Religion IN BRIEF : Jews Attack Action by Southern Baptists

Southern Baptists have been asked to pray that Jews accept Jesus as the Messiah during Judaism’s High Holy Days, a move denounced by Jewish leaders as arrogant and offensive.

To coincide with the High Holy Days, which began Friday night, the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board published a new prayer booklet intended to guide church members “as they intercede with God on behalf of his chosen people,” according to Baptist Press, the denomination’s official news service.

Don Kammerdiener, International Mission Board executive vice president, said Southern Baptists are obligated to pray for Jews. “Jesus stated clearly that his followers were to begin their witness to him in Jerusalem, the heartland of the Jews. . . . Obedient Christians have no choice except to invite Jews and all other peoples to come to faith in Christ.”

But what Southern Baptists view as love and obligation, Jews regard as disrespect.

“We are shocked and deeply offended by the call . . . to pray that Jews will convert to Christianity during the High Holy Days,” said Abraham H. Foxman, Anti-Defamation League national director. “It is pure arrogance for any one religion to assume that they hold ‘the truth.’ ”

Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, president of Reform Judaism’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations, said that while “we respect the right of Southern Baptists to hold beliefs that are different from our own . . . we do not welcome a campaign that singles out the Jewish people for conversionary activities.”