Los Angeles Branch Staff

Isaac is the branch leader of Jews for Jesus in Los Angeles. The first Jewish person in Isaac’s family to follow Yeshua (Jesus) was his great great grandmother Esther from a shtetl in Zhitomir, Ukraine. Since then, every generation of Isaac’s family have been dedicated to sharing the news of the Messiah with their own people. Isaac was raised in San Francisco and grew up attending the Jews for Jesus summer camp program Camp Gilgal, serving as staff in his teenage years. It wasn’t until a trip to Israel and India in 2008 with the Jews for Jesus program Massah that Isaac truly owned the calling that God had placed on his life to be a witness for Yeshua. In August 2010 he married his wife, Shaina, a second-generation Jewish believer in Yeshua, who currently serves as a Labor and Delivery Nurse in Santa Monica. They have 3 kids.

Tuvya Zaretsky is one of the founders of the Jews for Jesus ministry, beginning his service in February 1974. He was raised in Northern California in the institutions of American Judaism. And he came to believe in Yeshua (Jesus) in 1970. Read Tuvya’s full story.

During his career, Tuvya has provided leadership of Jews for Jesus branches in Chicago, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and Tel Aviv. Tuvya is also the founder of JewishGentileCouples.com, a free counseling service for intercultural couples, operating out of the Jews for Jesus LA branch.

Tuvya earned an M.A. Missiology in Judaic Studies at The Fuller Seminary School for World Mission and the Doctor of Intercultural Studies degree from Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. He is married to Ellen, who is also a Jewish Believer in Jesus. They have three adult children and three grandchildren.

Josh Sofaer is the director of staff development with Jews for Jesus, serving our global staff. Josh was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in a secular, Sephardic Jewish home. His family, like many others in the San Francisco area, were cause oriented. That “activist” foundation drew him to Jews for Jesus as a young believer, and he’s been here ever since. Josh has four brothers and is the only believer in his immediate family.

Josh has held many different roles in his 30 years of service. He was one of our first children’s and youth workers, led the New York and Los Angeles branches, and has served on over 20 witnessing campaigns. In his current role, Josh oversees training of new missionaries and the ongoing development of our staff worldwide.

Josh has a BA in history from Brooklyn College and a MA and ThM (in process) from Western Seminary. Josh is married to Annette, and they have two children: Eliana and Taliah. Josh and Annette live in Los Angeles, California.

Emmanuel was born in Tehran, Iran, and he likes to tell people he is a descendant of Queen Esther … but he can’t back that up. What he can back up is that he is a 5th-generation Jewish believer in Jesus. Emmanuel’s family moved to Los Angeles when he was a child to escape the Islamic revolution.

While Emmanuel grew up in a family that followed Jesus, at the age of 17, he began to seek to know God for himself. His two-year search affirmed his faith in Jesus and the Bible, and it became clear to him how important it is to share God’s love and good news about the Messiah Jesus with his Jewish people. Read more about Emmanuel’s life story.

Emmanuel studied fine art/animation/film and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Sarah, and their three kids. He leads our Online Evangelism Team. Innovating online evangelism techniques on jewsforjesus.org since 2007, he says, “Our goal is to harness the anonymous nature of the web to allow Jewish people online to explore the depth of Jesus’ love and get personally connected directly with a missionary!” Read about how to take part in this flourishing online ministry.

Samuel was born into a loving, traditional Jewish family in Latin America. He grew up attending Jewish school and participating in the Zionist Youth Movement. After making aliyah in his early 20s, he served in the Israel Defense Forces as a spokesperson for the Spanish-speaking world. He later returned to Costa Rica to finish his studies in psychology, where he met Valeria, his wife, who was a key part of his faith journey.

As he began exploring the claims of Yeshua as the Messiah, he enrolled in the “Finding Spiritual Harmony” program for Jewish-Gentile couples and joined a local congregation. It was there that he started building a deeper relationship with God. His desire to learn more led him to Israel, where he joined the Tel Aviv branch of Jews for Jesus to understand ministry firsthand.

In 2023, Samuel and Valeria married and decided to serve together at Jews for Jesus in Los Angeles. Their focus is on counseling Jewish-Gentile couples, building relationships within the local Jewish community, and organizing outreach and community events at the Upside Down café.

Leia Brown is a missionary with Jews for Jesus in Los Angeles, California. Her Bubby (grandmother) was the first person to introduce her to Jesus and she eventually gave her life to the Lord at age 6. She is a graduate of Biola University with a degree in Christian Ministries and a minor in Bible. Starting at 8 years old, Leia attended the Jews for Jesus summer camp program, Camp Gilgal, and returned as staff when was 16. Camp Gilgal was one of the first places Leia truly felt God’s presence in her life. During her years at Biola, she interned with Jews for Jesus, doing youth work in Los Angeles, as well as the Camp Gilgal internship, which ultimately led her to find her calling to ministry. Leia became full time missionary staff in the Spring of 2020 and primarily works with our West Coast Children and Youth programs. She is passionate about sharing Jesus with young people and having the most fun she possibly can while doing it!

Abigail grew up in Illinois in a Messianic Jewish family that believed Jesus is the promised Messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures. From a very young age, she professed faith in Jesus after realizing she could never save herself from her sins. While growing up, she celebrated Shabbat and many Jewish holidays, with Jesus at the center of it all.

In 2023, Abigail graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Florida College. After a gap year that included an internship and a mission trip to Israel and India with Jews for Jesus, she felt called to apply for full-time staff with us.

Abigail now serves as a missionary trainee with Jews for Jesus in Los Angeles, CA. Her primary focus is serving Jewish students at UCLA and engaging with the surrounding community.

Jeanne Rosen was born into a family of seven children. When she was four years old, her family moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was Jewish, but it was her Gentile mom, with a hunger for God, who brought them into contact with people who understood the Bible. When Jeanne was nine, she accepted Yeshua (Jesus) after going to Sunday School with a faithful neighbor who read Bible stories to her.

Jeanne and her husband, Jake, recently joined Jews for Jesus as full-time missionaries serving at the Los Angeles branch. They also have a son and his young family in the area. Recently, they became grandparents! They now have one-year old granddaughters on each coast.

After a 22-year career with the St. Louis Art Museum, Jeanne is excited to put her love for art to use by building bridges with UCLA students who are at the branch’s doorstep. Art is a language that engages people and provides opportunities for spiritual conversations. The Los Angeles branch does a great job at using this creative approach!

Being Jewish is who Jake Rosen is. His parents were Holocaust survivors, who married in France. They were Orthodox but weren’t strict at home. When he was a teen in the 1970s, while at a meeting called Kibbutz near his home, he heard that one could be Jewish and believe in Jesus. After he struggled with this message, he came to faith in Jesus—and Jesus turned Jake’s life upside down.

Those who influenced him were mentored by Moishe Rosen, who began Jews for Jesus in 1973. Jake met Jeanne, and they were married. They have two children who both recently had daughters!

Jake got his BFA at Washington University, became an illustrator, and received an MA from Fuller Seminary in intercultural communications. He also pastored a church for over 32 years. Most of their mentoring was through Jews for Jesus. He and his wife recently joined the staff of Jews for Jesus. For years, Jake has been working on a series of paintings called “The Vision of Isaiah,” and the focus in LA may be helping to communicate God’s message through the arts.

Annette grew up in Fresno, California in a Jewish-Christian home. She’s a graduate of Biola University in Los Angeles where she majored in piano performance and minored in viola performance and biblical studies. Her grandparents, who were Holocaust refugees from Vienna, Austria, came to faith in Jesus as Messiah in the 1940s.

Having come from a family with three generations of Jewish believers in Jesus, she brings practical experience to the question, “How does it work to be Jewish and follow Jesus?” When she was 13 years old, Annette questioned if she truly believed in God and his Son, Yeshua, or if she was merely adhering to the religion she’d been raised with. As she pondered the fact that human existence is imbued with deep meaning, and as she reflected on the deep love that she already sensed from God, she felt compelled to embrace this faith as her own.

Annette is married to another Jewish believer, Josh, who is also on staff with Jews for Jesus, and they have two college-age daughters. She is a vocational staff worker in the Los Angeles branch, and her favorite part of her job with Jews for Jesus is meeting with other Jewish women to study the Scriptures and pray for them. Annette and her family lived in New York City for 15 years, so she also has a love for all things New York!