Yes and No. It is the case that the belief in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah is one of the principle reasons that Jews reject the validity of Messianic Judaism, but it is not Jesus in particular, rather it is a belief in any Messianic Pretender. Throughout Jewish history there have been several Messianic Pretenders, showing up roughly every 150 years. The most famous of these include Zerrubabel, Jesus of Nazareth, Bar Kochba, Shabbetai Tzvi, and Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Other Issues with Messianic Judaism
Yes, that is correct concerning Jews for Jesus. It also is correct concerning Jews who believe in other messiahs (until the real one comes, about whom nobody will argue).
Other information:
Judaism says very little about Jesus. According to our tradition, the vast majority of the Jews at the time didn't hear of him. The Torah-sages (Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel, Chanina ben Dosa, Bava ben Buta, Shimon ben Hillel, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Akiva, and hundreds of others) were active at that time and their yeshivot (Torah-academies) were flourishing. Their tens of thousands of disciples and hundreds of thousands of sympathizers were active in the Jewish world in that generation; they were the leaders and the forefront of Judaism. As Josephus (Antiquities book 18) writes, "the cities give great attestations to them." The great majority of Jews loved their sages and their Torah.
The unlearned class of the Amei-haaretz (ignoramuses) was a small fringe of society, but even they would and did lay down their lives in order not to violate anything of the Torah. As one ancient historian famously wrote:
Hecateus declares again, "what regard we [Jews] have for our laws; and we resolve to endure anything rather than transgress them." And he adds: "They [Jews] may be stripped on this account, and have torments inflicted upon them, and be brought to the most terrible kinds of death, but they meet these tortures after an extraordinary manner, beyond all other people, and will not renounce the religion of their forefathers."
No one (even any of them who did hear of Jesus) - would have given any consideration to what was and is considered unacceptable for us. The few who came in contact with him soon lost interest, and the early Christians felt the need to turn to non-Jewish centers of population in order to gain adherents, while the Jews remained Jews.
Rather, you might prefer to ask "What does Judaism notbelieve about Jesus." And the answer is that we do not believe that he is or was anything other than a regular human being.
(See: What do Jews believe God is like?)
We may also note that according to our tradition, prophecy ceased about 340 years before the birth of Jesus; and public miracles stopped even earlier.
Here is a related topic:
The word "messiah" is the transliterated form of the Hebrew "moshiach." The word moshiach means "anointed." The title of moshiach was given to any person who was appropriately anointed with oil as part of their initiation to their service of God. We have had a number of meshichim (plural) in the form of kings and priests. There need be nothing supernatural about a moshiach.
This being said, there is a prophecy of a future moshiach. However, this is a relatively minor topic in Judaism and the Tanakh.
The Jewish requirements of the messiah are:
* Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
* Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).
* Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred and oppression. "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:4).
* Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. "God will be King over all the world. On that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).
* The messiah must be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1).
* The messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah-observance. The Torah states that all of its mitzvot (commands) remain binding forever.
Some Christians use the term to refer to apostate Jews who have abandoned Judaism for Christianity. The branch of Christianity most likely to use this term calls itself Messianic Judaism. Jews generally reject so-called Messianic Jews because Judaism traditionally considers the belief in an incarnate deity to be idolatrous, regardless of whether the deity is incarnated in a stone idol or a living person.
The Messianic Kingdom of God refers to a future belief in some religious traditions where a messiah or chosen one will establish a kingdom on Earth ruled in accordance with God's will, bringing peace and justice. This concept is often associated with prophecies in the Abrahamic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Christianity believes that Jesus Christ is the son of God. This belief is central to Christian theology and is a fundamental tenet of the faith.
Messianic Jews usually have a trinitarian view of God that is similar to that of most evangelical Protestants. As such, their view of God to have a three-in-one nature, where Jesus is one of those three.This is very different from Judaism, where belief in an incarnate God is considered idolatrous.
Some examples of Judeo-Christian faiths include Christianity, Judaism, and Messianic Judaism. These faiths share common roots in the belief in one God, the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), and ethical teachings such as the Ten Commandments.
Belief in the Torah.
Belief in God and the Torah.
NO. Jesus is irrelevant in Judaism. A person who believes in Jesus Christ as a Lord, Savior, or Messiah ceases to be a Jew religiously.The "Jews" who believe in Jesus are Messianic Jews, which is a form of Protestant Christianity which seeks to incorporate Jewish traditions onto a Christian belief substrate. As a result, they believe in Jesus because they are Christians, not Jews.
They are in agreement until the New Testament. Judaism does not accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God, but only as a prophit and teacher, and possibly a healer. Christians believe that Jesus was the Messiah that was promised in the Old Testament, that He died for our sins and that nobody will attain heaven but through belief in Him.
A belief in Judaism is a belief in only one G-d. It is based on the laws of the Torah (5 books of Moses), and a belief that the Messiah is yet to come.
HaShem, The Creator, is the centre of Judaism.
I'm going to give you a complicated answer to what might seem, at first glance, to be a simple question.Movement of Messianic JudaismIf, by "Messianic Judaism" the current movement including "Jews for Jesus", Hebrew Christians" and the like, the answer is "No". Every branch of Judaism, from Orthodox to Reform, agrees that Jesus was not the Messiah and that one cannot be part of a faith that rejects the belief in Jesus as the Messiah and affirm that he is. Moreover, Judaism rejects the entire concept of virgin birth.Jewish Yearning for the MessiahIf, as a larger issue, you asked whether Judaism believes in a Messiah, the answer would be a complicated "Yes". The traditional prayerbook includes prayers about the (future) coming of the Messiah, a descendent of David, who will restore the traditional kingdom, rebuild the Temple and usher in a ideal -- albeit imperfect -- age. Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of the Reconstructionist Movement in Judaism, preferred to speak of a "Messianic Era" in which people will act in a humane manner and need not rely upon a supernatural figure.