Under fire for appearing with fake rabbi

[struggle4progress]

... On Monday, Pence appeared at a campaign rally for Lena Epstein, a GOP candidate for an open congressional seat in Michigan. At the rally, he invited to the stage Rabbi Loren Jacobs for a memorial for the 11 people killed in Pittsburgh. The problem: Jacobs is a "Messianic Jew," a sect that believes in the divinity of Jesus. In fact, Jacobs invoked Jesus in his opening prayer ...

As NBC News reports, Messianic Judaism "is not recognized as Jewish by any mainstream Jewish movement in the United States, or by the Chief Rabbinate, the supreme spiritual authority for Judaism in Israel." Per their own website, one of their goals is converting Jewish people to believe that Jesus is the messiah ...

... instead of saying the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead, Jacobs prayed for a series of Republican candidates off a list he was given ...

https://www.gq.com/story/mike-pence-fake-rabbi

[struggle4progress]

1. Jacobs stripped of his ordination in 2003

Oct. 30, 2018 / 5:55 PM EDT
By Corky Siemaszko

The "Messianic rabbi" who outraged many Jews by invoking the name of Jesus while delivering a prayer in memory of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre victims was also spurned Tuesday by the organization that ordained him.

Loren Jacobs, who was invited onstage by Vice President Mike Pence to speak at a rally in Michigan for a GOP congressional candidate, was defrocked 15 years ago, according to a spokeswoman for the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations.

“Loren Jacobs was stripped of his rabbinic ordination by the UMJC in 2003, after our judicial board found him guilty of libel,” Monique Brumbach said in an email.

Brumbach did not say who Jacobs allegedly libeled, but it appears from his synagogue website he was involved in a theological battle with other leaders of the group, which believes that Jesus is the son of God — a belief that is anathema to the vast majority of the world's Jews. Jacobs seemed to be concerned that the group was insufficiently conservative on doctrinal matters ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jews-assail-so-called-christian-rabbi-who-appeared-pence-so-n926406

[k-dub]

2. These people can't get anything right

What a shitshow.

[struggle4progress]

8. They're always sure they're right: and that's an old FUBAR recipe

[struggle4progress]

3. Campaign prayer by 'Christian rabbi'

... Pence's deputy chief of staff, Jarrod Agen, told NBC News ... "We often have ecumenical prayers at the beginning of events that aren't an endorsement of any particular faith" ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/pence-sets-firestorm-campaign-prayer-christian-rabbi-n926016

[struggle4progress]

4. Rabbi at Pence Rally Invokes Jesus, Causing Backlash

Posted 12 minutes ago
Updated 4 minutes ago
By Matthew Haag, New York Times

... it became immediately clear the rabbi, Loren Jacobs of Congregation Shema Yisrael in suburban Detroit, would not be considered a Jew by any of the four major denominations of Judaism. In his prayer, he mentioned the “saving power” of the Lord and concluded, “In the name of Jesus, amen” ...

Jacobs, a leading figure in the denomination colloquially known as Jews for Jesus, quickly came under criticism Monday for appearing to represent Jews at the rally and for leading the only prayer by a religious figure at the event for the 11 people and six others injured in the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday ...

One religious leader upset about Jacobs’ prayer on Monday was Rabbi Jason Miller, who lives in Detroit. He said on Twitter that there are more than 60 Jewish rabbis in Michigan that campaign rally organizers could have asked to offer a prayer.

“For the record, Messianic ‘Judaism’ is a branch of Christianity & offensive to the Jewish community,” Miller wrote in a separate tweet. “It was an insulting political stunt” ...

https://www.wral.com/rabbi-at-pence-rally-invokes-jesus-causing-backlash/17957656/

[Bfd]

5. I know a older guy who was once a raging End Timer & one day just switched to a Messianic Jew.

He rides in a Messianic Jewish motorcycle club in Chattanooga, Tn.

Weird.

[struggle4progress]

6. Pence sparks furor

By THE WASHINGTON POST |
October 30, 2018 at 12:45 pm
By Isaac Stanley-Becker | Washington Post

... “It is deceptive proselytising that sees Jews as in need of saving, and has Christians playact Jewish ritual.

“Inviting one to speak publicly is not OK. Pence must apologize for this, or if he’s OK with it, he’s unambiguously an antisemite” ...

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/10/30/pence-sparks-furor-appearing-with-rabbi/

[Andy823]

7. You have to remember

Only the "best" are hired to work for trump and company, and Pence proves that the "BEST" are not really the smart. Kind of reminds me of the keystone cops!

[GulfCoast66]

9. This is the fundies plan for Jews.

I was raised fundy although before they were so political.

They support Israel for one reason and one reason only.

The Jews in Israel must be converted before Jeeesus come back to claim his followers and brings in the end of the world. They really, really believe this shit. It was openly taught in my Southern Baptist Church.

Jews as individual people...most fundies are at least nominally Anti-Semite even discounting the fact that if you believe God does not want Jews to be Jewish you are a raging Antisemite.

One of the many reasons I am now a freethinker.