Dealing with Missionary Activity and Missionaries

Opening Post by the Rabbi

Dealing with Missionary Activity and Missionaries

Posted on 23/6/2005

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Dealing with Missionary Activity and Missionaries

I will raise here a problematic thread, but the matter is definitely bothering me.

Yesterday several missionaries arrived in Yeruham, the holy city, and distributed material in mailboxes. Immediately the entire congregation of Israel gathered—ultra-Orthodox and Religious Zionists alike—and, in a rare show of cooperation (although today the erudite teacher of my son in his religious primary school had already taken the trouble to announce that they should not, Heaven forbid, mistakenly think that the Religious Zionists are our friends or anything of the sort, God forbid), joined forces and beat them soundly (and afterward, by mistake, also two occupants of a vehicle from the YES company) until they sent them flying back to where they had come from.

And I, in my humble way, heard my son’s enthusiastic description, as he was excited both by the aforesaid thrashing and by the rare union of forces, and I found myself wondering. Several points arose in my mind regarding this matter:

1. Are the missionaries’ motives base? Apparently not. They see it as a religious and moral duty to return the hearts of the errant to their fathers and their virgin mothers, on earth and in heaven alike. If so, from a moral standpoint they certainly deserve no punishment, and one certainly ought not to rejoice at their misfortune.

2. And still, does not Jewish law obligate us to act this way, even if the heart is perhaps not fully at peace with it?

3. Moreover, there is no doubt that they come to Yeruham in order to ensnare the souls of people who are in distress, and to exploit that in order to bring them back to the above-mentioned faith (although from their point of view their motives seem good. See above. What would our own people do with secular Jews in distress? Would they not try to take advantage of their situation?).

4. Is there any other way to prevent this?

5. Is this not a matter left to each person’s choice? How is it that we prevent mature and thoughtful adults from encountering contrary arguments that they can examine and choose freely? If someone were to read various heretical books, would we also beat him (I am immediately going underground), or is there here some historical animus against Christianity for which these people are bearing the punishment?

6. Would we want them to do the same to our own people who come to bring errant Jews back (we are speaking of adults with free choice and sound judgment) to their Father in Heaven? After all, from the missionaries’ standpoint we are regarded exactly as secular Jews are by us. The only difference is that for them there is a “commandment” to convert others to Christianity, whereas for us there is no commandment to convert others to Judaism, only to bring Jews back to observance.

7. Note: I can already see Meitzitz pointing to the thread about kidnapping children, and I would draw his attention to the fact that my question here concerns morality and not only Jewish law.

8. Would we want them to do this to our own people in various countries overseas? This may already be a technical consideration of “ways of peace,” “enmity,” and the like, but I feel that there is also a substantive dimension here of commitment to reciprocity toward the norms current in the world today (to my satisfaction), according to which people are not beaten for their beliefs so long as they conduct themselves properly.

9. And finally, I would add the question whether it is proper that in a well-ordered state there should be a prohibition on religious proselytizing (as far as I know, there is such a prohibition in Israel; let the lawyers or others among us correct me). The matter is entrusted to a person’s free choice, so why prevent the presentation of different arguments on behalf of different positions?

All these are reflections that arose in my aching heart, even though I know they are very problematic from the standpoint of the Torah and the tradition as we have received it. I would be glad to hear responses.

Source (forum “Atzor Kan Choshvim”): http://www.bhol.co.il/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=1435106