RABBI MICHAEL SKOBAC
MONTREAL – B’nai Brith Canada’s Quebec Region has issued a community alert as the Christian missionary group Jews for Jesus prepares to descend upon Montreal Sept. 18 for what it is calling a three-week ‘Behold Your God’ campaign.
“Missionaries from Jews for Jesus often seek out and exploit Jews who are the least knowledgeable of Judaism,” said the B’nai Brith warning, published in local papers last week. “They present themselves as Jews who simply believe that Jesus is the Messiah, claiming that accepting this is the ‘most Jewish thing’ one can do. In fact, a significant number of the missionaries active with Jews for Jesus are not Jewish at all.”
B’nai Brith Regional Director Bill Surkis noted that the statement of faith of Jews for Jesus is “eternally pre-existent and co-equal with God the Father ” and that there is a “Holy Spirit” that is “co-equal with the Father and Son (God and Jesus)” that was “active in the creation of all things.” Surkis said, “These beliefs are Christian and are contrary to the most basic tenets of Judaism.”
Jews for Jesus has committed more than $22 million to a five-year global ‘Behold Your God’ campaign, seeking, as their web site says “to make Jesus an unavoidable issue to the Jewish people.” Cities outside of Israel with Jewish populations in excess of 25,000 have been specifically targeted for this campaign. Jews for Jesus boasts about its success in dozens of cities so far, including Chicago, Tampa, San Francisco, Moscow, Portland, Kiev, London, Los Angeles, Toronto and Boston.
As well as B’nai Brith, other organizations are mounting campaigns to head off Jews for Jesus. Counter-missionary group Jews for Judaism plan to be particularly aggressive, with a ‘Standup for Judaism’ Weekend, with special educational programs at selected venues on Sept. 16 and 17, culminating with a counter-missionary survival seminar Sept. 18 at Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation in suburban Côte Saint-Luc.
Reached in Boston by the Jewish Tribune, Jews for Jesus spokesperson Jonathan Bernd insisted that his group has no hidden agenda.
“We are not sneaking into Montreal,” he said. “We announced four years ago that we intended to come here. And we publicized the exact dates on our web site over the summer. We plan on being there for three or maybe even four weeks to get our message out.”
Bernd, who is upset with some of the advertising in local newspapers about his group, said, “I just read the Jews for Judaism ad in the Suburban newspaper and I was pretty blown away by the strength of innuendo.
“It's one thing to promote a difference of opinion about the Bible. It’s another to dishonestly and deliberately stir up a frenzy. Using words such as ‘anti-hate hotline’ is not only dishonest, it shames the memory of those who died as true victims of hate in the Holocaust, like my grandparents. Offering people the opportunity to interact with the Hebrew Bible is Jewish. The motives of those who seek to stir up hatred should be questioned.”
Rabbi Michael Skobac, educational director of Jews for Judaism, agrees that knowing about the Jews for Jesus campaign in advance helps.
“Yes, knowing in advance… has allowed us to organize effective campaigns in Los Angeles, Baltimore and Toronto. Based upon these successes, we have developed a template that has been, and is being, used by many cities worldwide who are being targetted by this missionary initiative,” he said. “We’ve been working with the Jewish community in Montreal for the past six months to set up extensive programming and bilingual resources. In terms of whether Montreal will be a good target for the missionaries, they certainly believe it will be. Other missionary groups such as Chosen People Ministries, among others, have been working there for years. The basic formula used by missionaries is to go where the Jews are. Therefore, they will be more likely to target cities like Montreal and Toronto than Calgary or Halifax. That being said, I think that Montreal will be one of the more difficult nuts for them to crack. It is a city well-known for its strength in terms of Jewish education and commitment to Judaism. Unfortun
ately, there are still many Jews who are unaffiliated, disaffected or not strongly connected to Judaism. These are certainly vulnerable to the appeal of missionaries.
B’nai Brith’s Quebec Region is prepared.
“We have begun disseminating flyers to warn people about Jews for Jesus,” says Community Relations Officer Leah Berger. “They are printed in French, English and Russian. We’ve also issued a letter to churches and community organizations, again warning about the deceptive tactics of Jews for Jesus. When and if approached, we recommend people say ‘no thanks’ and go about their business.”
Jews for Jesus said it is targetting Montreal because it is "the most unreached city in North America." A news release from the group says that will hand out its leaflets in the downtown area, which is not only the main cultural and business centre of the city, but also the home of two big universities, McGill and Concordia.
"In Montreal, we have seen that people often feel comfortable in expressing their own opinions in the security of their home, so we will be phoning and door-to-door canvassing," the message continues. "We also plan to have events of interest such as a debate between an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and a Messianic Jewish scholar, as well as testimony evenings and film showings."
Bernd says that the highlight will be the opening of a Jews for Jesus branch in Montreal. "We do not seek confrontation," he said. "I realize this is an emotional issue for everyone." He said Jews for Jesus will have 20 people – and growing – out spreading their message in Montreal.
Rabbi Chaim Steinmatz of Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem said, “I am very concerned. The Jewish tradition says, ‘kol yisrael areivim ze Lazeh’ – every Jew is interconnected. So we must worry about every last Jew.
We would hate for even one member of the Montreal Jewish community to get entrapped by this deeply deceptive missionary group. Our response must be not only to remind Jews why they are not Christians, but more importantly, to remind Jews why they are Jews.”
Moishe Rosen, founder of Jews for Jesus, said, "our name tells who we are, who we stand for and what we do. Everything is right up front! While we might have chosen a less controversial name, Jews for Jesus is the one that most quickly, easily and accurately lets people know who we are and what we are about. Sometimes people ask us, ‘How long has Jews for Jesus been around?’ We love that question because it gives us the chance to grin and say: ‘Since 32 AD, give or take a year.’ The joke reminds people that a minority of Jewish people have always believed and proclaimed the gospel, and that we follow in that same tradition."
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