Bush criticized for planned speech to Messianic Jewish Bible Institute
Jewish leaders and organizations are criticizing former President George W. Bush for his reported decision to speak this month before the Messianic Jewish Bible Institute, an organization that says its vision is "to bring Jewish people into a personal relationship of faith with Yeshua the Messiah."
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement Monday that the ADL is "disappointed" to learn the former president will be speaking at the Nov. 14 fundraising event for the Texas-based group.
"President Bush is a friend who has an abiding love and respect for Israel and the Jewish people," Foxman said. "I know that he does not represent or embrace the purpose or the mission of this group, and therefore I wish he would not speak there."
- George W. Bush: Obama doesn't deserve criticism for golf outings
- George W. Bush "not a fan" of Syrian President Bashar al Assad
David Wolpe, an influential rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, published acolumn in the Jewish Daily Forward on Monday calling Mr. Bush's decision "dispiriting news."
"What is so bothersome about the group that President Bush has chosen to address is that to speak of 'Jews for Jesus' makes as much sense as saying 'Christians for Muhammad,'" he wrote. "A Jew who accepts Jesus has cut himself off from the faith community of Jews, and that has been so for 2,000 years... The sudden rise of 'Messianic Jews' owes more to a clever way of misleading untutored Jews than to making theological sense. It should not receive the imprimatur of a former President of the United States."
In Commentary, a conservative magazine founded by the American Jewish Committee, Jonathan Tobin argued that Mr. Bush's appearance at the fundraiser would damage interfaith relations.
"That is troubling not just for those of us who were grateful for his heartfelt support for Israel but also for those who care about fostering good relations between Jews and evangelical Christians, among whom Bush numbers as one of their most prominent adherents," Tobin wrote. "But while I condemn Bush's involvement with a group that seeks to target Jews for conversion, I am just as troubled by those on the left who would seek to use this unfortunate incident as a weapon to delegitimize all evangelical supporters of Israel and to disrupt the growing ties between Jews and their friends among the Christian right."
