Rabbi Shmuley's Dim Bulb

As someone who has repeatedly (and publicly) encouraged Jews to become active missionaries for their faith, I was very pleased to see the headline for Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s recent essay, “Jews Should Seek Converts,” on the Jewish Journal’s website. I immediately clicked on the link, eager to read why one of the most prominent Jews in America sided with me in this debate. You can imagine my disappointment, then, to discover that the good rabbi has actually made two proposals in his essay, both of which are motivated by good intentions but lacking in theological integrity and appeal.

To begin with, Rabbi Boteach cites various reasons, including demographic ones, for wanting to increase the number of Jews in the world. [I too believe that the world would be a better place with more Jews in it, which is why I believe that Jews should actively proselytize.] He then suggests that Jews should consider actively seeking converts to their faith. So far I’m in his amen corner. However, he undercuts his argument by declaring that Jews “don’t believe that by becoming a Jew you come closer to God than you would as a Christian or Muslim.”