Jews for Judaism’s Educational Programs:
- Are a powerful way of strengthening our Jewish communities against the growing threat of deceptive and aggressive missionaries
- Stimulate an honest assessment of our spiritual health and are an inspiring catalyst for positive change
- Use an innovative interactive format to inoculate our youth against manipulative cult recruiters
- Strengthen Jewish identity and commitment
To download a summary of Speakers Bureau topics, please click here.
Rabbi Michael Skobac presents The DaVinci Code: A Jewish Perspective to a crowd of over 200 at Shaarei Tefillah Congregation in Toronto.
Please review the many diverse lecture topics listed below to consider which dynamic program you would like to host for your organization, synagogue, school or group.
To download a summary of Speakers Bureau topics, please click here.
If a YouTube video is available for a particular lecture, then click on the button in the description to view.
The Battle for the Jewish Soul: The Missionary Threat to Jews
“Why are evangelical Christians obsessed with converting Jews?” This exposé explores today’s growing missionary problem, how it affects our community and examines methods missionaries use with devastating success. The lecture includes a dramatic video that takes you inside the “Hebrew-Christian” movement and illustrates the scope of the problem. The audience is provoked to ask “Why are so many Jews not connected with Judaism, leaving them vulnerable to missionaries, and what we can do about it?”
Jews in the Lotus: Today’s Quest for Spirituality and the Lure of the East
In North America, about one-fourth of those practising Buddhism come from a Jewish background. With his recent journey to conduct Passover Seders in India as a backdrop, Rabbi Michael Skobac explores why so many Jews are attracted by Eastern teachings and explains that what they are seeking lies so close to home.
Cultivating Cult-evading
This special program for teens explores the techniques that are used by everyone from salespeople to cult recruiters to influence our thinking and behaviour. This program aims to help students become more “street smart” and less vulnerable to being manipulated. Through a series of interactive demonstrations, experiments, case studies, and video clips, students will become aware of why our instinctual defenses sometimes fail us and how our critical thinking can be derailed.
Confessions of a Former Jew For Jesus
Julius Ciss’ story of his five-year involvement in the “Hebrew Christian” movement is a unique insider’s perspective on a process that has ensnared thousands of Jews. Julius recounts his discovery of why Judaism rejects the missionary message, and describes the return to his own faith, ultimately leading him to establish the Canadian branch of Jew for Judaism. Click here to listen now!
The Battle for the Jewish Soul: The Missionary Threat to Jews
“Why are evangelical Christians obsessed with converting Jews?” This exposé explores today’s growing missionary problem, how it affects our community and examines methods missionaries use with devastating success. The lecture includes a dramatic video that takes you inside the “Hebrew-Christian” movement and illustrates the scope of the problem. The audience is provoked to ask “Why are so many Jews not connected with Judaism, leaving them vulnerable to missionaries, and what we can do about it?”
The Encounter: A Simulated Debate Between a Rabbi and a Jew for Jesus
In this explosive program, the audience comes face- to-face with a missionary who shares the case for Christianity. Of course, the “missionary” role is convincingly played by our speaker who leaves and returns when the rabbi is introduced. The Jews for Judaism rabbi debriefs the audience, explaining the tactics used by the missionary and the flaws in his arguments.
Evangelicals and Israel: Knight in Shining Armor or Trojan Horse?
The “Christian Right” has emerged as the most enthusiastic supporters of Israel in the world. At the same time, all Evangelicals believe that it is their responsibility to bring all people, including Jews, to Christian faith. This lecture examines the many reasons that draw Evangelicals to Israel and the complex nature of their relationship with the Jewish community, specifically focusing on the issue of conversion.
The Real Messiah: A Response to Missionaries
Does the Bible provide a clear template for who the Messiah will be and what he will do? How do we know if this template is trustworthy? This lecture provides refreshing insights into this fascinating issue, and examines how Christianity developed a distorted Messianic vision.
A Rabbi Cross-examines Christianity
Rabbi Michael Skobac takes you on a fascinating exploration of how a small Messianic movement within Judaism, 2,000 years ago, transformed into a radically non-Jewish world religion. In this lecture, you will learn about the Jewish roots of Christianity, how those roots became obscured over the course of time and what surprising developments may lie ahead.
Is Religion Killing Judaism?
This revealing presentation examines some of the negative stereotypes that people have about religion and how Judaism suffers by association. The issues addressed include today’s preference for spirituality over religion, the sentiment that religion is a “crutch for those who need it” and the contention that religions divide people, thereby causing strife in the world.
Inside The Missionary Mind
Some intriguing paradoxes emerge at the intersection of Christian theology, psycho logy and philosophy. Judaism and Christianity frequently approach spiritual issues from totally opposite perspectives. This lecture probes these areas and provides some insight into the ways that missionaries think.
The Da Vinci Code: A Jewish Perspective
Dan Brown’s best-selling novel has become a cultural phenomenon. We will discuss the reasons for this popularity, its significance and will critically examine the major premises of the book. Brown’s assertion that the Church has covered up the real history of Christianity emerges in a work of fiction. This lecture will explore an alternative vision of this concealed history that has been growing in popularity in scholarly circles. Click here to listen.
Intermarriage: Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?
What accounts for the steadily rising rates of intermarriage over the past 50 years? What are the chances that children of a mixed marriage will grow up identifying with Judaism? This lecture explores this disturbing development and offers the Jewish community some positive suggestions to help turn this crisis around.
Meeting Today’s Challenges to Jewish Survival
A recent full-page ad in Jewish publications warned, “If You’re Jewish, Chances Are That Your
Grand children Won’t Be”. Our program examines four serious threats to Jewish continuity: aggressive Christian evangelism, manipulative cults, intermarriage and the lure of Eastern religions, as well as the ways to meet these challenges.
The Counter-missionary Survival Seminar:
This highly acclaimed seminar provides the tools and knowledge to respond confidently to any missionary who challenges your beliefs. The curriculum covers all of the major claims that are raised by Christian missionaries. Attendees leave with a tremendous boost in their Jewish pride and confidence. The Counter-Missionary Survival Seminar is offered in a six-week or as a special one-day crash course.
Scripture Twisting:
How Missionaries Distort the Jewish Bible: Shows how Christians approach our Bible with a preconceived agenda and ultimately see what’s not there and don’t see what is there. This convoluted approach leads them to quote passages out-of- context so they can inject their beliefs into our Jewish Bible. The result… a dramatic misreading and distortion of our Holy Scriptures.
Weekend Scholar-in-residence with Rabbi Michael Skobac
We will custom design a special thematic weekend program or Shabbaton for your synagogue or organization retreat. The schedule can include lectures, Shabbat sermon, text study sessions, teen workshops and discussion groups.
Mommy, Why Don’t We Have A Tree? Jewish views on Christmas and Christianity
The “December Dilemma” is often an uncomfortable time for Jews living in places where Christianity is the default religion. It is virtually impossible to escape the avalanche of symbols and sounds of their winter holiday. This program explores how Judaism and the message of Christmas are mutually exclusive, and why its symbols don’t belong in a Jewish home.
.
Da’at.calm: A Jewish Perspective on Inner Peace
Seeking inner peace has become a multi-million dollar industry today. However, what is inner peace? According to Judaism, it is not the elimination of stress and conflict from our lives. This provocative lecture will clarify how Judaism understands this timely issue and provides practical approaches to achieving a life of true inner peace.
The Mystical Meaning of the Hebrew Alphabet
Unlike other languages, where letters have no meaning and words are simply conventional, Jewish mystics asserted that Hebrew is different. Each letter in the Hebrew alphabet has profound spiritual meaning and words are not arbitrary. This presentation examines the uncanny congruence between the Hebrew language and the world around us. We explore the meaning of Hebrew letters by analyzing their names, shapes, numerical equivalent and the significance of their first appearance in the Bible. The presentation also includes a fascinating look at startling gemmatrias and Biblical codes.
What Can We Learn… from Jews who stray to other religions?
The numbers are not encouraging. Hundreds of thousands of Jews have embraced the Christian gospel over the past decades. Some studies estimate that 30% of North American Buddhists have a Jewish background. And countless other Jews have gravitated toward Hinduism, Sufism, Bahai and numerous New Age groups. This phenomenon serves as a litmus test for the health of our Jewish community. This presentation examines what we can learn when we ask these people what was missing for them in their experience of Judaism.
How To Identify The Messiah
Does the Bible provide a clear template for who the Messiah will be and what he will do? How do we know if this template is trustworthy? This lecture provides refreshing insights into this fascinating issue, and examines how Christianity developed a distorted Messianic vision.
Stand Up For Judaism
Over 1000 different Christian missionary organizations are aggressively targeting the Jewish community. This program examines the nature and extent of this threat, how we may understand it and how we can respond to it.
Empowering Our Students
There are countless ways in which the Jewish identities of our students are challenged. The Internet is saturated with slick websites and Youtube videos promoting Christianity, Eastern religions and New Age movements. The loyalties of our students to God, Torah, Israel and Jewish people-hood is under constant attack. This program examines the nature and extent of these challenges and explores ways to help our students develop critical thinking skills and pride in their Jewish identities.
Entry Level Judaism
The Talmud tells the famous story of the person who asked the rabbi to teach him all of Judaism while he stood on one foot. This presentation aims to present the most foundational spiritual concepts in Judaism. The question and answer session that follows allows for those attending to ask any and all questions they have about our religion.
Exploring Jewish Meditation
While there is widespread interest in the practice of meditation, there is an equally widespread misconception that we must go outside of Judaism to find any guidance. This program provides an introduction to Jewish wisdom dealing with the nature and importance of meditative practice. We examine the cultivation of Kavanah (mindful awareness) as well as discussing the history of Jewish meditation and its different varieties.
When You Hear Hoofbeats, Think Horeses, Not Zebras
Conspiracy theorists are driven by ideologically driven agendas that obscure their perception of reality. They tend to see what’s not there and don’t see what really exists. This lecture examines how this dynamic plays out in the thinking of Holocaust deniers and those who advance conspiracies surrounding the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and 9/11. We examine how missionaries demonstrate remarkable similarities in the way they approach our Bible, finding clues for their beliefs on every page.
The Domino Effect: Judaism and Christianity and the Parting of the Ways
Many people know that the religion that became Christianity originally began as a movement within Judaism. What is less well understood is how this transformation actually took place. This presentation examines the critical embryonic departure from Judaism that led to a total unraveling of Christianity from its Jewish roots.
The Power of Persuasion
The techniques of influence and persuasion employed by advertisers, salespeople and lawyers are known to be extremely powerful. Cult and mind control groups use these same tactics in manipulative ways to both recruit people into their organizations and secure their loyalty and compliance. This lively and interactive presentation demonstrates the basic dynamics of influence methods and helps lessen our vulnerability to their widespread use in our culture.
The Disputation
In 1263, the great rabbi Moses ben Nachman was forced to debate apostate friar Pablo Christiani in the court of King James of Spain. For four days they disputed the central issues that divide Judaism and Christianity. As a result of winning the debate and publishing his account, the rabbi was forced to leave the country. The BBC produced a wonderful stage version of this famous debate written by Hyam Maccoby. Rabbi Michael Skobac will present an introduction to this BBC film and will facilitate a discussion and Q&A session after the screening.
The Passion of Judaism
The Torah urges us to take those things we know intellectually and to work on feeling them deeply. While head knowledge is critical, we ignore the emotional component of Judaism at our own risk. This talk deals with the critical importance of having a passionate, heartfelt connection to Judaism.
Jewish Spirituality and Personal Growth
The Midrash teaches that the Torah was only given in order to refine and transform us. A critical aspect of Jewish spirituality is the lifelong project of actualizing our personal potential and repairing our negative personality traits. This program explores some of Judaism’s profound teachings on understanding our ultimate purpose in life and practical approaches for working on ourselves to become who were truly meant to be.
Jewish Home Improvement: Creating a Solid Spiritual Foundation
It is well known that our homes are the center of our Jewish lives. How do we transform our homes into sanctuaries that radiate peacefulness and spiritual vibrancy? In order to ensure that we pass on our heritage and values to the next generation, our homes must be places that manifest Jewish values. This presentation shares inspiring ideas and insights to help us spiritually upgrade the places where we live.
The Forest Beyond The Trees
What is Judaism’s Bottom Line? Judaism can be a very busy religion. We do so many things in our observance, it is easy to get lost in the details and forget about the big picture. So what is Judaism really all about? What is the ultimate goal of everything we do, as Jews? Where is Judaism supposed to be taking us? This lecture presents an analysis of the core spiritual foundation that provides the context for the entire menu of Judaism.
Click here to listen now.
For information on arranging a program or lecture for your synagogue, organization or school with Rabbi Michael Skobac or another speaker, please contact us!
Jews For Judaism’s preventive education programs are a most powerful means of inoculating the Jewish community against the threat of deceptive Christian missionary and cult groups.
We are constantly accepting bookings for our thought-provoking programs and lectures. Please feel free to contact Jews for Judaism Speakers’ Bureau to arrange a program for your community or organization.
Consider having Rabbi Michael Skobac as your Scholar-in-Residence for a dynamic program for your organization.