David Klinghoffer knew that his new book \u201cWhy the Jews Rejected Jesus\u201d would make plenty of people angry.<\/p>\n\n
After all, the Orthodox Jewish journalist argues that Jesus misunderstood centuries of Jewish tradition, twisted it or rejected it outright \u2014 or all of the above. The Apostle Paul, he says, padded his Pharisee resume and may not even have been a Jew.<\/p>\n\n
Truth is, Klinghoffer believes Judaism is \u201ctrue,\u201d in every sense of that unpopular word. But he has discovered that many modern Jews get mad when someone has the chutzpah to openly proclaim that Judaism is rational and built on a binding covenant with God that is linked to eternal salvation.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe Sinai covenant and its commandments, you see, are not compatible with every lifestyle,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if you try to tell many Jews that the covenant is still in effect they\u2019re going to bristle. They see those commandments as a judgment on their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Klinghoffer paused and chose his words carefully: \u201cIf you say that one way of living is right, then that implies that another way of living must be wrong. \u2026 If our beliefs clash, then we can\u2019t both be right. People don\u2019t like to talk about things alike that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
This weekend, millions of Jews will have a chance to talk about their beliefs and the ties that bind as they begin the weeklong Passover season, which recalls the Exodus from Egypt. This is the most widely celebrated of all Jewish holidays, with friends and loved ones gathering for the familiar rites of the symbolic Seder meals.<\/p>\n\n
What Klinghoffer finds disturbing is that the doctrinal lessons of Passover are incomplete without those taught by Shavuot, a holiday that comes 50 days later. Shavuot recalls the revelation of the Jewish law \u2014 the Torah \u2014 to Moses at Mount Sinai.<\/p>\n\n
Without Shavuot, he said, Passover is meaningless. Without the truth contained in the Torah, Jews have no identity.<\/p>\n\n
Yet few Jews celebrate Shavuot and many hesitate to defend their own faith.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI think it is interesting that when I speak to audiences of Christians and Jews, it\u2019s the Christians who say that they appreciate hearing from a Jew who isn\u2019t afraid to be honest,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to settle for watered-down dialogues in which no one talks about the questions that divide us as well as the truths that unite us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Klinghoffer\u2019s book is making waves because it bluntly states and defends the arguments used by Jews \u2014 from ancient times until today \u2014 as they rejected Christian claims that Jesus was the Messiah and the source of salvation for all humankind. Rather than providing ammunition for anti-Semites, he said his intention was to help traditional Jews and Christians be candid.<\/p>\n\n
For example, Christians have for centuries pondered the unique Jewish role in \u201csalvation history,\u201d a mystery often summed up in the familiar statement, \u201cHow odd of God to choose the Jews.\u201d Meanwhile, Jewish scholars have faced a paradox of their own. As the Jewish intellectual Franz Rosenzweig once said: \u201cIsrael can bring the world to God only through Christianity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Without Judaism, there is no Christianity. But without Christianity, Klinghoffer argues, there would be no Western civilization as the world knows it and, without Christendom, Europe would have remained pagan and almost certainly fallen to Islam.<\/p>\n\n
Despite their many differences, Klinghoffer is convinced that traditional Jews and Christians can find unity on many controversial questions \u2014 from abortion to euthanasia, and many hot moral issues in between. Christians and Jews are supposed to believe that \u201cwe can say, with a straight face, that there is such a thing as \u2018truth,\u2019 \u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
This matters in an era in which many want to blur the doctrinal lines between world religions. Others want to deny the existence of religious truth altogether.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThis raises all kinds of questions,\u201d said Klinghoffer. \u201cWho gets to decide what is right and what is wrong? Does God get to play a role in those decisions or do we just put that up to a vote among ourselves? Where does moral authority come from? Do we just pluck it out of the air or does it come from somewhere?<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhen we start asking these kinds of questions, Jewish and Christian believers can stand side by side.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
David Klinghoffer knew that his new book \u201cWhy the Jews Rejected Jesus\u201d would make plenty of people angry. After all, the Orthodox Jewish journalist argues that Jesus misunderstood centuries of Jewish tradition, twisted it or rejected it outright \u2014 or all of the above. The Apostle Paul, he says, padded his Pharisee resume and may […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38,203,1538,643],"class_list":["post-1330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-absolute-truth","tag-christian-jewish-relations","tag-judaism","tag-passover"],"yoast_head":"\n