'Jew in the box' exhibit at Jewish Museum in Germany causes st

[He giveth more grace]

To help educate postwar generations, the Jewish Museum in Berlin offers a Jewish man or woman to sit inside a glass box for two hours a day through August to answer visitors' questions about Jews and Jewish life.

"A lot of our visitors don't know any Jews and have questions they want to ask," museum official Tina Luedecke said. "With this exhibition we offer an opportunity for those people to know more about Jews and Jewish life."

But not everybody thinks putting a Jew on display is the best way to build understanding and mutual respect.

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[He giveth more grace]

I think this is odd and smacks of antisemitic.

[Leonard]

I think that's very creative and probably helpful....

[He giveth more grace]

I think that's very creative and probably helpful....

But the box thing is weird... is he an artifact or something.

[The_Patriot21]

I think if the jew is a willing participant and it helps people learn about jews in a positive manner, then Im all for it.

[Qnts2]

Putting a Jewish person on display is weird, but if you live in an area where there are not many Jewish people, people tend to have a lot of misconceptions about Jewish people. I know from experience, if people find out someone is Jewish, you are on display.

Pastors families sometimes feel like they live in a glass box, where everything they do is observed and discussed. For Jewish people, the effect can be much the same in areas where there are few Jews.

When I first accepted the Lord, I was the first Jewish person in the area to have accepted the Lord. When I walked into a church I hadn't been before, and someone knew or had heard of me, by whisper, very quickly everyone in the congregation quickly knew I was a Jewish person who was attending service and many people would start to come up to me to ask questions. Others would just stand back and look at me. I remember many times, if the pastor from the pulpit during the sermon would reference the OT, or say a Hebrew name, would stop and ask me in the middle of the sermon, if they had it right.

So, the glass box might be symbolic of the idea that people know little and Jewish people who live in such areas actually live in the proverbial glass box. But, the most important thing is it opens up people to ask questions.

Over the years, I have been asked many different questions and I don't mind. It is much better to have the questions and answer these questions, to build a more accurate conception of who Jewish people are, how they live, what they think and do. But, I do understand how some are uncomfortable.