Jewish views on Jesus

There is a variety of Jewish views on Jesus. Adherents of Judaism do not believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah or the Son of God, nor does Judaism accept any of the claimed fulfilments of prophecy that Christianity attributes to Jesus.

Quotes

"I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene." (Albert Einstein, Viereck interview)

• Certainly Jesus' teaching was in accord with major tenets of the Pharisees, since he also believed that charity and loving-kindness were the most important of the mitzvot. Like the Pharisees, he was devoted to the Torah and was said to have preached a more stringent observance than many of his contemporaries. He also taught a version of Hillel's Golden Rule, when he argued that the whole of the Law could be summed up in the maxim: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
  • Karen Armstrong: A History of God, ch. 3, "A Light to the Gentiles", p. 81. Ballantine Books (1993). ISBN 0-345-38456-3.

• Esoteric tradition avers that the boy Jesus ben Joseph, when His calibre was recognised by the learned doctors of the Law who heard Him speak in the Temple at the age of twelve, was sent by them to the Essenian community near the Dead Sea to be trained in the mystical tradition of Israel, and that He remained there until He came to John to be baptised in the Jordan before commencing His mission at the age of thirty. Be that as it may, the closing clause of the Lord's Prayer is pure Qabalism. Malkuth, the Kingdom, Hod, the Power, Netzach, the Glory, form the basal triangle of the Tree of Life, with Yesod, the Foundation, or Receptacle of Influences, as the central point. Whoever formulated that prayer knew his Qabalah.
  • Dion Fortune: The Mystical Qabalah, ch. 1: "The Yoga of the West", p. 4. Samuel Weiser, Inc. (1984). ISBN 0-87728-596-9.

• One of the ironies of early Christianity is that Jesus himself was a Jew who worshiped the Jewish God, kept Jewish customs, interpreted the Jewish law, and acquired Jewish disciples, who accepted him as the Jewish messiah. Yet, within just a few decades of his death, Jesus's followers had formed a religion that stood over-against Judaism. How did Christianity move so quickly from being a Jewish sect to being an anti-Jewish religion?
  • Bart D. Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, ch. 7, "The Social Worlds of the Text", p. 187. HarperCollins (2007). ISBN 0-06-085951-2.

• As a child, I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.
  • Albert Einstein, George Sylvester Viereck interview. The Saturday Evening Post (1929).

• He impelled people to believe that he was a prophet sent by God to clarify perplexities in the Torah, and that he was the Messiah that was predicted by each and every seer. He interpreted the Torah and its precepts in such a fashion as to lead to their total annulment, to the abolition of all its commandments and to the violation of its prohibitions.
  • Maimonides: Epistle to Yemen. Translated by Boaz Cohen. American Academy for Jewish Research (1952).

• A few remarks are necessary at this point, since the name Jesus has been introduced into this work. It is not the desire of the writer to be drawn into the maelstrom of controversy with regard to the character or nature of Jesus, the individual sacred to Christians; nor is it his intention to engage in polemics as to whether Jesus actually lived, whether he was a great Adept, or simply a solar myth, as many of the exponents of the higher criticism claim. The Qabalah simply uses the name יהשוה‎ Yeheshua because it implies a certain philosophy descriptive of certain of its prime theorems. … I make this remark to reassure those of my readers who may be of Jewish persuasion.
  • Israel Regardie: A Garden of Pomegranates (Second Edition), ch. 6, "The Literal Qabalah", pp. 112–114. Llewellyn Publications (1987). ISBN 0-87542-690-5.