Question:
Dear Rabbis,
How comfortable should a Jew feel in discussing the need for others to keep a kosher diet in the jewish community. I have friends and family who are reform and can not ever discuss the idea of eating kosher with me at all. I have even had to eat meals with some who refused to eat kosher and I have acted in good faith to have a meal with them despite the pork they put on the table. Perhaps I should never have meals with them again but the sad reality is that I have few others to eat with at times.
Do I keep this as a kiruv goal to help others find Torah and kosher living or am I a threat to my own safety and sanity in a world which is not welcoming Jews in any regard in many places.
Many thanks.
Answer:
You should remain proud and strong about your ideals and your adherence to the Torah. Often, bringing up kosher and similar ideas with the non observant will have no kiruv effect and sometimes the opposite. The best effect you could have is often just to maintain a positive relationship, and display by example how Torah observance lends to happiness, emotional health and morality. Only when you feel you have an opening and they are interested in hearing should you bring up and discuss mitzvah observance.
