The ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem was shocked to find out this week that Jen Komo, an American woman who has lived in Israel for several years working in the community by providing alternative medicine services and helping transport pregnant women to the hospital on Shabbat, might be a Christian missionary.
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A week ago, a Haredi man turned to the Yad L'Achim organization, which works to spread Jewish values and battles attempts to convert Jews, and explained that for weeks his wife seemed troubled and "not herself" and finally admitted she was considering converting to Christianity. When he pressed to find out more details, his wife shared that Komo pressured her to do so.
Video: Yad L'Achim
"Jen convinced me that I was living a lie and said that Jesus gave up his life for all of mankind and that all my sins would be forgiven as soon as I accept him as my messiah," the Haredi woman said. "She took advantage of my emotional state and past traumas to push, pressure and convince me to convert."
According to the woman, Komo also asked her to keep their meetings secret. "I was worried my husband would begin to suspect, and she suggested I tell him that I meet with her to study Psalms and the Bible."
Yad L'Achim said Komo might indeed be a missionary. After the organization began looking into the matter, it found a video of her from 2014 giving a speech at a missionary church in the United States about her work in Israel.
"That's what I do with these people. I love on them, I teach them, be an example. They don't know that I'm shining Jesus' love all over them and through them. But it works. It works, because he works," Komo said in her speech.
In a conversation with Israel Hayom, she defined all claims: "I am not a Christian missionary. I have maybe spoken with one or two women about Christianity, but they are adults, over the age of 18. The video you mentioned was recorded a long time ago. I am not interested in getting anyone to convert. In any case, I mostly speak about the prophets in the way they are described in the Bible."
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