The Russians Are Coming

For anyone who has been following the Messianic movement's attempt to convert the Jewish people, it is hard to ignore the vast focus on evangelizing the Russian Jews and other Jews from the Former Soviet Union (FSU). In Israel, Russian/FSU Jewish immigrants are the group most generally targetted by missionaries. Further, huge amounts of money and missionaries are flowing to places like the Ukraine and Russia to convince Jews to adopt Christianity in the form of Messianic "Judiasm." Even in the United States, there are Messianic missionaries specifically aiming for Russian/FSU Jews. There are a number of reasons why Messianics are targetting the Russian/FSU Jews more so than other Jews.



1. Russian/FSU Jews generally lack Jewish knowledge



Under the Soviet Union, practice and learning of Judaism was illegal. For generations, Jewish people knew little, if anything, of Jewish belief and practice. Since they do not know about Judaism, they are easier to fool into adopting Christian beliefs under the guise of the Messianic movement.



2. Russian/FSU Jews are often poor and needy



The economy in many parts of the Russia and FSU is poor. In Israel, many of the new FSU immigrants come with little money, so they need extra money, food and other goods on a regular basis. Missionaries are aware of these needs so they bring them aid items like food and use these items as a way of opening the door into the home of the needy Jews. Once they have given the needy Jew some aid, they then use the opportunity to convert them to Christianity.



3. Russian/FSU Jews are often isolated from the rest of the Jewish community.



Due to language and geography, Russian/FSU Jews are often isolated from the rest of Judaism. It is hard for a Jew in Estonia to connect with Jews around the world. In places like Israel and the US, Russian/FSU immigrants often are isolated by their inability to speak the local language and due to cultural differences. Messianic missionaries target these vulnerabilities, such as opening language centers as a way of inserting themselves into the immigrants' lives with the eventual goal of converting the immigrants. The ultimate interest is not in the immigrants' success but in convincing the immigrants to become Christians.

The targetting of Russian/FSU Jews by Messianic missionaries has led numerous counter-missionary groups to provide programming and materials in Russian. The Chabad centers in Russia/FSU often operate counter-missionary programming through their Magen League. Here is a link to their operations:
https://www.fjc.ru/departments/DeptDetail.asp?AID=80140

Here are links to Russian language counter-missionary material from major counter-missionary organizations:
Jews for Judaism:
http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/library/document-library/handbook/The-Jewish-Response-to-Missionaries----Russian/
Outreach Judaism:
http://www.outreachjudaism.org/russian.html