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Adventist Preacher Truly Finds God

It all began in Russia in 1959 when Leon Fundo was born to Jewish parents. Little Leon received a full Russian education replete with the communist ideals and liberal doses of Atheism. Yet, despite his "good" education, Fundo as an adult began to have doubts about the "utopian" society. This was the time to start thinking about a career, but the motivation wasn't there. After all, why become a professional when his parents, both professionals, had the same salary as a factory worker. With everyone receiving a guaranteed salary and medical care, there was little incentive to succeed.

Soon, Fundo became seriously depressed. "I withdrew from society and lost all zest for life. My mother was distraught. She sent me for psychiatric evaluations, but to no avail. My problem was an emptyness in my soul." Leon decided to try filling his void by looking into religious belief. He began by reading all the Soviet brainwashing material he could find on "science and religion." Cleary this literature was intended to convince the reader that a diety does not exist, but it had the opposite effect on Fundo. "It was axiomatic to us, the young intellectuals, that anything criticized by the communists was probably true."

Meanwhile the International Olympics came to Moscow. It was 1980 and the first time since the beginning of communism that so many foreigners descended on the country. Leon was fascinated! He saw in these faces affluence and self-respect so unlike the dreariness of Soviet society. A better life did exist and he was determined to find it!

Fundo began to take classes at the Lenin Teachers College where he was introduced to the works of the great philosophers. He was particularly inspired by the philosopher's words, "The ultimate goal of life is to reunite with the Divine source of existence." Soon he was obsessed with the possiblity of the existence of G-d. He became so absorbed with his own spiritual quest that a fellow student recommended that he check out the underground branch of the Seventh Day Adventists.

Gorbachev came to power and ushered in the era of glastnost. Religions long persecuted could now receive the much needed funds and other support from abroad. The Adventists were eager to put to use the linguistic skills Fundo had acquired in college. They appointed him as Assistant Pastor of Foreign Affairs and his job was to translate the sermons sent by his leaders who were based in Washington, DC. Soon he was broadcasting the "word of G-d" on radio and television. This was truly a great time for Leon, and his life wouldn't have been complete if not for one nagging problem. It had to do with the Church sermons. When the elders of the Church preached they implied that "All judgements were given to the 'son' and all prophesies belonged to the Adventists," Leon Fundo questioned why the Jews were not mentioned. "There seemed to be no place for Jews. No place for good people who rejected their philosophy," he proclaimed.

At first Fundo dealt with his ideological differences by deleting all questionable references and began "concentrating" on "G-d's overwhelming love." Eventually, though, his inner conflict became too great. He combed the 'New Testament' looking for the answers, but there were none to be found. He realized, instead, that "they didn't really believe in the Ten Commandments; they didn't really believe in one G-d!" Fundo despaired, and lost his belief in G-d.

By now Leon was married and had a family to support. He took a job in a foundry. Each day was pretty much like the last until one fateful day. That day he arrived at work and found chaos. His negligent and unmotivated co-worker had caused the entire area to become flooded! Fundo could do nothing but sink to his knees in despair.

Then with water and debris floating all around him, he began to recite all the Psalms he had learned as an Adventist. "Suddenly, I felt a warm light in my soul and the warmth and tenderness of G-d. I hurried greatly exited and my wife Marina asked, "What happened? Did you get a big raise?" I shouted back, "No! I found G-d!"

Leon returned to the Church but many of his original doubts remained. When the First International Russian Book Fair came to Moscow in 1989, he knew that this was the opportunity that he had been waiting for. Now religious books would be available to research the beliefs of the 'New Testament'. At the Israeli Pavilion, he met a "black beard" and Fundo immediately asked, "Can we talk about the prophesies of Daniel?" The representative understood the implication and recommended a book by Berl Haskelevich dealing with the discrepancies between the 'Old Testament' and the 'New Testament'. Leon took the book home and read it cover to cover. He found it fascinating. Still, he was unwilling to break his ties to the church and this new knowledge only added to his confusion and inner turmoil.

Dissatisfied with his life, Leon developed a strong desire to leave Russia. He appealed to the Evangelists in the United States to invite him to come preach, and an invitation was sent. Fundo enjoyed his stay in California, where he met thousands of evangelical Christians who preached to Jews. He was introduced to a Jew involved in the Church, who taught Leon how to use Jewish song to proselytize to Jews. He was also instrumental in linking Fundo to the funds of a wealthy formerly Jewish evangelical who provided Leon with the funding to be a preacher in New York for eighteen months.

He began preaching to Russian Jews in a Brooklyn, New York Adventist Church. There, wearing a yarmulka and talith, he sang Hebrew songs with his congregation. Fundo found his work invigorating. Russian Jews starved for religion flocked to hear his dynamic sermons. As he had done in the past, he preached about G-d's overwhelming love of mankind. He made no mention of the controversial teachings which still bothered him and threatened his beliefs. His congregants were presented with teachings based on Jewish commentaries.

One day, while traveling to an Evangelical conference, Fundo met a "black-beard." Wasting no time, he asked, "Can you help me understand the prophecies of Daniel? These prophesies are of great importance to Christian theology." He was told to speak with a man named Haskelevich. "I said to myself, 'oh boy, how do I know this name'? Then it came to me, the Book Fair, and the Book of Jewish commentary which I had been using in my sermons. The same name twice!" Only an act of Divine Providence could explain such an uncanny coincidence. He had to meet this man as soon as possible.

Leon's first meeting with Rabbi Haskelevich was an eye opener for him and it lasted throughout the night. Subsequent meetings were equally revealing yet Fundo was still reluctant to relinquish all that he had worked so hard to accomplish. He continued to preach every Saturday only now he was using the Old Testament as a basis for his sermons. It wasn't long before the sermons were a closer resemblance to a Parsha lesson than Evangelical teachings. He had made up a 30 page booklet which he had distributed to his congregants. This pamphlet criticized all of the Christian "Messianic prophecies." All 300 of their misinterpretations of the Tanach were included. Interestingly, most of his congregants didn't seem to mind. But there were protestors.

"I had to make a final decision about my ministry." One Saturday it all came to a head. One ex-communist stood up and said, "Who is for Christianity? Let's vote comrades!" But the Jews said "Lets not be stupid, we have to do something!" The end result: All the Jewish congregants, together with their pastor, decided that they wanted to learn more about their own religion. They filed out of the church and into their cars, driving straight to the home of Rabbi Haskelevich. He welcomed them into his home enthusiastically, ignoring the fact that they had come by car on Shabbos.

Their meeting that Shabbos was very productive. All of the participants left the Haskelevich home with a commitment to join an outreach center in their neighborhood to learn more about Jewish observance. In time they all became committed Jews.

And what became of their charismatic leader Leon Fundo? No longer receiving a salary from the Adventists, Leon, now known as Moshe, works as a job counselor and vocational education teacher at Rabbi Waldman's Mercaz B'nos School, in Brooklyn, New York for students from the former Soviet Union. His wife Marina, now known as Miriam, works as a para-professional teacher at the Christopher Columbus High School. Their two children, Menachem, 14, and Chana, 8, are enrolled at the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County, New York. The Fundo family currently resides in West Hempstead.

Moshe's leadership skills have also found a new direction. He is involved with outreach programs for Russian Jews in Brighton Beach and Rabbi Algazi's shul in Queens, New York.

How ironic! A Jew once leading other Jews astray, now a kiruv (outreach) professional. There can only be one explanation; a Divine Hand guiding us all. "To those who love you, you show the right path."

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The Eternal Jewish Family - Oxnard 2006 Report

Saving Jewish Neshamas, and Creating New Ones - The Eternal Jewish Family

From June 18th through June 20th, I had the privilege to be a participant in the very first conference of it’s kind. It wasn’t geared to your typical Jew.

The conference was just for those who have been pretty much ignored and forgotten about by most of the frum world, that is, Jews & their partners/spouses involved in what many in the Orthodox world consider the bane of Jewish life, the intermarried. But not just any intermarried; it was for those of us Jews who for whatever reason (assimilation, a Rabbi yelling at us as kids, rejecting a Yeshiva education, etc) married non-Jews but who have now come to feel the extremely powerful tug to live an observant lifestyle & make our growing families part of Klal Yisrael.

There were also couples there married 25+ years who truly believed the non-Jewish partner was Jewish, as he/she converted either Reform or Conservative decades ago. There were non-Jews of every stripe, including Asian, African-American and Spanish. Looking at them, one would assume they are your nice typical non-Jew. But after speaking with them, one sees clearly they are deeply drawn to Hashem, Torah & Mitzvot. They know more about Hashem, Torah & Halacha then most non-observant Jews I know. They love their Jewish partner dearly, and the Jewish partner feels the same.

Unfortunately some reading this might think that it would be better for all such couples to divorce, even if there are precious innocent children involved. Many intermarried couples have stayed far away from Orthodoxy because of this very reason.

However, there is a Hasidic teaching about specific goyim in the time of Mount Sinai, that their neshamas are those of the other nations who wanted the mitzvot even though the majority populations around them rejected them. These neshamas are now finding their way back to the Jewish people. And this organization is doing Hashem’s work in bringing them back home.

The conference wasn’t anything like one might possibly find in another denomination, where conversion is not up to the halachic standards of most of Orthodoxy, where to become a Jew all one needs to do is study for a while, pledge allegiance to a watered-down version of Torah and sign on the dotted line.

This introduces to the Torah world the new gold standard of halachic conversion.

It has been facilitated by a new organization called the Eternal Jewish Family, sponsored by Horizons, through the Lillian Jean Kaplan Jewish Pride through Education Project, in Monsey, NY.

It has come into existence in order “to reach out to all Jews and break down the barriers that prevent any individual Jew from reclaiming his heritage and the Torah that was handed down directly to the Jewish people. Its mission, following the Halachic ruling of HaRav Moshe Feinstein zt”l (who was the foremost Halachic authority in America), is to reach out to intermarried couples who are interested in (or merely interested in exploring) establishing a Jewish home based on classic Jewish values and a universally accepted conversion.

“Eternal Jewish Family seeks to help couples avoid a situation whereby they often face having to repeat the conversion process (sometimes two or three times!).

“Operating under the guidance and halachic rulings of HaRav Yosef Shalom Elyashev (Israel), HaRav Dovid Feinstein and HaRav Reuven Feinstein (America), Eternal Jewish Family will facilitate and streamline the conversion process through a network of Rabbis and batei dinim (religious law courts) located throughout North America, facilitating a conversion which is respected by every authority both in America and Internationally (including Israel).

“Eternal Jewish Family will navigate the often difficult rabbinic court process and provide guidance through every step.

“The service is free and a partial subsidy covering the rabbinical court fees is available for those who qualify.

“The EJF is dedicated to providing a comprehensive approach to helping intermarried couples reunite with the Jewish people by arranging the necessary education leading to conversion and facilitating all interactions with a universally accepted Beth Din. EJF acts as an advocate for the convert with the Beis Din and provides financial support for those who need help in covering the Rabbinic Court fees. In sum, EJF sponsors an unprecedented broad array of activities for intermarried couples seeking a universally accepted conversion for non-Jewish spouses, for Rabbis involved in the conversion process, and for communities absorbing newly converted families.”

In case the reader thinks this is something new that will disappear soon, recent Rabbinic conventions in New Jersey and Florida attracted over 400 participants and over 1000 applicants. Please see the list of attendees and presenters at these two conferences at the bottom of this article. After glancing at just some of the names, one can see that this is quite serious and without question, the most comprehensive halachic mobilization of Rabbeim to tackle the situation of intermarriage.

For those readers concerned with missionary activity and so-called messianic Jews using a forum like this to infiltrate the Orthodox community, have no fear. Rabbi Tovia Singer was one of the main speakers at the conference, sharing his intimate knowledge with those who may still be dabbling in Christianity that only Torah is true, and that any belief in yushke is ridiculous and must be rejected by anyone contemplating conversion to Torah Judaism. As someone who flirted extensively with that belief system, I must say it was a job well done, and he hammered home the point very concisely.

All in all, it was an extremely successful conference, and convinced most of the participants to start down the official path of conversion, if they haven’t already done so. It was the first of many national & international conferences that will add to Klal Yisrael even more passion and love for Hashem, Torah & Mitzvot. The future of the Jewish people resides in what the Orthodox community is already doing, as well as bringing into the fold thousands of precious Jewish families that would have been otherwise lost.

Some of the attendees of the two Rabbinic conferences were: Rabbi Reuven Feinstein (Yeshiva of S.I.), Rabbi Yonah Metzger (Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel), Rabbi Shlomo Amar (Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel), Rabbi Herschel Schachter (Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva University), Rabbi Chanoch Ehrentreu (Av Beis Din of London), Rabbi Nachum Eisenstein (Beis Din L’Giur of Jerusalem), Rabbi Simcha Hakohen Kook (Chief Rabbi of Rehovot), Rabbi Leib Tropper (Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshiva Kol Yakov), Rabbi Yoel Adelman (Rabbi of the Young Israel of Smithtown), Rabbi Aharon Kahn (Beis Din of Lakewood), Rabbi Mendel Senderovic (Beis Din of Milwaukee), Rabbi Pinchos Rabinowitz (Beis Din of Monsey), Rabbi Dovid Jacobs (Horizons), Rabbi Baruch Zaitchik (JEP), Rabbi Moshe Krupka (OU), Rabbi Shlomo Ryback (RCA), Rabbi Avraham Union (Rabbinic Council of California), Rabbi Eli Gewitz (Torah Umesorah) and Rabbi Pesach Lerner (Young Israel).

If you wish to contact EJF, please call (845) 425-3863, email info@horizons.edu or visit their web site here.