The Christian Missionary couple Christine and Peter Darg were sneaking into Rabbi Mordechai Machlis' Parasha class (Nov. 2010).
B”H
A friend texted me a message a couple of hours ago and asked me to turn on my computer immediately. She had sent me a few messages and when I read them, I was shocked but not at all surprised. Israel’s anti – missionary site JEWISH ISRAEL mentions, among other Rabbis, Rabbi Mordechai Machlis from Jerusalem in their latest article.
Rabbi Machlis is a national religious Rabbi, born in New York but has been living in Jerusalem for the past thirty years, who brought tremendous kindness into the holy city. For almost thirty years, the Machlis’ are known for their Shabbat hospitality where everyone is invited to come.
Of course, there are also guests exploiting the Shabbat meals for their own negative purposes. Gentiles and, in particular, Christian missionaries. Many Gentiles just show up in order to have a free meal. They are not interested in seeing a Jewish Shabbat but showing up dressed immodestly, huge crosses on chains hanging down from their necks and pulling out photo cameras. Sometimes a missionary gets up in order to make a vicious speech but the Rabbi usually stops him.
Due to the fact that everyone is invited and free to come, Gentiles also show up at the Rabbi’s weekly Parasha classes every Tuesday. Now it came out that the Christian missionary couple Christine and Peter Darg appear in one of the Machlis videos . They obviously sneaked into one of the Shiurim. Missionaries always want to “learn” from Jews in order to pick up phrases and words. Later on, they use all this for their own evil missionary purposes when they try to convince other Jews believing in Christian idol – worship. The Dargs appear in the video and they can proudly announce this to their donors. It definitely pays off for them and they also attract more Christian missionary followers.
Whether Rabbi Mordechai Machlis had been aware of his missionary guests in the house is still unclear, as the Rabbi hasn’t given a statement yet. However, JEWISH ISRAEL brings some interesting facts about the Dargs and their evil missionary ideologies.
For years, me and some friends have been warning Rabbi Machlis about too many Gentiles and thus missionaries in the house. There were quite a few complaints from Jews who didn’t want to spend their Shabbat sitting at the same table with Christians and their crosses around the neck or ringing cell phones. The Rabbi and his family are not too excited about their Gentile guests but, so far, the Rabbi has been too kind to say anything against them. Now after the article on JEWISH ISRAEL, Rabbi Mordechai Machlis has to watch his reputation. Too much kindness can sometimes cause a great damage.
I've attended shiurim where Xtians show up.
ReplyDeleteMy concern is the motive behind their reasoning for showing up in the first place.
If they are known Missionairies then why didn't someone mention this to the Rabbi.
B"H
ReplyDeleteIt was obvious that the couple wasn't Jewish but no one suspected that they were well - known missionaries, and they probably didn't announce it either.
Rabbi Machlis is used to plenty of Christians showing up in his house and, as long as they don't prostelyze, he doesn't throw them out.
Some of the Christians definitely show up in order to learn about Jews and use their "knowledge". Or they spy out the place and try sending more and more of their own comrades in.
I have been at the Rabbi's home when Christine Darg was there with a group of people. They were very polite and the Rabbi knew exactly who they were and welcomed all very kindly. The ladies and their husbands just wanted to learn more about the Torah from a Jewish point of view. They made no attempt to fool anyone or cause any trouble. Also, a healthy donation was given by her and the ladies, so the Rabbi did not have to suffer financially for them being there.
ReplyDelete