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Community Awareness Program
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Jews for Judaism Phone-A-Thon
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June 14-15
Please email to volunteer
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TOP 10 LIST
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Top 10 Things To Know Before Going to College
10. Jews
are consciously targeted by missionaries and various cult groups on
college campuses across America and in Israel.
9. College
campuses are fertile "market places" and territory for proselytizing and
recruiting young adults.
● Students are often willing to
explore new ideas and philosophies
● New-found independence and
freedom from parents enable students to "try new things" and question their own values and goals.
8. Not all missionaries "look-alike" and may use
varied forms of deception, manipulation and "love-bombing" to attract and
retain potential converts.
7. Hebrew Christians,
who refer to themselves as "Messianic Jews," "Fulfilled Jews" or "Jews for Jesus"
are in fact believers in fundamentalist Christianity and believe in the
divinity of "Y'shua"- Jesus. These groups and individuals are no longer
within the accepted norms of Judaism.
6. Many
Hebrew Christian congregations perform Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, reciting the
blessing over the Torah scroll in the name of "Y'shua H'machiach the giver
of the New Covenant" (the New Testament); most have Yom Kippur services
celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus as the ultimate atonement; Shabbat
candles are lit in the name of Jesus; Jesus is equated with the Pascal
lamb at the Passover Seder; and "new believers" are purified (converted) in
the "Mikvah" (baptized).
5. Most
Jews are proselytized by:
friends, roommates, classmates, neighbors, teachers, sport coaches,
co-workers and health care professionals (it is known as "Peer-to-Peer" or
Friendship Evangelism).
4. Today's
cults are highly sophisticated, utilizing modern technologies and
various marketing and business
schemes to recruit and retain new members.
3. Though
there is a great deal of variation amongst cults, certain common themes are
present in destructive cult groups:
● Total submission and unquestionable
faith in the leader (their messiah/god)
● Polarized world view (the group
is good/ outside world is evil)
● The "ends
justify the means"
● Salvation, fulfillment and/or
self realization and personal gain can only come through the group
● Excessive financial and/or
"volunteer" requirements to be a part of the group
● Harassment and threats if one
willingly leaves the group
2. Cults are usually categorized as (these are very vague terms):
Bible-based; Eastern Meditation; Satanist/Occult;
Political/ Terrorist; Psychotherapy/Human Potential; New-Age and Commercial.
1. YES - IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU!
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Issue: #4
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May 2009
Tammuz 5769
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TARGET: TEENS
Christian missionaries focus on younger audience
By Maayan Jaffe
Special to Jews for Judaism
You're 18 and the world seems expansive, vast. You head off
to college with an open mind and an eagerness to search and grow. It's amazing.
 This generation of Jewish youth, however, is not as
knowledgeable about its religion as those prior. And Christian missionaries are
more knowledgeable about how to target Jewish young adults than ever before.
"We know that about 80 percent of Jewish college students are
proselytized to or experience missionary activity during their college years," said Ruth Guggenheim,
Executive Director of Jews for Judaism. "Over 90 percent of those college students
are the target of peer-to-peer evangelism, proselytized to by friends,
roommates and even teachers."
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Amy's Story
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Amy Dow was studying to be a counselor at a Christian
university.
"I was born Jewish, raised Jewish, but had no Jewish
education at all," Dow said.
As she progressed in her studies, she made friends with her
classmates. They pushed Jesus and offered their Christian love.
 "I got so into it. I started going to church on Sundays,"
said Dow. "I was a disenfranchised Jew seeking and asking questions."
Dow's relationship with Christianity lasted upwards of a
year. On Yom Kippur, she tried going to a Reform synagogue. When she couldn't
understand the Hebrew text or follow the mechanics of the service, she became
frustrated. She didn't like that when her toddler son asked her what some fancy
Hebrew lettering on the wall said she could not tell him.
Dow went to church the next day.
"I liked that I could participate in the service from day
one. I did not have to go to school to learn to pray. Everyone at the church
was up there, dancing and singing and I felt, 'this is for me,'" she said.
 Dow wanted a relationship with God, and the Christians
handed one to her. Fortunately for Dow, she happened upon a Chabad rabbi one
summer and he showed her that relationship could exist in Judaism too. She
learned that God can be in a Jew's life and there is a deep Jewish
spirituality.
"I now understand the reason I do mitzvoth is to get closer
to God. It is not something cold and mechanic. It's all so meaningful to me,"
said Dow.
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Losing Jason
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Unfortunately, Dow's story is not so uncommon. Most Jewish
youth are not aware of the beauty Judaism has to offer, said Guggenheim, and
they are confronted by extremely passionate and well-educated missionaries.
In addition, teenagers and young adults are often in search
of spirituality, explained Mendi Baron, who heads Jews for Judaism's Jewish
Teens Teaching Values program, or JTTV.
That was the case with Marilyn Leavey Meryerson's son, Jason.
Now 39, he has been a Hebrew Christian since he was 22.
"Jason was approached when he was studying on campus at the Los
Angeles College of Chiropractic," said
Meyerson. "He had always been searching for an identity. There, he
met members of Jews for Jesus. They befriended him, invited him to bible
studies, to Passover Seders. He thought he could debate them, discount their
arguments. Instead, they won him over."
Meyerson's son is now
married with children. The Meyersons maintain a relationship with Jason,
but it's difficult.
"He did not know how to
respond. I believe if he had been given the Jews for Judaism college checklist
with information on how to respond, he would have been fine," Meyerson said.
"These college kids need to have the arguments. They need to have the truth."
Meyerson urged parents
across the religious spectrum to open their eyes to the missionary threat, to
recognize that these Christians are after their children - "our children" - and
they want to convert them.
"It is [the Christians']
path to heaven and it is scary," said Meyerson. "They are so well funded and
they will use any means to convert our children."
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Battling With The Band
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Jews for Judaism is
fighting back. With Baron's help, the JTTV program is expanding,
developing a new Web site for teens and utilizing a now very active
Facebook page to dialogue about Jewish issues.
M ost recently, Baron
began offering teen parties and programs to provide a positive Jewish
experience for the youth ... before they go off to college. On May 17, JTTV is
partnering with the local Jewish Community Center to host "Summerstock," a teen
concert. Around 200 teens are expected to attend.
"Giving someone a Jewish
experience, giving them an experience where they can learn to have pride in
Judaism, is the first step. ... It is like an immunization," Baron said. "We need
to catch teens between the ages of 15 and 18 because that is when we can
educate them.
He referred to the Jews for Jesus Internet site GradJEWate, aimed at "helping Jewish college
students find a meaningful and true experience of God through Jesus, the Jewish
Messiah." Jews for Jesus, one of the nearly 1,000 Hebrew Christian groups around the world that raise over $300 million a year to carry out their
missionary activities, has members on college campuses across the country.
Said Baron: "The Jewish community is falling behind."
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ACTION ITEM: Draw Jewish
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Make a Comic Book Based on the Torah
 Here's How:
1. Read a portion of Torah
2. Ask yourself:
A. What scenes will make the best story?
B. What details will make good images?
C. What text will fill the best speech bubbles?
3. Make a template and fill in the panels using images, text from the portion you read
Try These Great Titles:
"Wrestling with Angels:" Genesis 32
"Battle of Jerico:" Joshua 6
"Samson:" Judges 13
AND MANY MORE!!!
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DONATE NOW
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Contact Jews for Judaism
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5800 Park Heights Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21215
410-602-0276
Email
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About Jews for Judaism
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The Jews for Judaism mission is to strengthen and preserve Jewish
identity through education and advocacy that counteracts deceptive
proselytizing targeting Jews for conversion.
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