News CONCERT page 95 • $6.95 LUNCH SPECIALS Mon. - Sat. 11 am to 3 pm • Shish Kabob • Shish Tawook • Shish Kafta • Baked Kafta • Shawai i • All served with rice or potatoeN • Whitefish Filet • Eggplant a la Sheik ∎ oup or tkiLl. No , LillNlitution. Enjoy the Original Recipes of Esther Michaels formerly of Downtown Detroit. Row 'juice 'nor Cochtails Vegetarian an,o non - vegetarian entrees Catering for all Occasions rlanquet Room S'acilities Open for Lunch one Dinner 7 - Days 4189 Orcbaro C.ahe Roan Orchare Gage 810 - 865 - 0000 enticed to the concrete and grass park on Bay Parkway and Cropsey Avenue. But after the concert began with some Jewish and Russian songs, some audi- ence members recoiled in anger. Suddenly from the bandshell, where an Israeli flag was dis- played and about 25 brightly-cos- tumed singers and musicians were performing, a large banner was unfurled proclaiming "Lift Yeshua Up." The master of cer- -emonies then began urging the crowd to lift up their voices to proclaim the real Jewish messi- ah. "I was furious," said longtime resident Phyllis Sarachik. "I - started screaming, 'Why are you here under false pretenses?' They were not there to bring music and dance; they were there to proselytize." It turns out the concert was sponsored by the Beth El Mes sianic Congregation, a Benson- hurst-based Hebrew Christian group. Jewish community leaders say they are outraged over the inci- dent. "They are completely decep- tive and dishonest," state Sen. Seymour Lachman, D-Benson- hurst, said of Beth El. Lachman, a longtime Bensonhurst resident, joined more than 100 neighbor- hood Jews in a peaceful coun- terdemonstration at the park to warn concert-goers that the event was not Jewish. Jewish community officials also warn that the concert serves as proof of the increased mis- sionizing of Jews, a direct result of a policy adopted last year by the Southern Baptists — the na- tion's largest Protestant group — to intensify their efforts to con- vert Jews. "It's the opening salvo in the Hebrew Christian missionaries' annual summer campaign to steal Jewish souls," said Philip Abramowitz, director of the Task Force on Missionaries and Cults, part of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. Sarachik says the event also raises questions about the city's procedures on park permits. "How can they take a public park to do this?" she asked. "You can get a permit to proselytize in a public place?" Parks Commissioner Henry Stern said that the Beth El group had legally obtained a permit for the concert. "Whether a group is granted a permit or not is not something totally in the control of the city," Stern said. "No matter how ob- noxious some people may think it is, these people have First Amendment rights." But Stern said that because of the charges of deception against the Beth El group, he has asked city attorneys to determine whether permits can be revoked for two upcoming Beth El-spon- sored concerts in July and Au- gust in Bensonhurst Park, al- ready approved by the Parks Department. "We're in a great pickle trying to interpret constitutional re- quirements," Stern said. On one hand, he said, the re- cent concert caused no distur- bance or violence, and no crimes were committed. But, he said, the Hebrew Christian group may have submitted a fraudulent ap- plication. "They said it was a Jewish concert and they may have had a religious program, and that's wrong," Stern said. Revoking the permits, he admitted, could lead to a lawsuit against the city. Brooklyn Parks Commission- er Julius Spiegel said the Beth El permit application was sub- mitted in February by Hadassah Ryklin. She originally requested that the concert be held in Asser Levy Park in Brighton Beach, home to tens of thousands of Russian Jews. They were there to proselytize. Spiegel said he denied the per- mit for Asser Levy because of complaints by two local syna- gogues regarding another He- brew Christian concert held there several years ago. But Spiegel said Parks De- partment lawyers told him he couldn't legally deny the permit, but he could relocate the concert. So he made a deal with Ryk- lin: If she would agree to move the concert from Asser Levy, which has a built-in sound stage, he would provide a mobile stage for half price at Bensonhurst Park. The Beth El group did not re- turn several phone calls seeking response. Meanwhile, Lachman decried the increase in Christian mis- sionizing of Jews. "What gets me very upset is that this is part of a national ef- fort to target the most vulnera- ble members of the Jewish community — Russian immi- grants who know little about re- ligion," said Lachman, who helped found the JCRC anti-mis- sionary task force. Joining Lachman at the park were members from the Ben- sonhurst COJO, the Vaad HaRabonim of Bensonhurst, the Bais HaTalmud yeshiva, the Re- form Beth Ahavath Shalom Temple and the Russian Jewish Synagogue of the Jewish Com- munity House. "We were trying to convince people it wasn't really Jewish," said JCH Rabbi Gary Pollack. He said some Russian Jews lured to the concert were more surprised than offended.