16 Friday, April 11, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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356-2102
e....061 54. . 1. .11
• 26336 Twelve Mile Rd.
(At Northwestern Highway)
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•
•
, Zaa.F.e*carbur-v4 grA ,
Mormon families—for fear that they
themselves might encounter the retaliatory
actions of menacing anti-Mormon groups.
One anti-Mormon activist recently told
a reporter for the Israeli newspaper
Ma'ariv, "Those behind the opposition to
the building of the Mormon Center will not
be able to control future outbreaks of
violence against the Mormons and those
working. on the site [of the Mormon
Center]."
Other anti-Mormon activists have dis-
tributed thousands of leaflets in Jeru-
salem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods ac-
cusing Mayor Teddy Kollek, a staunch sup-
porter of the Mormon project, of "cooper-
ating with the Germans [a reference to the
Nazi Holocaust] and the PLO in destroy-
. ing the Jewish people."
The obvious questions remain: Why
would so many Jews, who clearly comprise
a powerful religious and political majority
in Israel, be worried about a small group
of Christians who may try to "spread the
word" about their own religion in a cultur-
ally-diverse and religiously-tolerant Jeru-
salem? Isn't Judaism—especially on its
own "home turf," as it were — strong
enough to withstand the competition in the
event that the Mormons do decide to mis-
sionize? And isn't religious freedom (many
would argue that if this means missioniz-
ing, it means missionizing) a guaranteed
part of any true democratic system?
We must take a closer look at the history
of Christian-Jewish relations to understand
why the issues of missionary activity and
conversion are so extremely sensitive to
Israeli Jews and, though perhaps to a lesser
extent, to Jews everywhere.
According to Yosef Goell, a respected
Israeli thinker, "Judaism's contacts with
Christianity, ever since the daughter reli-
gion split off from main-line Judaism over
1,800 years ago, has always involved Chris-
tian attempts to compel Jews to convert."
Although this relationship reached its op-
pressive peak during the Crusades (900-
1100 C.E.) and the Spanish Inquisition
(1492), such "forced" conversion to Chris-
tianity was also a major feature of Euro-
pean Jewish life in the 19th century, when
many Jews felt compelled to convert in
order to 'improve themselves" both econo-
mically and socially. For most Orthodox
Jews—as well as for tinny Jews who are
sensitive to the history of Christian anti-
- Semitism— such intimidation and coercion
of Jews to abandon their faith is a part of
recent, not ancient, history.
Furthermore, since World War II, in
which a third of world Jewry perished at
the hands of the Nazis, the idea of conver-
sion to Christianity has become increas-
ingly anathemic to the collective Jewish
psyche. Thus,' while missionary activity
may be viewed by many as an integral fea-
ture of religious freedom (and thus. of a
democracy), most Israelis, as well as Jews
e
are a
proselytizing church
and we are the
fastest growing
religion in the
modern world."
everywhere, would disagree.
As Goell asserts," . . . it would be fair to
say that all Jews are extremely sensitive
[to the subject of missionaries and conver-
sion] and do not accept the question of con-
versions as merely a matter of individual
freedom or choice." •
• On the other hand, there are those Jews
who argue that Israel is not Eastern Eur-
ope, and that Jews inside Israel are secure
from all forms of anti-semitism, which they
feel includes Christian missionary activity.
Furthermore, many would argue, even if
the Mormons were to naissionize in Israel,
such activity would hardly threaten the
security of Jews in the Jewish State.
As Abba Eban, former United Nations
Delegate and Israeli Ambassador to the
United States, recently wrote: "The Jewish
people which preserved its identity against
the conquering empires of antiquity,
against the allurement of Hellenism,
against the arrogance of classical Rome,
against the conversionary triumphs of
Christianity, against the proselytizing fer-
vor of Islam, against the savage torments
of the Inquisition, against the seductions
of emancipation and assimilation, is now
about to disappear in its own country
under the irresistible magnetism of the late
Joseph Smith and the late Brigham
Young!"
While most American Jewish organiza-
tions maintain that denying the Mormons
their right to establish a university center
in Jerusalem would constitute a breach of
religious and academic freedom, and thus
a breach of Democracy, there are also those
Jews in the United States who strongly
oppose the construction of a Mormon
Center.
,