“[My] book is telling the Jews to reclaim Jesus, the authentic Jesus, the historical Jesus, the Jewish Jesus” and to be inspired by his “beautiful” teachings, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach said this week in Jerusalem.
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
CHULA VISTA, California –Shmuley Boteach reminds me a lot of Paul, the Apostle. In fact, I think a comparison of these two individuals is interesting and intriguing. Paul would have been a very good Lubavitcher, if he were living today. Each of these men share a penchant for the flamboyant; they are both expert in getting their names out there in the community. Each of them will do just about anything to get “noticed.” There are many other comparisons, but I will save that for another blog article in the future.
For now, I will share with my readers a brief review on Shmuley Boteach’s newest book, Kosher Jesus (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2012). I have read a number of reviews so far; some were surprisingly positive, while others are not-so-surprisingly critical.
For me, I have a vested interest in the subject and I was curious to see where Boteach and I differed, for I have thought about writing a similar type of book for a general audience. As a writer, I think it is important to be kind to other writers; braving your soul and ideas to the public is not for the faint of heart.
With this thought in mind, I would like to begin with the positive aspects of his book. We must be living interesting times. When a member of the Lubavitch Hassidic sect writes a book about Jesus that is actually positive, we must marvel how much the world has changed since the time of the medieval period.
Boteach has guts—I know, because I am an ex-Chabadnik. The Lubavitcher Rebbe hated Christianity and Jesus so much, he could never even mention Jesus’ name without referring to him as “THAT man . . .” I understand the Rebbe’s animus; his family and community experienced the daily horrors of Russian anti-Semitism. You see, in the Haredi and Hassidic world, pious people frequently save their worse curses for individuals who have brought great trouble to the Jewish people. Despite the thousands of talks the Rebbe gave in his life, Rabbi Schnersohn felt that Jesus was a non-person, someone whose name is best left unmentioned.
Fortunately, we are living in more tolerant times.
The fact that Boteach wrote a positive book about Jesus’s teachings is shocking, when you consider his personal background. Honestly, I admire his courage—as well as his marketing skills. I think Paul of Taurus would have been impressed as well.
Boteach embraces the evangelical Christian community—not in the spirit of polemics, but in the spirit of genuine friendship (on a personal note, we share that value in common). Many Jews across the religious divide dislike and distrust Christian evangelicals. Many fear the Christian evangelical’s support of Israel is solely based on their eschatological beliefs about the “Second Coming of Jesus.”
This is quite ironic—almost funny—because most (if not all) Lubavitcher Hasidim believe in the Second Coming of Rabbi Schnersohn. One wonders whether Boteach prays that all Christian evangelicals might someday become Chabadniks when the “real” Messiah comes! Obviously, no Chabadnik would find this comment funny, but it is something to think about.
Most of the ideas suggested in the Kosher Jesus reflect the ideas of the British Jewish scholar Hayam Maccoby’s works. According to Maccoby, Jesus was an observant Jew who followed Jewish law, who conducted himself much like a traditional Jew. Jesus erred in thinking that God would supernaturally bring about the end of the Roman Empire; he hoped God would let him inaugurate the Messianic Age that was foretold by the prophets. Jesus failed in achieving these goals, ergo—he could not be the Messiah.
Boteach claims that Jesus quoted rabbinic teachings, e.g., “How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye (Matthew 7:4-5). Rabbi Tarfun says something similar, “I wonder whether there is anyone in this generation who accepts reproof, for if one says to him: Remove the mote from between your eyes, he would answer: Remove the beam from between your eyes!” Actually, I think a good case could be made that the early Sages admired and freely quoted Jesus’s remarks, and many of these statements were subsequently denied attribution by the Sages of the second century.
Boteach’s treatment of Hillel and the Golden Rule (pp. 25-26) falls short of the mark, in my opinion. He is not alone in this respect.
Rabbinic writers often take Hillel’s statement out of context. Here’s a brief retelling of the original story found in the Talmud (BT Shabbat 30a). A gentile comes to Hillel to make fun of him, just like he did earlier with Shammai. He asks Hillel, “Teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot,” and Hillel knows exactly how to respond to his wily guest, “What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah, while the rest is the commentary thereof; now go and study it . . .”
Now compare Hillel’s statement with Jesus’s formulation of the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Luke 6:31).
The difference between the two men is significant. Hillel chooses the negative formulation for a very practical reason. Rather than teaching the gentile the various positive precepts that are associated with compassion and empathy, Hillel begins with the simplest principle of ethics: act considerately toward others. Human beings are not objects to merely entertain us (as the gentile thought), rather human beings are sentient beings we must respect.
Here is the weakness of Hillel’s position. Refraining from doing evil may make you into a fairly decent human being, but it does not make you into an exceptional person. Only by actively doing good things for another—as you would wish others to do unto you—only then can you truly be a pious person.
Rather than teaching the gentile the various positive precepts that are associated with compassion and empathy, Hillel begins with the simplest principle of ethics: act considerately toward others. Human beings are not objects to serve us (as the gentile thought); rather, human beings are persons we must respect and have value independent of our utility. Hillel thus informs his rude guest of the first ethical lesson of Judaism: Act like a mentsch!
Boteach is a fine ambassador to the general community, but do not expect him to be something he is not—a New Testament biblical scholar. His book has value if you like something that is not too intellectually challenging. If nothing else, it is nice to see one well-respected Lubavitcher break with the anti-Christian attitudes of the movement that spawned him.
However, if you want to read something much more intriguing and exciting, buy yourself a copy of the The Jewish Annotated New Testament, which is now available. This slim volume is a study edition of the NSRV translation of the New Testament with commentary and essays by Jewish Biblical scholars (including Jewish New Testament scholars) such as Marc Zvi Brettler, Amy-Jill Levine, Daniel Boyarin, and Mark Nanos. The scholars attempt to understand the NT from a respectful Jewish perspective. Such a work would hardly have been possible a few centuries ago. Fortunately, countless numbers of Christian scholars are now studying Talmud and other Judaic texts to better understand the life of Jesus as a Jew.
Another great book is Geza Vermes’ outstanding book, Jesus the Jew: A Historian’s Reading of the Gospels (Oxford, 1973). Vermes is a Holocaust survivor who converted to Catholicism, and later returned to Judaism. His perspective is unique, scholarly, and very important for modern Jews who wish to really understand the unique message of Jesus during the days of the Second Temple. For a Christian perspective that examines Jesus in non-supernatural context, check out Marcus Borg’s outstanding, Jesus: A New Vision (NY: Harper Collins, 1991).
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Rabbi Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Sholom in Chula Vista. He may be contacted at michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com