Jews for Jesus new CEO Aaron Abramson reflects on how his time in Israel shaped his journey

Abramson is the organization's first leader with an Israeli background, which he believes helps him to face new challenges

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Aaron Abramson, the new CEO of the organization Jews for Jesus, is the first leader to hold the position with an Israeli background.

Abramson moved to Israel from Seattle, Washington as a teenager. Upon his arrival, Abramson, whose parents became more religious before they made aliyah (immigrated to Israel), found himself in an Orthodox Jewish setting, even attending a religion school of Torah study (yeshiva) in Jerusalem for one year before enrolling in the Israeli military preparation program, Mechinah.

During his IDF service in Lebanon, the death of a friend from the yeshiva caused Abramson to begin to question the concept of Jewish identity and why the land of Israel was so important to Jews across the globe.

“Why are we here? Why do Jews come back to this place? It seems like there’s no peace,” Abramson said, reflecting on his thoughts at that time. “People move to Israel and they grow closer to God a lot of time, I felt like I was growing further away from God.”

After leaving Israel following his three-year military service, Abramson lived an almost-vagabond lifestyle, traveling around the United States with friends. During those travels, he met a blind Christian man who opened his home to Abramson and showed him an embracing love.

Around the same time, while seeking answers to life’s deepest questions, Abramson began reading various pieces of literature about spirituality. As part of that journey, Abramson was challenged to open the New Testament to learn about Jesus for himself.

“When I began to experience light and hope and just love that felt like it was coming from the pages into my heart, I asked, ‘How come more Israelis, who have experienced what I experienced, some of the challenges of living in Israel all those years, the conflict, and serving in the IDF, how come they haven’t heard of this?’”

Those questions led Abramson to become a volunteer with Jews for Jesus, where he eventually met his wife.

Jews for Jesus has been a controversial organization since its inception in the 1970s, due to the long and troubled history between what eventually became Rabbinic Judaism following the Bar Kockba Revolt in the 2nd century A.D., and the increasingly non-Jewish Jesus movement, which came to be called Christianity.

Today, most Jewish denominations claim that belief in Jesus, or Yeshua, as the Jewish Messiah means that one is no longer considered Jewish from a religious perspective.

However, Jews for Jesus and other Messianic movements across the globe, as well as the Messianic Jewish congregations in Israel, contest that. They argue that nothing could be more Jewish than embracing the Jewish Messiah.

Abramson noted that while organizations might still hold firmly to the opinion that Messianic Jews are not “real” Jews, a Pew survey found that over 30% of Jews said that Jewish identity and belief in Jesus as the Messiah are compatible.

Nevertheless, Abramson said the current war in Gaza, and especially the horrific Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, have led to two significant changes.

One is a growing interest in learning about God, as revealed by an increase in requests from Jews for a copy of the New Testament. The other is the rise in global antisemitism, prompting Jews for Jesus to engage in outreach with churches to address the dangers of Jew-hatred.

Some of that work has seen Abramson partnering with Jewish groups who normally would not be willing to share a platform with Jews for Jesus but see them as partners in reaching the Christian world in this area.

Watch the full interview with Abramson on the ALL ISRAEL NEWS YouTube channel to hear his insights on how Jews for Jesus is adapting to the changing realities of an online world and how the organization is tackling these new challenges head-on during these difficult times.