Tell us about your nominee. Why should he or she be recognized as a Jewish Community Hero?
Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz, the founder of Jews for Judaism International, is a hero in many ways.
According to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) “More than 500,000 adults who had a Jewish mother follow another religion, overwhelmingly some form of Christianity.” Rabbi Kravitz and Jews for Judaism have helped thousands of Jews return to Judaism from the clutches of cults and deceptive missionaries and have empowered hundreds-of-thousands of Jewish students and adults to say “know” to such deception.
Together Rabbi Kravitz and his organization have inspired countless numbers of Jews to come closer to their heritage and their religion. Rabbi Kravitz also volunteers and provides crisis counseling to thousands of peace officers as a chaplain for the LA County Sheriff’s Department and LA Airport Police. He received a commendation from the Sheriff’s department for using CPR to save the life of a 14 year old girl who was hit by a car in Israel.
Rabbi Kravitz has spearheaded the growth of Jews for Judaism and today it is the only full time, international organization combating the multi-million dollar proselytizing crusade targeting the Jewish community for conversion.
What problem did your nominee identify in the community that needed to be solved? How has your nominee's efforts made a difference for others?
As a campus rabbi over 25 years ago, Rabbi Kravitz was approached by numerous students who were challenged and confused by the deceptive tactics of missionary groups seeking to convert Jews. He identified a need for a comprehensive community response and founded Jews for Judaism International which now has centers in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Toronto, Johannesburg, Sydney and Jerusalem.
Rabbi Kravitz wrote the classic Jewish Response to Missionaries handbook that has been translated into 7 languages with more than 320,000 copies in circulation and available for free at www.JewsForJudaism.org.
As the missionary problem increased both here and in Israel, Rabbi Kravitz identified frightening new trends in evangelical proselytizing, including sophisticated and highly effective internet and peer-to-peer evangelical proselytizing campaigns. These campaigns spend tens-of-millions of dollars training evangelical youth to target their Jewish friends.
Jews for Judaism and Rabbi Kravitz responded and developed the BE-TRUE peer-to-peer student leadership initiative and was awarded a grant from the Los Angeles Jewish Community Foundation for this cutting-edge project. Be-True activities and the Be-True.org website are training Jewish high school and college students to be Jews for Judaism’s fellows on campus and providing students with critical thinking skills and the tools to strengthen their Jewish identity and pride.
Rabbi Kravitz has developed unique partnerships with all segments of the Jewish community including federations, congregations and organizations. Jews for Judaism’s non-judgmental approach has earned it the endorsement of all denominations of Judaism.
Rabbi Kravitz has heroically dedicated his life to saving Jewish lives and counteracting missionary activities. There are countless testimonies to how he and Jews for Judaism have rescued Jewish individuals and families from the seductive and deceptive lure of other religions.
