Posted on 08/26/2002 8:52:04 PM PDT by Seti 1
Jews For Jesus
by Eliana Schneider
The Ukranian Jewish community was celebrating last week after local authorities banned a Jews for Jesus movement from seeking to convert people in the eastern city of Dnepropetrovsk.
After a brief investigation, the mayors office discovered the missionary group did not have municipal approval for its three-week evangelical campaign.
Alexander Lakshin, president of Moscows anti-missionary organisation Magen, told TJ: We are sure our protests influenced their decision. While we are not against religious groups, we are opposed to Jews for Jesus because it employs deceptive tactics to convert Jews.
The opposition to the missionaries received wide public attention and national media coverage, most of it sympathetic to the Jewish community.
Lakshin said: Many of the citys 60,000 Jews are easy targets for missionaries. When they see Jews for Jesus wearing t-shirts with the word Jew on it, or handing out menoras, they are unfortunately drawn to them.
Avi Snyder, European director for Jews for Jesus, based in Finchley, told TJ: From the very beginning of our activities there our colleagues were opposed by other Jewish people who counter-leafleted and stole and destroyed our property.
According to Snyder, more than 370,000 pamphlets were handed out to hundreds of curious Jewish spectators and 96 people were converted.
And despite the ban, he admitted the missionary group still continued to make follow-up visits to local Jews.
Rabbi Shmuel Arkush, director of Operation Judaism, an anti-missionary organisation in the UK, told TJ: It really is disgraceful. They prey on the weak and vulnerable, people who want to be Jews and dont know how to go about it.
Except for the times that they murdered and pillaged during the various pogroms, expulsions, burnings, crusades, inquisitions, blood libels, and holocosts.
Not only Russia. Don't try preaching on any street corners in the Middle East.
http://www.netjer.org/newgallery/
Jews don't proselytize. You have to be born of a Jewish mother to be a Jew. People can be converted but they need a good reason (marrying a Jew is one). It's very reluctantly done and only by the non-Orthodox (is that correct?). If I'm not mistaken, a converted Jew cannot be married to a born Jew in Israel.
I'd be interested in a discussion of this by someone who knows the facts.
That is merely a man-made rule, and has nothing to do with tracing legitimate Jewish roots back to ~500 BC or so.
Of course it is possible to convert, I know many people who have done so. Jews do not actively seek converts, but they will accept converts who are sincere in their beliefs. Seti is always looking for opportunities to complain about the Jews.
Conversion is a very meticulous procedure designed to guarantee that the convert is sincere in his or her convictions and is prepared to fulfill all the requirements of the Torah. A full conversion requires the initiate to accept upon himself or herself all the laws commanded in the Torah, and prove their intentions by living as a Jew for at least a year. This is followed by circumcision (for men) and immersion in a mikvah (ritual bath) for men and women.
Non-Orthodox organizations do not follow this procedure, nor do they require applicants to observe all the commandments, therefore their "conversions" are not valid and they remain non-Jews.
The "Jews For Jesus" organization has been around for many years. They are a Christian missionary society which especially targets Jews. They used to be called the "Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Jews" and during the 19th century manage to snag about one or two converts a year, mainly by paying them money to join. Jews find this society particularly annoying because of their tactics of deception. I have no problem with sincere Christians witnessing their faith as long as they are upfront about it, and I enjoy a good discussion of prophecy and scriptures, but it really ticks me off when people misrepresent themselves. There are so many unsaved gentiles in the world, why focus all their energies and attention on the Jews? Is a converted Jew worth more points?
I don't think Christians would be too happy with people presenting themselves as "Christians for Allah" trying to persuade other Christians that the only way to be "saved" is through Mohammed and the Koran.
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