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JTA — Aaron Abramson’s American upbringing is apparent when he speaks Hebrew, the language he learned as a teenager after his hippie parents decided to move the family from Seattle to Israel and become religiously Orthodox. His subsequent army service didn’t erase the accent, but it did solidify an Israeli identity that would serve as a professional asset much later, decades after he stopped living in the country. This month, Abramson, 49, takes the helm as the CEO of Jews for Jesus, becoming the third person to hold the title since the controversial organization was founded in San Francisco some five decades ago.

He is also the first Israeli to lead the organization, a point emphasized in the group’s announcement of his appointment. Abramson’s rise makes him a prominent new face of a perpetual Christian missionary effort aimed at converting Jews into belief in Jesus as the Messiah. After serving on staff for years, he takes over an organization that, without much notice from the Jewish community, has grown into a global operation with a budget of more than $33 million and a staff of about 250 spread across 13 countries.



No denomination across the Jewish world sees belief in Jesus as compatible with Judaism — a rare point of consensus between the religious streams. But so-called “Messianic Jews” insist that they represent a legitimate form of Jewish identity, almost like another denomination in itself. The selection of a leader with Israeli bona fides undersco.

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