Missionaries like you target the sick, the elderly, the ignorant, and the young and uninformed.
Actually, we don’t target any one group in particular—although many of us are especially interested in having exchanges with rabbis and religious Jews whenever we have the opportunity, and we especially appreciate interaction with well-informed Jews. We won’t, however, withhold the good news about the Messiah from anyone, young or old, healthy or sick. Everyone should know about the mercy of God that is available through repentance and faith.
As for those who have lived their entire lives without the knowledge of the Messiah and now are nearing death through sickness or old age, isn’t it only fair to reach out to them? This is the time that many of them are finally doing some serious thinking about the meaning of life and their relationship with God. Is it right to neglect them?
Some anti-missionaries specialize in rumormongering—spreading unfounded, often vicious allegations about Jewish believers in Jesus—and they don’t stop even when they know the truth. 52 They also delight in calling every Jewish believer in Jesus a “missionary”—and they don’t mean it as a compliment either. Unfortunately, these tall tales filter down to the Jewish community at large, so by the time you hear them, you think there must be some credibility to them. It’s time to put these rumors to rest. The facts are as follows:
- There is no such thing as targeting specific groups. Jewish believers in Jesus consist of young people and old people, rich people and poor people, married people and single people. We are not all part of one organized group (any more than American Jews in general are part of one organized group), nor do we have some kind of systematic, standardized program of evangelism that we all follow.
- Because we are excited about our faith, we often speak freely to those with whom we have contact, so students speak to students, housewives speak to housewives, businessmen speak to businessmen. This is the primary way in which our faith is spread.
- It is common to see Jewish believers in Jesus active on college campuses. This, however, is the norm for many religious groups and organizations. The traditional Jewish group called Hillel is found on campuses throughout America, as is the Catholic group named after Cardinal Newman, and the evangelical group known as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. You can also find Buddhist groups, Hare Krishna groups, New Age groups, and many other religious groups on campuses. Students are asking lots of questions at this formative time of their lives. They are thinking through the major issues of life and looking for serious interaction. That’s why groups such as the Lubavitcher Hasidim often have campus rabbis involved with Jewish students. If it’s right for them to have a presence in our colleges and universities, then it’s right for us to be there too.
- As for the elderly, even if we had some kind of universal, organized outreach (which we don’t), it is preposterous to suggest that we target them in particular. Have you ever tried to change the thinking of an older person? However, some of them only think about the purpose of life and the reality of death when they are in their final days, and it is only then that they are willing to talk seriously about these issues. Also, all of us who have parents who do not believe as we do try our best to share our faith with them before it’s too late, before they pass the point of no return only to find out that their rejection of the Messiah was wrong. Should we leave them to die in darkness? And don’t forget that ministers of all persuasions—rabbis and priests and pastors alike—are called on by friends and relatives to visit ailing or dying parents, aunts, uncles, and so on. Many times, the elderly in our society are left to suffer alone, separated from their loved ones while they waste away in hospitals or nursing homes. If it’s right for a Catholic priest or an Orthodox rabbi to visit a hospital or nursing home, praying and talking with an old dying patient, why is it wrong for one of our ministers to do so?
There is one last point that should be made. The false accusation that we target the young and the uninformed becomes even more ironic when you realize that a strong case could be made that it is traditional Judaism that especially targets the young and the uninformed. Don’t “missionary” groups such as Lubavitch spend a good deal of time reaching out to “ignorant” Jewish young people who were raised in nonobservant homes? I can tell you personally that Lubavitch rabbis—very kind and sincere men—were willing to spend hours with me before I knew Hebrew and had done any Rabbinic study but refused to study with me once I was established in my learning. (They said they were afraid I would use my studies against them, or that I would secretly influence others in the group.)
Statistics show a large percentage of baʿalei teshuvah (Jews who become traditional) are young people, often college age, and most all of them have become baʿalei teshuvah through the influence of other traditional Jews (campus rabbis, Lubavitch outreach groups, and specialized yeshivas). 53 Other surveys indicate that a far larger percentage of women become observant than men. 54 Does this then indict traditional Judaism? Does it mean that traditional Judaism preys on uninformed young people and vulnerable women? (My exaggerated stereotyping is intentional!)
Actually, neither traditional Judaism nor Messianic Judaism targets any one group. People are more likely to make major changes in their younger years, so it is only natural that the largest single group of converts (either to traditional Judaism or to Messianic Judaism) come from Jews in their mid-teens to early twenties, and there seem to be some sociological reasons for the high percentage of female baʿalei teshuvah. Thus, the objection about targeted outreach is inaccurate and untrue.
52 Nowhere have I found comments more extreme or unrelated to reality than in Gabriel Marzel’s foreword to Michoel Drazin’s anti-missionary book, Their Hollow Inheritance, 230, n. 13 in which he claims: “Many missionary cults use psychological indoctrination or ‘brainwashing’ techniques to obtain their quotas. This process usually begins by luring their victims to the cult’s center, away from family, friends, and familiar surroundings. Upon arriving, they are assigned a ‘companion’ of the opposite sex, who is to program the cult’s beliefs, accomplishments, and goals into their thought processes by monotonous repetition day and night. Subjects are also deprived of sleep and food, thereby substantially lowering their mental and physical resistance. During this period, the other cult members make them feel loved, wanted, needed, and ‘privileged’ to help bring the cult’s ‘sacred’ message to the world. Within a few days, each innocent victim is mentally and physically broken, and becomes one of them!” And who is it that these ruthless soul-stealers target? Marzel tells us: “It behooves [the missionary] to prey on such vulnerable individuals as the lonely, the elderly, the poor, the emotionally unstable, the naive, or those who are just untutored in Scripture.”
53 For more on this, see Janet Avigad, Return to Judaism: Religious Renewal in Israel (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago, 1983), discussing the phenomenon of Israeli yeshivas for ba‘alei teshuvot (i.e., “outreach” yeshivas for the newly Orthodox), yeshivas that quite explicitly target the young.
54 See M. Herbert Danzger, Returning to Tradition: The Contemporary Revival of Orthodox Judaism (New Haven: Yale, 1989), 194–95, with table A-6 on 345.
Brown, M. L. (2000). Answering Jewish objections to Jesus, Volume 1: General and historical objections. (52). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.