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Michigan GOP candidate who was raised Jewish now says she’s a Messianic Jew
(JTA) – A candidate for chair of the Michigan Republican Party who faced criticism after inviting a Messianic “rabbi” to offer a prayer for the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018 has now announced that she is a “Jewish Messianic believer of Christ.”
Lena Epstein, who was raised Jewish, made the comments Tuesday at a candidate forum hosted by the conservative group Ottawa County Patriots at a Baptist church in Holland, Michigan. She said her running mate for party co-chair, Pastor Donald Eason of Metro Church of Christ in Sterling Heights, Michigan, was the one who had “baptized me into the Christian faith.”
Epstein, the general manager of an oil corporation, was the co-chair of President Donald Trump’s successful 2016 campaign in her state. She then ran for Congress in 2018 and for the University of Michigan Board of Regents last year but lost both races.
During her 2018 congressional race, Epstein initially highlighted her roots in the Detroit area Jewish community. But a rift emerged after the Pittsburgh shooting, when she appeared onstage with a Messianic “rabbi” and then-Vice President Mike Pence, who were offering a prayer for the 11 Jewish victims of the attack. The event drew heavy criticism from Jews in Michigan and beyond, and the vice president’s office said Epstein was the one who had invited the rabbi.
Epstein defended her decision at the time by tweeting, “I invited the prayer because we must unite as a nation — while embracing our religious differences — in the aftermath of Pennsylvania.”
A group of Jews across different parties, including several whom she grew up with, subsequently took out an ad in the Detroit Jewish News urging local Jews not to vote for her in that election.
“Lena Epstein has chosen a side. It’s not ours,” the ad read.
Now, it seems that Epstein has indeed chosen to align herself with non-Jews. Messianic Judaism is a movement whose followers believe in the divinity of Jesus while claiming to practice Judaism; missionary work is part of Messianic practice, and Messianic groups often have ties to explicitly Christian organizations. A 2021 Pew Research Center study of American Jews estimated that about 200,000 Americans identify as Messianic Jews.
In her Tuesday speech, Epstein did not say when she was baptized, but Eason said in his own speech that it had happened prior to her current campaign. “I baptized her into Christ, so when she asked me to be her co-chair, could I really say no?” he said. Eason added that, through his church organization, he had brought Christian nationalist David Barton to speak, and was met with applause.
Epstein did not respond to a request for comment.
Online, Epstein has continued to present herself as Jewish. Her Instagram shows that she has visited her daughter’s suburban Detroit private school, Cranbrook, in recent months to read stories about Yom Kippur and Hanukkah to students. Epstein has previously identified herself as “a Jewish millennial female who is supporting Trump.”
Elsewhere in her Ottawa County address, Epstein highlighted her family’s history of experiencing antisemitism, saying, “My family fled religious persecution from Eastern Europe.” She added, “Today I stand before you as a fourth-generation American with the religious freedom to be a Messianic Jewish believer, to have a 5-year-old daughter that I’m raising in our faith.”
The election for Michigan GOP chair will be held at the state party convention, Feb. 17 and 18 in Lansing. Epstein is running to replace departing chair Ron Weiser, a Jewish Republican. While Epstein had the full endorsements of the Republican Party for her last two campaigns, as well as that of Trump for her 2018 Congress run, this time she is running against 10 other candidates, all vying to lead a party that lost every major state office race and control of both houses in Michigan’s 2022 midterm elections.
Among them are frontrunners Matthew DePerno, a former attorney general candidate who is under investigation for allegedly plotting to seize and tamper with the state’s voting machines, and Kristina Karamo, a former secretary of state candidate who has denied the results of the 2020 election and sued in an attempt to stop absentee ballots in Detroit from being counted in 2022.
Epstein has also embraced election denial rhetoric, telling Republicans that election fraud is a “big problem” and that liberal counties have engaged in ballot “dumping.” She has been endorsed by Rudy Giuliani in her race.
She was also arrested in September 2021 for suspected domestic assault, though no charges were filed.
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The post Michigan GOP candidate who was raised Jewish now says she’s a Messianic Jew appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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US-Israeli Attack Triggers Fear and Panic in Iran
Buildings stand, after Israel and the US launched strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, February 28, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranians fled cities in search of safety, and long queues formed at fuel stations as an attack on Iran by the United States and Israel spread fear and panic throughout the country.
When the strikes began on Saturday morning, explosions rocked Tehran and columns of smoke rose into the sky, shaking the city at the start of the Iranian working week.
Residents reached by phone described scenes of chaos and alarm as they rushed to collect their children from school or made preparations to leave home for now.
“We are going to our hometown in Yazd, Tehran is not safe anymore. They said roads are safe, but I am worried,” said Gholamreza, a Tehran shopkeeper and father of two. “I am leaving everything behind in Tehran.”
It marks the latest upheaval for Iranians weeks after thousands of people were killed in a government crackdown on nationwide unrest, and comes just eight months after last year’s 12-day war with Israel, during which the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites.
Iran’s top security body said it expected attacks to continue on Tehran and some other cities, and urged people to “travel to other cities where possible so that you may remain safe from the harm of these two regimes’ acts of aggression.” Schools and universities would be closed until further notice.
“We are scared, we are terrified. My children are shaking, we have nowhere to go, we will die here,” said Minou, a 32-year-old mother of two from the northern city of Tabriz, one of many areas where explosions were reported.
“What is going to happen to my children?” she said, crying as she spoke by phone.
US President Donald Trump said the operation would end a security threat to the United States and offer Iranians a chance to topple their rulers. The Pentagon said that US strikes against Iran were named “OPERATION EPIC FURY.”
An Iranian from the central city of Yazd said he hoped the attack would topple the clerical establishment that has run the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. “Let them bomb,” the resident of Yazd said.
Samira Mohebbi, speaking from the northern city of Rasht, disagreed.
“I am against this regime, to hell with them. But I don’t want my country to be attacked by foreign forces, I don’t want my Iran to turn into Iraq,” she said, referring to the neighboring country that suffered years of chaos and bloodshed following the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
‘THEY FOOLED US AGAIN’
Security forces blocked roads in the area of Tehran that is home to the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian and parliament, witnesses said.
The latest round of negotiations between the United States and Iran in Geneva on Thursday failed to secure a breakthrough over Tehran’s nuclear programme, though Omani mediators reported progress.
“They said the nuclear talks are going well. They fooled us again,” said a resident of Tehran.
Zohreh, 28, said she would leave the port city of Bushehr with her three-year-old daughter and go to her parents’ home in a village in northern Iran.
“Why are we paying this price? I want my daughter to grow up safe and in peace,” she said.
Western governments have long suspected Iran aims to build a nuclear bomb. Tehran has always denied this.
Witnesses said people were rushing to buy hard currency.
In Isfahan, another area where attacks were reported, some said they were unable to withdraw cash from ATMs.
Reza Saadati, 45, said he was taking his family to the city of Urumieh near the Turkish border. “If the border is open, we will cross and then fly to Istanbul,” he said.
Mohammad Esmaili, 63, speaking from the town of Ilam, some 500 km (300 miles) from Tehran, said he would leave the town with his family. “God knows what will happen to us. Pray for us,” he said.
“People are shocked, scared. What is going to happen to us? Save us please,” said a woman from Tehran.
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Prior to Iran attacks, CIA assessed Khamenei Would Be Replaced by IRCG Elements if Killed
Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attend an IRGC ground forces military drill in the Aras area, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, Oct. 17, 2022. Photo: IRGC/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
In the run-up to the US and Israeli attacks on Saturday, the US Central Intelligence Agency assessed that even if Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the operation, he would likely be replaced by hardline figures from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), two sources briefed on the intelligence said.
The assessments, which were produced over the past two weeks, looked broadly at what could occur in Iran following a US intervention and the extent to which a military operation could trigger regime change in the Islamic Republic — now a pronounced objective for Washington.
The IRGC is an elite military force whose purpose is to protect Shi’ite Muslim clerical rule in Iran.
The intelligence agency reports did not conclude any scenario with certainty, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
The Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment.
President Donald Trump has for weeks signaled the US was interested in seeing regime change in Iran, but has not given in any detail Washington’s thinking on who could lead the country.
In an early morning video address on Saturday, Trump described Tehran as a “terrorist regime” and encouraged the Iranian people to take over the government, saying the US military strikes would set the stage for an uprising.
The US and Israeli assault comes after weeks of deliberation inside the US government about whether to strike Iran following the deadly protests that broke out there in December.
US officials in recent weeks have tried to strike a nuclear deal with Tehran in an attempt to stave off intervention.
In a briefing last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told top congressional lawmakers known as the Gang of Eight that a US operation would likely move forward, but that Trump could change his mind, particularly if nuclear negotiations were successful. Those talks in Geneva did not result in an agreement.
Rubio notified the Gang of Eight on Friday night that the operation to attack Iran was likely to commence in the following hours but said Trump could still change his mind, two sources familiar with the matter said.
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US and Israel Launched Military Operation Against Islamic Republic: This Is What We Know So Far
Iranian mourners wave the country’s flags while participating in a memorial ceremony for IRGC commanders, nuclear scientists, and civilians killed in the Iran-Israel war at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in downtown Tehran, Iran, on July 2, 2025. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – It’s been just over ten hours since the US and Israel launched operations “Epic Fury” and “Roaring Lion” against the Islamic Republic. And while this is still a developing story, here is what we know.
Just after 8 am local time the US and Israel launched a series of strikes on Iranian military targets across Iran. The main targets were Iran’s leaders and IRGC senior commanders in Iran and some targets in Iraq.
The IDF says it struck hundreds of targets, including ready-to-fire ballistic missile launchers. While there is no official confirmation of any specific eliminations, Iran’s foreign minister confirmed that some senior commanders were eliminated.
As Israeli and US strikes continued, Iran launched numerous ballistic missile barrages across Israel, and against six Arab countries, namely Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain, who all condemned the Iranian strikes on their territory. Iran claims it targeted US military bases in the region.
The escalation also saw a rare sign of unity between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, who have suffered from tense relations in recent weeks.
Iran has vowed to continue its strikes across the region, with Israeli officials saying they expect the strikes against Iran to continue for at least a few days.
While Iran has already turned this into a regional conflict, it still has potential to expand further. So far, neither Hezbollah in Lebanon nor Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq have joined the fray.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam sent a warning message to Hezbollah not to drag the country into, quote, “adventures that threaten its security and unity.”