The complaint originated not with the Rabbinate itself but with the
extremist Chabad-influenced Yad L'Achim organization, which fights Christian missionary
activity, cults and intermarriage – often through racist and bigoted
propaganda of its own. It claims the café hosted proselytizing events
and gave customers Christian missionary propaganda.
Rabbinate To Revoke Kosher Certificate Of Café Owned By Evangelical Christian Over Missionary Allegations
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The Jerusalem Chief Rabbinate is pulling its kosher certification from a downtown café owned by an Evangelical Christian after it says it received complaints about missionary activity, Ynet reported.
The Forte café may lose its kosher status after "a serious incident of preaching and attempting to hand the New Testament to the kashrut supervisor,” the Rabbinate reportedly said.
But that complaint originated not with the Rabbinate itself but with the extremist Chabad-influenced Yad L'Achim organization, which fights Christian missionary activity, cults and intermarriage – often through racist and bigoted propaganda of its own. It claims the café hosted proselytizing events and gave customers Christian missionary propaganda.
“The missionary continues to dip its hoofs in the Holy City through its satellites, and everyone, big and small, should be warned to avoid any contact with them,” the anti-missionary organization wrote in a pashkvil (poster).
The Rabbinate reportedly cannot legally revoke kosher certification, even if Yad L’Achim’s claims are true.
It is possible that Yad L'Achim may have exaggerated or distorted the facts surrounding the café as part of a bid to try to prevent Christians from opening businesses the Jewish areas of the city.
The café owners' representative who also manages the café, Stanley Moshe, reportedly told Ynet that the café is owned indirectly by an Evangelical Christian. However, Moshe said, it is not affiliated with a missionary group and that no missionary activity takes place there.
However, the café's website notes that a related business located in the same building across the hall from the café successfully hosted the Praise to Our God 4 Concert along with the Messianic Jewish Alliance – a Christian missionary organization.
Moshe also reportedly said that at this point, the café’s owners prefer to negotiate with the Rabbinate to keep their kosher certification rather than sue the Rabbinate for violating the law.
Yad L'Achim's pashkvil against Café Forte. Please click to enlarge:
Café Forte homepage. Please click to enlarge:
Jerusalem Chief Rabbinate's letter to Yad L'Achim agreeing to revoke Café Forte's kosher supervision: