EVANGELIZING JEWS TO JUDAISM

As many of you know, a couple of years ago, I invested myself into reading all 12 volumes of the LEFT BEHIND series; that best selling series of novels built around the beliefs of the evangelical Christians concerning the future period of time between the "Rapture" - when all truly believing Christians will be physically taken up to heaven - and the Second Coming of Jesus. As I stated on several occasions, I read these books because I felt it important to get inside the minds of the evangelicals. I felt that we Jews need to know what they believe, and particularly what they believe about us, especially considering how significantly their influence on American society has increased.

It almost goes without saying that one of the things that was abundantly clear from these books is their burning passion to evangelize us Jews to Christianity. Indeed, while these books described their desire to bring everyone to their beliefs, when it comes to the Jews, their hunger for our conversion is nothing short of obsessive.
It is in this light that one of the great ironies of our time is that it is precisely these same evangelical Christians who are our most ardent allies when it comes to Israel. Of this, I have also spoken of on several occasions. It is this irony which has ignited many debates in the Jewish world over whether we should embrace these evangelicals as our friends when it comes to Israel - under the rubric of "a friend in need..." - or should we distance ourselves from their support of Israel, in light of their apocalyptic designs for Israel and for us.

For as long as I can remember, Jews have been greatly disturbed by the attempts of Christians to bring them to Christianity. For longer than I can remember, for this has been a significant Jewish concern for almost 2,000 years. Throughout that time, various Christian groups have employed many strategies to "save our souls for Jesus." Indeed, throughout most of that time, they turned the political power of their societies on us, in pursuit of this goal, attempting to convert us through coercion , persecution, expulsion, and even execution. Therefore, when put in a historical perspective, the attempts of contemporary American evangelicals to bring Jews to Jesus are pretty innocuous, if not downright lame. Yet their efforts continue to concern us.

I propose that the efforts of these evangelicals constitute little, if any, threat to the American Jewish community. It is not that the evangelicals are not sincere in their aspirations. They are most certainly sincere. Nor is that they are not energetically invested in their efforts, for once again, they are most certainly energetic in their pursuit of our souls. Rather, they pose little threat to us because of the nature of the American Jewish community itself.
For the evangelicals to be successful in their conversionary tactics, their Jewish targets must possess some basic desire for a religious expression in their lives. They need first to be concerned about the well being of their souls before they will start worrying about in what manner will their souls be saved.

Sad to say, the overwhelming majority of our co-religionists do not possess such desires or concerns. The nature and the health of their souls is probably one of the last things about which they are worried. They truly consider themselves Jews, but for them, being Jewish is more of a tribal thing than a spiritual one. They are Jews, but for all intents and purposes, they are a-religious. Indeed, even the nature of their tribal affiliation is vague and tenuous, as is evidenced by their lack of involvement, support, commitment, and knowledge of such tribal organizations and issues as the Jewish Federation and the State of Israel. They are Jews, but the nature of the thread that binds them to their Jewishness is thin and frail, and when it comes to spiritual matters, it is practically non-existent. So the evangelical Christians can try as they will to bring such people to Jesus but they are plowing and sowing their seeds in infertile soil. In presenting their case to such Jews, they might as well be speaking in tongues for these folks possess little, if any, spiritual vocabulary.

But this is not necessarily all bad news. While we need not worry about our co-religionists being evangelized to Christianity, we should be seriously considering how we, as a synagogue, can more effectively evangelize them to Judaism. After all, while the threads that bind them to Judaism are thin and frail, they still exist. There is something within them that helps them to see their Jewish identity as something important enough not to let go of it. Right now, it may not be important enough to play an on-going role in their lives; it may be something buried deep within the background of their consciousness, but still something is there. It has not disappeared all togther.

This is where we come in. For we - Temple Emanuel - are a synagogue. We are a Jewish RELIGIOUS institution. Though one of the roles of a synagogue is that of a "Beit Keneset," a House of Jewish Assembly, we are NOT just a Jewish community center. We are NOT just some sort of Jewish ethnic society. We are far more than that. We are a "Beit Tefilah," a House of Jewish Worship, and a "Beit Sefer," a House of Jewish Study. Our primary mission is a spiritual one. It is to promote Jewish spirituality; to empower and enable our members to connect with God in very Jewish ways. To that end, our secondary mission is an educational one. It is to provide opportunities for Jewish learning so that our members have access to the tools necessary to accomplish our primary mission. As far as Jewish communal activities are concerned, they are but our tertiary mission. The Jewish community WE build is suppose to be built around our shared spiritual values. It is the function of the Jewish Federation to build a Jewish community around our shared ethnic values. We are supposed to be coming together as a community to enhance our worship and study experiences. Back when I was growing up, the organization, Religion in American Life, used to run these TV ads stating, "The Family the Prays Together Stays Together." It is in that way that a synagogue is one big family. We need to pray together if we are to stay together.

Therefore, the mission of our synagogue - the mission of every synagogue - is and should be to evangelize Jews to Judaism; to build upon the tenuous connection that most Jews have to their Judaism; to strengthen and enrich those bonds in powerful spiritual ways. It is our responsibility to enable our members to evolve Jewishly; to take them from identifying themselves as Jews by birth to a place where they will identify themselves as Jewish by choice; to help them to come to appreciate that being Jewish is meant to be more than a mere accident - something we are stuck with - but rather it can be something that positively impacts upon our lives on a daily basis.

The other day I was looking through a book which I will probably be reviewing later this Spring. It is entitled THE ROSH HASHANAH AND YOM KIPPUR SURVIVAL KIT. It is one of a growing genre of books aimed at Jews who get little or nothing out of their Judaism. Such books operate under the assumption that Jews think doing things Jewish is a waste. In fact, three years ago, our Wednesday morning book group studied such a book whose title says it all. That title: "HOW TO GET MORE OUT OF BEING JEWISH EVEN IF: A. You are not sure you believe in God, B. You think going to synagogue is a waste of time, C. You think keeping kosher is stupid, D. You hated Hebrew school, or E. All of the above!" There is no question about who is the target audience for that book!

Anyway, I was looking through this book about making the High Holy Days more meaningful, especially for those Jews who are basically clueless as to what Judaism is all about, and I came upon the author’s analysis of Jewish education. He stated that Jewish education should be answering the questions, "What," "How," and "Why". What aspect of Jewish practices are you studying? How should you observe them? And why should you observe them? He then went on to say that traditionally, synagogues and religious schools have focused their efforts on addressing the "What" and the "How" but have failed to adequately address the "Why". For example, they teach that on Pesach you hold a Seder. That is the "What." They then go to teach that when you hold a Seder, you are expected to do A, B, & C. That is the "How." Where they fall down is that they fail to adequately teach, "Why do you hold a Seder? Why do you eat matzah, charoset, and bitter herbs? Why do you have a cup for Elijah?" You get the idea. There is a failure in teaching the deeper meanings behind the actions.

I share this with you because I agree and I disagree with this author. I agree with his claim that it is in the understanding of these meanings that the actions themselves come to life for us; that in order for our rituals to have any vibrancy in our lives, we Jews need to understand their deeper meanings. It is in such understanding that our rituals possess their great power. However, where I disagree with the author is in his claim that our synagogues and our schools have failed to teach those meanings. In this, I disagree strongly. For we have taught them. We do teach them, and we will continue to teach them. The problem is not that we don’t teach these things but that we can teach them till the cows come home, yet it will be to limited purposes if the vast majority of our people continue to refuse to avail themselves of such education.

This is the real challenge which we face in evangelizing Jews to Judaism. It is the old adage, "You can bring a horse to water but you cannot make him drink." Offering classes and programs is not the problem for us. We can do that. They can take many shapes and forms. We are flexible if flexibility truly helps us to meet this need. But how do we get our people to drink the water from the well of Jewish knowledge? How do we awaken in them the desire, nevertheless the hunger, to learn more about our faith and our heritage?

I teach a B’nei Mitzvah Family Class. While most groups going through this class are a mix of those who are Temple regulars and those who are not, the majority generally are not. You do not see them at services. You do not see them in adult education classes. If you see them at all, it is more likely at social functions. In this class, we explore the meanings behind Bar & Bat Mitzvah and related topics such as "What is a mitzvah?" and "What are meanings of the rituals found in the Bar/Bat Mitzvah service?" Invariably, most of these people find themselves deeply engaged in these sessions. For these brief moments they come to see their Judaism in ways they have not seen it before, and they find it profoundly meaningful. Our challenge, as a congregation, is how do we build upon this? How do we engage such people in further Jewish study when there is no gun being held to their head - "Take this class if you want your child to have a Bar or Bat Mitzvah service"? How do we engage others in such meaningful study?

This is where I turn to you. Most of you here tonight are Temple regulars. I don’t have to sell you on the power of Jewish worship or on the power of Jewish study. That truly is preaching to the choir. For you have already discovered these things. You come to Shabbat, not because of any requirement but rather because it fulfills you in very special ways. You attend adult education classes, not because of any requirement, but because the knowledge and the insights you receive from those classes enriches your lives. You fully know from whence I am speaking. You know that it is the power of Jewish worship and study which fuels your sense of engagement in this Jewish community. Indeed, it fuels your sense of engagement in the greater human community.

That makes you our best representatives to the congregation at large. I could deliver this message to those fellow Jews who do not seem to know what you know - I could deliver it day after day; I could deliver it standing on my head - and most would react by thinking, "He’s just blowing smoke. What do you expect him to say? He’s a rabbi." But if they could hear it from you; if you were the ones who went to you fellow congregants and said to them, "Come join me at Shabbat services. Come with me to this class or that class" and you told them why you find Shabbat services so meaningful; what it is you find so compelling about Jewish learning, then perhaps - just perhaps - what you have to say about these passions of yours will start to ignite similar passions in them.

The American Jewish community - and our community included - needs some serious evangelization of its Jews to Judaism. While we rabbis and cantors can offer to this efforts our knowledge and our expertise, there are no greater evangelizers - no people better suited for this task - than you; you who love Shabbat; you who are thrilled by Jewish study; you who revel in your life in the Jewish community. This is your time. You are the key to the Jewish future.

AMEN