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Woman’s suit alleges Jews for Jesus fraud

Palm Beach Post, USA
Dec. 12, 2003
Scott McGabe and Lona O'Connor, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
www.palmbeachpost.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Friday December 12, 2003

A Delray Beach woman sued Jews for Jesus Thursday, claiming it fraudulently reported that she converted to its movement when she did not.

According to Edith Rapp’s lawsuit, her stepson Bruce Rapp wrote in a 2002 Jews for Jesus newsletter that he watched while she tearfully and spontaneously converted to the beliefs of the organization at her husband’s bedside. She said it never happened.

The lawsuit coincides with the arrival of Jews for Jesus’ two-week campaign in Palm Beach County seeking to inform Jews about the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Bruce Rapp’s account is “completely fictitious,” the lawsuit states, invented to humiliate Edith Rapp for resisting the movement and to bolster his credentials among Jews for Jesus. She never asked to accept Jesus, the suit said, she never said the sinner’s prayer and she’s definitely not a new believer in Jews for Jesus.

“She is humiliated, shocked, appalled,” said her attorney, Barry Silver.

Bruce Rapp said Thursday from the organization’s office in New York that he was shocked that his stepmother was upset by the article. He said he’s called and left several messages to set things right.

Edith Rapp said she had not heard from her stepson.

A spokeswoman for Jews for Jesus international office in San Francisco said the lawsuit follows a “threatening letter” from Silver. The letter, received last week, demanded $1 million and an apology, said spokeswoman Susan Perlman.

Jews for Jesus has been around since 1973, but Messianic Jews, such as Peter, Paul and James, who tradition says accepted Jesus as the messiah, have been around since around 32 A.D., Perlman said.

Since Monday, volunteers and staff of Jews for Jesus have been distributing gospel tracts, knocking door-to-door and calling residents.

To counter, the American Jewish Committee’s Palm Beach County Chapter is teaming with two synagogues and other Jewish organizations to present two programs on Jews for Jesus.