A man who posed for years as a Chareidi Rav in Israel, officiating at chasunos and conversions and selling mezuzos, was exposed as a Christian missionary by the Yad L’Achim organization on Tuesday.
The organization issued a statement that a man calling himself Ariel Katzenberg has been serving as a Rav for years while simultaneously performing Christian baptism ceremonies and converting Jews to Christianity.
Katzenberg, who also delivered Torah shiurim, regularly marketed himself to newcomers to Israel, offering to produce documents proving their Judaism or “conversion” to Judaism for tens of thousands of shekels.
He managed to produce documents with forged seals of well-known Batei Din, some claiming that the newcomers had undergone giyur in Israel approved by the Rabbanut.
According to Yad L’Achim, Katzenberg first began posing as a Rav in Bnei Brak but was exposed as a fraud and fled to northern Israel, to Migdal HaEmek, Harish, and Tiveria.
Yad L’Achim finally exposed Katzenberg by obtaining video footage showing him performing baptisms and presenting it to the police along with the forged documents he presented to Batei Din and demanding an investigation.
“We demonstrated to the courts that the documents had been forged, and they were shocked,” says Rabbi Shimon Abergel, field coordinator for the organization’s counter-missionary department.
Yad Achim did not provide details of Katzenberg’s background, but from past reports, it appears that his original name is Gonzalo Cabral and he grew up in Argentina. He moved to Israel as a young man and formed a relationship with an elderly Jewish woman, telling her (falsely) that his parents cut him off and he’s all alone in the world. The woman took him into her house and treated him like a son.
Cabral took advantage of his relationship with the woman to portray himself as a Jew, using her distinctly Jewish name. He later changed his name again to Ariel Katzenberg.
His background of infiltrating the Chareidi community many years ago explains how he was capable of posing as a Rav and delivering shiurim.
Yad L’Achim did not explain why it took so long to expose Katzenberg, but it is possible that he underwent giyur in Israel, and until now, they lacked evidence that he was acting as a Christian missionary on the side.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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18 Responses
His feeling cut off from the world is a euphemism for him saying:- He feels cut off from the Falklands 🇫🇰 where he could have inflicted way less damage & be onto path for less גיהינום
And Christians wonder why Jews distrust them.
His feeling cut off from the world is a euphemism for him saying:- He feels cut off from the Falklands 🇫🇰 where he could have inflicted way less damage & be onto path for less גיהינום
This is not a new problem.
This has been happening since the 1980s.
Another fake conversion in the State of Israel.
Guys, if your rov wears a wedding band, maybe as a few questions.
In other words, don’t be a putz
Wow. It’s crazy that there are bad people everywhere, including places that should be safe. It’s great that they found him, but just think about the damages. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
https://yadlachim.org/yad-lachim-exposes-non-jewish-messianic-family-masquerading-as-chareidim-in-ramat-shlomo-yerushalayim/
And article about him in Ramat Shlomo from 2021
It’s time to call out the so-called “Breslev Rebbe” Zusha Kalet, from South Carolina, a Christian missionary posing as a Jewish rabbi across TikTok, Facebook, and other social media platforms. This dangerous impersonator is spreading false teachings while exploiting the image of Breslov chassidus to mislead vulnerable Jews.
We must stand together to protect our communities from deception. Exposing this fraud is not optional; it’s a communal responsibility. And once this threat is addressed, let’s also hold accountable the next impostors, starting with the fake “Zusha Kalet.” Or “Rabbi Z” as he calls himself on social media.
Judaism is not for sale. Let’s defend our heritage, our people, and the honor of our rabbis.
Has he been arrested or the Israeli Gov appreciates his acts ?
The Israeli supreme court will grant him an honoring medal for his actions.
Robert:
Fake missionaries is not at all a reason to distrust the billions of other Christians who are not involved in defrauding Jews in and of their faith.
Yad L’ Achim should maintain a website of these imposters and their known aliases ,photos,etc. to help prevent these evil people from just moving their fraud to other communities.
Their willingness to lie proves the falseness of christianity!
TheRealChossid,
He writes it as Breslove. The man is dangerous! I wonder how many people he quote with his phony baloney stuff. He has a back seat waiting for him in purgatory.
@ elianaalfia:
“Katzenberg first began posing as a Rav in Bnei Brak but was exposed as a fraud and fled to northern Israel, to Migdal HaEmek, Harish, and Tiveria.”
so he spent 4 years doing even more harm.
So what happens to all the religious documents. Oh nothing cuz they never truly mattered anyways
@ujm wrote:
“Another fake conversion in the State of Israel.”
This is an odd statement, especially since there are legal impediments in the State of Israel, which don’t exist outside the State of Israel, to fake conversions and unbridled Christian missionizing.
Resultingly (partially), because of davka Jewish sovereignty in Eretz Yisroel, there is less assimilation and marriage between Jews and non-Jews. Such is not the case in chutz laaretz.
@HaKatan wrote in defense of the billions of Christians who are not involved in fraud. We can agree that many Christian individuals are well-meaning individuals, but the Christian Bible (especially the Book of Matthew) is replete with psukim from Tanach taken out of context in order to defraud Jews and persuade them that Oso HaIsh was someone special. So I’d retort that the religion itself is an exercise in fraud.
Mr Hakatan. For a guy like you who is always frothing at the mouth with hatred for other Jews and very quick to blame all members of a group for the alleged actions of a few why the great rush to defends Christians?
שיר השירים רבה (א, ו) איתמר: בשעה שאמר אליהו לשון הרע על ישראל, אמר ליה הקב”ה: “אליהו! עד שאתה מקטרג על בניי, קטרג על אומות העולם.” ותני עלה: אין הקדוש ברוך הוא חפץ במקטרג על ישראל.
הגר”א (תיקוני הזהר תיקון כא): “שהשם יתברך שונא המקטרג על בניו אף קדושים.” ועוד כתב הגר”א בפירושו למשלי (ל’ י’) על הפסוק: “אל תלשן עבד אל אדוניו פן יקללך ואשמת” – “איך אפשר לידע תעלומות דרכי ה’, והלא עבד שמרד באדוניו שעשה לו טובות הרבה והוא כפוי טובה, ועל כן לפי שכלנו הוא איש עול אשר כמוהו אין בנמצא, ואף על פי כן אזהרת ה’ הוא שאל תלשן עבד אל אדוניו ולא עוד אלא פן יקללך ואשמת” ומוסיף שם הגר”א שמדובר בדור שיש בו כלל העבירות, ואעפ”כ אל תלשן –ומסיים: