A Jew for Jesus

Last night I went with Kendra (my host mom) and my friends Evie and Mandi to a violin concert. Kendra told me the concert was being held at a church, and that there might be some preaching, so I was like cool, I love preaching. Surreal experience no. 1: When I got there I was surprised to find a Taiwanese woman at center stage, singing in Hebrew with a giant wooden cross behind her. She was singing, "Baruch Haba, Adonai..." with the Chinese transliteration on a giant screen behind her, everyone joining in. To hear Hebrew in a place where most people don't speak English and have never heard of Hanukkah created some cognitive dissonance right there.

It got stranger. The violinist came out, and it was this American guy wearing a kippah. I was like, "word?" Keep in mind there are like 12 Americans in this entire city. Then he got on stage and said, "I am happy to be here with you tonight. I am Jewish, and have come all the way from America...to spread the glory of Jesus." The rest of the night he talked about how Jesus saved him, how he was thirsty and Jesus gave him water, how he was hungry and Jesus gave him bread, raise your hands if you want to surrender yourself to Jesus, etc. At one point he claimed that Jesus is "the King of the Jews," which is when I turned to Kendra and said in Chinese, "bu shi" (not so).

So yea, I guess he is a "Jew for Jesus." Kinda unexpected in Yilan, Taiwan. The concert itself was aight, he played "Amazing Grace" and then "Yerushalim Shel Zahav" and some Yiddish folk songs followed by "Ode to Joy." I was feeling tired and so I almost didn't go, but I was totally glad I went. I can't see that kinda think happening in my Taiwanese hood and me not being there.

postscript: according to Wikipedia, Jews for Jesus focus specifically on converting Jews to Christianity ("it's like your religion, but with Jesus"). Makes me feel differently about the fact that I didn't get to talk to him after the show.