Dear Arutz 7,

I am writing to you in response to your "MISSIONARY Warning" article of January 17th, 2005.

My name is Richard Frieden and I am the owner/founder of the JAMM, Jerusalem. Whilst I understand that you do not agree with the faith of Messianic Jewish Believers and in "the belief in "oto ha'ish" Yeshua - I would like to clarify some things concerning the goals of the JAMM:

1. We believe in the Torah and the Brit HaChadasha.

2. We have a Monday evening worship, prayer and bible study for Messianic teenagers. This is for "Jewish believers in Yeshua only" and all those that participate have parental permission. If they are under the age of 18 and do not have parental permission then they are not allowed to particpate in the worship/bible study. If you don't believe me, then contact the Jerusalem Youth services dept. in the Israel Police - they know all about us.

3. Wednesdays and Thursdays are what we call open-mics. Any and all musicians are welcome to come and play, sing, perform during open-mics on a first come first serve basis. We have both Messianic, Secular and Jewish Religious who have come and enjoyed these open-mics over the past 5 years. The outworking of this is "encouraging local arts/musicians in their respective talents". (for free)This is not such a bad thing!

4. We have been around for six years and "most people" who come to the JAMM "to perform" know about our faith.

5. We do not hide anything from anybody - Israel is a growing democracy and thank G-d, we are free to share our faith to those 18 and older.

6. Over the past year we have been surprised to see Jewish seminary students frequent the JAMM - they have expressed a great freedom and joy to hang out at the JAMM, to bring their friends - and to express themselves through the excellent music they play - and I must add, much of their music is not religious but rather secular in style. Nevertheless, they are very talented musicians and being at the JAMM has been an encouragment for them. We believe in freedom of expression and thus we allow all musicians to perform in the JAMM. The only exception would be musicians that are obviously not giving glory or honoring G-d in their lyrics. i.e., the various satanic music cult bands that exist today in Israel.

7. We provide a smoke free and alcohol free environment, but much to our surprise, many of the Jewish Seminary students drink alcohol, do smoke cigarettes and marijuana (they do this outside the JAMM! We have warned them not to engage in such activity).

8. Entrance to The JAMM open mics are for 18+ only.

9. We respect and appreciate that the Jewish seminary students are those that believe in the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and trust that they are maturing in their faith.

10. If a student asks us about our faith, then as long as they are 18+ we will share our faith without compromise or fear from those that have tried to harm us in the past (Yad L'Achim and others like them).

11. I am Jewish, love G-d and my country Israel and believe that the Jewish Messiah is Yeshua. I have served in the IDF and still do as a reservist, served in the Israeli Police as well - and thank G-d, I am free to believe as I want and trust this will remain the case for years to come.

12. It is disheartening to know certain Rabbis or teachers etc. have issued a warning against us at the JAMM. What do you have to fear? Are you afraid of Yeshua? Are you afraid of us? We are just people who simply love G-d via our faith in our Jewish Messiah Yeshua. The Seminary students have enjoyed being at the JAMM and unfortunately you forbid them to come?

May G-d bless you dearly -and may He who created us for great purpose and destiny give you much wisdom and guidance - love and joy - and willingness to love others even those that you may not agree with.

By the way, you have many Messianic and Christian readers and supporters worldwide - I know that many are dissapointed with your second article against the JAMM. These articles continue serve to foster baseless hatred against us, your Israel Jewish brothers and sisters - articles like yours encourage and incite hatred, threats and even violent acts against us.

I trust that your journalistic ethics will allow you to print this article for your worldwide readership.

In G-d's awesome unfailing love and faithfullness,
Richard Frieden