Yad L’Achim: Tourism Ministry Sends Tour Guides to Missionary College for Seminars
A scandal of this nature hasn’t come to Yad L’Achim’s attention in years: Outraged tour guides called the organization to report that as part of their training, they were being given the option of participating in day-long seminar given by the “College of the Bible,” a Messianic Bible college that trains missionaries • Full Story, Photo
A scandal of this nature hasn’t come to Yad L’Achim’s attention in years: Outraged tour guides called the organization to report that as part of their training, they were being given the option of participating in day-long seminar given by the “College of the Bible,” a Messianic Bible college that trains missionaries. The tour guides reported that neither the Tourism Ministry nor the “College of the Bible” had bothered to notify them of the nature of the institution and its activities.
In response to the calls, Yad L’Achim activists turned up at the college on the morning of the seminar with a flyer entitled “Who are you, ‘College of the Bible’?”
The flyer explains that the college is a Christian evangelical learning institution that trains pastors belonging to the ‘Messianic Jews’ cult in how to preach to Jews and get them to convert out of their religion. It also notes that the college is currently in court on charges of preaching to minors, a criminal offense that carries jail time.
Most of the tour guides who signed up for the seminar had no idea as to the purpose of the college and its character. Upon receiving Yad L’Achim’s flyers and additional information from activists on the scene, the guides said they’d be screening the material they received at the college and taking the things they were being taught with a large grain of salt.
Tour guides are required to participate in seminars once a year to keep their license.
Upon closer investigation, Yad L’Achim learned that during breaks between classes tour guides were offered missionary books at subsidized prices. “The missionaries take advantage of the fact that the Tourism Ministry cooperates with them and have the gall to utilize our time there for the purpose of preaching,” messaged one participant, attaching a brief film showing the books on display.
Another guide said that the college had misled them, promising in its publications to allow representatives of the three monotheistic faiths to present the main points of their religion. However, the slot allotted for Judaism featured a senior missionary, Golan Broshi, who presented the Torah in a distorted way, blending in his works on Christian theology.
“I had hoped to hear about Torah from a Jew and not from a Christian apostate,” he said in anger. “This was deception.”
Yad L’Achim pointed a finger of blame at the Tourism Ministry. “It’s a shame that the ministry chose this missionary college that seeks to undermine Judaism as one of its suppliers of seminars,” it said in a statement. “Even more serious is the fact that we’re talking about an organization that is in the midst of criminal proceedings over preaching to dozens of minors.”
Yad L’Achim added that as soon as it learned of the scandal it turned to Tourism Minister Chaim Katz with an urgent appeal to halt all contact with the missionary college. “We sincerely hope that the appeal will be answered and an end will be put to legitimizing a missionary organization,” Yad L’Achim said.
Missionary texts on display are offered at subsidized prices.
The special flyer was prepared to explain the real agenda of the college.
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