Artists for Israel: Faith comes via Art
Introduction:
For many Jewish communities, especially Yiddish-speaking ultra-Orthodox groups, access to the New Testament is not simply a matter of interest but of cultural and linguistic distance.
This reflection traces how one long-standing conviction — that Scripture must be encountered in forms people can actually receive — developed through early missiological influence, dramatic presentation of biblical text, and later collaboration with audio and film Scripture projects.
Two distinct but complementary efforts are involved:
Media Bible work: presenting Scripture visually while keeping the biblical wording intact
Faith Comes By Hearing audio Scripture: recording the Bible in a community’s “heart language”
Together, these streams now make it possible for the Gospel to be privately heard and seen in Hasidic Yiddish — not as commentary about the Bible, but as the Bible itself.
Artists for Israel has long tried to communicate Scripture in ways that feel both faithful and culturally recognisable to Jewish audiences — through art, language, and media attentive to history and context. What follows is not theory but testimony: a journey shaped by mentors, Jewish outreach, and the growing conviction that sometimes people must see the Word before they are willing to read it.
The Story
As a young believer I had the privilege of learning under Dr Donald McGavran and Dr Ralph Winter. Only later did I understand how formative their influence would become.
At the 1974 Lausanne Congress, Winter introduced the concept of “unreached people groups,” arguing that mission strategy must look beyond geography to culture and language. Some communities had never encountered the Gospel in forms they could meaningfully receive.
Within the Jewish world, the Yiddish-speaking ultra-Orthodox community is one such group — defined less by location than by language, tradition, and guarded communal boundaries.
Before ministry I had been a professional stage and film actor. Over time I began asking whether the biblical text itself could be presented in a culturally intelligible way for people unlikely ever to attend a meeting or read a Christian book.
That question led to The Rabbi from Tarsus, portraying Paul as an ultra-Orthodox rabbi and using Scripture-saturated dialogue. When Tyndale House published the work, they included a Scripture index because nearly every line came directly from the biblical text.
I later understood this as an early form of what is now called a Media Bible.
The Media Bible concept
A Media Bible presents Scripture visually while remaining faithful to the wording itself.
The purpose is not reinterpretation but accessibility — allowing oral and visual learners, or those in restricted environments, to encounter the text privately and repeatedly.
In such settings, the form removes barriers while the message remains unchanged.
A different but related stream: Faith Comes By Hearing
Separate from the Media Bible idea is the work of Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH), which focuses on recording Scripture word-for-word in a community’s “heart language.”
Many people do not primarily encounter truth through reading. Language used at home, in prayer, and in emotion often differs from the language used publicly. FCBH therefore produces audio Scripture so people can hear the Bible in the language they actually live in.
This is not film — it is the foundational layer of access.
Where the streams meet: Yiddish Gospel film
Through partnership with the LUMO Film Project, FCBH recordings can become visual Gospel narratives. In this case the Gospel of Luke is presented in Hasidic Yiddish, based on Aaron Krelénbaum’s historic translation updated into contemporary usage.
The Yiddish Jesus Project and the LUMO Yiddish film project share the same goal: allowing the Gospel to be encountered within the linguistic and cultural world of Yiddish-speaking Jewish communities.
If the Media Bible is the form, FCBH provides the linguistic foundation that makes the form possible.
Why it matters
Such projects serve oral cultures, allow private exploration, preserve Jewish context, and enable Scripture engagement beyond printed literature. They do not alter the biblical message — they remove obstacles to hearing it.
The underlying conviction remains simple:
the Word of God should be heard and seen in forms the heart recognises.
Resources
Orthodox Yiddish Brit Chadasha