The following is another brief report on recent attempts to prevent Jewish people in Israel from hearing the gospel of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah.
A Mayor Supports Messianic Jews
“How appalling to find that dear innocent Jews, who after going through the anguish of the Holocaust and Communism’s atrocities, are forced to attend a Messianic missionary event supported by City Hall.”
That was the opening to a letter sent to the mayor of the southern coastal city of Ashdod after anti-Messianic organizations learned that Messianic Jews had rented a hall belonging to the local municipality and organized an evening in honor of Holocaust survivors. In the letter, Rabbi Binyamin Vulcan, the anti-Messianic field worker who was arrested in 2013 for violence against Messianic Jews, demanded that Mayor Yechiel Lasri put a stop to “Messianic missionaries” using the premises.
The mayor has met with the Messianics on a number of occasions, and anti-Messianic groups in the city are concerned that Lasri is far too cozy with Jewish believers in Yeshua. Rabbi Vulcan said on Jewish Voice radio that he and his organization are now lobbying Orthodox members of Knesset to have the Mayor Lasri removed from office.
Raising Funds to Fight Messianics
A recent fundraising campaign for the anti-Messianic organizations Yad L’Achim and Or L’Achim notes that "missionaries" have 156 Messianic congregations throughout the country. “They are waiting for us on every corner,” complains one of the organization’s rabbis. The anti-Messianics claim that Messianic “missionaries” are targeting young people and those who are ignorant of their Jewish heritage, and deceiving them into “converting to Christianity.” Messianic Jews do not call themselves Christians, but believe that faith in Jesus is a fulfillment of their Jewish heritage.
In their appeal for financial aid to continue fighting the Messianics, Yad L’Achim used the Torah portion on Israel’s war against Amalek, urging supporters to help them to to “eradicate” the “Satanic” Messianic enemies who want to destroy the Jewish people. In the fundraising ad, the group claims to be “fighting the Messianics everyday around the clock to save Jews from the cursed Messianic’s grip.” Oy-Veh.
Purim
Yad L’Achim reports that a “church of the Messianic Jews” in Ramat Gan is trying to convince people passing by their congregation to believe in Jesus. The anti-Messianic group says that in addition to warning all those who pass by of the “dangerous missionary threat,” they are also working to shut down the Messianic congregation.
In protest against the Messianic congregation celebrating Purim this year, Yad L'Achim put up a large sign on an adjacent synagogue warning the public of the “missionary disguise,” a play on the tradition to wear costumes during Purim.
In a strange turn of events, when the anti-Messianic group learned of the Messianic Purim event, they decided to organize their own traditional reading of the Scroll of Esther at the nearby synagogue as an alternative. In the end, the Messianic Jews read the Scroll of Esther next door to the Orthodox Jewish reading. A double blessing for Purim this year!
