מיסיונרים בארץ הקודש

00:01 This is Igris. We're looking at a letter today from sixty years ago. The, uh, date on the letter is Yemei Purim of Tav Shin Chaf Dalet. So it's around the days of Purim, of Tav Shin Chaf Dalet, and we are in Adar, uh, so close enough. The letter is Ches, Tav Shin, Peh, He. And we've read half of this letter before. We read the first half of the letter. It's a very long letter. It's a four-page letter. We read the first half of it in the previous year. Uh, the second half of it is about the problem of missionaries in Eretz Yisrael. Uh, groups of, uh, Christian missionaries who come to Eretz Yisrael with the specific intent of trying to convert Jewish people living in the land of Israel. Uh, this has been a hot-button political issue for a long time, and it has not gone away. It, uh-- from, from the beginning of their mission to the land of Israel all the way up until the present day, h-honestly, even a few weeks ago, this is, uh, constantly in the news. That is that Christian missionaries are, on one hand, trying to destroy the Jewish people because, of course, they want to convert us to their religion. On the other hand, they are among the greatest, greatest defenders of the Jewish people who also want to put a lot of money and effort into keeping Eretz Yisrael, uh, solvent and successful. So because of that, we've had political-- what they call political realities. As

01:05 you'll see in a letter in a moment, the Rebbe doesn't really believe in political realities. The Rebbe believes in the Torah's reality and in using politics. But, uh, what people would call a political reality is that Eretz Yisrael, the Medinas Yisrael, at least the government of Israel, has for a long time had to balance, on one hand, the desire of Christian missionaries to convert Jews to Judaism, to, to-- excuse me, to Christianity and not, uh, not have the government get in their way. And on the other hand, uh, the, uh, the need to get rid of them and the fact that they, uh, they supply a whole lot of the money that Eretz Yisrael wants. Uh, an example of this, I actually have on my screen right here. Uh, this was not so-- this was not long ago. This is March twenty-second, twenty twenty-three. So this was about a year ago. There was a big discussion in the news about, uh, Netanyahu halting a bill that was brought to the floor of the Israeli Knesset to, uh, to punish Christian proselytizing with jail time. So there was a bill that was supposed-- that was proposed that Christian missionaries would be outlawed in Israel and that anybody who missionized, uh, would be put in jail. There was, of course, an outroar from the evangelical Christians who feel very strongly about, uh, about their role in Eretz Yisrael and doing their jobs. And Netanyahu backed off and said, "No, no, no. We're not gonna do that. We

02:09 just brought it to the floor." Uh, this is not modern news. This is also very old news. Uh, we're going to look at this letter that the Rebbe writes to Shazar, who was the president of Israel at the time. And it's about exactly this, about a bill that had made it to the floor to try to outlaw Christian missionaries and make it a little bit more difficult for them to operate in Eretz Yisrael, and how there was a pushback that this wasn't democratic and that this wasn't right and that the Christians help us, and specifically the Christians from France apparently were very upset and France was helping us at the time. And the Rebbe's going to say in this letter that, "I don't care. They don't belong there. Get rid of them." So we're going to see that. We're also going to see, uh, a sicha where the Rebbe says similar things about the need to get rid of missionaries from Eretz Yisrael at any cost. And as a final note, we'll take a look at a letter that explains the Rebbe's shitah on debating missionaries. I'm not sure that we haven't seen this letter before, but if we have, it was a while ago and it's worth refreshing our memory because believe it or not, only, uh, last week somebody sent me a question asking if they could, uh, if they could get involved in debating missionaries and I had to pull up this letter again. So that is a big overview of everything

03:06 we're going to do. I don't know why we did the overview today. We don't usually do that. Maybe this is our new segway. The letter is Ches, Tav Shin, Peh, He, and we're going all the way down to halfway through the letter, entry Beis. So one of the main things that happens on Purim is there's a terrible degree against the Jewish-- decree against the Jewish people, and Mordechai gathers all of the Jewish children. He gathers thousands of Jewish children, and he teaches them Torah in public, and he teaches them so, uh, impressively, uh, impresses upon them so much the importance of Torah that they all announce, "We are with you, Mordechai, whether for life or v'chulu, whether for life or for death." This brings us to the recurring painful problem of missionaries in Israel, people who would have Jewish children say quite the opposite. And, uh, and I'm worried, the Rebbe says that he's worried, that people will take this temporary solution, say, "Okay, we've started to solve the problem," and they'll put it on the back burner. And of course, this is not just applicable to missionaries, this is applicable to a lot of things. The, uh, beauty of a half measure is that it's the beginning of a solution. The harm of a half measure is that people feel satisfied after a half measure has been taken, and then they don't do anything because, look, we took a step in the right direction. So the Rebbe says it's not gonna work here. The

07:02 only solution is Bier, complete destruction. Because the truth is that this half measure that you're taking, that is of course, please take it. But this half measure that you're taking was It was something that really should have been there in the first place. It would make sense that a sinner, and certainly not a mesis, and certainly not a medeh should benefit. It doesn't make any sense that the people benefiting from the government, uh, through, through a government loophole are specifically those who are out to destroy Jewish faith. I mean, of all things, right? So he's saying that, uh, it was logical that they shouldn't have exemptions. I think the of the, uh, of our conversation. Uh, that it's a heich at all times people have to keep. It's very strange. Excuse me, heich, I think is what this is. That it's a joke. I think it's a joke. Maybe shehecheh. I don't know. Uh, either way you read it, it certainly is funny. That is, that it makes no sense that, uh, that everybody in the country would have to keep a certain law, and those who are trying to undermine the country would be the only ones who wouldn't have to keep the law. So the Rebbe says obv-- this was obvious. So really, this step isn't even a partial step. It's not really This is really putting into effect an old law. So you haven't even really started to fight the missionaries. The Rebbe is saying two things here. Thing number one is

08:17 that even half measures make me nervous because half measures make people feel like they've satisfied what they needed to do, and that they don't need to do more. But the Rebbe says this isn't even really a half measure. This was an oversight. You didn't realize that you had missionaries who were using a government loophole that everybody else should have been subject to, especially them. So I don't even count this as a half measure. You've essentially done nothing. You've just fixed a, uh, you've fixed a histo-- a historical wrong. Now that you've fixed a historical wrong, let's get to work, and to work looks like getting rid of missionaries from the land of Israel. Okay. So the Rebbe comes out very strongly against missionaries. There are no ifs, ands, or buts. There is no, uh, nuance here whatsoever. You know, a lot of answers from the Rebbe, there's some degree of nuance. I see no nuance in the missionary discussion, and I mean, if you want better proof to that, then this sentence, uh, that the only solution is complete destruction. So no nuance there. In response to the times that I'm hearing, though, says the Rebbe, the well-known claim, can we really wipe out the disease of missionaries in our times? In a democratic time, is it really, uh, it's not a liberal value, not a democratic value, and not under the current moral system accessi-- um, uh, permissible for people to get rid of an entire religion from their country. What will the other

09:27 nations of the world say? The Rebbe says, "I don't know what you're talking about. Many countries have had very long-standing rules that certain religions are not allowed in their country, and that missionaries aren't allowed in, specifically probably Austria. But Austria and Norway, I, I don't know if this is true. I have no... And I do-- I don't know. I guess it must be true, or the Rebbe wouldn't say it. He says in Austria, and I think that's Nor-- that has to be Norway, right? There's a gimel in there, so it's Norve- Norvege. Probably Norway. I'm guessing Norway. The Rebbe lists a couple countries, and he says that in these countries, there is a rule that missionaries aren't allowed. Nobody's complaining about that. No, no, no, no, nobody's complaining about this in those countries. So, uh, in response to your question that in a democratic world you can't kick out the missionaries, other countries did it. Why don't you guys do it too? As I've heard or b-b-based on my knowledge of the situation, the Rebbe says, and this gets very political, and I know nothing about this. Uh, the Rebbe had some inside knowledge about the influence that the French ambassador had on Eretz Israel at the time. What it says in this middle paragraph is that, uh, is that apparently Israel was getting a lot of support and a lot of money from France, and also a lot of the missionaries were coming from France. And the French ambassador, when he heard they might

10:40 limit missionary activity, lost his mind, and, uh, they'd also made all sorts of other allowances for the French that although, uh, pig was not allowed to be sold or raised, at least in a, in certain parts of Eretz Israel, that it wasn't allowed to be raised in Eretz Israel. They made an exception specifically for the French, uh, because the French had a personal need for it, but really it was more of a national need, and, and on and on. In this middle paragraph, the Rebbe says that it sounds like it's from influence from France, and you feel like you have some outside sources that are pressuring you, that you rely on their help. The reason why this paragraph matters for us is because nowadays France isn't the issue, but certainly nowadays evangelical Christians are the issue. That is that if we were to kick out all the missionaries, the evangelicals who give us a lot of money and, uh, and give us a lot of support would be very angry. So the Rebbe says, "I recognize there are people who support you who would be very angry if you didn't-- if, if you did the right thing." But then the Rebbe goes on to say in this last paragraph, of you-- all these things, all these, uh, special privileges we're giving them, let's ask the following question about this. Will we-- are we going to tell them that, "Thank you so much for all your help. We believe you now have the right to force

11:41 Jewish children to leave their religion"? I mean, how much are you willing to give them? Are you willing to give them-- are you willing to give them the children? You willing to give them their religion? What are you willing to sell them? Is it possible that you could actually give those privileges? I mean, it's one thing to give handouts to people who are helping us in some other way, but are you willing to give up the religion over it? And what's gonna happen when they say that really the spreading of Christianity is not any-- a French idea, it's a, the Vatican's idea? What are they-- what are you gonna say when they say now the whole religion's against you? Certainly there will be diplomatic ways to have an impact on the French et cetera. And by that, I believe the Rebbe means if you owe the French a favor, give them a favor somewhere else, but not on the missionary front. So the Rebbe is not moving at all on this issue. He does not want missionaries in Eretz Israel. And as for the diplomatic problems it's going to cause, the Rebbe has a couple answers. Answer number one, other countries do it, and nobody worries about it. Uh, answer number two, i-- you believe the peop-- you believe you owe people things? Give them other things, but don't give them this thing, no matter who is, no matter who is, uh, is on the hook. There's a second letter that touches on the missionary

12:45 problem a little bit from a year later. This is letter Ches. Tav, Tav, kuf, kaf, vav. It's on Chaf, He, Tavis of Tav, Shin, Chaf, He, and it's written to Dr. Friedlander, who'd written a book, and the book is in some other language than English, so I can't read the title. You know, I've received your Sefer. Uh, it looks like French. Um, I don't know what it is. And I thank you very much for sending the Sefer. Regarding the importance of your work, certainly I don't have to explain to you the importance of what you do for a living. Does it say down here what this letter was? I think this is from the other letter that's above it. Yeah, we don't have a note on what exactly this book was. Okay. He was writing about history, and he's saying that, uh, your book is very important, not just because it gives us historical context, but also because we need it for the period of time that we are in right now, because, uh, to our great, uh, to our great pain. There are people even nowadays who are involved in missionary activities. There are people who even nowadays are trying to pull, uh, little boys and girls away from the, uh, Midas of-- excuse me, Midas, excuse me, from the religion of their forefathers, from a life of Terah and Mitzvahs. There are people who even nowadays engaged in missionary activity. And your book comes and not only rejects what many of them are

14:08 saying, but it also demonstrates that, uh, it also demonstrates that they are the opposite, uh, of truth. So I don't know what the details of this book were exact-were exactly, but it looks like this book had something to do with the history of, uh, early Christianity, the history of Judaism, and demonstrated that a lot of the basic claims that Christians make when trying to convert people to Christianity are not true, so the Rebbe tells him. Uh, on one hand, there's a historical value to what you're doing, but you should also understand that this is giving strength to those who would push back against the missionary movement. I'm gonna move this letter around actually for a second because at the same time, this letter would imply that the Rebbe is a pretty big fan of people writing books that might go up against the missionaries, and perhaps he is, but that comes with a, uh, comes with a note. This letter is Aleph, Tav, Reish, Nun, Gimel. It's from Tav, Shin, Yod, Beis. So Chaf, Gimel, Samech, Tav, Shin, Yod, Beis, and it is written to Shalom Ber Rivkin, I believe. Uh, and he asked the Rebbe about debating missionaries. I believe we've read this once before. Regarding your question about the missionaries, I do not think that you should have intellectual debates with them. And I know that it's tempting if you, if you take the subway in Manhattan. I mean, they-- What, what else are you gonna do when they, when they, when they,

15:18 when they throw their pamphlets at you? But he says here, "Don't get into intellectual debates with missionaries." Rather, instead of engaging with them, you should find ways to humiliate them publicly. Uh, you should find ways to make them seem silly in the eyes of everybody who sees them. So that not to talk to them one-on-one, but to, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? To, um, delegitimize their entire movement. You should point out that they fool people, that they trick other people. They don't reveal themselves to be people who are trying to take you away from your religion. And they also receive money for it. Basically, publicize how, uh, publicize that they're greedy, publicize that they get paid to do this, that they don't care about their God. They're doing it for the money. Publicize that they're there to take you away from your religion and won't even tell you that they're doing it sneakily. Publicize that they are, uh, that they're fooling people. And when you publicize this, uh, you'll end up making them look bad to everybody, and that's the solution, not going head-to-head with them. I don't know what that is. What is that word? This-- It's some English word probably. Anybody have it? Which word is it? Jewish life. Jewish life. Jewish life. Jewish. That's the word Jewish. It's spelled- Jewish life. For those who can't see it on the screen, Jewish is spelled here, Lamed, Zayin, Shin, Vav. I would have never gotten-- Jewish life. Okay. That in the, Jewish.

16:38 Jewish life. That's Yiddish. Jewish life Go ahead, guys. Bronx. In the Bronx. You know, I could, I could do Hebrew, but English, uh, English, I'm no good. Uh, their effects on the Bronx Um, says that, uh, certainly you saw that, uh, that in the, uh, in the Jewish life journal, they mentioned about how missionaries are involved in, uh, in even the Bronx at this point. And this will also help with that. So, uh, the Rebbe's advice is not to hit the missionaries head-on. The Rebbe's advice is to make them look silly in a much broader context. Uh, where the Rebbe in this book-- The Rebbe compliments this book, maybe it's the same thing. When the Rebbe compliments this particular book, he's saying that, uh, you're giving us, you're giving us cannon fodder. You're giving us, uh, you're giving us more reasons why their entire idea is silly. That doesn't sound like a direct intellectual debate with a missionary, so I suppose that's okay to publish the books. But as far as directly debating them, the Rebbe does not seem to be a fan. I wanna show you a Sikha before we're out of time. This Sikha is from Chaf Menachem Av of Tav Shin Lamed Gimel, and, uh, it is in Terias Menachem, Volume seventy-three on page one s- one fifty-one. And the Rebbe says this in Chaf Gimel. So the Sikha says, Hashem says, "What am I asking from you? Only to fear me." At this point, Rashi says, "Why does he say right

18:08 now I'm asking for his fear?" You've done all kinds of Averot, you've done all sorts of things. I've done all sorts of good things for you. You have not repaid the favor. And even so, all I'm asking from you is that you will fear me. And we should learn from this the following lesson. Here we go. Moshe Rabbeinu was standing right now on the mountain across from Hashem. Nonetheless, God says to Moshe, that sitting on a mountain for forty days and learning Torah is not enough. You also have to have so it should then be understood. It's possible that someone has even Semikhah for Rabbonis. They've been on a mountain forty days, they're learning Torah. But if they lack it doesn't help that they learn Torah. So even somebody with incredible Torah knowledge, who is very invested in Yiddishkeit, without they're missing something. Now based on this, the Rebbe says, Along the way, the Rebbe spoke about Miyu Yehudi, and among those things he also said, which means we're missing the full transcript of this, of this farbrengen. But, uh, the Rebbe talked about Miyu Yehudi, and then he added the following. The Rebbe Uh, to our great, uh, to our great disappointment, There is continuously a problem, the people that are in Eretz Israel, they are labeling non-Jews as Jews. And they don't seem to want to fix this at all. These people admit that God owns everything, that he's in charge of all the heavens, of . Nonetheless, they aren't fixing the problem

19:42 in front of them. And they say we're going to work on it after Yom Kippur. Similarly, regarding the missionaries, they let the missionaries do whatever they want. and they actually help them, as we saw a little bit earlier, though this was, uh-- I don't know if this was still in effect. We just saw in our first letter that there were actually laws there making it easier to missionize. as has been, as has been publicized in newspapers. except for a certain newspaper, that they, uh, that they published privately the sefer of . In case you were wondering whether you're allowed to put after his name, there you go. Uh, that is, that would be . means that they wanna put his book into the normal curriculum in Eretz Israel. one person who opposed putting Christianity into the Jewish curriculum, he lost his job over it. What is that? What sefer is this? They put somebody in charge who under his- Person who replaced the guy that lost his job. Right. He had published something that was- It's a, it's a, there's a thing from- You murdered him and also took over his stuff, yeah? I guess so. You- You k-- not only did you kill him, you killed him, and then you inherited him. You killed him and you inherited him. Right. Okay. So you got him, you got him thrown off his position, and then you p-publicized the sefer. There you go. Uh, in any event, I think this gives us a pretty good idea

21:03 of the Rebbe's view on missionaries. It is, uh, it is one of the first things that we've ever done in Igris where, uh, where going through the letters and going through the seforahs, I encountered no sense of nuance whatsoever. There is, uh, there is-- most things, we have so many shades of gray around here. I see nothing but black and white. Uh, if they're missionaries in Eretz Israel, they need to go away. Not a single one is allowed left. No diplomatic reason is good enough to keep them. No diplomatic reason is good enough to give them benefits. And, uh, as far as the Rebbe's view on, uh, on getting rid of missionaries, he says it can't happen soon enough. Even pushing it until after a certain holiday doesn't make any sense. It's something that he wants people jumping on immediately. Uh, and the only thing we saw that had a little bit of nuance is exactly how to approach them. The Rebbe said that if you wanna know how to debate a missionary, don't go after them head on, but instead find ways to delegitimize their entire movement. But really, that's just part of the same story, which is that the Rebbe wants the missionaries, uh, completely eradicated with no exceptions. Okay, thank you all very much.