Letter: Jews who have found their Messiah

Sir: Hyam Maccoby's letter (6 April) should be answered. His assertion that Jews who believe in Jesus as Messiah are apostates reveals a lack of respect for our genuine faith.

The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament each detail that God's Messiah must be divine. The prophet Zechariah even states that the Lord himself will be pierced and looked upon by Israel. The great tragedy is that Jewish people are not encouraged by the rabbis to read such verses for themselves. That rabbinical Judaism has failed to see this and developed a theology that has no sacrifice and only looks for a human messiah is where it has most failed in serving the Jews.

Jewish Christians have not changed religion; we have faith in the Messiah that God had always promised. The Christian church is rightly composed of people drawn from Jewish and gentile backgrounds. Hyam Maccoby's assertion that the early followers of Jesus did not worship Jesus as divine is mistaken, as the Gospel accounts show otherwise.

Yours faithfully,

ROBERT WEISSMAN

Christian Jew Foundation

London, E18

7 April