Missionaries Under Pressure: Yad L’Achim Attending all our Meetings

Light vs darkness: Mechapsim of Yad L'Achim vs. Motz'im of the missionaries

An internal memorandum released last week by the Kehillat Haderech missionary congregation in Karmiel proves that Yad LAchim’s counter-missionary campaign is working.

In the memorandum, which appeared on the congregation’s web site, the missionary group complains that “in recent months we are witness to increased attention being paid to our activities by Yad L’Achim. Representatives of Yad L’Achim arrive at every meeting and many [of our] members are receiving Yad L’Achim’s informational leaflets at their homes.”

One reason the missionaries are feeling pressure is the latest issue of Yad L’Achim’s Mechapsim (“Searchers”) journal, which targets missionary congregations in Israel, both their members and those who come into contact with them.

The issue, the journal’s fourth, features the dramatic story of the head of a missionary congregation who returned to Judaism, and includes theological arguments that disprove missionary claims, one by one. Thousands of copies of the magazine were distributed among missionaries right after the Jewish holidays and, to date, more than 50 Jews who had converted out have called Yad L’Achim asking to meet with a staffer to examine anew their beliefs.

Tragically, the missionary memo also reports on four Jewish cult members who recently underwent baptism after receiving “appropriate preparations and instruction.”

Another sign that the missionaries are in a panic is the appearance of the second edition of Motz’im (“Finders”), which was meant to compete against Yad L’Achim’s Mechapsim.

The missionary publication, put out by the Bible college in Netanya, has not taken off due to its poor writing, shallow argumentation and demagoguery. Its second issue failed miserably in presenting an alternative to Mechapsim.

Yad L’Achim officials said this week they were encouraged by the responses streaming in from all around the country and noted that the missionaries are on the defensive. They added that Jews who had converted out have been meeting with Yad L’Achim activists and announced their intention to leave the cults and start learning about Judaism in order to return to their people and heritage.

Yad L’Achim added that in light of the positive reaction to Mechapsim, its most recent issue, No. 4, will be coming out in Russian in the coming days.