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MESSIANIC MOVEMENT RILES RABBI
DU latest stop for cleric out to aid the 'victimized'
By Jean Torkelson
Rocky Mountain News Religion
Writer
The Rev. Reuben
Drebenstedt of Denver is out to win the hearts of the Jewish people
and Rabbi Tovia
Singer couldn't be more upset.
The two have
collided over Jews to Jesus Christ, a movement with both national and
biblical proportions that is causing a stir at the University of Denver.
"In a
sense, they're saying Judaism is defective. They have the right to do that,
but the problem is, they're being deceptive," Singer complains.
The New Jersey rabbi was on campus in late April to speak against so-called Messianic
Judaism, a movement that Singer says has won over 200,000 Jews worldwide. For
15 years, Singer's full-time job has been saving Jews from being
"victimized" by what he calls Hebrew Christianity. He says
Christian fundamentalists have allocated more than $150 million to convert
Jews.
"Apparently you can
be a Jew and believe in anything except Jesus", retorts Drebenstedt, the founder of MENORAH-Menorah
Ministries-. It's one of several groups around the country actively
seeking to convert Jews.
In 1994,
Drebenstedt filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court after DU refused to
allow his group to dispense materials, while allowing distribution by a dozen
other religious organizations, including Jews, Catholics, Mormons and the Bahai faith. The suit charged that DU is a public
accommodation and is obligated to grant all religious groups the same access.
It was settled out of court last November.
There are at
least two national umbrella groups representing about 150 Messianic
congregations, according to a spokeswoman for the Messianic Jewish Alliance
of America, based near Philadelphia. The largest congregation in Denver
is Roeh Israel, which has about 400 people
attending regularly says co-pastor William Berg, who converted from Judaism
about 12 years ago.
Although Jews
may be found in leadership positions, Singer believes he knows who's really
behind the movement: "the Christian-right. - the Evangelical, born-again
Christians throughout the world"
Above Reprinted
article was on page 4 of the Rocky Mt. News newspaper,
Denver, Colorado on May 6, 1996.
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