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