Why Jews Are Not For Jesus

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By THE EDITORS | Sep 13, 2010 3:30 PM | Print | Email | TweetShare

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin.

Random House

As we approach Yom Kippur, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin"”author of the Nextbook Press’s Hillel: If Not Now, When?"”answers questions submitted by Tablet Magazine readers.

I am a conservative Christian. I've come to realize that I do not know why the Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah. I sincerely would like to understand. I'm quite sure that there is no simple answer to this, but if you could point me in the right direction that would get me started.

From Judaism's perspective, Jesus did not fulfill the messianic prophecies and therefore is not regarded as the Messiah. The best-known of the prophecies concerning the messianic days is that "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war anymore"� (Isaiah 2:4). Since world peace must accompany the Messiah, and world peace (or, for the past 2,000 years, anything remotely approaching it) has not come, clearly the Messiah has not come either. In addition, Jewish tradition teaches that the Messiah will enable the Jews to lead a peaceful and independent existence in Israel. This, too, was not achieved by Jesus. One of the greatest rabbis of the Talmudic era, Akiva, believed that the second-century Jewish warrior Bar Kochva was the Messiah, and that he would fulfill in particular the messianic mission of restoring Jewish sovereignty. But when Bar Kochva's revolt against the Romans failed, Akiva recognized that he could not have been the Messiah (even though he was still regarded as an essentially righteous person).

Though it has been apparent for almost 2,000 years that the messianic days of peace have not arrived, Christians still assume that Jesus was the Messiah. How do they explain this? By arguing that there will be a Second Coming, during which Jesus will return to Earth, and fulfill the messianic functions originally expected of him. For Jews, however, this argument is unconvincing, since the idea of a Second Coming is nowhere found in the Hebrew Bible (what Christians refer to as the Old Testament). This idea seems to have been unknown to Jesus as well, since the New Testament cites him as telling his followers that some of them will still be alive when all the messianic prophecies will be fulfilled (see Mark 9:1 and 13:30). I would guess that the idea of a second coming was formulated by later Christians to explain Jesus' failure to fulfill the messianic prophecies. In short, from Judaism's perspective, to call someone who does not bring about the messianic era the Messiah does not make sense.

More in: Ask the Rabbi, Hillel, Jesus, Joseph Telushkin, Nextbook Press

5 Responses to “Why Jews Are Not For Jesus” Richard Friedman says: Sep 13, 2010 at 3:44 PM

Well said.

Snortwood says: Sep 13, 2010 at 3:53 PM

Seriously? That’s what an adult tells a person who actually believes in nonsense like a messiah? Well, at least that’s by the book. Meanwhile, for those of us living in the moment, it is way way way past time to share the truth with all folks of all persuasions, that that Messiah stuff, that’s for the kids. We’re grownups here, yes? Start sharing this maybe, Rabbi: there’s nobody coming to fix this mess we’re in. If it’s going to get put right, it’s up to us to do that. So let’s get busy, and it might be helpful to stop worrying about why your guy didn’t fix it and why we’re not waiting around for him to come back to do what he couldn’t do while he was alive, or for anyone else to come around to do it, either. IT’s UP TO US. And for anyone who still needs a messiah, stick with Christianity, but in the meantime feel free to lend a hand where work needs to be done.

laval mosley says: Sep 13, 2010 at 4:07 PM

Snortwood: he’s answering the question perfectly, this isn’t an article on the legitimacy of the idea of amessiah, it’s an article answering a specific question.

Snortwood says: Sep 13, 2010 at 4:16 PM

The request was, “point me in the right direction.” The answer is I’m-okay-you’re-okay. Pffft!

pesele says: Sep 13, 2010 at 6:55 PM

Rabbi Telushkin is correct, but incomplete in his answer and has, in fact, left out the tough stuff–those Jewish beliefs that challenge the essence of Christianity. Judaism and Christianity differ in regard to how each religion defines Messiah. These different underlying assumptions have to be made clear in order to understand why Jews don’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Jews believe that the Messiah is fully human (or, for liberal Jews more recently, that we all bear seeds of the Messiah as we work to perfect the world and bring a Messianic Age). Christians believe that the Messiah is God in human form, both fully human and fully divine. Jews don’t believe this primarily because they don’t believe there is any evidence that Jesus was more than a man. In addition, the Jewish definition of a Messiah does not include any hint that a Messiah will sacrifice himself for his people or that a Messiah will rise from the dead. It is this difference in belief in what the Messiah is and whether Jesus fits whichever definition (Jews say no to all definitions: he was not divine, did not rise from the dead, and did not bring world redemption. Christians say yes and yes but: he was divine, he did rise from the dead, and he brings personal redemption, with world redemption to come) that has resulted in disputes and Jewish death over the centuries. I mention the “difficulties” of history not to be divisive, but to point out that these different definitions have had very tangible consequences.

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