How I Exposed the Messianic Masquerade
Have you ever wondered how to respond when someone attacks Judaism?
While visiting a Messianic conference to dialogue with Jews who had accepted Christianity, one of their leaders became angry when he noticed me speaking with someone in the lobby.
He shouted, “Rabbi Kravitz, you are merely a rabbinical Jew, and we are biblical Jews.” He was denigrating Judaism as a religion that follows the “words of men,” while promoting Christianity as the “true religion” that follows the “word of God.”
In response, I asked him, “What’s on your head?” When he replied, “A kippah,” I pointed out that wearing one isn't in the Bible; it’s a rabbinic tradition.
I also pointed out that the specific knots of the tzitzit and the shape and color of the tefillin worn by attendees at the conference are also based on rabbinic tradition.
Then I told him, “You have the audacity to call me ‘merely a rabbinical Jew’ when everything messianic Jews do to masquerade Christianity as Judaism is based on rabbinic traditions. His silence confirmed that I had made my point.
Contrary to what messianic Jews claim, rabbinic Judaism is a part of biblical Judaism.
In the Torah portion of Yitro, Moses received the Torah at Sinai, then, with God’s permission, he instituted a judicial system and appointed wise leaders to provide the necessary rulings and guidance for the nation.
The Bible also validates the divine nature of a rabbinic system in Deuteronomy 17:11, when God says, “Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.” We also see that 2 Chronicles 19:6 states: “It is not for man’s sake that you judge, but for God’s.”
By examining this issue in context, we not only dismantle a missionary argument; we demonstrate the divine wisdom of Judaism.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz
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