Christianity
In the mid - morning, all of us set off for our half day, Christianity Tiyul in the neighborhood of Ein Karem. Ein Karem is about 15 minutes from Tzuba, so a short bus ride brought us near a park we had been to a few weeks before to do some digging and excavating for a local gardening project. In this place, we sat down and started an early lesson on the life and death of Jesus.
Jesus's birth name was, Yeshua Ben Yosef. His name being Yeshua, and his father's name being Yosef. His mother's name was Mary, and he was born in Bethlehem around the beginning of the modern era in Israel. This is very important because King David's birthplace was also Bethlehem. If there were to be a messiah, they would have many similarities to King David. Jesus's exact birth and the arguments surrounding the date were talked about at length during our class. The idea of Jesus being born on December 25th in the winter is most likely not factual. It is theorized that the holiday of Christmas was put during this time to line up with other Pagan holidays as a way to get Pagans to easily convert into Christianity. Also, historians are certain that he was born at least some time around 1 CE, but his exact birth is most likely not on that date.
Jesus himself was born into Jewish parents and was very much a Jew. He was circumcised and was interested in Jewish studies as a young child. One story tells how as a 12 year old, Jesus went into the second temple (which wouldn't be destroyed for another 100 years) and got lost. His parents found him three days later talking and answering/asking questions from a court of rabbis. This shows that Jesus was a very intelligent boy who was captivated by Judaism at an early age.
After our sit down at the garden, we walked over to the Church of Visitation. This place is significant because this is where Elizabeth and Mary met while they were both pregnant. Elizabeth (Mary's cousin) saw Mary who wasn't even aware of her own pregnancy. It was when Elizabeth felt the kicking of her own son - who would be become John the Baptist - that she knew that Mary's unborn child would be the messiah. Fun and cute story. Apparently it happened in the Ein Karem neighborhood near the Church of Visitation. We went inside the church and saw some the beautiful artwork and scenery. One neat thing about these churches is that you aren't allowed to wear hats.
After the church, were made our way over the Church of John the Baptist. It was a nice walk so we took a stop for some ice cream. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of my two scoop chocolate fudge/caramel marshmallow combination, I'll let your imagination do the work. We walked from the ice cream place to the Church of John the Baptist. This place is significant because it is where Zechariah (John's dad) regained his voice after he questioned Gabriel the angel. He got it back after he respected his wife, so that's very nice of God.
After the church we sat down near the bus stop for a sad talk. Yes, we had the Jews killed Jesus talk.
Ok so it wasn't the Jews who killed Jesus.... but the Jews pretty much sentenced him to death. Here's the story; So Picante Pilate (Roman ruler of Judea) had this cool tradition where he'd let the people free one prisoner for Passover. Their choices were either Jesus or Barabbas, who was some thief. Now instead of saving the innocent Jesus who had been a scholar and preacher of Jewish learning his entire life, the Jews (or the priests telling the crowd) decided to save Barabbas. The text tells the rest of the story; "When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. 'I am innocent of this man's blood,' he said. 'It is your responsibility!' All the people answered, 'His blood is on us and on our children!'" (Matthew 27:24-25)
So this was a very sad note to end this day on. We would have left then but we learned about how in 1965, Pope Paul VI changed how the Catholic Church viewed Jews. "Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ;(13) still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures. All should see to it, then, that in catechetical work or in the preaching of the word of God they do not teach anything that does not conform to the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ."
This affirms normalized relations between all Catholics and Jews, and that Jews are no longer held in contempt for killing Jesus. After that somewhat happy note, we hopped on the bus and made our way back to Tzuba.
My question is this: Do you see the existence of Christianity adverse to own our religion? Do you think you would have followed a man like Jesus if you lived during the time of his life and death?
Jesus's birth name was, Yeshua Ben Yosef. His name being Yeshua, and his father's name being Yosef. His mother's name was Mary, and he was born in Bethlehem around the beginning of the modern era in Israel. This is very important because King David's birthplace was also Bethlehem. If there were to be a messiah, they would have many similarities to King David. Jesus's exact birth and the arguments surrounding the date were talked about at length during our class. The idea of Jesus being born on December 25th in the winter is most likely not factual. It is theorized that the holiday of Christmas was put during this time to line up with other Pagan holidays as a way to get Pagans to easily convert into Christianity. Also, historians are certain that he was born at least some time around 1 CE, but his exact birth is most likely not on that date.
Jesus himself was born into Jewish parents and was very much a Jew. He was circumcised and was interested in Jewish studies as a young child. One story tells how as a 12 year old, Jesus went into the second temple (which wouldn't be destroyed for another 100 years) and got lost. His parents found him three days later talking and answering/asking questions from a court of rabbis. This shows that Jesus was a very intelligent boy who was captivated by Judaism at an early age.
After our sit down at the garden, we walked over to the Church of Visitation. This place is significant because this is where Elizabeth and Mary met while they were both pregnant. Elizabeth (Mary's cousin) saw Mary who wasn't even aware of her own pregnancy. It was when Elizabeth felt the kicking of her own son - who would be become John the Baptist - that she knew that Mary's unborn child would be the messiah. Fun and cute story. Apparently it happened in the Ein Karem neighborhood near the Church of Visitation. We went inside the church and saw some the beautiful artwork and scenery. One neat thing about these churches is that you aren't allowed to wear hats.
After the church we sat down near the bus stop for a sad talk. Yes, we had the Jews killed Jesus talk.
Ok so it wasn't the Jews who killed Jesus.... but the Jews pretty much sentenced him to death. Here's the story; So Picante Pilate (Roman ruler of Judea) had this cool tradition where he'd let the people free one prisoner for Passover. Their choices were either Jesus or Barabbas, who was some thief. Now instead of saving the innocent Jesus who had been a scholar and preacher of Jewish learning his entire life, the Jews (or the priests telling the crowd) decided to save Barabbas. The text tells the rest of the story; "When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. 'I am innocent of this man's blood,' he said. 'It is your responsibility!' All the people answered, 'His blood is on us and on our children!'" (Matthew 27:24-25)
So this was a very sad note to end this day on. We would have left then but we learned about how in 1965, Pope Paul VI changed how the Catholic Church viewed Jews. "Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ;(13) still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures. All should see to it, then, that in catechetical work or in the preaching of the word of God they do not teach anything that does not conform to the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ."
This affirms normalized relations between all Catholics and Jews, and that Jews are no longer held in contempt for killing Jesus. After that somewhat happy note, we hopped on the bus and made our way back to Tzuba.
My question is this: Do you see the existence of Christianity adverse to own our religion? Do you think you would have followed a man like Jesus if you lived during the time of his life and death?
I don’t find Christianity to be adverse to Judaism. I think Judaism is thriving on its own. I don’t think Christianity could ever pose a threat to Judaism because of its rich ancient history and having been one of the first monotheistic religions. I can’t be sure of what I would do during the time of Jesus. I’d like to say that I would remain a loyal Jew. I think at the time I’d find the idea of following Jesus to be to similar to avoda zara. Also, I think I’d be too set in my ways of Judaism and would be unwilling to change.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that Christianity is a threat or is preventing success. Judaism has a long history and Christianity came from Judaism. That itself says something. Judaism had to have been successful in order for something to come of it. Judaism was already successful before Christianity came around. During Jesus' life, he wasn't as popular as he was after he had died, meaning he had more followers after his death. He didn't have that many followers. I would find myself in the majority and stick with the regular Rabbi's. Being Jewish is important to me and changing my Jewish ways seems kind of weird and different to me.
ReplyDeleteLike Lily, I do not think that Christianity goes against Judaism. Since it is founded off of Judaism (Jesus), many of our values in how to live our lives and treat others are very similar. Also, we believe in the same God. Just as the other Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), we all have the same history. Even today, I do not feel uncomfortable praying in a mosque/church because I know it is still my God that I am praying to, just in a different matter than I usually do. I can go on and on about the subject of praying in mosques/churches, but I think it's best not to go on a tangent right now...
ReplyDeleteAs for Jesus, I do not know whether I would have followed him or not. I do not think that following him at the time would have gone against Judaism, because I would think that he is the Jewish messiah. I would have only followed him if I truly believed that he was the messiah, which we today as Jews do not believe he is.
I don’t think that Christianity is a threat to us. Jews (Jesus) inspired and created Christianity as a sect of Judaism and I think that Christianity today isn’t what Jesus would have wanted to be. I think that it’s interesting that there are so many more Christian than Jews today, though I enjoy our right-knit community. Honestly, I think it’s possible that I could’ve followed Jesus but once he died and his follwers took over that’s where I would draw the line and not follow their path and rather go back to our main sects of which eventually form Judaism as we know it today.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, I absolutely feel that Christianity isn't imposing a threat to Judaism, but another side of me feels a bit differently. The number of Christians in the world outweighs the number of Jews. In 2010 there was reported to be 2.2 billion Christians, and there are only about 7 million Jewish people. A lot of my friends are half Christian and half Jewish but don't celebrate any Jewish holidays or consider themselves Jewish because we are grown up with Christianity surrounding the whole world. Christmas is the most un-avoidable holiday in the world due to all the Christmas carols, trees and "Christmas spirit" everywhere. I love Christmas and I don't mean I want to avoid it, I just mean that as opposed to holidays like Ramadan or Sukkot which are not as popular, Christianity is everywhere, so I can understand why people side heavier with their Christian identity. On another hand I don't think of that as a threat, because I like the fact that there are so few Jews, it makes me feel more unique. I wouldn't follow Jesus if I lived during this time period or after because I don't believe in worshipping people but I do believe in myself. Jesus is known as the best man to ever walk the face of the earth. Yeah Jesus was smart but so is everyone else in this class, in their own ways. Jesus might have made a lot of self accomplishments, but I don't know about what he did for other people. To me, the best thing one can do is help people in need. If Jesus still did that...I still wouldn't follow him. Also I have a hard time believing that he actually walked on water, because I think thats impossible.
ReplyDelete-Goldie
I don't logically think that Christianity is a threat to Judaism, however when I am putting emotional thought into it, I feel differently. Numberwise, there are obviously millions more Christians than Jews, but I also feel like we are way more connected to each other and to our culture. Because of that I feel like we will survive and prosper longer than Christians. I don't know if I could follow Jesus just because I never was involved in Christianity.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the existence of Christianity adverse the jewish religion. Like what goldie said, it is true that the Christian population is significantly bigger then the Jewish population. but that being said Judaism is very different from Christianity. being so different makes me think that there wont be a threat because the people following each religion believe In different ideas. I don't think if I would follow jesus if I was alive then. I respect the fact that he went off and stood up for what he believed in but I like the jewish religion a lot and I don't think that I would want to give it up for another religion.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel as if Christianity is a threat at this stage in history. At the same time, Christianity is a proselytizing religion, and it has a potential adverse affect on our own religion because a Christian encourages you to convert to his or her religion. In most human history, Christianity has behaved aggressively towards Judaism, so I can say that I do see the existence of Christianity adverse to our own religion in the past.
ReplyDeleteI do not know whether I would have followed Jesus or not but I think I would have stayed with the Rabbis, because changing my ways and values of life completely is not something I would like, and I feel connected to the lifestyle of the rabbis, and the way they lived is the way I would live during that time.
I do not think that christianity is a threat to Judaism. I think that judaism has overcome so many challenges and has survived so long because the jewish people are a dynamic people who can adapt to any situation throughout history. However, I do not particularly like christianity, but like with all other religions, I will always try my best to be tolerant with their views as long as they don't try to take away freedoms from other people. I cannot know whether I would of followed Jesus while he was alive. I do think that he was a good jew, and I don't think he would approve of the religion that came from his teachings. I would never follow christianity, especially after being a reform jew and falling in love with the cultural part of Judaism.
ReplyDeleteI don't find Christianity to be adverse to Judaism. However, there are many misconceptions about both Judaism and Christianity which can heavily influence people's perspectives of these religions and then be a threat towards both. It's not fair to say an entire religion and its people are a threat to Judaism when in reality it's every individuals' beliefs and feelings towards religion that could definitely be seen as a threat. Although Christians greatly outnumber Jews, we both have similar roots and values such as social justice concepts and treating everyone with kindness and respect. I'm not really sure if I'd follow Jesus during his time because of how important tradition is to me. On the other hand, I would definitely hear Jesus out and respect his beliefs considering I fully agree with the topics he preached about, such as social justice.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part about Judaism (besides the constant encouragement to argue) is that a belief in a deity really is not required. This is where Christianity and Judaism take different positions, and in a sense are adverse. Christianity ingrains into its members that they cannot be fully christian if they don't have a full belief in god. I have grown up in a reform community, going to a conservative school, with orthodox friends and family. I have been exposed to many interpretations of Judaism, and none (except for a few orthodox and ultra-orthodox) mandate a belief in god if one wants to be Jewish. Even the orthodox Jews selling Tfillin at Shuk HaCarmel, when asked, say that you can still be Jewish and not believe in god (this has a funny story behind it but was slightly irrelevant). As I said before, Christianity is quite the opposite. Even the most secular Christians still agree that a belief in god is vital to being a true christian. The concept of identifying with a religion while simultaneously not believing in god was so foreign to some of my friends at home, that when I told them I was an atheistic Jew, they laughed and thought I was kidding.
ReplyDeleteThis fundamental difference, while I don't think it makes Christianity and Judaism adverse to one another, is still a difference nonetheless.