Opinion

Editor's Notebook

Christian Missionaries
And Anti-Missionaries

Defining Your
Jewish Beliefs

MARTIN J. WARMBRAND SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

I

here is a David and Goliath
battle going on between a
number of Jewish anti-mis-
sionary groups and individ-
uals and the evangelical Christian
missionaries.
The Christian missionary dri-
ve is funded by more than $150
million. It has millions of volun-
teer missionaries enlisted in its be-
half.
The Jewish counter-missionary
campaign has a combined budget
of less than $1 million. In ad-
dition to the rabbi and cantor
in your synagogue, there are
fewer than 100 active full- and
part-timers.
The Christian missionary
activity is directed specifical-
ly at the young, middle-aged,
elderly, intermarried, Russ-
ian and other recent immi-
grant Jews. However, this
article will concentrate on
evangelical ministries direct-
ed toward young Jews.
According to the several
Jewish activists that I have
interviewed, the young Jews,
aged 15-35 with little or no
Jewish education, are the
most vulnerable. Missionar-
ies are increasingly centering their
efforts on high school and college
students.
Elie Wiesel summed it up best
when he wrote: "In leaving us,
these young people are accusing
us of having let them go, or worse,
of not noticing that they were go-
ing• ,

the Rev. Moishe (born Martin)
Rosen. The Rev. Rosen and his ad-
herents have employed a persua-
sive Jewish spin on their
proselytizing.
Using Christological emphasis
and mistranslation of sacred Jew-
ish texts, he was able to persuade
these Jewish spiritual seekers that
they were not renouncing Judaism
by accepting the beliefs ofJews for
Jesus; they were "becoming com-
pleted Jews."

The Hebrew-Christian move-
ment has proven to be an embar-
rassment to many mainline
Christian groups. The Long Island
Council of Churches charged Jews
for Jesus with "engaging in sub-
terfuge and dishonesty" and with
"mixing symbols in ways that dis-
tort their essential meaning."

Before that focus begins, we
need to have a clear understand-
ing of the dimension and back-
ground of the problem. There are
200-600 Christian missions who
focus in part or entirely on the
Jewish people. Many of them
claim to be Jewish. Their names
are "Messianic Jews," "Jews for
Not only are the deceptive prac-
Jesus," "Chosen People Ministries" tices offensive in themselves, but
and others which use a variety of at the "Messiah 1995" convention
Hebraic names.
of the Messianic Jewish Alliance
The Jews for Jesus movement of America, a new strategy to in-
has been the most successful. The filtrate the Jewish community was
organization was founded in 1970 adopted. A San Antonio, Texas,
by an ordained Baptist minister, chapter of Hadassah discovered
that two of its board members
Martin J. Warmbrand is president
were Messianic Jews. Similar in-
of the American Jewish Public
cidents have occurred in other
Relations Society.
Jewish organizations.

The missionary
activity is directed
at the young.

Our focus on Jewish youth be-
gins here. Hundreds of children in
a Jewish day school, in New
Brunswick, N.J., were mailed a
full-color issue of the "Hebrew
Christian" newspaper, the Mes-
sianic Times. Missions are found
on all state and city college
campuses. They are staffed by
volunteers, not professional mis-
sionaries. Of the millions of fun-
damentalist and evangelical
Christians who specialize in con-
version activity, many-are the
offspring who become high
school classmates or college
roommates to our Jewish
youth.
Our young people who go
out of town to colleges and uni-
versities are primary targets.
They are away from family
and friends. One group that is
organized and anxious to be
their new friends are Christ-
ian fellowship missions. There
are five to 10 college student
Christian fellowship groups
on almost every campus.
The pull of wanting to be a
part of a crowd of peers is pow-
erful, especially if one is lone-
some or in need of approval.
Our students are made to feel not
only valued but very important by
active missionaries.
The short-term goal of the anti-
missionary movement is pre-
venting conversions ofJews and
reclaiming those who have con-
verted. To this end, the Federa-
tion of Jewish Men's Clubs
(Conservative) and the Task
Force on Missionaries and Cults,
a project of the Jewish Commu-
nity Relations Council of New
York, will jointly publish and dis-
tribute Countering Hebrew-Chris-
tian Identity. The long-term goal
is to maintain the integrity of Ju-
daism as a community of faith
and culture through ongoing Jew-
ish education.
For further information or coun-
seling, contact David Horowitz
at the United Israel World Union,
(212) 688-7557; or Jews for
Judaism at their Website, http
/www.Jewsforjudaism.org.

Hal Kosut helped research this ar-
tick.

TheDJN@aol . com

11

O

Do You
Think?"

How far do you think the rift
between Israel's chief rabbinate
and the Diaspora will go?

To respond: "So, What Do You Think?"
27676 Franklin Road, Southfield, MI 48034

Theresa and I
were a couple of
7-year-olds
playing togeth-
er in the empty
washing ma-
chine crate.
Yeah, you read
that right. Don't
be so self-right-
eous. When we in our 40s were
kids, an empty crate became a
"fort" or a "house." That's when
children had to think about
play, but that's a different issue
for another time.
My mother, in
style typical of the
time, invited us in
for milk and cookies.
I remember how
warm the melting
chocolate chips were
while dunking them
into that cold milk.
I also remember
wiping the milk
moustache off my
face in disbelief
when Theresa piped
out, "Mrs. Jacobs, my mother
was wrong. You are such nice
people."
My mother, not to let this one
go, responded: "Wrong about
what?"
Theresa: "Even though you
killed our savior, you are still
nice people."
Theresa was the nice Catholic
girl down the street. Her big sis-
ters were my babysitters. Her
mother received a call from my
mother. But Theresa's mother
didn't back down. Yup, we killed
him. My friend and I never
played together again.
I went around asking my par-
ents, "Is it true? What savior?
What's a savior? Did we really
kill someone?"
Fast forward.
I'm sports editor of the Uni-
versity of Maryland Diamond-
back. rm driving with the news
editor, a blonde-haired woman
named Lisa. In her 1970 Chevy
Nova is a magnet in the shape
of a Coca Cola logo. Only it says,
`Things Go Better With Jesus."
No problem. I won't bring this
up if she doesn't.
Lisa invites me to a Friday
night "dinner." Free food. Men-
tion that to any college student
and he's there. Campus Crusade
for Christ — they were invited
as well. They didn't show for the
food. I didn't know that. I met
many new "friends" that
evening. They knew more about
Judaism than I ever did, and
they weren't even Jewish.
I told them, "I really don't
know much. I'm Reform."
Bad answer.
Fast forward again.
I'm covering an assignment
for our sister paper, the Bala,

more Jewish Times. It's about

Messianic Jews. I'm interview-
ing people. I find out something
scary. They're interviewing me.
They're telling me they want to
"share" with me what they have,
what is better for me.
I told them, "I really don't
know much. I don't go to syna-
gogue."
Another bad answer.
Flip gears again.
Another story assignment on
people who have become Or-
thodox. Interviewing a man in
his study. He's a
former Buddhist
who dabbled with
other Eastern reli-
gions. Now he's
wearing a kippah,
has a beard and
his wife won't
shake my hand.
He stops the in-
terview.
"What do you
believe in, Phil Ja-
cobs?"
I told the man
that I was interviewing him.
That didn't stop him. He re-
peated the question. I told him
that I wasn't into 'judging" peo-
ple, that I left that up to God.
The bad answers continue
(just ask this guy).
He points to his bookcases,
which were heavily filled with
prayerbooks, texts and volumes.
He says, "You see these books?
They contain God's law. So I
guess there's the law according
to God, and the law according to
Phil Jacobs."
Look, how am I supposed to
know? I was raised Reform. Re-
form? I didn't know what Re-
form people believed in. I
thought if you went to temple
once a year, that made you Re-
form.
My point, in a long-winded
way.
So many of us are so insecure
with our Judaism that we don't
know what the right answers
are for ourselves or our families.
Quick. Name a leading software
package — you can do it. Tell
me about the Red Wings, and
you spout statistics. We know
more about the Heaven's Gate
cult than we know about the ba-
sics of Judaism.
It's sad when we don't make
learning anything Jewish a pri-
ority. So when the Christian
missionaries come along, and
they will, they know more be-
cause they've taken the time to
learn more. And when the Jew-
ish fringe, the ones who aren't
part of the mainstream, make
it into the media, judging every-
one else, we go crazy and get in-
dignant and call them names.
That's not the answer.

Do we
define our
Judaism,
or do we
let others
define us?

BELIEFS page 38

31