The New Peace Movements

My reflections on a pernicious movement coming from the camps of Jewish indigenous rights activists.
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Beware The Guru "Rabbis"!

A version of this article can now be found in The Jewish Press: "Beware the Guru Rabbis"

Rabbinic ordination is not a license to say what you want. Nor is it a free ride to spout nonsense and lies, or exhibit baseless hatred for other Jews. When a known rav distorts Torah concepts, it only magnifies the Chillul Hashem, which in turn necessitates an even stronger response. Unfortunately, since authentic chochma is rare today, as is the public’s ability to discern it, the masses rarely appreciate genuine talmidei chachomim. Instead of heeding the call of Pirkei Avot and designating for themselves a rav, many choose for themselves flawed men who bottom feed on the ignorant. 

Too many Jews seek out the latest guru rabbis who periodically pop out of the rotten woodwork. Some years back, one Sephardic “rabbi” became popular with his patented shtick: playing on the emotional appeal of women who were having trouble conceiving. During his lectures, he promised secular women in the audience that if they agreed to start covering their hair, they would eventually conceive. The cultish, pagan spectacle of choosing this one obligation above all else, and using it as a fertility rite in a public forum, screams of distortions of Jewish thought, and presents a disturbingly immodest scene. This particular guru remains popular today. Such an individual is a symptom of an ignorant age, where Torah is plagued with superstition. In a learned society, such a man would be exposed, despite the trappings of his garb and “simanim” which add to the supposed authenticity.

Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi is the latest “wonder rabbi” on the magical kiruv circuit, and his popular videos inundate the internet. Like all Jewish gurus, he specializes in glib, general statements pertaining to some of the most intricate concepts in Judaism. Mizrachi believes that he knows it all, and he presents complicated issues to simple-minded people as if they were aleph bet. He focuses on controversial, halachically problematic ideas, such as the popular distorted perception of Kabbalah as magic, the purported actions of alleged kabbalists, belief in reincarnation, etc.  Gilgul is particularly critical in his magical world-view, since it forms the spine of his approach to s’char v’onesh. He is popular in chareidi Sephardi circles, but has broad based support among English speaking Ashkenazim in the frum world. 

More importantly, his teachings are reprehensible. It is not just about the recent outcry over his obscene holocaust statements, where he reported that the Nazis murdered fewer than one million halachic Jews. A diligent study of his career shows a history of dangerous teachings, which should have made him a pariah long ago. He has earned our unrelenting ire.

In the first video of  his that I ever subjected myself to, he was lecturing the audience about a supposed critical issue in Judaism, the concept of gilgul, better known as reincarnation, which appears nowhere in Tanach, Talmud, or Midrash, yet the superstitious treat it as a fundamental belief. His arrogance was apparent when he denigrated those who quote Saadya Gaon as a proof against the belief, since Rasag rejected the idea as stupidity in his classic treatise, “Beliefs and Opinions”. What was even more frightening was Mizrachi’s supposed proof for the existence of gilgul. He cited an example of an innocent baby dying, and saw this as proof of gilgul, since G-d’s justice would never allow such a thing.  The sheer arrogance of someone who creates a ridiculous “proof” to explain the age-old question of tsaddik v’ra lo which the greatest gaonim, rishonim, and acharonim could not answer. Somehow, Mizrachi discovered an answer to this greatest of perplexities by resorting to gilgul, which very likely was taken from pagan culture! It seems unlikely that Saadya Gaon would have been unaware of the concept if it existed or was fundamental to Jewish belief. To suggest otherwise is an absurdity.

Most people are aware of the recent outcry, when video footage surfaced where Mizrachi questioned the fact that 6 million Jews died in the holocaust, and asserted that fewer than 1 million Jews were murdered. Not only did he disgrace the legacy of 6 ½ million kedoshim murdered by Amalek, in doing so, he empowered the holocaust deniers of the world with evidence of a “rabbi’s” holocaust denial. His foolish estimate was based on his distorted, non-scholarly unfounded estimates of assimilation in Europe which he surmised meant that most of the 6 million would not have ben halachically Jewish. No academic study, no documentation has ever claimed likewise. No normal Jew, religious or otherwise would ever utter such perversity. To engage with this non-scholar would be akin to arguing with the holocaust denying David Irving.

How to Recognize a Guru

There are signs to identify a “guru.”

• The existence of a cult following comprised of the unlearned, and the psychologically troubled who know little if anything of Torah.
• The complex network enabling the mass distribution and marketing of the guru’s lectures in the form of videos, audio. Websites featuring an impossible number of lectures expose the guru’s unrelenting speaking tours to disseminate his message.
• The guru’s lectures invariably focus on questionable problematic notions that have become popular in Judaism, such as gilgul (reincarnation), magical segulos, demons, etc. The guru shares childish notions about complex Jewish subjects and makes outrageous generalizations that have no basic in Torah thought.
• Beneath the veneer of the sacred, one notices an obsession with sexuality, and one hears crude statements that no genuine man of Torah would utter. Many of these self-appointed prophets of morality in "the Torah camp" are obsessed with sex. The irony is that in their pursuit of the sacred, their sexual obsession exposes a sex-preoccupied personality. The most private issues and human challenges are delivered with frankness and simplicity that are undignified. Things best discussed with one's rabbi or religious mentor are thrown in our faces, in all their crudeness. It begs the question: Who are the perverts?
• The guru often displays a callous nature, and makes sweeping generalizations, which purport to understand all nuances of Divine justice. The sins (real or imagined) of the secular are emphasized, whereas outrages that occur in frum society (of which there are no dearth of) are ignored.

Mizrachi meets many of these criteria. One hears the frequent claims of his mass kiruv efforts to justify his legitimacy; claims which fall deaf on my ears. Kiruv? If a thousand pogo-ing mantra-spouting nutcases claim that a certain individual turned them into baalei teshuvah, I consider them AS religious as any group of inmates in an asylum. A kipah is hardly indicative of frumkeit. The same pertains to their teacher. This is not Jewish outreach. This is simply another version of being “off the derech.”

These gurus are a symptom of a sick age, where people are so detached from torah that they will latch onto anything. Magic men wear the cloak of Torah, but they are detached from chochmah. Moreover, their obsession with superstition show that they are as influenced by goyish culture as those they ridicule.

Mizrachis videos are a treasure chest of filth, including such outrageous statements as the following. Fortunately, many people are downloading and saving these videos, before they are removed from the internet. One could spend years dissecting the filth, but some of the more repugnant ones include the following:

• His now infamous claim that the Nazis (yemach shmo) murdered fewer than 1 million halachic Jews.
• His comparing “non-virgin women” to an opened bottle of coke. What Rabbi speaks this way?
• His disgraceful claim that Down syndrome children as well as those with autism are reincarnated spirits receiving punishment for a previous life.
• His perverse claim that religious woman hid their nakedness moments before the Nazis sent them to the furnaces, whereas the irreligious were immodest in the moment before their extermination. (When I saw this video, I nearly lost my mind.) What sick mind could see these terrible photos and even contemplate, let alone articulate, such a lunatic theory?  When I saw this footage, it crystalized for me the need to write an article.

Aseh l’chah rav. Chazal maintained that any reasonably intelligent, rational person with some knowledge of Torah had the ability to choose for himself a proper Rav. One who epitomizes Torah and chesed. The diligent Jew should ensure that they have a proper teacher of torah rather than a showman pop star who appeals to simpletons. Moreover, if one’s rabbi is obsessed with sex, sheidim, reincarnated spirits, or the supposed immodesty of Jewish korbanot ready to be gassed to death, find another rabbi. If the first thing your chosen rav finds imperative to articulate to the secular is not the knowledge of Hashem, ahavat yisroel, or chesed, but rather a hair covering (whose side benefit magically assists infertile women!) something is wrong with him. Any goyish shaman can do likewise with the same degree of success. The placebo effect works the same for all pagans. 

In the case of Mizrachi, thanks to YouTube, Facebook, and the general popularity of social media, his perverse teachings will outlast all of us. The essence of Chillul Hashem personified; since his lectures are now eternally archived in MP4 format. There is no way to undo his damage, save for an unrelenting campaign to expose him and others who share similar beliefs. 

In closing, I post one final video, which I just watched today. Outrageous and unbelievable. I watched the video from a Facebook page called “Exposing “Rabbi” Yosef Mizrachi.” Several of the links above connect to the corresponding YouTube channel. In this particular video, Mizrachi states that “secular” Israeli soldiers who die in combat have no share in the world to come. Moreover, he cites halachically prohibited séances as a proof! Evidently, he is unaware of the Halacha that a Jew who is murdered for being a Jew dies Al Kiddush Hashem. Not to mention that one who dies protecting Jews (even for a flawed army run by men who are far from Torah) is engaged in one of the greatest mitzvoth. The Chazon Ish stated clearly that most of the unaffiliated Jews of our times clearly fall under the category of “captured babies” rather than willful sinners. Yet Mizrachi in his arrogant hatred sees fit to damn them all to his goyish notion of hell. 

I have a message for Mizrachi’s apologists who insist that his words were taken out of context. There is no context to justify his pernicious views. His teachings are sick, and they expose a damaged soul. Those who defend such a man, whether overtly, or with the “devil’s advocate” method of apologetics and the undeserved “benefit of the doubt” say much about themselves. Let them do their research, and it will become evident that he really is THAT bad. In fact, he is worse. The fact that I need to write these things is perhaps the most tragic thing of all.

Liberalism: Disease Of The Mind, Sickness Of The Soul

Liberals profess to be anti-violence, yet they consistently tolerate, perpetuate, and appease the worst perpetrators of violence. The fully formed innocent in the womb is robbed of life, yet serial rapists and murderers deserve rehabilitation. Animal rights before people. "Gay rights", accept when Muslims hurl homosexuals off of buildings. Same with female genital mutilations, beatings, and honor killings; favorite pastimes of Muslims worldwide. Outrage is always selective.

Liberals oppose racism, unless it is perpetrated against whites, Jews, and those who don't fall under the multicultural umbrella. The black equivalent of the KKK is acceptable and indeed reasonable for too many liberals. Multiculturalism is for cannibals and headhunters. Black lives do not matter to most liberals. The perception that they do is far more important to them.

In the absence of morality, liberalism fester and worsens. A liberal society is a dying society. A society which cannot fathom the wisdom of great Jewish scholars who noted in the classic "Ethics of the Forefathers": "Who is wise, he who sees the future."

A liberal never learns. Look at Europe. Blown up today by jihadists, yet they continue to appease the hordes of Islam the very next day. Obama and other world despots are importing murderers into their own countries, despite the evidence and the carnage before their eyes. Even the documented acts of Islamic savages sawing heads off and crucifying thousands, fails to impress the liberal. "A minority", they declare. "Our eyes and ears are deceiving us. Islam is peaceful".

And when a Jew is a liberal, the additional sin is that Torah gets distorted, which constitutions a desecration of G-d's Name, and a rejection of the Jewish mandate to spread His knowledge to the world. In the absence of Torah, the laundry list becomes perverse. Jews for Obama. Jews for Hillary. Jews for Amnesty. Jews Against The Occupation. J-Street. Peace Now. And a billion other horrors.

A mental disorder and a spiritual pathology. Liberalism personified.

Don't Go to Uman!

Originally published in The Jewish Press: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/the-cult-of-uman/2014/09/12/0/

Disclaimer:My motivation behind this article is love for misguided Jews. I have no desire to needlessly upset people before the chag, but the troubling issue I raise in this article cannot be ignored. It represents the death of the Jewish mind, and every Jew who is drawn to this nonsense is another soul that has forsaken common sense and chochmah for a new age experience.
 
Craziness is contagious in the world of the non-thinker. Tragically, if someone in the Jewish world creates some new religious rite or practice, it doesn’t take long before the non-thinking masses get caught up in the hysteria. And then it spreads like a virus. Within a few years, it attains the status of an ancient tradition, particularly when there is money to be made.

In Israel we see this in the prevalence of miracle shrines such as Amuqah, or the infamous “wonder workers” of Jerusalem who allegedly manifest your “ayin horas” as bubbles in a pot, and then magically make them disappear. Not only does the latter ridiculous practice encroach on a myriad of prohibitions, it also takes the real but terribly distorted concept of the “evil eye,” ayin hora, (a philosophical concept relating to human psychology which chazal understand), and distorts it into a primitive spell that a shaman might cast onto a frightened native.

The modern cult of Uman is another prime example of this frightening phenomenon, where un-Jewish practices are given the status of mitzvah. I was initially going to avoid this topic, since it encroaches on the complicated halachic/hashkafic issue of visiting/praying at graves which I already addressed several weeks back in my article “Talking to the Dead.” I only reconsidered after being inundated on Facebook with more evidence of this troubling annual event. And the trip to Uman entails other problems as well.

Going To Graves
The basic issue regarding the phenomenon of Breslover chasidim traveling to Uman to pray at the grave of their deceased Rebbe relates to the obvious halachic question of the permissibility of praying at graves. As I noted before, this is a complex halachic issue that is the source of Jewish debate. What is not debated is whether praying to the dead is permitted. This act is a biblical prohibition related to necromancy. Without a doubt most of those who travel to Uman are actually praying to “Rebbe Nachman.” Some of them may actually try to convince you that they are praying there in his merit, or asking him to intercede, but their words betray their true intentions. Their motivations and expectations are such that it is clear that they have come to Uman to “speak” to Rebbe Nachman. Many of them will tell you this outright. They believe that he has the power (and indeed, that he has given his promise) to answer their prayers! These misguided Jews will tell you, that Rebbe Nachman informed his students prior to his death that he would answer the prayers of those who came to daven at his grave. “It’s all in Rav Nachman’s hands,” they explain.

On the web at breslov.com, one can find such views explaining the “custom”:
“Rebbe Nachman made a promise that no other Tzaddik in the whole of Jewish history has ever made. Taking two of his closest followers as witnesses, he said: “When my days are ended and I leave this world, I will intercede for anyone who comes to my grave, recites the Ten Psalms of the General Remedy – the Tikkun HaKlali (The 10 specific chapters in the book of Psalms are: 16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137, 150. For further details, see Rabbi Nachman’s Tikkun, Breslov Research Institute, 1984.) – and gives some charity. No matter how serious his sins and transgressions, I will do everything in my power to save him and cleanse him. I will span the length and breadth of the Creation for him. By his payos I will pull him out of Hell!” (Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom #141). “It makes no difference what he did until that day, as long as he undertakes not to return to his foolish ways from now on” (Tzaddik #122). This is avodah zarah (idol worship)!

Such views are anathema to yahadut because only Hakadosh Baruch Hu can guarantee forgiveness. Oftentimes, there is onesh, punishment, as a requirement for repentance. For some sins, one only receives atonement after death. No man on earth has the ability to make such a promise. And repentance does not come in the codified formula of simply reading specific verses of tehillim, as if they were a magical chant. (The reading of psalms as a means of drawing near to tshuvah is something entirely different, hence the popular and accepted practice of reading tehillim when the nation is in trouble.)

Unfortunately, such people are so removed from proper notions of tefilah and fundamentals of yahadut, that one cannot even have a reasonable discussion with them. It is important to note that this mentality goes well beyond any halachic position which might allow one to visit a grave for inspiration, or to facilitate a commitment to tshuvah. It even goes beyond the problematic issue of a meilitz yosher (intercessor). This jumps right into the biblical prohibition of consulting the dead (Deuteronomy 18:11). You will recall that Maimonides prohibits even appropriate manifestations of prayer in a cemetery (Avelus 14:13), and other Rishonim agreed with him. Clearly, the dangers of praying in such an environment, even for a sophisticated individual who has no interest in communing with the dead, are too real to subject oneself to this psychological pitfall. Certainly, the pilgrimage to Uman does not even fit the criteria for appropriate prayer, since it is clearly directed to the deceased.

Unfortunately, it is not only die-hards who make the trek to Uman. Many non-Breslovers also make the trip, if not on Rosh Hashanah, then on some other occasion during the year. They come to Uman to revel in what they hope will be a spiritually liberating environment. Inevitably they will dance like deranged marionettes with thousands who have also forsaken rationality for magic. They will try to experience an otherworldly experience that has nothing to do with Halachic Judaism and has much more in common with an aboriginal dance. For too many Jews, Uman has become a kind of “Burning Man” festival.

Leaving Eretz Yisroel
For those who live in Israel there is the real Halachic problem relating to the permissibility of leaving Eretz Yisroel. While there are specific allowances for which the Halacha permits one to leave Eretz Yisroel, (parnasa, finding a marriage partner, Torah study, etc.) going to the grave in Uman for Rosh Hashanah is not one of them. No non-Breslov Rav would ever permit this.

A Jewish Home
On top of these very problematic halachic points, these people are so fundamentally detached from reality they don’t even consider the effect on their family life.
• These men abandon their families on the chag!: The bedrock of a normal Torah home is the ideal setting of a loving home headed by a caring mother and father. To leave one’s wife and children on the chagim is beyond sick. It disregards the mesora and its perpetuation, betrays an infantile ignorance of the stability that is essential to a Jewish home, and exhibits a lack of sensitivity to one’s wife and children, all on the altar of magic and mysticism. Many wives support their husbands since they also believe that visiting the grave of Rebbe Nachman will guarantee them a good year. What happened to Hakadosh Baruch Hu? Not good enough?
 
While Rosh Hashanah in Uman is exclusively for men, there are special trips just for women during the year. It has now become a “thing” that Breslov women can also partake. Unscrupulous “religious” Jews are raking in the dough because they have created an “industry” which can pull in the shekels throughout the year. The possibilities are only limited by their imaginations. Here again we have the vultures who prey on the vulnerable and profit from it.

This is not Judaism. The cult of Uman has much more in common with the “Mary-ology” of devout Catholics who believe in the worship of shrines, icons, relics, and saints, with the fervency of a hoodoo/voodoo practitioner. They have designated forbidden conduits to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. I have not even touched on the issue of the physical dangers of visiting Uman, both on a larger regional scale, and the dangers of local anti-Semites who have a history from the not too distant past of butchering Jews. In recent years, at least one Jew was killed by a gentile, and I recall reading more recently about a Jew in Uman who was severely beaten.
 
Then there is the issue of chillul Hashem that this pilgrimage creates, as it presents a distorted image of religious Jewry to the world. While many of these pilgrims are mentslich people who mind their own business and behave like humans, there are untold numbers of lunatics who create a tremendous chillul Hashem with their deviant, wild, behavior. Some of this behavior is outwardly profane and doesn’t even mask itself with the cloak of Torah.
For many years there were few proper accommodations, so Ukrainian goyim would rent out their apartments, houses, and haylofts to Jews for ridiculous sums. Other primitive arrangements were also available. The gentiles were surely amused at the irony, when you consider that some of their fathers and grandfathers probably killed Jews. Most Jewish pilgrims are still reliant on the cheapest accommodations. 

Yet for those with a bigger budget, today there is Inn Uman, a comfortable modern setting with glatt kosher food, mikveh (only for guests!), shiurim, 24 hour security (why?), and comfy accommodations. I don’t know what is more tragic, the insanity of those whose distorted religious worldview compels them to subject themselves to uncomfortable accommodations from possibly dangerous gentiles, or the mentality of those who have created glatt kosher leisure resorts in rural Ukraine.

As I see it, the contemporary Breslov movement offers nothing to the thinking Jew, save a host of spiritually dangerous notions which oppose fundamentals of Torah. It is an ideology of concepts both foreign and forbidden. At the core, they worship and venerate a dead Rebbe. I am not only speaking about the “Nah, Nachs,” but even mainstream followers who fixate on superstition, demonology, segulos, peculiar diets to prevent lewd thoughts, perverse views of “purity and holiness” (based on sexual/aggressive frustration), and bizarre tikkunim. I invite the reader to take even a cursory perusal of the literature to confirm what I am writing.

Some of the material that is propagated by certain mainstream “leaders” of the movement are obscene beyond description, and the decision was easy to not include it in the article. Several years back, a mainstream Breslov personality was disseminating a video about a ba’al tshuvah who had an alleged “near death experience.” Nebach, the guy clearly had (and probably still has) severe psychological problems. The purported visions he describes during his alleged “religious experience” are pornographic and frightening, and they betray a diseased mind. This was circulated across the web, in an attempt to terrify Jews who might be involved in sexual sin to do tshuvah. Now while it is certainly meritorious to try to convince Jews to sanctify their lives and refrain from improper behavior, proper tshuvah requires a rational understanding and proper presentation of the Halachic system to the uninformed. Trying to frighten people with mythical tales of demonic visitations, evil changelings that are the offspring of forbidden sexual behavior, and other goyish nonsense, has no place in yahadut.

The worst expression is the pagan lure of the Na Nach movement. It is growing more popular in Israel, as the followers prey on Israel’s disconnected and disaffected youth. The Na Nachs are particularly attractive to those drawn to alternative experiences, with their outlandish displays of whirling and twirling in the streets like dervishes, or pogo-ing on the rooftops of vans as if they were attending a punk rock concert. The message needs to go out to the entire Jewish and non-Jewish world that this is not Judaism. This is repression and frustration exploding outwardly in the absence of a kosher outlet. Unfortunately, many naive Israelis religious and otherwise don’t really see the problem. They think it is harmless unless of course they actively dislike religious Jews and choose to see these oddities as a genuine symbol of frumkeit and religious fanaticism.

Whenever I see these misguided Jews dancing in the streets, I think of the mass dancing frenzies that spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. The bizarre Saint Vitus’ dance, where thousands of hysterical x-ians took to the streets and danced themselves to the mental asylum, while shouting profanities to the heavens, all in the name of religious fervor. Yet at the root of their dancing was fear and anxiety: fear of the Black Death; fear of the clergy and of witches; terror that the Jews might poison their wells; or steal their children for matzo. In short, they were spiritually and mentally diseased people. The manic dancing of these Breslovers is not an expression of “serving Hashem with joy,” as some would have it. It is an outlet for those with psychological problems to vent their frustration. The problem is that madness in the name of religion doesn’t kasher the illness. It simply hides it. Uman is actually a symptom of a greater problem that is particularly prevalent in Israel, where the search for the sacred often leads to the profane. 

The power of any popular movements devoid of Torah thought is the same with every movement that encourages the abandonment of the rational mind for an artifice of joy. They present easy solutions to complex issues that cannot be resolved by any guru or text. Chants and mantras are the life blood of all cults, be they “Jewish” or otherwise. Only a commitment to true Torah ideals and halacha can give a Torah person clarity. And the perfection of the Jewish soul sometimes necessitates the skills of a psychologist. The time of the Uman pilgrimage is upon us, and we dare not ignore the opportunity to highlight the danger. Presumably, a great many tickets have already been bought. Yet the annual spectacle should be a time to condemn it as un-Jewish activity. Rabbonim should raise their collective voice and state unequivocally that for a host of reasons (and they should elaborate on all of them), it is improper to travel to Uman. 

Rabbinical Opposition 
Over the years certain Rabbis have come out against this practice, though not nearly enough. An Arutz Sheva news brief from 2010, “Zionist Rabbis Against Uman On Rosh Hashannah” noted a survey of leading Zionistic Rabbonim who opposed the trip to Uman. The list of notable names included the following distinguished Rabbis: Eliyahu Zini, Yakov Ariel, Dov Lior, Uri Sharky, Shlomo Aviner. Rabbi Zini’s response is particularly memorable: “Whoever leaves the holiness of the Land of Israel for the defilement of exile, it is unclear whether he does not believe in the Torah, or is just mentally ill or maybe just unlearned …I have no doubt that Rabbi Nachman, if he were alive today, would be vehemently opposed to this. It is likely that most of the innocent passengers do not know they are wrong. Visiting our holy city of Jerusalem or the Tomb of the Patriarchs is a thousand times more important.” Other Rabbonim that have also opposed the trip in recent years include Rav Ovadiah Yosef, zt’l, and Rav Bar-Chaim of Machon Shiloh. 

Earlier this year, Arutz Sheva reported that the Ukrainian Parliament passed a bill which would charge Chasidim a $100 dollar fee for a day’s visit to the shrine. Naturally, many Breslover Chasidim were furious with this gentile imposed “Uman tax.” Hopefully, the additional financial burden will discourage Jews from heading into rural Ukraine, rather than fighting a holy war over their right to do so. So I implore my fellow Jews of Israel and the diaspora: This Rosh Hashanah, stay home with your families. Daven to the Ribono Shel Olam like a proper Jew, and not to the grave of any man, regardless of his merits. Understand that Hakadosh Baruch Hu alone is where we are permitted to direct our tefilot, and He alone is the source of repentance. As the classic piyut informs us, the formula is readily available for those who wish to change: “U’Tshuvah, U’Tefilah, U’Tzadakah Ma’avirin Et Ro’ah Ha’Gzeirah.”
 
The formula for true repentance (tshuvah g’mura) has never changed. As I’ve stated before, we have no need for all this nonsense. We have the ability to turn directly to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. For me, this is the time of the year to immerse myself in the Rambam’s Hilchot Tshuvah, and Rav Soloveitchik’s fascinating collection of essays, “Al Ha’tshuvah” (On Repentance). I find that these two works present a comprehensive framework for understanding and undertaking the process of repentance.

And as far as Ukraine goes, a Jew belongs in Uman the same way that he belongs in the Islamic country of Oman. Stay away from the impure blood stained soil of Ukraine, or any region in accursed Europe for that matter. Eretz Yisroel is the only soil on earth worthy of being kissed.

May Hakadosh Baruch Hu inscribe Am Yisroel and all righteous gentiles into the book of life this year.

The New Jews For Jesus

“Hear, O Israel! The L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd alone.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) JPS Hebrew-English TANAKH, 2003

“The very existence of the State of Israel is a denial of basic Christian doctrine, according to which the Jews lost the rights of Eretz Yisroel and their role as the Chosen people. The Christian church seeks to resolve the contradiction between the State of Israel as a historical entity and the Evangelion, by conversion of the population.”(Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, “The Rav Speaks: Five Addresses on Israel, History, and the Jewish People”; pg. 122)

The spiritual enemies of the Jewish people who harvest the Samarian vineyards take no sabbaticals during shemitah. They of course refrain from picking grapes for the year, as they must, out of deference to the enduring Mosaic shemitah Law. Yet the most important crop of all is harvested year-round regardless of season. Evangelicals see every season as a time to bring the “good word” to Jews, or to be blunt, to harvest Jewish souls. For the devout evangelical, the Jewish soul is sweeter than grapes, and like all difficult quarry, the religious Jew is most desirous, since he represents the challenge of an elusive prey who poses an eschatological road-block. The kind of prey who supposedly can’t be caught, yet according to their religious beliefs, must be caught, in order for the “Second Coming” to arrive.

Trying to bring religious Jews to the cross is no easy task, as long as Torah Jews remain insulated from evangelicals. As such, they require the aid of Jewish insiders to penetrate the castle. And they have found them. Previously insular communities in Israel are no longer a fortress. The missionaries have discovered that for the right price, their religious Jewish friends will open the door. More than that, at least one prominent religious-Zionist rabbi has even sanctified his presence in the agricultural fields by declaring that “the harvesters” are fulfilling prophecies. And these same Jewish friends battle on their behalf by hurling defamation and invectives towards the few Jews who have the courage to say anything.

And so it should come as no surprise that Tommy Waller’s “Hayovel Ministry” is working overtime during shemitah, even as the vineyards of Samaria remain dormant for the year. The off season is when they return home to their American congregations and communities to amass their forces. Now is the time to schlep Jewish representatives around with them on the speaking circuit, to generate energy and excitement as they try to bring “the good word” to Jews in Israel. It is a labor of love. This is where their cadre of Jewish friends come into the picture; those perplexing individuals with kipot and tzitzit who have participated in some of the most outrageous interfaith events to date. 

“Religious” Jews for Jesus?

Most Jews have heard of “Jews for Jesus” and recognize the spiritual threat they pose to our people. But how many Jews know about the growing number of religious Jewish leaders and advocates who have become a new kind of “Jews for Jesus”? How many know about the particulars where these same Jews have trampled upon Halachic boundaries and thrown themselves into the forbidden waters of interfaith dialogue? How many Jews are privy to the gradual process where these Jews are sanitizing Jesus and making him kosher for Jewish consumption? How many are aware that these individuals are inadvertently aiding the missionaries in their ultimate goal of converting Jews? Allow me to clarify:

• When I speak of “religious Jews for Jesus” I am not speaking of actual messianic Jews who believe in Jesus and accept him as divine, but of those religious Jews whose clarity has become so blurred and distorted due to their involvement and exposure to evangelicals. I speak of rabbis who have described Jesus as a rabbi, and as a “kosher” concept that Jews can embrace without sacrificing their most basic Jewish beliefs.

• I speak of “Halachic” Jews who have either unconsciously or otherwise mastered the tongue of Christian theology, as they try to harmonize inherently contradictory teachings, out of a desire to strengthen an alliance with Christians.

• I speak of those who are engaged in activities that no religious Jewish leader in history ever engaged in. I speak of those who would been condemned by great Rabbis in previous generations, when we had strong Torah leadership.\

Hayovel and other evangelical missionary groups require such Jews. They require individuals like Jeremy Gimpel, a renowned Jewish advocate, radio personality, and ordained orthodox Rabbi, who has done as much as anyone on the scene, to grab the evangelical hand and pull him in for an interfaith bear hug. “JewishIsrael” recently came out with a shocking expose regarding Gimpel’s participation as the main speaker at a Hayovel sponsored event in Nashville. Every Jew must read this disturbing article and watch the accompanying video. The jaw-dropping finale featured Caleb Waller inviting the notorious Jew obsessed missionary, “Papa” Don Finto, onto the stage to bless the audience. (A brief internet search will tell you all you need to know about Finto.) Don Finto proceeded to lay his hands on Jeremy Gimpel to bless him and Hayovel, and even concluded with a recitation of Birkat Kohanim! And all throughout this whole disgraceful episode, Gimpel remained on stage.

I need not go into great detail, since the article presents all that transpired. Yet I would like to reiterate one salient point to the reader. Bear in mind that this is yet another documented example of Hayovel’s missionary agenda.  Despite the same shrill cries of their Jewish enablers, Hayovel’s sponsored event saw Caleb Waller invite a notorious Jew missionary to bless the audience. Those who would still deny their intentions are either cognitively impaired, naïve to the point of cognitive impairment, or lying for any number of reasons. There are no other logical explanations.

The following article will address another disturbing event. On February 16th, 2015, the same Jeremy Gimpel participated in an interfaith Question & Answer session at the Fellowship Bible Chapel in Columbus, Ohio. The chillul Hashem that transpired from his involvement in such an affair, as well as the responses he gave to the audience was astounding; and they require an uncompromising response to bring clarity to the picture. I will be addressing several of Gimpel’s more outrageous statements point by point. (Those with strong stomachs can also view excerpts of this video here.) 

As an aside, while I have never met Jeremy Gimpel, he and his co-host Ari Abramowitz were kind enough to have me as a guest on their Voice of Israel radio show a while back to discuss my articles addressing the dangers of evangelical support for Israel (minute 27). I found them to be genuinely friendly and warm, and they gave me a fair opportunity in the allotted time to present my views. In short, I harbor no animus towards Jeremy or Ari. I liked them both.

There is nothing personal here, save for my concern over what I consider grotesque violations of Jewish behavior, in the form of the most extreme examples of prohibited interfaith dialogue. As I hope to show, from a Torah perspective, Jeremy’s responses were outrageous. Many were inaccurate and theologically ambiguous, and some even bordered on the kinds of positions that could be deemed heretical or worse. Indeed, Jeremy’s own words could Heaven forbid be used one day to ensnare Jews.

A quick word on interfaith dialogue, since this is the back-drop to this whole tragic affair. How did this all come about? In recent years, prominent “modern-orthodox” (I hate the term) leaders and others laid the groundwork for the various forms of interfaith dialogue we are witnessing today. They created a forum for discussion/meetings which never existed, and by doing so, many of them trampled upon their rebbe’s Halachic position. As is well known, Rav Soloveitchik (of blessed memory) prohibited any form of religious discussion, debate, or dialogue with members of other faith communities, and his position was articulated fully in his classic essay “Confrontation”, his subsequent  addendum, and other written works. The Rav's views represent the most comprehensive ideological approach to date on the matter of interfaith relations/discussion, and his position both asserted and demanded that we Jews respectively maintain a distance between the two faith communities, and refrain from any attempts to merge them. (Naturally, since this essay was written in the context of the American Jewish experience, allowances were made for situations where Jew and gentile shared communal concerns and only addressed such non-religious matters. In Eretz Yisroel, the biblical prohibitions inherent in the discussion render many of the points of the article less relevant or perhaps even irrelevant, since the Halacha clearly defines which gentiles may even enter the land.)

In one of the more egregious examples of blurred theological lines that invariably ensue from such encounters, one former student of “The Rav” even adopted the language of the missionary, and he was featured several years ago in videos where he called Jesus "Rabbi Jesus," and used such ideologically problematic terms as "branches" and "grafting," which are laden with unmistakable Christian associations. The missionaries had a field day with this trove of material. Is it any wonder that we have a new category today, of a religious Jewish activist who engages in the kinds of things that none of our forebears would have ever thought possible or permissible?

Jeremy’s Q&A Session at the Fellowship Bible Chapel

Those Jews who may have met or heard Jeremy Gimpel speak, may be taken aback by my remarks. I allow Jeremy’s own words to speak for themselves. Again, I advise the reader to refer to the video footage of this encounter. Here are some of the highlights:

●      Quoting the Gospels: Early on in the session, Jeremy referenced the “humble of spirit” and participated in a rare spectacle which boggles the mind. Consider the image of an ordained rabbi standing before an audience of evangelical missionaries, quoting from the book of Matthew (5:5). “The meek will inherit the earth,” declared Jeremy, “that is the spirit of the bible.” My response: When a rabbi quotes “Matthew” what more can one say? Can there be a greater desecration of Hashem’s name?

●      “A Jew Is a Jew”: In response to an inquiry from a participant about the status of a Jew who converts to Christianity, Jeremy responded that despite a Jew’s attempt to leave the faith, he nevertheless remains a Jew. While this is generally accepted as true according to Halacha, Jeremy failed to emphasize that despite the Jew remaining a Jew, acceptance of Jesus as either divine or a messiah is inherently incompatible and contrary to Jewish beliefs. Even Jeremy’s mentor, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, (who has been involved in questionable interfaith- exchanges himself) has explicitly stated: “Jews can never accept Jesus as the Messiah – anyone who does so is ipso facto not a Jew…” Acceptance of Jesus is the antithesis of Jewish belief. Jeremy’s failure to point this out plays right into the hands of the missionaries who maintain that such a belief actually makes the Jew more “Jewish” by “completing” him.

●      Granting Legitimacy to Christian Interpretations: When one woman inquired how a religious Jew such as himself would interpret a certain prophecy of Zachariah, Jeremy went into a convoluted, inaccurate, and dangerous response, which legitimized the standard Christological distortion of the verses, and exposed a confused perspective on a host of Jewish concepts. It was patronizing and pandering, and his answers illustrated the dangers and futility of trying to harmonize incompatible beliefs. Ironically, the questioner seemed equally dissatisfied with his responses. Here was the exchange:

Jeremy: “To answer really simply, maybe everything that you believe in the book of Zachariah, that the messiah will do, we believe too. I mean that’s why the argument is sort of like…uhh …it’s not a waste of our time… but like….When a man comes and he fights the wars of Israel, defeats the enemies, builds a temple, peace on earth, the leader that did that, we will all kneel before the king. (Jeremy actually kneels down.) Do you know what I mean?

Whoever that is…so your vision of that, you say it’s a second coming, OK, we say it’s a first coming…we actually do…what do we...we know that we don’t know…that’s sort of like where the Jews are at right now…we just like…uhhohh (inaudible sound)…I guess when the messiah comes, the messiah comes. Right now, that’s just not uuhhh…right now, what do we have to do? We got to be good with G-d. We have to like bring G-d into our lives, that’s really important.”

At this point, Jeremy made a clumsy effort to reconcile the impossible divide, and reassure the woman of our “shared visions”:

…….”your vision of the messiah’s second coming is our vision of the messiah’s first coming. All of the messianic prophecies that will be fulfilled, when they’re fulfilled, we’ll recognize that as messiah.”

Response: There is no commonality whatsoever between the Jewish understanding of a righteous human Messiah who will fulfill all the Halachic criteria and fights the wars of G-d, and the pagan notion of a divine man (part of a triune godhead), who died for mankind’s sins, was resurrected, and will eventually return in a Second Coming. The latter belief is for those who sacrifice their rational faculty to accept a theology borrowed from the major pagan religions of the ancient world. In a final attempt to harmonize the validity of the two faiths, Jeremy expressed his perspective on how the arrival of the messiah will play out, in a way that accepts the legitimacy of both.

“I always feel like how is that gonna to play? Are we…is one of us just gonna have a theological crisis…I mean like oops…or is it going to be like somehow we are both right? I don’t know. I feel like G-d’s ways are more than what we think. I intuit… that somehow both of us are gonna to be right, but not in the ways we think we are gonna to be right. I don’t know.”

Response: Moshe Emet V’Torato Emet. The words of Moses are true and his Torah is true. Judaism 101. With all due respect to the other faiths who maintain a similar position about their own beliefs, we are not both correct. The truths of Judaism are inherently in opposition to Christianity and there can be no harmonizing of the two faiths. The truths of Judaism and Torah are the only truths. There is no theological crisis.

“For in point of fact, Judaism and Christianity are not basically one but are, as Professor Freidrich so aptly states, fundamentally opposed to each other.” (Judaism and Christianity: The Differences, Trude Weiss-Rosmarin; pg. 10)

●      Jesus- as played by Gimpel the actor: Jeremy borrowed a page from basic Christian theology which posits that the Mosaic Law is impossible to keep, when he “admits” that as a Jew, “Jews, often get lost in religion.” (Where have we heard that before?) And in a theatrical performance that in this internet age will never go away, he fell into the character of Jesus by explaining:

“That was what Jesus was talking to Jews. He’s like folks, you’re getting lost in the law. You’re getting lost in the details. Don’t forget the big picture.”

Response: How to convey the shock one feels when he hears a Jew speak this way? Images of classical Christian anti-Semitism come to mind, replete with invectives hurled towards “the Pharisees.” There is no way to get lost in the law for one who truly upholds it. As an example, to the extent that man’s adherence to the law could cause him to behave in an ill manner to his fellow man, this is hardly proof of getting caught up in the law. On the contrary, this constitutes proof that the individual never truly followed the law! When properly kept, the Halacha is the only solution for the religious Jew. Torah is not merely law. It is a way of life required by Hashem, and it remains the only way for man to perfect himself. Jeremy gave the missionaries an unexpected gift with these statements. This is precisely what they argue when they try to explain how G-d’s law is no longer relevant or obligatory, at that only a blind acceptance of Jesus can bring one “salvation.”

 Since Jeremy referenced a historical Jesus, a few words need to be said about the question of the historicity of Jesus. Jews who speak of a historical Jesus who was both “religious” and even a “rabbi” are playing a dangerous theological game. The obvious conclusion of such thinking is that you can “follow” him and still remain a good Jew, the same position which the messianic argues. The missionary’s challenge is to expand upon this concept and convince the Jew how to follow Jesus. Not only is this a perilous path, which from the onset is contrary to Jewish thought and Law, it also blindly accepts the notion of a historical Jesus as a fact.

Did Jesus Exist?

Short answer for the Jew. Who cares? There is no definitive evidence that a specific historical Jesus existed that has any commonality with the many contradictory and mythical accounts in the gospel. Any scholarship that argues such a position is premised on a particular historian's viewpoint, which is contested by many other scholars. From a Torah perspective, whether or not Jesus was a real Jewish figure, a composite of several figures, or based upon two different figures in the Talmud, Judaism doesn’t venerate his memory. If he existed at all, he was not a good Jew. The ancient historians certainly don’t provide a strong case for a historical Jesus. In “26 Reasons Jews don’t believe in Jesus”, Asher Norman notes: 

“The works of 41 historians who lived during the first century and early second century and wrote about Judea and Rome have survived. Significantly, none of them mentioned Jesus, his alleged disciples, his apostles, or any of the so-called “miraculous” events described in the gospels. It is difficult to understand how this is possible, if the gospel stories about Jesus described historical events.” (Page 182)

The Talmud never mentioned a “Jesus of Nazareth.” The Tosefta and Baraita reference two different men that people mistakenly associate with Jesus. Take Yeishu Ben Pandira for example. He was never crucified. He was stoned to death for sorcery and hung from a tree. This occurred one hundred years before Jesus, during Alexander Jannaeus's reign in Jerusalem. Yeshu Ben Stada presents other problems. He lived one hundred years after Jesus.  And while his manner of death and subsequent hanging for sorcery on the eve of Passover are the same, he was killed in Lydda. These were clearly two different personalities, and neither of these men were killed by Romans. They were executed in different towns, and neither was killed via crucifixion. The dates don't correspond to the dates of Jesus that Christians accept. Did Jesus exist according to rabbinical sources? Rabbi Jehiel ben Joseph said that the Yeshu referenced in rabbinic literature was a disciple of Joshua Ben Perachai, and NOT Jesus the Nazarene. Nachmanides rejected the idea that the Talmud referenced Jesus, whereas Maimonides maintained that it did. (Norman, 186-187).

Believing in an historical Jesus is not a fundamental tenet of Judaism. Ultimately, the historicity of Jesus is irrelevant for the believing Jew. But believing in the ideas associated with him is not irrelevant, and they constitute a rejection of everything Jewish, and a descent into idolatry. And the theology that is based upon the figure of Jesus is prohibited to the Jew as idolatry according to all rabbinic positions.

●      Jeremy Kashers Jesus: Jeremy continued to stumble, by explaining that a theoretical belief in Jesus as the Messiah is not problematic, as long as he is not deemed divine.

“It’s much less a problem for Jews, the Messiah part of things.”

As proof, he cites the unfortunate case of what has transpired in the Chabad world which is rife with the tragic belief that their deceased Rebbe is the messiah. Jeremy incorrectly maintained that this aberrant belief is acceptable to mainstream religious Jews, in a sense, by arguing that it boils down to the theological equivalent of one’s preference for apples and another man’s penchant for oranges.

My response: The reality on the ground says otherwise. Outside the influence of Chabad circles, mainstream religious Jewry finds these notions anathema to Judaism. What transpired in Chabad is terrible and has created a dangerous un-Jewish belief system which threatens fundamental Jewish beliefs. The notion of a dead Messiah is abhorrent to mainstream Torah thought. (I don’t want to get side-tracked but I would like to say one thing. As someone who doesn’t follow Chasidism, I nevertheless revere the legacy of the Lubavitcher Rebbe of blessed memory. What has occurred today is a disgrace to his righteous name.) Jeremy continues: 

“When Christianity became like woe, that’s different, is the divinity of Jesus that too much for Jews to swallow….. If we hold that G-d is one there should be no other G-d’s before him, G-d is G-d the father and there is no other trinity manifestations. It’s just one. That’s where the real challenge becomes.”

My response: What challenge? What a foolish use of words. There is no challenge for us. G-d is One. These are the basic tenets of Jewish thought and belief as expressed in our sacred Shema prayer. It is a concept of Oneness that is unlike anything else in the world, including our standard perception of the concept of one. Defining it as a challenge is dangerous for two reasons:

1)     It suggests that the challenge can be intellectually met, and that theoretically someone could present an idea that could bridge this gap and make the idea palpable to Jew.

2)     It challenges the missionaries to overcome this hurdle. It also defines the “hurdle,” and feeds the missionary agenda.

As if that wasn’t enough, Jeremy dropped another bombshell:

“As far as the messiah, there is no problem to believe that Jesus is the messiah…really, according to Jewish law. You could believe that. And you can follow in his ways, like literally hold him as a Rebbe…and even the idea of a righteous rabbi dying for atonement is not a foreign idea in mystical Judaism. So there is so much that there is what to work with.”

Response: Here I find it difficult to convey what I am feeling, because I am screaming inside. WHAT? No problem to believe in Jesus as the messiah? Of course there is! Jesus, real or imagined, never fulfilled the criteria to be the Jewish messiah! Furthermore, we Jews believe in the coming of the messiah, not the messiah himself. Allow me to explain. The messiah will not require a blind belief, because by fulfilling the criteria, he will identify himself to be the correct individual. Jesus met none of these criteria. Judaism rejects Jeremy’s notion of atonement as being compatible with Jewish belief. It is not. He can cite “mystical Judaism” which is a vague term that doesn’t mean anything. We don’t believe in a dead messiah who didn’t complete his mission. By its very definition, death is the most obvious proof that one was not the Messiah.

Yet the most troubling notion can be found where he states, “So there is so much that there is what to work with.” What does this mean? If ever there was an open invitation to the missionaries of the world to accept Jeremy’s ambiguity as a call to try harder, this is it. This is a call for missionaries to become more creative by working with Jeremy’s concept of a flexible ideology, in order to harmonize Jesus. This was an outrageous statement that was as dangerous as a hail of bullets shot into a crowd of Jews. What is there to work with? What does that even mean?

  Jeremy Panders To Christians Regarding The Temple Mount: Jeremy spoke about the unfortunate situation on the Temple Mount, where the Jordanian Waqf prohibits Jewish prayer. The problem with this exchange was that he reinterpreted the prophetic vision of a Third Temple, as one where Christians can pray as Christians under the rubric of Isaiah’s “House of prayer for all nations.” Christian prayer and worship are certainly not acceptable on the Temple Mount, neither in its current state of ruin, nor in the eventual Third Temple. Halacha will determine who can even enter the land, not to mention who can ascend the Temple Mount, and how prayer can be offered. (As for those righteous gentiles who intend to truly call out in Hashem’s true Name, the Third Temple will certainly be a place where they will have a means of expressing proper expressions of thanks and praise to The Almighty.)

Reflections: Jeremy and others often present these interfaith events as a unique and new opportunity in Jewish history to engage in a form of Jewish outreach to Christians. When I was interviewed on his radio show, he admitted to me as much. I rejected the notion that even if one could avoid the problems of interfaith dialogue, one could never engage in outreach with evangelical missionaries. I recommended that we Jews invest our time with the righteous gentiles of the Bnai Noach world instead. There are so many of them today.

It is interesting to note that at the conclusion of this event at the chapel, Pastor Steve Mitchell reiterated and reaffirmed for the audience, the primary Christian beliefs, as I see it, to negate any of Jeremy’s final words. These evangelicals are clearly not open to becoming B’nai Noach, and they themselves do not want their flock to believe that Judaism offers an alternative path to the truth. They are firm believers in their faith, and their uncompromising belief in a divine Jesus, and we should understand this without accepting the naïve notion that it’s a mitzvah to engage with them. Our own people will only lose spiritually in such an encounter, because the evangelical isn’t interested in reason, but the blind faith of dogma and indoctrination. And his theology allows him to engage in duplicity to lure the Jew in.

Human Psychology

Selective Vision. As the old adage goes, we see what we want to see. As complex people we all engage in this delusional process to some extent. Selective sight allows us to continue to live the way we want, and avoid the things we refuse to confront or accept. There are many reasons we ignore the obvious. Some dwell in darkness because ignorance can be comforting. Some of us prefer not to dwell on things that make us wince. We sometimes wear filters over our eyes to ensure that our world schema remains intact. 

And yet, taking human psychology into the equation, I still cannot fathom how Jews allow themselves to be deluded by these dangerous organizations. As I’ve noted many times before, there is a world of documentation confirming the dangers of the evangelicals in Israel. And thanks to JewishIsrael’s recent article, we now have yet another piece of video footage exposing the notorious Waller family and their Hayovel Ministry’s missionary agenda. The vitriolic responses of those self-appointed Jewish leaders who aid Waller and others, cannot negate the facts, even if they choose to cast them aside.

Most native born Israelis have no understanding of the evangelical personality and are ill-equipped to read his pulse. Their unfamiliarity with English renders them vulnerable to the evangelical’s clever use of language to convey theological beliefs. But the fact remains: the missionaries are here in Israel, and many of them are relying upon religious Jews to sanitize their image. People like Jeremy Gimpel, who are well intended, but are nevertheless engaged in spiritual Russian roulette, and others who have been featured in some of my past articles, are harming the Jewish people. As Jewish boys and girls continue to be exposed to a strange admixture of holy and profane, it won’t be long before some of them eat the forbidden fruit. It is a subtle process, which Hayovel’s beloved messianic preacher “Papa” Don Finto understands well. He is ecstatic, because he and his ilk understand that they never had such an opportunity in history to enter religious communities and break down the barriers between Jew and Christian. He foresees the day when more Jews will (Heaven forbid) kneel before the cross and accept “that man.”

Various efforts are underway to apprise major Jewish leaders and organizations of the full extent of this spiritual menace, which is not monolithic, but an elaborate network of missionary organizations. Many Jews are ignorant of the problem. Many more allow themselves to remain so. There are several good rabbis who are mortified about what is going on, and yet for some reason, they lack the courage or the organizational ability to take a strong stance. So we continue to fight the lonely battle to chip away at their resistance. Because if we don’t fight the good fight, the spiritual death toll for the Jewish people will be incalculable.

Every Jew in turn can do his part by writing about this problem, speaking with other Jews, and informing their community leaders. Jews need to write letters to major Jewish organizations both in Israel and across the diaspora, demanding that they publicly acknowledge the problem and articulate an aggressive plan of action. Of course, the battle needn’t be left to religious organizations. All concerned Jews are welcome to contribute. A major part of the effort to combat this spiritual period of “shmad” requires that we publicize all of the major personalities who work with these evangelicals. As such, the actions of Jeremy Gimpel and others must be exposed. “Good intentions” are no excuse, when Jewish souls are in danger.

Ironically, many of the same Jews who promote the evangelicals are upset when Israel consistently appeases the murderous beasts of Fatah who mask their true intentions, which mirror the genocidal dreams of Hamas and Hezbollah. Yet they fail to recognize Fatah’s spiritual equivalent, and on this issue at least, they show the equivalent stupidity of any card carrying member of “Peace Now.” Learn to recognize the missionary equivalent of the duplicitous Arab. Learn to recognize “Brother Esau” who comes to us with a smile, lots of cash, a willingness to harvest grapes for free, and an undying enthusiasm to bring the “good word” to us. Learn to scream, “mechabel” - “terrorist” - even when the assailant holds nothing in his hand but a cross and a fervent desire for you to kiss it.

Learn to comprehend his duplicitous language, so that you can read what is really in his heart. Here’s a brief lesson to get you started. Conversational Evangelical Language 101: When he says “the Father” he really means Jesus.

“V’alu moshi’im B’har Tzion, lishpot et Har Esav…..” – Ovadyah 1:21

Don’t delude yourself. Our visions and beliefs are incompatible. Santayana’s words are certainly true for the Jew. History always repeats itself. Har Ha’Carmel 2015.

Where is Elijah?

*I would like to thank Avraham Leibler and Ellen Horowitz of JewishIsrael for their contribution to this article.