Crucifix, Hebrew Tanakh on tallit prayer shawl. Photo by photovs/iStock
By Olivia Haynie
May 22, 2025
In recent years, members of the Messianic Jewish movement have become more prominent in the public eye. Mike Pence invited a Messianic rabbi to speak at a 2018 campaign rally. Lena Epstein, a 2023 candidate for chair of the Michigan Republican Party, announced her conversion to Messianic Judaism that same year. And, it turns out, Yaron Lischinsky, one of the two Israeli embassy staffers killed on Wednesday night at an American Jewish Committee event, was a member of a Messianic Jewish congregation in Jerusalem.
Theologian Edward Kessler, in his 2005 book A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, defines Messianic Judaism as a religious movement consisting of both Jews and non-Jews who follow traditional Jewish practices while also holding the belief that Jesus is the messiah. But many Jews might disagree with Kessler’s assertion that Messianic Jews are Jewish.
Messianic Judaism is an offshoot of the Hebrew Christian movement, which dates back to the 19th century and consists of people born Jewish who incorporate Christian practices and a belief in Jesus’ divinity into their religion. Some scholars on the movement credit English missionary Joseph Frey as the first person to create a Hebrew Christian congregation, starting Beni Abraham in 1813 where Jews could worship from the New Testament. However, the first mission established separate from any denominational church authority was founded by Joseph Rabinowitz, a Hasidic Jew from Bessarabia (modern-day Moldova) who became fascinated with Christianity.
Cynical about the future for Jews in Europe after the Russian pogroms in the 1880s and unsure about state Zionism, Rabinowitz came to believe the only way for Jews to have a better future was through a spiritual revitalization. He believed this salvation would come through the acceptance of Jesus and, on Christmas, 1884, he opened a prayer house that combined Hebrew Bible and New Testament liturgy in worship services.
The movement spread beyond Europe, and in 1915, a group of American Hebrew Christians founded the Hebrew Christian Alliance of America. In 1975, the group changed its name to the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America. According to their website, the group recognizes both the Old and New Testaments as the “infallible and authoritative word of God.” Most Messianic Jews retain Jewish practices they see as biblically commanded, such as keeping Shabbat and observing major Jewish holidays.
Christians generally hew to the doctrine of supersessionism, sometimes called replacement theology, which is the belief that Jesus’ death is a sacrifice for humanity’s sins and thus negates laws required by the Hebrew Bible. His sacrifice also created a new covenant with God that supersedes Judaism. Messianic Judaism, on the other hand, continues the practice of most Jewish laws alongside the belief in Jesus as the messiah.
One of the most prominent Messianic Jewish organizations in America is Jews for Jesus, founded in 1973 by baptist minister Moishe Rosen. Born Martin Rosen to Reform Jewish parents in Kansas City, Missouri, Rosen converted to Christianity in 1953 along with his wife, Ceil Starr. He then made it his life’s work to convert as many Jews into followers of Jesus as possible.
Although members of Messianic Judaism consider themselves to be Jews, all mainstream Jewish religious movements consider them to be Christians. Belief in Jesus as the messiah is considered a core principle that differentiates Christianity from Judaism, and most Jews say that belief in Jesus’ divinity disqualifies one from Jewish practice. Some mainstream Christians have also spoken out against Messianic Judaism, on the basis that proselytization disrespects the Jews’ unique covenant with God, and many Jewish organizations see the evangelizing mission of Jews for Jesus as an attempt to wipe out Judaism.
In 1989, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that Messianic Jews are not considered Jews under the Law of Return and cannot gain automatic Israeli citizenship. Despite this restriction for Messianic Jewish immigrants, there are several established Messianic communities in Israel, including Melech Ha’Mlachim, the congregation Lischinsky belonged to in Jerusalem.
Estimates place the number of Messianic Jews in Israel in the tens of thousands. Shira Soko-Ram, the co-founder of the Messianic Maoz Israel Ministries, put the number at 30,000. It is harder to find exact statistics on the number of Messianic Jews in the United States. In 2013, journalist Sarah Posner estimated that the number was between 175,000 to 250,000. On their current website, MJAA claims the number could be as high as 1.3 million.
