Tag Archives: Jesus

Eve Levavi Feinstein on the Jewish Jesus

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Harvard lecturer on Near East Languages and Civilisations Eve Levavi Feinstein writes on the Jewish Ideas Daily site:

In today’s cultural milieu, in which even liberal Judaism is quite varied and evangelical Christianity is on the rise, some Jewish thinkers have sought instead to engage with the messianic and Christological elements of Jesus’ figure. Yitz Greenberg, for example, has proposed viewing Jesus as a “failed messiah”—the term “failed” being used here not in a pejorative sense, but as an indication that Jesus’ redemptive work is incomplete. According to this view, Jesus takes his place among many Jewish leaders who were not able to complete their missions, including Moses, Jeremiah, and Bar Kokhba, leader of the Jewish revolt against Rome in the second century C.E. 

A similar perspective is offered by Byron Sherman, who identifies Jesus with the “Joseph messiah,” a leader who, according to one Jewish tradition, is to arrive on earth before the final redemption by a messiah descended from King David. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Daniel Matt, taking a different approach, suggest that Jesus be viewed as a tzaddik, a righteous individual who, according to Hasidic tradition, embodies the divine. Much as Greenberg and Sherman accept Jesus as a messiah but not the messiah, Schachter-Shalomi and Matt accept the possibility that Jesus represented a type of divine incarnation without viewing his incarnation as the unique event of Christian doctrine.

Jews and Arabs reconcile around an empty tomb

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The Jerusalem Post reports:

Every year, the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem welcomes thousands of Christian tour groups for communion services and devotional lectures in its beautiful and tranquil setting. Naturally, the crowds peak each spring around Resurrection Sunday. But one Easter service in particular has been bringing together an unusual mix of New Testament believers for the past 20 years.

On a late Saturday afternoon in April, some 500 local Arab and Jewish followers of Jesus came together once again for an annual gathering of reconciliation around Jesus’s empty tomb.

The Garden Tomb does not claim to be the actual site of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus. But it does contain all the elements of those momentous events described in the Gospels, preserved in a remarkable natural setting.

There is a first-century Jewish tomb in which no one is buried. Nearby is a long-abandoned stone quarry – which also served as places of public execution 2,000 years ago. And there are a large, ancient water cistern and wine press on the grounds befitting of a grand vineyard owned by a wealthy man like Joseph of Arimathea.

So it is in this inspiring setting and on the distinct occasion of Resurrection celebrations that Jewish and Arab Christians have decided to assemble together to reach across the vast political divide created by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and unite under the name of Jesus.

“This is the place we feel it’s most important for Christians from… the Holy Land to come together, the Jews and the Arabs,” said Dr. Munir Kakish, a Palestinian Arab pastor from Ramallah, during the recent gathering. “It’s one of the easiest ways to bring people together – the resurrected Jesus brings us together.”

[...]

A group of Arab pastors began the annual gathering some 20 years ago, and they were quickly joined by some of their Jewish counterparts. Asher Intrader, head of the Ahavat Yeshua congregation in Jerusalem, was one of the first Jewish leaders to join them.

“By bringing Jews and Arabs together, we show our unity,” said Intrader.

“You can’t bring unity by Abraham’s tomb, even though we’re all sons of Abraham,” he added. “Why? Because he’s in it! Only an empty tomb has the power to bring us together.”

Israel Knohl on National Geographic

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Watch here:

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/national-geographic-channel/all-videos/av-8757-9215/ngc-the-first-jesus.html

Here are National Geographic facts on this messianic figure:

ABOUT THE STONE:

  • The tablet, called the Jeselsohn Stone, is three feet tall with 87 lines of Hebrew.  It was found on the antiquities market a decade ago but not seriously studied by scholars until recently. 
  • Based on the microscopic analysis of the soils, the tablet probably came from an area near the Dead Sea.
  • The writings found on the stone date back to the first century B.C.
  • Its writing is unique because it is ink on stone in two neat columns, rather than ink on parchment or engravings on stone like so many other biblical artifacts.
  • The stone is broken and much of the wording has been washed away over time.  Many scholars believe the stone’s imperfect pockmarks and the ambiguity of the text itself actually validate the stone.
  • Much of the text describes a vision of the apocalypse transmitted by the angel Gabriel.
  • The stone is controversial because it could speak of a Messiah who will rise from the dead after three days, based on line 80, which leading Messianic scholar Dr. Israel Knohl has read as “by three days live.”
  • If this reading were accurate, it would imply that the idea of a Messiah who rises from the dead after three days predates the time of Christ — providing a missing link between Judaism and Christianity, since it suggests Jesus’ death and resurrection were not unique.

ABOUT SIMON OF PERAEA:

  • A former Jewish slave, Simon of Peraea crowned himself king, claiming to be the redeemer of Israel, the Messiah.
  • He led a failed rebellion against Rome in 4 B.C. before Passover and set fire to one of King Herod’s palaces at Jericho and several other royal residences.
  • Soon after the rebellion, Simon was captured in a remote canyon and killed or chopped in the neck; his corpse was left to rot amidst the rocks.  For Jews of the time of Simon of Peraea, not burying a corpse was the ultimate humiliation.
  • In the wake of his death, many of his followers were crucified.
  • Dr. Knohl believes that Jesus knew the story of Simon’s death and from it had learned that a Messiah must die to fulfill his destiny.
  • Accounts by the ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus may be the only literary evidence from the time that either Jesus or Simon of Peraea existed. 
  • Archeological evidence of Simon’s rebellion may lie in the ruins of the ancient burned palace, which Dr. Knohl and archeologist Byron McCane set out to find in National Geographic Channel’s expedition.

What do you think?

Bob Dylan’s Spiritual Journey

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The JC reports:

Dylan was on tour with a number of strongly Christian African-American backing singers who steered him towards Jesus. The result was a baptism in the Pacific and three Christian albums. Sounes, Dylan’s biographer, was appalled. “Musically, Slow Train Coming was a great album but it’s all about Jesus. I find it hard to listen to.” So did plenty of others – Earls Court was half empty on his 1981 tour. However, Dylan’s evangelical lyrics were soon gone. He and his brother, David, have been spotted in synagogue on Yom Kippur but he has also released an album of Christmas carols. It would be soul-destroying to think that he had turned into Cliff Richard but no-one really knows what goes through Dylan’s head, including the man himself most probably. And of course the theology of Dylan is further complicated by the fact that to a significant minority of his followers he is himself a deity.

Happy birthday Bob, from RPP!

London Jewish Chronicle: Yeshua = Jesus in Hebrew

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The JC reports:

Justin Bieber may have left Israel with more than some sand in his suitcase.

The teenage pop star, who delighted fans with a concert in Tel Aviv last month, was recently spotted sporting a new tattoo.

The tattoo, on his left ribcage, is of the Hebrew word Yeshua, translated into English as Jesus.

Justin is a devout Christian, but his manager Scooter Braun is Jewish. Mr Braun revealed last year that Justin reads the Shema before he goes on stage for luck.

“First he says a Christian prayer, then he says the Shema,” he said. “Justin heard me pray, he gets why I do it and now he does the same.”

Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles: Yeshua = Jesus in Hebrew

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From Bulgakov to Bieber…

This is a watershed moment for Messianic Jews!

We read:

The Biebs is sporting a tattoo on his ribcage that reads “Yeshua”, which is the Hebrew word for Jesus.  I love tattoos and think his is beautiful.  Justin is strolling towards adulthood, and for a boy who could have selected any tattoo in the world, the one he chose shows us who he is, and let’s me know he is keeping the faith.

Justin Bieber Gets a Yeshua Tattoo

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Forward reports:

A month after his first visit to Israel, Justin Bieber has gotten a Hebrew tattoo.

The 17-year-old pop star showed off the new ink during a visit to Hawaii with his girlfriend this week. (Because that’s what normal 17-year-olds do: get tattoos and go to Hawaii with their girlfriends.)

The letters spell out “Yeshua,” or Jesus, in Hebrew.

Israel’s Mako website speculates that the Christian singer may have been influenced in his tattoo selection by his Jewish manager, Scooter Braun. The site claims Bieber says the “Shma” before every concert, and that Braun has discussed Jewish ethics with the performer.

Whatever the tattoo’s inspiration, The Shmooze hopes it means that Bieber wasn’t too traumatized by his visit to Israel, which was marred by overzealous paparazzi and opportunistic politicians.

The concert itself went off without a hitch, and the singer delighted fans by using a bit of local slang — “sababa,” or cool — that didn’t make the cut as his tattoo.

Anti-Missionary Rabbi Michael Skobac: It Would Have Been Nice If Jesus Were Moshiach

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Here is an absolutely fascinating talk from anti-missionary Jews For Judaism rabbi Michael Skobac.

Obviously, Skobac does not think Jesus really was Moshiach. After all, his career is trying to convince Jews that Jesus wasn’t Moshiach! This only makes his line of argument even more intriguing, coming as it does from Skobac’s religious and professional perspective.

Skobac thinks that Jesus was a Torah-observant Jew. He thinks Jesus was righteous, and there was nothing about him to mark him out as an evil, negative or disobedient man.

Skobac doesn’t think there is anything sinister about Jesus claiming to be Moshiach, and actually thinks this is something healthy and positive for committed, zealous and sincere Jews, to believe they might be the catalyst for change in Hashem’s kingdom.

Watch from 08:45:

Assuming that it’s a person that could be theoretically in the ballpark, which means it’s someone who minimally is a religious Jew, that’s learned, that seems to have some leadership qualities – if the person claims to be the Messiah, on some level a healthy response would be Hal thy – “it would be nice”. It would be nice if you turned out to be the Moshiach, it would be very nice. Meaning, I don’t know for sure, I suspect you probably are a little bit deluded, but it would be nice if it was true. The point I’m trying to make is that the idea of someone being Moshiach is not an unhealthy impulse. I think that it’s a positive thing to be the Moshiach. You’re gonna be the force, you’re gonna be the agent, to make the world a much better place. So for a person to have this impulse, that I’m gonna be the one that’s gonna basically bring this world to its fulfillment, that’s not a bad thing to think. That’s not an evil thought, that’s a positive thought! On some level, maybe everyone should think that about themselves! I wanna be someone who’s gonna change this world. I wanna be someone who’s gonna make this world a better place. I’m not talking about someone claiming [to be] a great cult leader [or] a great dictator. The concept itself to be Moshiach is not an evil concept, it’s a positive concept. So, you have someone named Jesus, 2000 years ago, who thought he was the Moshiach. That was what he thought about himself. And he persuaded a group of people to follow him [and] that he was the Messiah.

Moshiach

Rabbi Rami Shapiro: Problems With Messianic Jews Are Psychological Only

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Rabbi Rami Shapiro wrote about Messianic Jews on his blog in 2006:

Are Messianic Jews really Jews? This is one question that has come up that I find especially curious. While Jewish interest in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sufism is so commonplace as to have given rise to terms like Bu-Jus, Hin-Jews, and Jufis), a Jew who finds herself attracted to Jesus (who was after all a Jew) is somehow beyond the pale.

The issue isn’t theological. Buddhism and its absence of God, Hinduism and its plethora of Gods, and Islam and its final Book and Prophet, are each antithetical to Judaism. If we can have Jewish Buddhists, why can’t we have Jewish Christians?

Nor is the issue sociological: a Jew who becomes a Christian (or a Hindu for that matter) and then decides to return to Judaism, doesn’t have to convert back, he or she simply has to come home; making a strong case that a Jew is a Jew no matter what.

Nor is it historical: the first Christians were all Jews. Christianity was a Jewish movement. The New Testament is predominately a Jewish book. And Jesus was nothing if not Jewish. So if was good enough for Matthew, Mark, John, and Paul, why not today’s Jews?

The problem is psychological and has everything to do with the way we Jews have been treated by Christians over the past two thousand years. If we had been persecuted by Buddhists; had Hindus come out of their temples screaming for the death of the Jews; then Bu-Jus and Hin-Jews would also be anathema. So Jews are leery of anything Christian. We imagine they want to destroy us, convert us, set us up to die as the final proof that Jesus is Lord.

Of course most Christians today want nothing of the sort, but, perception trumps reality every time. So we Jews see Messianic Jews as an oxymoron, and do our best to prune them from the family tree, and write them out of Father’s will. They have given up their inheritance and gone after false gods. Good riddance.

Personally, I am happy when someone finds God (or the Absolute) as long as what they find makes them just, kind, and humble. A Jew who finds Jesus is just that: a Jew. If he is obnoxious about finding Jesus, my guess is that he was just as obnoxious before finding Jesus. Jesus won’t make you obnoxious, but he won’t stop you either.

Given all of this, the question for me then becomes, Who is a Jew? I offer this definition: A Jewish is a person who calls herself a Jew, makes rabbinic Judaism her primary source of spiritual exploration and celebration, wrestles with God, Torah, Mitzvot, and Israel, and who identifies with, joins with, supports, and defends her fellow Jews world-wide.

My definition is behavioral rather than genetic, and is stricter than blood, if not thicker. I am saying it is my final thought on the matter. I try not to have final thoughts. But it is what I am thinking today. So, does this definition include or exclude Messianic Jews? Honestly, I am not sure. I will have to give it more thought.