BOOK BURNING: The torching of New Testaments by ultra-Orthodox zealots brought exposure to the Messianic community
First came the staggering news of a near-lethal bomb that exploded in the hands of Amiel Ortiz, a Messianic teenager in the settlement of Ariel who continues to make a miraculous recovery. Then, Bat-El Levy made headlines when she, another Messianic teenager, advanced to the finals of the International Bible Quiz along with Orthodox Jewish counterparts.
And most recently, Orthodox Jews seized New Testaments distributed to Jews in a Tel Aviv suburb and burned them. Whether for good or for bad, whether intentionally or not, Messianic Judaism has come to the attention of Israeli society in the past few months.
What has become clear from these cases is that Israelis are mostly ignorant about Messianic Jews, and the violent acts carried out by anti-missionary groups do not represent the public at large. If anything, these incidents have brought sympathy.