16 | FEBRUARY 4 • 2021 

H

ave you received a 
purple envelope con-
taining an unsolicited 
book in the mail recently? If so, 
you are not alone. And no, it 
is not one of those things you 
ordered when you were half 
asleep; this was intentionally 
sent to you. In a wave of mass 
mailing, thousands of copies of 
Changed by Tom Cantor were 
sent to Jews to persuade them 
to become Jewish Christians. 
Joel Amster of Roseville and 
Cheryl Glaser of Oak Park 
both received the book and 
threw it out. Glaser said, “I 
actually did glance through it 
and slowly began to see what it 
really was. I put it in the recy-
cle bin with the newspapers 
thinking it hopefully would be 
shredded up.” 
Cantor, a California busi-
nessman, was raised Jewish. 
In Changed, he shares his jour-
ney from a rebellious child to 
troubled teen to an adult filled 
with anguish and despair. “My 
sins were so many that when 

the call came in the Yom 
Kippur service to remem-
ber them, I really didn’t 
know where to start,” he 
writes about his childhood. 
Cantor was expelled from 
schools, traveled through 
Europe, graduated and increas-
ingly felt “dirty,” both physi-
cally and morally. When he 
meets his non-Jewish future 
wife, Cheryl, he believes this is 
his chance to become cleansed. 
“
At last, a union with her was 
going to liberate me from my 
own guilt, shame and despair.” 
However, Cheryl was raped 
and became pregnant, which 
devastates him, and Cantor 
filters the situation through his 
own needs and emotions. 

He searches for 
cleansing, and he finds it in a 
church. He writes, “I did not 
have to obey a set of kosher 
laws for what not to eat. To be 
cleansed all I had to do was 
just believe and receive Jesus 
Christ as my Passover lamb.”

MASS MAILINGS
Cantor spends millions of 
dollars every year sending 
unwanted books to unsuspect-
ing people, in hopes of con-
verting them to his beliefs.
According to Randell Angius 
from Cantor’s medical com-

pany, Scantibodies Laboratory 
Inc., Cantor purchased names 
and addresses from mail-
ing lists. Many are Jewish, 
but some are affiliated with 
churches as well. “I thoroughly 
apologize if you were offend-
ed,” she said, “He wants to 
share his story to inspire peo-
ple to invite Christ into their 
hearts.”
Reactions in Metro Detroit 
range from anger at being 
targeted to disinterest, tossing 
the unopened book in the 
recycle bin. Donna Edwards 
of Oak Park has not read the 
book. “Don’t we have enough 
tsuris without some misguided 
person telling us that we, as a 
people, need to be ‘changed’ in 
some way?” 
Joe Lipman of Clawson 
immediately recognized it as 
propaganda and plans to put 
his in the trash. 
Carolyn Normandin, region-
al director of ADL Michigan, 
said these mailings are prosely-
tizing, which is usual for some 
religious organizations. “There 
are a lot of people who feel it’s 
their mission to convert. The 
goal is to get as many people 
to listen as possible. It is dis-
ruptive.” 
When asked if this was 
antisemitic, she said no. 
“Generally, proselytizing is 
not antisemitic in nature. It is 
offending, but not threatening.”
When Angius was asked if 
this method works for Cantor, 
she said they have received 
hundreds of positive respons-
es, mostly from churches. 
However, she admitted Cantor 
has received many negative 
responses from people who 
have received the book. “Not 
as many, but fairly close” to the 
number of positive responses. 
“It was not his intention to 
offend anyone,” she said. 

To be removed from Tom Cantor’s 

mailing list, call (619) 258-9300 x5194 

or email randell.angius@scantibodies.

com.

Unsolicited 
Proselytizing

Local Jews are mailed 
unwanted book about 
Christianity.

CHERYL WEISS 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

book. 

Many unsuspecting Jews were mailed 

this book by Tom Cantor.

“THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE 
WHO FEEL IT’S THEIR MISSION

TO CONVERT.”

— ADL’S CAROLYN NORMANDIN

OUR COMMUNITY

