TEL AVIV, Israel As evening falls in this city of concrete, neon and palm trees, Avi Mizrachi carefully shuts the blue grille guarding Dugit, his religious bookstore and cafe. Devotional stores usually don’t need such protection, but this is no ordinary shop.
Located a block off Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv’s main shopping artery, Dugit Messianic Outreach Center has been spray-painted with swastikas, pelted with coffee and has had glue poured into its locks. The reason: Shelves lined with books like “Witnessing to Jews,” and “You Bring the Bagels, I’ll Bring the Gospel.”
Mr. Mizrachi, who leads a 90-member Messianic Jewish congregation on the side, rents the store from a Southern Baptist group.
A son of Bulgarian Jews who immigrated to Israel in 1948, he converted to Christianity while visiting a sister in Florida and ended up back in Tel Aviv, doing Christian outreach to Israeli Jews.
In a country where Christian groups rarely try to convert the Jewish populace, a minority is trying to persuade fellow Jews to believe in Jesus. Called “Messianic Jews,” they push the envelope on the question: Who is a Jew?
Please read our comment policy before commenting.