ENGLEWOOD, N.J. — If you drove Route 4 near the Teaneck border over the last couple of weeks, you've probably seen the billboards: Jews.com.

What the signs don't make clear is that the website they promote is a Christian missionary effort targeted at Jewish Jerseyans.

The large red-and-white billboards are located along Route 4 in the Englewood area, near the Teaneck border. They are managed by Lamar Advertising and were first reported Monday by the Jewish Link in a WhatsApp alert.

The website is operated by “Discovering the Jewish Jesus,” a Christian ministry run by “Rabbi Kirt Schneider.” Its stated purpose is to “invite Jewish people to examine the Hebrew Scriptures and consider whether Jesus is the promised Messiah.”

The website uses Jewish language and imagery, including “Shalom — Welcome to Jews.com” and a Jewish star, before presenting material about Jesus and Messianic prophecy.

Schneider's own words make the intended audience clear.

After launching the campaign, Schneider said he is now “laser-focused on reaching Jewish people.”

“I knew right then and there, in an instant, that God was calling me and Discovering the Jewish Jesus to challenge Jewish people in a whole new way, at a whole new level, with the good news of Messiah,” Schneider said.

Schneider was raised in a Jewish home and later embraced faith in Christianity. He now identifies himself as a Messianic Jewish rabbi.

The campaign has drawn concern because of the way the website presents itself. Rabbi Noam Marans, the American Jewish Committee's director of interreligious affairs, told the Jewish Standard that the presentation was “deceptive.”

“It’s deceptive to have a huge billboard with a seemingly innocent website with a seemingly innocent name on a major thoroughfare next to an intensely Jewish community,” Rabbi Marans said.

The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey similarly said, “From the perspective of the mainstream Jewish community, however, belief in Jesus as the Messiah is not part of Judaism.”

Schneider said the campaign is intended to target Jews well beyond Bergen County with billboard placements across the New York metropolitan area, including Brooklyn, Manhattan and northern New Jersey, with plans to expand into other major metropolitan areas throughout the United States.