Question: Why don’t Jews proselytize?
If you were a fan of the original Sex and the City franchise, you may remember the episode in which Charlotte first decides to convert. Driven by her love for Harry Goldenblatt, Charlotte approaches a rabbi who roundly rejects her. Thrice. While the experience as depicted in the show had more drama (and probably better fashion) than is typical, the reality is that Judaism is in some ways a closed system, accepting only those who are honestly and meaningfully seeking to join the community.
The tradition of rejecting a potential convert is not a law, but a tradition that traces back to the Book of Ruth. After her Israelite husband dies, Ruth is told three times by her mother-in-law to return to her people. From this example emerged a tradition of refusing a convert three times.
But Judaism’s non-proselytizing stance is actually newer than that and came about through a confluence of history and belief.
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First, Jewish tradition has never equated faith and salvation like other monotheistic religions. Setting aside the definitively non-definitive Jewish theories on the afterlife, Jewish tradition has never claimed singular authority over salvation or heaven. That status, our tradition teaches, is dependent on one’s deeds in this world — not on what one might believe or profess to believe. Therefore, there’s no religious imperative to convince people to embrace our way of life.
But it is not only out of a purity of belief that Jews have held back on trying to convert their neighbors. It is also, to some extent, about a lack of capability. For most of Jewish history, Jews simply didn’t possess the means to persuade (or coerce) others to become Jews. Fun fact: There actually was a very brief period, when the Maccabees were in power, when Jews did forcibly convert their neighbors. But as the religion scholar Richard A. Horsley has written, the “‘conversion’ was not especially effective.” Nor was it particularly popular among other Jews. And of course, it was short lived, since the Maccabees did not stay in power long. So while Christians and Muslims conquered and occupied wide swaths of territory, Jews were almost always the occupied, and as such were not permitted to missionize or seek converts, often on threat of death.
In modern times, some have begun to suggest that Jews ought to return to proselytizing due to concerns over assimilation rates and fear of a shrinking Jewish community. The increasing numbers of Jews in interfaith relationships has also led some Jewish leaders to be more proactive about asking people to convert. As Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said in 2005: “It is a mitzvah to help a potential Jew become a Jew-by-choice.”
But for the most part, the long history of Jewish non-proselytizing continues. While Jews do actively encourage deeper engagement by other Jews, and do welcome and nurture converts, there are no significant organized efforts to recruit more non-Jews to the faith.
Rabbi Sari Laufer is the chief engagement officer at Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles.
