A young Jewish man gets ensnared in the welcoming community of Messianic Jews.
Originally posted on www.aish.com
The warmed, recycled air of the plane was like a tunnel between two tundras, Misha Kapilov* reflected as he disembarked. Gone were the sights and sounds of the life he had left behind, first in Kiev, then in Israel.
Bienvenue au Canada read the sign as the frigid air pulled him into the terminal with an urgency. Passport control. Luggage. Waiting area. And there she was: Aunt Katya*. Smiling, waving vigorously, and very welcoming, she eagerly stepped forward to take her 17-year-old immigrant nephew under her wing. All Misha really knew about his father’s sister was that Aunt Katya had “converted” to Christianity, but his ambiguous understanding of religion made his aunt’s choice a complete non-issue.
Read more: Saved: A young Jewish man gets ensnared in the welcoming community of Messianic Jews.
COUNTER MISSIONARY SURVIVAL SEMINAR
Learn How to Answer Missionary Claims!
With Rabbi Michael Skobac
In six exciting classes studying the Bible, history, psychology and comparative religion, you will gain an understanding of today’s aggressive missionary movement and the knowledge to respond confidently to the challenges they pose.
Tuesday Evenings: Jan. 26 - Mar. 2
Time: 8:00 pm
Admission: FREE
BETH HABONIM CONGREGATION
5 Glen park Ave.(Bathurst & Glencairn)
To Register: (416) 789-0020
Was the Airplane Terrorist Brainwashed?
By Rabbi BZ Kravitz
Last week’s failed terrorist plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight has police and airline personnel beefing up security, and others wondering how this could happen.
Umar Mutallab, the 23-year-old Nigeria born terrorist, was subdued by other passengers while trying to ignite an explosive device attached to his body. To many, Umar’s youthful appearance, fluent English and education made him an unlikely terrorist suspect.
Israel’s Relationship with God
By Rabbi Yisroel Blumenthal
It wasn’t always this easy to be a Jew in a Christian country. In the 21st century, the Church’s age-old desire for the soul of the Jew can only find expression in the realm of the discussion. One of the few weapons that remain in the arsenal of the missionary is the scriptural argument. This same weapon is readily turned against the missionary by the Jew who has studied the scriptures.It was not always this way. There were times when the most intense pressures were brought to bear against the Jew. The Church had the Jew confined to cramped ghettoes, the Jew was stripped of most civil rights and the threat of death was an ever-present reality in the life of the Jew. Death could come at the hands of a mob whipped to hysteria by the preaching of the moral lights of Christendom. Or it could come in the formal deliberations of the ecclesiastical judges, who sentenced multitudes to death for the imagined desecration of a holy wafer.
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The Disputation Film screening and discussion Thursday, Dec. 24, 8:00 p.m. |
The Power of Persuasion: |
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What do Cults, Tele-marketers and Terrorist have in common? By Rabbi BZ Kravitz For years, religious cults have taken advantage of people who have given over their lives and fortunes to charismatic figures that prey on naïve individuals. People of different faiths usually disagree on theology, but theological differences are not necessarily the determining factor that classifies a group as a cult. A particular group may be considered by others to be a false religion, but it is not a cult in the classic sense of the word or from the prospective of modern psychology. Legitimate religions encourage honesty, transparency and critical thinking. |
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A Vacuum Yet To Be Filled
Dear Rebbetzin Jungreis, I have wanted to write you for a long time because you helped me in such a profound way.I am so very thankful for your work, your message, your books, and your unapologetic call to all Jews to return to our Torah and heritage. Three years ago, I was in the process of exiting the Messianic "Jewish" lifestyle. Your book, The Jewish Soul On Fire helped me to want to return to a true Torah lifestyle. Let me tell you how you helped save my Jewish neshamah:
The Totality of Scripture
by Rabbi Yisroel Chaim Blumenthal
Judaism and Christianity are two different belief systems. They differ from each other on foundational issues such as the identity of God and atonement from sin. Yet these two disparate belief systems point to the same Jewish Bible as a fundamental element of their respective faiths. The do ctrines of Judaism and Christianity are diametrical opposites, yet the proponents of both sides of the argument find encouragement in the pages of same book.
It is obvious that only one of these belief systems can be reading the book correctly. The adherents of one faith are following the true intent of the Divine Author, while the adherents of the other faith must be misusing the book.
The Foundation of Scripture
by Rabbi Yisroel Chaim Blumenthal
It is 2000 years now that Christians have been striving to persuade the Jewish people to join them in their faith. And it is for 2000 years that Jews have resisted the arguments of the Christian missionaries. The Jewish resistance to the claims of the missionary is firmly rooted in the words of scripture. But the Jewish objection to Christianity runs much deeper than that. The people of Israel recognize that the Christian faith runs counter to the very foundation of the Jewish scriptures.
The Inexistence of the Universe
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Groping for a transcendent word in a vocabulary generated by our physical lives, we seize upon “light.” Light is our metaphor for the incorporeal, the spiritual, the Divine. We speak of an era of “enlightenment” dispelling dark ages of ignorance and ignominy, of a “ray” of hope penetrating the blackness of despair, of the Divine “light” that bathes the virtuous soul. Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Courtesy of MeaningfulLife.com |
ALERT: MISSIONARIES STEP UP ACTIVITIES TO CONVERT JEWS IN ISRAEL
In recent years, there has been a phenomenal growth in the number of Israelis converting to Christianity through the efforts of Evangelical missionaries who use “Messianic Judaism” to deceptively describe their form of “Christianity for Jews”. These Israeli converts claim they are more Jewish than ever and proudly refer to themselves as “Messianic Jews.”
Read more: Alert: Missionaries Step Up Activities to Convert Jews in Israel
How to reply when the doorbell rings
Jul. 2, 2008 -- THE JERUSALEM POST
Many years ago, while a rabbi in Atlanta, I answered a knock on my door one Shabbat afternoon. Standing in front of me was a fine-looking couple - obviously non-Jewish.
"Shabbat Shalom, rabbi," they said, and asked to have a word with me.
The Council of My Nation an Articulation of Judaism
By: Rabbi Yisroel C. Blumenthal
The purpose of this work is to help you understand and appreciate the belief system known as Judaism. When Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, there were many belief systems that held sway in the Western world.
There were also numerous variants of Christianity that had taken root amongst the
population of the Mediterranean basin. All of this changed with the rise of the Roman Church. From the time the Roman Bishops took hold of the reins of power, they saw it as their holy duty to obliterate every dissenting voice. They were quite successful. By the early Middle-Ages, the European identified himself as a Christian - with the exception of the Jew.
Contra Brown - Answering Dr. Brown's Objections to Judaism
The time has come to pen a response to the arguments of Dr. Brown. The sheer volume of his work prevents me from responding to every last one of his arguments in the space of this brief article. Yet there are some core arguments that represent the mainstay of Dr. Brown’s reasoning. In an interview with Lee Strobel , Dr. Brown puts forth the salient points of his position. In the following article we hope to demonstrate why these central elements of Dr. Brown’s position are untenable.
Written by Rabbi Yisroel C. Blumenthal. Published here with permission. Any comments or questions for the author should be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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