Family To Print Father’s Book

By Rabbi YY Schochet

With the rise of cults in the late sixties and seventies, my father OBM was one of the first and foremost combatants of these cults and heavily involved in rescuing Jews entrapped by them. His battles against missionaries are legendary, and they regarded him as their greatest and most dangerous enemy.

Many Jewish youths involved in all kinds of cults would come or be brought to our house to speak with my father. My siblings and I would oftentimes press our ears to the air-ducts above my father’s study to eavesdrop on the conversations. Some were quite sedate others became deeply emotional, heated exchanges.

The glow and ecstasy on my father’s face when succeeding in saving a young man or woman from the clutches of the soul­-snatchers did not need spying to detect, nor did his deep pain and agony when his efforts were frustrated.

When the problem of cults grew in the USA and Canada, my father was one of very few qualified to deal with it. Forever ready to defend authentic Judaism and to do battle for the principles of the Jewish faith, even – and especially – where others dared not tread, he went all out to attack missionary campaigns and activities and helped train others to do likewise. That is how my father came to deliver his famous cult-lectures. Countless Jews are proud and conscientious Jews because of his efforts.

My father’s cult-lectures sometimes took more than two full hours. It was fascinating to see his audience sitting spell-bound, not budging for hours, completely immersed in his mind-boggling erudition, his piercing reasoning going straight for the jugular, and his passionate oratory.

Invariably, there were Christian ministers and missionaries among his listeners who begrudgingly express admiration for both the content and form, and above all for his unquestioned honesty, sincerity and commitment, in spite of their disagreements.

One of the many things I always admired in my father was his ability to speak or lecture cogently for hours without any notes. He did so with all his topics. Everything was clearly organized in his mind. The down-side of this, however, is that there were no written records which could be used for eventual publication.

There are literally thousands of audio and videotapes throughout the world, recorded by his listeners. Yet there are continuous and persistent demands for published materials which can be perused and studied at ease, in a way that tapes cannot be. This applies especially to his famous lectures which have helped so many.

For this reason, I pestered my father for years to write a book on the very theme that made his world famous. This he did, but of his more than thirty books, this was the only one he never got around to publishing.

Thanks to the diligent efforts of my brother and Mosaica Press at long last, and in anticipation of his third yartzeit in just a few weeks time, we, the family are delighted that my father’s eternal legacy will live on through this book which he so aptly titled: “For The Love of Truth.” Indeed that is what he committed his entire life to. May his memory be for a blessing.