Two of North America's leading orthodox rabbis — including a prominent Jewish scholar in Canada — are engaged in a fierce war of words over the proper place of Jesus Christ in the teachings and traditions of Judaism.
Sparked by the imminent release of the book Kosher Jesus by the high-profile and controversial U.S. rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Toronto-based rabbi Immanuel Schochet — apparently having seen an advance copy — has condemned the publication as "heretical" and pronounced that "it is forbidden for anyone to buy or read this book.
At the centre of the debate are questions involving Jesus's roots as a Jew, and whether "the Jewishness of Jesus," as Boteach puts it, should lead modern Jews to "rediscover" and celebrate the extent to which the Old Testament books of the Bible shaped the thinking of Jesus — even if Christ's disciples and later Christian leaders "misused" Jesus's own teachings to spread their new religion and persecute Jews.
It's time these universal Jewish ideas that have so influenced the world be traced back to their original source," Boteach has written in defence of his book. "It's time that the Jewishness of Jesus be rediscovered by Christians."
But Schochet, a strong critic of Christian evangelizing of Jews, and whose writings have frequently aimed to highlight the divide between Christians and Jews, issued an open letter last week — first appearing at the international Jewish news website The Algemeiner — in which he vehemently denounced Boteach's book.
While it is not normally my style to write letters of condemnation, having read the book, I feel it poses a tremendous risk to the Jewish community," wrote Schochet, an emeritus professor of philosophy and religion at Toronto's Humber College and rabbi at the city's Congregation Beth Joseph.
I have never read a book, let alone one authored by a purported frum (religious) Jew, that does more to enhance the evangelical missionary message and agenda than the aforementioned book," stated Schochet. "It is forbidden for anyone to buy or read this book, or give its author a platform in any way shape or form to discuss this topic.
He added: "The grossly distorted message of the book violates basic premises of original and authentic Jewish tradition, thus unavoidably must be rejected for being heretical. It is my sincerest hope that the author recognizes the error of his ways and looks to make amends by retracting the book."
Schochet, who was born in Switzerland and emigrated to Canada in 1951, was not available on Friday to comment further on the controversy.
In a lengthy response that has been widely disseminated online — including Huffington Post's religion site — Boteach has shot back at Schochet, attacking the Canadian rabbi's call for Kosher Jesus to be banned among Jews.
While describing Schocet as "someone whose writings and lectures I have long admired," Boteach stated that, "I must retain the right to defend myself against the appalling and libelous charge of heresy.
Boteach said his book — which is to be officially released next week — "goes back to the original Gospel source materials to uncover the real story of Jesus," as he was "prior to later Christian editors significantly modifying the story to accommodate the Romans.
Referring to the five books of the Old Testament that were attributed to Moses and form the foundation of Jewish teaching and religious law, Boteach stated that, "Jesus was, as many have argued before me, a Torah-observant Jew whose mission it was to restore Jewish observance fully among his Jewish brethren and fight Roman persecution."
He added: "Jesus was a martyr for his people who never claimed to be divine, who never changed the Torah and who would be scandalized to see his teachings — nearly all of which I trace back to their earlier Jewish sources — misused to persecute his people."
In response to Schochet's charge that Kosher Jesus amounts to a gift to those intent on converting Jews to Christianity, Boteach said his book argues forcefully that Christ was no saviour ordained by God.
This is the ultimate argument against Christian missionaries," Boteach wrote, "and my book, for those Jews who care to read it, will offer significant information to argue convincingly against any Christian attempt to evangelize Jews."
Boteach, who has also come under fire from fellow rabbis for offering spiritual advice to singer Michael Jackson, and for authoring the 1999 book Kosher Sex, further noted that: "Rabbi Schochet, through no fault of his own, came of age when Christians were seen primarily as proselytizers and as enemies of our people. But the past few decades have changed everything. Christians are today the State of Israel's best friends. They visit Israel and support it arguably even more consistently than the Jewish community."
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