Jesus Uncensored: Restoring the Authentic Jew

By Bernard Starr

Most people today acknowledge that Jesus was Jewish. Yet a surprising number of Christians and Jews hold the belief that Jesus converted to Christianity at some point in his life or that he actually launched a new religion. In Jesus Uncensored psychologist, teacher, and spiritual writer Bernard Starr draws on a wealth of sources, including a close reading of biblical texts, to portray Jesus’ lifelong commitment to Judaism, the synagogue, and the Torah. He also reveals that Paul, the founder of Christianity, never gave up his Jewish identity nor, like Jesus, did he intend to launch a new religion.
If indeed Jesus was an ardent practicing Jew and preached only to Jews, why then did classical artworks depict Jesus and his fellow Jews as blond, fair-skinned Gentiles? Why did artists transform a community of orthodox Jews into latter-day northern European Christians? Starr takes the reader on a fascinating journey through Medieval and Renaissance art (including a walking tour of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art). He argues that the ethnic cleansing of Jesus and the world around him —so vividly depicted in hundreds of paintings—created a powerful platform for anti-Semitism. Contributing to this was the fact that throughout much of their history Christians were forbidden to own, read, or translate their Bible into a native language, which prevented them from discovering the firm Jewish foundation of Christianity. If the populace had access to the Gospels, says Starr, they surely would have noticed that the “multitudes” of Jesus’ followers were Jews.
Starr then turns to the crucial question, “Did the Jews kill Jesus?”—a charge that has echoed with deadly consequences since the crucifixion. Carefully scrutinizing the Gospels’ account of Jesus’ arrest and trial and the events leading up to them, he arrives at a startling conclusion, one that is certain to provoke wide discussion and debate.
The accusation that Jews killed Jesus is at the root of virulent and enduring anti-Semitism. What might the thoroughly Jewish Jesus have said to church leaders, monarchs, and other despots who launched murderous acts such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, and genocides in his name? Starr tackles this question in a mock trial, in which Jesus asks these perpetrators, “How do you justify your violent acts based on my teachings and mission?”
Mindful that many Christians today are eager to let go of long-standing antagonisms, Starr courageously appeals to fellow Jews to drop the “Jesus Phobia” and accept Jesus as a faithful Jew--without having to embrace the claim that he was the Messiah. Citing the pantheon of false Jewish Messiahs throughout the centuries, many of whom were destructive to Judaism, Starr questions why some “Messiahs” are still revered for their teachings while Jesus is rejected.
Finally, Starr explores the popular novel The Da Vinci Code, which, like classical artworks, begins with a Jewish story but promptly converts it into a Christian one. Starr shows how The Da Vinci Code gets recoded when Rabbi Jesus’ wife and daughter are authentically recast.
In exploring the realities of Jesus’ life, Starr sheds new light on the history of anti-Semitism and on the destructive forces that have alienated Christians and Jews. His aim is to heal the rift between the religions and to help bring forth a new spirit of reconciliation. Broad in its scope yet intimate in its authoritative detail, Jesus Uncensored will forever change readers’ understanding of Jesus, Judaism, and Christianity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bernard Starr
• Release date: Jan 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301342792

Bernard Starr

Bernard Starr, PhD is professor emeritus at the City University of New York (Brooklyn College), where he taught developmental psychology and directed a graduate gerontology program. He is the author of Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology To Be Truly Free," which explores spirituality as a psychology of consciousness. It has been praised as “A radical inner journey which challenges preconceived notions about true spiritual consciousness.” Starr has written, produced and hosted an award-winning radio commentary, “The Longevity Report,” as well as television documentaries on productive living in the third age of life. From 2007-2010 he was president of the Association for Spirituality and Psychotherapy. Starr’s articles have appeared in newspapers throughout the United States and major Internet news sites including the Huffington Post, OpEdNews, Salon, and the Religion and Spirituality section of UPI. He is also the principal United Nations representative for the Institute of Global Education, founder of the Mucherla Global School in Mucherla, India.

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Preface

Why another book about the Jewish Jesus? Yes, several books offer extensive information about Jesus’ commitment to Judaism. But many of these have ideological agendas that overshadow his Jewishness and essential contribution to the development of Christianity. One rabbi and scholar focuses on why Jews reject Jesus as Messiah, and calls Jesus a militant insurrectionist whom the Romans killed. He also has harsh words for Saint Paul (Paul wasn’t Jewish nor was he the Torah scholar that he claimed to be), who Christians accept as the founder of Christianity. These preoccupations are likely to antagonize Christians and distract Jews from his main message that they should embrace the thoroughly Jewish Rabbi Jesus as a fellow Jew, even if they do not accept him as Messiah.

Another biblical scholar fully endorses the Jewish Jesus but his relentless arguments for why Jesus is the prophesized Messiah will alienate Jews and not impress Christians who don’t have to be convinced that Jesus is the Messiah. His conclusion that everyone was responsible for the death of Jesus ( he died for the sins of mankind) skirts the issue of why exclusively Jews have been persecuted for the death of Jesus. Still other scholars obscure Jesus’s thorough Jewish identity with complex political and sociological analyses of the Jesus era.

The issue of fact vs. fiction in the narratives of the New Testament is also a prominent theme in a number of these books. One biblical scholar author claims that some of the letters (epistles) in the New Testament were not written by the apostles whose names appear on them, and that some letters are outright forgeries. Several commentators say that early translations of the Bible from Coptic and Greek into Latin contain misquotes and inaccuracies. Add to that the charge that scribes who made copies of the Bible (through much of history copies were hand written) sometimes added their own views and inventions.

While these engaging explorations and speculations are intriguing they distance the reader from the essence of the Jewish Jesus story.

My approach is different. The central argument of Jesus Uncensored is that Jesus was Jewish to the core and that without acknowledging this vital reality one cannot fully understand the historically crucial connection between Judaism and Christianity. In order to make this point without background noise or spin, I’ve adopted a simple, direct, and relentless focus on the Jewish Jesus. Unlike scholars who question the authenticity or historical accuracy of the Gospels and other parts of the New Testament, I set that discussion aside and accept the New Testament (Authorized King James Version) as the facts. Why?

As a psychologist I’m interested in perception, which often trumps facts. Critics who question the historical accuracy of the New Testament Gospels have credible, or at least debatable, evidence to challenge the historical authenticity of reported events. The fact that the four Church sanctioned Gospels of the New Testament were written decades after the events adds power to such challenges. Critical commentaries also gain strength from evidence that in the fourth century Church authorities reportedly destroyed hundreds of Gospels that were at odds with the sanctioned canonical Gospels and were, therefore, deemed heretical. Surely those documents, if they existed and were retrieved and authenticated, would be of enormous historical and theological interest, and possibly could shed light on age-old questions and controversies.

But despite such evidence, in Jesus Uncensored: Restoring the Authentic Jew, I do not challenge the Gospels or other books of the New Testament, and not because I believe they contain the actual historical facts. From my psychological perspective, the New Testament contains the facts that have shaped the way Christians perceive Christianity, Judaism, and Jews. Yet far too many people have misperceived that document and ignored much of the rich Jewish content. In my approach I take a fresh look at the Christian Bible in order to demonstrate that the very Gospels that have been used to indict Jews contain persuasive documentation that Jews and Judaism were at the very heart and soul of early Christianity. Indeed, Christianity could not have developed as a religion if it were not for Judaism and the support and ministries of devout practicing Jews who embraced the Torah teachings of Rabbi Jesus. I only critique the Gospels in pointing out contradictions that raise questions of meaning and intent.

Drawing strictly from the New Testament Bible Jesus Uncensored: Restoring the Authentic Jew brings to the fore Jesus’ Jewish identity, starting with his birth in a family and community immersed in Judaism. It reveals his dedication to Judaism in his teachings, his worship in synagogues, his observance of Jewish holidays, and his mission to bring his message to the children of Israel. I will also show, based strictly on citations in the New Testament, that Paul, who brought Jesus’ teachings to the Gentile world, retained his Jewish identity throughout his lifetime.

But Jesus’ life and teachings were later hijacked. To drive this point home I present a dramatized court scene that puts popes, bishops, royalty, and other leaders throughout history on trial for misrepresenting Jesus’ teachings. In this mock trial Jesus asks these perpetrators of violence and anti-Semitism to explain how they could initiate their brutal acts in his name. For example, what would Pope Urban II say he was thinking when he launched the first Crusade in the name of Jesus and Christianity? How would Pope Gregory IX explain his initiation of the papal Inquisition in Jesus’s name? Similarly, Jesus confronts Martin Luther, demanding his justification for inciting Christians to burn synagogues even though the synagogue was Jesus’s spiritual home. Jesus’ Witness Certification in this courtroom drama underscores the absurdity of attacking or rejecting Jesus for acts totally antithetical to his beliefs and teachings.

I also re-examine the issue of who killed Jesus, drawing exclusively on evidence in the New Testament Gospels. I walk the walk, so to speak, with Jesus and the disciples to the last supper and later to Gethsemane garden. I relive the trial by the Sanhedrin. And I arrive at a radical conclusion about who killed Jesus that is indisputable in the face of the Gospels’ facts.

While I don’t endorse Jesus as Messiah nor reject the Christian belief that he is, I question the legitimacy of Jews shunning Jesus based on the Messiah issue when a plethora of Jewish Messiahs have not been dealt the same dismissive fate as Jesus.

In introducing the Jesus phobia, which I have found rampant among Jews, I plead the case for Jewish reciprocation in a process of healing and reconciliation as Christians increasingly reach out to Jews to reverse longstanding antagonisms.

In addressing the historic persecution of Jews I identify a surprising—and overlooked—factor that I believe made a major contribution to anti-Semitism: Medieval and Renaissance art representations of the Jewish Jesus, his family, and community. I reveal that paintings of these periods consistently excluded any hint of Judaism in the Jewish Jesus circle of devotees and followers. Thus I argue that these artworks, perhaps inadvertently, established a template for anti-Semitism by fostering the illusion that Jesus and his followers were Christians who were persecuted by the Jews—the others—when in fact they were all part of one Semitic family of dedicated practicing Jews.

Finally, I could not resist commenting on Dan Brown’s hugely popular book The Da Vinci Code. Although the last chapter of this book departs from my commitment to avoid spin (The Da Vinci Code swims in spin), there’s a useful point to be made. Dan Brown’s story rests on a secret that is totally Jewish. But like Medieval and Renaissance art and other examples that I give in this book, Jewish stories swiftly get morphed into Christian ones. In my treatment of The Da Vinci Code, when the Jewish back-story is moved forward The Da Vinci Code gets recoded.

Be assured that this book is not about religion per se. I will not proselytize or critique beliefs, tenets or practices of Judaism or Christianity. My goal is simply to set the record straight on the relationship of Christianity and Judaism in the time of Jesus and the New Testament depictions, showing that Judaism is the foundation and core of Christianity. My intention is to heal historic antagonisms and reestablish a strong bond between Judaism and Christianity.

Acknowledgments

I’m indebted to a number of friends and colleagues who generously offered encouragement, inspiration, and helpful advice. First, I want to thank Rabbi Simon Jacobson, a charismatic Torah teacher and author of Toward a Meaningful Life, which has been praised by readers of many religions and spiritual paths around the globe. Rabbi Jacobson published my article Who Killed Jesus? in his Meaningful Life Newsletter in 2005. The feedback that I received from that publication is largely responsible for sparking my interest in the Jewish Jesus, which led to my writing Jesus Uncensored: Restoring the Authentic Jew.

Stephanie Cappitelli’s careful reading and astute comments strengthened several chapters. Much appreciation to fellow journalist Richard Schiffman, author of two biographies of spiritual masters, for prompting me to include discussion of important spiritual issues and principles. Longtime friend Hugh Colmer, co-director of the Windham, New York, Spiritual Retreat Center, an expert on world and ancient religions, was a wonderful sounding board. Our numerous conversations helped shape much of my thinking about Judaism and Christianity. Presbyterian Minister Don Sandin’s comments about Christian practices and beliefs were a big help to this Jewish boy from Brooklyn. My old friend attorney Frank Askin, Director of the Constitutional Litigation Clinic at Rutgers University, was not happy with my initial creation of a court scene in which Jesus testifies against perpetrators of anti-Semitism throughout history. His suggestion to make Jesus’ testimony a Witness Certification has given my fantasy trial at least a hint of credibility as a real court procedure. I’m grateful to friend and colleague Dr. Brenda Shoshanna, author of several highly acclaimed books that span a wide range of spiritual principles and practices, including Zen Buddhism and Judaism, for her careful reading and critique of the manuscript. Brenda spurred me on with her enthusiasm for this project and her belief that Jesus Uncensored will be particularly helpful to interfaith couples, many of whom she has seen in her psychotherapy practice. Questions raised by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler, Director of the Woodstock (New York) Jewish Congregation, directed me to investigate carefully first-century Jewish religious practices. Much appreciation for artist Brian Rutenbergs’s supportive comments on chapter Ten, The Ethinic Cleasnsing of Judaism in Medieval and Renaissance Art. Special thanks to Dr. Kurt Johnson, a former monastic and co-author of The Coming Interspiritual Age. Kurt’s thoughtful and detailed commentary on the entire manuscript was invaluable.

When I was struggling for a title that would capture the book’s essence my son, Jason Starr, promptly came up with Jesus Uncensored. Jason, a talented mystery writer, also gave me valuable suggestions for enlivening the mock courtroom drama. Every book needs an editor, especially if the author has been grammatically challenged since first grade. Thanks to Dinah Witchel. My thanks as well to artist Marilyn Rabetz for suggesting designs to capture an overarching theme of the book: the two images of Jesus.

I’m greatly indebted to the technological revolution that has enabled e-books to include features not available in print books: hyperlinks to sources, references, and relevant websites. I’ve taken full advantage of technology and made liberal use of hyperlinks to enrich the reading experience. Some of these links are embedded in the text. Others appear after the reference section, which lists only the articles that I directly drew ideas from and a sprinkling of others that have had major influence on my thinking. To enhance the artworks cited in Chapter Ten, I have provided a section with hyperlinks to the Google images of these artworks. Included are many images of varying resolutions, as well as views that focus on details of the artworks. These may be of particular interest to readers who want to explore the subject of anti-Semitism in art by omission more extensively. Some readers may choose to use these images for their own publications or presentations.

All the Medieval and Renaissance paintings cited in this book are out of copyright and therefore in the public domain. Photos of public domain artworks that are mere reproductions, or what are called slavish reproductions, are not subject to copyright and they too are in the public domain. Public domain photos can be used freely without any permission or licensing fees according to article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, a Federal District Court decision (Bridgeman vs. Corel), and many legal opinions. I’ve published two articles in the Huffington Post about legal issues in self-publishing, and the use of public domain photos in particular, based on interviews with intellectual property rights legal experts.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the authors—too numerous to name individually—both Christian and Jewish, who have written about the Jewish Jesus and the Jewish foundation of Christianity. They have generated a warm climate for ripening the Jewish-Christian reconciliation and healing process. I stand on the shoulders of these courageous writers.

Chapter One

My Revelation

When I was growing up as a Jew in a mostly Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, I rarely heard the name Jesus mentioned. And I certainly didn’t witness any discussions about Christianity or the Christian Bible. Nor did it ever occur to me that I should learn about Christianity, despite the fact that I knew that Jews were a small minority in an overwhelmingly dominant Christian population in the United States and even a tinier minority worldwide.

When I recently checked with friends of similar background I found that their experiences were much the same. So the avoidance of, or what I later discovered the shunning of, Jesus didn’t seem strange. Looking back, I now realize that ignoring Jesus and Christianity was part of a Jewish Jesus phobia, a reflexive reaction to what seemed to my friends and family an alien religion or culture—and one that was a threat to Jews. I explore this intriguing and pervasive phenomenon of the Jesus phobia in detail in Chapter Eleven.

Many Jews who read the previous paragraph will jump to the conclusion that I am one of those proselytizing Messianic Jews—a Jew who embraces Judaism and the divinity of Jesus as fulfilling the Jewish Messiah prophesy: Why else would he imply that Jews should know about Jesus and the New Testament? It just sounds too suspiciously friendly, when Jesus and Christianity should be shunned if he’s Jewish.

But that’s not true—I’m not a Messianic Jew. To honor Jesus as a faithful Jew whose teachings inspired other Jews and eventually launched a new world religion embraced by over two billion followers, you don’t have to accept that he is the Messiah prophesized in the Old Testament (Torah). You only need to understand that he was a dedicated practicing Jew who never proposed a new religion. Whether or not Jesus declared himself to be the Messiah, or others believed that he was the Messiah, should not be the basis for rejecting him, I concluded.

There’s a long-standing controversy- among theologians and even lay people-about the meaning of Messiah. Ask the Jewish man or woman on the street to define Messiah and you will get diverse opinions and considerable confusion. Throughout history Jews typically longed for the Messiah to free them from their contemporary oppressors. The view of Moses Maimonides, the revered twelfth-century Jewish philosopher, scholar and physician, is the one most often cited by theologians. Based on his reading and analysis of the Old Testament, Maimonides insisted that the true Messiah must usher in the golden Messianic age before he dies—peace on earth, an era of plenty with absence of pain and suffering. Some interpretations add the resurrection of the dead. Jesus did not fulfill these conditions in his mortal lifetime and, therefore, according to Maimonides, he cannot be the Messiah, despite the Christian claim that in the Second Coming Jesus will fulfill the Old Testament prophesy.

In fact, as I was surprised to discover, there is a long history of Jewish Messiahs, many of whom enjoyed far more followers than Jesus during his ministry and were not rejected as Jews or shunned for all time. Few if any Jews today would get worked up or bothered by them. In Chapter Nine, Winking and Blinking at Messiahs, I introduce several of the historical figures in the pantheon of Jewish Messiahs. Their stories range from hilarious to tragic, with one thing in common: Unlike Jesus, they are not shunned or condemned. In contrast to Jewish attitudes toward Jesus some of these false Messiahs, I learned, are still revered today, despite their Messiah declarations, or the belief of their followers, that they were the Messiah.

While I may have been ignorant about Christian doctrines in my youth, I wasn’t a stranger to Christian customs. When I visited my friend Carmine’s home during my teenage years I enjoyed the wonders of Italian cooking and observed his family’s