The Hard Sell : Jews now consider proselytizing to fight assimilation

Wall Street Journal ^ | 12/16/2005 | NAOMI SCHAEFER RILEY

[SirLinksalot]

The Hard Sell Jews consider proselytizing to fight assimilation.

BY NAOMI SCHAEFER RILEY

It is one of the most commonly understood notions about Judaism that its adherents do not proselytize. And yet there in the Boston Globe last week was the headline: "Conservative Jews Set a Conversion Campaign." What was going on?

As it happened, Rabbi Jerome M. Epstein, the head of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, had set a somewhat limited campaign. At the group's convention he had urged: "We must begin aggressively to encourage conversions of potential Jews who have chosen a Jewish spouse."

Such a desire has more to do with practical reality than with theology. (Gentiles still do not need to become Jews in order to live according to God's wishes.) With the intermarriage rate at about 47% and less than 8% of children of intermarried couples actually identifying as Jews, it is easy to see why the chosen people are in a state of demographic panic.

SNIP

Just a month ago Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the Union of Reform Judaism, came to the same conclusion as his Conservative counterpart. "It is a mitzvah [a kindness] to help a potential Jew become a Jew-by-choice," he told the union's General Assembly. There is nothing new about such a policy, he noted, but it has been forgotten in recent years. "By making non-Jews feel comfortable and accepted in our congregations," he observed, "we have sent the message that we do not care if they convert."

[ROTB]

>>If you don't have Jesus, you don't have the Father, so your
>>answer is 0%.

>You can't be conservative if you don't have Jesus?

Please let me be more clear:

1) Christians and Jews both claim to worship the God of Israel.
2) Christians believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Annointed King of Israel, and Jews reject this claim.
3) Jesus said that those that don't believe in Him, don't believe in the Father either.
4) Thus, all Jews, since they reject Jesus, also reject the Father.

Thus, despite claims to the contrary, you can't be a Conservative Jew, if you don't believe in Jesus, since Conservative Jews by their rejection of Jesus also reject the Father.

[antiRepublicrat]

Thus, despite claims to the contrary, you can't be a Conservative Jew, if you don't believe in Jesus

After your statement of #2, #s 3 and 4 are meaningless to most Jews, since they only make sense to Christians.

Then you also need to reconcile conservative (Torah-observant) Messianic Jews, who do believe Jesus was the son of God, but are not Christian.

[BnBlFlag]

I don't have a problem with Jews going on a "conversion campaign". Shoulda done it long ago.
As the old saying goes "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em"!

[Alter Kaker]

Except of course there are over 1,000,000,000 (one billion) Hindus, and less than 50,000,000 (fifty-million) Jews.

50 million? You must be joking. There aren't anywhere near that many. There are only 5 million of us in Israel. Global numbers aren't more than 14 million or so, and that's probably an inflated estimate.