A Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim unite for the wrong reason

These headlines are presented as a snapshot of what our Jewish neighbors are thinking and feeling and to provide data as you pray about these issues. CMJ USA does not necessarily agree with the opinions expressed in these articles.

Scroll through the headlines to see my editorial comments throughout.

💣The Price: Vandalism escalates to homemade bombs (Tablet)

How a Muslim National Guardsman, a pastor’s daughter and a Shabbat-keeping Jew joined together in a fantasy of redeeming inner hurts and perceived global wrongs through symbolic violence against Pittsburgh’s Jewish community—and building bombs.

If you read one item from this list, read The Price.

After Chabad of Pittsburgh was defaced with “Jewish 4 Palestine” last summer, I spoke with a CMJ supporter who was sure it was a false-flag vandalism by some antisemite. I believed the words of the tag – Jews 4 Palestine – because I had been reading of the deep division among American Jews over Israel’s response to the October 7 massacre. There had been substantial protests of the the Israel-Hamas War by American Jews, including a sit-in by Jews protesting Israel at the Capitol.

This long article details an extreme case of a young Jewish woman looking for a way to stay Jewish while criticizing Israel. She ultimately finds allies in a young Muslim-American man who fantasizes about dying a martyr in Palestine and the daughter of a Presbyterian pastor who speaks out against Israel. The young Christian woman allegedly helped the Muslim-American prepare and test pipe bombs.

Please read this, pray, and befriend a young person. The journeys these young people take are long and complicated. They were all looking for belonging. They seem to find it in the anti-Israel encampments at the University of Pittsburgh.

In a sermon I preached recently, I commend Thomas for voicing his questions. Jesus never condemns him for asking questions, for needing to investigate. Jesus comes back for Thomas and encourages his questions. We must approach young people such as these three in similar ways. Yes, criminal behavior must have consequences. Questions should not.

😠Anti-Defamation League says anger at Israel is now the driving force behind antisemitism in the US (Associated Press)

📈ADL says antisemitic incidents rose over 80% on college campuses last year (JTA)

This is the fourth year in a row that antisemitic incidents have broken all previous annual records, the ADL reports.

🗣️‘Genocidal Josh’ and the dangerous normalization of antisemitic rhetoric (Jewish Chronicle)

The normalization of online hate can and has inspired antisemites to commit violent and deadly acts

📰Confronting antisemitism in Pennsylvania amid Easter and Passover (Rev. Bryan Jarrell)

The violence Jesus of Nazareth experienced on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and our own governor Josh Shapiro experienced on the first night of Passover, overlap to an uncomfortable degree.

🍽️Ohio Applebee’s defaced with antisemitic graffiti reading ‘Jews work here’ (JTA)

The CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton called the vandalism “devastating.”

❤️‍🔥What I learned about American Jews while collecting Judaica for LA fire victims (JTA)

Donations to a Judaica drive told an American tale of resilience and mutual aid, according to an organizer.

⚰️38% of American Jews believe in life after death, study finds (JTA)

About half of American Jews, and nearly two-thirds of Israeli Jews, said animals can have spirits.

🤔El Salvador’s president, Trump’s new deportation partner, is a pro-Israel Palestinian (JTA)

Nayib Bukele also claims his wife has Sephardic Jewish heritage.

✉️1943 Albert Einstein Letter affirming that Christians stood up against Nazis (PBS)

“I have a letter that Albert Einstein wrote to my father in 1943. In 1940, my father read a Time magazine article that stated that Einstein was quoted as saying that the only social institution that stood up to Nazism was the Christian church. My father's a Presbyterian minister in a little Northern Michigan town called Harbor Springs.”

😒Disagreement among Jewish Americans on Trump’s efforts to stop antisemitism

• Trump isn’t exploiting antisemitism; he’s attacking its root cause (JNS)
    The administration’s demands to elite universities go beyond the narrow question of antisemitism. If DEI and woke ideology are spared, then Jew-hatred will continue to thrive.

• Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’ (JTA)
    In an interview, Lipstadt warned against a “potential weaponizing” of antisemitism.

• Over 500 rabbis sign letter rejecting Trump’s antisemitism agenda (JTA)
    A similar rabbis’ letter published last week condemned the administration’s “immoral use of the law.”

• Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country (Forward)
    Jewish community members at Harvard, Emerson College, Georgetown University and more have condemned the Trump administration’s actions

7️⃣7️⃣Antisemites are still proving why we need Israel (JNS)

After 77 years and a global surge in hate in which the Jewish state is itself the focus, the justice of the Zionist cause remains a historical imperative.

Editor's Note: This was published May 1, which coincided with Iyar 5, the Hebrew calendar date of Israel Independence Day. On the Gregorian calendar, Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948.

🏴Hamas Is Not Just a Terrorist Organization. It’s a gov’t with a standing army (Mosaic)

At the start of this war, the jihadist group had governing authority, territorial control, a functioning bureaucracy, and a trained army.

🗣️A Pogrom Is Brewing in Canada (The FP)

The days of exclusionary signs at golf clubs have been replaced by open calls for jihad in Jewish neighborhoods. This will not end well.

🚫Why I Don’t Use the Word ‘Antisemitism’ (Jewish Journal)

I try my best to use another term. It’s simple and far more direct: Jew-hater.