Christianity and Modern Judaism: Misconceptions, Movements, and

Misguided Methodology

Introduction:

I’d hoped to prepare something under the title of “My weekend with
the Lutheran Confessions and a bottle of Jagermesiter – How I Learned
to Stop Worrying and Love the Missouri Synod.”
It didn’t work. But for those of you who know my father – and it
seems every member of the LCMS does – there’s a passion for speaking
about Judaism and Christianity. I’m not going to tell his story today. If
nothing else, I don’t tell his jokes quite as well.
But even though I’m not a convert, there are things in that realm we
can and should talk about. This is because whether Lutheran, Mormon,
Evangelical, or any other group placing itself under the banner of
Christianity, there are more misconceptions and assumptions than with
any other group that is rightly connected directly to the Christian
Church on earth. It wouldn’t be difficult to spend days on this subject
because the more you learn; the more you realize there are numerous
additional layers that can be explored.
During the course of the time I have with you, I’m going to break this
into three sections. Invariably, I’m going to leave some things out that
would be pertinent, so I hope I can provide additional insight once we get
to questions. If there’s something I don’t know, I’ll be glad to connect
you to the Balfour True Jew Hotline. The office is open from 9-5,
depending on traffic. The menu you’ll hear is a bit different than most
call centers, however. You’ll hear something like, “Welcome to the True
Jew Hotline, all of our dear Yentas are taking other calls right now, so
just wait a bit and we’ll be right there. But if you can’t take the time to
hold, don’t worry about it. It’s o.k. So I stayed up all night preparing to
talk to you, but don’t make a fuss, it’s not like I needed sleep. But…your
late uncle Greenburg, God rest his soul, he would understand, I
suppose.”
If you don’t think caricatures like that exist, trust me, they do. Even
today, I still feel guilty for all of the times I didn’t eat my great
grandmothers cookies (which she said she spent all night preparing), left
her house too early, etc.
Well, before I get too far off track explaining the truth of most Jewish
stereotypes, here’s how we’re going to cover things today: First, we’ll take
a look at the misconceptions Jews and Christians typically have about
one another. Second, I’ll give you an overview of Jewish belief systems,
and finally, some advice on the subject of evangelism.

Misconceptions – Jews about Christians

1. Most Christians know the Bible:

There seems to be some good examples of this notion to the casual

observer, Jewish or not. Politicians, although sadly the liberal ones,
quote Scripture. Pro-life supporters quote Scripture. Christians who do
not support same-sex marriage quote Scripture. Whether you think he
can throw a football accurately or not, people know that Tim Tebow
quotes Scripture. Why would a casual observer think that anyone
assume that other Christians aren’t able to do the same?

2. Christians attend church regularly.

This is not true and as time goes on, will be even less true. I think
you know the reality of this one. What percentage of your members
actually show up on a weekly basis in your congregation? I know it
varies, but it certainly isn’t 100 percent. A study released back in May
says that around 31 percent of those who identify as Christians attend a
service on a weekly basis.1 Another study shows that in my home state of
Maine, we have the lowest percentage of all – 21%. In fact, when my
father’s former congregation needed to move, they didn’t build. They
simply went “church shopping,” which means picking a location from
among the many closed and/or abandoned church buildings.

3. Christians all believe pretty much the same thing when it comes to
Christ.

Of course we in this room know that’s not even close to being true.
That said, there are two occasions that stick in my mind where a Jewish
Rabbi asked a Christian about Jesus as the only means of salvation. In
both cases, it was obvious that the Rabbis were testing Christians, or in
one case – me, to see how true this was. (Tell of what happened at
Concordia and during research in Maine.) If that’s the question posed by
these Rabbis to Christians, it stands to reason that it’s more likely than
not that this misconception is taught to a good portion of the Jewish
laity.

In either case, the point here is that in a general sense, there’s an

overarching idea that Christians are people who know a lot about the
Bible, go to church and believe Jesus is the Son of God. Among the Jews
I know and have known, I’m certain none of them could tell the
difference between a Roman Catholic, a Lutheran, Baptist, or what I like
to refer to as “Osteenites” (my name for faithful disciples of the only
Evangelical who bought a basketball arena and wrote with his very own
creed). A good example is a cousin of mine who married a very devout

1 http://www.religionnews.com/2014/05/17/christians-church-atheists-prri/
Roman Catholic. His understanding of her faith, based on what he’s said
to me, is that she believes in Jesus and is required to go to Mass each
week. Beyond that, he told me, “[In our marriage] we just don’t deal with
that ‘religion thing.’”

Christians’ Misconceptions About Jews:

1. Jews know what’s in the Bible. (Sound familiar?) This is almost

completely false. Only one group of Jews has any kind of regularly
scheduled Bible Study, and even then, it’s not a universal practice
within that group. That group is the Modern Orthodox movement.
I’ll explain them in a bit.
2. Jews understand basic Christian beliefs. Definitely not true.
Again, the average Jew knows something to the effect that
Christians are supposed to believe that Jesus is God’s son and
maybe, that He has something to do with salvation. In other
words, don’t start a conversation by attempting to explain the Holy
Trinity, or how faith is created by the Holy Spirit. For even the
least devout Jew, God is one, not three.
3. Jews understand, that for Christians, there’s a connection between
the Old and New Testaments. Again, false. For most Jews, there
are the first five books (if they can even name them), the rest of the
Old Testament (although they’re not sure what’s in it or even the
point of it), and then the New Testament, which is the part that
has Jesus in it.
4. Jews understand there are differences between different types of
Christians. This correlates to the misconception that I’d
mentioned about Jews thinking that all Christians believe pretty
much the same thing about Jesus Christ. In this case, however, I
guess you could say that a Jew understanding that there are
different sorts of Christians is slightly true. Among the Jews I’ve
known and those to whom I’m related, there is a general knowledge
of the existence of different groups, but not likely beyond being
able to name any of them other than Roman Catholics. To quote
my cousin again, after knowing that I’d been a Lutheran for over
20 years, asked me, “What is it that you guys are again?”
As for knowledge of Lutherans in particular, if a Jew has heard
of them, their knowledge often comes from the numerous sources
that portray Lutherans in an extremely negative light. I’m referring
specifically of the generalization taught by some who believe that
Lutherans primarily are those who are followers of the man who
wrote a book that Hitler used as a means of justifying his attempt
of wiping Jews from the face of the earth.

Belief systems
 Orthodox: Not to be confused with the Hasidic movement. That
might be best called “Extreme Orthodoxy,” I suppose. If you’d like to
discuss that, we can cover that more informally when there’s time to take
questions.

Orthodox Judaism is what I like to refer to as the Missouri Synod of

American Judaism. In other words, the Orthodox Jewish movement is a
“confessional group” – on paper, anyway. A key tenet is that Scripture
being absolutely true, is unchanging, and is the primary authority for
faith and life, with The Talmud serving as the Jewish version of the
Confessions. Worth mentioning is that the Talmud has 613 laws which
all Orthodox Jews are to follow. While there is no central
“denominational” structure in place, worship practice and central tenets
are pretty uniform among Orthodox congregations.

That said, there is a movement within the Orthodox Jewish

realm that almost turns everything on its head doctrinally –
Modern Orthodoxy. I know a Modern Orthodox Rabbi out in
my area and with the preparation of this paper in mind, we
spent a few hours discussing some of what he thought would
be important for Christians to know about this growing
movement. The reason I say that the movement almost
puts everything upside down is this: Modern Orthodoxy
stresses the centrality of observance of the Talmud, retaining
ancient worship practices and the like, but (and here’s the
difference), observing those things to the degree that you as an
individual think is important. Not surprisingly, this leads to the
espoused idea of upholding all the Torah and Talmud says,
but not as an actual requirement of God that one do so.
Although statistics are hard to determine, be assured that the
movement is growing. Of all the Jewish sects we could cover, I
believe this is the most important to understand because there
are parallels to movements within modern Christianity. As an
example, there are now some Presbyterian congregations that
despise “modern” worship practices while at the same time as
actively supporting gay rights and other socially liberal causes.

Getting back to the Modern Orthodox movement, there are

terms that are used by Christians of all sorts that are used
also by Modern Orthodoxy. Looking at things from that
perspective, here are some shared terms and how they’re
understood in the Modern Orthodox context. I would say that
it’s worth pointing out also, that these definitions would likely
be understood (or at least accepted) by many in the
Conservative and Reform sects.

1. Sin: “What is sin?” I asked my friend. “Simple,” he said.

“If you think you sinned, then you did.” So, for this
developing Jewish movement, sin is a matter of
conscience as much as anything else. Certainly one’s
guilt may be informed by knowledge of having violated
God’s Laws, but it is not the final determination. The
final determination of having sinned or not sinned is up
to you.
2. Grace/Atonement: For Christians who believe in the
inerrancy of Scripture, “Grace” is a critical term. For
Modern Orthodoxy, the term “grace” isn’t even part of the
language, but atonement is. Instead, this movement sees
atonement as a standalone concept, without the term
“grace” even being a part of their vocabulary. The Modern
Orthodox Jew is supposed to understand atonement as a
result which comes through prayer to God asking
forgiveness for what you deem as the sins you’ve
committed. But even then, atonement itself has dual
parts. When you ask God for forgiveness in prayer, you
are only forgiven for sins committed directly against Him.
for only those sins, which a person commits directly
against him. Of course, however, determining if you’ve
sinned and whether it was against God or man is up to
you. As for sins you’ve committed against another
person, only that person can forgive the sin because it
wasn’t against Almighty God.
3. Heaven/Hell: These are the easiest to explain, yet the
hardest to understand. Heaven and Hell are taught as
true concepts without concrete definitions. Heaven is
where a person lives eternally with God, with entry based
on his own righteousness. This access is not only for
Jews, but for all people. It’s just easier for Jews to get in,
as far as I can tell. I asked my friend how a person is
 supposed to know if they’re righteous enough. “This is
one of the great mysteries,” he told me. As for hell, it’s
reserved for, as I would put it, “really bad” people. Not
surprisingly, Hitler was the first example he brought up.

With regard to social issues, Modern Orthodoxy has a sort

of “Live and let live” approach. While it doesn’t generally
support gay marriage, there isn’t a push to actively oppose it.
My friend said he wouldn’t perform a gay wedding, but was not
all that upset with Jews or Christians who felt such a practice
was acceptable. His objection was based more on logic then
anything else. Since it was obvious that God made men and
women to function together physically, what sense would it
make to perform a wedding for something that was not going
to function the way God had intended it to do?

When it comes to holding a pro-life or pro-abortion

position, Modern Orthodoxy is predominately pro-life, unlike
American Judaism as a whole. Nearly half of all American
Jews are not pro-life, with the justification for many being that
the Torah doesn’t speak specifically to the matter. 2

As a means of not simply overlooking the remaining two

primary groups, here’s a brief overview of Conservative and
Reformed Judaism:

1. Conservative: I like to use the LCMS acronym to define

this group - Lightly Conservative, Mostly Scriptural.
(Then again, this would not be an inaccurate description
of Synodical doctrine and practice in some places.)
Strangely, of the three primary divisions, Conservative
Judaism is the youngest major Jewish movement, rather
than the Reformed movement, as it would more logically
seem to make sense. While I use the LCMS acronym to

http://www.jewishjournal.com/judaismandscience/item/the_curious_consensus_of
_jews_on_abortion
 make the point of Conservative Jewish orientation in a
lighthearted way, a proper understanding is to look at
this as an evolutionary form of Judaism. I label this as
“evolutionary” because the central ideology is that
although ancient Jews applied Scripture and the Talmud
(their “Confessions”) in a narrow form, the evolution of
culture and the contexts of modern life require "a
minimum of revelation and a maximum of
interpretation."3 An implicit devotion to Zionism is
understood to be part of the movement also. I can
expand on that later if you have questions about it.
2. Reformed Judaism: As just mentioned, Reformed
Judaism cronologically before the Conservative
movement. Although it doesn’t proceed it by a great deal
(10-20 years approximately), it was first. Even so,
Reformed Judaism didn’t formally get underway in the
U.S. until the 1920s. This also can be seen as an
evolutionary form of Judaism, but a form that has
evolved more radically and much more rapidly. I
wouldn’t have called it a radically different form of the
faith in its early form. Now, however, it seems to me that
there’s little truly Jewish about it. The central focus is
not on the faith, which is little more than a vague deism,
but social activism. Worship practices are as widely
varied as a person can imagine and in some ways, seems
to me a parallel to the so-called “worship style” of most
modern Evangelical Christians. Admittedly, I haven’t
attended a Reformed service, but in some congregations,
there’s a stress on an “informal, exuberant style.”4 My
favorite use of modern music of which I’m aware was the
incorporation of music by James Taylor. For those of you
who like James Taylor, I think, “How Sweet It Is To Be
Loved By You,” was a likely inclusion, but as for me, I’d
like to see how “Steamroller” or “I’m Your Handy Man,”
might have been adapted.

3 Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man, New York, 1956, p. 274.
4 https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/reform.html
 Cultural identity – This is Critical!

Regardless of the movement to which a person may belong, for

a Jewish person there is a shared importance of cultural identity
over religious identity. This isn’t to say that the religious life of a
Jewish person is irrelevant. But for a Jew, ethnic identity comes
before religious identity. To my family, my father may not be
practicing anymore, but he’s still Jewish. When I sat down with
the Rabbi back in June, he looked at my father and said, “You’re
still a Jew, but you just don’t know it. As my family has always
said, as my friend the Rabbi has said that one evening, “Once a
Jew always a Jew.” There’s nothing in that statement about faith.
The bind between Jews worldwide is not shared belief, but shared
heritage. The best example of identity as the central tenet is the
formation of the modern state of Israel. The impetus for the
formation of the modern state was not primarily religious. So what
of Zionism? Was that the impetus? The answer is yes, but isn’t
even as simple as that. Zionism had a religious component for
some people, but at its core, it was about a political movement that
advocated for a central home for the then widely dispersed Jewish
population, 90% of which was in Europe.5 The population
estimates widely vary, but by the end of the 1800s, there were less
than 50 thousand Jews living in Palestinian territory.
In the American context, I think a good “cultural identity over
faith identity” example is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Vader
Ginsburg. She identifies herself as “not observant” yet says that
she has a better understanding of what it means to be a minority
because of her Jewish identity.6
Again, I can’t stress enough that cultural identity, not religious
belief is the key to understanding the mindset of a Jewish person
you might encounter or know. My father’s side of our family
proudly identifies themselves as Jews, but unless someone dies,
there’s no way they’re attending a worship service of any sort, lest
follow any the Torah or Talmud. As another of cousins likes to
say, “I’m not opposed to ham, I just don’t like the way it tastes.”

How do we speak the Gospel to Jews?

First – and this is important if you’re going to answer the

question effectively – you need to understand Jewish outreach to

5 http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/isdf/text/Maor.html
6 http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/high-court-with-vocally-devout-
justices-set-to-hear-religious-objections-to-health-care-law/2014/03/23/ff54147a-
af97-11e3-9627-c65021d6d572_story.html
non-Jews. Actually, there’s not much to tell. There’s pride in the
fact that Jews don’t have evangelism programs, especially not the
Orthodox. In fact, you could call the standard Jewish approach
“reverse evangelism.” If you want to join, you go to them and if
you’re persistent enough, you might be able to take classes for a
year or two, or more. Do all of that and, perhaps then you might
be able to join. I asked my Rabbinical friend about this, because I
was aware that outreach wasn’t done, but never understood why.
He said that numerical growth was simply up to God and was
proud of the fact that joining was difficult. If a person had to work
at becoming a Jew, he said, then a person was obviously serious
and could be counted upon to be devoted to the faith. He felt the
standard Christian approach made things too easy for converts.
An interesting perspective and, to me, pretty ironic. Think about it:
I know a Rabbi, somewhat doctrinally liberal, who is adamant that
a person who refuses to show any desire to be catechized cannot
join. For most who call themselves Christians in any way, the
unspoken orientation is this: Catechesis doesn’t sell the product.
Second, with an understanding the Jewish approach to
evangelism, it’s easier to understand the Jewish view of Christian
evangelism, but especially the sort that targets them directly.
Now, take what you know about Jewish evangelism (or the lack
of it) and combine it with the Jewish stress on the importance of
cultural identity above faith identity. When you combine all of
that, you can understand why the standard, popular Jewish
outreach methods are so ineffective.
They’re well intentioned, but essentially worthless. The
overarching idea is nearly always centered on the idea that
“success” depends on sharing the Christian faith by appealing to a
Jewish person’s religious faith. This completely overlooks (perhaps
out of simple ignorance) cultural identity, and yet it persists. I
have no doubt that anyone here can think of numerous outreach
efforts that take exactly this misguided approach. Whether you’re
in the LCMS or not, I’m sure you’ve heard of the “Apple of His Eye”
organization. Appealing to the Jewish faith has been their
approach for nearly 25 years. One of their statements says, “We
carry the Gospel of the Living Torah, Y'shua, outward to the
unbelieving Jewish and Gentile population, as well as the message
of the Jewish roots of Christianity inward to Believers in the
Churches. (I’m not sure why a focus of Jewish outreach would be
the “Gentile population,” but I guess like any product, you have to
expand your target audience if you hope to grow.)
Such an approach is not only ineffective among faithful
Jews, it’s downright offensive. Christian evangelism efforts
focusing on Christ as the fulfillment of Judaism are simply a
 means of “picking off the weak Jews who really weren’t all that
good of Jews to begin with,” my friend told me.
Equally offensive are the so-called, “Messianic Christian”
efforts, that attempt to blend together as much of Judaism and
Christianity as possible, resulting in strange combinations of
traditional Jewish worship, bland evangelical Christian doctrine,
and an identity that is neither completely Jewish or completely
Christian. There’s a Lutheran of some sort that I read about
recently who was very proud of how he’d combined Jewish rites
into Lutheran worship, making sure that the setting looked as
Jewish as possible. This doesn’t work. Devout Jews ignore it as
pandering and condescending. Strictly cultural Jews notice, but
the message of, “We’re similar” doesn’t have any meaning to them.
It’s as if you were to say to a non-practicing Roman Catholic,
“Look, a Lutheran liturgy is similar to a Roman Catholic Mass!”
Why would they care?
Even in Maine, the land of no religion, we have one of these
congregations in my area. Because they describe themselves as a
type of Jewish congregation, they reached out to the local
Rabbinical Association. The organization, which is consisted of all
of the Rabbis in the Portland, Maine area, refuses to even speak to
the leader of that congregation for any reason.
The most egregious Messianic Christian effort I’ve come across
is from the more well-known “Jews For Jesus” organization, who
for a time used the slogan, “Jesus, why not?”
Back in April, these so-called “Messianic Jews” released an
online video that showed “Jesus bearing the cross just as he is
about to be sent to the gas chambers at Auschwitz.” 7 No matter
how I look at it, I can’t see how this proclaims the Gospel to Jews,
or anyone else, for that matter.
Whether it’s the “We can show you the true Jewish faith”
outreach efforts or something as over the top as that downrightly
offensive video, neither have a positive effect on practicing Jews
and do even less for the unfaithful. Saying to a non-practicing
Jew, “Look at how our worship is similar to Jewish worship” is like
saying to a non-practicing Roman Catholic, “Look at how a
Lutheran liturgical service is almost like a Catholic service!” Why
would they care?
So what kind of outreach to Jews does work? The best way is getting
yourself out of the way. The more I learn about “techniques” and
“methods” that are the supposed means of “effective outreach” to Jews,
the more annoyed I become. The Holy Spirit working through Holy
Scripture is sufficient. No training video, no special educational visit to a

7http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Messianic-Jews-court-
controversy-with-Jesus-in-Auschwitz-video-349850
congregation by some sort of Jewish/Christian hybrid that’s supposed to
enlighten a congregation, no book of suggestions is greater than the all-
encompassing power of the voice of God Himself. (Surprise!).
Now, a couple of you may know what happened in my own family and
perhaps it’s not a typical (if in fact there is one) example of conversion,
but it’s relevant nonetheless.
I’m sure most of you know my father, as his reputation seems to
precede me everywhere I go. Not easy to be the son of the well-known
former LCMS board member some call “Fast Eddie.” Me? I call myself
“Balfour the Lesser Known, but Slightly Taller.” Of course, part of his
notoriety comes from the fact that he was a convert from Orthodox
Judaism in his early 20s. One of the prices he paid for that conversion
was alienation from his family. While time has taken care of that to an
extent, there was always the difficulty of knowing his own parents would
likely never become Christians of any sort.
Before hurricane Katrina, most of my family still lived in my
hometown of New Orleans. The hurricane changed all of that. I’ll not get
into the entire story, but because my grandmother’s home was
destroyed, no other relative’s home was left untouched, and because my
father was dealing with cancer and recovery from emergency heart
surgery, my grandmother became my responsibly. At the time, I was
serving a parish in Wyoming. After a cross-country trip with an 87 year
old Jewish woman who exemplified every stereotype of an old Jewish
Woman, I had a chance to show her what I thought was the most
wonderful place to live I’d ever seen. Obviously, as pastor of the
congregation, that was where my family and I spent a great deal of time.
She’d really never seen my three children much, so I told her, “If you
want to spend as much time with the kids as you can, you’ll need to
show up at church on Sundays.” This was not an effort at conversion.
Over time, I noticed she’d moved up to the front row and then started
mentioning that she enjoyed the sermons. She’s my grandmother, so I
thought it was a nice sentiment at left it at that. But there was more I
began to notice: When we prayed the Our Father, she was reciting it as
well. Then she began reciting the creed, singing the hymns, even
showing up for a Bible study on Hebrews (of course) that I was teaching
during the week. I thought that maybe something miraculous was
happening, but didn’t say anything. This continued on, even when I
moved back to Ft. Wayne and brought her along. About a year after that,
with great nervousness, I approached the subject of her being baptized.
Her response wasn’t exactly “no” as much as it was her great fear that
someone in the family might find out. I was stunned beyond words. I
waited a year and tried again. This time she said she would be baptized,
but it had to be private and I couldn’t tell anyone about it except my
parents and the chaplain of the facility where she lived. And so it
happened. The faculty did have a donated stand, but no bowl. I found a
metal mixing bowl that fit inside, brought my children, put my father on
speakerphone and went through the baptismal liturgy in its entirety.
That day, a 92 year old Jewish woman became a member of the Holy
Christian Church on earth. She was excited to be allowed to receive the
Sacrament of the Altar, Holy Absolution, and to be able to participate in
the liturgy that she’d come to love so well.
I’m not here to say that this is the only means of a Jewish conversion,
but if this is possible, then as Scripture says, “Nothing is impossible with
God.” You either believe that His Word never returns to Him empty or
you don’t. I can’t tell you how or when the door will be opened for any of
us to place God’s Word in the ears of a Jew, but remain aware that the
opportunity may come and if it does, our Lord is faithful to direct you to
know what to do.

Addendum (if time allows): Current Events

I wasn’t sure if I’d have time to address current events affecting the
Jewish population in the U.S. and elsewhere, but since there’s some
time, I want you to have a picture of what’s affecting Jews today. I bring
this up because events which effect any part of the populace serve to
strengthen that sense of cultural identity I talked about earlier. Sadly,
none of what is happening at the moment is positive. There can be no
mistaking the fact that there is an increase in overt anti-Semitism. Anti-
Semitism never goes away, but how active it is comes in waves and at the
moment, the current wave hasn’t crested yet.
First, some examples in the United States are worth noting. In New
York, the home of a significant Jewish population, Anti-Semeitc incidents
tripled last year. I realize that “incident” is a pretty broad term, but
having looked over what these events were, every single one I read about
was of a violent nature.
More recently, there have been a number of events that have taken
place on college campuses during 2014.
At DePaul University in Chicago, the student body voted on a non-
binding resolution to divest itself from all companies that do business
with the state of Israel. Because of verbal harassment directed towards
Jewish students during the campaign surrounding the vote, many felt
unsafe and transferred to other schools.
At Vassar University, Nazi imagery was posted to Jewish students’
Facebook accounts.
At the University of Michigan, an anti-Israel group came to a student
government meeting and shouted racial epithets at Jewish student
government members.
At New York university, mock eviction notices were “served” to Jewish
students by sliding them under the doors of their dormitory rooms.
Second, there are no shortage of concerns for Jews outside of the U.S.
I don’t doubt you’ve at least heard in a general sense of what’s been
going on in France and Germany recently. Take these examples from the
newspaper, The Guardian:

“In the space of just one week last month, according to Crif,
the umbrella group for France's Jewish organisations, eight
synagogues were attacked. One, in a Paris suburb, was
firebombed by a 400-strong mob. A kosher supermarket and
pharmacy were smashed and looted; the crowd's chants and
banners included "Death to Jews" and "Slit Jews' throats".
That same weekend, in [another part of the capital], stone-
throwing protesters burned Israeli flags.

In Germany last month, molotov cocktails were lobbed into a

synagogue in Wuppertal – previously destroyed on
Kristallnacht – and a Berlin imam, Abu Bilal Ismail, called on
Allah to "destroy the Zionist Jews … Count them and kill
them, to the very last one." Bottles were thrown through the
window of an antisemitism campaigner in Frankfurt; an
elderly Jewish man was beaten up at a pro-Israel rally in
Hamburg; an Orthodox Jewish teenager was punched in the
face in Berlin. In several cities, chants at pro-Palestinian
protests compared Israel's actions to the Holocaust; other
notable slogans included: "Jew, coward pig, come out and fight
alone," and "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas."

Again, all of these events in France and Germany took place

in the just the last month.
All that said, I can’t leave you on that note. I’m sure, just like me,
you’re a fan of Hasidic rock music. O.k., I can’t say I knew about it
either, but there is such a thing. In fact, there’s a female Hasidic rock
band that just made it’s first appearance (in New York, of course).
They’re called the Bulletproof Stockings, a reference to the black
stockings all Hasidic women are required to wear. But don’t worry about
missing the show if you can’t make it to New York, you’ll have a chance
to see it on the Oxygen network in 2015. Songs I’d like to hear include
Man In Black, Black Days, Black Velvet, Paint it Black, and of course,
Back in Black.