Rabbi’s Answer to the Missionaries

By Dovid Zaklikowski – brought to you by COLlive.com and Hasidic Archives

The tension was palpable in the lecture hall in Phoenix, Arizona. A debate entitled “Who Is the Messiah?” was about to begin. The topic was hot during the 1990s, but few Jews were willing to debate Christian missionaries, whose sole goal was to convert Jews.

Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet, however, accepted the challenge. The hall was filled with hundreds of students; most seemed more interested in a good fight than the truth.

Accorded the first 5 minutes, Rabbi Schochet made an opening statement. He told the crowd that the entire debate was a waste of time. The opposing side simply wanted to destroy Jewish life.

In fact, Rabbi Schochet said, for thousands of years Jews had been forced to debate Christians, always emerging victorious. These debates have been published, he told the crowd, and anyone seeking the truth would visit a bookstore or library and research the answers to his or her questions.

He continued, “What, then, am I doing here?”

The philosopher, scholar and proud Jew offered this reason: he was there to put to rest the rumors that rabbis were afraid to approach this topic.

“I have no interest in attacking another religion, or attempting to convince Christians to change their beliefs,” he announced. “My sole and ultimate goal is to get missionaries off our backs, to say to them, ‘Leave us alone. You have nothing to teach us.’ In fact, the onus of truth is not to disprove that he is the messiah, but rather to prove that he is, for anyone can claim he is the messiah.”

As the debate progressed, he told the crowd that he was disappointed with the opposing side and that he’d expected a stronger argument. He debunked every argument made by his opponent, supporting his arguments with direct quotes from scripture that clearly proved the Christian messiah cannot be the biblical messiah.

“I do not know about Phoenix,” he said, “but in Toronto, we have a special institution for people who claim that G-d speaks to them all the time.”

The crowd laughed.

In his closing statement, he ironically announced: “I am prepared to stand before you tonight and proclaim that every single passage used by Christians to refer to their messiah applies to me, no less.”

Quoting Isaiah (7:14), he said that the messiah is referred to as Immanuel. “Therefore, I have as many claims to be the messiah – and more. I have a paternal link to King David, which he does not have.”

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