Interfaith Torah Study (Audio-Visual)

***The strange fire 🔥 of interfaith Torah study between orthodox rabbis and evangelical missionaries.***

 

Interfaith Worship: When The Sacred Becomes Profane (audio-visual presentation)

*Revised Updated Version!* Clarifies Certain Points In Greater Detail: Reflections on the grave sin of rabbis/laypeople who participate in interfaith worship with evangelical missionaries. An analysis of one rabbi’s egregious distortion of halachic sources to justify his “strange fires”.

 

Hayovel Ministry: A Tragic Tale Of Jewish Collaboration With Missionaries

For years now, a handful of Jews have tried to expose Tommy Waller's "Hayovel Ministry", a crafty organization of evangelical missionizing in Israel. With their deceptive use of "relational evangelism" (a clever take on restoration theology), Hayovel accomplished an unbelievable thing. They formed relationships with religious Jews (including a small group of Rabbis) and successfully infiltrated religious communities. Twenty years ago this would have been unimaginable. Jews who would have dared to align with such people would have been ostracized by Torah-minded Jews in their own communities.

When Hayovel first came on the scene in Israel, their shocking candor showed their true intentions. As a result of these tactical errors, the earliest promotional videos were quickly removed, although they continue to make mistakes time and again. These occasional errors (less frequent today as they are groomed and taught by Jews how to behave ) occasionally compel Tommy Waller to engage in his patented apologies where he chalks up Hayovel's errors to a "learning process". Inevitably they still make mistakes, thus continuing the predictable cycle of Waller's breast-beating "apologies".

Although they are clever students, sometimes the truth comes out in other ways. Occasionally a video that wasn't supposed to be released shows us Hayovel's true "heart" when in an intimate American home-setting with fellow believers. In such settings, Waller can be seen praying for Jewish souls and explaining that his organization helps Jews discover "their messiah".

Hayovel is having a Livestream conference today featuring prominent religious Jews who've aligned and collaborated with them. The most tragic aspect of the story is that so many of the worst players in this saga are religious Jews. Some actually believe the distorted rationalizations they use to justify halachically problematic/prohibited associations. The sincerity of others is more suspect when you consider the enormous economic benefit they receive from these historically unprecedented associations and the inevitable explosion of libel and slander when the facts are exposed.

See for yourself. Behind the good old boy "heimish" veneer, this is the true face of Hayovel:

On The Issue of Interfaith Dialogue

As anyone who reads this blog will attest, my personal position lies entirely according to the rulings of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik regarding interfaith dialogue with other faiths. The "Rav" as is well known, prohibited such activity and his thought can be best expressed with his classic essay "Confrontation" and a subsequent addendum. 

In our own times in Israel and in the diaspora, we have seen all too well, the pitfalls involved when Jews with kipot abrogate this most sensible ruling and go off to meet and greet and break bread with Esau. While many Jews involved are self-serving ignoramuses, there are some prominent Halachic thinkers who astound us with their revolutionary betrayal of key Jewish principles. As shocking as it is, the figure of the historical Acher come to mind, which reminds us that even great Jews can choose the wrong side of the road and step into the abyss. Yet upon doing so, they become different people. 

The following article is a flawed but interesting glimpse into two prominent Rabbinic personalities who studied under the Rav. One adheres to the Rav's ruling, the other departed years ago in a most radical fashion. Here is Rabbi Gil Student's Interfaith Dialogue Under Fire.