Jerusalem (AsiaNews/AP) For the first time prominent Israeli rabbis are speaking out against the reception of millions of dollars donated by American Evangelicals to the Jewish state, voicing their fears of missionary intent and political agenda behind the massive funding. The real purpose, the rabbis fear, is to convert Jews, according to statements given by their aides Monday May 10th.
One such entity of benefactors, the Chicago-based International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, led by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, has raised more than 100 million US dollars for various projects in Israel, contributing 20 million last year alone, which have been given to assist the poor, elderly and immigrants in Israel, as well as to struggling Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union.
Now the group is coming under severe criticism, to the point that two of Israel's former chief rabbis, Avraham Shapira and Mordechai Eliahu, have approved a religious ruling urging Jewish believers not to accept any funds from the group, because the Fellowship accepts donations from radical Christian groups involved in "missionary activity". Rabbi Simcha Hacohen Kook, chief rabbi of the city of Rehovot and member of a rabbinical dynasty also criticises the Fellowship. "They are spending millions of dollars to make people closer to Christianity," he stated. "The situation is very serious."
Rabbi Eckstein, an Orthodox rabbi, said that although many of the thousands of donors to his group may hope to convert Jews, "we just don't allow any kind of missionary activity."
He said his donors are motivated by other factors, including the Jews' connection to the biblical Land of Israel and feelings of guilt over anti-Semitism.
Others Jewish religious and political leaders have voiced concern over Christian evangelicals' support for Israel's extreme right political wing, opposing any compromise with Palestine. Evangelical groups who interpret Scriptures to include a final apocalyptic battle, in which Israel will have a central role, have adopted and funded political views considered radical in the country. Some groups have opposed the US-backed "road map" peace plan, saying that it would lead to Israeli concessions, and have opposed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's attempts to uproot Jewish settlements in the Gaza strip and parts of the West Bank. Hundreds of Evangelical churches offer regular donations to West Bank settlements for school equipment, playgrounds, medical supplies and bulletproof buses.
Liberal personalities have opposed this political influence of the Evangelical groups, which would, in their view, keep Israel on a path of unending conflict. Rabbi David Rosen, the international director of Inter-religious Affairs in the American Jewish Committee's Jerusalem office, said this political activity is a larger concern than the charitable work. "There's support for some of the most extreme political positions in Israeli society," the rabbi said. "That I find far more disturbing than any suggestion that there could be missionary activity."
