many ways. A
whole host of critical doc-
trines inevitably become
trivialized.
Unlike other gentiles, most
Jewish Christians encoun-
ter traumatic and heart-
rending strife, since they are
almost always accused of
betraying their former faith.
As a relative once told me,
"When a gentile becomes a
Christian, he was nothing
and now he's at least
something. But when a Jew
becomes a Christian, he was
something, and now he's gone
backwards."
It would be more honest for
messianics to promote
HOME!
11
LETTERS
themselves as Christians of
Jewish descent, who have a
unique and more comfortable
way of expressing their par-
ticular status and place in the
history of redemption. But
they don't, and for that
reason, and others, I cannot
support what they're doing on
this issue. Christians, "new
creatures in Christ . . . where
all things are made new,"
should not pretend they're
someone else.
Name Withheld
Messianic
Exception
LETTERS
Jewish Christians
Or Christian Jews?
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adapted this new-found
religion to their pagan prac-
tices. Some went so far as to
name a Christian holy day
after a pagan deity. And so it
remains as Easter.
Jesus did not do what the
Messiah will do. Some say
he'll return to finish the job.
But this is also against what
the Bible tells us — once the
Messiah comes there will be
everlasting peace. Unless
we've all been misinformed,
the world still awaits this end
to war and bloodshed .. .
David Kulling
Ann Arbor
As a Messianic believer, I
take exception to Rabbi
Singer's reference to Jesus as
a "happy pill" and an "im-
aginary friend" and to the
belief in Jesus as the Messiah
as "fantasy information" (Ju-
ly 5, "No Longer on the
Fringe"). His condescending
comments imply that those
with faith in Jesus are
detached from reality. This
suggestion is insulting to all
believers in Jesus, among
whom are people of excep-
tional wisdom as well as the
very simple ..
Sarah Galiley
Royal Oak
Jesus And
The Messiah
I would like to add some-
thing to your July 5 Close-up
"No Longer On The Fringe."
Many false Messiahs have
come and gone. Jesus wasn't
the first nor the most popular.
Sixteen-hundred years ago,
powerful pagan rulers
adopted and modified what
they claimed Jesus taught
and called themselves Chris-
tians. The Jewishness of
Christianity was lost forever
to these powerful pagans who
Beth Achim,
B'nai Moshe
"Beth Achim, B'nai Moshe
Boards Approve Merger" —
What a surprise to see that as
the cover story on the July 5
issue of The Jewish News,
especially to those of us who
are members at Beth Achim.
Only days before, a letter
from our president arrived in
the mail stating that a possi-
ble merger was being discuss-
ed between the boards.
Nothing had been finalized.
The letter indicated that all
the issues were tentative and
would be discussed at a
membership meeting in
August. It said, "Prior to the
membership vote, you will be
provided copies of the merger
document for your review."
Eight highlights were at-
tached to appease our
understandable curiosity as
to what big changes might be
in store for us. One can cer-
tainly imagine what a shock
it was for the Beth Achim
membership to learn so much
more in the July 5 cover story
than the few tidbits tossed at
us in the letter. In fact,
anyone reading the July 5 ar-
Continued on Page 10