| People of the Book: Jews, Jesus, and the Yellow Pages |
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| Written by Ilene Rosenblum | |||||
| Wednesday, 14 December 2005 | |||||
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Jews in the News Though Jews’ battle for territory began in the Good Book, today it rears its head in the phone book. The New York Times recently reported that in response to a complaint by a Cherry Hill, New Jersey Jew, Verizon’s 2006 Camden County SuperPages will sort its listings into “Synagogues” and “Synagogues – Messianic. ”Since Messianic Jews accept Jesus as their savior, the mainstream Jewish establishment, still waiting for mashiach, does not consider the movement to be within the fold. Back in 2002, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), asked members to pressure phone book publishers to fix what they said was deceptive advertising. Because of their complaint, the classification has changed in many communities, said Ethan Felson, the JCPA’s assistant executive director. Most phone books list them either under “Synagogues- Messianic” or as a church, he said. In 2002, the Forward reported that the Seed of Abraham Messianic congregation in Albany, New York, was changed from “Synagogue” to “Congregation-Messianic” following complaints from the United Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York. Seed spokeswoman Coni Feinman said she didn’t know how her congregation’s Yellow Pages classification. Upon looking it up, she said, “It’s not as accurate as we would like it.” A better description, she explained, would be a “One New Man Congregation,” a reference to the unification of Jews and Gentiles in the Book of Ephesians. She doesn’t plan on approaching Verizon about it. But what’s in a name? Deception, according to Felson. All Jews agree that Jews for Jesus are not part of their community, he said, and suggested that they be called Hebrew Christians. “One of the hallmarks of Hebrew Christians is the misappropriation of Jewish symbols, customs, practices,” he said. Classifying themselves as a synagogue is, in Felson’s estimation, part of that tactic. Rabbi Judah Hungerman, Chairman of the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues, denies such a charge, insisting that they are part of the greater Jewish community with wide-ranging views on the Messiah. Hungerman, of Sarasota, Florida, said he has only seen Messianic congregations listed as synagogues—and rightly so. “I don’t know any churches that just went through the High Holidays for example,” he said. As a member of his local Jewish Community Center and the United Jewish Federation, he said he doesn’t understand the exclusionary rationale for the phone book. Furthermore, he asked, “Who gets to define what Jewish is?”
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