Editorial: Three Million Dollars, a failed cause / The battle for the Jewish soul
The stranger on the other end of the line, asking a bizarre question ‘do you believe that the Rebbe is Moshiach’ succeeded in arousing my curiosity level to an extent that phased a full scale conversation. As it turned out it was a Jews for “J” sales person who identified himself with an ultra-orthodox-sounding name. After confirming that he himself was a Jew, I allowed this vulnerable sounding man to apply his professional techniques of luring people into discussion serve as a ground for my interests, namingly, to initiate a discussion in which I can explain to him the falsity of his approach. As I had come to expect, he rattled off plenty of verses. Ironically, I didn’t even have to know the verses to convince him that he was spewing ridiculous, self imposed interpretations.
Amongst the endless basic arguments are:
1) How can Christianity interpret to a Jew the very same bible that was given to him, and in his very own language?
2) Peace in the world is an indication that the Messiah has arrived. The sad reality however is very different. The birth and teachings of “J” served as a beginning to many persecutions and torturous murders that were to follow in centuries to come.
3) The famous verse of Isaiah 7:14 which Christianity interprets to be the story of “J”s birth reads “behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”. There is zero reference in both the old and “new” testament referring to “J” as Immanuel. Zero!
The falsity of these claims is so transparent that it makes you wonder whether these people are serious about achieving their goals of persuading people, let alone Jews.
It came to a point where he realized that he was no longer the manipulator but rather the inspired, at which point he also realized that I was ‘hopeless’ and that there was nothing more to talk about.
With the help of G-d and the surfacing of a hidden passion I knew I was successful when his excuse to end a 20 minute discussion was as lame as ‘I have an urgent appointment. I must go’. “Honestly” I told him “You’re a living proof that committing one sin serves merely as an introduction to its inevitable successor. As you began with the denial of the unity of one G-d, you now advanced into transgression of ”You shall observe and carry out what emerges from your lips…“ (Deuteronomy 23:24) a verse which understandably he is not familiar with, for it is less prone for distortion. Secondly, I wouldn’t expect him to know it, for it doesn’t have an actual reference to a messiah.
Six million people, who were Jewish, were brutally murdered in a holocaust. They gave up their lives. They gave up their lives because they understood that as Jews, living life away from god was beyond pointless, it is rather contradictory. Selling your soul for your body wasn’t a negotiable deal to them, even at the price of painful persecution.
After experiencing the commitment and resolve that us Jews have to G-d, the evil inclination strategized a completely new approach. One in which the option of wealth, success assimilation and even intermarriage becomes a perceptible factor in the life of a Jew.
The purpose of creation as we are taught is, to perfect an imperfect world. By subjugating the ubiquitous and inescapable challenges in our lives we prosper towards the achievement of a perfect world. It’s the way G-d made the world. G-d wants the world to be elevated to a level in which he can call the world a dwelling place for himself. Achieving this is a job particularly assigned to us Jews, the children of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, every individual descendant, excluding none. We are equipped to achieve this goal. G-d imbued within each of us a soul which is part of G-d himself. Hence we are literally part of G-d.
Challenges change from generation to generation. What was once considered a challenge, is dismissed today as mockery. We cannot understand the temptation of serving idols as was the case in the days of Abraham. The Challenge of nowadays seems as harder then ever. It is the challenge of resistance.
Knowing that G-d demands of people only what they are capable of withstanding may serve as half a comfort, perhaps even as a basis for support that you are capable of withstanding the temptations no matter how appealing they may seem. Of G-d to ask a Jew to accomplish something that is beyond him/her is a breach in a perfect system.
When the Rebbe was offered a pamphlet by a missionary, he took it. He immediately explained ”[me accepting the pamphlet] will prevent you to give it to someone and in giving someone else to do something wrong”. The three million dollars allotted towards the unsuccessful undertaking of missionizing our local communities is no longer existent to be spent towards misleading other Jewish communities.
Not a good idea
Why are they posting this here?
Don’t you know that this will cause people to feel better equipped to speak to these missionaries? I am not an expert, and i can’t quote the time or place Or even the exact wording, but didn’t the Rebbe say something along the lines of NOT going to discuss these matters with missionaries?
Yeah but your going to say" but what about Schochet?" He had permission.
Although it is an interesting article, I don’t think this posting was thought through.
rifka
well said, nice.
CN
Better not to talk to them at all. You’re not a Rebbe and you set a bad example.
Mal
"The three million dollars allotted towards the unsuccessful undertaking of missionizing our local communities is no longer existent to be spent towards misleading other Jewish communities."
well said!
BORUCH N. HOFFINGER
B"H
I received the same type of call. Simply stated I said: "Judaism recognizes, halachically and traditionaly that the Messiah will be from the seed of David." The Messiah, I said, will be a man born of a man and woman.
Since you believe in the (so-called) Virgin Birth, there is no discussion.
I politely said goodbye and hung up. To get into a conversation is like telling the cheese salesman (on the phone, or wherever) that your doctor told you never to eat cheese, and then begin a conversation all about different cheeses, and how you would like a sample. What for? To not listen to the doctor? To go against Torah (CV"S) To make yourself crazy? To waste precious time in life?
My only error was in not asking her if she was Jewish and initiating a conversation about Torah: for instance: Is Hebrew a Jewish language? You’d be amazed (I’ve been asking this quest. to many people, everywhere, showing them gematriot and discussing the 7 Noahide Laws [with non-Jews, and Torah w/Jews]) at the responses! They learn that Hebrew is more advanced than any other language and this is prove we didn’t evolve from Mr. & Mrs. Monkey but devolved from Mr. & Mrs. Adam and Eve. One response: you changed my whole outlook on life! (We are forbidden to teach Hebrew this way, to a non-Jew, w/o the Noahide Laws being included. Teach them they are G-dly, marveloous people, created in the image of G-d.
preaching to the choir
Who are you trying to convince with this article? We know already….
to CN
Get a life…
You don’t have to be the Rebbe!
Just make sure you know what your doing/talking about and don’t do it in public…
Anti-missionary Mom
I wish 3 million dollars would be spent HELPING Jews instead of being used for converting them. It’s a shame we don’t have those resources reach vulnerable, desperate Yidden.
Rebbe-s view point
The Rebbe made it clear. NO ARGUING EVEN IF YOU WIN. You will no convince them and they might convince you ch"v. The Rebbe writes that the way to handle these people is to find some illegal activity they do and expose it to the world. According to the Rebbe there is always somesthing illegal or dishonest in their organization.
The J for J in brighton were basically closed down when an antimissionary found out that one of their leaders had been messing around with a woman in Russia.
Yad leachim
We all know that the missionary campain for the summer has ended.
For some reason ya leachim hung up warning papersagainst missionaries all over CH this past friday!
It looks like they are about to do some fundraising for their organization. If they do please let them know that they should look elsewhere for money because they HAVEN’T DONE A THING IN NY THE ENTIRE SUMMER!!!!!!!!
Um...
Stam, the six million who you say died rather than give up their faith? Never happened. The Jews who were killed in the Holocaust never had a chance to convert, because the Nazis didn’t recognise conversion of Jews. To them, even one one Jewish grandparent was enough to brand a person. And a large number of the Jews murdered were extremely assimilated. I’m not sure that, if given a choice, they wouldn’t have chosen life.
deosn-t belong here
I agree with your commentators, this article should be removed from your otherwise worthy site. The best way to discourage them is to refuse to talk to them. They love to get into discussions even if you are trying to prove them wrong. They believe that they can convince you.
Motti
Please be careful speaking to these people they are very well trained and know nach much better than us… look at jewsforjudaism.org but be very wary before challenging them they know their stuff and may well walk all over you
YN
He didn’t fulfill any of the Messianic prophecies in his life time and then got killed on the cross… why should he be Messiah?
Even if he did perform alleged miracles, so did so many others and they are in no way proof of being the Messiah
Even if adopted parentage was valid for tracing pedigree, Joseph’s alleged pedigree traced him to King Dovid through the cursed King Yerakbuk, whose children will never prosper.
And, attributing "prophecies" to Jesus is equivalent to painting the target around the arrow… you’ll always hit the bullseye, not matter how far off you really are.
That is only if those are in fact prophecies, which most of the attributed prophecies are not. Prophecies are written in future tense and are designated by phrases like "this is the word of G-d," or "in the end of day…"
Oh, and a little practical tip for Bible critisism:
Whenever a heretic brings prooftexts or inconsistencies from Tanach, the answer is usually not too far away. One need only read the context of the "proof."
Shmuly
The Rebbe wrote a letter to Rabbi Adin Shteinzaltz in which The Rebbe very strongly discouraged him from participating in any debates or discussions with missionaries.
"With regards to your question about participating in a debate or discussion regarding Notzrus etc. … ‘Daati BeShlila Muchletes’… the individual intentions are not so ‘nogea’ rather ‘Tegovas HaTzibur’. including not only those participating, but the ‘Tzibur’ that will here about it… it leads to confusion…(see RaMBaM, Hilchos Avoda Zara, Perek 2, Halacha 2{&3}) to the point of the opposite of faith… this is even if there was a ‘Toeles’ from these debates… ‘al achas kama vekama’ that as of yet I have not seen & I have not found even one person who was brought closer to Torah & Mitzvos through this… most of those who organize these encounters, their ‘Matara’ is not to find the truth, rather side interests, & sometimes also opposite to the truth… if you can prevent even one person from participating… ‘ma tov’ to be ‘mevatel’ these encounters altogether, ‘VeTavo Alav Bracha’… & regarding the question, what will happen if people will only hear the Taynos of ‘ovdai avoda zara’ & won’t hear the voices of ‘Shlomei Emunei Yisrael’? the answer is simple, for this there is no need for debates, especially with those who it is a ‘Safek’ if it is permissible ‘al pi din Toraseinu’ to look at their faces… {rather to strengthen people’s knowledge of} ‘Ikrei Emunaseinu, Yesodoseha U’Prateha’ & to explain them well… ‘Dvarim Hayotzim Min Halev, Nichnasim LaLev’…"
Shmuly
Sorry, I forgot to write the source of that letter:
Igros Kodesh, Vol. 26, Page 87. (çì÷ ë"å, page: ô"æ )
YN
Sorry, the king’s real name is Yechanya!!