She said she’s expecting again. Barely into her first trimester she sits outside of the café with her hands around the hot cocoa and she shivers. She still hasn’t adjusted to San Francisco’s crisp weather. The pregnancy means that she won’t be going on any new missions. No trips to Israel for her this year. However, that’s seems like a small sacrifice for now.
The new family addition means Rachelle Trank and her husband add yet another person to the house in the Haight they share. As missionaries for the Jews for Jesus, they currently live in a house in San Francisco where people come and go as needed. It’s a haven of sorts. Adding a baby to the equation will certainly complicate an already awkward living arrangement. Today, however, this doesn’t seem to bother her. This is what she’s wanted.
“I decided that I wanted more time with this baby,” she said reflecting over her first pregnancy.
She made this decision after discovering that her unborn child from her first pregnancy had a chromosomal abnormality that she was told made it “incompatible with life”. Despite medical opinion the maternal bond had been formed and she carried the child for as long as she could.
“I actually carried the pregnancy to term,” she said. Trank said that the baby was stillborn, but that was what she expected. Her hazel eyes don’t swim in a pool of tears as she states this fact. She has dealt with the loss.
Most women might not have made the same decision to carry a child who they knew was no longer living for months. The pain would be all consuming. Trank is not most women which is something she can attribute to her faith.
“My faith only got stronger after the pregnancy,” she said. She didn’t curse her faith. She allowed it to comfort her when many people might have cursed their faith. The loss transformed her. Her new devotion extended into all areas of her life and was not restricted to worship on Sunday.
She and her husband decided to dedicate their lives to missionary work. Her husband left his job at NASA and she stopped her career as a sign language interpreter.
“I always make this joke that I’m a Jewish Italian girl and all I want to do is talk with my hands,” she said.
After they became missionaries they were transferred here from San Diego. All of this was, of course, a change from their lives, which she admits, had become more about possessions than spiritual communion with god.
“I’ve always hoped it was something that people who knew me knew about me, that I have this faith,” she said.
Until recently, however, this faith had never taken her much farther than her temple of worship. Now as a missionary for Jews for Jesus she has been across the world.
She explained that though Jews for Jesus started out here in San Francisco, it has spread to most major cities in the states. The requirement: there must be a minimum of 100,000 Jews in the city. What better place to find this target number than Israel.
She said the group was received relatively well there. People were willing to engage in a dialogue. However, for the more traditional people living there it was understandably difficult relate. For those individuals it seemed a betrayal they could not understand. However, Trank said she is still aware of and proud of her Jewish heritage even if her faith seems to be a contradiction of that heritage.
“I still practice a lot of the traditions, but I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior,” she said.
In her opinion the resistance from Jews to her comes from one of two factors.
The first, being the denial of any religion that caused so much persecution of Jews for hundreds of years. The second reason is one that is much more specific to Jewish people locally.
“I think that’s the unifying thing for most American Jews is this idea that they don’t believe in Jesus. That’s their identity.”
Unlike those living in Israel, those who live outside of the promise land find camaraderie in this fact.
Though the Jews for Jesus organization does go around to tell others of their beliefs it seems to be unique and precise in it’s a mission. It isn’t necessarily about conversion so much as dialogue in her opinion.
“The mission of Jews for Jesus is to make the issue of Jesus an unavoidable discussion for Jews,” she said.
It’s a powerful mission and it’s one that can ignite controversy. Despite this fact she still does her work because to her it is important to show a different viewpoint and let people decide what they believe and not have that dictated.
“Everyone has the right to choose,” she said.
For now she carries out her mission by doing work locally, at least for the time being. Because they are missionaries the go where there is a need for help. Some people remain in the same location for decades and others are moved every couple of years.
Her work can include bible study, counseling and distributing literature. Though she said passing out brochures and pamphlets is not her favorite activity, but it is a part of the life she chose. And she has managed to throw herself into the commitment completely.
