Rabbi Kahane of blessed memory said, "We have Jews for Jesus...that's not the greatest tragedy. The greatest tragedy is Jews for nothing."
Look at the statistics of the next generation born to J4J and tell me they dont marry out? I think it is worse than regular assimilation because the children are so confused.
muman613
of course it's worse., on an individual level though.
But taking the jewish people are a whole, what is the big problem we face.. high levels of assimilation, the number is so high, that the lubavitcher rebbe referred to it as a spiritual holocaust.
the assimilation is amongst the non orthodox..
I vaguely recall that intermarriage overall is around 40%..in britain, and 60% in america.
if it weren't for the orthodox, particularly the charedim, it would be much more!
q_q,
I know this statistic and it terrifies me. My family has married out too. It is too sad to recall here. I am the only one who has done teshuva, and it may be too late to continue our family as Jews. Judaism is so important for the soul and it will not be lost. I am going the route of Orthodoxy but I need to find a community because where I am we can barely get a kosher minyan for Kaddish. Missionaries really are like Amalek in that they are attacking the weak links.
It is for this reason that I find what Chabad does to be so helpful to our faith. I believe the Chabad telethon is going to be on soon {they just mailed me a flyer}. I love my Chabad rabbi for many reasons, his kindness to my father when he visited {Dad got an aliyah
}, his helping me learn to don tefillin, his wonderful Shabbatons and Purim parties, and last year Yom Kippur.
I think the only thing we can do is to do more mitzvahs which reach out to others. This is Chabads method, going out and helping Jews with their mitzvah vans. Help someone with a mezzuzah as a friend of mine has done numerous times. It is these kinds of mitzvahs which remind us who we are. It is believed that there is a great need for spirituality out there and we know that Judaism answers that need. I have learned so much about our great heritage, the Torah, and the Prophets, and the ideals of righteousness. Even when I was a young man I had these dreams. I had to stray from the path to realize the great prize which I was forsaking. My heritage which was encapsulated in my Name, the name which reminds me who I am.
muman613