Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council

2025 Summer Meeting

Rabbis Jeff and Lonnie The Council's 2025 Summer Meeting was held on May 18th through 20th in Connecticut.

At this year's meeting, Rabbi Adam Landsman was elected President and Rabbi Nathan Joiner was elected Secretary. Thank you to Rabbi Joshua Brumbach for two excellent terms as our President!

We had the pleasure of ordaining two newer members of our Council: Rabbi Jeff Lehrman and Rabbi Lonnie Bradshaw. Both rabbis have been serving as community leaders for some time and have previously recieved UMJC smicha. They have certainly earned MJRC smicha. Mazel tov, Rabbi Jeff and Rabbi Lonnie!

The MJRC Vision of Messianic Judaism

The primary purpose of the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (MJRC) is to articulate and promote a cohesive vision for Messianic Judaism rooted in Torah, responsive to Tradition, and faithful to Messiah Yeshua. Such a vision must (1) state how the MJRC sees the relationship between the Messianic Jewish movement and the Jewish people as a whole, the historical churches, and the Jews within those churches. It must also (2) define the Messianic Jewish relationship to the traditions transmitted and embodied by the Jewish people and the Christian church. Finally, a cohesive vision for Messianic Judaism must (3) include reflection on the potential eschatological significance of this movement. The following is an attempt to accomplish these three tasks by painting a portrait of Messianic Judaism not as it is, but as we work, pray, and long for it to be.

MJRC Ordinations

smicha June 2018 In June 2018, we witnessed a momentous occasion as Vered Hillel and Isaac Roussel received rabbinical ordination. Vered is the first woman to receive s'mikhah from the MJRC. Below is an excerpt from our standards manual outlining our policy of ordaining women as Messianic Jewish Rabbis.

(Link from the Standards Manual)

1.2.3 In concert with the example of Messiah Yeshua and the teaching of scripture concerning the leadership roles of men and women, we affirm the ordination of women as Messianic Jewish Rabbis.

In issuing this standard, the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (MJRC) welcomes women to use their God-given spiritual gifts in our community as leaders, rabbis, and teachers.

Scripture contains a number of examples of women who hold significant roles in leading and shaping the life of the people of Israel and the early community of Yeshua's followers - Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Esther, Junia (Romans 16:7), and Phoebe (Romans 16:1) to name a few. Scripture often describes these women as having significant positions of leadership within the community: judges, prophets, deacons, emissaries, etc. We regard these women leaders in the Tanach and Apostolic Writings as models rather than as exceptional cases reflecting communal disorder or the lack of men of sufficient caliber to serve as leaders in the community.

Our Mission Statement

Rooted in Torah, instructed by Tradition, faithful to Messiah Yeshua

MJRC

The Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (MJRC) consists of a group of ordained Rabbis and associated leaders who endeavor to promote a life of covenant faithfulness among Jewish followers of Messiah Yeshua.

Our core mission is to:

Promote a cohesive vision for Messianic Judaism
Define normative halakha and standards of faith for our communities
Serve the professional and personal needs of our members
Establish high standards of professional competence, ethical behavior, and halakhic conduct for our rabbis
Mediate and adjudicate disputes among our members
Facilitate professional placement of our members

The Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (MJRC) was formally established in May 2006. It consists of a group of ordained Messianic Jewish Rabbis and associated leaders who share a common vision for Messianic Judaism rooted in Torah, instructed by Tradition, and faithful to Messiah Yeshua in the twenty-first century.

The MJRC had its beginnings five years earlier. At that time a set of Messianic Jewish leaders from New England invited some of their colleagues from outside the region to join them in working on a common set of halakhic standards for themselves and their congregations.