Messianic “Judaism” is a branch of syncretistic Evangelicalism that combines elements of Rabbinic Judaism, mostly ritual, with Evangelical theology. That is, a Messianic will pray with a siddur and perhaps wear a tallit but believe in the Trinity, original sin, substitutionary atonement, and the inerrancy of Scripture. This makes the endeavor, ultimately, appropriation of Jewish ritual for Protestant theological purposes and not, in any real sense, a movement within Judaism. This is true, even if the movement has ethnic Jews among its midst. However, the movement itself wishes to present itself as a Jewish movement in the same way that the Reform or Conservative movements exist as movements within the spectrum of Rabbinic Judaism. As it exists today, this is a false statement.
There are many problems with this type of syncretistic religion because it tries to mix traditions that developed in opposition to each other. While it is true that the New Testament is a Jewish text and part of the corpus of Second Temple Judaism, it has been read and received as an anti-Judaism (and possibly anti-Semitic) text throughout the past two millennia. The “within Judaism” perspective that I adopt when analyzing the Gospels or Paul should not be regarded as an attempt to construct a contemporaneous Messianic theology. These perspectives make the most sense to understand the first century texts themselves, but not their reception or reading by actual communities. By and large, the Jewish Jesus movement died out by the third or fourth century, although it could have existed in some form for a few more centuries. That means that there has not been a continuation of the so-called Ebionite form of Christianity for more than 1,500 years. It is quite inauthentic to assume that one could simple resurrect this form of Christianity at will without acknowledging the anti-Judaism of the Christian reading of the New Testament or the anti-Jesus and anti-Christianity passages of the Babylonian Talmud in the rabbinic corpus.
Mixing Rabbinic ritual and Protestant theology is bound to fail because these religious systems are responding to different questions and needs. Rabbinic Judaism inherited the national institutions of the Second Temple period through the nasi, which boasted Davidic heritage. True or not, Rabbinic Judaism acted as the political center of the Jewish people, especially in Babylonia. It existed as a survival mechanism at the beginning to ensure a continuation of what the Rabbis considered to be the religion of Israel and the worship of its God. Especially in Sephardic lands, but also to a degree in Ashkenazi Europe, Rabbinic Judaism became a means of national autonomy for Jews in a world where they were (mostly) exiled from their land and without any independent political jurisdiction. The synagogues and communities of Europe and the Middle East functioned, to varying degrees, as legal and judicial entities. Rabbinic Judaism is mostly not concerned with individual salvation but with national redemption through a return to political autonomy and jurisdiction in the land of Israel.
Protestantism, on the other hand, is a reform movement within Catholicism that seeks to understand the means by which an individual comes to a right relationship with God and how to guarantee an afterlife in bliss, especially in its Evangelical form. While historic Protestantism was tied to political jurisdiction in the European state churches, Evangelicalism largely rejects the political and national background in historic Protestantism. Even elements of Evangelicalism that resemble Rabbinic concerns of national autonomy, such as the belief in a physical reign of Christ on earth, are often viewed from individual and spiritual lenses, rather than as the fulfillment of any national aspirations of the Jewish people. Because of these contradictory aims and concerns, it makes little sense to combine Protestant theology with Rabbinic ritual, given that the rituals were designed to reinforce Rabbinic concerns, i.e. national autonomy and not related at all to individual salvation but to national redemption via the return of Davidic rule to Israel and the re-establishment of a Jewish polity there.
Setting aside the inherent contradictions in vision and scope, we will proceed under the assumption that a “Messianic Judaism” could exist without Protestant theology underlying it. Could a movement of Jews accept Jesus as the Rabbinic Messiah? I do not think this is possible. First, even though the New Testament is a corpus of Jewish literature, it is not accepted by modern Jews and to read it as a contemporary Jewish text would be to remove it from its historical context and interpretation. Additionally, Jesus fulfills none of the expectations of the Rabbinic Messiah and can not be thought of as anything more than a failed messianic candidate.
Those Jews who find some sympathy with Christian theology would do well to convert to actual Christianity and adopt its rituals. Christians who sympathize with Judaism should learn about current Jewish practice and how it developed over the centuries. There is a great deal of Jesus’ ethics found in Rabbinic Judaism. One could easily start with Pirke Avot and see that the majority of Jesus’ ethical system is found in Judaism, albeit in a different form.
From a Rabbinic perspective, the seat of political authority stayed within Rabbinic circles as a claimant to the Davidic throne continued to lead the community with the title of Exilarch (which lasted until the medieval period). As the Rabbis claimed for themselves legislative authority under his leadership and as a continuation of the Sanhedrin, disbanded in the fifth century CE, Jews would fall under this authority throughout the Diaspora. This being the case, again from a traditional Rabbinic perspective, Jews would be prohibited from regarding Jesus as the Rabbinic messiah, as belief in him as Messiah is prohibited. This is the reason why no modern day “neo-Ebionitism” is impossible from a Rabbinic perspective. There might be ethnic Jews who wish to engage in such restorationism but this cannot and should not be paired with Rabbinic ritual. If such an endeavor would exist, it would need to develop its own rituals, perhaps inspired by Karaism, which did not have any such pronouncements against Jesus (or anyone, given that Karaism believes in an individual’s right to interpret the Torah as he sees fit, from my limited understanding). This should be done with an eye towards the acceptability of such a proposal to the Karaites. This is not to denigrate Karaites, but to suggest that, given their more positive attitudes towards Jesus (to be explored in a future post), this might be a fertile ground for reintegrating the Christian faith within a Jewish context, something that I, unlike many, believe would be a worthy endeavor.
To give an example, a Christian celebration of Shabbat, the Sabbath, should not use rabbinic rituals, such as the lighting of candles, blessing over shallot, kiddush ceremony, birkat hamazon, etc. However, it could use a collection of biblical verses related to the Sabbath, i.e. Gen. 2:1–2, Ps. 92, the Shema, among a litany of other beautiful liturgical pieces from the Hebrew Bible. Some of these are used in a rabbinic service, but the Hebrew Bible is a possession of more than just the Jewish people, including Samaritans, Christians, and Muslims.
I believe that reintegrating Christianity within its Jewish matrix would serve well to familiarize Christians with the faith of Jesus and to strengthen interfaith dialogue and understanding. This would also connect Christians to the earliest roots of their own faith as the immediate followers of Jesus were all Jewish and continued to observe Jewish law faithfully. Additionally, even the most “pro-Gentile” elements of the New Testament expect a certain level of ritual observance from Christians (such as the Jerusalem letter in Acts 15 as an example). To inject Christianity with a bit of Torah thinking would be good in my opinion.
A Jewish View 