Shopping for Jews

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Written by Jeff Neckonoff

Wednesday, 26 July 2006 19:00

Last Thursday, July 20, as I was in the midst of my weekly Shabbos shopping in the Five Towns, I just happened to stop into Chabad to pick up a copy of last week's L'Chaim publication.

As I walked through the door, Shainy Blau, Chabad's efficient and friendly office administrator, urgently called me over. She said she had just e-mailed me about a handful of phone calls she had received, reporting that Jews for Jesus missionaries were spotted on Central Avenue. Five minutes earlier, Rabbi Zalman Wolowik, who was in California, directed her, via text messaging, to get in touch with me ASAP.

So off I went. I just happened to have about 25 Jews for Judaism flyers in my car, as I'd been at the Jones Beach band shell the previous week where Jews for Jesus held a concert aimed at telling secular Jews about their god. I grabbed the flyers and called my good friend, Gavriel Sanders, to get some help dealing with this situation. Gavriel had also received some calls, and we were able to pinpoint the location of the missionaries. Meanwhile, since Gavriel was in Brooklyn, he was on the phone trying to get some more people to help.

The missionaries were enjoying a casual lunch at King David. I walked by, looked in, and saw they were there. They were nonchalantly sitting at a table, proudly sporting their new gray "Jews for Jesus" T-shirts, paid for in part by the millions of dollars their organization receives from evangelical churches across the United States. I then stood outside, reading the Five Towns Jewish Times, which just happened to have an ad on Page 5 for a very important counter-missionary program at the White Shul on Sunday, July 23. After about 15 minutes, the missionaries came out. As they were getting their bearings, I asked in a very friendly tone, "How was lunch?"

Being a former "messianic" myself, I feel that yelling and chastising doesn't work, as they truly believe their meshugas, and they are 100 percent sincere in wanting to save us poor Jews from hell since we reject their god.

Plus, they love "persecution," as Yushke told them in their Bible that they are to expect it.
They looked at me questionably as I then engaged them in conversation. I told them how nice it was for them to come, as I needed to tell them about the awesome seminar they really should attend on Sunday. They didn't know what to do with me.

I told them that there was no reason for animosity, as I used to be one of them. Now I'd really grabbed their attention. I explained to them that their main proof from Isaiah is a farce, and that those seriously studying it will see that for themselves. Then, the head missionary, Melissa, asked me about Daniel 9, which they claim pinpoints the exact date Yushke came. I countered with a simple response-that Daniel 9 has in it four possible dates, and that they (Evangelical Christians) chose the one that makes the least amount of sense. Their mouths hung open as they didn't know how to respond. They then politely excused themselves as they said they had to go "shopping."

Before they walked away, one of them-Santiago from Australia, the son of two Jews-clasped my hand and told me that my conversation with them was the most amicable they'd had since they arrived on Central Avenue. He explained that people were cursing them and threatening them with flat tires. He was very distressed that "people who call themselves religious could act that way." I very nicely explained that while it was nothing personal, Jews for J and their fellow missionaries who target Jews for conversion are rightly seen as "spiritual Nazis," and what they are doing is attempting to destroy Jewish souls by conversion, which leads to further assimilation, thereby effectively waging war on Hashem, Torah, and the Jewish people. Plus, the entire concept of being Jewish and Christian at the same time is a tremendous oxymoron. The Tanach speaks nothing of a resurrected man-god messiah. Their belief is an ancient pagan belief, brought to Europe in force by Emperor Constantine in the year 325 CE.

I then responded to their "shopping" comment by asking if they were really there to shop, or were they there to proselytize. One of them, from Pittsburgh, admitted they were there to hand out flyers as well as to shop, as he showed me his stack of tracts. Melissa then prodded them on, as they were obviously not there to speak with someone like myself, who is, thankfully, well-inoculated against their methods and deceit.

As they made their way west down Central, I called Gavriel. He told me that Tzvi from the singing group Hamsa Boys and our mutual friend Yechezkel Bund (also known as Charles) were on their way. Tzvi then called me and found me near Spruce Street. He parked, and we walked past the missionaries again. I smiled and asked if they were having fun "shopping." Tzvi told them that this was not the right place for them to "shop." He then engaged them in conversation-asking about certain verses in their Bible, as he had had some training with Jews for Judaism.

They didn't want to talk to someone who actually knew how to answer their questions.

Then Yechezkel Bund, also a former messianic, arrived on the scene. We've known each other since 2000, when we first met at a local messianic congregation. He recently broke free, thanks to Jews for Judaism, Gavriel Sanders, and myself. He told the missionaries that he had also once believed exactly as they do, and asked them to please elaborate on some of their "messianic" prophecies and questionable theology. He challenged them to prove their ideology and try to bring him "back" to their fold.

The reason he engaged them in that manner was because he knew that there was no way their so-called "proof texts" and twisted religious concepts could affect him, as he is currently learning true Torah in a local yeshiva. But he was hoping for a way to challenge them in serious dialogue. His goal was to have them see the error of their ways, as well as to counter their spoon-fed answers with truth from the Torah. He also wanted to make them understand that many people leave the Christian life and actually come home to true Judaism. The Hebrew-Christian/messianic organizations and congregations hide the fact that many adherents break away and do true teshuvah. Because they are kept from the truth, many are unaware that they have a way out. As far as the missionaries were concerned, Yechezkel thought, if they were truly sincere in their beliefs, why would they not try to "save" his soul again?

However, they refused to speak with him.

At this point, Melissa started getting nervous and vocalized to us that she felt harassed. This, I know, is standard Jews for J playbook material. If threatened with the truth, they call for help. So she called Susan Perlman, the assistant to the executive director, and voiced her concerns. Next thing we knew, Melissa threatened to call the police, as she felt harassed and threatened by our behavior. But all we were doing was walking next to them, politely asking questions. Their obvious goal was to do anything possible to prevent a counterbalance to their activity. Melissa then stuck to the missionary script and called the police.

At this point, I had to leave and go to work. Yechezkel then shared with me the rest of what transpired that day. Eventually, the police came. They told Tzvi and Yechezkel that the missionaries claimed that they were there to "shop" and not to give out tracts. This was a lie, as we all witnessed them handing out tracts during their leisurely walk. The police acknowledged that we were doing nothing wrong; nobody was engaged in any kind of harassment, and everyone had the right to be on the street.

Throughout the day, the Jews for J missionaries called the police at least two more times, to no avail. The police left, apparently frustrated by their calls. Most of the onlookers thought this to truly be a waste of our tax money and police resources.

Every time Yechezkel tried to engage them in peaceful dialogue, the group was told by Melissa not to speak to him.

They were totally closed to listening to opposing viewpoints. We found out later that the missionaries had zero knowledge of Hebrew and would not have been able to really understand the Tanach in its original meaning anyway.
All in all, the missionaries were prevented from handing out their pamphlets, thanks to us keeping our eyes on them. During their five hours of walking up and down Central Avenue, they actually did buy some items from a few stores, but the main item they came shopping for that day-precious Jewish neshamas-were, baruch Hashem, unavailable and not for sale.

Make sure to read upcoming issues of the Five Towns Jewish Times, as Gavriel Sanders, myself, and some other key players in the war against the missionaries lay out a plan to train a troop of proactive counter-missionaries, so that when the Five Towns and other Jewish areas are invaded by missionaries, we will have more local people ready to engage them, challenge them, and perhaps even bring some of these lost Jewish souls back home.

For links to important resources in fighting the missionaries, please see Jeff's website at ShuvahYisrael.com.