I wanted to know what Jews believe about the historicity of Jesus, so when I stumbled across a Judaism site with a guestbook, I left a question posted privately to the owner of the site, which I have shown below. The site was called "Bridging the Judeo-Christian gap," but it plainly says that it is not a Jews for Jesus site. If there is any doubt that this is a Jew's Jew, please read what he says following his statement about the historicity of Jesus.
He emailed me with the letter that I have shown below. Before we go on, I just want to say that I really appreciated hearing from this person. He answered my questions about the Jews' belief about the historicity of Jesus. All the ideas listed afterwards, are a confirmation of what I already thought the Jews thought about Jesus as the Messiah. That is no new news!
Name: Michelle
E-Mail: [email protected]
Homepage Title:
Homepage URL: http://
Referred By: Just Surfed In
Location: Aussieland
Comments: Just wondered what Jews think about the historicity of Jesus Christ.
G'day down under and thank you for your guestbook posting to "Bridging
the Judeo-Christian Gap."
Jews have always believed in the existence of the "Jew" Yeshua ben
Yoseph (Jesus, the son of Joseph). Most Jews believe he was nothing more than a normal human being, and that he probably was educated to become a rabbi by the great Rebbe Hillel (a rabbi's rabbi). Since Jesus died (as a result of a Roman execution) on the cross, he did not fulfill the Messianic expectations of the overwhelming majority of Jews of his day. The concept that Jesus was the Messiah and would return again (after his death) was mostly a Gentile creation that developed long after his death.
There is nothing within Judaism that would substantiate a second coming
of the Messiah. Also, the concept of Jesus as the son of G-d has been very alien and pagan to Jews. By the way, the concept of Jesus as the son
of G-d was also created long after his death and was codified into religious
Christian law almost 4 hundred years later by the Roman Emperor
Constantine.
Those Jews that believe that Jesus is the Messiah and the son of G-d
are no longer Jews, because they are now Christians and have relinquished
their Jewish religious identity. Traditional Christianity and Judaism do not
mix. By the way, those Jews that believed that Jesus was the True Prophet
predicted by Moses but not in his deification, were ostracized by Jewish communities at the end of the failed Bar Kochba revolt in 135 C.E.
Lastly, some Jews and Gentiles believe that Jesus was a prophet of
Israel, but do not deify him. Muslims hold Jesus in this regard.
I hope this information helps you.
Best regards,
Howard Rollin
email address removed for his protection
Denver, Colorado USA
