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Jewish Understanding Of Christ


HisChildForever

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HisChildForever

What exactly does Judaism teach about Christ? That He was a moral teacher, His being Messiah embellished by His followers? that He never existed? that He was an impostor? From my understanding, Islamic faiths recognize that Christ did walk the earth, but as a prophet, not God-Man. But I never really considered what Judaism teaches.

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HisChildForever

Thanks for the links, very helpful. Does anyone know if their overall understanding of Jesus (say, as a person/teacher) is positive or negative?

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HisChildForever

Interesting that it seems they accept what Jesus said (that He was the Son of God) - just that He was wrong - as opposed to being of the opinion that His followers "added" to Christ's persona.

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Fidei Defensor

Thanks for the links, very helpful. Does anyone know if their overall understanding of Jesus (say, as a person/teacher) is positive or negative?

I'm not very versed in it, so it would be speculation, but I think that the modern understanding is mostly neutral-positive simply because Jesus wasn't a bad person. I would venture to guess that theologically, it may be more negative under the whole "false messiah" thing.

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I can't repeat what the Talmud says about our Lord but I wonder if it has anything to do with some Europeans burning it en masse.

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Thanks for the links, very helpful. Does anyone know if their overall understanding of Jesus (say, as a person/teacher) is positive or negative?

 

I was an Orthodox Jew before I became Catholic. Among traditional Jews, it's very negative. The Talmud acknowledges that His name was Jesus by its wordplay on his name:

 

(ישוע(ה means "salvation" and is the word "Jesus" ("Yeshua").

 

The Talmud refers to Jesus as:

 

ישו ("Yeshu") which is an acronym for "יימחק שמו וזכרונו" ("May his name and memory be erased").

 

Orthodox Jews use the same acronym anytime they have to mention the name of Hitler.

 

I think that about says it all.

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As an aside: The moment I began to consider the flaws in Judaism's arguments about Christ was the moment at which I realized that Chabadniks (a type of Chasidic Jew) believe their Rebbe (great rabbi) was the Messiah. The Rebbe, at the time, was dead. There was a fairly large group of Chabadniks making arguments from the Talmud and Torah that the messiah could rise from the dead—something Judaism has always had a hard time accepting. But because they wanted to believe so badly that the Rebbe was the messiah, they found ways to justify it with their holy books.

 

As soon as I saw that it could be justified (when Jews want it to be), I started wondering.

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HisChildForever

I was an Orthodox Jew before I became Catholic. Among traditional Jews, it's very negative. The Talmud acknowledges that His name was Jesus by its wordplay on his name:

 

(ישוע(ה means "salvation" and is the word "Jesus" ("Yeshua").

 

The Talmud refers to Jesus as:

 

ישו ("Yeshu") which is an acronym for "יימחק שמו וזכרונו" ("May his name and memory be erased").

 

Orthodox Jews use the same acronym anytime they have to mention the name of Hitler.

 

I think that about says it all.

 

:|

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:|

 

Well, if it's any consolation, among liberal Jews (i.e., not-very-religious ones), you can find some who will say, "I think Jesus was a good man, a good teacher." But it depends on how secure they are in their own Jewishness. If they're super-insecure (as most American Jews are), they'll not say that in order to better distinguish themselves from Christians, since that helps them to feel more Jewish. If they're secure in their Jewishness (or just really intellectually honest), they'll go ahead and acknowledge that He was a good man and teacher, but just not accept Him as Messiah.

 

It just depends.

 

What's funny is how many modern Israelis actually espouse a morality very similar to the one that Jesus espoused, and will actually acknowledge He was a good man and teacher (because Israelis generally are much more secure in their Jewishness than American Jews), but they won't consider for a second that Jesus was the Messiah.

 

Inoculation against Jesus-as-Savior in Jewish circles is pretty thorough. I had to accept Mary first and then wait a LONG time before I could accept her Son.

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Chestertonian

Well, if it's any consolation, among liberal Jews (i.e., not-very-religious ones), you can find some who will say, "I think Jesus was a good man, a good teacher." But it depends on how secure they are in their own Jewishness. If they're super-insecure (as most American Jews are), they'll not say that in order to better distinguish themselves from Christians, since that helps them to feel more Jewish. If they're secure in their Jewishness (or just really intellectually honest), they'll go ahead and acknowledge that He was a good man and teacher, but just not accept Him as Messiah.

 

It just depends.

 

What's funny is how many modern Israelis actually espouse a morality very similar to the one that Jesus espoused, and will actually acknowledge He was a good man and teacher (because Israelis generally are much more secure in their Jewishness than American Jews), but they won't consider for a second that Jesus was the Messiah.

 

Inoculation against Jesus-as-Savior in Jewish circles is pretty thorough. I had to accept Mary first and then wait a LONG time before I could accept her Son.

 

Are you ethnically Jewish? I've always been curious as to how "gentile converts"  (for lack of a better term) to Judaism are treated.


 

Edited by Chestertonian
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I was an Orthodox Jew before I became Catholic. Among traditional Jews, it's very negative. The Talmud acknowledges that His name was Jesus by its wordplay on his name:

 

(ישוע(ה means "salvation" and is the word "Jesus" ("Yeshua").

 

The Talmud refers to Jesus as:

 

ישו ("Yeshu") which is an acronym for "יימחק שמו וזכרונו" ("May his name and memory be erased").

 

Orthodox Jews use the same acronym anytime they have to mention the name of Hitler.

 

I think that about says it all.

 


Well that's depressing. :|

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Well that's depressing. :|

 

Sorry. That post seems to have upset a few people. I was just trying to answer the question. :-(

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