Kosher Jesus

The World of Lubavitch is astir. You hear it in shul; it is the staff of mikva conversation and of heated discussion between friends. Vos is di neias? It is Rabbi Boteach's new book, "Kosher Jesus", which is slated for publication on February 18. The book itself is not yet available, but as I understand from Rabbi Boteach's articles and from those who have read the book, it is based on the scholarship of Hayam Maccoby and his belief that Jesus was a kosher Jew who was misunderstood and whose teachings were distorted by his followers.

Many Lubavitchers are concerned about "Chilul Shem Lubavitch". G-d knows, Chabad does not need bad publicity. However, it goes beyond that. I think that the opposition within Lubavitch is not only due to what R. Boteach says but it is because Rabbi Boteach has a long history of blurring the boundary between the Jewish and the Gentile world.

In itself, this theology of Kosher Jesus does not bother me. The scholarship of Hayam Maccoby is dated and most scholars see Jesus as a complex figure who may not have enunciated all of the teachings attributed to him, but certainly taught doctrine that contained seeds that later blossomed into Christianity. Rabbi Boteach favors Matthew over John but it is John who shaped Christian theology more than Matthew. Yes, one can read the synoptic Gospels as teaching low Christology; that is, that Jesus was fully human and spoke of himself us the "Son of God" only in the figurative sense, much like Ezekiel Is called the son of man. The Gospel of John is another matter. The Gentile author of John promoted a clearly non-Jewish theology.

Seeing Jesus as a Jewish teacher is a well written about approach. Rabbi Boteach joins a long list of thinkers and scholars who are tempted to reclaim Jesus for the Jewish people. Luminaries such as Rav Yaakov Emden and many others, and in our own time, activists like Irving Greenberg, Shlomo Riskin and Yechiel Eckstein have enunciated this view on many occasions. There are several scholarly Jewish commentaries by significant scholars on the New Testament, including one by Rav Yaakov Emden, and recently Amy Levine published another one with multiple contributors.

However, "times, they are a-changing". Now is a different time. What I fault R. Boteach for is for blurring boundaries. Judaism and and Christianity are two different religions with very different theologies, two distinct spiritual lives, vocabularies, and, let's be honest, a history of conflict. Christianity is, in Pope John Paul's words "the younger sister of Judaism". Whereas one can hardly think of an amalgam of Christianity and Islam, the same is not true of Christianity and Judaism. These two can be forced together because there are many shared points between them, which is not true of Judaism and Islam. Because Christianity sprang out of the Jewish milieu, it is possible to extend its limits and to create the murky, poorly defined, but nevertheless workable Twilight Zone in which a mongrel Christaism religion can exist.

Therein is the problem. We, in this period in time are faced with this extension of boundaries. On one side we have Hebrew Christians, according to their types. Groups such as Jews for Jesus create a mixed Jewish – Gentile movement in which trappings of Judaism are combined with Orthodox Christian dogma. On the other end of the spectrum, Jewish observances are being adopted by the increasing number of fundamentalist and Pentecostallist congregations, that are looking to Judaism as the means to better relate to Jesus. To Protestants, religion is all about their personal relationship to the Nazarene and how best they can invite him to come into their hearts. This is sometimes hard for Jews and Muslims to understand. To people who are brought up viewing religion as a way of life, this incessant focus on the Man – God is foreign and hard to grasp. To Christians, and other hand, even theology is only important in as much as it tells them what to teach about Jesus. Many of them are seeking Jewish symbols and taking on Jewish observances and holidays in order to better relate to the Jew Jesus.

So what is taking shape all across the religious landscape of America, is the twilight zone of rapprochement between Christianity and Judaism. Rabbis in small out of town communities are already routinely faced with new congregants who observe like Jews but believe like Christians. Sometimes they are intermarried couples, sometimes Christians who have drawn close to Judaism, and sometimes Jews who are in the process of reassessing their Christianity and looking back at their community. This state of affairs has created a space for mixing, intermarriage and mongrelization of ancient teachings. This is not good.

Rabbi Boteach has a long history of facilitating such phenomena. As the founder of the Lechaim society in Oxford University, he was immensely successful, to the extent, that Lechaim became the second-largest student group in the University. As I understand, its membership was about 60% Gentile and only about 40% Jewish. As a result, it became a setting for Jewish young men and women to mix with fine, spiritually minded, and clean-cut Gentile students who respected and liked Jews a certain recipe for intermarriage. The world Lubavitcher movement was very concerned and when Cory Booker, currently the mayor of Newark, became the head of the society, they acted. There is the root of the rift between organized Lubavitch and Rabbi Boteach. The same can be said of R. Boteach's subsequent career, much of which has taken place in the world of entertainment, celebrities, and the society of non-Jews.

Therein is the rub! The book Kosher Jesus facilitaes and promotes this blurrring of boundaries. As Jews, and as Americans, we celebrate the values of religious tolerance and rejoice when religious values are adopted and respected by the American public. On the other hand, let Jews be Jews and let Gentiles the Gentiles. Judaism and Christianity have long and sophisticated religious and spiritual traditions. With the advent of the Internet, and the diffusion of knowledge, perhaps it was inevitable that Christians become familiar and take note of the religious riches of Judaism. However, we are a small faith community that still has much of importance due to share with the world and the encounter weakens us and threatens Jewish continuity. This is why Kosher Jesus is bad for the Jews.

Comments

[h]

The picture of the Pope and Rabbi Toaf, Chief Rabbi of Rome, is misleading. Rabbi Toaf is a learned and strict Orthodox rabbi who stated before the meeting that he would have preferred if the Pope never extended his offer to visit the synagogue in the first place, but after it was extended, he could not refuse it because of Darkhei Shalom and the likelihood that a refusal would engender further anti-Semitism.

[L]

Very good, right on target!

יישר כחך

[Neil Harris]

Excellent analysis!!! Thanks!!!

[Rabbi Eli]

Here is a book review I wrote.
http://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/kosher-jesus-a-book-review-by-rabbi-eli-cohen/