Gefen Publishing House
February 2012
On Sale: February 1, 2012
300 pages ISBN: 9652295787 EAN: 9789652295781 Kindle: B006JPLLMG Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
Kosher Jesus is a project of more than six years research
and writing. The book seeks to offer to Jews and Christians
the real story of Jesus, a wholly observant, Pharisaic Rabbi
who fought Roman paganism and oppression and was killed for
it. While many Christians will be confused by its assertion
that Jesus never claimed divinity and not only did not
abrogate the Torah but observed every letter of the Law,
they will find comfort in my tracing most of Jesus principal
teachings back to Jewish sources, this before he was
stripped of his Jewishness by later writers who sought to
portray him as an enemy of his people.
This is especially true of Jesus' most famous oration, the
Sermon on the Mount, which is a reformulation of the Torah
he studied and to which he was committed. A small sampling:
Jesus: (Matt 5:5) Blessed are the meek, for they shall
inherit the earth. Hebrew Bible: (Psalms 37) The meek shall
inherit the earth, and delight themselves in the abundance
of peace. Jesus: (Matt 5:8) Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see G-d. Hebrew Bible: (Psalms 24) Who shall
ascend the mount of the Lord the pure-hearted. Jesus: (Matt
5:39) But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to
him the other also. Hebrew Bible: (Lamentations 3:30) Let
him offer his cheek to him who smites him.... Jesus: (Matt
6:33) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and
all these things shall be yours as well. Hebrew Bible:
(Psalms 37:4) Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall
give you the desires of your heart. Jesus: (Matt 7:7) Ask,
and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock,
and the door will be opened for you. Hebrew Bible: (Jer
29:13) When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek
me with all your heart. Jesus: (Matt 7:23) Then I will
declare to them, I never knew you; go away from me, you
evildoers. Hebrew Bible: (Psalms 6:9) Depart from me, all
you workers of evil...
The book is also for Jews who remain deeply uncomfortable
with Jesus because of the Church s long history of
anti-Semitism, the deification of Jesus, and the Jewish
rejection of any Messiah who has not fulfilled the Messianic
prophecies. We Jews will forever reject the divinity of any
man, the single most emphatic prohibition of our Bible. And
we can never accept the Messiahship of any personality,
however noble or well-intended, who died without ushering in
the age of physical redemption. But as Christians and Jews
now come together to love and support the majestic and
humane Jewish state, it s time that Christians rediscover
the deep Jewishness and religious Jewish commitment of
Jesus, while Jews reexamine a lost son who was murdered by a
brutal Roman state who sought to impose Roman culture and
rule upon a tiny yet stubborn nation who will never be
severed from their eternal covenant with the G-d of Israel.