FRAUDS: Yerushalayim Christian Missionary Training Center Poses as Yeshiva

A stranger visiting the Tzemach David synagogue and study hall in Jerusalem would never imagine that the innocent-looking facility was actually a training center for Christian missionaries in how to conduct themselves as religious Jews. A wide-ranging probe by Yad L’Achim revealed that Tzemach David is the tip of the iceberg in the missionaries’ efforts to earn the trust of the Israeli public through deceit and manipulations.

Arutz Sheva reports that Tzemach David is housed in a building called the Bram Center, after Abram (Bram) Poljak, a pioneering missionary in Israel. The “Beis Medrash” is run by an organization called FFOZ (First Fruits of Zion) that was established in the United States in 1992 with the central aim of presenting Christianity as Judaism and conducting intensive activities to gets Jews to convert.

In its publication, the organization speaks of its mission to “restore the original faith and kingdom message of the Jewish J.” It goes on to describe what it describes as its four key missions: “Restoring the Jewishness of J, restoring his message about the kingdom, restoring the authority of the Torah, and restoring the people of Israel. ‘FFOZ Friends’ are at the forefront of this restoration, providing the support and advancing the cause to teach the truth and raise disciples for the Jewish J.”

According to internal documents obtained by Yad L’Achim, the missionaries established Tzemach David because would-be missionaries were having difficulty gaining admission to traditional yeshivas.

“The Bram Center provides … a place for Israelis to learn about the connection with Messianic Judaism.”

Half a year ago, the missionaries ratcheted up their activities, starting a “Torah Club” that claims to offer in-depth study of the Bible and Judaism to enable “Messianic Jews” to lead full “Jewish-Torah lives.”

The two main activists are Ami (Tim) Buckles and Boaz Michael.

Buckles, who dresses like an American haredi Jew from the United States, lives near the Givat Mordechai neighborhood in Jerusalem. According to information obtained by Yad L’Achim, he first appeared as a missionary nine years ago in the United States in Jewish communities in the state of Washington, but local rabbis discovered his true identity and banished him. He went on to establish a missionary congregation in Seattle by the name of Tzemach David. Yad L’Achim tracked him down in Jerusalem, where he gives a range of classes for FFOZ. Buckles works in the organization’s offices, as an author of missionary books that appear to have Jewish content and as a lecturer in Judaism. Read more at Arutz Sheva.

{Matzav.com Israel}