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Judaism's view of Jesus

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Judaism generally views Jesus as one of a number of Jewish Messiah claimants who have appeared
throughout history.[1] Jesus is viewed as having been the most influential, and consequently the most
damaging, of all false messiahs.[2] However, since the mainstream Jewish belief is that the messiah has
not yet come and the Messianic Age is not yet present, 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.[3][4] Jewish eschatology holds that the coming of
the Messiah 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, a Messianic Age of peace[5] and
understanding during which "the knowledge of God" fills the earth,[6] and since Jews believe that none
of these events occurred during the lifetime of Jesus (nor have they occurred afterwards), he is not a
candidate for messiah.
Traditional views have been mostly negative, although in the Middle Ages Judah Halevi and
Maimonides viewed Jesus (like Muhammad) as an important preparatory figure for a future universal
ethical monotheism of the Messianic Age. Some modern Jewish thinkers have sympathetically
speculated that the historical Jesus may have been closer to Judaism than either the Gospels or
traditional Jewish accounts would indicate, starting in the 18th century with the Orthodox Jacob Emden
and the reformer Moses Mendelssohn, and this view, though rare in Orthodox Judaism, has become
relatively common in Progressive Judaism.

Contents
1 Background
2 Judaism's worldview and Jesus
2.1 Oneness and indivisibility of God
2.2 Judaism's view of the Messiah
2.3 Prophecy and Jesus
2.4 Jesus and salvation
3 Authoritative texts of Judaism that mention Jesus
3.1 The Talmud (ambiguous mentions)
3.1.1 References in Talmud
3.2 Maimonides
3.2.1 Mishneh Torah
3.2.2 Epistle to Yemen
3.3 Nahmanides' disputation at Barcelona
4 Positive historical reevaluations
5 See also
6 Notes and references

6 Notes and references


7 External links

Background
The belief that Jesus is God, the Son of God, or a person of the
Trinity, is incompatible with Jewish theology. Jews believe Jesus
did not fulfill messianic prophecies that establish the criteria for
the coming of the messiah.[7] Authoritative texts of Judaism
reject Jesus as God, Divine Being, intermediary between humans
and God, messiah or saint. Belief in the Trinity is also held to be
incompatible with Judaism, as are a number of other tenets of
Christianity.

Judaism's worldview and Jesus


Oneness and indivisibility of God
In Judaism, the idea of God as a duality or trinity is heretical
it is even considered by some polytheistic.[8] According to Judaic
beliefs, the Torah rules out a trinitarian God in Deuteronomy
(6:4): "Hear Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one."

Woodcut carved by Johann von


Armssheim (1483). Portrays a
disputation between Christian and
Jewish scholars

In his book A History of the Jews, Paul Johnson describes the schism between Jews and Christians
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.[9]
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 (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 codified 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."[10]
Some Jewish scholars note that the common poetic Jewish expression, "Our Father in Heaven", was used
literally by Jesus to refer to God as "his Father in Heaven" (cf. Lord's Prayer).[11]

Judaism's view of the Messiah

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 is killed 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."[12]
Jews believe that the Messiah will fulfill the messianic prophecies of the Prophets Isaiah and
Ezekiel.[13][14][15][16] According to Isaiah, the Messiah will be a paternal descendant of King David[17]
via King Solomon.[18] He is expected to return the Jews to their homeland and rebuild the Temple, reign
as King, and usher in an era of peace[5] and understanding where "the knowledge of God" fills the
earth,[6] leading the nations to "end up recognizing the wrongs they did Israel".[19] Ezekiel states the
Messiah will redeem the Jews.[20]
Therefore, any Judaic view of Jesus per se is influenced by the fact that Jesus lived while the Second
Temple 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. 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.[21]
Further, Judaism sees Christian claims that Jesus is the textual messiah of the Hebrew Bible as being
based on mistranslations[22][23] and Jesus did not fulfill the Jewish Messiah qualifications.[24]

Prophecy and Jesus


According to the Torah (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?
book=Deuteronomy&verse=13:1-5&src=HE) and 18:18-22 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?
book=Deuteronomy&verse=18:18-22&src=HE)), the criteria for a person to be considered a prophet or
speak for God in Judaism are that he must follow the God of Israel (and no other god); he must not
describe God differently from how he is known to be from Scripture; he 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 he does speak of must come to pass.[25] There is no concept of the Messiah
"fulfilling the law" to free the Israelites from their duty to maintain the mitzvot in Judaism, as is
understood in much of Christianity.
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.[26] As traditional 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."[27][28][29]

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.[30][31] 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


Judaism does not share the Christian concept of salvation, as it does not believe people are born in a
"state of sin".[32] Judaism holds instead that a person who sins can repent of that sin and, in most cases,
have it forgiven.[33]

Authoritative texts of Judaism that mention Jesus


The Talmud (ambiguous mentions)
Various works of classical Jewish rabbinic literature are thought to contain references to Jesus, including
some uncensored manuscripts of the Babylonian Talmud (redacted roughly before 600 CE) and the
classical midrash literature written between 250 CE and 700 CE. There is a spectrum of scholarly views
on how many of these references are actually to Jesus.[34]
Christian authorities in Europe were largely unaware of possible references to Jesus in the Talmud until
1236, when a convert from Judaism, Nicholas Donin, laid thirty-five formal charges against the Talmud
before Pope Gregory IX, and these charges were brought upon rabbi Jehiel of Paris to defend at the
Disputation of Paris in 1240.[35] Yehiel's primary defence was that Yeshu in rabbinic literature was a
disciple of Joshua ben Perachiah, and not to be confused with Jesus (Vikkuah Rabbenu Yehiel mi-Paris).
At the following Disputation of Barcelona (1263) Nahmanides made the same point.[36] Rabbis Jacob
ben Meir (Rabbeinu Tam) (12th century),[37] Jehiel Heilprin (17th century) and Jacob Emden (18th
century) support this view.
Not all rabbis took this view. The Kuzari by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi (c.1075-1141),[38] understood these
references in Talmud as referring to Jesus of Nazareth and based on them believed that Jesus of
Nazareth lived 130 years prior to the date that Christians believe he lived, contradicting the Gospels'
account regarding the chronology of Jesus. Profiat Duran's anti-Christian polemic Kelimmat ha-Goyim
(Shame of the Gentiles, 1397) makes it evident that Duran gave no credence to Yehiel of Paris' theory
of two Jesuses.[39] 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, citing discrepancies between events mentioned in association with Yeshu and the time of Jesus'
life. According to some 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. And differences between accounts of the deaths of
Yeshu and Jesus. 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.

In the Toledot Yeshu, the name of Yeshu is taken to mean yimach shemo.[40] In all cases of its use, the
references are to Yeshu 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"). Historically the portrayals of
Jesus in Jewish literature were used as an excuse for antisemitism among Christians.[41]
Modern scholarship on the Talmud has a spectrum[42] of views from Joseph Klausner, R. Travers
Herford and Peter Schfer[43] who see some traces of a historical Jesus in the Talmud, to the views of
Johann Maier, and Jacob Neusner who consider that there are little or no historical traces and texts have
been applied to Jesus in later editing, and others such as Boyarin (1999) who argue that Jesus in the
Talmud is a literary device used by Rabbis to comment on their relationship to and with early
Christians.[44]
References in Talmud
The primary references to Yeshu are found only 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,[45] Zindler and McKinsey[46] Ha-Notzri is not found in other early precensorship 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 HaNotzri can be found in the Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (Hilchos Melachim 11:4, uncensored version).

Maimonides
Mishneh Torah
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.[47]

Nonetheless, Maimonides continued, developing a thought earlier expressed in Judah Halevi's


Kuzari,[48]
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 11:1012.)[47]

Epistle to Yemen
Jesus is mentioned in Maimonides' Epistle to Yemen, written about 1172 to Rabbi Jacob ben Netan'el alFayyumi, head of the Yemen Jewish community
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).[49]
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?[50]

Nahmanides' disputation at 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 2024) 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 from the way 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 be forced to act in accordance with the (Jewish)
Law.

Positive historical reevaluations


Considering the historical Jesus, some modern Jewish thinkers have come to hold a more positive view
of Jesus, arguing that he himself did not abandon Judaism and/or that he benefited non-Jews. Among
historic Orthodox rabbis holding these views are Jacob Emden,[51][52] Eliyahu Soloveitchik, and Elijah
Benamozegh.[53]
Moses Mendelssohn, as well as some other religious thinkers of the reformist Haskalah movement, also
held more positive views,[54] and this is fairly represented in the mainstream of modern Progressive
Judaism[55] in the currents of Reform (Emil G. Hirsch and Kaufmann Kohler), Conservative (Milton
Steinberg and Byron Sherwin), and Jewish Renewal (Zalman Schachter-Shalomi).
A few Orthodox rabbis today, notably Irving Greenberg, also hold positive views. Shmuley Boteach
takes this even farther, following the research of Hyam Maccoby.[56] These views have been challenged
by the majority of the wider Orthodox community.
However, despite some reevaluations from a historical perspective, it is still considered outside the
bounds of normative Judaism of all streams to consider Jesus to be the Jewish Messiah.

See also
ChristianJewish reconciliation
Christianity and Judaism
Judaism's view of Muhammad
Eliyahu Lizorkin
Islamic views of Jesus
Opposition to Christianity in Chazalic literature
Early Christianity
Rejection of Jesus
Shituf

Sefer Nestor Ha-Komer


Toledot Yeshu
Milhamoth ha-Shem of Jacob Ben Reuben 12C
Sefer Nizzahon Yashan or Nizzahon vetus 13C
Sefer Joseph Hamekane of R. Joseph hen R. Nathan l'official 13C (Paris MS)
The Touchstone of Ibn Shaprut

Notes and references


1. ^ Jesus of Nazareth (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=254&letter=J)
2. ^ Maimonides. Mishneh Torah, Sefer Shofetim, Melachim uMilchamot, Chapter 11, Halacha 4. Chabad
translation by Eliyahu Touge.
3. ^ Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4 (http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=9970)

4. ^ 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 0-89906-8669
"...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" (http://www.cjnews.com/pastissues/99/july29-99/feature/feature2.htm),
Canadian Jewish News, July 29, 1999.
Judaism and Jesus Don't Mix
(http://foundationstone.com.au/HtmlSupport/WebPage/Missionaries/missionariesAndCults.html)
(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 (http://www.beliefnet.com/blogs/virtualtalmud/2006/08/jews-for-jesus-whos-whowhats-what.html) 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 1-57075573-6. 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? (http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_c/bl_jesus.htm) by Rabbi Barry
Dov Lerner)
5. ^ a b (Isaiah 2:4 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Isaiah&verse=2:4&src=HE))
6. ^ a b (Isaiah 11:9 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Isaiah&verse=11:9&src=HE))
7. ^ 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" (http://ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/2637/Q1/), Ohr
Samayach - Ask the Rabbi, accessed March 14, 2006; "Why don't Jews believe that Jesus was the messiah?"
(http://www.askmoses.com/qa_detail.html?h=120&o=350), AskMoses.com, accessed March 14, 2006.

8. ^ The concept of Trinity is incompatible with Judaism:


Response - Reference Center - FAQ - Proof Texts - Trinity
(http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/faq/faq-tr.html) (Jews for Judaism)
The Trinity in the Shema? (http://www.outreachjudaism.org/trinity.html) by Rabbi Singer
(outreachjudaism.org)
The Doctrine of the Trinity (http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/beliefs/trinity.htm)
(religionfacts.com)
9. ^ Johnson, Paul (1987). A History of the Jews. HarperCollins. p. 144. ISBN 0-06-091533-1.
10. ^ Maimonides, Mishneh Torah Madda Yesodei ha-Torah 1:5
11. ^ Kaplan, Aryeh (1985) [1976]. "From Messiah to Christ". The Real Messiah? A Jewish Response to
Missionaries. New York: National Conference of Synagogue Youth. p. 33. ISBN 1-879016-11-7. "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."

12. ^ Maimonides, Hilchos Melachim 11:4-5.


13. ^ Nahmanides in his dispute with Pablo Christiani in 1263 paragraph 49.
14. ^ Simmons, Rabbi Shraga, "Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus"
(http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/Why_Jews_Dont_Believe_In_Jesus.asp), accessed March
14, 2006.
15. ^ "Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus" (http://ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/2637/Q1/), Ohr Samayach - Ask
the Rabbi, accessed March 14, 2006.
16. ^ "Why don't Jews believe that Jesus was the messiah?" (http://www.askmoses.com/qa_detail.html?
h=120&o=350), AskMoses.com, accessed March 14, 2006.
17. ^ (Isaiah 11:1 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Isaiah&verse=11:1&src=HE))
18. ^ (1 Chronicles 22:8-10 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=1%20Chronicles&verse=22:810&src=HE))
19. ^ (Isaiah 52:13-53:5 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Isaiah&verse=52:13-53:5&src=HE))
20. ^ (Ezekiel 16:55 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Ezekiel&verse=16:55&src=HE))
21. ^ Nahmanides in the Disputation of Barcelona with Pablo Christiani in 1263 paragraph 103.
22. ^ Michoel Drazin (1990). Their Hollow Inheritance. A Comprehensive Refutation of Christian Missionaries
(http://www.drazin.com). Gefen Publishing House, Ltd. ISBN 965-229-070-X.
23. ^ Troki, Isaac. "Faith Strengthened" (http://faithstrengthened.org/FS_TOC.html).
24. ^ Simmons, Shraga. "Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus" (http://www.aish.com/jw/s/48892792.html). Aish
HaTorah. Retrieved August 15, 2011. "Jews do not accept Jesus as the messiah because:
"
1. "Jesus did not fulfill the messianic prophecies."
2. "Jesus did not embody the personal qualifications of the Messiah."
3. "Biblical verses "referring" to Jesus are mistranslations."
4. "Jewish belief is based on national revelation."
25. ^ Mishneh Torah Madah Yeshodai HaTorah 8:7-9
26. ^ A source for these is Deuteronomy 18:20, which refers to false prophets who claim to speak in the name of
God.
27. ^ Rich, Tracey, "Prophets and Prophecy" (http://www.jewfaq.org/prophet.htm), Judaism 101, accessed
March 14, 2006.

28. ^ Frankel, Rabbi Pinchas, "Covenant of History: A Fools Prophecy"


(http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/history.htm), Orthodox Union of Jewish Congregations of America,
accessed March 14, 2006.
29. ^ Edwards, Laurence, "Torat Hayim - Living Torah: No Rest(s) for the Wicked"
(http://urj.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=2819&pge_prg_id=26382&pge_id=3453), Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, accessed March 14, 2006.
30. ^ (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Deuteronomy&verse=13:15&src=HE) and 18:18-22 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Deuteronomy&verse=18:1822&src=HE))
31. ^ Buchwald, Rabbi Ephraim, "Parashat Re'eh 5764-2004: Identifying a True Prophet"
(http://www.njop.org/html/REEH5764-2004.html), National Jewish Outreach Program, accessed March 14,
2006
32. ^ Kolatch, Alfred (2000) [1985]. "Judaism and Christianity". The Second Jewish Book of Why. Middle
Village, NY: Jonathan David Publishers, Inc. pp. 6164. ISBN 978-0-8246-0314-4. LCCN 84-21477
(http://lccn.loc.gov/84-21477). "Original sin, the virgin birth, the Trinity, and vicarious atonement are among the concepts
that Christians embrace but Jews reject.The doctrine of original sin is totally unacceptable to Jews (as it is to Fundamentalist
Christian sects such as the Baptists and Assemblies of God). Jews believe that man enters the world free of sin, with a soul that
is pure and innocent and untainted."

33. ^ Gerondi, Yonah (1981) [1505]. [ The Gates of Repentance] (in (Hebrew) and (English)).
translated by Shraga Silverstein. Nanuet, New York: Feldheim Publishers. ISBN 978-0-87306-252-7.
34. ^ Delbert Burkett. The Blackwell Companion to Jesus. 2010. p. 220. "Accordingly, scholars' analyses range
widely from minimalists (eg, Lauterbach 1951) who recognize only relatively few passages that actually
have Jesus in mind to moderates (eg, Herford [1903] 2006), to maximalists (Klausner 1943, , 1754;
especially Schfer 2007)."
35. ^ Saadia R. Eisenberg Reading Medieval Religious Disputation: The 1240 "Debate" Between Rabbi Yechiel
of Paris and Friar Nicholas Donin
36. ^ 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
37. ^ David R. Catchpole The trial of Jesus: a study in the Gospels and Jewish Historiography from 1770 to the
Present Day, Leiden, 1971 Page 62 "(c) Rabbenu Tam (b.Shabb. 104b) declared: 'This was not Jesus of
Nazareth.' But his view, from the 12th century, constitutes no evidence."
38. ^ Section 3 paragraph 65.
39. ^ Berger D. Jewish history and Jewish memory: essays in honor of Yosef Hayim p39 "This discussion makes
it perfectly clear that Duran gave no credence to a theory of two Jesuses." etc.
40. ^ Apocryphal gospels: an introduction

Hans-Josef Klauck p213. "An unfriendly interpretation of the

child's name is offered: 'But the name Yeshu means: "May his name be blotted out, and his memory too!"' (
58). The three letters of which the name Jesus in Hebrew consists, yod, sin and waw,"
41. ^ Schfer Jesus in the Talmud 2009 p4 "Whereas in the early modern period the Jesus in the Talmud
paradigm served almost solely as an inexhaustible source for anti-Jewish sentiments, the subject gained more
serious and critical recognition in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."
42. ^ Robert E. Van Voorst Jesus outside the New Testament: an introduction to the ancient evidence p108
"While Herford was somewhat critical of their accuracy, he seems almost never to have met a possible
reference to Jesus that he did not like!70 On the other end of the spectrum, Johann Maier in his Jesus von
Nazareth in der talmudischen ..." 2000

43. ^ Peter Schfer Jesus in the Talmud


44. ^ Boyarin Dying for God: martyrdom and the making of Christianity and Judaism 1999
45. ^ http://talmud.faithweb.com/articles/jesusnarr.html
46. ^ http://skeptically.org/bible/id4.html
47. ^ a b A. James Rudin. Christians & Jews Faith to Faith: Tragic History, Promising Present, Fragile Future,
Jewish Lights Publishing, 2010, pp. 128129.
48. ^ Religions view religions : explorations in pursuit of understanding ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Amsterdam
[u.a.]: Rodopi. 2006. p. 102. ISBN 9042018585. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
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, pp. iii-iv.
50. ^ 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.
51. ^ "Emden's letter about Jesus" (http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/falk1a.html), Journal of Ecumenical Studies,
19:1, Winter 1982, pp. 105-111. "The Nazarene brought about a double kindness in the world. On the one
hand, he strengthened the Torah of Moses majestically, as mentioned earlier, and not one of our Sages spoke
out more emphatically concerning the immutability of the Torah. And on the other hand, he did much good
for the Gentiles."
52. ^ Gregory A. Barker and Stephen E. Gregg. Jesus beyond Christianity: The Classic Texts, Oxford University
Press, 2010, ISBN 0-19-955345-9, p. 29-31.
53. ^ Elijah Benamozegh, Israel and Humanity, Paulist Press, 1995, ISBN 0-8047-5371-7, p. 329. "Jesus was a
good Jew who did not dream of founding a rival church".
54. ^ Matthew B. Hoffman, From rebel to rabbi: reclaiming Jesus and the making of modern Jewish culture,
Stanford University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-8047-5371-7, p. 22: "Mendelssohn depicts Jesus as a model
rabbinical Jew... as a loyal rabbi"; p. 259: "Mendelssohn was not the first to make such claims. Jacob Emden
(1696-1776), a leading figure of traditional Judaism in eighteenth-century Germany, also looked vary
favorably on Jesus"; p. 50: "Elijah Benamozegh (1823-1901) showed the resemblance between parables and
ethical imperatives in the gospels and the Talmud, concluding that 'when Jesus spoke these words he was in
no way abandoning Judaism'"; p. 258: "Levinsohn avowed that Jesus was a law-abiding Jew"
55. ^ Neusner, Jacob (2000). A rabbi talks with Jesus (Rev. ed.). Montreal [Que.]: McGill-Queen's University
Press. p. 4. ISBN 0773568395. "For a long time Jews have praised Jesus as a rabbi, a Jew like us really;"
56. ^ Zev Garber (ed.) The Jewish Jesus: Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation, Purdue University Press, 2011,
ISBN 1-55753-579-5, p. 361. "Both Greenberg and Sherwin use this model of a bifurcated messianic in
different ways to suggest that Jews could, perhaps, accept Jesus as a "messiah" without agreeing with the
Christian demands that he is the ultimate messiah."

External links
The False Prophet (http://www.nishma.org/articles/insight/spark5756-22.html)
Their Hollow Inheritance (http://www.drazin.com/), Jewish anti-Christian missionary arguments.
Jewish-Christian Relations (http://www.jcrelations.net/en/)
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title=Judaism%27s_view_of_Jesus&oldid=639614302"

Categories: Christ myth Criticism of Christianity Christianity and Judaism related controversies
Perspectives on Jesus Talmud people
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