Reactions in the Detroit metro area range from anger at being targeted to disinterest, tossing the unopened book into the recycling bin.
Have you recently received a purple envelope in the mail containing an unsolicited book? if so, you are not alone. and no, it’s not one of those things you ask for when you’re half asleep; this was intentionally sent to you. In a mass mailing wave, thousands of copies of Swapped by Tom Cantor were sent to Jews to persuade them to become Jewish Christians.
joel amster of roseville and cheryl glaser of oak park received the book and threw it away. Glaser said: “I actually looked at it and slowly began to see what it really was. I put it in the recycling bin with the newspapers thinking hopefully it would be shredded.”
cantor, a businessman from california, grew up jewish. Instead, he shares his journey from a rebellious child to a troubled teenager to an adult filled with heartbreak and despair. “My sins were so many that when I was called to the Yom Kippur service to remember them, I really didn’t know where to start,” he writes of his childhood.
cantor was expelled from schools, traveled around europe, graduated and felt more and more “dirty”, both physically and morally. When he meets his non-Jewish future wife, Cheryl, he thinks this is her chance to get clean from him. “Finally, a union with her was going to free me from my own guilt, shame and despair.” however, cheryl was raped and became pregnant, which devastates him, and cantor filters the situation through his own needs and emotions.
looks for cleanliness and finds it in a church. he writes, “I didn’t have to obey a set of kosher laws about what not to eat. to be cleansed all I had to do was simply believe and receive Jesus Christ as my Passover lamb.”
mass deliveries
cantor spends millions of dollars each year sending unwanted books to unsuspecting people, hoping to convert them to his beliefs.
According to Randell Angius of Cantor’s medical company, Scantibodies Laboratory Inc., Cantor purchased names and addresses from mailing lists. many are Jewish, but some are also affiliated with churches. “I am very sorry if you were offended,” he said, “he wants to share his story to inspire people to invite Christ into his hearts.”
Reactions in the Detroit metro area range from anger at being targeted to disinterest, tossing the unopened book into the recycling bin. donna edwards from oak park hasn’t read the book. “Don’t we have enough tsuris without some wrong person telling us that we, as a people, need to be ‘changed’ in some way?”
joe lipman of clawson immediately recognized it as propaganda and plans to throw his in the trash.
carolyn normandin, regional director for adl michigan, said these mailings are proselytizing, which is common in some religious organizations. “There are many people who feel that their mission is to convert. the goal is to get as many people as possible to listen. It’s disruptive.”
When asked if this was anti-Semitic, he said no. “In general, proselytizing is not anti-Semitic in nature. it’s offensive, but not threatening.”
when angius was asked if this method works for cantor, he said they had received hundreds of positive responses, mostly from churches. However, he admitted that Cantor has received a lot of negative responses from people who have received the book. “not as many, but quite close” to the number of positive responses. “It was not his intention to offend anyone,” he said.
To be removed from Tom Cantor’s mailing list, please call (619) 258-9300 x5194 or email randell.angius@scantibodies.com.