[Cicero]

I'm not an Evangelical myself, but I don't quite see the Rabbi's problem here. Yes, Evangelicals would like to convert Jews to Christianity, and so would any real Christian. Christians believe that the gospel message is for everyone. They also believe that Jesus is the Messiah spoken of by the Hebrew prophets, the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy.

But at worst this is a nuisance, not a threat. At worst it's something like being buttonholed by a used-car salesman. You can always just walk away. Jews who don't want to be converted won't be converted. Unlike the situation in many parts of the Muslim world, conversion cannot be forcibly imposed. I can't think of any Christians in the modern world who think otherwise.

[homeagain balkansvet]

Jews are eternally fearful of being wiped out--for good reason, there have been so many attempts to do so.

The good Rabbi's right, though. A Jew well grounded in his tradition need fear little of 'glamour' of Christianity. However, there are darn few Jews like that these days.

Of course, speaking as a sort-of-Catholic whose leaders have been either playing hide-the-salami or hide the hiders-of-salami... we're hardly in a position to criticize, aren't we?

Let's just say some of us Christians are getting in touch ourselves with the concept of 'Diaspora.'

[marron]

The worst threat to world judaism is of course the determination of radical muslims to wipe them out, and the determination of the world's leftists to let them.

The second-worst threat is the loss of faith among jews themselves, and their adherence to the political left, which is a kind of suicide.

The support of American evangelicals, which is almost completely unconditional, as threats go is pretty far down the list. The biggest problem is not that evangelicals believe that when the Messiah comes, it will be for the second time, while Jews believe it will be for the first time. The problem is that far too many jews don't believe in the messiah, or God, at all. That is what will lead to their extinction as a people. Not the love of Americans who are prepared to put blood and treasure on the line for them.