'Rabbi' who prayed with Pence for Pittsburgh victims, rejected by Jewish leaders, was also defrocked by own group (CNN/RNN) â€"...
(CNN/RNN) â€" Some called It a tone-deaf moment for Vice President Mike Pence, and an awkward revelation late Tuesday night only added to the embarrassment.
At a Michigan campaign event on Monday, Pence called a “rabbi†to the stage to pray for those killed in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.
That speaker, though, presented as a leader of the Michigan Jewish community, was a Messianic Jewish minister â€" and, actually, he’d been defrocked by his congregation years ago.
The “rabbi,†Loren Jacobs, invoked “Jesus the Messiah†during the prayer, for victims of Saturday’s attack at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Messianic Jews, like Christians, believe that Jesus is the Messiah - the son of God and savior of all people.
It’s a belief considered incompatible with Judaism, and the overwhelming majority of the world’s Jews reject it.
On top of that, Jacobs was “stripped of his rabbinic ordination†by the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, a spokeswoman for that organization told NBC News.
She told the outlet “our judicial board found him guilty of libel†in 2003.
And a past president of the Michigan Board of Rabbis, Rabbi Marla Hornsten, told NBC, said that Jacobs is not recognized as a rabbi by the Jewish community in that state.
“Even to call him a rabbi is offensive,†she said.
Source: Google News | Netizen 24 United States
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