Tovia Singer

Tovia Singer (born September 20, 1960) is an orthodox rabbi, the founder and director of Outreach Judaism.[1] Now living in Jerusalem, Israel, Singer previously resided in Indonesia for 5 years until 9th of May 2019, where Outreach Judaism's program is managed under a local Jewish foundation, Eits Chaim Indonesia Foundation which describes itself as an advocate for the Jewish faith, the Jewish people and the State of Israel for Indonesia.[2]

"Outreach Judaism" redirects here. For Jewish outreach in general, see Jewish outreach.
Rabbi

Tovia Singer
TitleFounder and director of Outreach Judaism, a counter-missionary organization
Personal
Born (1960-09-20) September 20, 1960
Pennsylvania, USA
ReligionJudaism
NationalityAmerican
Alma materThe Mir Yeshiva
OccupationRabbi
Jewish leader
Websitewww.outreachjudaism.org
PositionRabbi
SynagogueBeit Torat Chaim (Jakarta, Indonesia)
PositionFounder and Director
OrganisationOutreach Judaism
This article is part of a series on
Messianic Judaism
Theology and practice
Religious texts
Related movements
Opposition

Outreach Judaism

Singer is the founder and director of Outreach Judaism, a Jewish counter-missionary organization.[3] It describes itself as "an international organization that responds directly to the issues raised by missionaries and cults, by exploring Judaism in contradistinction to fundamentalist Christianity." [4] Singer cautions regarding congregations that "are designed to appear Jewish, but are actually fundamentalist Christian churches, which use traditional Jewish symbols to lure the most vulnerable of our Jewish people into their ranks." [5] Outreach Judaism was described by J. Gordon Melton in 2002 as an example of "the current state of Jewish counter-cult activity."[6]

Other activities

From 2002 to 2010 Singer hosted The Tovia Singer Show on Arutz Sheva's Israel National Radio. The show launched again in October 2013. The radio show had many prominent guests, including Israeli and American politicians, rabbis, terror victims, and authors. Among those who came on the show were: 47th Governor of Texas Rick Perry; American stand-up comedian in political satire, Jackie Mason; former US ambassador for the UN, John R. Bolton; businessman Ronald Lauder; Israeli Ambassador Dore Gold; American-born Israeli historian, author and politician, Michael Oren; Dead Sea Scroll expert Prof. Lawrence Schiffman; American conservative political activist, Alan Keyes; Israeli politician, Danny Danon; former American ambassador and an ardent anti-communist, Jeane Kirkpatrick and many others. Singer was also one of the first who interviewed Walid Shoebat. In 2006, Singer interviewed Wafa Sultan on the show.[7]

Singer is the author of the book and audio series Let's Get Biblical: Why Doesn't Judaism Accept the Christian Messiah? His new expanded edition is a two-volume book that takes a critical look at long-standing Christian charges against the Jewish faith.[8] According to David Brickner it has "grabbed the attention of many evangelicals simply because it has been so widely distributed."[9] A book review by Jewish Values Online described Singer as "a master of his material" and that "his meticulous research and command of Biblical sources is most impressive."[10]

Together with Eits Chaim Indonesia Foundation,[11] whose founders are of Dutch Jewish descent, Singer started the only Jewish Center legally acknowledged by the Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs - Torat Chaim. Since Judaism is not yet a recognized religion in Indonesia, religious freedom for Torat Chaim and its members is guaranteed and protected by the Christian Desk of the Indonesian Religious Affairs Department.[12]

Works
  • Singer, Tovia (2010). Let's Get Biblical. RNBN Publishers; 2nd edition (2010). ISBN 978-0615348391.
  • Singer, Tovia (2010). Let's Get Biblical - In depth Study Guide. Outreach Judaism (1998). ASIN B0006RBS3K.
gollark: Explain, please.
gollark: A lot of people explicitly (claim to) believe in religion based on "faith".
gollark: Humans are simultaneously composed of probably millions of engineering/chemistry miracles and obviously awful design decisions.
gollark: If life was designed, the designer was really really stupid.
gollark: I like its minimalism, and it saves a very small amount of battery power.

See also

Notes
  1. Outreach Judaism Inc.
  2. Yayasan Eits Chaim Indonesia
  3. Michael C. Duke, "Messianics pervert Passover at some Houston-area churches", Jewish Herald-Voice, April 2, 2009.
  4. About Us, Outreach Judaism website. Accessed January 9, 2011.
  5. Simon Schoon, "Noachides and Converts to Judaism", in Jan N. Bremmer, Wout Jac. van Bekkum, Arie L. Molendijk. Cultures of Conversions, Peeters Publishers, 2006, ISBN 978-90-429-1753-8, p. 125.
  6. J. Gordon Melton, "The Modern Anti-Cult Movement in Historical Perspective", in Jeffrey Kaplan, Heléne Lööw. The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization, Rowman Altamira, 2002, ISBN 978-0-7591-0204-0, p. 285, note 4.
  7. Michael Cappi. A Never Ending War, Trafford Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4251-1567-8, p. 326.
  8. Rabbi Tovia Singer, "Let's Get Biblical: Why Doesn't Judaism Accept the Christian Messiah?", 2014, ISBN 978-0-99609-131-2,
  9. David Brickner, "Encountering Jewish Resistance", in J. Dudley Woodberry (ed.) Reaching the Resistant: Barriers and Bridges for Mission, William Carey Library, 1998, ISBN 978-0-87808-380-0, p. 90.
  10. "The Jews and Jesus" on Jewish Values Online.
  11. Yayasan Eits Chaim Indonesia
  12. Rabbi Yosef Serebryanski, "Jews in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea", The Jewish Press, August 28, 2015.
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