Messianic Jews Face Backlash From Ohio Community
Thurlow Adams, dressed in tallit, goes by Rabbi Tziyon and leads a Messianic group in Ohio.
By Sam Kestenbaum October 30, 2017
A new Messianic school in Dayton, Ohio, is prompting some backlash among the Jewish community.
According to a recent Dayton Jewish Observer report a so-called Messianic Jewish group named Ahavat Torah Yeshiva is ramping up online activity — but not clearly indicating to potential members that the group does not follow traditional Judaism and believes that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
The Observer spoke with Reform and Orthodox rabbis in the area who decried the broader Messianic community as either not a “part of the Jewish people” or actively engaged in targeting Jews, presumably to convert them to Christianity.
But one Reform rabbi was more sympathetic and said that Messianics and Christian evangelicals should be seen as political allies to Israel. “Our church alliances are shifting. The evangelicals are supporting Israel, and many of the liberal movements are not,” said Rabbi Judy Chessin of Temple Beth Or.
Chessin also said she welcomes Messianics into her community. “We had people at our High Holy Days, we had people at Sukkot — maybe 10 people — so obviously this community is looking for someplace to celebrate what feels like home to them.”
The Messianic group appears to be going through some internal shifts and recently changed its name from Beth Simchat Yeshua Messianic Jewish Synagogue to Ahavat Torah Yeshiva. The leader of the congregation is named Thurlow Adams; he goes by Rabbi Tziyon.
Contact Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] or on Twitter,@skestenbaum
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
