Jewish Israel

Jewish Israel is a wonderful website that takes a measured look at how the Evangelical Christian community (including the Messianic "Jews") interact with the Jewish community of Israel. Their work is well-referenced and demonstrates a thorough investigation of their topics.

http://jewishisrael.ning.com/

Did You Know They Left?

There are many people who have left the Messianic movement and returned to real Judaism. However, it is hard to tell this by the Jews for Jesus website. They still have articles and stories on their website written on, or about, people who have long since left the Messianic movement.

For instance, you can still find Ellen Kamentsky on their website. Ellen is well-known for having written the book "Hawking God: A Young Jewish Woman's Ordeal in Jews for Jesus", in which she rips the dishonest practices of Jews for Jesus. This book was written back in 1993! You would figure that after more than a decade and a half of having left the movement, Jews for Jesus would remove information on her from their website but they have not.
http://www.sapphirepress.com/hawking/

The same can be said about Jeff Neckenoff. Jews for Jesus still has articles on Jeff Neckenoff on their site yet he has been out of the Messianic movement for many years and runs a counter-missionary website, www.bethgoyim.com

You would figure that after someone left the Messianic movement (and are working quite hard against the Messianic movement) that Jews for Jesus would take them off their website. It would be logical to do so, but Jews for Jesus has not taken this logical step.

Converting Jewish Children

It is one thing to target adults for conversion, but it is certainly quite another to target children. However, for the Messianic movement, there is often no difference. For example, Uri Zahora of the Russian Messianic Congregation (also a pastor with the Shalom Hebraic Christian Church and formerly of Congregation Am Echad) has used games and a swimming party to attract Jewish children to the Messianic movement in Houston. Using teenagers from the Tallowood Baptist Church, he put on events in an apartment complex with many Russian Jewish families, specifically aimed at children. According to the The Baptist Standard, "Watching the young people build relationships with Jewish children in an effort to share the gospel was uplifting to him. "

This type of behavior is nauseating. Targetting children for conversion is simply dishonest. However, there is no real evidence that the Messianic movement cares about honesty when dealing with the Jewish people. All they care about is conversion of Jews to Christianity.