The Jewish Attitude 
 Toward Christ 
 
 BY 
 
 E. S. GREENBAUM 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
 AND SABBATH SCHOOL WORK 
 
Copyright, 1919 
 By the Trustees of the 
 
 Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Wodb 
 
Introduction 
 
 The present reasonable and respectful attitude 
 on the part of many enlightened modern Jews 
 toward the name of Jesus fills with hope those 
 who have found in Jesus the Messiah of Israel, 
 even though this change of attitude falls short 
 of the confession of his twofold glory as “ the 
 Christ, the Son of the living God.” It is a glim¬ 
 mer which, we trust, will grow into clearer light, 
 and is a great advance upon the stupid prejudice 
 frequently met with in former days. 
 
 There is no doubt that rabbinical and Talmudi- 
 cal Judaism is not a true development of the 
 faith of ancient Israel as reflected in its psalms 
 and in the writings of the prophets. The Old 
 Testament called for a man, the Man whose face 
 shines from every page of the New; modern 
 Judaism is a mere makeshift for that Man. We 
 who have been under its yoke know what a sorry 
 substitute it is, how unsatisfying to the heart,, 
 how unavailing for the conscience, how unfruit¬ 
 ful for the life! But we rejoice that an increas¬ 
 ing number of our Jewish brethren are prepared' 
 to investigate afresh—and that without tradi¬ 
 tional prejudice—the claims of Jesus of Nazareth 
 to be the Messiah of Israel. 
 
 Max I. Reich. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/jewishattitudetoOOgree 
 
The Jewish Attitude Toward Christ 
 
 Ever since the day when Jesus of Nazareth 
 stood in judgment before Pontius Pilate and the 
 multitude of our Jewish brethren at the instiga¬ 
 tion of false leaders cried, “ Away with him,” 
 our attitude toward Christ has been one of hos¬ 
 tility. Jesus, “ the greatest blessing for the entire 
 world,” Jesus, “ the light of the world,” Jesus, 
 “ the breathing of whose very name casts a spell 
 of holiness over the human heart,” this Jesus has 
 been and still is looked upon by the great mass 
 of unenlightened Jews as a false prophet, a 
 traitor, a blasphemer, and a destroyer, the enemy 
 of Israel and of Jehovah. His very name is 
 shunned by his brethren according to the flesh; 
 its very mention is a sin. When Christ’s name 
 has to be mentioned a nickname is substituted. 
 “ That man,” “ the hanged one,” “ the one whose 
 name is blotted out,” are some of the substitu¬ 
 tional names for him who is “ the glory of 
 Israel.” From childhood abhorrence of Christ 
 and his teachings has been instilled. As one looks 
 back to those days it all seems a horrible night- 
 
 5 
 
mare. , Yet there are many thousands of our 
 brethren who still see in Jesus their greatest 
 enemy, whose hearts are full of contempt of all 
 that is connected with him and his teachings. 
 
 All through the dark ages of Jewish history 
 there were some Jews who knew the truth about 
 Jesus. They realized that in him the promises 
 through the prophets found their fulfillment. 
 They knew that he was Israel’s only hope. In 
 him they saw Israel’s promised Messiah, the 
 glory of Israel and the light of the Gentiles. 
 They knew that with him was bound up the 
 future of our people for in him there is life, 
 hope, and salvation. These Jews, few in number 
 though they were, kept not silence. They pro¬ 
 claimed to their brethren that in Jesus they had 
 found him of whom Moses and the prophets 
 spoke. They tried to convince the great mass 
 of our brethren that Jesus was not that which 
 we were taught of him. Unfortunately their 
 voice was but a voice in the wilderness. Indi¬ 
 viduals listened to the message and accepted it, 
 but the great majority refused to hear anything 
 of the Nazarene. The lot of those who con¬ 
 fessed Jesus as Christ was very hard; like their 
 Master, they were despised, rejected, hated, and 
 persecuted. The follower of Christ was stamped 
 
 6 
 
as an apostate, and to inflict pain on such was 
 considered, and unfortunately is still considered 
 by many, as the performance of some worthy 
 and religious act. 
 
 With the dawning of the new age a change has 
 come over our people. We live no longer be¬ 
 hind the walls of the ghetto. We have outgrown 
 the “ four yards of Halacha.” We have caught 
 sight of the outside world. We Jews have come 
 into contact with the great Gentile world, and 
 find that wisdom will not die with us. We find 
 that in this, to us, new world, there are other 
 men who think, feel, and understand, men with 
 ideals and noble aspirations. To our great sur¬ 
 prise we also find that the same Jesus whom we 
 despised and rejected occupies the central place 
 in this great world. This Jesus of whom we 
 thought so little is influencing the whole human 
 race. The noblest and best sons of humanity are 
 paying homage to the Nazarene and ascribing 
 their highest aspirations tO' him. We find that 
 in this new world we have to come into close 
 contact with Christ, his influence and teaching. 
 
 While he has not as yet a clpr view of Christ, 
 the enlightened Jew realizes that the old view is 
 obsolete. To speak of him in the terms of the 
 old ghetto days would be nothing less than play- 
 
 7 
 
ing the idiot. Facts and life are too outspoken 
 in their valuation of Jesus and his teachings. 
 Thus an interest in the life and teaching of Jesus 
 of Nazareth has arisen. Jews have begun to 
 study the New Testament, some out of curiosity, 
 others in order to be able to defend Judaism, still 
 others in order to be able to assail Christianity, 
 but a goodly number are in real earnest, seeking 
 to find the truth. During the last century and in 
 this, a host of sons and daughters of Israel have 
 found in Jesus their Messiah and have glorified 
 him by their lives and testimony. Enlightened 
 Jews from every part of the globe, without as 
 yet accepting his Messianic claims, bear testimony 
 that Jesus is the greatest of the children of men, 
 the noblest teacher and benefactor of humanity. 
 His life, they say, was holy, pure, unselfish, and 
 godly. His teaching, they tell us, is Jewish and 
 in conformity with the teaching of Moses and the 
 prophets. 
 
 How sweet to the ear used to the curses and 
 defamations of Talmudic Judaism are the new 
 voices in modern Jewry! Listen carefully to 
 them as they speak in the following pages. They 
 are the voices of representative Jews, historians, 
 philosophers, scholars, theologians, and leaders 
 of popular movements in Jewry, who are known, 
 and favorably known, in Europe and America. 
 
 8 
 
SEMEN M. DUBNOV—Out of the bosom of Judaism 
 went forth the religion that in a short time ran 
 its triumphant course through the whole ancient 
 world, transforming races of barbarians into civ¬ 
 ilized beings. It was the fulfillment of the pro¬ 
 phetical promise that the nations would walk in 
 the light of Israel. (“Jewish History,” Ch. II.) 
 
 BARUCH SPINOZA—Christ was not so much a 
 prophet as the mouthpiece of God. Christ was 
 sent to teach, not only the Jews, but the whole 
 human race; and therefore it was not enough 
 that his mind should be adapted to the opinions 
 of the Jews alone, but also to the opinions and 
 fundamental teachings common to the whole hu¬ 
 man race—in other words, to ideas universal and 
 true. (“Tractatus Theologico-Politicus,” Ch. IV.) 
 
 ISRAEL ZANGWILL—Not a daybreak but a burst 
 of sunshine. (In answer to Dr. I. K. Funk’s 
 question: “ Do you agree with Dr. Kohler that 
 there was a spiritual daybreak on the shores of 
 Galilee nineteen centuries ago, which was not 
 sufficiently recognized by the official sanhedrin 
 of that time?”) 
 
 MAX NORDAU—If the Jews, up to the present, have 
 not publicly rendered homage to the sublime 
 moral beauty of the figure of Jesus, it is because 
 their tormentors have already persecuted, tor¬ 
 tured, assassinated them in his name. The Jews 
 have drawn their conclusions from the disciples 
 as to the Master. It was wrong, but pardonable 
 in the eternal victims of the implacably cruel 
 hatred of those who called themselves Chris¬ 
 tians. (In a reply, a Hebrew Christian, who 
 asked whether the Jews as a people ought not to 
 reconsider the judgment of condemnation passed 
 by theii' forefathers on Jesus.) (Jewish Chronicle, 
 December 15, 1899.) 
 
 9 
 
CLAUDE G. MONTEFIORE—There is in it [the 
 New Testament] much that is great and noble, 
 much that is sublime and tender, much that is 
 good and true. The greater part consists in a 
 fresh presentment of some of the best and high¬ 
 est teachings in the Old Testament, in a vivid 
 reformulation of it. But a part consists in fuller 
 development or in a clearer and more emphatic 
 expression of certain truths, which previously 
 were only implicit, or not fully drawn out. 
 (Jewish Chronicle, December 14, 1899.) 
 
 ISIDORE SINGER—I regard Jesus of Nazareth as 
 a Jew of the Jews, one whom all Jewish people 
 are learning to love. His teaching has been an 
 immense service to the world in bringing Israel’s 
 God to the knowledge of hundreds of millions 
 of mankind. (In a letter to Dr. I. K. Funk, 
 March 25, 1901.) 
 
 ABRAHAM KROCHMAL—Has he [Jesus] not 
 brought millions under the wing of the divine 
 majesty and taught men discipline, morality, 
 righteousness, and faith through the power of the 
 Holy Spirit? (Translated from the Hebrew 
 and quoted by Rev. A. R. Kuldell in “Jewish 
 View of Jesus Reviewed.”) 
 
 JOSEPH REINACH—The characteristic mark of 
 Jesus’ moral is love, the purest and noblest love 
 that ever existed—love for all human creatures, 
 love for the poor, love for the wicked. Love is 
 joy, and love is duty, and love is life. Humanity, 
 since its first day and to its last day, was and 
 will be thirsty for love, and Jesus is and will 
 remain one of the highest types of humanity, be¬ 
 cause his words and his legends and his poetry 
 are and will be an eternal source of love. (From 
 a letter to 1 . K. Funk, November 28. 1899.) 
 
 CESAR LOMBROSO—In my eyes Jesus is one of 
 
 10 
 
the greatest geniuses the world has produced. 
 (From a letter to Dr. I. K. Funk, September 29, 
 1899.) 
 
 MORITZ LAZARUS—I am of the opinion that we 
 should endeavor with all possible zeal to obtain 
 an exact understanding of the great personality 
 of Jesus and to reclaim him for Judaism. 
 (From a letter to Dr. I. K. Funk, January 24, 
 1901.) 
 
 MORRIS JASTROW—From the historic point of 
 view, Jesus is to be regarded as a direct successor 
 of the Hebrew prophets. His teachings are syn¬ 
 onymous with the highest spiritual aspirations of 
 the human race. . . . The long hoped-for re¬ 
 
 conciliation between Judaism and Christianity 
 will come when once the teachings of Jesus shall 
 have become the axioms of human conduct. 
 (From a letter to Dr. I. K. Funk, November 6, 
 
 1899.) 
 
 DAVID CASTELLI—Jesus in a certain sense ful¬ 
 filled in his person the prophecies of the Old 
 Testament; they reached in him a height beyond 
 which it is impossible to go. He was not the 
 magnificent worldly king, since there could be no 
 question of a worldly king in Israel again, for 
 whom the Hebrews waited in vain; but he was 
 the great teacher of mankind, spreading among 
 all nations that principle of love and humanity 
 which, until then, had remained confined within 
 the limits of Judaism. His word, and after him 
 that of the apostles who, like himself, were born 
 and reared in Judaism, were a powerful means 
 of carrying into effect the yet unfulfilled prophecy 
 of the Old Testament: “Jehovah shall be king 
 over all the earth; in that day shall Jehovah be 
 one, and his name one.” (From a letter to 
 Dr. I. K, Funk, September 28th, 1899.) 
 
 11 
 
J. II. HOFFMAN—I revere him [Jesus] for having 
 brought home, by his own life and his teachings, 
 to the innermost hearts and souls of mankind, 
 of all times in every station, the eternal truths as 
 first embodied in the Mosaic code and proclaimed 
 in undying words by the prophets. I recognize 
 in him the blending of the divine and human, the 
 lofty and the lowly, showing the path for the 
 dual nature of man by divine aspiration to gain 
 the victory over the earthly life tending to draw 
 him downward—the Son of God triumphing over 
 the child of earth. (From a letter to Dr. I. K. 
 Funk, October 6, 1899.) 
 
 JOSEPH KRAUSKOPF—But the simple truths which 
 he [Jesus] taught have ever constituted his great¬ 
 est glory, have carried his name to the ends of 
 the earth, and from proudest palace to humblest 
 hut, these have ever come as a healing balm to 
 hearts heavy-laden, and to minds sorrowing and 
 despairing, these have for nearly nineteen hun¬ 
 dred years formed the rule of right and the law 
 of duty, the guide to virtue for countless mil¬ 
 lions of people. (Lecture: “Jesus a Jew, not a 
 Christian.”) 
 
 KAUFMANN KOHLi^R—A great personality, stand¬ 
 ing unlike any other midway between heaven 
 and earth, equally near to God and to man, 
 Jesus, the helper of the poor, the friend of the 
 sinner, the brother of every fellow sufferer, the 
 comforter of every sorrow-laden one, the healer 
 of the sick, the uplifter of the fallen, the lover 
 of man, and the redeemer of woman, won the 
 heart of mankind by storm . . . mounted the 
 
 world’s throne to be the earth’s great king. 
 (Quoted by W. Gidney, “A Handbook of 
 Reasons, Facts, and Figures.”) 
 
 STEPHEN S. WISE—Even if Jesus had not been 
 
 12 
 

 born unto Israel, even if he had borne no rela¬ 
 tion to the people of Israel, it becomes of im¬ 
 portance of Israel to determine for itself what 
 shall be its relation to the man who has touched 
 the world nearly two thousand years as has no 
 other single figure in history. . . It is no mean 
 joy and ignoble pride in us of the house of 
 Israel to recognize, to honor, and to cherish 
 among our brothers, Jesus the Jew. (In The 
 Outlook, June 7, 1913.) 
 
 GUSTAVE GOTTHEIL—The keynote of prophetic 
 religion of the Jewish prophets was holiness of 
 life and purity of heart. Love and mercy shown 
 by men, one to another, make up the acceptable 
 worship of the Holy One of Israel. To place the 
 Master of Nazareth by their side can surely be 
 no dishonor to him, nor can it dim the luster of 
 his name. If he has added to their spiritual be¬ 
 quests new jewels of religious truth, and spoken 
 words which are words of life, because they 
 touch the deepest springs of the human heart, 
 why should we Jews not glory in him? (From 
 a letter to Dr. I. K. Funk, October 24, 1899.) 
 
 The Jewish leaders here quoted—and there 
 are many who have expressed similar views—by 
 confessing Jesus to have become the means of 
 making known the God of Abraham to millions 
 of men, by confessing that his teaching follows 
 out that of Moses and the prophets, by confessing 
 that his life was pure, holy, and godly, admit 
 that our forefathers passed unjust and false 
 judgment on the Nazarene. Consequently those 
 that branded, and still brand, Jesus as traitor. 
 
 13 
 
blasphemer, and impostor, are wrong, promoters 
 of lies and seducers of the people. Those that 
 branded Jesus as an enemy of Israel and Jehovah 
 were either fools, knaves, or ignorant men; for 
 the most superficial perusal of his teachings, and 
 they are accessible to all, will convince anyone 
 who wishes to be convinced that Jesus’ heart 
 overflowed with love and compassion for Israel 
 and love and holy zeal for his Father. That our 
 leaders misled us is, therefore, the verdict of the 
 great men in modern Israel. 
 
 While we rejoice to see the change of attitude 
 on the part of our enlightened Jewish brethren 
 toward Christ, while we are happy to hear the 
 new voices that announce to us the break of the 
 morning for our beloved nation we cannot and 
 must not be satisfied. We cannot and must not 
 keep silence. We must continue to raise our 
 voices and proclaim to 3'ou, our enlightened Jew¬ 
 ish brethren, yes, to you great leaders of modern 
 Jewry, that you, just as our forefathers, are still 
 in error, that your conception of Christ is like¬ 
 wise false. He is not standing before you in 
 judgment. Christ is not depending upon your 
 approval or disapproval. He is either a sanc¬ 
 tuary or a stone of stumbling and a rock of 
 offense. Only when you acknowledge him as 
 the King and Messiah, and do homage to him as 
 
 14 
 
such, will you have reached the truth; and the 
 truth alone will make you free. To our brethren 
 who still hold the old views of Christ we wish to 
 say: Let not the bitter memories of countless 
 persecutions committed against our people by 
 those who called themselves Christians prejudice 
 your minds and blind your eyes to the beauty 
 of holiness in Jesus. Lift up your eyes and see 
 what God has wrought through him. See the 
 blessings he brought to those who were afar off 
 and remember that he is our rightful King. We 
 are wanderers, we are exiles, but so was he. 
 Exiled by his own to whom he came, despised 
 and rejected by those he loved dearly, wounded 
 in the house of his friends, he still loves you and 
 calls to the weary and heavy-laden: “ Come unto 
 me, . . . and I will give you rest,”