Some Israelis that harbor disgust for religion and its adherents call this behavior "Missionary" work. Of course, out of sheer ignorance, they compare Judaism to all other religions and see them all as taboo, when, in fact, all but one, luckily theirs, although they know not of this yet, represents the ultimate truth.
The reason one Jew wants to help out another and bring him to the guiding light was well explained by the Rebbe. Being that the Jewish people constitute one collective body, to be sure, then, said the Rebbe,"When the left hand is itchy, the right hand wants to relieve the itch by scratching it." Similarly in such cases where we feel the loss suffered by the ignorant Jew, for surely his soul is restless until he discovers the source of truth, we seek to help him out and provide proper direction to a rudderless soul.
This is hardly the reason Gentiles pursue missionary work. They seek to justify their own lie and could care less about the Jew they seek to trap into their web of deceit.
3 comments:
I think it's unfair and simply incorrect to cast all Christians as consciously promoting falsehood. In general, this is really all the spirituality that they know, and so if they are spreading it in a very materialistic society, they deserve credit.
A Jew should support the fact that missionaries are religious, and that they want to spread faith in a Deity, moral laws, and so on. These are virtues in general, and especially in the western culture of today, which is dominated by hedonism and heresy. Missionaries are in a much better place than the drunkards in the nightclubs, or than the secular academics. What he objects to is the fact that Christianity is idolatrous and a false religion.
Keep up the Kiruv!!!! great to see ya !
Yehoshafat - The missionaries in Isarel and the Jews for J do not deserve ANY credit.
I forget which, but one convert to Judaism tells the story of how he noticed that in his church, where he attended to learn about his religion, they practically dropped interest in the entire class because they concentrated on this one Jew who happened into their class - a "prize" possession for them. Then he learned more of why they did that and finally, ironically, converted, after comparing Yiddishkeit with their Goyishkeit.
As long as they stick to their own kind, I have no gripe.
As for calling their beliefs "falsehood" - why not. That Gentiles are allowed - under Jewish law - to believe in divine "partnerships" - because they cannot be expected to reach lofty thought, is not an excuse to label the whole belief as false from the get-go.
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