A number of religious groups, particularly

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

and

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s, are involved in the proselytization of Jews—attempts to recruit or "missionize"

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. In response, some Jewish groups have formed counter-missionary/counter-proselytization organizations to discourage missionary and messianic groups such as

Jews for Jesus Jews for Jesus is an international Christian missionary organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, that is affiliated with the Messianic Jewish religious movement. The group is known for its proselytism of Jews and promotes the b ...

from using practices that they say are deceptive.

Christian missions

According to Rabbi Tovia Singer, counter-missionary expert and director of Outreach Judaism, there are well over 1,000 messianic congregations and other missions to the Jews worldwide.

Catholic Church

The

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

has historically been instrumental in its attempt to convert Jews. Such examples include conversos during the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

, especially within Spain. However, since the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

and the production of the document , the Catholic Church's attitude towards Jewish conversion has been that of sensitivity.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

suggested that Jews should not be targeted for conversion. In his book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, he stated "Israel is in the hands of God, who will save it 'as a whole' at the proper time, when the number of Gentiles is full". A document released by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews under

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

stated "In concrete terms this means that the Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews", though it also says "Christians are nonetheless called to bear witness to their faith in Jesus Christ also to Jews." The document also denies that there is more than one path to salvation stating "Confessing the universal and therefore also exclusive mediation of salvation through Jesus Christ belongs to the core of Christian faith."

Protestantism

A number of

Christian denominations A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

have programs to reach Jews. The JTA, a Jewish news service, conducted an extensive analysis of Christian efforts to convert Jews to Christianity and found that some of the largest

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

denominations – the

Southern Baptists The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Ch ...

, the

Assemblies of God The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF), commonly known as the Assemblies of God (AG), is a global cooperative body or communion of over 170 Pentecostal denominations that was established on August 15, 1989. The WAGF was created to provi ...

, and the

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

– have all increased their efforts to evangelize Jews in the recent past. The article states that the Christian missionary organization

completed a five-year tour called "Behold Your God" that brought its message to 53 cities worldwide, and the Christian Chosen People Ministries saw its income grow by 31% to $7.9million between 2003 and 2006. Jews for Judaism, a Jewish counter-missionary group, writes that there are over 900 Christian groups in North America actively involved in missionizing the Jewish people. Jews for Judaism further states that these groups are currently spending over $250million each year on efforts to convert Jews to Christianity. Jews for Jesus, the best known single ministry to the Jews, spent over $15million in 2008. The

has an extensive organization targeting Jews for conversion to Christianity. Israel has more than one hundred Messianic congregations according to Yaakov Shalom Ariel, an associate professor of religious studies at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

and author of ''Evangelizing The Chosen People''. A prominent effort to convert Jews to Christianity is known as

. It was founded by Martin "Moishe" Rosen, who is of Jewish descent and grew up in a non-observant home, converted to Christianity, and was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1957. In 1973, Rosen left the employment of the American Board of Missions to the Jews, now called Chosen People Ministries, to incorporate a separate mission which became known as Jews for Jesus. In 1986, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon. Jews for Jesus is now led by David Brickner, who has been working for the organization since 1977. The 19th century saw at least 250,000 Jews convert to Christianity according to existing records of various societies. Data from the

Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It ...

has it that, as of 2013, about 1.6million adult

American Jews American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% id ...

identify themselves as

; most as

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

s. According to the same data, most of the Jews who identify themselves as some sort of Christian (1.6million) were raised as Jews or are Jews by ancestry. According to a 2012 study, 17% of Jews in Russia identify themselves as

.Arena - Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia
Sreda.org2012 Survey Maps
"Ogonek", No. 34 (5243), 27/08/2012. ''Retrieved 24-09-2012''. Efforts to convert Jews to Christianity are sometimes regarded as

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. Most Progressive Christian and Mainline Christian denominations have publicly declared that they no longer proselytize Jews. Most

and conservative Christian churches have said they will continue their efforts to evangelize among Jews and claim that proselytism is not antisemitic.

Muslim missions

Muslims have also targeted Jews for conversion. Rabbi Moshe Cohen, of , an Israel-based counter-missionary organization, has identified Al Dawaa, an Israel-based Muslim group headed by Sheikh Abu Yassin of Kafr Manda.

Jewish response

Jewish counter-missionary organizations respond to these efforts by offering personal counseling, web sites with articles addressing common missionary tactics, and discussion forums where Jews who have questions about the differences between Judaism and other religions can be answered by observant Jews. Some Jewish resources are specifically aimed at countering the missionary efforts aimed at Jews. * Jews for Judaism is an international organization that provides a wide variety of counseling services, along with education, and outreach programs that enable Jews of all ages to rediscover and strengthen their Jewish heritage. Jews for Judaism has offices in Baltimore, Toronto, Los Angeles, Australia and South Africa. On their website, Jews for Judaism offers many articles discussing missionary tactics towards Jews, approaches by Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and various "proof texts" and other arguments often used by missionaries as they evangelize Jews. * Outreach Judaism, a site run by Rabbi Tovia Singer. Outreach Judaism is an international organization that responds directly to the issues raised by missionaries and cults, by exploring Judaism in contradistinction to fundamentalist Christianity. Outreach Judaism provides full-time, multi-level informational resources. * Beyneynu () was founded by former Evangelical missionary Shannon Nuszen. Beyneynu is a non-profit organization that monitors missionary activity in Israel and abroad. Based in Israel, Beyneynu works with government and community leaders to raise awareness of Jewish evangelism, its danger to the Jewish people, and encourage safe and consistent boundaries in the interfaith relationships of Jewish communities worldwide. * Kiruv Organization (Mizrachi) – an outreach organization founded in 1995 by Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi in New York for the purpose of teaching

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

to both secular and religious Jews. Rabbi Moshe Shulman has responded to specific missionaries who target Jews, including Michael Brown, Rachmiel Frydland, Risto Santala, and David H. Stern (author of the Complete Jewish Bible). Rabbi Shulman's website offers scholarly articles on the misuse of the Targums, Midrash and Talmud by non-Jews who quote from Jewish sources in an attempt to convert Jews. The leading counter-missionary organization in Israel is , an organization focusing on Orthodox Judaism outreach and counter-missionary activity. is made up of both paid staff and volunteers, and is largely supported by donations both from Israel and the diaspora.

References

External links

The Committee for Good Relations

Judaism's Answer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Proselytization and counter-proselytization of Jews Conversion of Jews to Christianity Jewish apologetics Jewish counter-missionaries Jewish outreach Anti-Judaism