# jewish witnessing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 19, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-witnessing/176137 "2003-05-19T00:06:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![captainQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-witnessing/176137/1 "2003-05-19T00:06:03Z")
How come Jewish people don’t actively witness? ---
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-witnessing/176137/2 "2003-05-19T00:45:48Z")
For the same reason that aborigines don’t sing God Bless America. ---
**Author:** ![captainQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-witnessing/176137/3 "2003-05-19T00:47:53Z")
what’s that supposed to mean? ---
**Author:** ![captainQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-witnessing/176137/4 "2003-05-19T00:51:54Z")
did I ask a bad question? ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-witnessing/176137/5 "2003-05-19T00:54:33Z")
Jews don’t witness because they don’t believe you have to be Jewish to go to Heaven. See [this site](http://www.jewfaq.org/gentiles.htm) for more information. ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-witnessing/176137/6 "2003-05-19T01:19:02Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-witnessing/176137/7 "2003-05-19T01:20:20Z")
And no, **captainQwark** , you did not ask a bad question. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-witnessing/176137/8 "2003-05-19T02:34:48Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-witnessing/176137/9 "2003-05-19T04:09:37Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![WeRSauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@WeRSauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WeRSauron)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-witnessing/176137/10 "2003-05-19T15:52:47Z")
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