Why the Jews Rejected Jesus: The Turning Point in Western History

I thought this book was an excellent guide to the core differences between traditional Judaism and Christianity: to summarize briefly, Christianity believes that the Messiah has already come and has abrogated parts of the Torah, and Jews believe that the Messiah has not yet come, because the Messiah (1) would uphold the Torah and (2) would establish a utopian Jewish state in Israel. Many of the hostile reviews of this book, much to my surprise, came from Christians who sought to argue with this view. I think that these reviews miss the point of the book: These reviewers seem to think that Klinghoffer was seeks to provide a comprehensive refutation of Christianity, while (in my opinion) Klinghoffer was merely trying to briefly summarize the Jewish view and to explain to Christians: "This is what your Jewish neighbors are thinking."

Many reviewers on this page simply want to tell you what they think. They want to disagree with Klinghoffer, castigate him, preach to him, convert him. All I want to do is tell you that this is a good book, and you should read it. With all respect, you can't call yourself educated unless you do. Every sober-minded adult needs to read "Why the Jews Rejected Jesus." More than a theological dispute, the historical importance of the Jews' refusal to believe that Jesus was the Messiah is beyond measure. That event marks the road taken for the entire Western World. The repercussions of the Jews' choice are seen in every newspaper and on every newscast every day, and that choice has rocked the world for two thousand years. This is not in dispute. For any student of history, atheist or believer, this is an important and seminal work. Seminal because, before now, most modern Jews were frankly unwilling to engage in debate with Christians for fear of persecution. But the fact remains that the Jews did reject Jesus, and for most Christians who read the Old Testament through the lens of the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul, this fact is puzzling. How could the Jews reject Jesus when it seems so apparent to us that Jesus is the promised Messiah? There is no one more qualified to bring this subject to general readers than David Klinghoffer. He is a well-educated adult convert to Judaism, a good American writer who speaks our vernacular, and an honest man who has opened up his innermost thoughts for our inspection. In his previous book, "The Lord Will Gather Me In," he has laid his heart bare and told us what led him to become a Jew. In "The Discovery of God" he introduced us to Abraham, monotheism, and the ancient Talmudic commentaries. In "Why the Jews Rejected Jesus," he takes us further into the Talmud and into the faith of Judaism. His arguments are challenging and interesting. For all Evangelicals who are trying to be informed about their religion, consider the words of Pat Robertson: "You must realize that the God who spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai is our God. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are our spiritual Patriarchs. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel are our prophets. King David, a man after God's own heart, is our hero. The Holy City of Jerusalem is our spiritual capital. And the continuation of Jewish sovereignty over the Holy Land is a further bulwark to us that the God of the Bible exists and that His Word is true." For Rapture believing Fundamentalists who are seeking knowledge, consider the words of the well-known television preacher, John Hagee: "Christians owe a debt of eternal gratitude to the Jewish people for their contributions that gave birth to the Christian faith. It is not possible to say, 'I am a Christian' and not love the Jewish people." For Catholics who study the doctrines of the faith, please read the Catholic Catechism, much of which was written and compiled by the current pope, Benedict XVI, Josef Ratzinge

David Klinghoffer is a political conservative who has much in common with Evangalist Christians on a political and social level. In this book, he explains why Jews cannot share their belief in Jesus, however. Belief in Jesus encompasses two concepts, that Jesus is the Messiah and that he is a deity. In looking at purported messianic prohesies of Jesus in the Jewish Bible (in books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekial, and other prophets), there are two different viewpoints. Christians, who have already accepted Jesus as the Messiah see passages, such as Isaiah 53 as pointing to Jesus. Messianic prophesies are cryptic and somewhat obscure but, if you have accepted Jesus, these verses seem to make sense. On the other hand, if you have not accepted Jesus as the Messiah, these verses do not lead to the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah and any such Messianic proof seems like circular reasoning. In other words, since X happened to Jesus, prophesy Y must apply to him. But, if you were to say, prove that X happened to Jesus, the proofs don't add up. Stated differently, Klinghoffer says that there is a certain "heads I win, tails you lose" quality to many Christian proofs. For example in Jeremiah, there is the specific reference to a "new covenant." The argument is that this new covenant is the abrogation of Torah which is replaced by Jesus. But, when the next sentence makes it clear that this new covenant means that Torah will be etched in our hearts and not replaced, the words are considered symbolic. So if there is a specific reference to a new covenant, it is "heads I win." But, if there is a specific reference to something that would disprove the alleged prophesy, another, symbolic interpreation is given to that verse and it becomes "tails you lose." Besides being the Messiah, under Christianity, Jesus is the son of God and, indeed a deity himself as part of the Trinity. Jews also don't accept this. To Jews, this goes beyond monotheism. Klinghoffer looks at the prophesies from the standpoint of Jews living before Jesus was revealed. To those Jews, studying such prophesies would lead to no conclusion of someone like Jesus. Anyone ignorant of Jesus would see nothing pointing to him. A little later, Jews living at the time of Jesus saw no Messianic prophesies come true, thus, they did not accept Jesus. When Jesus was not accepted by the Jews of that time, Paul and James met and decided that Torah practice was no longer necessary, thereby opening the nascent Christianity to the Romans and other pagan nations. By breaking away from Judaism, this assured that Jews would not, on any large scale, become Christians. Klinghoffer states that this Jewish refusal to accept Jesus was actually a benefit to Christianity. If Jews had accepted Jesus, the commandments of the Torah would not have been abrogated. Therefore, Klinghoffer posits that there would have been no large scale conversion by the pagans because the requirements of circumcision, keeping kosher,

I thought this book was excellent, and very respectful of both Judaism and Christianity. Very well-researched and presented a lot of new ideas and interpretations that I had never thought of. I don't usually read history for enjoyment, but I can truly say that I enjoyed this book and learned a lot. In spite of the controversial-sounding title, this is a book that can only help relations between Christians and Jews.

As a committed Jew, I did not need this book to strengthen my faith. However, it provides an incredibly concise and well thought through intellectual "cap" to the faith of any Jew. At the same time, it has helped me understand the foundations of Christianity in a way that I never did before. This then is the true power of this work for both Jews and Christians: It provides a bridge of dialog and mutual respect so important to these two faiths, after nearly two millennia of mistrust.