The Baal Shem Tov and Nachlaot

There is a story about the Baal Shem Tov.  He was travelling in a wagon and passed a church and noticed that the wagon driver who was not Jewish did not show respect as he should have if he was a devout Christian.   The Baal Shem Tov promptly got off the wagon and walked the rest of the way to where he was going.  When his Shamash asked him why he suddenly got off the wagon and preferred to walk, the Baal Shem Tov answered that once he saw that the wagon driver did not follow his faith, he no longer trusted him in other matters either.  


I felt this was an apropos story to hear right before I received a letter from a prospective business possibility.  In the letter was a religious greeting in the first line and I thought oh, this is a person I can trust. 


One of the people being accused as a missionary argued that the accusations that Christians would molest children in order to convert them to Christianity is ridiculous.  Any devout Christian that would be interested in converting a Jew to what they believe is the true faith would obviously be religious.  Any religious Christian does not believe in sex before marriage and therefore, it is ridiculous to think that they will molest children in order to convert them to Christianity.


Basically what we have here is a blood libel in reverse.  Instead of someone accusing the Jews of killing a Christian child for the purpose of using the blood in order to bake Matzot, we have accusations that the Christians are molesting (killing their pure Souls) of Jewish children for the purpose of converting them to Christianity.  Interesting how the masses are so willing to believe in these stories.  In both cases we see a case of extreme xenophobia. 


Xenophobia is the fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange.^[1][2] Xenophobia can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup, including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed purity