Sitting in judgment

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Sitting in judgment

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It’s ironic that an organization representing 11 so-called ‘‘historic faith communities” would sit in judgment on how the hundreds of other communities practice their faith (‘‘Jews do not accept messianic Judaism,” April 11 letter).

I’m surprised that religious Jews and Protestants cooperate with the Mormons and the Zoroastrians in condemning others who honestly worship the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Judaism and Christianity are distinct religions indeed, but they don’t negate the fact that Jesus and most of his followers were Jewish. They lived as Jews, they celebrated the Jewish holidays as mandated by the Torah, and so do Messianic Jews. They did not ‘‘appropriate Jewish symbols, rituals and prayers” and neither do we.

I, as a Jewish man born to Jewish parents and having survived the Holocaust and Communism, was not won over by deception or coerced to conversion. I was born a Jew, I live as a Jew, and I’m proud of it. I was alienated from contemporary Jewish practices, but not from the community, by a reform rabbi who said that the Torah was not given by G-d but was made up by a ‘‘bunch of smart Jewish guys.”

The accusation is untrue and offensive that we try to proselytize ‘‘residents of hospitals and old age homes, confused youth.” Most synagogues and churches would be happy to see as many young and healthy members and ‘‘unconfused college students” at their services as we have at SODC.

Peter Gorog, North Potomac

The writer is an elder at Son of David Congregation in Gaithersburg.