Christian missionaries and Messianic Jews are active today in
Jerusalem and Jewish kids on the street are their prime
targets.
Missionaries and cults are known to prey on vulnerable
members of society, such as disillusioned teenagers who are
looking for sympathy. They are being offered food, clothes
and even a place to stay in downtown Jerusalem, on condition
that they also attend meetings to discuss Christian ideas.
The Jerusalem Youth Center runs The Zone as a drop-in center
in Kikar Tzion for Jewish kids who need such a place. It is
staffed by Yeshiva-educated and trained counselors who work
with these troubled teens and encourage them to get their
lives back together — to get help, to quit drinking and
using drugs, and to return to mainstream education and to
their families. The Zone has become a popular shelter for
many Israeli and Anglo-Israeli kids, some of them as young as
10 years old, who would otherwise be at risk on the streets
of downtown Jerusalem.
Rabbi Zev Oratz, Director of The Zone, says: "Frum kids are
not equipped to resist the clever techniques of these
missionaries, and they are drawn to the Christian offer which
seems to them to be something that they are missing."
The Zone was opened in 2002 and has helped hundreds of young
men and women, many from Orthodox families, who have been
attracted into potentially harmful activities such as
alcohol, gambling, and drugs.
Young teenagers who find their way to bars and other such
establishments are often preyed upon by Christian
missionaries who offer them support and security. Some are
impressionable. Some think that they can just use the
missionaries for their own purposes. Most wind up at The
Zone, eventually.
The Zone has letters from HaRav Shmuel Auerbach, HaRav
Yitzchok Berkowitz and HaRav Avrohom Blumenkrantz (Far
Rockaway, NY). For more information about The Zone, contact
us at +9722 / 02 625 3066 or email
thezone@netvision.net.il
