RE: instead, just leave us alone to believe and act as we’d like to, so long as we don’t affect your right to believe and worship as you see fit.
I’m glad that you understand my point of view, but yes, I have to disagree with your above statement.
You see, Jesus Christ left a message to His followers to preach the gospel to all nations. In fact, it was His last message before He departed.
Therefore, devout Christians consider it their duty to share this message ( they call it the good news ) to their friends, neighbors and anyone (both Jews and gentiles ).
I appreciate that you do not like to be “preached at” that is your prerogative, and I can understand the sad And awful history that makes Jews skittish about Christians doing so. I can even understand how some Christians can be quite annoying when they do this.
to that, I advise my Christian friends to be TACTFUL and not in-your-face.
But please understand when someone out of obedience to what he believes is his duty, does what he does.
A good news is to be shared, not kept inside. If you do not consider this worthy of acceptance, you are under no obligation to accept it.
Just understand that Christians do this out of obedience to Jesus’ command and commission.
They do it not because they are required to do it, but because it is out of love for their fellowmen. The example of Jesus’ followers is simply to share the message, whether the listener accepts it or not is really up to them.
All we ask is for your understanding as to why we evangelize.
And no, your acceptance or non-acceptance won’t affect our right to believe and worship as we see fit.
That is why America, a traditionally Christian country has always been the most welcoming of the Jews.
I do understand both your sentiments and your motivations. But rare indeed is the person who is trying to convince someone else that his/her entire belief system (and that of their family going back 3,700 years) is utterly wrong, who is also not annoying as Hell. They exist, but are definitely rare. I appreciate your willingness to be delicate about it.
I do have a funny story, though, about a couple of Mormons who knocked on our door once (about 35 years ago). My brother - my very religious brother - answered the door and was talking to them. I was doing homework, and then had to go out for a while. To my surprise, I returned over an hour later and they were STILL talking. 45 minutes later, they finally left. I asked my brother why he bothered, he wasn’t going to change their minds (nor they his). His response was very funny. He said, “Yeah, I know that. But that’s about 2 hours that they wasted with me that they didn’t have to convert anybody else.”
Be well, and keep acting in the decent way that G-d intends us all to do. You do yourself and Him credit, and help to improve this world.