How come Jewish people don’t actively witness?
For the same reason that aborigines don’t sing God Bless America.
what’s that supposed to mean?
did I ask a bad question?
Jews don’t witness because they don’t believe you have to be Jewish to go to Heaven. See this site for more information.
Unlike Christianity (and possibly Islam), Jews do not believe that others must be Jewish in order to be in good standing with God. This certainly takes a lot out of the drive to convert others to Judaism.
And no, captainQwark, you did not ask a bad question.
If by “witnessing” you mean “proselytizing,” then, as others have commented, Judaism doesn’t see a need to seek converts. In fact, Judaism mostly discourages converts.
The only Jewish efforts at proselytizing are done by (for instance) the Lubavitcher movement, which tries to “convert” Jews-by-birth to a more active and traditional Judaism.
That being said, there have been times when Judaism more actively proselytized than it does now. Judaism actually encouraged converts from about 100 BCE-60 CE, which led to the conversion of the Idumeans and the Galileans, as well as the adoption of a kind of ethical monotheism among certain parts of the Roman Empire, as well as around 900 CE, leading to the conversion of the Khazars.
Not to mention Judaism had a large number of “God-fearers,” or those who practiced Judaism but did not officially convert to Judaism, wherever large Jewish communities resided in the Roman Empire.
One of reasons people say that Judaism ceased its outreach programs (or at least enthusiasm for converts) is because Judaism began to be persecuted by Roman and Christian authorities, and in order to protect themselves they forbade/discouraged conversion, since a person converting to Judaism would bring the person’s community’s wrath upon the Jewish community.
Nonetheless, there are a number of internal outreach programs - Lubavitcher Chassidim (as mentioned by C K Dexter Haven) - is a very good example. And, depending on your definition of “Jewish,” Jews for Jesus also condust outreach programs (to Jews and non-Christian or unsaved Gentiles).
WRS