Rabbi Tries to Debunk Jesus

The following was borrowed from Church on the Web:

The Article reprinted below was taken, verbatim, from Newsweek's March 27, 2000 section entitled "The Other Jesus."

We have reprinted this Article and our letter to Newsweek and Rabbi Neusner as an open letter and posted it in this web site to demonstrate the incomprehensible lack of scholarship and insight about Jesus of Nazareth by Rabbis who are held in high esteem within the Jewish community. This is done in hopes that there might arise from among the Jewish community someone who would faithfully speak to Israel from the Torah and teach the Jews to obey the Torah as Moses wrote it, not as the Talmudic writers have distorted it and twisted its meanings.

It has always been our position that a man may believe as he chooses and what he chooses, and so, we have no argument with Rabbi Neusner's rejection of Jesus as the Messiah of Israel. Even though we are convinced otherwise, we defend his right to believe as he chooses and admire in him the willingness to publicly express his beliefs, no matter his lack of scholarship. We do, however, have an argument with his gross misconstruction of the life, teaching and mission of Jesus and of the history and Torah of Israel.

Perhaps it is his years of study of the Talmudic writings that have obscured his vision. Or perhaps it is the sad history of so many who professed Christianity and used their so called faith in Jesus Christ as a veil for the horrible mistreatment of the Jews that this century, and others, have witnessed. Whatever the reason, it is a sad day when articles such as this one are put forth in the name of Jewish scholarship.

We will reprint any responsible response from Rabbi Neusner, or other Jewish scholar regarding this article, our comments regarding it, or our letter to Rabbi Neusner that is reprinted below.

The following Article was taken from Newsweek, March 27, 2000 and is reprinted here exactly as it was written....

A Rabbi Argues With Jesus

A noted Talmudic scholar insists that Jews must remain faithful to the words of the Torah.

Newsweek March 27, 2000

"Imagine walking on a dusty road in Galilee nearly 2,000 years ago and meeting up with a small band of youngsters, led by a young man. The leader's presence catches your attention: he talks, the others listen, respond, argue, obey - care what he says, follow him. You don't know who the man is, but you know he makes a difference tot he people with him and to nearly everyone he meets. People respond, some with anger, some with admiration, a few with genuine faith. But no one walks away uninterested in the man and the things he says and does.

I can see myself meeting this man, and, with courtesy, arguing with him. It is my form of respect, the only compliment I crave from others, the only serious tribute I pay to the people I take seriously. I can see myself not only meeting and arguing with Jesus, challenging him on the basis of our shared Torah, the Scriptures Christians would later adopt as the "Old Testament." I can also imagine myself saying, "Friend, you go your way, I'll go mine, I wish you well - without me. Yours is not the Torah of Moses, and all I have from God, and all that I ever need from God, is that one Torah of Moses."

We would meet, we would argue, we would have parted friends - but we would part. He would have gone his way, to Jerusalem and the place he believed God had prepared for him; I would have gone my way, home to my wife and my children, my dog and my garden. He would have gone his way to glory, I my way to my duties and my responsibilities.

Why? Because the Torah teaches that the kingdom that matters is not in heaven, but the one we find ourselves in now; sustaining life, sanctifying life, in the here and the now of home and family, community and society. God's kingdom is in the humble details of what I eat for breakfast and how I love my neighbor.

Can the Kingdom of God come soon, in our day, to where we are? The Torah not only says yes, it shows how. Do I have then to wait for God's Kingdom? Of course I have to wait. But while waiting, there are things I have to do. Jesus demanded that to enter this Kingdom of Heaven I repudiate family and turn my back on home: "Sell all you have and follow me". That is not what the Torah says.

On Sinai Moses told how to organize a kingdom of priests and a holy people, conduct workaday affairs, love God - how to build God's kingdom, accepting the yoke of God's commandments. As a faithful Jew, what I do is simply reaffirm the Torah of Sinai over against the teachings of Jesus. Moses would have expected no less of us. So when I say, if I heard those words, I would have offered an argument, my dispute would have been with a mortal man walking among us and talking with us. Only the Torah is the word of God.

I think Christianity, beginning with Jesus, took a wrong turn in abandoning the Torah. By the truth of the Torah, much that Jesus said is wrong. By the criterion of the Torah, Israel's religion in the time of Jesus was authentic and faithful, not requiring reform or renewal, demanding only faith and loyalty to God and the sanctification of life through carrying out God's will. Jesus and his disciples took one path, and we would another. I do not believe God would want it any other way."

Rev. David W. Southwell of "Church on the Web" provided the following response....

Dear Rabbi Neusner:

The Biblical Jesus lived and taught the Torah of Moses, never violating one precept. When questioned by the religious authorities, he always referred them to the Law and the Prophets. When healing lepers (by way of example - Matthew 8, Mark 1, Luke 5 and 17) He instructed them to go show themselves to the Priests and offer the sacrifice that Moses commanded (in Leviticus 14). Jesus taught the Law, claimed that "not one jot or tittle" (punctuation marks) would pass away until all was fulfilled. He commanded all Israel to keep the Law - when the young man in Mark 10 ask Jesus "what must I do to inherit eternal life" the response of Jesus should make any Rabbi proud: He said: "You know the commandments" and then He listed six of the Ten Commandments, thereby clearly defining His words. Jesus did not claim to be the judge of the Jews, then or in the future. In John 5:45, He stated clearly that Israel would answer to God according to the Law of Moses. At his trial, no one accused Him of breaking the Law of Moses. His accusation was that He was claimed to be (and is) the King of the Jews.

You claim to follow the Torah of Moses and in this prove yourself no scholar of either the Torah or the Prophets. The fact that you may be considered a scholar of uninspired commentaries written by apostate Rabbis in a pagan land (the Talmud) is no excuse for claiming to follow the Torah of Moses and not doing so. How do I know you do not follow the Torah? Answer! Where is the altar of sacrifice, where is the Levite and Priest, and where is the place that the Lord has chosen to place His Name - a brownstone in Brooklyn? Rabbi Neusner, you cannot offer the sacrifice Moses commanded because there is no High Priest to make atonement for the sins of the people before the Mercy Seat of God, nor is there any place that may be claimed to be "the place that the Lord shall place His name". For that matter, although I do not question it, you cannot even prove that you are a true descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, because there are no genealogical records since the Romans destroyed the Temple.

Christians call the Mosaic covenant the "Old Covenant" or "Old Testament" for a reason that has apparently escaped you, Rabbi. That is that Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34), the prophet of God, promised the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant. If God promised a new covenant, why are you not searching it out rather than clinging to a covenant that God promised to replace with a better covenant. The fact that Jesus said His blood was the blood which sealed this New Covenant, as the blood of bulls and goats sealed the Mosaic Covenant, or the fact that Jesus sent both His disciples and, after His resurrection the Church, out as ministers of the New Covenant (to demonstrate its reality and power) does not change the fact that the New Covenant is promised to Israel and Judah, not the Church, or that it was first promised by one of the greatest Hebrew Prophets, or, that you claim, but falsely so, to cling to that which the prophets of Israel said was passing away.

As to the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God, you, Sir, once again demonstrate a lack of scholarship. How? First, the Kingdom of Heaven, which was first announced by a Levitical Priest, a son of Aaron, named John bar Zacharias, has a beginning. John preached to Israel that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand and baptized them to prepare them for entry into that Kingdom. Second, John associated the Kingdom of Heaven with the coming of Messiah. Therefore, and there are other proofs, the Kingdom of Heaven is a term that applies to something which a Levitical priest, who was not corrupted by the apostasy of his day, would believe that God had promised to Israel. Call John right or wrong, as you choose, but you cannot rightfully claim that the "Kingdom of Heaven" is an invention of Christians or that it has relevance to Christianity. What educated Christians understand the term "Kingdom of Heaven" to refer to is the 1,000 year literal reign of the Jewish Messiah on the throne of His father David in Jerusalem when all that is promised in the Law is fulfilled to Israel. So, the Kingdom of Heaven is the Bible's term for the Hebrew kingdom when Messiah reigns on earth and so it has a beginning and an end. The Kingdom of God is an eternal Kingdom and the term refers to the rule of the One True God over time and creation.

Rabbi Neusner, you are right in this, that the kingdom promised Israel through the Law, and through the covenants reported by Moses and reported by other Hebrew prophets, is not a heavenly kingdom, but is an earthly kingdom - (Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were promised that their seed would dwell on the earth, forever). The Bible is clear, also, that this kingdom will include the rule of Law - it existing for a period of time when the entire world is required to obey the Law under penalty of punishment. This kingdom also requires all the nations to come to Jerusalem and worship the King of the Jews at regular intervals. However, there are two facts that you have apparently not comprehended. First, that the rule of Law can never fit a man for eternity, because the Law cannot cleanse a man's heart (Jeremiah 17: 1 & 9) and second, that this kingdom to which true Israelites are looking, can only begin after Messiah has come and done for Israel that which the Law of Moses could never do - (Ezekiel 36:24-28).

Rabbi Neusner, you state that it was God's plan for Israel to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, taken from Exodus 19:5-6. The records indicate, however, that Israel not only turned God down repeatedly, but became so offensive to God through idolatry and iniquity that the penalties spoken by Moses for violating the Torah have been visited on Israel (see Deuteronomy 28). Now, Israel finds itself without the means required by the Torah of Moses for restoration (although it will ultimately be restored - Ezekiel 36), so it is incapable of becoming a nation of priests or a holy nation as those terms would be defined under the Torah.

To argue that "by the criterion of the Torah, Israel's religion in the time of Jesus was authentic and faithful, not requiring reform or renewal…" simply is not true. Only one fact needs to be given, although there are many - that one fact is that Jesus was crucified by the Romans, not stoned by the Jews. If Israel's religion at the time of Jesus had been pleasing to God, they would neither have been under the dominion of the Romans nor been without authority to execute the Torah of Moses. To misunderstand this fact is to misunderstand the entire record of God's dealings with Israel, which is apparently your situation (Hosea 4:6-7).

Rabbi, please do not answer me from the Talmud as it is not the word of God, but is rather the attempts by apostate Rabbis to explain away the clear demands of the Torah of Moses and to excuse the authors and the readers for not obeying the Torah and to explain away the need for an altar, sacrifice and for the Aaronic priesthood. If the Moses whom you claim to follow, but do not and cannot in this age should reappear, the earth would open and every copy of the Talmud will fall into the earth and join Korah and his company. This is just what Jesus was speaking about when He said to the religious rulers of Israel: "Full well you reject the commandment of God (the Torah of Moses) that you may keep your own tradition (Talmud and oral traditions)" and then shows them how they had replaced the requirement of the Torah to honor their parents with a tradition which allows them to claim something as "Corban" which should have been used to help one's parents as required by the Torah.

Sir: My argument is not with your rejection of Jesus as the Messiah of Israel - well meaning people have done that for 2,000 years - it is with your lack of scholarship and the arrogance of your ignorance of what you claim to understand but do not.

"And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends (covenant brothers)." Zechariah 13:6

Very truly yours, Rev. David W. Southwell