Ο ΙΟΥΔΑΙΣΜΟΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΧΡΟΣΤΟΜΑΧΙΑ
ΤΟ ΚΕΙΜΕΝΟ ΑΥΤΟ ΤΟ ΒΡΗΚΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΣΕΛΙΔΑ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΧΑΡΗ. ΘΑ ΠΑΡΑΚΑΛΟΥΣΑ ΑΝ ΜΠΟΡΕΙ ΚΑΠΟΙΟΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΥΣ ΣΥΝΕΡΓΑΤΕΣ ΤΗΣ ΙΕΡΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΗΣ Η ΑΠΟ ΤΟΥΣ ΑΝΑΓΝΩΣΤΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΠΑΡΟΥΣΗΣ ΣΤΗΛΗΣ ΝΑ ΤΟ ΜΕΤΑΦΡΑΣΗ ΣΤΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ, ΔΙΟΤΙ ΦΑΝΤΑΖΟΜΑΙ ΘΑ ΕΧΗ ΕΝΔΙΑΦΕΡΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΔΙΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΑΣ ΑΝΑΓΝΩΣΤΑΣ. ΑΛΛΑ ΚΑΙ ΣΕ ΑΛΛΕΣ ΓΛΩΣΣΕΣ ΑΝ ΘΕΛΗ ΚΑΠΟΙΟΣ ΝΑ ΤΟ ΜΕΤΑΦΡΑΣΗ, ΘΑ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΜΙΑ ΜΕΓΑΛΗ ΠΡΟΣΦΟΡΑ.
Judaism is Christomachy
Two thousand years ago, Saint Luke the evangelist wrote: "...All in the synagogue were filled with wrath" (LUKE 4:28). What's changed? Pope John Paul II wrote of "the firm belief" of the practitioners of non-Christian religions (REDEEMER OF MAN). The "firm belief" of Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai is instructive: "Kill the best of the Gentiles" (SOFERIM 15, rule 10). Certainly the Jew Hiyya ben Abba (2nd century A.D.) evinced his "firm belief" when he wrote of Jesus: "If the son of the harlot says to you there are two gods, say to him, 'I am He of the Red Sea; I am He of Sinai'" (PESIKTA RABBATI, a medieval compilation of homilies on the festivals of the year, 21:100). What of the words of the 3rd century A.D. Jew who transmitted to Celsus his "firm belief" that Joseph had divorced Mary because Jesus was born as a result of her secret affair with a Roman soldier (see Origen, CONTRA CELSUM, 1:28,32)? Or the words of the "sages" of the Talmud: "May we produce no son or pupil who disgraces himself like Jesus the Nazarene" (b BERAKHOT 17b), who was executed for "practicing sorcery and for enticing and leading Israel astray" (b SANHEDRIN 43a)? Or the "firm belief" of Rabbi Simeon ben Lakhish (3rd century A.D.): "Woe to him who resurrects himself with the title god" (b SANHEDRIN 106a)? Or the firmly believing Abbahu: "If a man says to you I am god, he lies; (if he says) I am the son of man, he shall regret it; (if he says) I shall rise to heaven, he says, but he shall not fulfill it" (TJ Ta'anit 2:1, 65b)? In trying to find examples of the "firm belief" of the Jews, I came across these words from a Cairo genizah (a room where books containing the name of God were buried when they wore out): "For the renegades let there be no hope, and may the arrogant kingdom soon be rooted out, and be blotted out from the Book of Life, and with the righteous may they not be inscribed" (Solomon Schechter, Genizah Specimins, Jewish Quarterly X, p. 657, quoted in Jacob Jocz, THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND JESUS CHRIST, Baher, Grand Rapids, MI, 1979). I tried to find "firm belief" in the Jewish book TOLEDOTH YESHU (GENERATIONS OF JESUS), written around the tenth century. In one version I learned that Joseph raped and abandoned Mary. I was taught that Jesus' supernatural powers were "obtained when he stole a holy name from the Temple...(His) magic was rendered powerless by one of the sages...The disappearnace of Jesus' body after death (is) explained either as acts of deception or as natural phenomena" (ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, volume 13, p. 1209). I read Jewish writings of the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, hoping I would find this "Spirit of truth operating outside the Church" (Pope John Paul II, REDEEMER OF MAN). The following quotations are from CHRISTIANITY THROUGH JEWISH EYES: THE QUEST FOR COMMON GROUND by Rabbi Walter Jacob, Hebrew Union College Press, NY, 1974: Moses Mendelsohn (d.1786): "I fully believe that Jesus himself did not teach by a good deal what the Christian rabbis have been preaching in his name for so many ages" (p. 22).
Rabbi Jacob writes of Salomon Steinheim (d.1866): "Among the elements in Christianity that encourage paganism, Steinheim noted the doctrine of the Trinity" (though Jewish "mystics" teach that there are ten emanations from the Godhead) "and Original Sin, which destroys man's freedom and God's justice. He also mentioned the latent idolatry of Christian art" (p. 64).
Joseph Salvador (d.1873): "In the future, Christianity (will)...help to bring about a new philosophical religion which (will) refuse to forsake purity for mass appeal. It will not precisely be Judaism but (will) closely resemble JUDAISM" (p. 32).
Of Rabbi Elijah Benamozegh (d.1900), Rabbi Jacob writes: "He compared Jesus to the (17th century) Jewish Messianic pretender Sabbatai Zevi," (who converted to Islam). "...He dreamed of a new religion: he believed that pure Judaism would be accepted into the structure of Christianity and that a religion capable of appealing to all men would evolve " (pp. 38, 39). Abraham Geiger (d.1874): "(Jesus) was Jew, a Pharasaic Jew...He uttered no new thoughts" (p. 42).
Rabbi Samuel Hirsch (d. 1889). Jacob: "The mission of Pauline Christianity was preparation of the true religion of Jesus---Judaism..." Hirsch: "(Finally) all men will arrive at full...belief in God through Jews like Jesus who make the mission of Israel their own." Jacob: "When paganism has been conquered, a religion of tolerance and love will be established by a joint effort of Jewish and Protestant thinkers; according to Hirsch this religion will be Judaism...(He) felt that the universal acceptance of a purified Judaism would occur soon...Countless Christians have abandoned belief in original sin." Hirsch: "The purely human has on the whole been victorious; it is up to us...to let it become victorious in our individual lives. The religion of love and tolerance will surely be the religion of the future" (pp. 54, 55).
Rabbi Salomon Formstecher (d. 1889): "Christianity and Islam are the northern and southern missions of Judaism to the pagan world...Judaism cannot, (however), grant equality to these religions. They embody only a few of its own truths as a means of preparing mankind for Judaism." Jacob: "All paths lead to Judaism, which represents the whole of mankind" (pp. 58, 60). The "common ground" sought by Rabbi Jacob and Pope John Paul II will be seen in time to be the bloodfield of Judas.
Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (d.1900): "The world has sinned more against the Jews than a hundred Christs could atone for on the Cross." Jacob: "Wise...sincerely felt that all...mankind was rapidly moving toward the millennium." Wise: "These right arms of intelligence have fought the titanic battles, conquered and demolished the ancient castles, and remove now the debris, preparing the ground upon which there shall be reared the gorgeous temple of humanity, one universal religion, one universal religion of intelligence, and one great universal brotherhood. This is the new covenant, the gospel of humanity and reason...The religion of the future will contain no Christology. The future man will need no Messiah and no Redeemer....Whatever is true and benevolent in Christianity is taken from Judaism." Jacob: "(Wise) was certain that all mankind was on the verge of accepting Reform Judaism. He was convinced that in America, the progress of culture, science, and art would eventually proselytize all people to reform Judaism," which has its roots in the teachings of the nihilist deviate Jacob Frank (d.1791) (pp. 71, 72, 74, 76, 82). Claude G. Montefiore (d.1938). Jacob: "He looked forward to a universal religion, which would contain all that was noble and would transcend national boundaries" (p. 109).
Max Brod (d.1968). Jacob: "Jesus certainly did not believe himself the Son of God in any sense other than the traditional Jewish view, which considers all men to be children of God (p. 117). Franz Rosenzweig (d.1929). Jacob: "(He) returned to the classic Jewish position that Judaism will be the final form of man's religion" (p. 131). Martin Buber (d. 1965). Jacob: "Jesus had harmed the world by his Messianic claims. All Jews must therefore reject Jesus" (p. 175). Pope John Paul II: "I...would like to mention
Franz Rosenzweig and Martin Buber, who through their creative familiarity with the Hebrew and German languages established a truly admirable bridge for a profound encounter between the two cultures (of Judaism and Christianity)" (ADDRESSES AND HOMILIES ON ECUMENISM, p. 151). The Pope refuses to address what Jewish scholars actually teach about Jesus Christ. Because of the scandal of Christ, Jews and Christians are not bridgeable, except IN HIM. In and only in Jesus Christ may we become one, one in the sense in which Christ meant it, mystically, hesychastically, theologically one: in the Eucharist.
Leo Baeck (d. 1956). Jacob: "(Paul) had known the Jewish longing for a Messiah, as well as the myth of the mystery cults where deities were constantly reborn. He finally combined both religions..."(p. 142), which contradicts noted Jewish scholar Joseph Klausner (d.1958), who writes that "Paul never consciously accepted the doctrines of the mystery religions, nor is there any evidence that he studied them" (p. 169). Klausner, of course, according to Jacob, believed that "eventually Judaism will become the universal religion"(p. 171).
Hans Joachim Schoeps (d. 1980). Jacob: "The Church...finds itself in a difficult position today and thus might become more open to dialogue...Paul, as a citizen of Tarsus, must have known the Gnostic rites and doctrines, but they would not have influenced him because he was a Jew. All apparent Gnostic influences in Pauline Christianity are traced by Schoeps to occult Phariseesm" (pp. 189, 198).
Richard L. Rubenstein (b.1924). Jacob: "(He) interprets the Lord's Supper in the Freudian manner as 'totemic atonement for the primal crime of humanity, the cannibalistic devouring of the father by the sons, so that they might take...possession of his females'" (p.215).
David Daube (d. 1999). Jacob: "The decline of Christianity was a hopeful sign. Jewish scholars saw it as beneficial for Judaism and mankind, for they believed that Judaism, or a new religion akin to it, would eventually become dominant. Although this optimism is gone, the weakening of Christianity is still welcomed by many contemporary Jews" (p.230).
Whoever reads these Jewish interpretations of Christianity "cannot doubt that those who consciously confess the Jewish religion strive for the universal supremacy of Judaism, or rather of the Jews. If one were to read the Old Testament as the Jews do...then it would seem that the prophecies speak about a future supremacy. For example, it is said, 'For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem' (ISAIAH 2:3). But 'here the New Testament is being spoken of,' writes Saint John Chrysostomos (+407) (EXEGESIS ON THE SECOND CHAPTER OF THE BOOK OF ISAIAH)...The law of Moses was given to the Hebrews on Mount Sinai. Why is it written here: 'out of Zion'?...He did not say 'go forth' but 'SHALL go forth,' which refers to a future time and to an event not yet fulfilled (in the days of Isaiah). '...And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem': indeed, Christ taught lofty and heavenly commandments while sitting on the mountain (Zion) and while...in Jerusalem., The Jews, however, who do not accept Christ, still refer this and other such prophecies to a future time and subject, as yet not fulfilled. They understand them carnally, in a worldly sense, namely, that there shall still come a law from Zion, from Jerusalem, and therefore not only for the Jewish people, as for the Hebrews the law of Moses had already been given on Mount Sinai, but for the whole world, a law in a carnal sense, as a government or authority...since the Jews recognize only the first given law of Moses. For this reason, the religion of the Jews is directed towards the future, to meet 'the Messiah': not Christ, but rather the antichrist, who must establish the supremacy of the Jews and Judaism upon the whole world...While Christians seek the Heavenly Kingdom, the Jews seek an earthly kingdom, the improvement of the world under the supremacy of the Jewish people, who exert great efforts in aspiring towards the fulfillment of this idea, 'for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light' (LUKE 16:8). For this very reason the Jews crucified the Lord, Who did not become the Messiah according to their understanding, Who did not guarantee worldly well-being, Who did not free them from Roman authority, but Who preached a Heavenly Kingdom, a Kingdom not of this world. In other words, the Jewish idea is a deification of materialism" (from ORTHODOX LIFE, July- August, 1991, pp. 39,40).
Rabbi Israel Newman, author of JEWISH INFLUENCE ON CHRISTIAN REFORM MOVEMENTS (Columbia University Press, NY, 1925) wrote in his HASIDIC ANTHOLOGY (Schocken Books--- whose Jewish editor became a Buddhist--- NY, 1963): "Jesus was one of us. Who therefore knows better than ourselves his true nature?"
Are these instances of the Spirit of truth operating outside the Church? What Jew would not think so? What modern Roman Catholic? I saw this spirit at work in a meeting between a rabbi and a Roman Catholic priest who each held one end of a Bible as they shook hands while the priest gleamed: "Here is where we agree! We agree on this book!" Woe to us! This spirit of "truth" is not the HOLY Spirit, Who never denies Christ. In his essay THE SUPREME VALUE AND INFALLIBLE CRITERION, Archimandrite Justin Popovich (+ 1979) writes, "Out of the mouth of the God-Man emerged the boldest declaration...ever uttered...'I AM THE TRUTH.' This means the God-man Christ is the truth as a Person, in all His Divine-Human fullness and reality...Outside His Divine-Human Person, the truth is ontologically impossible" (A TREASURYOF SERBIAN ORTHODOX SPIRITUALITY, volume 4, Serbian Orthodox Diocese of U.S. and Canada, 1989, pp. 119, 122).
In other words, "CUT OFF FROM ME, YOU CAN DO NOTHING" (JOHN 15:5).
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kirykos) wrote,
