Judaism's view of Jesus is a very peripheral one. Jews have traditionally seen Jesus as one of a number of false messiahs who have appeared throughout history[citation needed]. Jesus is viewed as having been the most influential, and consequently the most damaging of all false messiahs. However, since the messiah does not take center stage in Judaism, the total rejection of Jesus as either messiah or deity in Judaism has never been a central issue for Judaism.

Judaism has never accepted any of the claimed fulfillments of prophecy that Christianity attributes to Jesus. Judaism also forbids the worship of a person as a form of idolatry, since the central belief of Judaism is the absolute unity and singularity of God Although Jews and religious leaders share a core of monotheistic principles, Judaism has no formal statement of principles of faith such as a creed that is recognized or accepted by all.[1][2]

Jewish eschatology Jewish eschatology is concerned with the Jewish Messiah, afterlife, and the revival of the dead. Eschatology, generically, is the area of theology and philosophy concerned with the final events in the history of the world, the ultimate destiny of humanity, and related concepts holds that the coming of the Messiah Messiah (Hebrew: משיח‎; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25. For example, Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, though not a Hebrew, is referred to as "God's anointed" ( will be associated with a specific series of events that have not yet occurred, including the return of Jews to their homeland and the rebuilding of The Temple Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, religious Jews have prayed that God will allow for the building of a Third Temple on the Temple Mount. This prayer has been a formal part of the traditional thrice daily Jewish prayer services. Though it remains unbuilt, the notion of and desire for a Third Temple is sacred in Judaism,, an era of peace Messianic Age is a theological term referring to a future time of peace and brotherhood on the earth, without crime, war and poverty. Many religions believe that there will be such an age; some refer to it as the "Kingdom of God"[3] and understanding during which "the knowledge of God" fills the earth,[4] and since Judaism holds that none of these events occurred during the lifetime of Jesus, he is not a candidate for messiah.

Contents

Background

Main article: Christianity and Judaism Although Christianity and Judaism share historical roots, these two religions diverge in fundamental ways. Judaism places emphasis on actions, focusing primary questions on how to respond to the eternal covenant God made with Israelites and Proselytes, as recorded in the Torah. Ever since the First Council of Nicaea, Christianity places emphasis Woodcut carved by Johann von Armssheim (1483). Portrays a disputation between Christian and Jewish scholars

The belief that Jesus Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ or simply Jesus, is the central figure of Christianity, which views him as the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God (in the concept of the Trinity, he is God [as] the Son), who came to provide humankind with salvation and reconciliation with God by his is God God is the English name given to the singular omnipotent being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism, a person of the Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases, but one being. Since the beginning of the third century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one God, the Messiah The word originally came from Hebrew messiaḥ, “anointed”. In Judaism, the expected king of the Davidic line who would deliver Israel from foreign bondage and restore the glories of its golden age. The Greek New Testament’s translation of the term, Christos, became the accepted Christian designation and title of Jesus of Nazareth,, or a prophet In religion, a prophet is an individual who has been contacted by, or has encountered, the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other humans. The message that the prophet conveys is called a prophecy of God are incompatible with traditional Jewish philosophical tenets. The idea of the Jewish Messiah Messiah (Hebrew: משיח‎; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25. For example, Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, though not a Hebrew, is referred to as "God's anointed" ( is different from the Christian A Christian (pronounced /ˈkrɪstʃən/ ) is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe is the Messiah (the Christ in Greek-derived terminology) prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, and the son of God. Most Christians believe in the doctrine of Christ Christ is the English term for the Greek Χριστός meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Māšîaḥ), usually transliterated into English as Messiah because Jews believe Jesus did not fulfill Jewish Messianic prophecies The word originally came from Hebrew messiaḥ, “anointed”. In Judaism, the expected king of the Davidic line who would deliver Israel from foreign bondage and restore the glories of its golden age. The Greek New Testament’s translation of the term, Christos, became the accepted Christian designation and title of Jesus of Nazareth, that establish the criteria for the coming of the Messiah.[5] Authoritative texts Judaism's view of Jesus is a very peripheral one. Jews have traditionally seen Jesus as one of a number of false messiahs who have appeared throughout history[citation needed]. Jesus is viewed as having been the most influential, and consequently the most damaging of all false messiahs. However, since the messiah does not take center stage in of Judaism Judaism is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people. Judaism, originating in the Hebrew Bible and explored in later texts such as the Talmud, is considered by Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed reject Jesus as God, Divine Being, intermediary between humans and God, Messiah or saint. The belief in the Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases, but one being. Since the beginning of the third century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one God is also held to be incompatible with Judaism, as are many other tenets of Christianity.

Judaism's worldview and Jesus

Indivisibility of God

In Judaism, the idea of God as a duality Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The word's origin is the Latin duo, "two". The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages or trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases, but one being. Since the beginning of the third century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one God is heretical — it's even considered by some polytheistic Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities, called gods or goddesses, or both. These are usually assembled into a pantheon, along with their own mythologies and rituals. Many religions, both historical and contemporary, have a belief in polytheism, such as Shinto, Ancient Greek Polytheism, Roman Polytheism, Germanic Polytheism, Slavic polytheism,.[6] According to Judaic beliefs, the Torah The term Torah , also known as the Pentateuch (Greek: penta [five] and teuchos [tool, vessel, book]), refers to the Five Books of Moses—the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts. A "Sefer Torah" (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, "book of Torah") or Torah scroll is a copy of the Torah written on parchment rules out a trinitarian God in Deuteronomy Deuteronomy or Devarim (Hebrew: דְּבָרִים‎, literally "things" or "words") is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fifth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch (6:4): "Hear Israel Shema Yisrael (Hebrew: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל‎; "Hear, [O] Israel") are the first two words of a section of the Torah (Hebrew Bible) that is a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. The first verse encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one."

In his book A History of the Jews, Paul Johnson Paul Bede Johnson is a British Roman Catholic journalist, historian, speechwriter and author. He was educated at the Jesuit independent school Stonyhurst College, and at Magdalen College, Oxford. Johnson first came to prominence in the 1950s as a journalist writing for, and later editing, the New Statesman magazine. A prolific writer, he has describes the schism between Jews and Christians Schisms among the Jews are cultural as well as religious. They have happened as a product of historical accident, geography, and theology caused by a divergence from this principle:

To the question, Was Jesus God or man?, the Christians therefore answered: both. After 70 AD, their answer was unanimous and increasingly emphatic. This made a complete breach with Judaism inevitable.[7]

Fundamentally, Judaism believes that God, as the creator of time, space, energy and matter, is beyond them, and cannot be born or die, or have a son. Judaism teaches that it is heretical for any man to claim to be God, part of God, or the literal son of God. The Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud or Talmud Yerushalmi , often the Yerushalmi for short, is a collection of Rabbinic notes about the Jewish Oral tradition as detailed in the 2nd-century Mishnah. Other descriptions are Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael (Talmud of the Land of Israel) or, in some scholarly literature, Palestinian Talmud: these names are considered more (Ta'anit 2:1) states explicitly: "if a man claims to be God, he is a liar."

In the 12th century, the preeminent Jewish scholar Maimonides Moses Maimonides, also known as Rambam, was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher; one of the greatest Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba, Spain on Passover Eve, 1135, and died in Egypt on 20th Tevet, December 12, 1204. He worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt. With the contemporary Muslim elucidated the core principles of Judaism, writing "[God], the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair, nor one like a species (which encompasses many individuals), nor one as in an object that is made up of many elements, nor as a single simple object that is infinitely divisible. Rather, God is a unity unlike any other possible unity."[8]

Some Jewish scholars note that though Jesus is said to have used the phrase "my Father in Heaven" (cf. Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater Noster, is perhaps the best-known prayer in Christianity. Two versions of it occur in the New Testament, one in the Gospel of Matthew 6:9–13 as part of the discourse on ostentation, a section of the Sermon on the Mount; and the other in the Gospel of Luke 11:2–4), this common poetic Jewish expression may have been misinterpreted as literal.[9]

It should be noted that many well known Kabbalistic mystics called some Biblical figures and Hasidic Tzaddikim Tzadik is a title which is generally given to those who are considered to be righteous such as a spiritual master or rebbe. The root of the word tzadik, is tzedek (צדק), which means justice or righteousness. This term thus refers to one who acts righteously "pure Divinity", "God enclothed in a body of a man", "first-born son of God" or even just "God". Such statements caused much anger among the opponents of Hasidism and were one of the major reasons of anti-Hasidic antagonism.

For example, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev wrote that Jacob Jacob , also known as Israel (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל‎, Standard Yisraʾel, Tiberian Yiśrāʾēl; Septuagint Greek: Ἰσραήλ Israēl; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل‎ Isrāʾīl; "persevere with God"), as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the third patriarch of the Jewish people whom God made a covenant with, and ancestor was an aspect of Divinity and was called "God" by God Himself, therefore it was appropriate to bow to him. [10]. Rabbi Naftali Zvi of Ropshitz wrote that Moses Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a religious leader, lawgiver, and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. Also called Moshe Rabbenu in Hebrew (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ‎, Lit. "Moses our Teacher/Rabbi"), is the most important prophet in Judaism, and is also considered an important, as well as every true Tzaddik is God, therefore the numerical Gematria or gimatria is a system of assigning numerical value to a word or phrase, in the belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other, or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to a person's age, the calendar year, or the like. The word "gematria" is generally held to value of the Hebrew phrase "Moses, our teacher" is identical to the expression "Lord, God of Israel". According to the Ropshitzer Rebbe, Moses' prayers were identical to the prayers of Shechina, the feminine aspect of God. [11]. Rabbi Jacob Koppel Lifshitz, who is revered by the Hasidim as a great pre-Hasidic Kabbalist, wrote that Moses was "first-born son of God" and a "God-man".[12] Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his hasidim, was a prominent hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and most recent Rebbe (hasidic leader) of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, also made similar statements about his father-in-law and Tzaddikim in general, which fueled the controversial radical trends in the Chabad Messianism [13].

However, such statements are just a part of the general acute emanationism Emanationism is an idea in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems. Emanation, from the Latin 'emanare' meaning "to flow from", is the mode by which all things are derived from the First Reality, or Principle. All things are derived from the first reality or perfect God by steps of degradation to lesser or pantheism Pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical, or that the Universe is the only thing deserving the deepest kind of reverence. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Ancient Greek: πᾶν (pan) meaning "all" and θεός (theos) meaning "belief that of the same Hasidic authors, who believed that God is the only true reality of everything, including inanimate matter. In the contrary, many Christians would consider such pantheistic views fundamentally anti-Christian.

These Hasidic ideas can be compared to similar views of such Sufi masters as Al-Hallaj Mansur al-Hallaj (c. 858 – March 26, 922) (Hijri c. 244 AH-309 AH) was a Persian mystic, revolutionary writer and pious teacher of Sufism most famous for his apparent, but disputed, self-proclaimed divinity, his poetry and for his execution for heresy at the orders of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadir after a long, drawn-out investigation, Ibn Arabi Ibn 'Arabī (July 28, 1165 - November 10, 1240) was an Andalusian Arab Sufi mystic and philosopher. His full name was Abū 'Abdullāh Muḥammad ibn 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-`Arabī al-Hāṭimī al-Ṭā'ī (أبو عبد الله محمد بن علي بن محمد بن العربي الحاتمي الطائي) and Naimi or, perhaps, to the monistic trends in Hinduism Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of South Asia. Hinduism is often referred to as Sanātana Dharma by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as in Vaishnavism. Hinduism also includes yogic traditions and Mahayana Buddhism Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice. Mahāyāna Buddhism originated in India[14]. The major difference from the Christian Trinitarianism The Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases, but one being. Since the beginning of the third century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one God is the emphasis of the Divine unity of all beings, which is not limited, in the Hasidic view, to any particular individual or a particular number of God's aspects. Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschutz wrote that "they separate, while we unite", meaning, that while the Kabbalists also talk about multilayer hypostases of God, they emphasize the monistic oneness of all being from the perspective of the supra-personal apophatic Apophatic theology—also known as Negative theology or Via Negativa —is a theology that attempts to describe God, the Divine Good, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God. It stands in contrast with Cataphatic theology Absolute, while the Trinitarian Christians insist on essentially triune nature of God.[15]

Judaism's view of the Messiah

Main articles: Messiah The word originally came from Hebrew messiaḥ, “anointed”. In Judaism, the expected king of the Davidic line who would deliver Israel from foreign bondage and restore the glories of its golden age. The Greek New Testament’s translation of the term, Christos, became the accepted Christian designation and title of Jesus of Nazareth, and Jewish Messiah Messiah (Hebrew: משיח‎; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25. For example, Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, though not a Hebrew, is referred to as "God's anointed" (

Judaism's view of the Messiah differs substantially from the Christian idea of the Messiah. In the Jewish account, the Messiah's task is to bring in the Messianic age, a one-time event, and a presumed messiah who dies before completing the task (i.e., compelling all of Israel to walk in the way of Torah, repairing the breaches in observance, fighting the wars of God, building the Temple in its place, gathering in the dispersed exiles of Israel) is not the Messiah. Maimonides states, "But if he did not succeed in all this or was killed, he is definitely not the Moshiach promised in the Torah... and God only appointed him in order to test the masses."[16]

Jews believe that the Messiah will fulfill the messianic prophecies of the Prophets Isaiah Isaiah (Hebrew: יְשַׁעְיָהוּ, Modern Yeshayahu Tiberian Yəšạʻyā́hû ; Greek: Ἠσαΐας, Ēsaïās ; Aramaic/Syriac/Assyrian: ܐܫܥܝܐ , Isha`ya ; Arabic: أشعیاء‎, Ašʿiyāʾ ; "Yahweh is salvation"; pronounced /aɪˈzeɪ.ə/ , /aɪˈzaɪ.ə/ (UK)) lived approximately 2700 years ago and was a prophet in and Ezekiel According to religious texts, Ezekiel , "God will strengthen" (from חזק, khazaq, [kħaˈzaq], literally "to fasten upon", figuratively "strong", and אל, el, [ʔel], literally "strength", figuratively "Almighty"), was a priest in the Bible who prophesied for 22 years sometime in the 6th century.[17][18][19][20] According to Isaiah, the Messiah will be a paternal descendant of King David[21] via King Solomon.[22] He is expected to return the Jews to their homeland and rebuild the Temple Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, religious Jews have prayed that God will allow for the building of a Third Temple on the Temple Mount. This prayer has been a formal part of the traditional thrice daily Jewish prayer services. Though it remains unbuilt, the notion of and desire for a Third Temple is sacred in Judaism,, reign as King, and usher in an era of peace Messianic Age is a theological term referring to a future time of peace and brotherhood on the earth, without crime, war and poverty. Many religions believe that there will be such an age; some refer to it as the "Kingdom of God"[23] and understanding where "the knowledge of God" fills the earth,[24] leading the nations to "end up recognizing the wrongs they did Israel".[25] Ezekiel states the Messiah will redeem the Jews.[26]

Therefore, any Judaic view of Jesus per se is influenced by the fact that Jesus lived while the Second Temple The Second Temple stood between 516 BCE and 70 CE, during which time it was the center of Jewish sacrificial worship. It was the second temple in Jerusalem, built to replace the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon was standing, and not while the Jews were exiled. He never reigned as King, and there was no subsequent era of peace or great knowledge. Jesus died without completing or even accomplishing part of any of the messianic tasks, instead promising a second coming The Greek New Testament uses the Greek term parousia meaning "arrival", "coming", or "presence" 24 times, 17 of them concerning Christ. The Greek word is also common in the Septuagint. In classical Greek texts a substantial number of uses concern important personages however that is partly because extant Greek. Rather than being redeemed, the Jews were subsequently exiled from Israel. These discrepancies were noted by Jewish scholars who were contemporaries of Jesus, as later pointed out by Nahmanides, who in 1263 observed that Jesus was rejected as the Messiah by the rabbis of his time.[27]

Further, according to common beliefs of Judaism, Christian claims that Jesus is the textual messiah of the Hebrew Bible are based on mistranslations[28][29][30] and Jesus did not fulfill the qualifications for Jewish Messiah.

However, not all traditional rabbinical authorities viewed Jesus in negative terms. Maimonides wrote that Jesus helped to "pave the way" for the future true Messiah, by introducing the basic concepts of Judaism to Gentiles. Rabbi Jacob Emden considered Jesus a righteous man, who brought the light of faith and morality to the world, but not a Messiah.

Prophecy and Jesus

Main articles: Prophet and False prophet

According to the Torah (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18:18-22), the criteria for a person to be considered a prophet or speak for God in Judaism are that they must follow the God of Israel (and no other god), they must not describe God differently than He is known to be from Scripture, they must not advocate change to God's word or state that God has changed His mind and wishes things that contradict His already-stated eternal word, and the things they do speak of must come to pass.[31]

Additionally, there are two types of "false prophet" recognized in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh): the one who claims to be a prophet in the name of idolatry, and the one who claims to be a prophet in the name of the God of Israel, but declares that any word or commandment (mitzvah) which God has said no longer applies, or makes false statements in the name of God.[32] As Judaism believes that God's word is true eternally, one who claims to speak in God's name but diverges in any way from what God Himself has said, logically cannot be inspired by Divine authority. Deuteronomy 13:1 states simply, "Be careful to observe only that which I enjoin upon you; neither add to it nor take away from it."[33][34][35]

Even if someone who appears to be a prophet can perform supernatural acts or signs, no prophet or dreamer can contradict the laws already stated in the Bible.[36][37] For two thousand years, Jews rejected the claim that Jesus fulfilled the messianic prophecies of the Hebrew Bible, as well as the dogmatic claims about him made by the church fathers - that he was born of a virgin, the son of God, part of a divine Trinity, and was resurrected after his death. ... For two thousand years, a central wish of Christianity was to be the object of desire by Jews, whose conversion would demonstrate their acceptance that Jesus has fulfilled their own biblical prophecies."[citation needed]

Thus, any divergence from the tenets of Biblical Judaism espoused by Jesus would disqualify him from being considered a prophet in Judaism. This was the view adopted by Jesus' contemporaries, as according to rabbinical tradition as stated in the Talmud (Sotah 48b) "when Malachi died the Prophecy departed from Israel." As Malachi lived centuries before Jesus it is clear that the rabbis of Talmudic times did not view Jesus as a divinely-inspired prophet.

Jesus and salvation

See also: Salvation

Judaism does not believe that salvation or repentance from sin can be achieved through sacrifice on another's behalf, ("The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin.")[38] and is instead focused on the requirements of personal repentance.[39]

In addition, Judaism focuses on understanding how one may live a sacred life according to God's will in this world, rather than the hope of or methods for finding spiritual salvation in a future one. Judaism views Jews' divine obligation to be living as a "holy people" in full accordance with Divine will, as a "light unto the nations," and Judaism does not purport to offer the exclusive path to salvation or "the one path to God." Accordingly, the implications of the Christian conception of Jesus massively diverge from the Jewish worldview.

Jesus' life

Woodcut of the Crucifixion from an edition of William Whiston's translation of Flavius Josephus

While there is no particular view of Jesus mandated by Judaism, some Rabbis have speculated about his life. Maimonides in his Epistle to Yemen writes that Jesus was a heretic who sought to annul the Torah. American rabbi and author Milton Steinberg (1903 – 1949) wrote that Jews saw the historical Jesus as a noble and loving Jewish teacher."[40] Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (b. 1966) sees reason to believe that Jesus was a rabbi based on some of the statements in the Christian scriptures.[41]

Authoritative texts of Judaism that mention Jesus

The Talmud and "Yeshu"

Main article: Yeshu

The name Yeshu (alt: Jeshu, Yeishu, Heb: יש"ו) appears in various works of classical Jewish rabbinic literature including the Babylonian Talmud (redacted roughly before 600 CE) and the classical midrash literature written between 250 CE and 700 CE. Scholars have debated the meaning of the name, which has been used as an acronym for the Hebrew expression ימח שמו וזכרו (yemach shemo vezichro – "May his name and memory be obliterated"). The word is similar to, and may be a wordplay on, Yeshua,[citation needed] believed by many to be the original Aramaic or Hebrew name of Jesus. Due to this fact, along with the occurrence in several manuscripts of the Babylonian Talmud of the appellation Ha-Notzri, which has been variously understood as a person from Nazareth or a person belonging to a group called Notzrim (Guardians, or watchmen) and some similarities between the stories of the two figures, some or many of the references to Yeshu have been traditionally understood to refer to the Jesus of Christianity. Conversely, others have criticized this view,[42] citing discrepancies between events mentioned in association with Yeshu and the time of Jesus' life,[43] and differences between accounts of the deaths of Yeshu and Jesus.[44]

In all cases of its use, the references are to individuals who (whether real or not) are associated with acts or behaviour that are seen as leading Jews away from Judaism to minuth (a term usually translated as "heresy" or "apostasy"). Therefore, whether Yeshu equates with "Jesus" has historically been a delicate question, as "Yeshu" is portrayed in a negative light, and negative portrayals of Jesus in Jewish literature might incite, or be used as an excuse for, antisemitism among some Christians.

Some argue that there is no relationship between Yeshu and the historical Jesus; some argue that Yeshu refers to the historical Jesus; some argue that Yeshu is a literary device used by Rabbis to comment on their relationship to and with early Christians. Some rabbis[45] understood these references as referring to Jesus and based on them believed that Jesus lived 130 years prior to the date that Christians believe he lived, contradicting the Gospels' account regarding the chronology of Jesus.

Examples

The primary references to Yeshu are found in uncensored texts of the Babylonian Talmud and the Tosefta. The Vatican's papal bull issued in 1554 censored the Talmud and other Jewish texts, resulting in the removal of references to Yeshu. No known manuscript of the Jerusalem Talmud makes mention of the name although one translation (Herford) has added it to Avodah Zarah 2:2 to align it with similar text of Chullin 2:22 in the Tosefta. All later usages of the term Yeshu are derived from these primary references. In the Munich (1342 CE), Paris, and Jewish Theological Seminary of America manuscripts of the Talmud, the appellation Ha-Notzri is added to the last mention of Yeshu in Sanhedrin 107b and Sotah 47a as well as to the occurrences in Sanhedrin 43a, Sanhedrin 103a, Berachot 17b and Avodah Zarah 16b-17a. Student,[46] Zindler and McKinsey[47] Ha-Notzri is not found in other early pre-censorship partial manuscripts (the Florence, Hamburg and Karlsruhe) where these cover the passages in question.

Although Notzri does not appear in the Tosefta, by the time the Babylonian Talmud was produced, Notzri had become the standard Hebrew word for Christian and Yeshu Ha-Notzri had become the conventional rendition of "Jesus the Nazarene" in Hebrew. For example, by 1180 CE the term Yeshu Ha-Notzri can be found in the Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (Hilchos Melachim 11:4, uncensored version). Although the word Ha-Notzri literally means the nezarene (the one who was born in Nazareth), Maimonides' reference is clearly intended to indicate Jesus.

To explain the dearth of references to Jesus in the Talmud, it has been argued[by whom?] that

Maimonides' Mishneh Torah

Maimonides

Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon) lamented the pains that Jews felt as a result of new faiths that attempted to supplant Judaism, specifically Christianity and Islam. Referring to Jesus, he wrote:

"Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined that he would be Messiah and was killed by the court, was already prophesied by Daniel. So that it was said, “And the members of the outlaws of your nation would be carried to make a (prophetic) vision stand. And they stumbled” (Daniel 11.14). Because, is there a greater stumbling-block than this one? So that all of the prophets spoke that the Messiah redeems Israel, and saves them, and gathers their banished ones, and strengthens their commandments. And this one caused (nations) to destroy Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to exchange the Torah, and to make the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God."

Nonetheless, Maimonides continued,

"But the human mind has no power to reach the thoughts of the Creator, for his thoughts and ways are unlike ours. And all these things of Jesus the Nazarene, and of (Muhammad) the Ishmaelite who stood after him – there is no (purpose) but to straighten out the way for the King Messiah, and to restore all the world to serve God together. So that it is said, “Because then I will turn toward the nations (giving them) a clear lip, to call all of them in the name of God and to serve God (shoulder to shoulder as) one shoulder.” (Zephaniah 3:9). How is this? The entire world had become filled with the issues of the anointed one and of the Torah and the Laws, and these issues had spread out unto faraway islands and among many nations uncircumcised in the heart, and they discuss these issues and the Torah's laws. These say: These Laws were true but are already defunct in these days, and do not rule for the following generations; whereas the other ones say: There are secret layers in them and they are not to be treated literally, and the Messiah had come and revealed their secret meanings. But when the anointed king will truly rise and succeed and will be raised and uplifted, they all immediately turn about and know that their fathers inherited falsehood, and their prophets and ancestors led them astray." (Hilkhot Melakhim 11:10–12.)

Maimonides' Epistle to Yemen

Jesus is mentioned in Maimonides' Epistle to Yemen, written about 1172 to Rabbi Jacob ben Netan'el al-Fayyumi, head of the Yemen Jewish community during a time when Jews of that country were passing through a crisis, namely a forced conversion to Islam, inaugurated about 1165 by 'Abd-al-Nabi ibn Mahdi, and a campaign conducted by a recent convert to win them to his new faith. The context of Maimonides' mention of Jesus is during a portion retelling the history of those who tried to destroy Judaism 1) by the sword, 2) by controversies, and 3) by both conquest and controversy. The latter category begins with Jesus, and goes on to mention Paul, and then Muhammad.

Ever since the time of Revelation, every despot or slave that has attained to power, be he violent or ignoble, has made it his first aim and his final purpose to destroy our law, and to vitiate our religion, by means of the sword, by violence, or by brute force, such as Amalek, Sisera, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Titus, Hadrian, may their bones be ground to dust, and others like them. This is one of the two classes which attempt to foil the Divine will.

The second class consists of the most intelligent and educated among the nations, such as the Syrians, Persians, and Greeks. These also endeavor to demolish our law and to vitiate it by means of arguments which they invent, and by means of controversies which they institute....

After that there arose a new sect which combined the two methods, namely, conquest and controversy, into one, because it believed that this procedure would be more effective in wiping out every trace of the Jewish nation and religion. It, therefore, resolved to lay claim to prophecy and to found a new faith, contrary to our Divine religion, and to contend that it was equally God-given. Thereby it hoped to raise doubts and to create confusion, since one is opposed to the other and both supposedly emanate from a Divine source, which would lead to the destruction of both religions. For such is the remarkable plan contrived by a man who is envious and querulous. He will strive to kill his enemy and to save his own life, but when he finds it impossible to attain his objective, he will devise a scheme whereby they both will be slain.

The first one to have adopted this plan was Jesus the Nazarene, may his bones be ground to dust. He was a Jew because his mother was a Jewess although his father was a Gentile. For in accordance with the principles of our law, a child born of a Jewess and a Gentile, or of a Jewess and a slave, is legitimate. (Yebamot 45a). Jesus is only figuratively termed an illegitimate child. He impelled people to believe that he was a prophet sent by God to clarify perplexities in the Torah, and that he was the Messiah that was predicted by each and every seer. He interpreted the Torah and its precepts in such a fashion as to lead to their total annulment, to the abolition of all its commandments and to the violation of its prohibitions. The sages, of blessed memory, having become aware of his plans before his reputation spread among our people, meted out fitting punishment to him.

Daniel had already alluded to him when he presaged the downfall of a wicked one and a heretic among the Jews who would endeavor to destroy the Law, claim prophecy for himself, make pretenses to miracles, and allege that he is the Messiah, as it is written, "Also the children of the impudent among thy people shall make bold to claim prophecy, but they shall fall." (Daniel 11:14).[48]

In the context of refuting the claims of a contemporary in Yemen purporting to be the Messiah, Maimonides mentions Jesus again:

"You know that the Christians falsely ascribe marvelous powers to Jesus the Nazarene, may his bones be ground to dust, such as the resurrection of the dead and other miracles. Even if we would grant them for the sake of argument, we should not be convinced by their reasoning that Jesus is the Messiah. For we can bring a thousand proofs or so from the Scripture that it is not so even from their point of view. Indeed, will anyone arrogate this rank to himself unless he wishes to make himself a laughing stock?[49]

Nahmanides' disputation at Barcelona

Main article: Disputation of Barcelona

In 1263, Nahmanides, rabbi of Girona and later chief rabbi of Catalonia, was ordered by King James I of Aragon to take part in a public disputation with Pablo Christiani, a Jewish convert to Catholicism.

Christiani had been trying to make the Jews of Provence abandon Judaism and convert to Christianity. Relying upon the reserve his adversary would be forced to maintain through fear of wounding the feelings of the Christian dignitaries, Pablo assured the King that he could prove the truth of Christianity from the Talmud and other rabbinical writings. Nahmanides complied with the order of the King, but stipulated that complete freedom of speech should be granted, and for four days (July 20-24) debated with Pablo Christiani in the presence of the King, the court, and many ecclesiastical dignitaries.

The subjects discussed were:

  1. whether the Messiah had appeared;
  2. whether the Messiah announced by the Prophets was to be considered as divine or as a man born of human parents;
  3. whether the Jews or the Christians were in possession of the true faith.

Christiani argued, based upon several aggadic passages, that the Pharisee sages believed that the Messiah had lived during the Talmudic period, and that they ostensibly believed that the Messiah was therefore Jesus. Nahmanides countered that Christiani's interpretations were per-se distortions; the rabbis would not hint that Jesus was Messiah while, at the same time, explicitly opposing him as such. Nahmanides proceeded to provide context for the proof-texts cited by Christiani, showing that they were most clearly understood differently than as proposed by Christiani. Furthermore, Nahmanides demonstrated from numerous biblical and talmudic sources that traditional Jewish belief ran contrary to Christiani's postulates.

Nahmanides went on to show that the Biblical prophets regarded the future messiah as a human, a person of flesh and blood, and not as a divinity, in the way that Christians view Jesus. He noted that their promises of a reign of universal peace and justice had not yet been fulfilled. On the contrary, since the appearance of Jesus, the world had been filled with violence and injustice (see also But to bring a sword), and among all denominations the Christians were the most warlike.

He noted that questions of the Messiah are of less dogmatic importance to Jews than most Christians imagine. The reason given by him for this bold statement is that it is more meritorious for the Jews to observe the precepts under a Christian ruler, while in exile and suffering humiliation and abuse, than under the rule of the Messiah, when every one would perforce act in accordance with the Law.

Rabbi Jacob Emden's positive view of Jesus

Rabbi Jacob Emden, one of the most prominent Talmudists and halachic authorities of the 18th century, had expressed a uniquely positive view of Jesus and Christianity, which can be viewed as an novel example of religious pluralism. According to Emden, Jesus was a righteous traditional Jew, who "never dreamed of destroying the Torah". Similarly, he also believed that Paul's seemingly antinomian teachings only refer to Gentiles, who are only obligated to observe the most basic Noahide laws.

Rabbi Jacob Emden believed that the Nazarene (Jesus) only came to reestablish the forgotten Noahide religion for the Gentiles and thus brought the spiritual salvation to the non-Jews, but didn't attempt to undermine the authority of Judaism for the Jews. Emden praised the Apostles for spreading those salvific Noahide message through the world.

Emden wrote that, in his opinions, Jesus strengthened the authority of the Torah even more emphatically that the Talmudic sages. At the same time, he taught a proper ethical path for the Gentiles. thus bringing a double kindness in the world. According to Emden's view, strict ascetic Christian practices rectify the soul of the Gentiles in a way similar to the Jewish Mitzvot that rectify the souls of the Jews.

In his letter regarding Jesus and Christianity, Emden emphasized that he expresses his true opinions and called the "true Christian scholars, who are really great" to recognize the validity of Judaism. Emden shows a good familiarity with the New Testament, which he quotes freely and respectfully. While many well known rabbis respected and quoted Thomas Aquinas and other Christian philosophers, such openness to the Christian scripture itself is unique in the history of Judaism.[50] [51]

See also

Notes and References

  1. ^ Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4
  2. ^ A belief in the divinity of Jesus is incompatible with Judaism:
    • "The point is this: that the whole Christology of the Church - the whole complex of doctrines about the Son of God who died on the Cross to save humanity from sin and death - is incompatible with Judaism, and indeed in discontinuity with the Hebraism that preceded it." Rayner, John D. A Jewish Understanding of the World, Berghahn Books, 1998, p. 187. ISBN 1-57181-974-6
    • "Aside from its belief in Jesus as the Messiah, Christianity has altered many of the most fundamental concepts of Judaism." Kaplan, Aryeh. The Aryeh Kaplan Anthology: Volume 1, Illuminating Expositions on Jewish Thought and Practice, Mesorah Publication, 1991, p. 264. ISBN 0-89906-866-9
    • "...the doctrine of Christ was and will remain alien to Jewish religious thought." Wylen, Stephen M. Settings of Silver: An Introduction to Judaism, Paulist Press, 2000, p. 75. ISBN 0-8091-3960-X
    • "For a Jew, however, any form of shituf is tantamount to idolatry in the fullest sense of the word. There is then no way that a Jew can ever accept Jesus as a deity, mediator or savior (messiah), or even as a prophet, without betraying Judaism." Schochet, Rabbi J. Immanuel. "Judaism has no place for those who betray their roots", Canadian Jewish News, July 29, 1999.
    • Judaism and Jesus Don't Mix (foundationstone.com)
    • "If you believe Jesus is the messiah, died for anyone else's sins, is God's chosen son, or any other dogma of Christian belief, you are not Jewish. You are Christian. Period." (Jews for Jesus: Who's Who & What's What by Rabbi Susan Grossman (beliefnet - virtualtalmud) August 28, 2006)
    • "For two thousand years, Jews rejected the claim that Jesus fulfilled the messianic prophecies of the Hebrew Bible, as well as the dogmatic claims about him made by the church fathers - that he was born of a virgin, the son of God, part of a divine Trinity, and was resurrected after his death. ... For two thousand years, a central wish of Christianity was to be the object of desire by Jews, whose conversion would demonstrate their acceptance that Jesus has fulfilled their own biblical prophecies." (Jewish Views of Jesus by Susannah Heschel, in Jesus In The World's Faiths: Leading Thinkers From Five Faiths Reflect On His Meaning by Gregory A. Barker, editor. (Orbis Books, 2005) ISBN 1-57075-573-6. p.149)
    • "No Jew accepts Jesus as the Messiah. When someone makes that faith commitment, they become Christian. It is not possible for someone to be both Christian and Jewish." (Why don't Jews accept Jesus as the Messiah? by Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner)
  3. ^ (Isaiah 2:4)
  4. ^ (Isaiah 11:9)
  5. ^ Rabbi Shraga Simmons, ""Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus"". http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/Why_Jews_Dont_Believe_In_Jesus.asp. Retrieved 2006-03-14. , "Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus", Ohr Samayach - Ask the Rabbi, accessed March 14, 2006; "Why don't Jews believe that Jesus was the messiah?", AskMoses.com, accessed March 14, 2006.
  6. ^ The concept of Trinity is incompatible with Judaism:
  7. ^ Johnson, Paul (1987). A History of the Jews. HarperCollins. pp. 144. ISBN 0-06-091533-1.
  8. ^ Maimonides, Mishneh Torah Madda Yesodei ha-Torah 1:5
  9. ^ Kaplan, Aryeh (2004) (PDF). THE REAL MESSIAH? A Jewish Response to Missionaries. Jews for Judaism. pp. 17–18. ISBN 1879016117. http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/pdf/RealMessiahBookPages_v4ab.pdf. "During his lifetime, Jesus often spoke of G-d as "my Father in Heaven." For the Jews, this was a common poetic expression, and one that is still used in Jewish prayers. For the pagan gentiles, however, it had a much more literal connotation."
  10. ^ Kedushat Levi, by Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev, Shoftim
  11. ^ Zera Kodesh, by Rabbi Naftali Zvi of Ropshitz, Vaetchanan
  12. ^ Sha'arei Gan ha-Eden, by Rabbi Jacob Koppel Lifshitz, on the letter Beit
  13. ^ http://rebbegod.blogspot.com/ A Chabad Messianic blog that features a collection of Hasidic and Kabbalistic sources that equate Tzadikim with God
  14. ^ Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual, by Jay Michaelson
  15. ^ http://www.hebrewbooks.org/6467 Jonathan Eybeschutz, Shem Olam
  16. ^ Maimonides, Hilchos Melachim 11:4-5.
  17. ^ Nahmanides in his dispute with Pablo Christiani in 1263 paragraph 49.
  18. ^ Simmons, Rabbi Shraga, "Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus", accessed March 14, 2006.
  19. ^ "Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus", Ohr Samayach - Ask the Rabbi, accessed March 14, 2006.
  20. ^ "Why don't Jews believe that Jesus was the messiah?", AskMoses.com, accessed March 14, 2006.
  21. ^ (Isaiah 11:1)
  22. ^ (1 Chronicles 22:8-10)
  23. ^ (Isaiah 2:4)
  24. ^ (Isaiah 11:9)
  25. ^ (Isaiah 52:13-53:5)
  26. ^ (Ezekiel 16:55)
  27. ^ Nahmanides in the Disputation of Barcelona with Pablo Christiani in 1263 paragraph 103.
  28. ^ Why did the majority of the Jewish world reject Jesus as the Messiah, and why did the first Christians accept Jesus as the Messiah? by Rabbi Shraga Simmons (about.com)
  29. ^ Michoel Drazin (1990). Their Hollow Inheritance. A Comprehensive Refutation of Christian Missionaries. Gefen Publishing House, Ltd.. ISBN 965-229-070-X. http://www.drazin.com.
  30. ^ Troki, Isaac. "Faith Strengthened".
  31. ^ Mishneh Torah Madah Yeshodai HaTorah 8:7-9
  32. ^ A source for these is Deuteronomy 18:20, which refers to false prophets who claim to speak in the name of God.
  33. ^ Rich, Tracey, "Prophets and Prophecy", Judaism 101, accessed March 14, 2006.
  34. ^ Frankel, Rabbi Pinchas, "Covenant of History: A Fools Prophecy", Orthodox Union of Jewish Congregations of America, accessed March 14, 2006.
  35. ^ Edwards, Laurence, "Torat Hayim - Living Torah: No Rest(s) for the Wicked", Union of American Hebrew Congregations, accessed March 14, 2006.
  36. ^ (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18:18-22)
  37. ^ Buchwald, Rabbi Ephraim, "Parashat Re'eh 5764-2004: Identifying a True Prophet", National Jewish Outreach Program, accessed March 14, 2006
  38. ^ Deuteronomy 24:16
  39. ^ (Ezekiel 33:11,33:19, and Jeremiah 36:3).
  40. ^ To Jews, that Jesus appears as an extraordinarily beautiful and noble spirit, aglow with love and pity for men, especially for the unfortunate and lost, deep in piety, of keen insight into human nature, endowed with a brilliant gift of parable and epigram, an ardent Jew moreover, a firm believer in the faith of his people; all in all, a dedicated teacher of the principles, religious and ethical, of Judaism. M. Steinberg, 1975 Basic Judaism pp. 106-107, New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich
  41. ^ Boteach, Shmuley (2007-10-22). "Jesus was Jewish". Jerusalem Post. p. 13. Archived from the original on 2007-10-22. http://www.shmuley.com/articles.php?id=550. Retrieved 2007-11-08. "Paul, of course, portrayed Jesus as a religious reformer whose mission it was to abrogate Judaism and begin a new faith. But the gospels themselves rebut this conclusion. Jesus derived all his principal teachings from Judaism. His aphorisms are restatements of earlier biblical verses, and his allegories are mostly teachings of the rabbis that are found in the Talmud." ; Within the Christian Gospels, Jesus is specifically referred to as "Rabbi" (ραββι in Koine Greek) a number of times by his disciples; in the King James translation, this is often rendered as "master". In Mark 9.5 for example, Peter speaking to Jesus says "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here"
  42. ^ In the 13th century Jehiel ben Joseph of Paris wrote that the Yeshu in rabbinic literature was a disciple of Joshua ben Perachiah, and not to be confused with Jesus the Nazarene (Vikkuah Rabbenu Yehiel mi-Paris). Nahmanides too makes this point, and Rabbis Jacob ben Meir (Rabbeinu Tam) (12th century) and Jehiel Heilprin (17th century) also belong to this school. Likewise the comments of Rabbi Jacob Emden cannot be reconciled with the collective identification. In addition, the information cited from the Munich, Florence and other manuscripts in support of the identification are late comments written centuries after the original redaction of the Talmud.
  43. ^ The oppression by King Janneus mentioned in the Talmud occurred about 87 BCE, which would put the events of the story about a century before Jesus. The Yeshu who taught Jacob of Sechania would have lived a century after Jesus.
  44. ^ The forty day waiting period before execution is absent from the Christian tradition and moreover Jesus did not have connections with the government. Jesus was crucified not stoned. Jesus was executed in Jerusalem not Lod. Jesus did not burn his food in public and moreover the Yeshu who did this corresponds to Manasseh of Judah in the Shulkhan Arukh. Jesus did not make incisions in his flesh, nor was he caught by hidden observers.
  45. ^ Nahmanides in his dispute with Pablo Christiani in 1263 paragraph 22. Vikuach HaRamban found in Otzar Havikuchim by J. D. Eisenstein, Hebrew Publishing Society, 1915 and Kitvey HaRamban by Rabbi Charles D. Chavel, Mosad Horav Kook, 1963; Also "The Kuzari" by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi Section 3 paragraph 65.
  46. ^ http://talmud.faithweb.com/articles/jesusnarr.html
  47. ^ http://skeptically.org/bible/id4.html
  48. ^ Halkin, Abraham S., ed., and Cohen, Boaz, trans. Moses Maimonides' Epistle to Yemen: The Arabic Original and the Three Hebrew Versions, American Academy for Jewish Research, 1952, pp. iii-iv.
  49. ^ Halkin, Abraham S., ed., and Cohen, Boaz, trans. Moses Maimonides' Epistle to Yemen: The Arabic Original and the Three Hebrew Versions, American Academy for Jewish Research, 1952, p. xvii.
  50. ^ http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/falk1a.html Rabbi Jacob Emden's letter about Jesus, translated by Harvey Falk
  51. ^ http://www.hebrewbooks.org/20383 The original Hebrew book that contains Rabbi Emden's letter about Jesus

External links

Categories: Judeo-Christian topics | Perspectives on Jesus | Jewish views | Jews and Judaism-related controversies | Early Christianity and Judaism

 

The above information uses material from Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Some facts may not have been fully verified for accuracy. [Disclaimers]
This page was last archived by our server on Thu Jul 29 04:18:24 2010. [ refresh local cache ]
Displaying this page or its contents does not use any Wikimedia Foundation's resources.
The owners of this site proudly support the Wikimedia Foundation.

[Hide]▼
[Hide]▲