What is Messianic Judaism? Understanding the faith of a murdered Israeli diplomat

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were murdered last month in Washington, DC, by a gunman who was allegedly targeting Jews and Zionists.

But in the days following the heinous attack, new details emerged that added complexity to an already heartbreaking story. Lischinsky, who worked at the Israeli Embassy, was not a typical Jewish diplomat. He was a member of a Messianic Jewish congregation in Jerusalem—a community that is both controversial and unique, blending Jewish identity with a belief in Jesus as the Messiah.

Lischinsky and Milgrim, his girlfriend, were reportedly preparing to travel to Israel the following week to get engaged. Friends and family say the couple was deeply in love and committed to a life together, both personally and spiritually.

Milgrim, a native of Prairie Village, Kansas, was a member of Congregation B’nai Jehudah, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the area.

So, who are the Messianic Jews—and why has this beautiful couple, whom no one doubts were murdered for their Jewish identity and love for Israel, become the subject of controversy?

Lischinsky was born in Israel, but his family moved to Germany when he was an infant. They returned to Israel when he was 16 years old. At that point, he joined the Messianic congregation of the Melech HaMlachim, located near the Mahane Yehuda market in downtown Jerusalem.

According to Michael Mistretta, head of the Fellowship of Israel-Related Ministries, there are approximately 300 Messianic congregations and around 30,000 Messianic Jews residing in Israel. These communities span the country, from Jerusalem and the West Bank to Tiberias, Haifa, and Tel Aviv. Just outside of Jerusalem lies the Messianic moshav, or cooperative village, of Yad Hashmona, which is home to approximately 60 families.

Messianic Jews are well integrated into Israeli society, Mistretta said, with more than 1,000 Messianic soldiers contributing to Israel’s war efforts.

“They are in top jobs in the air force, intelligence and combat,” Mistretta said. “Some of them are very, very high up.”

Lischinsky himself came from a family deeply committed to the country. He and all four of his siblings served in the Israeli military. Two of his brothers also became diplomats. At the time of his death, Lischinsky was posted in Washington, DC. His brother, Gabriel, serves on the security team at the Israeli Embassy in Paris, while another brother, Ben-Ami, works for the Israeli Embassy in Ecuador.

Messianic Judaism is a religious movement comprising individuals who identify ethnically and culturally as Jewish but believe in Jesus, whom they refer to by his Hebrew name, Yeshua, as the Messiah. The group differs from Christian Zionists or evangelical Christians, who identify as Christians and support the Jewish state but do not claim a Jewish identity themselves.

“A Messianic Jew would be someone who identifies as Jewish, as ethnically Jewish, but professes a belief in Yeshua as Messiah,” Mistretta explained. While they might not abstain from all forms of work on Saturdays as religious Jews do, they “observe and worship on Shabbat and live a Jewish lifestyle.”

Belief in Jesus as the Messiah is considered a core tenet of Christianity and a defining characteristic that distinguishes it from Judaism. Most Jews believe that accepting Jesus as divine disqualifies one from living a Jewish life.

Traditional Jewish law does not recognize conversion out of the faith, so those who believe in Judaism are seen by religious authorities as still being Jewish, as long as they were born to a Jewish mother. Some Messianic Jews, like Lischinsky, trace their Jewish heritage through their father, meaning that many Jewish authorities wouldn’t see them as Jewish at all.

The Messianic Jewish movement traces back to the 19th century and is considered an offshoot of the Hebrew Christian movement. The first known congregations emerged in the early 1800s, with the movement gaining traction in Europe and later in the United States in the early 20th century.

Still, the mainstream Jewish world does not accept Messianic Jews. Belief in Jesus is often viewed as inherently Christian, and many consider such individuals to have left the fold.

That’s why many eulogized Lischinsky as a Christian.

“He was a Christian, a true lover of Israel, served in the IDF, and chose to dedicate his life to the state of Israel and the Zionist cause,” wrote Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor after Lischinsky’s murder. “He embodied the Judeo-Christian values and set an example for young people worldwide.”

But Mistretta disagreed with labeling Lischinsky as anything other than Jewish.

The only thing that would differentiate Lischinsky from traditional Jews was his belief in Yeshua as the Messiah, and “that’s not a fair distinction because there are lots of Jews that have lots of different opinions that live in Israel,” Mistretta said. “The things that unite us, like serving in the army and fighting for our country, should be bigger than just a singular belief in Yeshua. Why should a belief in Yeshua discount someone from their identity as a Jew?”

The relationship between Judaism and Christianity has long been fraught. Many Jews who believe in Jesus have been accused of attempting to covertly or overtly convert others. These tensions are rooted in centuries of pain.

Most Christians embrace a doctrine known as supersessionism, which teaches that the Church has replaced Israel as the recipient of God’s promises. This view asserts that Jews are no longer God’s chosen people.

Over the centuries, Jews suffered persecution at the hands of the Church, from the First and Second Crusades in 1096 and 1147 to the Holocaust in the 20th century.

“This history of antisemitism caused the two faiths to go in very different directions,” Mistretta acknowledged.

Moreover, organizations like Jews for Jesus, founded in 1973 by Baptist minister Moishe Rosen—a Reform Jew from Kansas City who converted to Christianity—have intensified those tensions. Rosen made it his life’s mission to convert Jews to belief in Jesus. Many Jewish organizations today remain wary of such evangelism.

“There is a horrible history of Christianity where Christians try to force, manipulate, coerce, and force Jewish people to believe in Jesus, and that is a very unfortunate reality,” Mistretta said. “It’s a horrible thing. It’s something that should never have happened.”

However, he insisted that such practices are no longer typical among today’s evangelical Christians or Messianic Jews. While they are proud to share their faith, Mistretta said they generally avoid coercion.

“I am firmly opposed to any effort to proselytize Jews,” said Rabbi Tuly Weisz, who runs an organization called Israel365, which aims to build bridges between Jews and Christian Zionists. “In my own experience with those on the Judeo-Christian spectrum, I have been surprised. Most of whom I have interacted with are second generation. Their parents were typical American Reform Jews who intermarried and found themselves in Messianic congregations, not accepted as Jews or Christians. The ones I have spoken to don’t identify as Messianic, don’t believe in classic Christian theology, and don’t proselytize.”

Israeli law explicitly prohibits giving money or gifts as an inducement to convert to another religion and forbids proselytizing to minors. Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers proposed a bill to ban all proselytizing, but in March 2023, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blocked it.

Additionally, Israeli law bars Messianic Jews from immigrating under the Law of Return. A 1989 Supreme Court ruling determined that belief in Jesus or in any other religion disqualifies one from receiving automatic Israeli citizenship.

Mistretta said that on the same day Lischinsky was murdered in Washington, a Messianic Jewish couple he knows, who had fled the US due to antisemitism, was denied Aliyah at Israel’s Ministry of Interior because they believed in Yeshua.

“As Jews, we have to ask ourselves, what would we like to see with the third generation of intermarried Jews?” Weisz asked The Media Line. “Do we want to push them further out of the community towards Christianity, knowing full well that in a generation or two, they could become hostile to Israel and the Jewish people? Or do we want to find ways to engage so that they can be a bridge between Israel and the rest of the world?”

Weisz said Lischinsky died in sanctification of God’s holy name, a Jewish concept similar to martyrdom.

“The despicable murderer didn’t care what his theological beliefs were,” Weisz said. “Yaron serves as a new model for Judeo-Christian Zionism who defied categorization. While not Jewish according to religious law, ethnically, Yaron was half-Jewish, who considered himself a devout Christian yet at other times identified as a Jew.”

Weisz said that the binary distinction between Judaism and Christianity is outdated. “In our complex world, we have a Judeo-Christian spectrum with literally millions of people, like Yaron, who fall somewhere in between,” he said.

He said the young man’s death, alongside his girlfriend’s, demonstrates that, because of their shared dedication to Israel, Jewish and Christian Zionists now face a common fate. It is a blood covenant, he said, that the broader Jewish community must begin to reckon with.

Mistretta expressed similar sentiments. He said he knows of at least three Messianic Jewish soldiers who have been killed since October 7, 2023. “We feel part of this nation,” he said.

Messianic Jews, Mistretta added, have made a “disproportionate impact” on Israeli society during the war, raising hundreds of millions of dollars through Messianic and Christian Zionist supporters around the world.

Mistretta’s organization has brought multiple missions to volunteer in Israel. The group has connected Christian philanthropists to Israeli nonprofits, donated thousands of bulletproof vests, and helped distribute hundreds of thousands of meals to displaced families. They are also involved in building homes on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, among other efforts.

“These are complex questions that we cannot afford to shy away from,” Weisz said of the question of Messianic Jews. “Having had some meaningful conversations with those on the Judeo-Christian spectrum, who are as committed to Israel as anyone I know, I am optimistic that we can find a silver lining so that the second and third generation of intermarried Jews might become a unique source of strength for Israel and the Jewish people. And if we do that, then Yaron’s legacy will be an even greater blessing.”