The following letter was sent to YW a few moments ago:
Dear Yeshivaworld,
Believe it or not, two English speaking missionaries were in Telzstone today!
This afternoon, while I was out for a short walk, I encountered an elderly couple who asked me if I speak English. Assuming they were a couple on vacation, visiting their children I started talking to them. They proceeded to inform me that they were on vacation from Lancaster, England, and were staying in a hotel at Yad HaShemona.
They asked me about Telzstone and the surrounding area. Noticing the man’s tie, with a missionary statement, it dawned on me that they were missionaries. As I was about to leave, they attempted to hand me a small booklet which included a Hebrew prayer, and their ‘literature’.
Soon thereafter, myself and a (very large) friend politely warned the couple that it was against the law to missionarize in the State of Israel, and for their own safety, they should quickly depart from the neighborhood.
My friend escorted them out.
I contacted Yad L’Achim, the anti-missionary group, who took the information and told me that missionaries are operating all over Israel–including English speaking neighborhoods, at all times!
Yad L’Achim told me that on encountering missionaries one should try to take a picture of them and call their office immediately (in Israel: 1-800-620-640).
Please take note to warn your children and others not to talk to missionaries and to report them immediately.
H.A. Telzstone
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2 Responses
this is an interesting story the kind that is not covered in the local media here in israel
here in israel its kind of like the clinton era (don’t ask don’t tell or “it depends on the the meaning of IS is”) regarding missionaries
i know of a case where volunteers for Yad L’Achim would wait for known missionaries to find someone to speak/appeal to (many russians) and then after an hour or so into their pitch they would walk over the the russian youth and let him know that the person he is missionary and that would end their time investment because the youth they were talking to realizes then what was happening and all the missionaries work was in vain
BUT come the state of israel and they made what Yad L’Achim do a crime of stalking and lying in-wait without any regard to the law against missionaries
this is what is waiting for the youth of today in israel when they hangout in the Midrachov of Yerusalem and probably many other cities
It is not illegal to missionize in Israel. It is illegal to offer money or other material inducements for the purposes of conversion. According to Israeli law, missionaries can talk to people as much as they want. They just can’t offer them cash, food, clothing, shelter or medical aid in order to get people to change their religious faith. A small but important difference from the statement that “missionizing in Israel is against the law”.