Orthodox Rabbis Bring Jesus Home for Christmas | David Lazarus ISRAEL TODAY

Orthodox Rabbis Bring Jesus Home for Christmas

Thursday, December 24, 2015 |  David Lazarus  ISRAEL TODAY

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More than 25 prominent rabbis from Israel and abroad recently issued a statement calling for a renewed look at Jesus, Christians and the New Testament faith. Quoting from their own sages, these outstanding  Orthodox rabbis are not ashamed to exalt the name of Jesus, welcoming the carpenter from Nazareth back into the Jewish fold.

“Jesus brought a double goodness to the world,” declare the group of well-known rabbis.  “On the one hand he strengthened the Torah of Moses majestically…  and not one of our Sages spoke out more emphatically concerning the immutability of the Torah,” and on the other hand “he removed idols from the nations.” 

Saying that Jesus, even more that any other Jewish Sage, honored, strengthened and protected the “immutability of the Torah,” is an extraordinary acknowledgement. These leading rabbis are turning the tides of history by removing one of the main stumbling blocks in the path of a major Jewish reclamation of Jesus!

You will recall, that religious Jews rejected Jesus from the beginning, with the accusation that he did not obey the Torah, therefore he could not be the awaited Messiah. In the New Testament, we find the Pharisees arguing with Jesus over Sabbath rules, dietary laws, ritual cleanliness, marriage regulations and more. They insisted that Jesus cannot be the Messiah because “he is teaching everywhere not to obey Moses.” (Acts 6:14) 

What we are now witnessing is the undoing of 2,000 years of Jewish rejection and animosity towards Jesus, a miracle by any estimation. For the out-and-out refusal by Jews to accept Jesus is slowly, but surely, coming to an end, as growing numbers of prestigious Orthodox rabbis welcome Jesus back.

And there is more. “After nearly two millennia of mutual hostility and alienation, we Orthodox Rabbis who lead communities, institutions and seminaries in Israel, the United States and Europe… seek to do the will of our Father in Heaven by accepting the hand offered to us by our Christian brothers and sisters,” the statement reads.

Two thousand years of Christian Anti-Semitism, Crusades, Inquisitions and a Holocaust can not keep the Star of Bethlehem from rising again in Israel. This call by these distinguished rabbis to embrace Christians as “brothers and sisters” is no less a miracle. For Jews to accept Christians with such endearment, after so much misunderstanding and anti-Semitic ugliness, can only be understood as a divine work of heavenly grace, the likes of which I find unfathomable.

For as this group of Orthodox rabbis points out, it is their “Father in Heaven” who is calling the Jewish people to lay down the past, put aside the enmity, and willingly embrace Christians and their faith in Jesus. That, my friends, is the deeper work of the Holy Spirit as spoken about throughout Scripture. 

As Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn, Academic Director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding & Cooperation points out, “This proclamation’s breakthrough is that influential Orthodox rabbis across all centers of Jewish life have finally acknowledged that…  Christianity and Judaism have much in common spiritually and practically. Given our toxic history, this is unprecedented in Orthodoxy.”

In their statement, the rabbis want to find a way to acknowledge the differences between Christian and Jewish beliefs, without taking, or giving, offensive. _“As did Maimonides and Yehudah Halevi, we acknowledge that Christianity is neither an accident nor an error, but the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations. In separating Judaism and Christianity, G-d willed a separation between partners with significant theological differences, not a separation between enemies,” _the statement concludes.

These so-called “significant theological differences” between Christianity and Judaism are really about Jesus. He is the stumbling block. Jesus may be Messiah, Son of the Living God for the Gentiles, but my Jewish people are still not quite sure just who he is for them. So while these rabbis are making major and unprecedented strides in bringing my people closer to Jesus, they are still far from the truth. For if Jesus is the Messiah for the Gentiles, how much more must he be for the Jews?

Perhaps Jesus will not quite be at home this Christmas in Israel, or Jewish homes around the world, but he is certainly knocking on the door.

PHOTO: Illustration only.

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Orthodox Rabbis Issue Groundbreaking Declaration Affirming ‘Partnership’ With Christianity - Israel, Islam & End Times

Orthodox Rabbis Issue Groundbreaking Declaration Affirming ‘Partnership’ With Christianity - Dec. 20, 2015   Israel, Islam & End Times 

A GROUP of Jewish leaders issued a historic public statement affirming their desire to accept “the hand offered to us by our Christian brothers and sisters.”

Agroup of prominent Orthodox rabbis in Israel, the United States and Europe have issued a historic public statement affirming that Christianity is “the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations” and urging Jews and Christians to “work together as partners to address the moral challenges of our era.”

“Jesus brought a double goodness to the world,” the statement reads. “On the one hand he strengthened the Torah of Moses majestically” and on the other hand “he removed idols from the nations,” instilling them “firmly with moral traits.”


This year 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the declaration issued in 1965 by the Second Vatican Council, which marked a watershed in Jewish-Christian relations.

In language unusual for its day, Nostra Aetate stated that “God holds the Jews most dear,” stressed the great “spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews,” and condemned “hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.”

Now, a group of Jewish leaders has responded in kind, expressing their desire to accept “the hand offered to us by our Christian brothers and sisters.”

“Christians are congregations that work for the sake of heaven who are destined to endure, whose intent is for the sake of heaven and whose reward will not denied,” the text reads.

The statement bears the title, “To Do the Will of Our Father in Heaven: Toward a Partnership between Jews and Christians,” and is signed by over 25 prominent Orthodox rabbis, who invite fellow Orthodox rabbis to join in signing the statement.

“Now that the Catholic Church has acknowledged the eternal Covenant between G-d and Israel, we Jews can acknowledge the ongoing constructive validity of Christianity as our partner in world redemption, without any fear that this will be exploited for missionary purposes,” it says.

Echoing recent words by Pope Francis, the document states: “We are no longer enemies, but unequivocal partners in articulating the essential moral values for the survival and welfare of humanity.”

“Neither of us can achieve G-d’s mission in this world alone,” it says.

According to Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, one of the statement’s initiators, the “real importance of this Orthodox statement is that it calls for fraternal partnership between Jewish and Christian religious leaders, while also acknowledging the positive theological status of the Christian faith.”

“This proclamation’s breakthrough is that influential Orthodox rabbis across all centers of Jewish life have finally acknowledged that Christianity and Judaism are no longer engaged in a theological duel to the death and that Christianity and Judaism have much in common spiritually and practically. Given our toxic history, this is unprecedented in Orthodoxy.” said Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn, Academic Director of CJCUC.

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Orthodox Rabbis: Christianity a 'Divine' Gift to the World - CBN News

Orthodox Rabbis: Christianity a 'Divine' Gift to the World

12-09-2015 CBN News

A group of Orthodox rabbis have issued a public statement calling Christianity a gift to the world.

"We acknowledge that Christianity is neither an accident nor an error, but the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations," read the statement published by the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation in Israel.

This comes after nearly two millennia of mutual hostility and alienation between Jews and Christians.

The statement, titled "To Do the Will of Our Father in Heaven: Toward a Partnership between Jews and Christians," has been signed by more than two dozen Orthodox rabbis so far, including those from the U.S. and the chief rabbis of two European countries.

It calls for cooperation between Jews and Christians to address the moral and religious challenges of our times.

"We seek to do the will of our Father in Heaven by accepting the hand offered to us by our Christian brothers and sisters. Jews and Christians must work together as partners to address the moral challenges of our era," the statement read.

While the group wants Jews and Christians to work together, it acknowledged the differences between the faiths.

"Our partnership in no way minimizes the ongoing differences between the two communities and two religions," the rabbis said. "We believe that G-d employs many messengers to reveal His truth, while we affirm the fundamental ethical obligations that all people have before G-d that Judaism has always taught through the universal Noahide covenant."