Source:
http://pub6.ezboard.com/fhinduunityhinduismhottopics.showMessage?topicID=3526.topic
A post by sandesh1, 8/14/01
Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus
Contents:
Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus
Jesus - Not the Messiah
Scriptural References
Genealogy
Messianic Predictions
Messiah's Qualifications
Jesus - Not a Deity
The Trinity
Physical Manifestation
Changes to the Law
Recommended Reading
Subscription Information
Back issues are indexed both by issue no. and by
subject
Ohr Somayach Home Page
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<Name@Withheld> wrote
Dear Rabbi,
Why don't Jews believe in Jesus? Doesn't it say in the
Psalms, "They pierced my hands and feet"? Doesn't
Isaiah say, "Behold a virgin shall give birth"?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JESUS - NOT THE MESSIAH
Scriptural References
In order to understand anything in the Torah one must
look at the original Hebrew. You will see that the
Christians distorted, changed and misinterpreted many
of the Hebrew words in order to fit things into their
beliefs. The two places that you mentioned are good
examples. In Psalm 22:17 the Hebrew states "hikifuni
ca'ari yaday veraglay" which means "they bound me
(hikifuni) like a lion (ca-like ari-lion), my hands
(yaday) and my feet (ve-and raglay-my feet). The
Christians translate this as "they pierced my hands
and feet". Nowhere in the entire Torah, Prophets and
Writings do the words ca'ari or hikifuny mean anything
remotely resembling "pierce".
In Isaiah 7:14 the Hebrew states "hinei ha'almah harah
veyoledet ben" "behold (hineih) the young woman (ha -
the almah- young woman) is pregnant (harah) and shall
give birth (ve-and yoledet-shall give birth) to a son
(ben)". The Christians translate this as "behold a
virgin shall give birth." They have made two mistakes
(probably deliberate) in the one verse. They
mistranslate "ha" as "a" instead of "the". They
mistranslate "almah" as "virgin", when in fact the
Hebrew word for virgin is "betulah". Aside from the
fact that if you read the context of that prediction
you will see clearly that it is predicting an event
that was supposed to happen and be seen by king Achaz
who lived 700 years before Jesus!
Genealogy
He was not descended from the House of David.
According to Jewish law, tribal identification comes
from the father's side, being Jewish, from the
mother's side. According to Matthew 1, Joseph was
descended from David (Although there are many
contradictions between his genealogy there and that
listed in Luke, however according to the same text,
Joseph did not have sexual relations with Mary,
therefore Jesus was not related to Joseph, and not a
descendant of King David.
Three answers to this problem are given in classic
Christian sources:
The genealogy is that of Mary - This is inadequate,
since if he is claimed to be the Jewish messiah, and
according to Jewish tradition he must be descended on
his father's side, Mary's genealogy is irrelevant.
He was adopted by Joseph -According to Jewish law,
adoption does not change the status of the child. If
an Israelite is adopted by a Cohen, (A descendant of
Aaron the High Priest), the child does not become a
Cohen, likewise if a descendant of David, adopts
someone who is not, he does not become of the tribe of
Judah and a descendant of David.
It doesn't matter, he was a spiritual inheritor of
King David - If it doesn't matter, why do Christian
scriptures spend time establishing his genealogical
pedigree? And if he is claimed to be the Jewish
messiah, then according to Jewish tradition it does
matter!
Messianic Predictions
The main predictions concerning the Messiah are that
he will bring peace to the world, gather the Jewish
people from their exile to the land of Israel and
rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. After Jesus'
appearance, the Temple was destroyed, the Jews were
exiled all over the world and we have not even had one
day of peace in the past 2,000 years. (Many of the
wars in fact were started and fought by followers of
Jesus) These events are enough to show that he was not
the messiah.
The main Christian responses to these objections are:
The Second Coming - First of all, we find this to be a
contrived answer, since there is no mention of a
second coming in the Jewish Bible. Second, why
couldn't G-d accomplish His goals the first time
round. Most importantly, the second coming idea is
just an attempt at answering an obvious question but
it certainly does not constitute proof of messianic
claims.
There is peace within his followers hearts - That is
wonderful for them, but does that help the victims of
the Inquisition, the Crusades, the Hundred Years War,
the First World War, the Second World War etc. In each
of the events that I mentioned most if not all the
combatants, the violent oppressors and torturers where
people who claimed to be followers of Jesus. And is
peace in the heart a fulfillment of "swords into
plowshares etc."
Messiah's Qualifications
Messiah is a prophet, a scholar and a pious king.
Jesus made a prediction that "The time is fulfilled,
the kingdom of God is at hand." (Mark 1:15) That was
2000 years ago, has the kingdom of God come? Do you
call the holocaust, Pol Pot and Stalin a world in
which the kingdom of God has come? Jesus was not a
great scholar - one of the requirements of the
Messiah. Was Jesus a king? He was not anointed as king
by a prophet (as was the rule in Jewish kings), he was
not appointed by any judicial body as a leader and he
did not rule over the Jewish people nor was he
accepted by them. He was arrested, tortured and killed
by the Romans like a common criminal. He had no army
or government. The answer to my question is an
obvious, "no."
JESUS - NOT A DEITY
The Trinity
The Christian idea of a trinity contradicts the most
basic tenet of Judaism - that G-d is One. Jews have
declared their belief in a single unified G-d twice
daily ever since the giving of the Torah at Sinai -
almost two thousand years before Christianity.
The trinity suggests a three part deity: The Father,
the Son and the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19).
In Jewish law, worship of a three-part god is
considered idolatry; one of the three cardinal sins
for which a person should rather give up his life than
transgress. The idea of the trinity is absolutely
incompatible with Judaism.
Physical Manifestation
Christianity believes that G-d came down to earth in
human form, as Jesus said: "I and the Father are one"
(John 10:30).
The Torah states that G-d cannot not take any form.:
"You will not be able to see My face, for no human can
see my face and live" (Exodus 33:18-20)
"You did not see any form on the day G-d spoke to you
at Horeb from the midst of fire" (Deuteronomy 4:15)
As little as we may know about G-d's nature, Judaism
has always believed that G-d is Incorporeal, meaning
that He assumes no physical form. G-d is Eternal, He
is Infinite; above time and beyond space. He cannot be
born, and cannot die.
CHANGES TO THE LAW
Christianity denies the eternal relevance of Torah
Law, basing the concept of the New Testament on a
mistranslation of a verse in Jeremia.
In Jeremia 31:30 the Hebrew states: "Henei yamim baim
Neum Hashem VeCharati Brit Chadash" They translate:
"Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will
make a new Testament with the house of Israel "
"Brit" does not mean Testament. Throughout Scripture
"Brit" means covenant. See for example Genesis 17:2,
15:18 Exodus 24:8, Leviticus 26:42, Numbers 25:12.
It is a fundamental principle of Judaism that the
Torah received at Sinai will never be changed nor
become obsolete. This concept is mentioned in the
Torah no less than 24 times, with the words:
"This is an eternal law for all generations"
(Exodus 12:14, 12:17, 12:43, 27:21, 28:43, Leviticus
3:17, 7:36, 10:9, 16:29, 16:31, 16:34, 17:7, 23:14,
23:21, 23:31, 23:41, 24:3, Numbers 10:8, 15:15, 19:10,
19:21, 18:23, 35:29, Deuteronomy29:28)
It is absurd to accept the Divine origin of the Torah
yet deny it's eternal relevance. Judaism is a religion
of action; it has always taught that through
performance of the commandments one declares the
belief of the heart. To dispense with the legal body
of the Torah and reduce it to a book of morals would
cut it down to less than half it's size. Can this
really be the meaning of those words an eternal law
for all generations?
Recommended Reading
For a lengthier discussion on this subject I suggest
the books, "The Real Messiah," by Aryeh Kaplan, "Faith
Strengthened" by Isaac Troki, "You Take Jesus, I'll
Take God"and "Their Hollow Inheritance" by Michoel
Drazin. (available at Jewish bookstores everywhere)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2000 Ohr Somayach International - All rights
reserved. This publication may be distributed to
another person intact without prior permission. We
also encourage you to include this material in other
publications, such as synagogue newsletters. However,
we ask that you contact us beforehand for permission,
and then send us a sample issue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This publication is available via E-Mail
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ohr Somayach Institutions is an international network
of Yeshivot and outreach centers, with branches in
North America, Europe, South Africa and South America.
The Central Campus in Jerusalem provides a full range
of educational services for over 685 full-time
students.
The Jewish Learning Exchange (JLE) of Ohr Somayach
offers summer and winter programs in Israel that
attract hundreds of university students from around
the world for 3 to 8 weeks of study and touring.
|