Messianics launch asinine crusade to close Yad l’Achim

Posted by Jewish Israel

Honestly, this should have been a Purim Post …

In the name of democracy and religious freedom, Messianic Christians have launched a campaign calling upon Christian leaders to lobby Jewish legislators and Jewish diplomats of the Jewish state to disband Yad l’Achim - a 60-year old anti-assimilation and counter-missionary organization which reaches out and assists lost Jews in Israel.

These efforts accompany the endeavors of evangelical attorney Calev [Calev] Myers of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ). Myers has petitioned Israel’s Attorney General to use his authority to “dismantle Yad L'Achim by officially recognizing it as an anti-democratic terrorist organization”. In an extensive report Jewish Israel explores the deceptive, untenable, and unethical presentation of those bolstering the jesus-movement in Israel...more

CUFI’s Robert Stearns warns of Evangelical shift to the Left:

Posted by Jewish Israel

CUFI’s Robert Stearns warns of Evangelical shift to the Left:
In response to Rev. Robert Stearns’ scheduled appearance as a panelist at the 7th Annual Jerusalem Conference, Jewish Israel recently released a report on some of Stearns’ missionary activities and connections in Israel. We expressed to an organizer of the event our reservations regarding a missionary presence at the conference. Stearns did appear at last week’s conference and Jewish Israel offers the following synopsis and commentary on some of the major and disturbing points covered in his remarks. ...more

Yad l‘Achim Considers Suing Messianic Attorney Calev Myers
Jewish Israel has confirmed with the offices of Yad l’Achim that they are considering plans to take legal action against evangelical attorney Calev Myers who has published defamatory material against the organization. Attorney Yoram Sheftal has recommended that the counter-missionary organization Yad l’Achim sue Myers for slander. Myers, the Founder and Chief Counsel of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, has relentlessly pursued Yad l’Achim, counter-missionary activists, Orthodox politicians, and the Torah observant community at large in writings and speeches.But last July he may have pushed the envelope too far with a JIJ e-newsletter article which has been described as “an appalling piece of hate speech”...more

Ambassador Oren cautions against messianics and proselytizing
Following an address at a church in Irvine California in which he thanked Christians for their support, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, raised the red flag on proselytizing and messianic Christianity in an interview published in the Christian Telegraph. “I have no statistics on the size of the Messianic community, but I think certainly that the State of Israel wants the Jewish people to remain Jewish…we are very sensitive to the notion of proselytizing -- very sensitive.” Do Ambassador Oren’s prudent remarks signify something of a departure from former Ambassador Daniel Ayalon’s no holds barred embrace of evangelicals?...more

Tovia Singer Authors Response to Christian Missionaries:
Rabbi Tovia Singer’s new book “Let’s Get Biblical!” is hot off the presses and addresses the fundamental question of “why doesn't Judaism accept the Christian messiah?" In addition, the book exposes how, “over the course of many centuries, the Church systematically altered the Jewish Scriptures in its authorized translations.” The book was reportedly written “in direct response to the growing effort of numerous fundamentalist Christian organizations which aggressively target Jews for conversion… In contrast to most ecumenical Jewish-Christian literature published today, this book makes no attempt to reconcile the Synagogue and the Church.”...more

When Religious Freedom becomes Religious Tyranny

Posted by Jewish Israel

In its annual International Religious Freedoms Report on Israel and the “Occupied Territories”, The U.S. State Department accused Israel of “governmental and legal discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism”.

A disproportionate amount of the report is dedicated to depicting Torah traditions and Orthodox Judaism as oppressive, and to reporting on Israel’s “growing” but “harassed” community of apostate Jews and Christian missionaries.

The report cited that, “government allocations of state resources favored Orthodox (including Modern and National Religious streams of Orthodoxy) and ultra-Orthodox (sometimes referred to as "Haredi") Jewish religious groups and institutions, discriminating against non-Jews and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism.”

The State Department was hypercritical of everything from Shabbat observance to Jewish marriage counseling, divorce law, and burial rights in Israel. Jewish Israel wonders if censuring circumcision is next?

The report clearly bears the biased mark of Calev Myers, the Orthodox-bashing evangelical attorney from the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ). Indeed JIJ is cited in an especially lengthy rant on behalf of “messianic Jews” and against the counter-missionary organization Yad L’Achim.

Jewish Israel wonders if the State Department has nothing better to do than issue a protracted denunciation against Israel’s Jewish character. We’ve highlighted several pertinent points of interest and insanity from the report. So if you’re Goldstone-fatigued, and in need of a change in your choice of poison, read how Israel’s number one ally and friend brandishes their right to discredit the Jewish state and Jewish tradition in the name of religious freedom. Read our full take on the report at Jewish Israel

Also, later today, as a follow-up to our report on the halachic ruling against taking funds from Yechiel Eckstein's IFCJ, Jewish Israel will begin to post a list of those organizations who have written to us declaring that they do not solicit or take funds from IFCJ or Evangelical organizations.

Missionary U. in the heart of Jerusalem

Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz

I warned you all about this one a year ago

On March 24, Southeastern University will hold its grand opening ceremony for the Jerusalem Studies Center - a satellite campus for Ministerial students.

The self-described "Christ-centered University" was founded in 1935 as a Bible Institute to train pastors and missionaries.

The deal for the 13,500 foot five-story building in the heart of Jerusalem, was most likely orchestrated by messianic attorney Calev Myers, who was the featured commencement speaker at Southeastern U. last year, His remarks reportedly focused "on the need...for further action to spread knowledge of Jesus. Southeastern graduates can help Israeli believers in Jesus by educating their congregations, praying for Israel and aligning themselves with Messianic Jewish congregations…He urged Jewish believers from around the world to relocate to Israel, as his family did when he was 18. ‘We believe the day is coming, friends, when Jesus once again will reveal himself to Israel, to the Jewish people,’ he said.”

Will keep you posted on developments.