Jews For Jesus Founder Dies

Moishe Rosen, founder of the controversial group Jews For Jesus, died this week at the age of 78.

Jews for Jesus was officially founded by Mr. Rosen in San Francisco in 1973. In the decades since, its missionaries have been a familiar presence on street corners in cities around the United States and elsewhere. Mr. Rosen was the group’s first executive director, a post he held until 1996. The organization’s central tenet is that it is possible simultaneously to be Jewish and to accept Jesus as the Messiah. “We certainly identify ourselves ethnically as Jewish, and with certain aspects of the religion that don’t conflict with our belief in Christ,” Ms. Perlman explained on Friday. Though Jews for Jesus enrolls no members per se, Ms. Perlman estimated that it has “a constituency” of about 200,000 interested Jews and Christians, a figure she said was based partly on subscriptions to the group’s print and online newsletters.

Jews For Jesus has chapters in ten countries, including Israel. Its members can be found annoying the fuck out of NYC's subway riders just about every day of the week.