Missionary Posed as Rabbi to Infiltrate Kindergartens in Tzfas

In a scandalous blunder, a missionary posing as a rabbi was allowed access to religious kindergartens in Tzefas.

The Yad L’Achim organization, which has been dealing with the case, learned that the missionary managed to infiltrate a frum girls’ kindergarten by deceiving school administrators and teachers.

It is suspected that he sought to instill Christian values in the girls at a young, impressionable age, the organization said.

The missionary, who goes by the name Yitzchak Shapira and masquerades as a rabbi speaking fluent Hebrew, even succeeded in raising donations totaling tens of thousands of dollars for a security room for the kindergarten of 35 girls.

“It is believed that he saw the fundraising effort as a way to ensure that he would always be welcome in the kindergarten,” they said.

“Taking money from avoda zara sources violates a serious halachic prohibition, and the fundraising campaign was done without the parents’ knowledge, or that of administrators and teachers,” the organization said.

Yad L’Achim which stands at the forefront of the battle against missionaries, sent letters to administrators and teachers throughout the city, as well as to city and neighborhood rabbis, appraising them of the serious error and its frightening consequences.

The city’s rabbis and educators, shocked to learn about the serious breach in spiritual security that occurred on their watch, have been invited to attend an emergency meeting together with the heads of Yad L’Achim in order set into place policies that will prevent such tragedies from recurring.

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