Forty thousand Jews in Hungary have deserted Judaism to embrace hristiarity since the war. This was one of the startling reports made at the World Conferences of Protestant Missionary Societies held in Budapest and Warsaw in April under the auspices of the International Missionary Council. It was stated that the purpose of the conferences was to bring about a radical departure in the policy of the Protestant churches toward their missionary work among the Jews Dr. John R. Mott of New York City, head of the International Missionary Council, presided at the conferences.
Prior to the holding of these conferences, a protest against the continuation of missionary propaganda among Jews was filed by the Central Conference of American Rabbis with the Committee on Good Will between Jews and Christians of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America.
Dr. John Stuart Conning, superintendent of Jewish Evangelization, Board of National Missions, writing in “The Presbyterian Magazine” of August, permits a glimpse into the proceedings of these missionary conclaves and into the plans formulated by this body for a more extensive missionary propaganda among the Jews.
“Since the war, 40,000 Jews have identified themselves with the Christian Churches of Hungary,” Dr. Conning writes. “Of these 2,400 have joined the Presbyterian Churches of Budapest and 1,000 more the other evangelical churches of the city.”
“This was one of the many arresting statements made at the World Jewish Conferences held in April at Budapest and Warsaw. It was also stated that the only people in Hungary’s capital who have wireless outfits strong enough to listen in to London are the Jews. Many of them every Sunday evening tune in to catch the sermon broadcast from that city.
“One evening in Budapest there was a rendition of Bach’s passion music. Of the 2,500 in the audience, 2,000 were Jews. The leader of the orchestra was a Jew, and four-fifths of the choir were Jews.
“In Poland many evidences were observed of changes taking place in Jewish life,” Dr. Conning states. “The Warsaw ghetto, with its Jewish population of 300,000. which has been for generations the fountain undefiled of orthodox Judairm from which the languishing Jewries of the West have drawn refreshment, is itself now in need of revival. The War threw Jew and Gentile into a common cauldron of suffering. Jewish communal life was disorganized and obligatory ritual observances often renderea impossible. Contact with other races disclosed the unreality of much that they had been taught. Judaism in the conflict lost much of its prestige and its followers much of their prejudice.
“The round black cap, the untrimmed beard, and the long coat, for generations the signs of orthodox conformity, are passing out. Yiddish is giving way to Polish. Jewish people are accessible as they have not been for ages to an intelligent Christian approach. Conference delegates declared that in many Jewish neigh-borhoods a meeting for the discussion of Christian truths will fill the largest hall with Jews.
“Jews are on the move. No longer are they hemmed in by the physical and intellectual confines of the ghetto. They enjoy a wider horizon. The ancient faith seems archaic and out of place. Many are searching eagerly for a substitute. Some have yielded to the lure of modern cults and are following many strange will-o’-the-wisps. They are Zionists, spiritualists, theosophists, Christian Scientists, socialists, atheists, agnostics, rank materialists, and what not.
“Such changes furnish the reason for calling together those concerned for the spiritual welfare of the Jews, As Dr. John R. Mott, who presided at both of these memorable gatherings, declared: ‘It would have been a collective crime not to come together and revise our thought and action in the face of this new situation throughout the Jewish world Dr. James Black, of Edinburgh, affirmed: ‘It would be a tragic thing if we proved ourselves unworthy of the opportunity given to our generation. When I think of how our fathers prayed just that they might see a day like this, I am concerned lest we should show ourselves unfit to use it for God.’
“Of the conferences themselves it may be sufficient to say that the personnel, numbering ninety-five at Budapest and eighty-six at Warsaw, represented twenty countries of America, Europe, Asia and Africa; the program covered every important phase of Christian responsibility for the Jews; and the findings were carefully and suggestively stated. The presence of such men as Bishop Nicholson and Dr. Samuel Zwemer from America, of Dr. Macdonald Webster and Principal Garvie from Great Britain, of Professor Jeremias and Dr. D’Aubigne from the continent of Euope, as well as many well-known workers among the Jews, including a considerable number of Hebrew Christians from the large centers of Jewish life in many lands, was a guarantee of the high standard as well as of the practical character of the discussions.
“One of the findings unanimoasly adopted included this statement: ‘We deplore the long record of injustice and ill-usage of the Jews on the part of professed Christian people. We declare such conduct to be a violation of the teaching and spirit of Christ.’
“The real significance of these unique gatherings was that for the first time representatives of the Christian Churches of many lands met to consider their responsibility toward the Jews. This at least may be indicated as an immediate result: A number who were sceptical of the practical value of bringing together such divergent groups, returned home aroused to a new sense of the vital character of this ministry and thrilled with the amazing possibilities of the Jewish situation for the Kingdom of God.
“What of the outlook? The International Missionary Council has been asked to make a comprehensive study of the Jewish situation throughout the world, to include work for the Jews in its activities, and encourage all Christian denominations to make Jewish evangelization an integral part of its missionary program. This would do much to lift work for the Jews cut of its dubious place as a Cinderella among the missionary enterprises of the Christian Church and to place it it in the position of honor accorded to it by Christ and his apostles,” he concludes.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
