Shuvoo is pleased to offer the following book at the request and with the permission of Rabbi Yitschak Goldstein, Co-Director of The Diaspora Yeshiva (www.diaspora.org.il) on Mt. Zion, in Jerusalem.  The book presents an excellent analysis of the many points that make it impossible for religious Jews to recognize the Christian New Testament and offers a verse by verse comparison of the commonly accepted interpretations of many quotations from Tanach that are contained in the New Testament.

BS"D

WHY DON’T THE JEWISH PEOPLE

RECOGNIZE THE NEW TESTAMENT?

by Eliyahu Silver & Rabbi Yitschak Goldstein

All Biblical quotations are taken from the King James translation, the Authorized Version, unless specified otherwise.

The Jewish reader is advised not to pronounce the names Jesus and Eastre; "The names of other gods you shall not mention, nor shall your mouth cause it to be heard." Exodus 23:13

Introduction

For almost 2000 years the Jewish people have not recognized the New Testament, although all those who contributed to the New Testament were Jewish. All the writers of the New Testament were Jewish, but nevertheless the Jewish people reject that which 1,000,000,000 people consider to be the word of G-d.

What is it that the Jews see in the New Testament that is apparently not seen by all the Christians?

The Jews look at the New Testament from an Old Testament viewpoint. About 3300 years ago G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish people. Millions of people watched this event when G-d spoke from Mount Sinai to the Jewish people. There G-d gave to the Jewish people the Holy Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This does not only contain the Ten Commandments, but it contains a total of 613 commandments that G-d commanded the Jewish people to fulfill.

The Torah is the most holy part of the Hebrew Bible.

Torah teaches that there is one G-d, Y-H-W-H, who is a jealous G-d, who allows no other gods beside Him. See Exodus 20:3. G-d's name, Y-H-W-H, appears almost 7000 times in the Old Testament. The King James translation translates this name as "The LORD", with small capital letters. This G-d is the one and only G-d for the Jews, as it is written in the Hebrew Bible;

"Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD, he is G-d in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is no other." Deuteronomy 4:39

"See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with me." Deuteronomy.32:39

"I am He, before Me no god was created, neither shall there be after Me." Isaiah 43:10

"Thus saith the LORD, the King of Israel and his redeemer, the LORD of hosts, I am the first, and I am the last, and beside Me there is no god." Isaiah 44:6

"I am the LORD, and there is none else." Isaiah 45:18

This Jewish G-d is one, as it is written; "Hear Israel, Y-H-W-H is our G-d, .Y-H-W-H is one." Deuteronomy 6:4 The King James translation translates this as: "Hear Israel, the LORD our G-d is one LORD." . Here in Deuteronomium 6:4 too, the word "the LORD" stands for Y-H-W-H in the Hebrew text. When we insert G-d's name into this translation, we get; "Hear Israel, Y-H-W-H our G-d is one Y-H-W-H." This is not a correct translation, the correct translation is as above mentioned; "Hear Israel, Y-H-W-H is our G-d, Y-H-W-H is one."

The fact that G-d is one is so important that G-d commands this to be in the heart. It must be diligently taught to the children, the Jews must talk about it when they sit in their houses, when they walk upon the way, when they lie down and when they rise up. They must bind it as a sign upon their arm, and it must be frontlets between their eyes, and they must write it upon the doorposts of their houses and upon their gates. See Deuteronomy 6:4-9 --

The Jews until this day do this. Every morning they put upon their arm and upon their forehead their phylacteries, (prayer belts) that consist of black straps with black leather cubes, that contain parchment upon which is written this Biblical text that says that G-d is one. Upon the doorposts of the houses of the religious Jews there are small boxes or containers that also contain parchment upon which is written that G-d is one.

So for the Jewish people there is one G-d, and that one G-d is one.

One means one. That is not two, not three, not three in one, not two in one, but.ONE.

And then a Jew stands up and claims that he is the messiah, the redeemer that is announced by the prophets. But he did not do what he was supposed to do, set the Jews free from their oppressors, the Romans, and establish an era of peace and tranquility for the Jewish people and all mankind. Instead he was killed, and all that is left of him is a collection of writings, called the New Testament. For the Jewish people, the Old Testament is the established word of G-d. Therefore, everything written in the New Testament must comply with the Old Testament, and not the other way around. The Old Testament can without any problem stand on his own, without the New Testament. The Jewish people have shown this already for more than 3000 years, but the New Testament can not stand on its own without the Old Testament, because it claims to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Look for this fact in the following verses:

Matthew 5:17; "Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill."

Luke 4:16-21; "And there was delivered to him the book of the prophet Esaias … and he began to say unto them: This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."

So if the New Testament goes against the Old Testament, it must be rejected as being false.

Now let us take a closer and open-minded look at the New Testament.