Caspari and Cows
What, you may be wondering, does a center for Biblical and Jewish Studies have to do with farmers and cows? Two Norwegian dairy farmers are leaving their cows to come to Jerusalem for a month and work with us as volunteers. They have paid someone to look after their thirteen cows and they will be on their way to us in late October. For them, it is a sacrifice of time, peaceful environment and even finances as they come to work with us here in the hectic, conflict-ridden city of Jerusalem. Few contrasts could be greater than the difference between the pastoral beauty and peace of a Norwegian farm and the bustling Middle Eastern metropolis of Jerusalem. Especially in these turbulent times of world-wide uncertainty we at Caspari Center appreciate the many people who are willing to give of their time and resources so that we can continue on with the work of strengthening the Messianic community in Israel. Much of the work at Caspari Center is done by volunteers and we can accommodate both short and long term volunteers. Even elderly dairy farmers can find a place with us!

It is an exciting time for the work in Israel. In spite of the difficult political and security situation in the country, the number of believers in Jesus is growing. As they grow, the challenges of discipleship and education grow with them. Caspari Center is grateful to be here to meet the developing needs in the local congregations.

In this newsletter we feature a background article on an interesting part of the Israeli scene that impacts our local work. Caspari Center is one of a number of institutions that have been labeled 'missionary' by some ultra-orthodox Jewish groups. We thought it would be of interest to our readers to know something about the 'anti-missionary' groups that oppose the Messianic community to whom we are called. We also include an update on some of Caspari Center's latest activities.


The Anti-Missionaries
The cultural and religious landscape of Israel is a fascinating mix. Orthodox Judaism is a vibrant world existing alongside secular Israeli society. One of the most interesting groups within the Jewish ultra-Orthodox world is a small group called the pe'ilim or activists. In a world that is divided on almost every matter, there is unity in regards to support of the 'activists' of Yad L'Achim (Hand to the Brethren) and Lev L'Achim (Heart to the Brethren). Yad L'Achim, headed by a Chabad (Lubavitch) rabbi, Rabbi S. Lipshitz, is the veteran anti-missionary organization in Israel with Lev L'Achim, directed by Rabbi Moshe Lachover, a more recent offshoot. These two groups are engaged in a holy war against Christian missionary activities and have been referred to as the 'Orthodox underground.'

Yad L'Achim was established shortly after the foundation of the State of Israel and has grown into an organization that today has 17 branches in Israel and several branches in Europe and the United States. In fact, anywhere in Israel where there is a community of ultra-Orthodox Jews, pe'ilim can be found. They claim to have thousands of volunteers in their battle for the souls of the Jewish people. Most Messianic Jews and Christians working in Israel are familiar with Yad L'Achim and Lev L'Achim because of the anti- missionary activities of these organizations. In addition to their fight against 'the Mission,' the two groups work to influence secular Jews to adopt orthodox Jewish lifestyles, and target new immigrants and needy families in an effort to convince them to send their children to religious schools.

Relative to their size, the budgets of these organizations are quite large. No figures are available for the past number of years but in 1985 (according to their publications) Yad L'Achim had a yearly budget of $128,000 for their anti-missionary and anti-cult activities. Funding primarily comes from collections taken during the annual Days of Awe - the ten-day period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. During this period, leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis put out a joint communiqué calling every man, woman, and child to give money as 'atonement for their souls' in a special offering to the activist organizations. The sum is fixed yearly and is collected at the mikva'ot (ritual baths) by yeshiva students. All ultra-Orthodox Jews visit the ritual baths at this season. In 1987 the minimum fee was 15 NIS (approximately $5 US) per person. In addition to this, these organizations maintain donation boxes in public places and funds are also collected abroad.

The activist organizations co-operate with the Israeli government. They sometimes receive funds from the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and the Ministry of Education. The population registry of the Ministry of the Interior regularly receives reports from Yad L'Achim consisting of lists of suspected missionaries.

The anti-missionary organizations make use of young orthodox men who generally are not yet married and have had enough of studying Torah. The clandestine image of these groups has a powerful attraction for these young men. Small cells, that are directly responsible to the organization's headquarters, make up a network of intelligence gatherers. These cells conduct many of the activities and are unrelated to one another. Sometimes the 'activists' go underground and infiltrate Messianic congregations and Christian organizations. They investigate suspected mission personnel, activities, and premises and have been known to break in and cause damage. They sometimes organize demonstrations against individual 'apostates' and disrupt congregational meetings.

Another favored activity of the 'activists' is to target individuals through poster campaigns in the cities and areas where they live and work. Posters with photographs and names of well-known or 'dangerous' people are posted with warnings to stay away from them. There have been a number of instances where individuals targeted by Yad L'Achim have lost their jobs due to pressure put on their employers. All publicity, even if negative, provides opportunities to speak about matters of faith and the gospel.

The activist organizations are interested in inflating numbers and they regularly exaggerate the size of the Messianic community and the numbers of missionaries working in Israel. In the late 1980's they estimated the number of missionaries (they include in this all believers in Jesus) in Israel at 5,000, while according to a survey of the Messianic congregations that was taken in 1999 (Mishkan, 1999, #30-31, Caspari Center, Jerusalem) the total number of Messianic believers living in Israel was close to 5,000. Their propaganda regularly is in error, with mistakes in names, addresses, and numbers.

Although these activist groups are often quite vocal, their actual influence is small. They are a permanent part of the Israeli Ultra-Orthodox landscape and they are violently opposed to the Messianic community. A quotation from one of their protest flyers shows this clearly "...the soul hunters, the missionaries who spend days and nights trying to cause Jewish souls to change their religion. Therefore every Jew, who is required by our Torah to act against conversion, must demand that there be legislation to forbid the activity of the Mission in the land, and must join the struggle in person and in finance."

Due to their longstanding relationship with the Israeli government and the current strength of the religious political parties in the ruling coalition, Yad L'Achim has lately been responsible for the development of proposed legislation that would make it illegal for a Messianic Jew to in any way explain his faith. The Messianic community in Israel takes these activities seriously but continues to live life without fear and even makes use of the 'free publicity' provided by the activists of Yad L'Achim and Lev L'Achim.


Course on Jewish Influences in the Early Church
This fall we are offering a course that is new not only in content but also in its significance in our long-range vision. In cooperation with Jerusalem University College (JUC) on Mount Zion we are giving a course entitled Jewish Elements in Pre-Byzantine Christianity. The new course is structured around material originally produced for the Caspari Center by Dr. Oskar Skarsaune. Taught by Caspari Center's Dr. Ray Pritz, it has met with an enthusiastic response and has the largest attendance of any non-mandatory course at JUC.

While it is true that the early Church quickly forgot its Jewish roots, it is often overlooked that there was ongoing Jewish influence in the Church for the first two to three centuries. This influence can be seen in such diverse areas as: baptism, liturgy, creeds, Christology, and how to face martyrdom for the faith. In addition to these Jewish influences, there was a viable community of Jewish believers in Jesus in the Church perhaps as late as the Fourth Century. It is our hope and long-range plan to offer this course on the Internet and also to make it available to Christian institutions abroad as a short-term semester course.


Seminars in Netanya for Young People
Almost all young people in Messianic congregations attend Israeli schools, where they are often the only believers in their class or even in the entire school. The Caspari Center was invited by the Beit Asaf Congregation in Netanya to present a series of three half-day seminars focusing on issues that can be a special challenge to young people in such a setting. Under the title How to Answer Hard Questions, the subjects covered were: Science, the Bible and Israeli Society; The Holocaust and the Problem of Evil; and Faith, Mysticism and the New Age. Many of the participants were high school age and included many Russian immigrants. The discussion times after each session were lively and showed that the subjects chosen were indeed of interest and importance to these young people.





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