Many people are looking to explore Messianic Judaism. Are you? Ayts Chayim is a messianic congregation in Boca Raton led by Ira Brawer. However, you may be suprised to learn that Ayts Chayim is not a Jewish organization at all, but a Christian congregation! I will demonstrate this, using information from their site and other Christian sites. Each time, reference links will be provided, so that you may see the evidence with your own eyes.
The Rabbi Ayts Chayim is led by Ira Brawer, who advertises himslef as a "Messianic Rabbi." However, he does not have any rabbinical degree from a real Jewish school, only a degree in theology from a Christian school. In reality, Brawer attended Colorado Christian University. Just by the name of the University, we can be sure that Judaism was not the main focus of his studies. Here is the link to his biography, he is the second person listed on the page:
Click Here This is how Colorado Christian University views itself: "As an institution of evangelical Christians, we believe that our faith in Christ is a living faith that bears visible fruit as, through God's grace and empowering, we gradually grow in likeness to Jesus." Again, this is not a school that a real Jewish rabbi attends, this is a school for practicing evangelical Christians. Here is the link to the quote:
Click Here As a sidebar, the old Ayts Chayim webpage had a biography on Ira Brawer which stated that he came to the Christian-Messianic movement through American Board of Missions to the Jews, an organization created by a fake rabbi. Sadly, this has been removed from their website.
Helping the Church Interestingly, Brawer and Ayts Chayim are helping Living Water Baptist Church, a church in North Carolina, to attract more Jews to Jesus. Here is the link to the proof:
Click Here Living Water Baptist Church is very clearly created to convince people to become Christians. According to their website: "At Living Water, we are a contemporary church with strong core values (founded in our Covenant Statement). We are dedicated to reaching people for Christ with the uncompromising salvation message and we believe that God still changes hearts and lives in the day and age in which we live. We are seeing this happen in a real way as lives are being changed every week, and people are regularly being saved and baptized! To God be the glory!" Clearly, Living Water is not a group that would affiliate with a real synagogue. But, Ayts Chayim is there to help them convert more Jews. Here is the link to the quote, the quote comes from the third paragraph:
Click Here
Christian Affiliation As a Christian church, Ayts Chayim also is affiliated with another large Christian group, Tikkun International. Here is the link that shows their affiliation:
Click Here Tikkun was founded by Rev. Dan Juster, an ordained Prebyterian minister who originally got his start in the Messianic movement while running Messianic congregations for the Presbyterian church. No Jewish group would ever affiliate with Tikkun. Here is link to a full review of the Christian basis of Tikkun Internationl:
Click Here Christian Listing Since Ayts Chayim is a Christian congregations, it is not surprising that it is listed in Christian directories. Here are a few that list Ayts Chayim:
Christian Business Directory:
Click Here
WAY-FM Christian Radio (listed under "Churches":
Click Here
Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus There are many reasons why Jews do not accept Jesus, and the links below are some of the better explanations on this topic. Of course, if you have questions that are not covered on the links, you can always e-mail me with your questions. An Answer from Rabbi Stuart Federow Click Here
An Answer from Rabbi Shraga Simmons Click Here Ask the Rabbi from Ohr Somayach Click Here An Answer from Rabbi Tovia Singer Click Here Countermissionary Counseling
There are a number of groups that provide Countermissionary Counseling. Here are links to a few of them:
Jews for Judaism Alternatively, you can call them at 1-800-4PROOF1 with general questions about missionary claims.
Torah Atlanta
Outreach Judaism
Torah Life and Living Great Sites, Priceless Information
Here are a number of great sites that counter missionaries and explain the differences in belief between Judaism and Christianity, including addressing the Biblical verses that missionaries try to use against the Jews and explaining why the missionaries are incorrect. For the most in-depth analysis of verse by verse questions, go to Messiah Truth (sections on Counter-Missionary: Multi-media training [this can be read without being "multi-media"], Knowing Your Orchard and Judaism's Answer), Jews for Judaism (in their Reference Section (please note that the Isaiah topics tend to be under "Suffering Servant" part of the "Proof Text" section) and the Q & A section of Outreach Judaism. Messiah Page Messiah Truth Jews for Judaism Outreach Judaism Counter Missionary Reference Torah Atlanta Messianic Verses in Tanach Kosher Judaism Escape From Counterfeit Judaism Talking to Kids About Missionaries
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