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Why is this haggadah different from others? Well, it's got Jesus
By Rebecca Dube, The Forward
Tags: israel news, messianic jews 

Here's a Passover riddle: When is a Haggadah not Jewish?

Answer: When it's got more Jesus than a matzo has holes.

A Jewish anti-missionary group has succeeded in persuading Barnes and Noble booksellers to reclassify a Passover guide from a "messianic Jewish" publisher as Christian, rather than Jewish. The group is also pressuring Amazon.com and Wal-Mart to make similar changes.
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If you judge a book by its cover, "Passover Family Pack: Everything You Need To Enjoy a Passover Seder Dinner" looks like a traditional holiday starter kit. A festive drawing adorns the front of the package, which includes a Seder plate, a Kiddush cup, two copies of the Haggadah and a cassette tape of music, all for $39.99.

But a few pages into the Haggadah, it becomes clear to observant Jews that something is fishy - and it's not the gefilte. The guide recasts the story of Passover as a mere setup for the arrival of "Yeshua the Messiah": The text says the wine represents the blood of Jesus; the matzo represents his body; the three matzot represent the Christian Holy Trinity, and so on.

"They're taking the traditions of the Jewish faith and using them as a blunt instrument to convert Jewish people to the Christian faith," said Rabbi Tovia Singer, director of the anti-missionary group Outreach Judaism and host of a radio talk show in Jerusalem.

"It's a paradigm of this entire nefarious movement. They use subterfuge to lure Jews who would normally resist a more straightforward evangelical message."

The publisher of "Passover Family Pack" says he's not trying to trick Jews into worshipping Jesus.

"Of course not, that would be a terrible thing," said Barry Rubin, author of the Haggadah contained in the Passover kit and president and CEO of Messianic Jewish Communications, a division of distributor Messianic Jewish Resources International. He notes that the cover of the kit identifies the Haggadah as messianic - which it does, in small letters below a larger Hebrew title.

"It looks like a regular Seder kit because it is.... There's nothing deceptive at all about it," said Rubin, who is the rabbi of Emmanuel Messianic Jewish Congregation in Maryland. He says he doesn't believe that the Passover kit should be classified as Christian, as he considers himself a Jew. He thinks a good compromise would be for booksellers to establish a "Messianic Jewish" section.

In the absence of such a category, booksellers must choose whether to put such material in the Jewish section or in the Christian section.

When Singer complained to Barnes and Noble about stocking the messianic material in the Jewish section, the retailer quickly apologized and reclassified the kit as Christian. He is still waiting to hear from Amazon and Wal-Mart.

"We realized it really should be classified as Christian," said Carolyn Brown, a spokeswoman for Barnes and Noble, which sells the Passover kit online only. "When it was brought to our attention, we immediately changed it."

A petition on the Web site IsraelNationalNews.com asking booksellers to reclassify the kit has garnered more than 1,680 signatures. And concerned Jews have taken matters into their own hands by posting negative reviews on Amazon.com.

"Understand that this is NOT by Jews, for Jews - it is by an organization that tries to convert Jews by telling them that you can believe in Jesus and still be Jewish. It's a TRAP!!!" Albert Passy wrote in his review. "Why don't they call it 'Passover With Jews for Jesus?'?"

Reached at his home in Houston, Passy said that he had received a warning about the book via e-mail and was dismayed to find that all the reviews on Amazon.com were positive.

"I know the power of Amazon reviews, so I wanted to lend some weight to the negative aspect," he said. "I've met a lot of Jews who are fairly unconnected with their faith, and I always worry about proselytizing things like this, because they?re just insidious."

It's unclear whether any unaware Jew has actually bought "Passover Family Pack" and been disappointed (or converted) by it. One Amazon.com reviewer picked it up for free from a box of discarded books, hoping to add the family's Haggadah collection. "We ended up recycling it once we saw it was a missionizing screed that pretended to be a Haggadah," reviewer S. Norman wrote. "We thought, 'Who wants to celebrate our deliverance from Mitzrayim by reading something that wants to re-enslave us!'"

Though this particular, rather unsubtle messianic Haggadah is unlikely to inspire many practicing Jews to convert, Singer says the missionaries' bait-and-switch technique often works, especially on vulnerable populations such as college students and lonely elderly people.

Singer adds that efforts by far-right Christian churches to convert Jews erode the otherwise good progress of interfaith relations: "It's toxic to Jewish-Christian relations."

Again, Rubin disagrees. He notes that many of the hundreds of thousands of sold copies of his messianic Haggadah have gone to church groups that genuinely want to learn more about Jewish traditions.

"We're not ashamed of what we publish," Rubin said. "We think it has helped tens of thousands of Christians appreciate Jewish people, and I don?t see how that could be a problem.
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  1.   I do not know what the big deal is about. 18:50  |  JO 29/03/09
  2.   Absolutely disgusting 19:03  |  Z 29/03/09
  3.   You know, there`s more differences between the two than Jesus. 20:16  |  Aaron 29/03/09
  4.   Sometimes, a bit more tolerance would help 20:35  |  Sam 29/03/09
  5.   religion 22:24  |  zoe 29/03/09
  6.   Z: This Jew has a different view 22:35  |  Brad 29/03/09
  7.   Cowardly Rabbis are useless for protecting Jews and fighting. 23:10  |  JMK 29/03/09
  8.   Jesus - Jewish 23:57  |  Tania 29/03/09
  9.   Let This Be A Lesson 00:15  |  david 30/03/09
  10.   Where is Moses? 00:43  |  ron 30/03/09
  11.   "jews for Jesus" is antisemitism 01:43  |  Messy 30/03/09
  12.   Sure, Sam, why not? 01:45  |  Messy 30/03/09
  13.   Z:SETTLERS ACTIONS 02:06  |  John 30/03/09
  14.   Haggadah scam 03:13  |  Arthur 30/03/09
  15.   here`s the problem 04:59  |  bobby 30/03/09
  16.   sam 08:28  |  saul a. readner 30/03/09
  17.   Too Late 10:21  |  zendog 30/03/09
  18.   Evangelical Christian Misunderstanding 10:22  |  Sergio 30/03/09
  19.   Insecurity 14:33  |  MIKE 30/03/09
  20.   Trying to confuse God 15:06  |  chelemer 30/03/09
  21.   New Testament has 450 anti semitic pericopes in only 250 pages. 15:43  |  JMK 30/03/09
  22.   Jesus is Jewish 17:18  |  Dionysis Theodorou 30/03/09
  23.   the goyim haggadah 17:54  |  Rick 30/03/09
  24.   Pesach 18:19  |  Ken 30/03/09
  25.   #6 18:36  |  Z 30/03/09
  26.   re sam 18:59  |  rad 30/03/09
  27.   What happened to freedom of speech and beliefs? 21:30  |  a 30/03/09
  28.   Communion 22:05  |  Motic 30/03/09
  29.   JESUSALEN 22:07  |  jesusalen 30/03/09
  30.   So what ! Cool it ! 22:24  |  Student of Religion 30/03/09
  31.   Why is this haggadah different from others? 23:17  |  Tim Lehmann 30/03/09
  32.   #10 23:56  |  Tania 30/03/09
  33.   incredible bigotry and injustice 00:50  |  Mich`ael 31/03/09
  34.   z 2 00:57  |  potobac 31/03/09
  35.   I am Jewish by birth, not by choice! 02:40  |  J. Michael Poapst 31/03/09
  36.   haggadah/jesus 06:02  |  Laurie Rubin 31/03/09
  37.   No sense of fun 09:32  |  netsp 31/03/09
  38.   Z No 6 11:39  |  Shechinah 31/03/09
  39.   Stop calling them christians! 13:37  |  Isaac 31/03/09
  40.   Heehee 14:43  |  M Porter 31/03/09
  41.   #2 Z 15:16  |  a Christian 31/03/09
  42.   Why are you so afraid? 17:29  |  Democrat 31/03/09
  43.   Hey 13 and Sam 17:32  |  P Horwitz 31/03/09
  44.   To Tim L #17 17:35  |  P. Horwitz 31/03/09
  45.   Grosss 18:09  |  Eli 31/03/09
  46.   Christian Miztvah? 18:32  |  Z 31/03/09
  47.   jESUs nEVer eXIStED, gOSPelS ArE fICTIn 19:14  |  JMK 31/03/09
  48.   No 38 JMK 19:55  |  Shekinah 31/03/09
  49.   Z No 37 20:01  |  Shekinah 31/03/09
  50.   Absolutely Disgusting 20:04  |  Mattityahu 31/03/09
  51.   Why is this Haggadah different from others. 20:23  |  Moishe Rosen 31/03/09
  52.   Christian Miztvah? 20:45  |  Mattityahu 31/03/09
  53.   deuteronomy 32:20-21 21:50  |  robinson eros 31/03/09
  54.   Why is this haggadah different from others? Well, it`s got Jesus 22:09  |  Binh Tran 31/03/09
  55.   Jesus the king of yisrael 22:17  |  cristian 31/03/09
  56.   The prophecy 22:50  |  jesusalen 31/03/09
  57.   Sergio, #18 22:55  |  Jude 31/03/09
  58.   provoked to jealousy 23:26  |  robinson 31/03/09
  59.   To #44 P.Horwitz 00:15  |  Chris 01/04/09
  60.   to 49 07:14  |  Z 01/04/09
  61.   "Jesus for Jews" 13:02  |  ricardo levy 01/04/09
  62.   To Horwitz and others... 15:21  |  Sam 01/04/09
  63.   To Horwitz and others...(II) 15:26  |  Sam 01/04/09
  64.   `I don`t see any contradiction between the trinity and Judaism, 23:55  |  Motic 02/04/09
  65.   #57 Origin of communion 00:00  |  Ben Azzai 03/04/09
  66.   Why is everyone afraid of Jesus Christ? 03:39  |  shenora 03/04/09
  67.   So what??? What does it have to be such a big deal? 20:37  |  Jenny 03/04/09
  68.   I found the anti-Christ! 20:42  |  Tom 03/04/09
  69.   To #65 22:38  |  Chris 03/04/09
  70.   JESUSALEN 03:19  |  jesusalen 04/04/09
  71.   haggadah 16:57  |  lachy kerse 04/04/09
  72.   Reply to #59 Face to face 01:27  |  Joe 05/04/09
  73.   Unique Haggadah for Passover 14:53  |  David 05/04/09
  74.   JESUSALEN 22:20  |  JESUSALEN 05/04/09
  75.   To #72 23:38  |  Chris 05/04/09
  76.   The Feasts are for all who follow G-d 03:35  |  Jewish Woman 06/04/09
  77.   The hassids also worship a dead` rebbe` 23:48  |  Nathaniel 07/04/09
  78.   Sad 17:31  |  Ariel 09/04/09
  79.   Rabbi Akiva and Bar Kochba 02:21  |  Aryeh 12/04/09
  80.   Festivals for all people 20:09  |  Joseph 12/04/09
  81.   If we are wrong...how does that hurt you?!?! 20:18  |  Beverly 14/04/09
  82.   Sergıo: Catholics got it wrong 10:56  |  McLeod 21/04/09
  83.   Though Jews were smarter 11:00  |  McLeod 21/04/09
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