He's in there?

"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." -John 5:39

When Christians read the Bible, they see Jesus in every verse and every portion. In their minds, Jesus is literally bouncing off every page. They make the claim that Jesus's messiah-hood and divinity is apparent from a cursory reading of Scripture and that if a person would only honestly examine the texts, they could not possibly deny his truth.

A favorite missionary claim is that the early Christians were Jewish, proof of the compatibility of the two faiths. Yet their very own argument works against them. If the Scriptures clearly and unequivocally point to Jesus's coming, one would expect that the people who would be the first to recognize him would be the very people who spent their lives studying the Torah. It would make sense that the Sanhedrin, the great rabbis and leaders of the people would have recognized Jesus's coming, clearly foretold in the Torah. One could imagine, if the Gospel tale is to be believed, Jesus coming before the Sanhedrin and arguing that he was divine, sent by G-d to redeem the world. The rabbis, who should have known from the Torah about such a person, refuted and rejected all of Jesus's arguments and reasoning. Obviously, the idea of a human saviour-god, son of a virgin and the divine, dying for the sins of humanity was not a Jewish concept based on the Torah, but rather a pagan one. While the learned men did not accept Jesus, his disciples were tradesmen, common folk and Torah students. Peter and John were Galilean fishermen, while Paul was a Roman tax collector. Mary Magdelene was a prostitute- certainly not a paragon of Torah scholarship and learning. Far from having the Scriptures clearly testify of Jesus, those who were familiar with the Scriptures were the first to reject him!

Similarly, one would expect that missionaries would have the most ease persuading Jews who have studied in yeshiva. Coming out of the synagogue and beit midrash, with a holy book tucked under their arms, they should be easy prey for the missionary sharing "the good news". It is then quite odd that missionaries rarely are sent to Crown Heights, to Monsey, Meah Shearim, Bnei Brak or Hebron. They would have little luck there as Jews well-versed in their faith and Torah are insusceptible to Christian missionizing. On the contrary, missionaries often concentrate their efforts on college students alienated from their Jewish heritage, lonely seniors, new Russian or Ethiopian olim, segments of the Jewish population that do not possess a strong Jewish heritage. A quick glance at testimonies on missionary sites such as 'Jews for Jesus' and the like show that most were raised in homes devoid of Jewish spirituality and whose only Jewish connection was gefilte fish and matzoh balls. That is why the Christian Bible places great emphasis on faith, rather than knowledge. This is because belief in Jesus cannot stand up to a true Jewish examination, based on traditional Jewish teaching and practice.

The classic Christian response to this is that Jews have been blinded by Satan. If the Devil had not caused them not to see, they would quickly accept the Cross. The Pope recently restored mass prayers calling for "the veil of blindness" to be "lifted" from the "eyes of the perfidious Jews". This arrogant and condescending claim ignores the many arguments and oppositions that Jews have with Christian theology. The Jewish rejection of Jesus as the messiah is based on study of the requirements of the messiah, which Jesus did not fulfill. The Torah records that in the End of Days, it will be the gentile nations, and not the Jews, who have been mistaken.

"O LORD, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge, in the day of affliction, unto Thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say: 'Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, vanity and things wherein there is no profit.' Shall a man make unto himself gods, and they are no gods?" (Jeremiah 16:19)

"[In the Messianic Era] nations shall walk at thy [the Jewish people's] light, and kings at the brightness of thy rising." (Isaiah 60:3)

"I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and have taken hold of thy hand, and kept thee, and set thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house." (Isaiah 42:6-7)

May we merit speedily the day in which all mankind will recognize that HaShem is One and His Name is One. Amen!

Chutzpah and Heaven

The head of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants has announced that he is called off talks with the Mormon Church over posthumous baptisms performed by the sect for Holocaust victims. Survivors are upset that names of Holocaust victims have been added to a list of baptisms- including thousands lifted from Yizkor books of Jews massacred at Berdichev in Ukraine. Over 380 000 Holocaust victims, including Ann Frank, have already been baptized by the Mormon Church.

The Mormons believe that by baptizing the dead, they give them an opportunity to go to heaven. It is anti-semitic in the extreme to suppose that the murdered victims of the Holocaust need any help from a 150-year old cult in getting to heaven. However, such a belief is not unique to the Mormon Church. Many Evangelical missionary movements which target Jews threaten eternal hellfire and brimstone if Jews do not accept Jesus.

Before Adolph Eichmann, may his name be accursed, was to be executed, Israel permitted him to meet with a Christian minister. After he was executed, reporters asked the minister whether or not Eichmann had accept Jesus. The minister explained that having accepted Jesus, Eichmann would surely be forgiven of all of his sins and go to heaven. And as for the poor Jewish boy gassed at Auschwitz, disbelieving in his "saviour", hell would surely be his eternal reward. According to this perverted belief system, the evil architect of the Final Solution would be welcomed at the Pearly Gates simply for accepting Jesus while the 6 million victims of the Holocaust would be condemned to hell for being Jews.

This story goes to show the perverseness of exclusivity on heaven. For a cult less than two centuries old to presuppose that it has the key to the eternal salvation of the martyrs of the Holocaust is the ultimate in chutzpah. Even more than that, for anyone to claim that his is the only path to heaven and salvation invites hatred, persecution and intolerance. Such a belief only propagates the reasoning behind burning Jews at the stake, and other such atrocities, in order to "save their souls". Surely, the inquisitors and Church officials reasoned, that whatever they did to the Jews was nothing in comparison with eternal salvation. They believed that they were saving them from a far worse fate.

So let's get this straight, for every single Christian or any other cultist who is concerned about my soul: Jews don't need you to be saved!. For a Jew to be saved, he must observe G-d's commandments, follow the Torah and serve HaShem with his entire heart and soul. G-d gave us 613 commandments with which to perfect and refine ourselves so that we may enjoy the World to Come. No cult or sect can offer us anything of value in terms of salvation. As for non-Jews, the sacrifice of Jesus is worthless as well. G-d demands of non-Jews that they renounced man-made idolatry, worship HaShem and lead moral lives. No man can atone for another. Only by keeping G-d's Torah, the 613 mitzvot for Jews and the 7 mitzvot for non-Jews, can we be holy in HaShem's eyes.

The Mishna (Sanhedrin 90a) teaches that " all of Israel has a share in the World to Come, as it says: 'And your people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever. They are the branch of My planting, My Handiwork, in which to take pride.'" (Isaiah 60:21) So just a head's-up to anyone who wants to save us: we Jews don't need any help in that department.

Remember who you are

On the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, 'Jews for Jesus' is getting more and more aggressive in the drive to convert Jews to Christianity. According to internal memos from the proselytizing organization, missionaries are being directed to the Northern town of Qiryat Shemona. The memo goes on to boast that the missionaries "handed out 21,700 gospel tracts" and "have contact information of 995 Jewish people who told us that they want to know more about Jesus." 'Jews for Jesus' has about 2000 missionaries active in Israel. Just days ago, a radio ad by 'Jews for Jesus' in the Northern Galilee was blasted from the radio after protests. Irate listeners found that the message was far too aggressive in its call for Jews to accept Christianity.

'Jews for Jesus' is but one of close to a thousand missionary groups active in Israel. In the coming weeks, tens of thousands of Christian missionaries are expected to descend on Jerusalem for the annual Feast of Tabernacles Parade. The ICEJ, organizers of this mega-missionary event, claim that "the word of G-d (read 'Jesus') is preached nightly and is central to the evening meetings." Christians are entering a fever pitch, trying to get as many Jews as possible to become Christian. Sadly, many Jews who are unaffiliated, secular or have little knowledge of Judaism are succeptible to their tactics. These Messianic groups often claim that they represent authentic Judaism, albeit one that believes in Jesus as messiah. They believe themselves to be restoring the true message of the Torah.

This week's parsha of Haazinu tells us how to recognize authentic Judaism and to be able to spot out pseudo-Judaism. With many groups and individuals around the world passing off a fake, corrupted false Judaism as the real deal, this message is essential. "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father, and he will declare unto thee, thine elders, and they will tell thee." (Deut. 32:7) If a Jew is confused as to what is kosher and what is treif, he need only go back to his roots, to his traditions, to his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. He must ask himself, "did my great-grandfather worship like this?" The Torah is clear about what happens when the Jews stray from the path of their ancestors. "They roused Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations did they provoke Him. They sacrificed unto demons, no-gods, gods that they knew not, new gods that came up of late, which your fathers dreaded not." (Deut. 32:16-17) Clearly, the Torah places emphasis on the fact that the Jews went after new gods which were recently invented. This is critical today. When confronted by missionaries who preach that Jews must believe in Jesus or be condemned to an eternity of hellfire, every Jew must take the Torah's warning to heart. Would his great-grandfather with his long beard and black hat sitting in a shtetl in the Pale of Settlement recognize his faith? His grandfather in the mellahs of Morocco? His ancestors in the judeiriahs of Spain? Would any of them recognize Jesus or feel comfortable at a Messianic service? Every Jew must answer back that Jesus and the Christian theology is 'a new god that came up of late, which our fathers dreaded not'. If a Messianic were to stand in a room with a Rambam, a Rashi, a Rabbi Akivah, a Baal Shem Tov, a Vilna Gaon, a Ramban, or even a Moshe Rabeinu, he would not fit in. They would not see any resemblance between their Judaism and the counterfeit junk hawked by the apostate.

The Kol Nidrei prayer on Yom Kippur night awakens within every Jew the desire to come home to HaShem, to do teshuva and to be faithful to what they really are. It gained special significance during the time of the Spanish Inquisition when Jews were forced on pain of death to take vows and abandon Judaism. Kol Nidrei became their way of renouncing any vows they were forced to take by the Church. The knew at heart that they were Jews.

When the American forces reached the Buchenwald death camp, they opened the gates of the camp wide and liberated the inmates. The prisoners left the camp and dispersed, each going his own way. Reb Leizer of Czen-sto-chow was one of the freed inmates. At the gate he paused. "Where? Where should I go?" He knew that most everyone in his family had been murdered. They came with him to the camp, and he saw them led to the crematoria.

Only one hope remained. As all of the people of the town were being herded together for shipment to the death camp, he was able to smuggle his little son Yossele out of the ghetto and into the "Aryan" section of town. "Who knows?" said Reb Leizer to himself, "Perhaps the child is still alive, still alive." He would go looking for him. But how, where?

Reb Leizer went back to Czen-sto-chow. He wandered about the streets and the marketplaces, and every time he saw a boy about Yossele's age, he would stop and look at him closely. Perhaps this was his son. He began asking guardedly, "Did anybody know the Leizer family, or what happened to them?" People told him that the family had left the town in the death trains, everyone except the little boy, whom someone took to the monastery. Which monastery? No one knew. "If my son is alive," decided Reb Leizer, "I will save him."

He went from one monastery to the next, inquiring about his son. The monks denied ever seeing him. No Jewish child, they claimed, had ever crossed the threshold of a monastery. Reb Leizer knew they were lying, but what could he do? He went and bought an organ. Among the tunes he put into it was the melody of Kol Nidre. Reb Leizer strapped the organ to his back and began making the rounds of the streets and yards from village to village, from one monastery to the next. Wherever he saw children playing, he would set the organ down on its legs and begin turning the handle. Immediately he would be surrounded by children. As the children stood listening, he would watch their faces closely – particularly when the organ ground out the tune of Kol Nidre.

Did any child's face change or show some emotion – fear, perhaps, or sadness and longing? Whenever he saw a child stir as the Kol Nidre melody was played, he knew that child was Jewish. As all the other children scattered, he would follow this child, talk to him, and tell him that the war was over and he could go back to his own people. Though unable to find Yossele, history records that he was able to save scores of Jewish children and restore them to their faith, with possibly the most moving tune of our faith.

Reb Leizer took his organ and buried it in the ruins of a destroyed synagogue and he went to Israel. People from that district of Poland say that at times they hear the tunes of a hand organ coming out of the earth, and among the tunes is the melody of Kol Nidre.

On the eve of Yom Kippur, I pray that HaShem merit that the beautiful and moving melody of Kol Nidrei stir the heart of every single Jew to return to his Father in Heaven. Before we begin the Kol Nidrei service, we say that by the permission of the Heavenly and earthly courts, it is permissible to pray with sinners and transgressors. On Yom Kippur, all Jews are welcome before HaShem. We must remember who we really are and not let any dastardly peddler of false beliefs lead us astray. May every single lost Jewish child return home. Gmar chatima tovah.

Having Your Jesus and Eating it Too

Tallis, tfillin, shabbos, Torah classes, sukkot, Jewish stars, Hebrew... must be Jewish. A newcomer to a Messianic congregation, upon seeing the Jewish symbols and paraphernalia, often concludes that this is the real deal, that this is authentic Judaism. When called out on the contradictions between Judaism and Christianity, Messianics will quickly point to the fact that they keep the mitzvot. Indignant at being called a Christian, they reply that they keep kosher, that they keep shabbat, light shabbos candles, etc.

The Messianic movement emerged 30-40 years ago, as sort of a half-way house for Jews into Evangelical Christianity. Frustrated at the low level of Jewish conversion to Christianity, fundamentalist Christians sought a way to make Christianity more palatable to Jews. Well-aware of the bloody history of Judeo-Christian relations and the deep distrust many Jews feel towards Christians, Evangelicals tried to find a way to make their Christianity feel less "Christian". The crucifix, long associated with persecution and oppression, had to go, as did " Jesus Christ", pastor, altar, Sunday morning mass and all of the goyish accoutrement often associated with church. In its place came Jewish stars, a newly Hebrew "Yeshua HaMoshiach", rabbis, and shabbos morning services. Dressing up their church- I mean synagogue- with Jewish symbols, the Hebrew-Christian movement set out to teach Jews of the "Jewish Jesus". No longer was he a WASP or a Catholic priest, but a good yiddishe bochur, a nice Jewish boy who went to shul, kept the Torah and was 100% kosher. Certainly no Jew could refuse such a messiah.

The result of this emerging Messianic movement was a Christianity that gave up none of its fundamental theology that set it apart from Judaism, but that used Jewish symbols and rituals. Messianics don't keep Christmas as they feel that it is a pagan holiday, yet they still believe in a virgin birth which they celebrate on Shavuot. The same goes for Easter; despite not celebrating what they see as pagan, they still believe that a demigod dying for their sins, and commemorate this event during Pesach. This was a win-win situation for Evangelical Christian: they didn't have to give up on any of their fundamental beliefs and were able to, at the same time, take part in Jewish rituals and observances. What resulted was a primitive form of Christianity that hid itself behind Jewish labels.

The first commandment that the nation of Israel heard directly from G-d's mouth at Sinai was "You shall have no other gods before Me". Only from this fundamental basis can all other commandments proceed. The essence of Judaism is that there is One G-d, One and Indivisible, and none besides Him. Without this, there is no Judaism.

A careful examination of Messianic groups reveals that they fail on this cardinal principle, making any claims of authentic Jewish expression irrelevant.

Jews for Jesus, an organization aiming at converting Jews to Christianity while at the same day observing the mitzvot, states the following as its central tenets: "We believe in one sovereign God, existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, unbounded in power and measureless in love; that God is the source of all creation and that through the immediate exercise of His power all things came into being... We believe that Jesus the Messiah was eternally pre-existent and is co-equal with God the Father; that He took on Himself the nature of man through the virgin birth so that He possesses both divine and human natures." Whether or not they keep shabbat matters little. At heart, the theology of Jews for Jesus is identical to the theology of Baptists and Evangelical Christians.

Sid Roth's Messianic Vision's statements of faith reveal a theology more at place at a Baptist revival meeting, than in a synagogue or yeshiva. Same thing for the Chosen People Ministry, whose beliefs are at odds with Jewish beliefs. All Messianic organizations, while pretending to be authentically Jewish, are hostile to traditional and authentic Jewish theology. Simply wrapping a cross in a tallis does not make it Jewish. If something walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is reasonable to assume that it is a duck. Messianic groups, while preaching adherence to the Torah, fail on the cardinal test of theology. In that realm, they are purely Christian groups, masquerading around with Jewish objects. One can dunk the New Testament in a mikveh and put a hechsher on it, but in the end, if it Jesus Christ to be Lord and Saviour, it ain't Jewish.

It is important to discuss Christian misuse of Jewish symbols. By keeping kosher, putting on tfillin and saying the Shmah all the while believing in Jesus, one does not endear themselves to G-d. Quite the opposite. G-d demands as a basis that we remember we should have no other gods before Him, and that besides Him there is no other. Anything else is spiritual adultery. Bowing before Jesus, praising him and calling him divine is adultery with HaShem. "I am the Lord, that is My name, and My glory will I not give to another. Neither My praise to graven images!" (Isaiah 42:8) G-d does not share His glory with anybody, certainly not Jesus. Keeping the mitzvot while worshipping idols only angers G-d. It can be compared to a wife who suspects that her husband is cheating on her and to placate her, he gives her jewelry, a car and other fancy gifts. Coming home with another woman's scent on his clothes, his diamond bracelets are meaningless. They only make the wife angrier at her husband's betrayal. Similarly, if someone lights shabbat candles in Jesus honour, G-d is infuriated at the desecration. It matters little if a person keep the entire 613 commandments scrupulously; he is cheating on the G-d of Israel who shares His with no one, and has no equal.

As Yom Kippur approaches, we must all do a cheshbon nefesh, a spiritual accounting and realize where we have come short. It is incumbent upon each and every person to do teshuva and to return to the One who created them. The first step is realizing who the Creator is and who He isn't - and He certainly is no man. "To whom shall you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me that we may be alike?" (Isaiah 46:5) "I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no god but Me, no savior except Me!" (Hosea 13:4)

To my readers, I wish you all a gmar chatima tovah.

Teshuva

This past motzaei shabbat (Saturday night), Ashkenazi Jews began reciting Selichot, special penitential prayers. Sephardic Jews have been reciting Selichot since the beginning of the month of Elul. The Selichot prayers beg G-d to have mercy on His people, to forgive us our sins, and to let us do complete teshuva. They are focused on the Thirteen Divine Attributes of Mercy which G-d revealed to Moses after the Sin of the Golden Calf. They beseech G-d's compassion that He may overlook our sins and to forgive us.

From the beginning of Elul, through Rosh HaShana and the Ten Days of Teshuva, until Yom Kippur, each Jew goes through an intense period of soul-searching. This period of the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe) is devoted to doing teshuva, repentance. The Rambam writes in his Hilchot Teshuva (2:6) that "repentance and outcry [in prayer] are always proper, but between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur they are especially proper and are answered immediately, as it is written (Isaiah 55:6): 'Seek G-d when He is found, called upon Him when He is near.'"

When the Temple in Jerusalem stood, various offerings were sacrificed to G-d. There were special offerings for each day and festival. An elaborate sacrificial system existed. On Yom Kippur, the Torah commands for the following offering: "Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement; it shall be a holy gathering to you; and you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. [28] And you shall do no work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your G-d." (Leviticus 23:27) However, the essence of the atonement was not the sacrifice itself, but the 'affliction of our souls' ie. fasting and repentance. When G-d decided to overturn His decree against the people of Ninveh, the Torah records that G-d saw their repentance and how they changed their actions. The essence is not in the physical act of fasting, crying, slaughtering an animal but rather in repenting from our sins, confessing our deeds and turning from them.

For close to 2000 years, the Jewish people have been bereft of a Temple in which to offer sacrifices to HaShem. What do we do? Are we cut off from repenting for lack of a Temple? The Prophet Hosea (14:3) revealed to the People of Israel take G-d accepts our prayers in the place of animal sacrifice. "Take with you words, and return unto the LORD; say unto Him: 'Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips." G-d does not desire animal sacrifice but rather sincere teshuva.

"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to God, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God. For He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:7)

"And if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14).

"But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has practiced he shall live...When a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life. Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you (Ezekiel 18:21- 22,27,30).

"By loving kindness and truth iniquity is atoned for..." (Proverbs 16:6).

"If you return to God you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent...then you will delight in God..." (Job 22:23-27).

May G-d inscribe all of Am Yisrael in the book of Life, Happiness, Prosperity, Success, and Plenty. May Hashem accepts all our teshuva and cast away our sins. May 5769 be the year of the Complete and Final Redemption, amen.

We Let Them In

US Evangelicals have a nasty habit of sticking their shtick where it just doesn't belong. They've used their influence to "persuade" Israel's lawmakers not to ban missionizing. They've descended on the Jews of Israel like vultures, ready to pounce on every Jew who will give them a moment of their time. Billions of dollars are spent every year to denigrate and mock Judaism and get Jews to convert.

If a person brings a dangerous animal into their house and it bits them, who is to blame? Certainly a rabid dog or wolf cannot be held responsible for acting in a way that is dictated by their nature. The person who brought this danger in is at fault for negligence. Similarly, US Evangelicals can't really be held guilty for seeking to convert Jews. Their bible speaks of the "Great Commission" in which they are ordered to "go baptize all the nations" into their faith. Evangelicals define their religion by evangelizing and "spreading the good word". Those who must be held accountable for this grievous sin of shmad, spiritual apostasy and destruction, are those Jews who brought the Evangelicals into our homes. Churches and baptisms popping up all over Israel are simply the price of courting "a Judeo-Christian alliance". In many ways, armies of missionaries and tens of thousands of missionary pamphlets and Christian bibles are our just reward. We have courted a hornet and now it has stung us.

So desperate for friends, Israeli politicians, religious and secular alike, have flirted with Evangelicals. In 2004, Minister of Tourism, Benny Ellon, gave Pat Robertson an award for "saving Israel from bankruptcy". Later that year, Robertson used his endorsement by Ellon to advocate Messianic "Judaism" (Christianity) at the ICEJ Feast of the Tabernacles. John Hagee's own CUFI (Christians United for Israel) which Israeli politicians believe to be so fundamental in providing support for Israel, is guilt of proselytization as well. Every single Christian leader whom Israel has depended on or considered a friend has supported and advanced the proliferation of missionary activity in Israel.

Nobody is more guilty than the rabbis and their followers of the Religious Zionist group. They have welcomed Evangelicals with open arms. Their claim is "we are comfortable in our faith and have no reason to fear from Evangelicals. We know who we are and we don't have to worry about becoming Christian." How very now for them. And how very callous. They seem to have forgotten that despite the fact that they have a good knowledge of Torah and Jewish spirituality, many Jews tragically do not. Ironically, in Israel today, many Jews have no idea of what Judaism entails, are unfamiliar with the traditions and customs and are completely lost in Judaism. The rabbis who invited the Evangelicals are are guilty of violating the Torah prohibition of not placing a stumbling-block before the blind. They will certainly no convert but there are no such assurances for the secular and disenfranchised Jews in Israel. Missionaries have already reaped their devastating harvest of Jewish souls among the poor and less-fortunate, new Russian and Ethiopian immigrants and the elderly and troubled teens. The Torah repeatedly warns us "you shall exterminate evil from your midst." We are forbidden to tolerate idolatry among us for fear that it will lead many Jews astray. The Torah sets down guidelines for the destruction of an entire city that turns to idol worship, an ir nidachat. Such a city cannot be allowed to continue to exist in Israel. If a center of avodah zarah is allowed to fester, it will attract many Jews. How these rabbis have forgotten these teachings!

Many "rabbis" and leaders are men of little faith. When they put their trust in flesh-and-blood Christians, even at the cost of their souls, they show contempt for HaShem and His Torah. G-d says to us: Do not fear, My servant Jacob. We have nothing to fear as HaShem is with us. By placing our trust on the wobbly reed of Evangelicals, we are pushing away the Redemption. The great "Judeo-Christian alliance" has brought us nothing but bitterness, apostasy and spiritual destruction. We have been so desensitized to idolatry that we do not regard Messianic "Judaism" as exactly what it is: foreign worship. The sight of Christians dancing around wearing talleisim and praising J*sus, freely mixing Judaism and Christianity, does not affect us anymore. Business as usual. The Talmud Yerushalmi tells us the following teaching: Rabbi Acha says in the name of Rabbi Huna: In the End of Days, the evil Esau will don his tallis and go sit among the righteous in Gan Eden, and G-d will drag him out of there." There is no need to wait for the End of Days. Let's give G-d a hand and drag Esau out there ourselves.

The Prince of Darkness Exposed

Since the beginning of time, mankind has grappled universally with theodicy, the question of why bad things happen to good people. To solve this dilemma, the philosophers of idolatry reasoned that there must be two gods, a good god and an evil god. This dualism held that the good god was the god of light, life and kindness and was thwarted by the evil god who ruled death and darkness. This dualism, evident in the Persian Zoroastrian faith, held that the god of good was locked in a cosmic struggle against his evil adversary. When Christianity spread and many pagans came into the faith, aspects of this dualism was absorbed. Christianity holds that G-d created mankind sinful and weak, in an evil world so corrupt and full of sin that man cannot be good in G-d's sight on his own. Man is not free to choose good over evil but rather needs the sacrifice of Jesus to atone for him. This doctrine holds that G-d is the author of righteousness and perfection and never created evil. Evil is the domain of Satan, who was created by G-d as a good angel yet rebelled against Him and fights Him constantly. Satan is the embodiment of evil, the Adversary and Prince of Darkness who rules the Underworld and the souls of those who do not gain salvation.

Such a theology is completely absent in Judaism. According to the Torah, a man cannot gain salvation through the sacrifice of another but rather through choosing virtue over vice, good over evil. Deuteronomy 30:15 states, "See, I [God] have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil." G-d created free will that man should be able to choose good over evil. G-d bids us to choose life, yet gave us the ability to sin and to do wrong. It is in this context that G-d created the evil inclination, or the yezter harah. Also known as HaSatan (Satan), the yetzer was created by G-d to tempt us and distract us from His service. Satan was created by G-d to serve a specific purpose, of leading people astray that they should overcome it and come closer to G-d, and is His loyal servant. Satan has no power independent of G-d and does not contradict or fight against Him.

In Isaiah 45:7, the prophet describes God's creation plan when he reports that,

I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things.

Good and evil, harsh and cruel are in the hands of G-d and G-d alone. The translators of the Christian New International Version (NIV) Bible recognized that this verse is contradictory to the Church's teachings and translated the Hebrew word 'rah' (evil) as disaster. This is meant to make the point less easily understood. It is not just hurricanes or disease that G-d creates, but sin and immorality were created by Him so that we should reject them and gain salvation. Satan can be compared to a court prosecutor. He has an unpleasant job but rather than being wicked himself, he wants the good of the court system.

Satan is one of many malachim mentionned in the Bible. The Hebrew word for angel, malach, means messenger, and that is precisely what Satan is. Never once in the entire Torah is there an example of an angel rebelling against G-d or refusing to carry out His commands, especially not Satan. That Satan is not an enemy of G-d is shown many times over in the Torah. When the snake (representing mankind's evil inclination) was punished by G-d, never once did it object to its sentence. Nowhere is this more evident than in the book of Job. In the first chapter of Job, Satan appears with other angels before God and argues that Job's righteousness would quickly disappear upon torment and loss. Satan then requests from God the chance to test Job's virtue. The Almighty grants this request, but He meticulously outlines for Satan what he may and may not do when putting Job to the test. Satan obediently follows G-d's commands. Job is immediately put to the test and, by the third chapter, begins to struggle. He questions his Maker as to why he was created and, in a moment of despair, wishes aloud that he had perished in his mother's womb. Still, by the end of this unparalleled biblical narrative, Job's virtue prevails over Satan's unyielding torment. Satan had to be given G-d's permission before beginning his persecution of Job.

To state that there exists some sort of Adversary, a god of evil, independent of HaShem is to flirt with idolatry and pagan ideas. There is no power besides G-d. This argument cuts to the heart of Christianity. Mankind need not be condemned to sin and punishment. Rather, G-d gave us the ability for personal triumph over evil. By keeping the Torah, man receives salvation from G-d. As our great sage Maimonides taught: "One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he does one good deed the scale is tipped to the good - he and the world is saved. When he does one evil deed the scale is tipped to the bad - he and the world is destroyed." A person cannot rely on the sacrifice of others as it has no effect on his atonement. Only by rejecting evil in favour of G-d's path can a person achieve righteousness. Choose life.

Leveling the Playing Field -- # 3 - Messianic Misappropriation

For all this talk of Jesus being 'the Messiah', there is a lot of confusion as to what 'messiah' actually means. Literally, 'messiah' is Greek for 'moshiach', meaning 'annointed one'. In order to have any sort of debate with Christian proselytizers, it is necessary to clarify what Judaism believes about the messiah. It would make sense to assume that since the Jews are the first ones to introduce the concept of moshiach to the world, that they would have better knowledge of it than the descendants of pagans.

What is the moshiach? The Jewish tradition of "The Moshiach" has its foundation in numerous biblical references, and understands "The Moshiach" to be a human being - without any overtone of deity or divinity - who will bring about certain changes in the world and fulfill certain criteria before he can be acknowledged as "The Messiah". The criteria are:

- He must be Jewish- "...you may appoint a king over you, whom the L-rd your G-d shall choose: one from among your brethren shall you set as king over you." (Deuteronomy 17:15)

- He must be a member of the tribe of Judah- "The staff shall not depart from Judah, nor the sceptre from between his feet..." (Genesis 49:10)

- He must be a descendant of King David and King Solomon- "And when your days (David) are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall issue from your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will make firm the throne of his kingdom forever..." (2 Samuel 7:12 - 13)

- He will redeem the Jewish people and ingather the exiles -"And he shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." (Isaiah 11:12)

- He will rebuild the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, in Jerusalem- "...and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever and my tabernacle shall be with them.." (Ezekiel 37:26 - 27)

- He will bring world peace - "...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Micah 4:3)

- He will bring the Jewish people back to perfect observance of the Torah - "My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow My ordinances and be careful to observe My statutes." (Ezekiel 37:24)

- He will spread the rule of G-d and belief in Him around the world, to all peoples - "And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says the L-rd" (Isaiah 66:23)
All of these criteria are best stated in the book of Ezekiel Chapter 37 verses 24-28:

And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. they shall also follow My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Yaakov my servant, in which your fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell there, they and their children, and their children's children forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, which I will give them; and I will multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their G-d and they will be my people. Then the nations shall know that I am the L-rd who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary will be in the midst of them forevermore.

Judge for yourself: Has any man fulfilled all of these requirements? Keep in mind that the Torah says that the Moshiach will accomplish his task in one try. The Moshiach "shall not fail nor be crushed, till he have set the right in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his teaching" (Isaiah 42:4).

When will Moshiach Tzidkeinu (the Righteous Moshiach) appear? "Today, if you hearken unto His voice!" (Psalm 95:7). He can come today or tomorrow, and every righteous act, mitzvah or good deed accomplished brings his coming closer. Isaiah (60:22) says about G-d, "in its appointed time, I will hasten it". The Rabbis asked how could it be possible for HaShem to hasten the coming of the Moshiach, since he would no longer appear in his appointed time. They resolved this difficulty by saying that if Israel does teshuva and the world is worthy, the Moshiach will come via signs and wonders, miracles and great things, immediately, and if we are not worthy, he will come in his appointed time, through natural means.

How will we recognize the Moshiach? The Rambam in his Hilchot Melachim (11:4) writes:

If a king will arise from the House of David, who, like David his ancestor, delves deeply into the study of the Torah and engages in the mitzvos as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law; if he will compel all of Israel to walk in [the way of the Torah] and repair the breaches [in its observance]; and if he will fight the wars of G‑d; - we may, with assurance, consider him Moshiach.

If he succeeds in the above, defeats all the nations around him, builds the [Beis Ha]Mikdash on its site, and gathers in the dispersed remnant of Israel, he is definitely the Moshiach.[3]

He will perfect the entire world, [motivating all the na­tions] to serve G‑d together, as it is written (Zephaniah 3:9), "For I shall then make the peoples pure of speech so that they will all call upon the Name of G‑d and serve Him with one purpose."

What will life be like? Again, we turn to the Rambam's Hilchot Melachim (12:4-5)

The Sages and prophets did not yearn for the Messianic Era in order that [the Jewish people] rule over the entire world, nor in order that they have dominion over the gentiles, nor that they be exalted by them, nor in order that they eat, drink and celebrate. Rather, their aspiration was that [the Jewish people] be free [to involve themselves] in the Torah and its wisdom, without anyone to oppress or disturb them, and thus be found worthy of life in the World to Come, as we explained in Laws of Repentance (9:2).

In that Era there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition, for good things will flow in abundance and all the delicacies will be as freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G‑d. The Jews will therefore be great sages and know the hidden mat­ters, and will attain an understanding of their Creator to the [full] extent of mortal potential; as it is written (Isaiah 11:9), "For the world will be filled with the knowledge of G‑d as the waters cover the ocean bed."

May HaShem send His righteous Moshiach speedily in our days. Amen, ken yehi ratzon

Levelling the Playing Field - Part # 1: The Uniqueness of Israel's Revelation

Missionaries resort to a number of deceptive arguments to which many ignorant Jews have no retort. Therefore, it is necessary that every Jew familiarize himself with certain key points if he wishes to combat misssionaries. It is essential that he learn how to frame the debate and level the theological playing field, so to speak, in order to provide solid ground for the Judaism's answer. The most important thing to lay down is the superiority of Judaism's revelations and claims verses the flimsy ones of Christianity.

Judaism began with an Earth-shaking event, literally. It is an event which there is no parallel in any of the thousands of religion, beliefs or mythologies that exist. On the morning of the 6 of Sivan in the 2448th year since Creation, G-d Himself descended on Mount Sinai and revealed Himself before over 3 million Jewish men, women and children, and all of the souls of future Jewish generations, to present to them the awesome gift of the Torah. 'You might inquire about times long past, from the day that God created man on earth, and from one end of heaven to the other: Has there ever been anything like this great thing or has anything like it been heard? Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fires as you have heard and survived?' (Deut. 4:32-33) No other belief system begins with a national revelation, before millions of people. The simple reason is that it is impossible to make this sort of event up. If somebody had come along at a later date and tried to introduce the Jews to this story, they would have never accepted this made-up part of their collective history. Either they would have experienced it themselves or their ancestors would have past stories about the event down to them. Its impossible to convince somebody that G-d spoke to their parents, grandparents and the entire nation, and yet they've never heard about this before. From this most awesome of event, comes the basis of Judaism.

Maimonides writes:

Israel did not believe in Moses, our teacher, on account of the miracles he performed. For when one's faith is based on miracles, doubt remains in the mind that these miracles may have been done through the occult and witchcraft...

What then were the grounds of believing him? The revelation on Sinai which we saw with our own eyes, and heard with our own ears, not having to depend on the testimony of others... (Mishna Torah - Foundations of Torah 8:1)

This momentous national revelation helps explain why Jews remained faithful to their faith during the thousands of years of harsh exile. G-d commanded them that His Torah was eternal and that nothing could be added or subtracted to it. The Torah that we have today is the exact Torah, to the letter, that we received at Sinai. the Midrash (Devarim Rabba 9:4) tells us: "Before his death, Moses wrote 13 Torah Scrolls. Twelve of these were distributed to each of the 12 Tribes. The 13th was placed in the Ark of the Covenant (with the Tablets). If anyone would come and attempt to rewrite or falsify the Torah, the one in the Ark would "testify" against him. (Likewise, if he had access to the scroll in the Ark and tried to falsify it, the distributed copies would "testify" against him.)" All newly written Torah scrolls were proof-checked against the Torah contained in the Holy Ark. To eliminate any chance of human error, Jewish law enumerates 20 ways that can invalidate a Torah. If even a single letter is mispelled, the entire Torah is disqualified! There are entire books written on how to pronounce every word of the Torah. During the exile, Jews were dispersed in far-flung places such as Poland, Morroco, Australia and Iran. After 1948, when thousands of Torah scrolls were brought to Israel, they were all cross-checked. Out of the 304,805 letters of the Torah, only 9 letters were in variation in the Yemenite Torahs since the Yemenite community was isolated from mainstream Judaism. These 9 letters have absolutely no effect on the meaning of the text.

There is a famous story in the Talmud (Eruvin 13a):

When Rabbi Meir came to Rabbi Yishmael to learn Torah, he was asked:

"What is your profession, my son?"

"I am a scribe," was the reply.

He said to me: "My son, be careful with your work, for it is the work of Heaven. Should you perhaps omit one letter or add one letter -- it could result that you destroy the entire world

Rebbe Meir remarked: "Needless to say, I do not err by omitting or adding (letters)... but I am even concerned for a fly -- lest it come and alight upon the right-hand corner of a dalet and erase it, thereby rendering it a reish.

In contrast, Christianity's claims are based on the flimsy writings of individuals. If the Christian Bible is to be taken at face value, Jesus performed miracles before his disciples or a few villagers. (Even his public miracles in no way compare to the millions at Sinai.) Paul had his ephiphany alone on a road to Damascus. Christianity has no national revelation! However, even acceping the stories of the Christian Bible is generous. There is an acknowledged consensus among Christian academics that the Gospels were not written by eye witnesses but rather were pseudonymously attributed to Jesus's disciples, and the Paul's epistles make no mention of Jesus's life and ministry. Following the death of Jesus (whose very historicity is problematic), hundreds of Gospels detailing his life were written, of which the Church chose but a few. In his book, Answering Christianity's Most Puzzling Questions, Christian apologist Richard Sisson states: "In fact, after the death of Jesus a whole flood of books that claimed to be inspired appeared.... Disputes over which ones were true were so intense that the debate continued for centuries. Finally in the fourth century a group of church leaders called a council and took a vote. The 66 books that comprised our cherished Bible were declared to be Scripture by a vote of 568 to 563." The Catholic Encyclopedia records that it was the decision of Church father St. Irenaeus to name the Gospels as they are known today. Many events recorded in the Gospels contradict historical facts or Jewish law, proving its falsehood. In fact, Jesus divinity was only established by a vote in the 4th century CE at the Council of Nicea!

In contrast to the Torah's perfect preservation, there exist about 30 000 variations in the text of the Christian Bible.

(From Simple To Remember)
First, the Christian Bible is about 1,700 years younger than the Torah. Second, the Christians haven't gone through nearly as much exile and dislocation as the Jews. Third, Christianity has always had a central authority (the Vatican) to ensure the accuracy of their text.

What are the results? The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, a book written to prove the validity of the New Testament, says: " A study of 150 Greek [manuscripts] of the Gospel of Luke has revealed more than 30,000 different readings... It is safe to say that there is not one sentence in the New Testament in which the [manuscript] is wholly uniform."

Other scholars report there are some 200,000 variants in the existing manuscripts of the New Testament, representing about 400 variant readings which cause doubt about textual meaning; 50 of these are of great significance.

The Torah has nine spelling variants -- with absolutely no effect on the meaning of the words. The Christian Bible has over 200,000 variants and in 400 instances the variants change the meaning of the text.

When comparing the national revelation that is the basis of Judaism and the unbroken transmission of the Torah until today with the historical inaccuracies of Christianity's founding, couples with its ahistorical and forged holy books and immense variations, with the original text unrecognizable, why would anybody trust in Christianity's claims? They are shaky and weak, while the revelation at Sinai is emet v'yatsiv, true and certain. Any Jew who is flirting with Christianity must realize that he is trading in the certainty of G-d's Torah for a man-made sham.

"[Moses told the Israelites]: 'Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld. Do not remove this memory from your heart all the days of your life. Teach your children and your children's children about the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horev [Mount Sinai]...

God spoke to you from the midst of the fire, you were hearing the sound of words, but you were not seeing a form, only a sound. He told you of His covenant, instructing you to keep the Ten Commandments, and He inscribed them on two stone tablets.'" (Deut.4:9-13) Never forget that awesome day when we all saw G-d!

Jewish Passion

The tired old canard states that Judaism is a religion of law while Christianity is a religion of love. According to this way of thinking, Judaism concentrates on the trivial points of ritual observance whose curse Christians have been freed from by Jesus fulfilling the law. Christians achieve grace through the sacrifice of Jesus while Jews spent their lives aimlessly trying to follow an impossible system of obligations and commandments in which there is no spirituality. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The second a Jew wakes up in the morning, he says the Modeh Ani, thanking G-d for returning his soul to him. He then washes his hands, wiping away the impurity of near-death. Before he can eat anything, he must don his tallit and tefillin and pray shacharit. The Jew unfolds his prayer shawl and wraps himself around it, saying the blessing over it. He then proceeds to tie the leather straps of the tefillin around his arm, with the box next to his heart. He places the head tefillin like a crown and praises G-d's name. As he wraps the tefillin around his fingers like a ring, forming one of G-d's names, he says the verse: "And I will bethroth you to Me forever, and I will bethroth you to Me in justice and righteousness, and kindness and mercy, and I will bethroth you to Me in faith, and you shall know HaShem." With this simple action every single morning, a Jew connects himself to his G-d and reaches the most sublime heights of spirituality. Through a simple leather strap and a box containing a few parchments, a Jew is able to please G-d, to fulfill His Will and to bring a level of perfection into the world. What a priviledge! What an opportunity!

Judaism is a very action-oriented religion. G-d is not found in rigid dogmas or in ancient philosophies. Truth does not exist on forsaken shores, lofty mountains, dark oceans or in lone monasteries. Quite the opposite. "For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say: 'Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say: 'Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?' But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." (Deut. 30:11-14) Spirituality is found in the wool fringes tied to the corner of our garments, in candles lit in honour of the Shabbat, in a kind word, in a blessing, in a chapter of Torah studied. Even the most simple Jew can connect to G-d through countless mitzvot during the day. Kashrut is the Jewish way of achieving spirituality through eating. Shabbat is the Jewish way of making the mundane work week spiritual.

The Christian claim that through the intercession of Jesus, they are able to approach G-d, falls remarkably short. At Mount Sinai, G-d told the entire nation of Israel that they are to have no other gods before Him, as intermediaries between Him and them. There is nothing that stands between a Jew, and truly all of Creation, and HaShem. There is no need for an intercessor as G-d is directly approachable by every single person, each in his own way. By keeping the mitzvot of the Torah with passion and dedication, a Jew comes close to G-d. The idea that ritual observance is devoid of passion is absolutely ludicrous. It is precisely by doing something concrete as opposed to believing in the abstract that a person can achieve a genuine connection with G-d. Missionaries frequently ask their prey if they have a personal relationship with G-d, because in their minds such a relationship is impossible without Jesus. That is patently absurd. Jews have been engaging in a meaningful connection with HaShem for three millenia through His Torah. It is the channel for spirituality in this world.

"O come, let us sing unto the LORD; let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout for joy unto Him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods." Throw away all intercessors or obstacles between you and G-d. He wants to get to know you personally, and for you to get to know Him. He is waiting. There is no other.

I Am Amazed

It is common knowledge that it is those who differ from the norm who are called upon to explain themselves rather than the opposite. That means that if everybody is standing in a line, the person who leaves the line must explain why he did so, rather than those who are in line explain why they are there. In that sense, the onus falls on Christians to explain their faith to us and set out why Jesus was the messiah, as opposed to the Jewish people having to defend themselves against their accusations. On what right did Christians create a new standard for messiahood, virtually ignoring the requirements set down by the Prophets of Israel? It is not the Jew who keeps the time-hallowed traditions and ways of his ancestors whose faith must be on trial, but it is the upstart apostate who must demonstrate to us why he has chosen to reject the ancient path.

On the Shabbat of August 4th, 1263, the Ramban (Nachmanides) was summoned by the Spanish King James to a great disputation at Barcelon between him and the apostate and traitor Paoli Christiani. The subject was the Jews' refusal to accept Christianity. After a few introductody statements, the Ramban arose and spoke clearly and forcefully: "I am amazed. The words said in our presence to convince us that the Nazarene is the Messiah, were said by the Nazarene himself when he brought this same message to our ancestors and tried to persuade them. They refuted him to his face with a perfect and strong rejection despite the fact that it was he who spoke, who knew and could argue his claim that he is divine, in accordance to your opinion, better than you can today. Now, if our ancestors who saw him and knew him did not heed him, how then can we believe and heed the voice of the king, whose only knowledge of the matter stems merely from the hearsay of distant reporters who heard it from people who neither knew him nor were his countrymen as our ancestors knew him and witnessed his life." This, calmly and honestly, is the crux of the matter. Jesus, if he existed as a historical figure as portrayed in the Gospels, certainly presented himself before the Sanhedrin and the greatest of the Sages of the day and argued for his divinity. Jesus was certainly able to argue more passionately and logically for his divinity and messiahood that anybody else can today, and yet they refuted him to his face. In fact, the Jews were so apathetic about him that they found it unecessary to even preserve one Hebrew manuscript of the Gospel as part of the Tanach. They had recognized the falsity of his claim, that the law of Moses was eternal and that the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was no pitiful man.

The Jewish conception of G-d is not based upon philosophical reasoning or anceitn dogma. Rather, our knowledge of G-d comes from the mass revelation at Sinai, from our true and goodly prophets and from G-d's mouth Himself. At Sinai, the Jewish people heard G-d proclaim that there is no other besides Him. They were commanded to preserve the memory of that awesome moment and to teach it to their children. "To you it was demonstrated in order that you know that the Lord is the G-d, there is none beside Him." G-d instructed us how to worship Him, and anything which G-d did not tell us to worship in simple terms is idolatry. G-d identified the idols by saying “that which I have not commanded” or “those which you do not know.” Therefore, any deity which G-d has no commanded us to worship or which did not appear to us at Sinai is idolatry. Since no one would argue that Jesus took the Jews out of Egypt, and his name does not appear once in the entire Torah, then by what right does any Jew have to accord him the right of divinity?

The Jewish method of worship has been determined by G-d since Sinai and there is no reason to alter it. When Jesus came before the greatest and most knowledgeable of Sages to preach his new philosophy, they quickly refuted his arguments and prevented him from leading Israel astray. The Jews quickly forgot about this whole event. The early Christian writer Justin quoted a Jew named Trypho as saying: "Ye follow an empty rumour and make a christ for yourself. If he [Jesus] was born and lived somewhere, he is entirely unknown." The Jews responded apahtetically to but another messianic pretender and heretical religious offshoot. Now, if the Jews of Jesus' day saw him face to face, heard his reasoning and arguments from his very mouth, and still knew that he was not the messiah, then why should anybody accept him today when the only thing that is known about Jesus is mere hearsay passed down and distorted through the centuries? What right does a Jew have to disobey and go contrary to the generations of rabbis and sages, indeed the masses of the Jewish people, who were adamant that Jesus was not the messiah but a sinner and a heretic? Why should he break the chain of generations? Is he greater than Rashi and the Rambam, the Ramban and the Vilna Gaon, the Baal Shem Tov among the thousands of great Jewish leaders?

Recognizing the Differences

Many people are under the mistaken impression that the only issue separating Judaism and Christianity is the identity of the moshiach. This is a falsehood. Whether the moshiach will be the Lubavitcher Rebbe, John, Bob, Yankel or Ariel, Judaism will remain the same. A host of things separate Judaism from Christianity, namely the nature of G-d, sin and repentance, Original Sin, the nature of the Scriptures, the eternity of the commandments, etc. Since one of the most prevalent Messianic claim is that Christianity is "complete Judaism", I will attempt to briefly highlight the doctrines on which we differ in an attempt to show Judaism and Christianity are not spiritually compatible. Although we share a great deal in terms of culture and values, there is little in common theologically.

NATURE OF G-D

Christianity believes that G-d exists as in three distinct entities, as part of a triune godhead. The Christian perception of G-d is of three persons or entities, distinct, co-equal and co-eternal, which for the G-dly being.

At the Nicea council in 325 CE, Jesus was voted G-d. At this council, the Nicene creed was established. It sets out Christian belief on the nature of G-d:

"I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
...
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
..."


In opposition to this, Judaism teaches radical monotheism, that G-d is absolutely One. "I am the First and I am the Last; besides me there is no god... Is there a god besides Me? There is no rock; I do not know any" (Isaiah 44:6). G-d is an absolute unity, and not a compound unity in the sense of a car which is composed of many individual parts. He is the One and Only divine being. "I am the LORD, and there is none else, beside Me there is no God." (Isaiah 45:5) According to Judaism, G-d has no shape or form, is the One and Only, a complete unity, and is eternal and unchanging. The Jewish understanding of G-d was formed through revelation at Mount Sinai and prophecy as opposed to a vote, as was the case in Nicea.



SIN AND FORGIVENESS

Christianity holds that man is born sinful due to the Fall of Adam, and is therefore doomed. As such, his only hope for salvation is to accept Jesus as his saviour, and that his blood should atone for him. Jesus's death at the cross represents the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world, and anybody who accepts him is granted instant forgiveness. This belief is based on one out of context verse: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11) However, blood sacrifices could only atone for accidental sins, and had to be accompanied by confession and repentance. There were other means of atonement in the Holy Temple, such as the incense offering. And today, in the absence of the sacrifical system, we need only confess our sins and do teshuva to be forgiven. Hosea first asked how we can atone for our sins without sacrifices. In the Jewish Scriptures, G-d told Hosea to tell the Israelites that while they were in exile, to, “return, Israel, unto your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity. TAKE WORDS WITH YOU and return to God; say to Him, ‘May You forgive all iniquity and accept good intentions, and let our lips substitute for bulls’” (14:2-3). According to Hosea, God’s demand was not sacrifice and ritual but a piety and spirituality that expressed itself in love and loyalty. God and Israel’s love relationship is that of husband and wife.


Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to God, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God. For He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:7)

"And if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14).

"But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has practiced he shall live...When a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life. Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you (Ezekiel 18:21- 22,27,30).

"By loving kindness and truth iniquity is atoned for..." (Proverbs 16:6).

"If you return to God you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent...then you will delight in God..." (Job 22:23-27).


SATAN AND EVIL

Christianity asserts that a fallen angel, Satan, has free will to act against G-d and fights against Him in a cosmic battle. Satan is the source of evil and sin in the world. Such a belief is idolatry because it believes that there is a power independent of G-d. Judaism believes that the angels were created by G-d and have no free will to oppose Him. G-d gave mankind a dual inclinatation, the yetzer hatov and the yetzer harah, the good and evil inclinations, and that man has the free will to choose in between these. Some Christian denominations believe in predetermination which totally contradicts these.

G-D'S SALVATION PLAN

Christianity believes that faith in Jesus, as opposed to good works, is essential. G-d judges the world according to faith in Jesus. This belief, however, is extremely weak as not one verse in the entire Torah mentions belief in the moshiach ben David as a prerequisite for salvation. Judaism asserts that by following G-d's Torah, the 613 mitzvot for Jews and the 7 for non-Jews, a person is saved.

"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil, in that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances; then thou shalt live and multiply, and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest in to possess it. But if thy heart turn away, and thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I declare unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish; ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over the Jordan to go in to possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed; to love the LORD thy God, to hearken to His voice, and to cleave unto Him; for that is thy life, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (Deut. 30:15-20).

Christianity also views the Torah as a burden or a curse, which was fulfilled and completed by Jesus. Judaism sees the Torah's laws as eternal and unchanging and that they represent G-d's guide and moral compass for us to live more meaningful spiritual lives.

This was just a brief outline of some of the key points in which the two faiths differ. It is important to be able to set barriers between the two religions as the opposite is precisely what Messianic groups attempt to do. Remember that just as Christianity and Mormonism have a lot in common, and yet are very different faiths, so are Christianity and Judaism. One cannot be a Jew and a Christian at the same time.