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Sep 28, 2017
machzirei tshuva and missionaries
A brief scuffle ensued when some avreichim in Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Jerusalem discovered the identity of a person distributing missionary materials on car windshields across the neighborhood, including in the Haredi section.
When the police arrived to break up the argument and separate them, one of the officers responded to the avreichim by saying that the missionaries are no different than the Haredim who go out looking to be "machzir btshuva" secular people. Obviously the avreichim were very upset and offended by this.
source: Kikar
I have heard this before, and I have no idea how to respond to it. It sounds like it has some truth to it. Even though it is within the same religion while classic missionaries are trying to draw people from other religions to the religion they are representing, from the perspective of someone secular, how is a Chabadnik trying to put tefillin on people or someone at the Kotel snagging people for home cooked Shabbos meals, or baal tshuva yeshiva reps who target them or their kids in an attempt to turn them religious really any different?
I don't have a good handle on how to differentiate between them. And if there is no difference, why is missionizing not ok but having tefillin booths and people handing cds of machzirei btshuva rabbis ok - is it just because Orthodox Judaism is right?
When the police arrived to break up the argument and separate them, one of the officers responded to the avreichim by saying that the missionaries are no different than the Haredim who go out looking to be "machzir btshuva" secular people. Obviously the avreichim were very upset and offended by this.
source: Kikar
I have heard this before, and I have no idea how to respond to it. It sounds like it has some truth to it. Even though it is within the same religion while classic missionaries are trying to draw people from other religions to the religion they are representing, from the perspective of someone secular, how is a Chabadnik trying to put tefillin on people or someone at the Kotel snagging people for home cooked Shabbos meals, or baal tshuva yeshiva reps who target them or their kids in an attempt to turn them religious really any different?
I don't have a good handle on how to differentiate between them. And if there is no difference, why is missionizing not ok but having tefillin booths and people handing cds of machzirei btshuva rabbis ok - is it just because Orthodox Judaism is right?
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Straight forward proselytizing is not a Jewish concept. and if you believe, as most do, that born secular Jews are Tinok Sh'nishba - than there is no mitzvah of Tochacha. rather getting them interested is more like proselytizing. And there is no reason for it. Jews, by definition place a lot of value on the existence of non-Jews and tinok shenishba Jews. by the mere fact that we don't look to expand Judaism through recruitment. we must value them. what we don't like - is Jews that know better. there lies our responsibility. tochacha, but not kiruv from scratch. That really only exists in religions that believe that if you do not have that faith - you are doomed. Then they proselytize.
ReplyDeleteThere's a difference between recruiting the unemployed and sniping an employee from another company. Whether it matters when the analogy is transferred to religion is something else.
ReplyDeleteI hear that but from the perspective of the not religious person who's son is being targeted, he might consider his son to be in a different company while the machzir btshuva considers it within the same company...
DeleteBut in the end it's Jews targeting other Jews while missionaries are Christians targeting Jews!
ReplyDelete