2 Friday, January 6, 1984

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Purely Commentary

The Facts About Cults:
The Vast Advertising Program. -
and Repudiation of Proselytizers

So vast is the advertising campaign now being con-
ducted by a sensationalized proselytizing group that con-
cern is assuming fear as well as aggravation.
The most important newspapers and magazines in the
land carried the "Jews for Jesus" advertisements and the
person who apparently engineered it is therefore in the
limelight.
It is therefore of the utmost importance that the facts
gathered by Task Force on Missionaries and Cults of the
Jewish Community Relations Council of New York should
be widely circulated. They expose the evil intentions and
they clarify the approaches which, indeed, call for serious
consideration to counteract them.
At the outset, the Task Force on Cults shows how
converts from Judaism have engineered the entire scheme.
Then comes the statement by the Task Force on "Tactics of
the Jews for Jesus Cult Group," indicating:
\ Jews for Jesus is one of the so called "Hebrew
Christian" groups which assert that the ac-
ceptance of Jesus as the Messiah is consistent
with Judaism. Members of Jews for Jesus ob-
serve certain, established Jewish rituals such as
lighting Sabbath candles, wearing skullcaps and
celebrating Passover. But, in their practice, each
of these sacred acts is given a new (Christological)
meaning that distorts its original and true signifi-
cance. For example, the three matzot on the Seder
plate are said to represent the Trinity, and the
broken afikomen the crucified Jesus.
Characterizing Jews for Jesus as "evangeli-
cal fundamentalists," (Moishe) Rosen (the group's
leader) boasts of the success of the group's pro-
selytizing techniques. Regularly, groups of Jews
for Jesus missionaries descend on cities across
the country and, wearing clothes with ostenta-
tious Jews for Jesus slogans, stake out street cor-
ners to distribute thousands of clever, often
humorous, broadsides and solicit money.
Besides their street corner contingents, Jews
for Jesus has a cadre of singers and performers
who travel and entertain extensively, drawing
large audiences wherever they go. Their concerts
provide a forum for the Jews for Jesus to preach
their gospel.
Names drawn from the Jewish heritage, such
as "The Liberated Wailing Wall," "The New
Jerusalem Players," and "Israelite" are calcu-
lated to assure prospective converts that they are
not renouncing Judaism if they accept the doc-
trines of Jews for Jesus.
While using Jewish trappings and practices
to lure Jews into the group, and cautiously stating
their connection with Christianity, Jews for Jesus
simultaneously seeks to align itself with the fun-
damentalist Christian church. In a letter entitled
"What Evangelical Christians Should Know
About Jews for Jesus," Moishe Rosen writes, "We
define ourselves as evangelical fundamentalists
. . . We believe in affiliation with a local church
and being accountable to the church for service
and discipline . . . We consider ourselves to be an
arm of the local church."
The New York Task Force not only renders a service
with this expose. It also indicates how the Rosen Jews for
Jesus movement is being repudiated by Christians as well
as Jews. The Task Force statement reveals:

Leaders of the organized Jewish and Chris-
tian communities alike have criticized the Jews
for Jesus theology, an admixture of rabbinic
Judaism with Christian tenets. This negates the
uniqueness and denies the legitimacy of both
faiths.
In addition to the repudiations by all seg-
ments of the Jewish community, many Christian
leaders as well -have condemned the tactics of
Jews for Jesus as harmful, deceptive and divisive.
A letter, disseminated by the Long Island Council
of Churches in 1977, charged Jews for Jesus with
"engaging in subterfuge and dishonesty" and
with "mixing religious symbols in ways which dis-
tort their essential meaning,"
The letter went on to say, "The board also
deplores the pressures which result when any
faith group calls into question the right to contin-
ued existence of another faith group." A court
challenge by the Jews for Jesus was dismissed.
With such proper gathering of facts, the proselytizers
should be properly exposed to the light of day. Responsibil-
ity rests upon all Jewish conitilunities to treat the disrup-
ters of religious decency :a . thie Christians did in their
condemnation and re
.
rs.
, ,
•

Proselytizing as a Menace Under Condemnation
by Christians and Jews . . . Prophecy Beckoning
for Definition . . . Podhoretz Defines Jewish Unity

By Philip
Slomovitz

Predictions as Annual
Greetings . . . and Prophecy
Beckoning for Definitions

West Bank and either had to absorb or rule over a
million unwilling Arabs.
It was into these doubts and fears and am-
biguities that the war in Lebanon erupted. Yet in
With the Happy New Year greetings there are the
spite of everything, hardly any Jews anywhere
relieving references to the distressing left behind, with the
lost their nerve. They understood that Lebanon
hopeful which often are the predictive and: the Prophetic.
was not an isolated episode, but yet another front
The media are filled with the latter and the inheritors
of the unrelenting war against Israel which the
of Prophecy become the interpreters of history applied to
Arabs have been conducting since 1948. They un-
the present.
derstood that Israel had a perfect right to secure
How does one judge prOphecy in this modern age?
its northern borders against military assaults by
If there is, here, an introduction of confusion in spel-
the PLO. They understood that Israel had no less
ling prophe(s)cy, there is an explanation for it in "A Treas-
perfect a right to go on the military offensive.
ury for Word Lovers" (ISI Press) by Morton S. Freeman.
They refused to believe that the Israelis were
The fact that a master of the English language, Edwin
indiscriminately bombing and shelling civilian
Newman, wrote a foreword to the book, commending
targets. They were horrified by the comparisons
author and text, adds to the merits of a volume compiled by
made between the Nazis and the Israelis, and they
an authority and a linguist of great merit. Linguist
were appalled by the almost complete absence of
Freeman in "A Treasury for Word Lovers" thus defines
protest against these and other anti-Semitic
Prophecy:
canards.
The verb prophesy ("to fortell") is a neutral
All this signified that the great majority of
word in that it does not imply the nature of the
Jews .everywhere in the world found the moral
prediction — favorable or unfavorable. Its
courage to hold firm against overwhelming ex-
synonyms, though they bear shades of dif-
ternal pressures and insidious inner doubts.
ferences, are predict, prognosticate, foretell, and
Thanks to Israel, world Jewry is still a reality
forecast. Oddly, English seems to possess no verb
in 1983. Like Israel itself, it has emerged from the
applicable solely to the making of favorable pre-
ordeal of Lebanon in a somewhat bruised condi-
dictions. Augur often conveys this sense, but it is
tion, but it has come through. And it has served
usually accompanied by "well," as in "The drop in
notice that it will not be bullied or cajoled into
the prime rate augurs well for the stock market. In
forgetting that in our generation Jews are above
ancient days an augur was an official diviner of
all else forbidden to give posthumous victories to
Rome. He foretold events by the flight of birds.
Hitler, and that in our generation this means
The noun meaning- "prediction" is prophecy,
above all else that Jews are forbidden to do any-
spelled with a e; its verb form, prophesy, is spelled
thing that might strengthen the hand of those who
with an s. That one-letter difference alters the
have risen up to destroy the state of Israel.
pronunciation too: the noun ends in see; the verb,
Accepting these views as fact, there is an accounting
in sigh.
that can not be ignored. There has never been, there can not
While being trained in English usage, this treasury
be, total uniformity in Jewish life. From time immemorial,
also is a delight and the Freeman book, while inviting
as the sages in the Talmud, Yerushalmi and Bavli, have
usage in the schools, also enriches home libraries.
registered, there are and there must be differing views on
many if not all the issues confronting a people.
A Summation by Podhoretz:
Jewish experience is replete with striving for internal
unity, with as much emphasis continually for an accord
Jewish Unity Not a Myth
,r1 d-
Fusion of movements for peace between Israel and the with non-Jewish neighbors.
A sample of such striving is in the chronicled rec ,"
Arab nations has been linked with the right to criticize,
with the obligation to confront Israeli leaders in their cur- activities by Jewish federations, and the unifying iorce
rent internal as well as political policies. It inevitably represented in the Council of Jewish Federations, outlined
raises the question of Jewish unity in these matters. Of- by the recently retired top executive of the CJF, Philip
fered for public consumption, the most vociferous, who have Bernstein, in his definitive book, "To Dwell in Unity"
utilized the media for their purposes and have also gone to (Jewish Publication Society). The title of his book is based
Israel to challenge their ideological adversaries, contend on the emphasis on unity in Psalm 133, "How good and how
that opposition to the militarism of the present Israeli pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity . . ." —
government, as well as its resettlement arid other policies, and the quest for it is endless, always with some obstruc-
tions in internal disputes.
'is overwhelming in U.S. Jewish and other ranks.
Another most interesting recollection of divisiveness
Norman Podhoretz, in his editorial role in Commen-
tary magazine, treats the issues seriously and in "The State in Jewish ranks is recorded in a most fascinating' book,
"Dear Lord Rothschild" (Balaban Publishers, Glenside,
of World Jewry," in the current issue, goes into great detail,
summarizing the position of the Jews of the world, the Pa.). It is a biography of Walter, the Lord Rothschild who
threats they must deal with, the obligations they seek to labored for and received the Balfour Declaration addressed
accept, the issues involving the media as well as leaderhip to "Lord Rothschild" without identifying the first name.
This biography traces the battle in Jewish ranks over the
in Jewish and intergovernmental ranks.
The study of dominating conditions by Podhoretz is text of the Balfour Declaration and the drafting of it, and
the sharp divisions over Zionism. There was a communal
certain to add to the disputes and will invite negations.
The realities can not be ignored. There are differing Jewish battle. The Board of Jewish Deputies, Lord
Rothschild, Chaim Weizmann, Herbert Samuel fought for
views, and in all instances there are supporting forces.
When acknowledged political figures accept the most criti- the Zionist cause. They were opposed by the Con-Joint
Foreign Committee an-' the Anglo-Jewish Association. The
cal view, the entire subject needs continuing analyses.
Board of Deputies won the battle against the anti-Zionists,
Podhoretz adds to them perceptively.
At i s sue is the major claim that Jews are greatly di- but the vote was 56 to 51.
That's how the struggle "to dwell together in unity"
vided, that opposition to current policies is stronger than
continued. Now the Zionist sentiment has the overwhelm-
acknowledged, that the claim of unity is overstated.
It is on this score that the Podhoretz view and his ing Jewish support. Yet the struggle for unity can not be
conclusions demand concern. In his Commentary article, overlooked.
The summation by Podhoretz is a valuable emphasis
"The State of World Jewry," his contention is:
on the struggle for unity. His views also are an appeal for
Jewry in 1983 has passed the first serious test
the vitally needed unity.
of its resolve to obey the commandment of Au-
schwitz. Before Lebanon, obedience was easy. Is-
rael was surrounded by an affiance of Arab states
openly dedicated to its destruction. There was no
ambiguity about the danger and no disagreement
about the means required to deal with it.
Then the Arabs changed their tactics. To their
own peoples they still proclaimed that their inten-
tion was to wipe the state of Israel off the map, but
now they let it be known through hints and whis-
pers into the ears of Western statesmen that if
only Israel agreed to a Palestinian state on the
West Bank ruled by the PLO, they would agree to
live in peace with Israel. With this shrewdly calcu-
lated shift — and with a little help from oil — the
Arabs introduced an element of uncertainty into
the minds of Israel's friends, including of course
the Jews.
Morris Abram of the National Conference on
To make what'had formerly been clear even
Soviet Jewry accepts American Mizrachi Women's
fuzzier, there was the fear among Jews
Silver Medallion Award from newly-elected president
everywhere that Israel would be unable to remain
Frieda Kufeld for Soviet Jewish prisoner of con-
either Jewish or democratic if it held onto the
science Anatoly Shcharansky.

Shcharansky Remembered

