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12
December 6 • 2018
jn
letters
continued from page 5
self recognizes.
Rabbi Miller gave voice to the wide-
spread outrage of the Jewish world
in reaction to the political rally in
question. Along with many Messianic
Jewish leaders, I also objected to the
insensitivity that this action demon-
strated at such a painful moment for
the Jewish world. While we believe that
our form of Jewish faith is a legitimate
expression of contemporary Jewish
experience, we know this is not cur-
rently how it is regarded by the other
streams of American Judaism. Given
that fact, it was offensive to the sen-
sibilities of much of the Jewish world
for a Messianic Jew to be presented
as a “rabbi” and a leader of the Jewish
community.
Nevertheless, I must object to
the way Rabbi Miller describes
Messianic Judaism. He characterizes
our movement as a monolithic group
whose “mission is to convert Jews to
Christianity.” That statement ignores
the diversity of Messianic Judaism
and is as accurate as asserting that the
mission of Judaism is to rebuild the
Jerusalem temple. It reflects the views
of some, but not all.
Moreover, can the complex religion
identified by the term “Christianity” be
reduced to “accepting Jesus as Lord?”
And can the richness of Jewish com-
munal identification be nullified mere-
ly by such acceptance without further
examination of the life lived by those
Jews seeking to follow this Galilean
rabbi?
On most matters, Jewish thought
leaders insist on nuance and atten-
tiveness to concrete realities. When it
comes to Messianic Judaism, however,
it is common to rely on crude gen-
eralizations and outdated narratives.
My hope is that Rabbi Miller, along
with other Jewish leaders, would show
to our movement the same respect I
showed to Judaism as a whole in my
course at MSU and study the sub-
ject more carefully before providing
authoritative assessments regarding its
nature and validity.
— Dr. Mark S. Kinzer
Ann Arbor
Unconvincing Analysis
Michael Koplow wasn’t very con-
vincing in his analysis of what a
Democratic House means for Israel
(Nov. 15, page 6). He insists that
Ilhan Omar, who lied to Jewish con-
stituents about her support for BDS,
should be of no concern because of
her low status as a newly elected rep-
resentative. Koplow doesn’t consider
her influence years from now when
her status rises, and she allies herself
with other anti-Israel democrats like
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie
Sanders, Democratic Vice Chairman
Keith Ellison and Michigan’s own
Rashida Tlaib, who wrapped herself
in a Palestinian flag to celebrate her
victory. He also forgot about the
Democrats who have ties to Louis
Farrakhan, certainly no friend to
Israel.
Koplow neglected to mention
that according to a recent Pew poll,
a scant 27 percent of Democrats
sympathize with Israel, which makes
Israel, one of our greatest allies, a
partisan issue.
To further draw our attention
away from an increasingly anti-Israel
House, Koplow brings up Democrats
Andrew Gillum and Beto O’Rourke,
neither of whom was a candidate in
House races. Because his analysis is
so weak, Koplow sinks to Trump-
bashing and making broad attacks on
the Trump agenda. Love Trump or
hate him, his policies have nothing
to do with House Democrats’ stand
on Israel. And I do have to question
Koplow’s assertion that “the Trump
approach,” which included moving
our embassy to Jerusalem and cut-
ting funds to Palestinian kleptocrats
and the Israel haters of UNESCO, is
hurting Israel.
Rather than presenting a serious,
non-biased analysis in an effort to
find the truth, Koplow has depended
on minimum information and max-
imum distortion and misdirection
to provide cover for congressional
Israel haters. Somehow, according
to Koplow, a president who shows
strong support for Israel and is con-
demned by Israel haters for working
too closely with Netanyahu should be
more worrisome than Congressional
Democrats who support the
Palestinian cause. That’s just silly.
— Harry Onickel
Ferndale