In 2011 a play called The Book of Mormon opened on Broadway telling the story of two Mormon missionaries sent to proselytize in a remote famine-stricken Ugandan village. When the play first appeared and the extent of its no-holds-barred mockery of Mormon beliefs became apparent the Mormon Church issued this brief response: “The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people’s lives forever.” (Afra l’pumaihu —EK.)

Later when the show made appearances around the country they bought ad space in the playbills of the various productions with short snappy messages like “The book is always better” and “You’ve seen the play now read the book.”

This stems from a conscious decision on their part about how to respond to anti-Mormon provocations in the media and entertainment fields. Back in 2009 the institution’s leadership issued a statement entitled “The Publicity Dilemma” addressing a particular cable-television show into which “more and more Mormon themes are now being woven… the characters are often unsympathetic figures who come across as narrow and self-righteous. And… it now seems the show’s writers are to depict what they understand to be... temple ceremonies.”

The statement acknowledged the reality that

[l]ike other large faith groups [we]… sometimes finds [ourselves] on the receiving end of attention from Hollywood or Broadway television series or books and the news media. Sometimes [the] depictions... are quite accurate. Sometimes the images are false or play to stereotypes. Occasionally they are in appallingly bad taste… Mormons… wonder whether and how they should respond when news or entertainment media insensitively trivialize or misrepresent sacred beliefs or practices.

Referring to calls that had been issued for Mormons to cancel their subscriptions to the offending cable network the statement acknowledged the right of individuals to do so but said that

[A]s an institution [we do] not call for boycotts. Such a step would simply generate the kind of controversy that the media loves and in the end would increase audiences for the series. As [two] Elders… have both said recently when expressing themselves in the public arena [Mormons] should conduct themselves with dignity and thoughtfulness.

As someone recently said “This isn’t 1830 and there aren’t just six of us anymore.” In other words with a global membership of thirteen and a half million there is no need to feel defensive when [we are] moving forward so rapidly… and there is no evidence that extreme misrepresentations in the media that appeal only to a narrow audience have any long-term negative effects…

Such things say much more about the insensitivities of writers producers and TV executives than they say about [Mormons].If the [institution] allowed critics and opponents to choose the ground on which its battles are fought it would risk being distracted from the focus and mission it has pursued... for nearly 180 years.

The Mormons’ unflappability in the face of assaults on their credo hasn’t gone unnoticed. Suzanne Lucas writing in Inc. noted that their response to the Broadway show is typical of how Mormons react when faced with hostility.

She cited the recent example of media personality and Trump supporter Lou Dobbs who attacked Evan McMullin the Mormon third-party presidential candidate who at that point looked poised to winUtah as being a “tool of the Mormon Mafia.” The retorts from individual Mormons came fast but not at all furious; indeed they were good-natured and humorous and thereby succeeded brilliantly at pointing out just how nonsensical Dobbs’s notion of a “Mormon Mafia” is. A sampling:

“[D]arn it you messed with the wrong fellows this time you nincompoop!”

“The Mormon Mafia will leave a dead fish on your porch... sautéed in butter with baked potatoes on the side and cheesecake for dessert.”

“Once saw a gang of Mormon Mafia hoodlums offer to mow someone’s yard for free. How much longer will such terrorism be allowed?”

Ms. Lucas concluded with what she saw as the takeaway: “You’re going to encounter rude people from time to time. You can scream and yell and threaten to sue or you can respond like a Mormon: with humor kindness and baked goods. Only one of these methods makes everyone better off.”

So query: Does the Mormon approach to attacks on its beliefs and practices hold any relevance for frum Jews who are only too familiar with being “on the receiving end of attention from Hollywood or Broadway television series or books and the news media ” including depictions that are “false or play to stereotypes ” or are in “appallingly bad taste”?

It’s complicated. On the one hand it’s sad but true that all too many of the distorted portrayals of Orthodox Judaism and Jews are the work of other Jews and especially when appearing in the Jewish media are likely to be seen and accepted by Jews ignorant of the truth. Both those disseminating these untruths and those consuming them are our brothers and sisters and we have special obligations toward them that may not allow us to ignore what is said about us in the way that Mormons can.

We too have a “global membership of thirteen and a half million” but every single one of them is a precious Jew. We can’t afford to lose a single one of them and thus we can’t say as the Mormons are prepared to say that “there is no evidence that extreme misrepresentations in the media that appeal only to a narrow audience have any long-term negative effect on” our People.

The Church’s statement noted that a certain television show had featured “a gross portrayal of Church history… [b]ut once again it inflicted no perceptible or lasting damage to a church that is growing by at least a quarter of a million new members every year.” But Yiddishkeit isn’t a numbers game or perhaps it is — with every Yid being Number One.

And then there’s that inconvenient thing called truth which brings with it obligations known as kiddush Sheim Shamayim and prevention of chillul Sheim Shamayim. These may require us to speak up and respond when the truth — and hence the honor of Hashem and His Torah — is being trampled upon. In other words while it may always be improper to “scream and yell and threaten to sue ” it might sometimes be incumbent upon us not to ignore the verbal and written projectiles hurled our way.

Nevertheless there do seem to be things we can learn from those people in Utah. There may indeed be situations when a public reaction is counterproductive because it will “simply generate the kind of controversy that the media loves and in the end would increase audiences ” thereby magnifying rather than lessening the chillul sheim Shamayim. Only consultation with chachmei haTorah can guide us on the proper response in a given situation.

There may well also be a time and place for responding with “humor [and] kindness” (although I’m not sure about the baked goods). The next time an anti-Orthodox hatchet job appears in say the Jewish Week newspaper or Reform Judaism magazine might a few wisely worded humor-tinged ads have a salutary effect on the minds and hearts of their readers? Very possibly.

There are in any event a few things on which we can surely agree with the Mormon approach. One is that “if the [Torah community] allowed critics and opponents to choose the ground on which its battles are fought it would risk being distracted from the focus and mission it has pursued successfully” — and not for as the Mormons write “nearly 180 years ” but for millennia.

And of course that “when expressing themselves in the public arena [Torah Jews] should conduct themselves with dignity and thoughtfulness.”