Messianic rabbi points Jews, Gentiles to Christ in the heart of the Bible Belt
Struggles with the cross
Started by Waldman's father and mother in 1984, Baruch HaShem was always a part of Waldman's life growing up. But he decided to pursue a career as a pilot for several years before ultimately coming on staff at Baruch HaShem in 2012.
Waldman said his parents sought to raise their children "in an environment where it was OK to be Jewish and it was OK to believe that Jesus is the Messiah."
His father, Marty, continues to serve as an elder and founding rabbi at Baruch HaShem, where Waldman says they've made every effort to minister to Jews who do not yet know Jesus.
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The ministry, he said, receives its fair share of negative feedback, usually on social media. Noting that the acceptance from the Jewish community is "at a variety of levels," Waldman said they're often criticized for not "being Jewish enough."
For Waldman, though, that's not enough to change his approach.
"My heart is to engage the Jewish community, but I'm not going to go in there and take a Bible and hit you in the face and say, 'You need to believe Jesus is the Messiah' because I don't necessarily think that's an effective way to do it," he said.
One of the ways Waldman tries to engage Jews is through the congregation's physical presentation. While there are Psalm quotations, prayers and other biblical items strewn along the walls and throughout the office, you won't find any crosses or other Christian symbols at Baruch HaShem.
According to Waldman, that's a deliberate decision, one that can be traced back to the Crusades and even Constantine with his vision of the cross.
"The Jewish world has real difficulties with the cross, partially because in the Christian world the cross is viewed as, like, this lovable thing. And it's actually interesting when you really begin to think about it; the cross would be kind of like the guillotine of 1800s France," he said. "It was an instrument of death.
"The crosses in the first century were used by Romans as torture and gruesome deaths. Roads were lined with crosses of people crucified … and yet most Christians wear a cross."
Waldman added that while he recognizes that Jesus' atoning death for the sin of the world came on a Roman cross, he said it's "a little bit difficult for most Jewish people to recognize."
"There are certain things about Christianity, that just the appearance of it, immediately the wall goes up and Jews disengage and are unwilling to proceed beyond that," he said. "Our goal is that we remove whatever those obstacles are."
At the end of the day, said Waldman, it's a "perception thing."
"My heart and my father's heart when he founded Baruch Hashem is that when a Jewish person comes here, that they struggle with Yeshua as the Messiah. They don't need to struggle with me, they don't need to struggle with anybody else in the congregation," he said.
"They have to face the fact of whether or not Yeshua is the Messiah. And that's what we want to be right at the very front."
Ian M. Giatti is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ian.giatti@christianpost.com.
