I went to the KH tonight

moshe

I'm working out of town for a month and I decided to drop in on a KH meeting. I was late- the bookstudy was over and the sisters were deep into a monotone talk in the Theocratic School. Two regional words were used frequently tonight- ax (for ask) and hep (for help).

I was given a song book- I did not sing and I just looked around during the prayer, Nevertheless, I was warmly greeted afterwards-

They were taken off guard when I told then , I'm Jewish. In the last talk they mentioned the memorial, so I asked them, "when is the memorial?"

- April 5th- Nisan14-, on passover night, a sister told me."

No, Passover is on Nisan 15", I corrected about 6 witnesses who were around me- No, it's Nisan 14 they countered. "That's funny, JWs are trying to tell the Jews when their Passover is. "So are you saying we celebrate the memorial on the wrong day?", one bright brother said after an epiphany hit him. "Yes, you are", I told them. They just had puzzled looks and walked away.

I also asked 6 different brothers to answer my favorite JW question- "will a blood transfusion save the life of a starving man?" half said "No" right away and then realized I had checkmated them (the others didn't want to play moshe's game and played dumb)- "so, you admit that a blood transfusion has nothing to do with eating blood?", Moshe was twisting the screws- the basic answer was along these lines- uh, uh, we follow God's law on abstaining from blood" So I asked one brother , "suppose I told you to abstain from book, would you know what I meant" - more squirming-" reading, touching- I don't know you tell me"

:Thats the point, you don't know and you are just guessing what I mean- so what action verb do you suppose would complete the sentence- to abstain from--(motioning with my hands for an answer)-eating blood?. Do you suppose eating might be the word the Jewish Christians would have used?

The two brothers I was talking to looked at their watches and decided they had to hurry home, I never got a final answer from them

N.drew

So you ate Jehovah's Witnesses for suppa?

Quarterback

Mosche....you must have been in an arguing mood.

What did you expect them to answer? It's like walking into India, and asking the natives why they won't eat that holy cow that they worship.

The Indian natives can get pretty irate of such questions. Thankfully, JW's are peaceful, and you were treated well.

moshe

Well, the talk tonight was all about- understanding the house-holder's viewpoint- so I had them in a vise- they agreed to listen to a Jewish viewpoint, when I asked them if they had ever talked to a Jew before- all but one said, no- "well here's your chance to talk to one"

BizzyBee

The two brothers I was talking to looked at their watches and decided they had to hurry home,

Funny how the most important thing in your life is not as important as putting in your 1-2 hours and going home to get out of your meeting clothes, have a snack and watch some TV before bedtime.

NewChapter

That was pretty brave Moshe. Remember how TMS always used to encourage us to "plant seeds"? Well, you don't know who was listening, or what nerve you hit, or if one day, when faced with a decision about blood tranfusion, if this conversation will come to mind. As you were there not as an apostate, but as someone whose history was unknown, you had every right to ask them the hard questions. It is disgusting that they were not able to answer, and didn't even try. Especially after they had just exited the meeting that was supposed to prepare them, with a world class education, to answer just such questions. They could have found you at the door too. And then what? Run?

NC

NewChapter

That was pretty brave Moshe. Remember how TMS always used to encourage us to "plant seeds"? Well, you don't know who was listening, or what nerve you hit, or if one day, when faced with a decision about blood tranfusion, if this conversation will come to mind. As you were there not as an apostate, but as someone whose history was unknown, you had every right to ask them the hard questions. It is disgusting that they were not able to answer, and didn't even try. Especially after they had just exited the meeting that was supposed to prepare them, with a world class education, to answer just such questions. They could have found you at the door too. And then what? Run?

NC

moshe

Arguing?- no, I was explaining- and they listened, which is rare for JWs- they weren't prepared to engage me- I guess they should have axed for some help

Quarterback

They would certainly enjoy that opportunity. I did enjoy working in a Jewish territory, during my youth.

InterestedOne

Marked for reference. I like the idea of them encountering a Jewish person face to face and having to deal with the Passover date. BTW, your mention of the regional pronunciations reminded me of the KH I attended. In one of the acting parts, the sister was explaining how JW's are "not an o-cult." She kept using the word occult for the word cult. The school overseer didn't even notice and just praised her for a good part. I don't think he knew any better. I asked myself "what kind of school is this?"

I went to the KH tonight

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