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Previously in Judaism, any belief that Y'shua was haMoshiach meant a rejection of Judaism itself. However, today there is a new trend. As expressed in the largest Jewish magazine in print today, believers in Y'shua must not be rejected from Judaism simply upon the belief that he was the messiah. They have come to recognize that believing in a particular messiah (ie: Bar Kochba, Baal Shem Tob, ect.) does not negate one from being Jewish, albeit even if they believe in a false messiah. Modern Rabbinic Judaism has now admitted that even though many Jews believe in a particular "false messiah", such as the Hassidics, they remain Jews. However, such beliefs as trinity, anti-torah, and rejection of the Jews as unique people set aside by G-d will deem one as rejecting Judaism. But belief in Y'shua will not deem such an accusation.
Here are a few examples:
"In all his views and actions Jesus was a Jew. As a pious Israelite he fulfilled all the commandments. He saw in God his Father in heaven, had pity on the poor, supported the stumbling, and loved the repentant, in whose place even the perfectly just are not allowed to stand, as a talmudic saying puts it. He was also afflicted with the typical Jewish failings. He never saw the sublime and beautiful in nature, and he never smiled. He carried on his teaching amid tears, threats, and promises...Jesus was the most Jewish of all Jews, more Jewish even than the great teacher Hillel."
---Joseph Klausner, Historian and Professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem
"Yeshu Ha-notzri" (Jerusalem 1922); "Jesus of Nazareth", trans. Herbert Danby (New York: Macmillan 1925).
"If the many sayings of Jesus recorded in the Gospels which express his devotion to the Torah have even a grain of historical truth in them, then the charge of 'perverting the people' is just as unthinkable as that of 'blasphemy' (Mk 14:64; Mt 26:65), which none of the four Gospels show him committing. For neither his claim to be the Messiah (Mk 14:61 ff.), nor the usurpation of 'divine sonship' (Mt 26:63 ff.) are considered blasphemy or capital offences in Jewish law."
---Pinchas Lapide
"Israelis, Jews and Jesus", trans. 1979 by Doubleday & Company, Inc., pg. 47
"None of the Jewish historians...deny Jewish responsibility...In fact, Professor Klausner maintains that the Sadducees have a share in the blame...Just as the Jews handed Jesus over to the Roman procurator of the country, since they had no jurisdiction over 'capital crimes', so too the opponents of Rabbi Shneur Salman of Liadi handed him over to the Russuian authorities...If Jesus' crucifixion was a part of the plan of salvation, then the Jews were only playing their predestined role. And if God for unfathomable reasons led them to commit this exalted crime, in order to reconcile mankind...then we deserve indulgence, pity and love - and all Christianity's offenses against us remain unforgivable, till Israel one day finds redemption...We did that deed but I feel no guilt because of it. Therefore I am free to deal critically with the Gospels, as with any other great book that has stamped its seal on world history."
---J. Carmel (born 1901)
"The Bach Passion: Yes or No", Keshet, Tel Aviv, Spring 1973, pp. 46-63
"My heart bled over the loss [in the schools] of this tragic yet so tender book, so lovable and warm in its closeness to life. Alien? I felt no alienation reading it...Its native soil is our own land. If the prophet Elijah rode to heaven in a flaming chariot, why shouldn't Jesus rise from the dead and ascend into heaven? And, as in the case of Elijah, here too it is not the supernatural but the human, all too human, which gives wings to head and heart. Just as the figure of Elijah and his life story lose nothing of their pathos even when we have ceased to believe in his ascent into heaven, so Jesus and his story of suffering are in no way diminished if we can believe neither in his miraculous birth nor his resurrection...Scenes like those in Gethsemane, his agonizing prayer, the arrest at midnight, his outcry on the cross...the masterworks of world literature contain only a few such high points, such fateful moments."
"...If Confucious and the Koran have been translated into Hebrew...why not the New Testament, with its deeper and more human values? When I read the Gospel of Matthew, I understand how easy it is to reinterpret this chronicle of the ancient past into a fully relevant life story which has much to say to us even today."
"...When I speak of the Gospels, it is without any view towards incorporating yet another holy book into our literature. I take no pleasure in a canon, with all the narrowness implied in such a concept. My only concerns are of a literary, cultural and intellectual nature...As a matter of fact, the Gospels are religious writings, and anyone who wishes to be influenced by them in a religious way should be free to do so...There are people who derive religious insights from Dostoevsky. Others may react in a similar way to the Gospels. Why not? What are we afraid of? Or must we be anxious lest Jews once again look upon Jesus as Messiah and redeemer?"
---J. Carmel (born 1901)
"The Bach Passion: Yes or No", Keshet, Tel Aviv, Spring 1973, pp. 46-63
"It will seem paradoxical to the Christian that the Jew can learn from Jesus how to pray, the true sense of the Sabbath, how to fast, the meaning of the kingdom of heaven and the last judgment. The open-minded Jew is always deeply impressed by Jesus' opinions, and he understands that here is one Jew speaking to other Jews."
---David Flusser
"Inwiefern kann Jesus fur Juden eine Frage sien?", in Concilium, X, no. 10 (Oct. 1974), p. 598
There are many more that I can present.
I hope these encourage your soul if you believe in Y'shua as Moshiach. Consider that you are not rejected by Judaism, and those who reject you merely because of your beleif in Y'shua as the Messiah are doing so out of ignorance, and also against the understanding of the Rabbinical council today.
Shalom!!!
Japheth.
Here are a few examples:
"In all his views and actions Jesus was a Jew. As a pious Israelite he fulfilled all the commandments. He saw in God his Father in heaven, had pity on the poor, supported the stumbling, and loved the repentant, in whose place even the perfectly just are not allowed to stand, as a talmudic saying puts it. He was also afflicted with the typical Jewish failings. He never saw the sublime and beautiful in nature, and he never smiled. He carried on his teaching amid tears, threats, and promises...Jesus was the most Jewish of all Jews, more Jewish even than the great teacher Hillel."
---Joseph Klausner, Historian and Professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem
"Yeshu Ha-notzri" (Jerusalem 1922); "Jesus of Nazareth", trans. Herbert Danby (New York: Macmillan 1925).
"If the many sayings of Jesus recorded in the Gospels which express his devotion to the Torah have even a grain of historical truth in them, then the charge of 'perverting the people' is just as unthinkable as that of 'blasphemy' (Mk 14:64; Mt 26:65), which none of the four Gospels show him committing. For neither his claim to be the Messiah (Mk 14:61 ff.), nor the usurpation of 'divine sonship' (Mt 26:63 ff.) are considered blasphemy or capital offences in Jewish law."
---Pinchas Lapide
"Israelis, Jews and Jesus", trans. 1979 by Doubleday & Company, Inc., pg. 47
"None of the Jewish historians...deny Jewish responsibility...In fact, Professor Klausner maintains that the Sadducees have a share in the blame...Just as the Jews handed Jesus over to the Roman procurator of the country, since they had no jurisdiction over 'capital crimes', so too the opponents of Rabbi Shneur Salman of Liadi handed him over to the Russuian authorities...If Jesus' crucifixion was a part of the plan of salvation, then the Jews were only playing their predestined role. And if God for unfathomable reasons led them to commit this exalted crime, in order to reconcile mankind...then we deserve indulgence, pity and love - and all Christianity's offenses against us remain unforgivable, till Israel one day finds redemption...We did that deed but I feel no guilt because of it. Therefore I am free to deal critically with the Gospels, as with any other great book that has stamped its seal on world history."
---J. Carmel (born 1901)
"The Bach Passion: Yes or No", Keshet, Tel Aviv, Spring 1973, pp. 46-63
"My heart bled over the loss [in the schools] of this tragic yet so tender book, so lovable and warm in its closeness to life. Alien? I felt no alienation reading it...Its native soil is our own land. If the prophet Elijah rode to heaven in a flaming chariot, why shouldn't Jesus rise from the dead and ascend into heaven? And, as in the case of Elijah, here too it is not the supernatural but the human, all too human, which gives wings to head and heart. Just as the figure of Elijah and his life story lose nothing of their pathos even when we have ceased to believe in his ascent into heaven, so Jesus and his story of suffering are in no way diminished if we can believe neither in his miraculous birth nor his resurrection...Scenes like those in Gethsemane, his agonizing prayer, the arrest at midnight, his outcry on the cross...the masterworks of world literature contain only a few such high points, such fateful moments."
"...If Confucious and the Koran have been translated into Hebrew...why not the New Testament, with its deeper and more human values? When I read the Gospel of Matthew, I understand how easy it is to reinterpret this chronicle of the ancient past into a fully relevant life story which has much to say to us even today."
"...When I speak of the Gospels, it is without any view towards incorporating yet another holy book into our literature. I take no pleasure in a canon, with all the narrowness implied in such a concept. My only concerns are of a literary, cultural and intellectual nature...As a matter of fact, the Gospels are religious writings, and anyone who wishes to be influenced by them in a religious way should be free to do so...There are people who derive religious insights from Dostoevsky. Others may react in a similar way to the Gospels. Why not? What are we afraid of? Or must we be anxious lest Jews once again look upon Jesus as Messiah and redeemer?"
---J. Carmel (born 1901)
"The Bach Passion: Yes or No", Keshet, Tel Aviv, Spring 1973, pp. 46-63
"It will seem paradoxical to the Christian that the Jew can learn from Jesus how to pray, the true sense of the Sabbath, how to fast, the meaning of the kingdom of heaven and the last judgment. The open-minded Jew is always deeply impressed by Jesus' opinions, and he understands that here is one Jew speaking to other Jews."
---David Flusser
"Inwiefern kann Jesus fur Juden eine Frage sien?", in Concilium, X, no. 10 (Oct. 1974), p. 598
There are many more that I can present.
I hope these encourage your soul if you believe in Y'shua as Moshiach. Consider that you are not rejected by Judaism, and those who reject you merely because of your beleif in Y'shua as the Messiah are doing so out of ignorance, and also against the understanding of the Rabbinical council today.
Shalom!!!
Japheth.
!
and that your stay is a long one.
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