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Someone wrote the following to me on my blog that my comments regarding Jesus are lashon hara / evil speech. She quoted a post of mine where I stated that Jesus showed "disrespect, petulance and even theft [which are] are the opposite of the messiah's. [behaviors]"
She wrote: "When did Jesus ever steal? Be bad tempered? Or be disrespectful? Before submitting a public article online you should be able to reference your claims. What about Ahavas Yisroel? To love our fellow Jew. What about Lashon Hora? Aren't your claims Lashon Hora? Were you there? Isn't this the same baseless hatred that Hashem allowed us to be exiled out of the land over, and have our temple destroyed? Maybe the Mashiach won't come until we mourn over the way we have treated Jesus, still treat him, a Jewish brother. Our religious leaders of the day handed him over to a goy governement who have no respect for Torah, and were one of, if not the most in-humane government of that time. Stick to presenting your case for your reasons why you think he is not the Messiah. You don't need to go further and insult a fellow Jew's character. How can you insult someone so easily that you have never met? Do you not read Chofetz Chaim?” Ahavat Yisrael means "love for one's fellow Jews" and is a Torah commandment: “Love your fellow like yourself / וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ” (Vayikra / Leviticus 19:18). Indeed. We are also commanded a mere two lines before this mitzvah "You shall surely rebuke your fellow, but you shall not bear a sin on his account. / תּוֹכִיחַ אֶת-עֲמִיתֶךָ, וְלֹא-תִשָּׂא עָלָיו חֵטְא." (Vayikra / Leviticus 19:16). We are commanded to speak against missionaries and against those who not only do wrong, but worse yet encourage others to do wrong. She mentions the Chofetz Chaim (19th century Poland) at the end of her remarks. He was a great believer in ethical speech – Jews are not to gossip or speak ill of fellow Jews. This is called lashon hara – evil speech. She is misusing his teachings. It is not lashon hara if the intention is to correct a negative situation, and there is nothing more negative than Jews being enticed to leave G-d. She needs to read the last chapter of the section Hilchot Lashon Hara in Sefer Chofetz Chaim. In it he has 17 numbered paragraphs discussing situations when speaking lashon hara for a constructive purpose is permitted. The first of these is speaking lashon hara to help others. The intention must for constructive intentions (numbers four and thirteen)… It is critical that we educate our fellow Jews who are led astray by missionaries. Let's address her individual claims. She asked "When did Jesus ever steal?" Matthew 8:30-33, Jesus killed a drove of pigs who were privately owned. He did not repay the owner for their cost. Then there is Matthew 21:1-7 where Jesus tells his followers to steal a donkey without notifying the owner. That is theft. He didn’t buy the donkey, he didn’t even rent it – he stole it. “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me." Matthew 21:1. Just take them. Don't find out who owns them. Don't pay for them. Take them. That is theft. Then she asked "When was he bad tempered?" When wasn’t he? Matthew 23:33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” How about Matthew 15:26 where he calls a woman who asked him for help a dog? Jesus was bad tempered quite often! He even cursed a fig tree for not bearing fruit OUT OF SEASON (Matthew 21:18-21, Mark 11:13-14). This is anger, theft and violence. Jesus was also disrespectful to his parents (what happened to honor your parents?). Luke 2:48-49, Jesus ran away and didn’t tell his parents. . . .”His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” 49 “Why were you searching for me?” To honor your parents is a Torah commandment -- and one that Jesus often disregarded. Jesus also showed disrespect to his mother in Matthew 12:46-47 and Mark 3:30-34 “While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. "Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” 48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:46-50. He encouraged others to disrespect their parents, too. Luke 9:59-60 has a tale of a man who wants to stay to bury his father and Jesus tells him to leave! Jews bury their dead within 24 hours. There was no reason other than disrespect that Jesus either couldn't wait for the man or say to him "follow the mitzvah and honor your father.” It is clear that Jesus told the man to not respect his father, but to leave the dead to "bury their own dead." Far from being baseless hatred, we are commanded to hate the missionary and not be swayed by him. Quite a few of these 613 mitzvot are all found in the Torah, and here is the Rambam's listing of them in his Mishneh Torah:
The woman who wrote the comment to me should spend more time in studying Torah with a good rabbi. To equate countering attempts to lure Jews from Judaism with "evil speech" is the height of ignorance. It also shows a woeful lack of understanding Jewish law. She also wrote “Our religious leaders of the day handed him over to a goy government.” Highly unlikely. She is again showing complete ignorance of history -- both secular and Jewish. The anti-Jewish Christian bible claims that Jewish religious leaders of the day handed Jesus over to the Romans who were unwilling to kill him. This is patently false and anyone familiar with both Roman and Jewish histories of the time would know that. The Christian bible was primarily a marketing tool to gain non-Jewish converts. The so-called trial of Jesus (with its varying conflicting stories) found in the Christian bible is full of errors, not the least of which is that the Jews had lost the right to try anyone to a death penalty. It has the wrong person as the leader of the court and it has the court meeting on Passover Eve – something that would have never happened! The high priest is said to be the head of the trial in the Christian bible. The high priest never headed the Sanhedrin -- that role fell to Nasi (president) and the Av Beit Din (head of the Sanhedrin) -- both of whom were rabbis. The Christian bible doesn't mention either one. These pairs are all listed in the "Ethics of the Fathers" (Pirkei Avot). Gamaliel (who is mentioned in the Christian bible in Acts 5 is not mentioned at all in relation to Jesus' trial). Gamaliel was the Nasi of the Sanhedrin at the time. Perhaps most telling of all is that while the Christian bible puts the blame on the high priest it ignores the fact that the Romans had selected the Jewish high priest! The high priest Caiaphas was really a servant, or lackey of Rome, appointed by the legate or procurator to ensure local control of malcontents. Most of the priests were hellenized -- and sided with the Romans. So far from the “Jews” turning Jesus over to the Romans you have a Roman puppet doing the Romans bidding – but let’s blame the Jews because we’re trying to convert the Romans to our new religion! Something tells me that this woman says “our religious leaders” is not a Jew at all. She writes as if she is a Christian. Perhaps she was born a Jew but through a lack of Jewish education believes the falsehoods she wrote about in her comments to me. The prophet Hosea wrote "My people has been eliminated for lack of knowledge; for you have spurned knowledge and I will spurn you from serving Me; and as you have forgotten the Torah of your G-d, I too, will forget your children." Hoshea / Hosea 4:6. Since the person who made the comments to me found her way to this blog perhaps she will read a few of the posts and learn about Judaism. If she was born a Jew I can only hope that she does so, that she repents and returns to G-d. Soon it will be the High Holy Days -- a perfect time to repent and turn to G-d.
1 Comment
Wandering Person
10/11/2020 01:16:16 am
In about 30 C.E., the Great Sanhedrin lost its authority to inflict capital punishment. After the Temple was destroyed, so was the Great Sanhedrin. A Sanhedrin in Yavneh took over many of its functions, under the authority of Rabban Gamliel. The rabbis in the Sanhedrin served as judges and attracted students who came to learn their oral traditions and scriptural interpretations. From Yavneh, the Sanhedrin moved to different cities in the Galilee, eventually ending up in Tiberias.
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