Jews accuse Mike Pence of insulting stunt as he prays with ‘Christian rabbi’ Loren Jacobs after massacre
- Loren Jacobs, a Christian who calls himself ‘rabbi’, was invited to election event hosted by US Vice-President, who said he was a ‘leader of Jewish community’
- Jacobs’ speech, which was denounced as ‘offensive’, included a prayer for Republican politicians but did not name Saturday’s 11 shooting victims
American Jews, in shock over the massacre of 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, voiced outrage Tuesday after US Vice-President Mike Pence hosted an election event with a so-called “Christian rabbi”.
Pence took part late Monday in a campaign rally for Lena Epstein, a Jewish Republican running for the House of Representatives, in suburban Detroit, Michigan. At the rally Loren Jacobs, who uses the title “rabbi” but espouses Christianity, was invited to speak on behalf of the area’s Jewish community.
Instead of opening up with prayers for the 11 Jews shot dead Saturday at the Tree of Life synagogue, Jacobs praised Jesus Christ and then offered prayers for four Republican candidates.
“I pray that you will enable Vice-President Pence to fulfil his many and important responsibilities with excellence,” he added.
Messianic ‘Judaism’ is a branch of Christianity and offensive to the Jewish community … This was an insulting political stunt
At the end of the rally, Pence, a devout Christian and hero of evangelicals, invited Jacobs back to say a prayer for the victims as “a leader of the Jewish community here in Michigan”.
Jacobs then offered words for the dead in the form of a prayer to Jesus Christ, without naming any of them.