Jews for Jesus founder Moishe Rosen.

Jews for Jesus

Moishe Rosen, the founder of Jews for Jesus, died Tuesday (via Failed Messiah). He was 78.

And whoa! He has left one of those “If you’re reading this, then I am dead” messages on the Jews for Jesus Website!

“I hope I can count on you to show love and respect for the Jewish people,” he writes, “but Jewishness never saved anybody. Judaism never saved anybody no matter how sincere. Romans 10:9 & 10 make it clear that we must believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus in order to be saved. There are no shortcuts. There is no easy way. Within Judaism today, there is no salvation because Christ has no place within Judaism.”

He also writes a bunch of inside-baseball stuff regarding the movement. And also: “I don’t suppose that I will be writing you any new material, but there are a few articles in the works that might still come through.” Can’t wait!

Born into an Orthodox family in Kansas City, Rosen and his Jewish-born wife converted to Christianity, and he was ordained a Baptist minister. In 1973, he founded Jews for Jesus, which today is the most prominent sect of the Hebrew Christian movement. As its name suggests, adherents believe Jesus was the Messiah but also consider themselves Jewish.

“Mr. Rosen said he modeled his evangelical efforts on Vietnam War protests he saw while living in the San Francisco area,” the Washington Post reports.

De mortuis nil nisi bonum goes the famous phrase: Speak no ill of the dead. Today, what say we leave it at that, hrmm?

Moishe Rosen, 78; Founded Evangelistic Group Jews for Jesus [WP]

Today in Tablet Magazine, contributing ed(d)itor Eddy Portnoy briefs us on the pseudoscience of nasalogy, which is what it sounds like. Prompted by a new book, Benjamin Pogrund re-examines Israel’s alliance with apartheid-era South Africa. In this week’s haftorah, which depicts Samson’s origins, Liel Leibovitz sees a parable about how to become (and how to avoid becoming) blind and powerless. And The Scroll is back after two days of cheesecake.

Obama yesterday.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

On Tuesday afternoon, after The Scroll was already off celebrating Shavuot, President Obama met with 37 Jewish senators and congressmen at the Old Executive Office Building to reassure him of his unequivocal for support for Israel’s security. (All of the over 40 Jewish legislators were invited; notably absent was Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Virginia), the Minority Whip and sole Republican.) “One part group hug and one part gripe session,” is how Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-New York) described it.

And apparently it went fairly well. According to various reports, Obama was most popular on the questions of Iran and Syria, and a bit less so when it came to the ongoing proximity talks with the Palestinians. “I walked through a minefield in the Middle East and I stepped on the land mines,” Obama reportedly said. “I got some toes blown off.” (The White House stated that the event was “a wide ranging and productive exchange about their shared commitment to peace and security in Israel and the Middle East.”)

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-New York) were Obama’s toughest customers. They accused him of putting disproportionate pressure on Israel in the proximity talks and of considering proposing his own plan. He nixed this, saying, “I cannot impose a settlement. Israel is a sovereign nation and the notion that I would or could do that is simply wrong.” In fact—somewhat surprisingly—he said that the issue even of West Bank settlements is best left for final-status talks, rather than the current indirect peace talks.

The 90-minute meeting’s most heated exchange reportedly came when Lieberman asserted Obama’s main regional goal appeared to be engaging Arab countries. Obama denied this.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York), who was quite critical of the administration during the darkest days of the recent imbroglio over settlements, reportedly praised Obama’s stances on Iran’s nuclear program and the allegations that Syria was transporting missiles into Lebanon. He even said that Israel should be more vocal in its praise here. (It helped that the meeting was held the same day the United States submitted its China-supported sanctions draft.)

One attendee told Laura Rozen that his boss “came away feeling like [Obama] is genuinely committed to accomplishing a lasting [Israeli-Palestinian peace] agreement, and that he feels it strongly.” Maybe nothing, however, could accomplish quite what an Obama visit to Israel woul: Such a trip was suggested, and Rep. Steve Rothman (D-New Jersey) said he was sure Obama would follow through. Preferably not on a week during which Tablet is off half the time.

Obama Reassure Jewish Members on ‘Obama Plan’ [Ben Smith]
At WH Powwow, Jewish Dems Get a Chance To Vent to Obama [Laura Rozen]
Obama’s Meeting With the Congressional Tribe [Capital J]
Obama Meets With 37 Jewish Pols for a ‘Group Hug and Gripe’ Session [NY Daily News]
O: Israel My ‘Land Mine’ [NY Post]

Newt Gingrich in February.

Wikipedia

• The Palestinians made a surprisingly generous land-concession offer in the proximity talks. Israel would rather be talking about a less controversial subject like water rights. [WSJ]

• Hezbollah is mobilizing to prepare for a large Israeli military drill beginning Sunday. [Haaretz]

• France and Germany’s foreign ministers both hit the Mideast this weekend to talk peace. [Ynet]

• Moshe Greenberg died at 81. An Israel Prize winner, he was one of the first Jews who critically taught the Bible in the American academy. [NYT]

• Newt Gingrich’s new book says President Obama’s policies are as “great a threat to America as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.” The AJC wants an apology. [American Jewish Committee]

• And while we were out for Shavuot, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pennsylvania) lost this year’s Democratic primary. So much for the party switch. [JTA]

Elvis Costello.

Wikipedia

Tablet Magazine and The Scroll will be dark until Friday morning in observance of Shavuot. Have a good holiday!

• Elvis Costello canceled two planned concerts in Caesarea, Israel, out of “instinct and conscience” regarding the Palestinian issue. [Arts Beat]

• Tablet Magazine contributor David P. Goldman takes issue with Peter Beinart’s essay: “Zionism is in no danger. The entity that is in trouble is Jewish liberalism.” [First Things]

• Meanwhile, Beinart happily reports that no one has accused him of Israel- or self-hatred. [Jeffrey Goldberg]

• Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-New York) has introduced a House resolution demanding that Hamas release Gilad Shalit. [JTA]

• Jean-Luc Godard’s new film, which debuted yesterday at Cannes, has references to “Jews, Hollywood and the Holocaust.” Not clear if they are meant to be related to each other, or if they just seem that way because of the jump-cuts! [Arts Beat]

• Tonight, at The Strand in Manhattan, Jewcy hosts the first Yiderati reading series. It features, among others, Tablet contributing editor Rachel Shukert. Come one, come all! [Jewcy]

President Ahmadinejad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday.

Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

The nuclear swap deal that Turkey and Brazil extracted out of Iran seems good on its face, but the thinking is that, by taking the pressure off, it is actually likely to lessen the chance of meaningful sanctions against the Islamic republic.

Well, we’re about to find out if that’s true. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have agreed on a draft sanctions resolution, which they are now circulating.

For the record, Russia, which is also involved in the nuclear material swap deal, has long been surprisingly onboard with the prospect of further sanctions. It is China that has been the holdout, and it is the country to watch.

Breaking: Clinton: Iran Sanctions Draft To Go to Full U.N. Security Council Today [Laura Rozen]
U.S. Is Skeptical on Iranian Deal for Nuclear Fuel [NYT]

Today in Tablet Magazine, Benjamin Balint reports on the would-be Jews—the small community of Samaritans who have lived uninterruptedly on what is now the West Bank for thousands of years. Books critic Adam Kirsch deals with the legacy of Irène Némirovsky. Our special Shavuot-themed Vox Tablet podcast involves … cheesecake. Mmm, says The Scroll, cheesecake.

Novelist Gary Shteyngart and editor-in-chief Alana Newhouse at DAWN 2010.

All photos by Dan Coplan

Moses among the penguins, rabbis beside the swamp! DAWN 2010, the late-night Shavuot arts festival that Tablet Magazine cosponsored (along with Reboot) Saturday night at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, was full of surprising juxtapositions of Jews and fauna. (For all photos, check our our Facebook album.)

One of the first of the evening’s dozens of events was the world’s second performance of Everything’s Coming Up Moses, which tells the story of the Exodus in under an hour—with inspiration from the music of Gypsy. The musical, premiered by Tablet Magazine in New York this Passover and written by contributing editor Rachel Shukert, was, naturally, performed in the African Hall beneath a taxidermied leopard that was hanging out in a tree overhead. (The very-much-alive penguins strutted at the other end of the hall.)
[MORE]

Richard Blumenthal.

Wikipedia

• Why Iran’s agreed-to nuclear swap, likely to forestall sanctions, could in the long run be a bad thing. [LAT]

• Connecticut Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal—a Scroll favorite—has been accused of repeatedly lying about his service in Vietnam. [NYT]

• Israel offered Syria the Golan in exchange for cutting ties with Iran and terrorist groups. And it refused. [JPost]

• President Obama will meet with Jewish Democratic lawmakers today, his first such event. [AP/Vos Iz Neias?]

• Noam Chomsky told Al Jazeera that his being barred from entering Israel is the sort of thing that “only happens in totalitarian states.” [Ynet]

• Roger Cohen enjoys a delicious West Bank microbrew. [NYT]

The Woodman at Cannes this weekend.

Valery Heche/AFP/Getty Images

• Obama chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel is heading to Israel this week, with his family, for his son’s bar mitzvah. Wait, Rahm Emanuel is Jewish? [Arutz Sheva]

• L’affaire Chomsky has become something of a cause célèbre in Israel. Additional French phrase. [NYT]

• Who knew Ben Bernanke’s middle name was “Shalom”? [NYT]

• A former Justice Department Nazi hunter (no, really) is agitating to have Richard Goldstone investigated for visa ineligibility due to his tenure as an apartheid-era judge. [Jewish Indy]

• Woody Allen (again) spoke up for his friend Roman Polanski, on the grounds that he is “an artist and a nice person.” In fairness, most people are only one or the other. Woody Allen, for example. [HuffPo]

• A dispatch from the West Bank, where the Samaritans—good and otherwise—still celebrate Passover in their own, distinctive way. Yes, this includes sheep-slaughtering. [VQR]