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Questionable Credibility: A rabbi's speech encourages Messianic Jews.
Baltimore
Arabbi's speech last month at the 21st annual Conference of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations left Messianic leaders encouraged that they will be accepted eventually by normative Judaism, while irking mainstream Jewish leaders.
Rabbi Dan Cohn-Sherbok, a professor of Judaism at the University of Wales, was ordained by the Reform movement's Hebrew Union College in 1971 and received an honorary HUC doctorate four years ago, according to the school's registrar. He was asked to speak at the UMJC gathering in Columbus, Ohio, because of a book he authored titled, "Messianic Judaism" (Cassell, 2000).
Rabbi Cohn-Sherbok, a Denver native who lives in Wales, is working on a book titled "The Future of Messianic Judaism," which will be published by Upper Park Heights-based Lederer Messianic Jewish Communications.
Barry Rubin, Lederer's publisher and president who attended the conference, praised Rabbi Cohn-Sherbok's speech and writings as a demonstration of increasing mainstream support for Messianic Judaism. Messianic Jews identify as Jews believing that Jesus is the messiah.
In "Messianic Judaism," the rabbi offers ways to view Messianic Judaism within a Jewish context. One of these possibilities includes Messianic Judaism as a branch of Judaism, a concept universally refuted by the mainstream rabbinate.
Though Rabbi Cohn-Sherbok says the book is an academic look at a movement he feels is "important," he recently told the BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES during a phone interview, "I don't make any judgment myself. I want people to make up their own mind."
In his...