Now then, regarding Judaism being a missionary religion, it depends on what it’s being compared to. If one compares Judaism to Christianity, then of course it isn’t missionizing. (See Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Berkovits’s fantastic discussion in Judaism: Fossil or Ferment? of the paradoxical results of Christian universalism.) But if one compares Judaism to paganism, then the result will be quite different:

Professor G. F. Moore, “The Idea of Torah in Judaism”, http://www.adath-shalom.ca/idea_torah.htm:

“In the two or three centuries on either side of the Christian era Judaism made great numbers of converts throughout the wide dispersion. Various Oriental religions in that age were offering the secret and the assurance of a blessed immortality through initiation into their mysteries, and drew into their mystic societies many seekers of salvation. Judaism on the contrary, as we have seen, appeared to ancient observers to be not a mystery but a philosophy. It had a high doctrine about God which was publicly taught in its synagogue schools, a rule of life, and venerable scriptures in which both the doctrine and the rule were contained; and it sought to make converts by rational persuasion. In this aspect Judaism is sometimes called a missionary religion; but if the phrase is used it must be understood that it was a missionary religion without an organization for propaganda and without professional missionaries. The open doors of the synagogue, a noteworthy apologetic literature, and the individual efforts of Jews in their various social spheres to win over their neighbors, were the only instrumentalities in the conversion of the Gentiles. Polytheism and idolatry were the salient characteristics of the religions in the midst of which the Jews in the dispersion lived. … To convert men from polytheism and idolatry was therefore the prime effort of Judaism among the Gentiles, and it might well seem that the renunciation of these from religious conviction was in principle the abandonment of heathenism and acceptance of Judaism. Even from Palestinian teachers come such utterances as, “Whoever professes heathen religion is as one who rejects the whole Torah, and whoever rejects heathen religion is as one who professes the whole Torah” (Sifre, Deut. 54, end; ibid. Num. 111, f. 31b. end).”

So according to Professor Moore, Judaism IS a missionizing religion. How’s that for irony?

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And of course, Judaism does not have a precise theology, unless we want to ignore Rambam’s notice that there is no pesaq halakhah in aggadah, and pasqen his Thirteen Principles as halakhah. (The contradiction, and the mental powers required to resolve it, just beg for a reference to H. P. Lovecraft’s The Cthulhu Mythos.)

A cursory glance at Professor Marc Shapiro’s The Limits of Orthodox Theology will prove that Judaism has no precise theology, as if an equally cursory glance at the Midrash Rabbah didn’t already amply prove the point.

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The afterlife is a difficult topic. On the one hand, the Torah does indeed refer to Abraham being gathered to his father’s, so obviously there was some afterlife. On the other hand, Psalms and Job consistently use imagery of a shadowy netherworld (Sheol); they may have believed in the afterlife, but what kind of G-d forsaken pit might it have been? And I haven’t even gotten to tehiat ha-meitim! (See my treatment of that here. We have to run through everything from Zoroastrianism to Second Temple apocalypses, yay!)

Judaism has low emphasis on theology, but lots of guidance on actions required to reach salvation as individuals and as a group by living the good life.

Brown’s definition of religion reminds one of Justice Scalia’s assertion that a cross can be a generic memorial symbol in a military cemetery that welcomes U.S. veterans of all faiths.

Without prattling on, we once actively sent people to convert non-Jews to Judaism. I was surprised to learn this. Generally, we do not and have not done this, I believe, in over 1,000 years. But Dan Brown’s criteria just indicates that conversion can take place, as it was one word in his list of criteria. We all know that conversion takes place! By the way, a rabbi will turn someone away three times precisely because conversion shouldn’t be taken lightly. Also, it happens that historically and currently it is difficult being Jewish, as there exists quite a lot of discrimination, and I’ll leave it at that.

As a note, I love reading Dan Brown’s books for the adventures, and his historical research. He wasn’t very, or even close, to being considered thorough in his Jewish research for his books, and I could correct him on quite a lot of points, but the adventure is a fun escape!
Spiritually Yours,
Laura Weakley