The historicity of the nt itself and its central characters has been the issue of debate and controversy for 2,000 years give or take a year or so. The gospel accounts lack a cohesion and quote wrong prophets. Christian apologist offer a variety of explanations for the discrepancies. Some actually have some validity to their source premise.
"Melchizedek, the 'Youth,' and Jesus," in The Dead Sea Scrolls as Background to Postbiblical Judaism and Early Christianity: Papers from a Conference at St. Andrews in 2001 (ed. James R. Davila; STDJ 46; Leiden: Brill, 2003), 248-74, quote from pp. 267-68, n. 32 states:
The point made by the quote above seems to me to be that the one significant difference between Sabbetai Sevi and Jesus is the support of a Ceaser and Rome. As is often said; the victors have the privalege of writing history.
The Jewishness of Jesus ( all this is being presented from the perspective that there was a historical Jesus) is ignored, overlooked, edited, and denied. How did a Jewish man 2,000 years ago become the greek Jesus of the church (and to some a diety)?
Is it possible to know anything for certain about that Jew?
Was he really a self hating Jew as much of christianity seems to present? Or is he misunderstood in his word and deed due to a lack of understanding of the time, language, culture and religion that was all part of his reality?
Liberals see in Jesus a peasant revolutionary. Mystics find an eschatological seer. Christians Christianize their Jewish founder. We only get out what we put in. There seems to be no clear way back to the original Jesus of the first century in the Land of Israel.
Is Jesus a brother to the Jews or a nemesis?
We do not discuss him much, except in a negative light as Jews, he is not a focus in our life. But his teachings and followers have greatly affected our lives as a people and a religion.
Therefore I find discussing the historical character a valid and important topic.
All the time keeping in mind the Aleinu( an important Jewish prayer)
Aleinu excerpt:
From the Aleinu Ecyclopedia:
"Melchizedek, the 'Youth,' and Jesus," in The Dead Sea Scrolls as Background to Postbiblical Judaism and Early Christianity: Papers from a Conference at St. Andrews in 2001 (ed. James R. Davila; STDJ 46; Leiden: Brill, 2003), 248-74, quote from pp. 267-68, n. 32 states:
| Quote: |
| Gershom Scholem's book Sabbetai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973) provides an important cautionary tale for anyone interested in the problem of the historical Jesus. We have a great deal of information about Sabbetai -- who was born in Smyrna in 1626 and grew up to become a manic-depressive with delusions of grandeur -- and the messianic movement that emerged around him in 1665, including much eyewitness testimony and many primary documents written by the major players. When in 1666 he was given the choice of conversion to Islam or execution, he chose the former, and lived until 1676. Strangely, a good many of his followers continued to believe in him, reasoning that only the true messiah would dare to commit apostasy. The movement survived underground in various forms for generations, and for all I know may still exist today.
Scholem's analysis of this material shows that the reinventing of a messianic figure can take place not only immediately after his death but even during his lifetime. The farther removed geographically from the man himself the less interest the movement had in anything to do with the (contemporaneous) "historical" Sabbetai. Miracle stories arose within weeks of the events, sometimes sooner (pp. 480-81, 538-39, 557-64, 592-93). Indeed, before and during Sabbetai's arrest and imprisonment in Constantinople, letters and word-of-mouth gossip from that very city reported that he had raised the dead, healed lepers, passed through the locked doors of his prison, consorted with angels, and called up a pillar of fire (pp. 417-18, 535-36, 605). Within a few years after his death, a legend had arisen of his burial in a cave by the sea and the finding of the empty tomb guarded by a dragon three days later. His followers believed that he hadn't really died, but had experienced an "occultation" into the celestial realm, from which he would return gloriously in due course (pp. 919-20, 922-25). Gross distortion of the life and message of a charismatic intermediary need not take time. It can arise full blown during the lifetime of the figure, while the true teachings and actions of the actual person are ignored. It can assimilate any and all facts to the contrary by either suppressing them or reinterpreting them. It can present us with a miraculous legendary divine being within no time to speak of after the lifetime of the figure. |
The point made by the quote above seems to me to be that the one significant difference between Sabbetai Sevi and Jesus is the support of a Ceaser and Rome. As is often said; the victors have the privalege of writing history.
The Jewishness of Jesus ( all this is being presented from the perspective that there was a historical Jesus) is ignored, overlooked, edited, and denied. How did a Jewish man 2,000 years ago become the greek Jesus of the church (and to some a diety)?
Is it possible to know anything for certain about that Jew?
Was he really a self hating Jew as much of christianity seems to present? Or is he misunderstood in his word and deed due to a lack of understanding of the time, language, culture and religion that was all part of his reality?
Liberals see in Jesus a peasant revolutionary. Mystics find an eschatological seer. Christians Christianize their Jewish founder. We only get out what we put in. There seems to be no clear way back to the original Jesus of the first century in the Land of Israel.
Is Jesus a brother to the Jews or a nemesis?
We do not discuss him much, except in a negative light as Jews, he is not a focus in our life. But his teachings and followers have greatly affected our lives as a people and a religion.
Therefore I find discussing the historical character a valid and important topic.
All the time keeping in mind the Aleinu( an important Jewish prayer)
Aleinu excerpt:
| Quote: |
| It is our duty to praise the Master of all,
to acclaim the greatness of the One who forms all creation. For God did not make us like the nations of other lands, and did not make us the same as other families of the Earth. God did not place us in the same situations as others, and our destiny is not the same as anyone else's. And we bend our knees, and bow down, and give thanks, before the King, the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed is God. The One who spread out the heavens, and made the foundations of the Earth, and whose precious dwelling is in the heavens above, and whose powerful Presence is in the highest heights. The Lord is our God, there is none else. Our God is truth, and nothing else compares. As it is written in Your Torah: "And you shall know today, and take to heart, that Adonai is the only God, in the heavens above and on Earth below. There is no other." |
From the Aleinu Ecyclopedia:
| Quote: |
| The earlier Ashkenazi form of this prayer contains an additional sentence:
It is our duty to praise the Master of all, to exalt the Creator of the Universe, who has not made us like the nations of the world and has not placed us like the families of the earth; who has not designed our destiny to be like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitude, For they bow to vanity and emptiness and pray to a god which helps not. This sentence in italics is a quote from the Bible, Isaiah 45:20. "Come, gather together, Draw nigh, you remnants of the nations! No foreknowledge had they who carry their wooden images and pray to a God who cannot give success." (New JPS) However, in the Medieval era some within the Christian community came to believe that this line referred to Christian worshipping Jesus, and demanded that it be excised. In some Orthodox Jewish siddurim (prayerbooks) this line has been restored; the practice of reciting it has increased. This practice has not become mainstream in non-Orthodox Jewish denominations. |
