Can i convert to messianic judaism

My sense is that the North American MJ movement will be more open to conversion as older leaders retire and a new generation comes up that understands how normative conversion is in the wider Jewish community. Also, we have grown in our relationship with the wider body of Messiah and there is less of a threat of rupture over this issue than there was years ago.

A further position is expressed by Kay Silberling, who argues that Messianic Jewish conversion at present lacks authenticity, so should not take place when the Messianic movement lacks maturity, structure and stability.

It is very likely, then, that conversion will not alleviate the anxiety at all. They may be expecting that, by undergoing conversion, they will join a cohesive group that has a clearly marked identity. Those converts, then, expecting to land on solid, secure ground, may instead find themselves thrust upon the waves of a stormy and blustery sea. While riding those waves may be exhilarating to others, it is not likely to comfort those who are seeking relief from social instability.

Finally, Messianic Jews have yet to gain consensus and to articulate, as a movement, what it is that proselytes are converting from, and, even more importantly, what they are converting to. Despite protestations to the contrary, Messianic Judaism, as it is practiced in many regions of the world today, is not a Judaism.

In many, if not most, cases, it is a judaized form of Protestant Christianity. The world to which many in the movement continue to gaze for their vision, their direction, and their theology is the world of late Twentieth Century Christian revivalism. Rather than practice conversion to Messianic Judaism, Silberling argues,. A more effective strategy would be for Messianic Jews to go about defining themselves in a purposefully ethical manner, without doing so in ways that can harm those who occupy the in-between spaces of their social and theological worlds.

There are other ethical ways to resolve the tensions, such as encouraging conversion to Judaism through other avenues for those extremely rare cases in which the lack of a ceremony poses a singular hardship for individuals or for introducing liturgical practices that more fully enfranchise non-Jews qua non-Jews. Such discussions reflect a variety of interpretive strategies and theological understandings which are representative of the different theological streams within the Messianic movement.

These case studies are given to indicate some of the varying motivations, circumstances and processes followed by those who have undergone some form of conversion with Messianic Judaism. Hannah was raised in a Christian home, with her own personal experience of faith in Jesus as her good shepherd and a constant source of love and caring.

She learned how to celebrate the Passover in a Messianic Jewish context. She asked the Messianic rabbi why they worshiped in this non-Christian way and he replied this was the life style and worship of our Messiah Yeshua.

She found contentment in following this format. Hannah realized that now she was not really Christian any longer and she was not Jewish.

In the s they took part in a conversion ceremony which was a very personal ritual between the most awesome God and his promised Messiah, Yeshua. Since then a large portion of their lives has been involved in pursuit of their congregational goals. Hannah decided to convert after a long period of individual and collective study, much self-reflection, prayer, and honest commitment to the Jewish God and Yeshua as his Messiah.

Her conversion took place under the auspices of the MJRC, as her rabbi belongs to this group and has advocated publicly a conversion process for non-Jews. While conversion is not a significant issue in the life of her congregation it has many implications, with relating to the greater Jewish community, and understanding true identity.

It affects the structure and societal norms of her congregation. Baruch had no connections to Judaism or any other religious upbringing.

His faith in Jesus came in college, where he was immediately fascinated by the Jewishness of Jesus and was struck when he noticed the lack of attention in the church he was in to the Jewishness of his Savior. He met a Jewish Christian in his church and learned all he could from them.

He dropped out of college to visit Israel to learn more, and starting attending a Messianic Jewish congregation, studying Jewish history and culture, in addition to attending his church. He left the Jewish mission agencies and started a Messianic Jewish congregation, affiliating to the UMJC, whose leaders mentored and taught him. He began to pursue rabbinical ordination, without realising that as a Gentile he should not seek to become a rabbi, as at that time it was still possible for a non-Jew to be ordained.

Eventually his mentors asked him what he was doing, and urged him to complete the conversion process through the MJRC, which he was already eager to do. He had already, without realising it, begun living as if he were a Jew for a number of years before converting.

His wife and children joined him in the conversion process. Baruch does not consider conversion as normative or that the involvement of Messianic Gentiles in Messianic Judaism is limited to those who convert. When Chava married Shimon, a Messianic Jew, the couple added a section to their ceremony that welcomed Chava into the Jewish community. This was important to them for the sake of future children so they would have a clear and unambiguous identity as Jews. This has had the effect hoped for, and their children are very clear about their Jewish identity.

The wedding took place as a New Covenant wedding liturgy, with an optional ceremony whereby a non-Jewish bride of a Jewish groom may become a proselyte to Israel following the example of Ruth. Chava understood that as a believer in Yeshua she was already grafted into and the recipient of all the benefits of the covenant which God made with our father Abraham. She had already received the God of Israel through the Messiah Yeshua. Now she chose to join herself in covenant to the people of Israel following the example of Ruth the Moabite.

Sarah—Conversion for all Gentiles Sarah was brought up in a traditional church and at the age of 20 became personally committed to God. She left the church she had been attending and for the next 25 years participated in various evangelical churches. During that time she became increasingly dissatisfied with Christianity and started investigating the Jewish roots of her faith.

After what seemed a long journey of some 10 years, she discovered Messianic Judaism. She joined a Messianic congregation, for several years thinking of herself as a non-Jew practicing Messianic Judaism. As a result of research by the Rabbis in her movement it became clear that the way ahead for those who were not born Jewish was conversion.

In , after completing the course, she went through the mikveh and became a convert to Messianic Judaism. Since her conversion she believes her relationship with God has improved, her prayer life has changed completely and her life is more exciting. The MJRC Conversion Process is a page document detailing the motivations for those seeking conversion, the process of preliminary qualification, application, sponsorship, education, examination and approval, conversion ceremony, with the appropriate educational guidelines and syllabus required for the study program, and the application forms for applicant and sponsor to be completed and submitted to the Beth Din.

The applicant for conversion should see both the written Torah and the oral Torah i. They seek conversion because they now already see themselves as part of the Jewish people, and could not conceive of their individual or family identity apart from their involvement with the Jewish people.

While love for the Torah may be adequate motivation for conversion within Orthodox Judaism, in Messianic Judaism we must be especially concerned that love for Jewish things never be divorced from love of Jewish people.

The MJRC acknowledges that New Testament halakhah includes a general prohibition of conversion to full membership in the Jewish people for followers of Yeshua Galatians ; 1 Corinthians — We believe that this general prohibition is still applicable in the 21st century, and is intended not only to preserve the purity of Yeshua-faith but also to guard the integrity of Jewish communal life.

However, halakhic prohibitions are not universal and unqualified. There are exceptional cases e. The MJRC only sanctions conversion in such exceptional cases. How may one apply for conversion through the MJRC? It is also required that the leadership will recognize the MJRC conversion process in writing.

What about Gentiles who believe they are called for a life-time to live their life with and before the Jewish people. They are committed to live in the context of the Messianic Jewish community and the larger Jewish community for good. This seems to establish a different category of commitment and covenant. What should be done? Some have taken us beyond the above to conversion. I think conversion is a dangerous matter and have written this before. It could be misunderstood by the larger Body of Believers, [and] would be the desire of so many gentiles for the wrong reasons.

It does not seem to be necessary since a special Ruth inclusion would be a part way step that would be adequate. I do understand [the need for] clarifying identity for those with Jewish grandparents who desire to clarify their place as Jews. I would think that for those of us that believe in restoration, that any move to conversion would have to be very carefully done with very strong standards.

Major halakhic direction should come out of the restored apostolic and prophetic leadership in our movement. We are believing for more such leadership to be restored. There needs to be strong prophetic confirmation for such a move. So I leave small open crack in the doorway to conversion.

However, I also note that most gentiles in our midst are just called to be gentiles or to enter Ruth II professions and still identity as Ruth II gentiles where the oneness of Jew and gentile is still reflected. At this point, however, the Jews are their people. Unless we oppose conversion, we will go down the slippery slope since there is no accept ed halakha in the movement to define legitimate and illegitimate conversions. The problems with a conversion process are both theological and social:.

Some think that these folks should be converted. They simply go through a conversion process and call themselves Jews. However there is nothing in the New Covenant Scriptures to support this and much to discourage it. Is this honest? There have been exceptions. In addition, a Messianic Jewish conversion will not be accepted in the larger Jewish community. Gentiles in the Bible are never said to become Jews, but we do see Gentiles who joined Israel.

When such a covenant commitment takes place the status of the Gentile changes. For such a person there would still be a few traditions that were off limits, such as wearing the tallit and circumcision, which would be optional but not required.

What of the children of such a marriage? The Jewish community will not recognize as Jewish the child of a Jewish father except in Reform Judaism and if the person believes in Yeshua, this status in Reform will be questioned or rejected.

However, in the Messianic community such children are fully embraced as Jewish. In addition, the status of one born of a Jewish mother who believes in Yeshua will not be accepted as Jewish by most.

The one who is born of a Jewish mother and who comes to faith in Yeshua is also not required to be accepted by Israel for citizenship, but this is now being seriously addressed again in Israel. So in general people in such questioned categories will have to be accept the declaration of the Messianic community as to their status.

The formal commitment a person makes under this arrangement is:. I come before you today after serious examination of myself and examination by others. It is my conviction that I am called to live my life with and before the Jewish people.

I therefore profess to live as part of the Jewish people. Though I am not a Jew, I come to take up a life that is a reflection of the promise that the Gentile among you shall be as a Jew. I say to the Jewish nation, your people shall be my people and your God my God.

Similarly, Michael Rudolph has also developed a way for non-Jews to identify with the people of Israel, without formally declaring that they are Jewish. This group advocates conversion of all Gentiles, arguing that it is divisive to maintain a distinction between Jew and Gentile in the body of believers.

The group, while having some connection to other Messianic Jewish groups originally sponsored by an offshoot of the IAMCS , practices an idiosyncratic form of Messianic Judaism.

The majority of its leaders and participants are non-Jews who have converted to this form of Messianic Judaism under their own self-constituted Beth Din. This raises particular problems and questions for the other streams of the Messianic movement. The leader of one of the congregations in this group, Binyamin Sheldrake, is very much in favor of conversion of Genitles, arguing:. Bar Kohkbah , the warrior and revolutionary who led the Jewish revolt against Rome from A.

The fact that Bar Kohkbah did not successfully defeat Rome ultimately meant he did not turn out to be a Messiah — but he certainly took on the job of a Jewish Messiah. There are multiple forms of Jewish messianism , but none of them believe that a messianic figure — if such a person exists — will be divine.

This is in large part because the traditional job of a Messiah — the restoration of the Jewish state — has already been accomplished. Some Jews do believe that a Messiah will come, but the signs that would foretell have not appeared yet. Jews do not share the Christian belief that Jesus was divine.

This difference in belief is grounded in the Jewish assertion that there is only one God, who can never be human, even though God may reveal himself in multiple ways. Historically, this created an insurmountable theological barrier between Jews and Christians. Although Jewish Christians have technically been around since the death of Jesus, the more modern form of the movement has its roots in late 19th-century Europe, when anti-Semitic persecution was on the rise in Russia and large numbers of Jews immigrated to the United States.

The sole focus of some missions based in England and the U. Power , met in Boston in Jews for Jesus is an inheritor of this objective. Messianic Jewish halakhah is rooted in Scripture Tanakh and the New Covenant writings , which is of unique sanctity and authority. It also draws upon Jewish tradition, especially those practices and concepts that have won near-universal acceptance by devout Jews through the centuries. Furthermore, as is common within Judaism, Messianic Judaism recognizes that halakhah is and must be dynamic, involving the application of the Torah to a wide variety of changing situations and circumstances.

Messianic Judaism embraces the fullness of New Covenant realities available through Yeshua, and seeks to express them in forms drawn from Jewish experience and accessible to Jewish people. One of the implications of this stance is that observance of the traditions becomes a measure of spirituality and closeness with God, creating a spiritual hierarchy between those who are most observant relative to those who are less so. By keeping the law, Union congregations also hope to build bridges with observant parts of the Jewish community.

In the past, Messianic congregations have generally defined themselves as a place where Jews and Gentiles worship together, witnessing to the unity of Jews and Gentiles.

Many in the UMJC are seeing this as a defective definition. Congregations may have Gentiles, but they are not part of the definition of the congregation, which is to be a Jewish space. The congregation is not an adequate witness to the unity of Jews and Gentiles because the Gentiles there are called to live as Jews- the unity would only be demonstrated if Gentiles were to live as Gentiles The simple reality is that many Messianic Jewish leaders realize the kinds of congregations being built are unable to adequately express the Jewish life.

They are not seen as authentically Jewish. One way to be more authentically Jewish is by adopting a conversion process, similar to other forms of Judaism. In short, whether a Gentile can convert to Messianic Judaism depends in large part on the beliefs of the specific congregation to which he or she would like to join. In some congregations, you may be able to convert and become a Messianic Jew, while in others you will be accepted to the community, but as a "Messianic Gentile.

Although it can be done from a halakhic perspective , it would be a bad idea to do so from a New Testament perspective. Paul advised against it. Is any called in uncircumcision? Your question alludes, that your understanding is one must be a Jew to join. Your question also alludes, that the movement has something to do with Judaism.

I have personal experience with converts and I can fill in some gaps based on the formation of your question. If you want facts related to Judaism, I would council the thousands of year old faith itself, that is an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi to clear up any confusion you might have, in it's relation to Judaism.

My knowledge is the short history of the messianic group is not a sect of Judaism, as much as Protestant sect mixed with Jewish culture, not Judaic worship. Yes, there are some Jews in these groups, but they have converted to Evangelical Protestantism.

A solid example: One of the most popular groups, "Jews for Jesus" an associated group to this movement, founder was not a Jew, but an ordained Baptist preacher at the time of the founding, named Martin Rosen.

One cofounder was James Bernstein. The actual man who had a jacket embroidered with the words "Jews for Jesus", for which Martin told him , thanks to his jacket, that would be the name of their outreach. Not exactly extended to be a movement at the time. Most Jewish cofounders like James except for one left the group and became Orthodox Christian Presbyters, leaving the vast majority of the group mostly Protestant and what slowly became a Protestant movement with many forms of worship, teaching,, preaching etc.

His book and story of his history with the Messianic movement is in the following link. Your question also alludes, if not states that you are looking for a more Judaic form of Christian worship.

If you are looking for the most Judaic form of Christian worship with roots and history. History that has existed for nearly 2, years, look to Ethiopia. Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity is the most ancient and Judaic form of Christian worship in existence.

Ethiopia was predominantly a Jewish state before converting to Christianity with the Queen Sheba having a strong relationship with King Solomon. Ethiopia has the original Ark of the Covenant in their possession, and you will not convince them otherwise. All of the nearly 2, years of history is in place for one to research.

There are a few Ethiopian Orthodox Churches in America as well. PS: Although Ethiopian worship is truly the "most" Judaic in roots, Orthodox Christian worship in Jerusalem is not that much different, when one starts to understand liturgical worship from which Judaic worship is. Most of the first Patriarchs of Jerusalem were converted Jews. If a Gentile being grafted into the tree the tree first being Jew if God pours rain down on that tree does the branch that is grafted in not quench its thirst also, of course it does.

The Gentiles who turn to the Jewish Messiah are "adopted" making them spiritually Jew. A Gentile that converts to Messianic Judaism is a spiritual Jew by circumcision of the heart. The definition of convert is, to transform.

Are we not transformed by Christ. I think what happens with this question is the confusion starts when we mix up Jew by blood and Jew by Jewish faith " Judaism". Judaism is not about blood because anyone can become a "Jewish believer" by adhereing to the laws of the Torah, so if a Gentile be grafted into Christ, the "Jewish Messiah" than you are now also a Jewish Messiah believing soul, right.