Jesus Returns and Faces Moses as Aaron and Paul Arrive: A Long-Overdue Friendly Dialogue Between Christians and Jews

By Asher Elkayam

This is a fiction book about biblical icons who 'come back' to earth in order to listen to and judge their supporters. Jesus comes back and faces Moses and Aaron. For Christians, Jesus is the symbol of purity and deity. For Jews, Moses is the prophet who produced the laws for all humanity. Moses is considered in the book of Genesis to be the humblest of all men. While Moses, Jesus, Paul and Aaron are having a serious talk, a heated debate is taking place here on earth among bible lovers and objective scholars. Community leaders organize conferences in several towns around the country and invite spiritual leaders, scientists and anthropologists to discuss the concept of Creation versus Evolution.

In the fictive world of our biblical icons, more and more historic figures appear and join the circle of discussion and debate about the original biblical laws and how some laws have been changed throughout history. It is being exciting.

Back on earth, a friendly but frank dialogue on the Judeo-Christian relations takes place. Rabbis, men of church and scientists vent their opinions about the sour and happy moments, which took place during the last 2000 years, between Jews and Christians. Efforts are made between both parties to clear several myths, which separated the two camps throughout history.

While the above is taking place, Moses, Jesus and others are invisible to the audience.

The readers of this project are lead to realize that, after a painful and a historic confrontation between our biblical icons, a somewhat positive and constructive bridge has been formed. Their mutual understanding was based on the biblical commandments, which are accepted by both religions. Several doubts have been cleared.

The multiple conferences between humans ended up establishing a long list of findings, thus enabling a constructive rapprochement between both religions. It was concluded that, despite some differences, both religions could live comfortably with each other within mutual respect and mutual tolerance.

Israeli bestseller Dr Adam Ackerman, commenting on Mr. Elkayam's work on the Bible, said among other things that Mr. Elkayam '... shows deep knowledge of the Bible, the New Testament and the Qur'An. His books promote the tolerant people of all faiths and strengthen the belief to advance together to real peace in the world. His books should ...be translated into many languages.'

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524539849

Asher Elkayam

Asher Elkayam has been an avid learner of the Hebrew Scriptures since the age of seven. In his native French Morocco he was tutored by rabbis and scholars,especially Rabbi Reuben Ben David who was a great Torah scholar. The author showed passion for the Mishnah and the Talmud and was widely exposed in elementary school to Pirkey Avot (the Wisdom of the Fathers), which is an important tractate of the Mishnah. A former student of the Hebrew university of Jerusalem and Alliance High School in Haifa, Israel , Mr Elkayam studied, beside biblical studies, Hebrew Morphology, Bible and Talmud. He is the author of 'The Bible, The Power of the Word' The Qur'An and Biblical Origins', 'Love and Romance in the Bible' previously published books by Xlibris. Mr. Elkayam studied comparative religions and previously wrote two books on the subject: 'Whose God is it Anyway' (to be found in Amazon.com) and ' Jesus Returns and Faces Moses'. The present project reveals hundreds of wise lessons learned from the Mishnah and the Talmud which represent a clear explanation and interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Pirkey Avot is a masterpiece Mr Elkayam has been fascinated with for decades. He ardently shares his passion of that learned wisdom with the readers of this book.Those wise maxims can be heard in our century. Mr. Elkayam is a multi lingual and multi discipline scholar. Besides his Hebrew, Bible and Talmud knowledge, he is also a French and Hebrew teacher, a graduate of the Political Science Institute of Strasbourg, France, and a graduate of Towson University in education. In professional matters and as a US Army veteran he is also a graduate of the American Council of Audioprosthology(in helping the hard of hearing for the last 42 years)

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Asher Elkayam.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016914402

ISBN:   Hardcover       978-1-5245-3986-3

             Softcover         978-1-5245-3985-6

             eBook              978-1-5245-3984-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 10/17/2016

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Contents

Introduction

The People Who Make The Story

Chapter One

WONDERING ABOUT THE WANDERING OF FORTY DAYS

Bible Fans Try to Make Sense of the Wandering in the Desert by Moses and Jesus

Chapter Two

I HAD A DREAM

Moses Meets Jesus for the First Time

Chapter Three

JESUS, PAUL, AND MOSES — A FRIENDLY DIALOGUE

Moses Wants to Know Why They Changed His Laws

Chapter Four

THE DREAM AND ITS INTERPRETATION

How a Bible Scholar Interprets the Relationship between Moses, Aaron, Jesus, and Paul

Chapter Five

THE GOD WITHIN US —PART ONE

Moses and Jesus Reappear—Invisible to the Audience

Chapter Six

THE GOD WITHIN US—PART TWO

Invisible Moses and Jesus Witness the Dialogue on Creation versus Evolution

Chapter Seven

CHURCH, POPE, AND TOLERANCE

Belief in God, Tolerance, and Coexistence

Chapter Eight

MOSES AND JESUS REAPPEAR

A Friendly Confrontation is analized by the Prophet Micah

Chapter Nine

BACK TO REALITY

Return of the Panel

Chapter Ten

REAPPEARANCE OF OTHER BIBLICAL ICONS

More Historical Figures Reappear, Including King David and Rabbi Gamaliel

Chapter Eleven

MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL

The Lessons Learned from our Historic Icons

Conclusive Observations

Pre-Bibliography Notes

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

The following project contains fictional characters of important people in history who came back to earth only to find out how civilizations have changed. For Christians, Jesus is the most important figure. For Jews, Moses is the prophet who brought the laws to Jews and humanity. The people depicted in the book are imaginary characters. Yet their ideas may be those expressed today by one or another person, party, church, temple, or institution.

Because it is fiction, this book talks freely about different people with different ideas. The characters speak their mind, and they are not afraid to say what they really think.

Since we are juxtaposing creation versus evolution, we have allowed the name of Darwin to be mentioned several times in this project. Otherwise, except for the historic and biblical figures, all names listed hereby are just that, names. They do not represent any contemporary character. Even the names of the authors and scientists who contributed to the cause of tolerance and understanding between the two religions have been altered in order to keep our project loyal to its fictive style. However, their ideas and findings are given credit at the end of this book, thus making sure that those ideas came from those experts in the field of religion and science. Their real names are revealed in the bibliography at the end of this book.

The interaction between so many interesting characters demonstrates how Christians and Jews have made so much progress throughout the centuries. They speak candidly to one another and both religions strive in bridging the two-thousand-year-long-overdue gap between them.

Jesus comes back and visits earth. Moses descends for the third time to watch over his people (he already descended twice from the Sinai Mountain when he brought down the Ten Commandments). This time, he seems to come down from the imaginary world he had been in since his burial. He encounters Jesus and Paul. He speaks to them about the changes they made to his Torah. Jesus is also surprised to find out how people live today and how His people interpret his messages. He seems to have a long discussion with Paul and Moses.

More of Jesus’ disciples show up. It is becoming interesting. Moses gets the visits of other saints and scholars who lived in the Holy Land and who changed history.

The precepts discussed here are those found in the original Hebrew Bible as well as in the New Testament. Two worlds are depicted, compared, and debated by followers and non-followers. Ancient laws are interpreted in modern times. Some seem to be interpreted differently than originally commanded. Some are justified by Bible believers. Some biblical miracles are rejected by people who think that none of those miracles ever took place.

Other ancient figures appear on earth. The twenty-first century findings and the omnipresent social media overwhelm them. Some heroes of the Bible, such as King David, Prophet Micah, Hillel the Great, and Rabbi Gamaliel (Paul’s teacher) join other biblical icons and make their appearances.

The characters become the hot subject for discussion and debate within the people in the community. The people who come to various conferences cast their opinions, and at times, the debate is accompanied by outbursts and exclamations. Overall, different people from different backgrounds seem to get along and speak their minds.

Although the names in this project are fictive, their ideas are real and relevant. All the characters base their views and ideas on their knowledge, their imagination, and the abundant literature available today about life, politics, religion, or lack of it.

I have been watching those imaginary characters interacting with their modern followers. Positive, negative, and objective views sprawled as ancient and modern personalities make their case.

The curious readers are welcome to discover all those changes and decide for themselves how the world has changed and how Jews and Christians work so well with each other in the twenty-first century. The readers might also find out how and if King Solomon was right when he said in the book of Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun.

THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE STORY

The following people represent those characters who make this project relevant to our topic, which is the overdue dialogue between Christians and Jews. They concentrate on the importance of the original laws, which were the basis for Judaism and Christianity. For simplicity, we are naming below just some of those characters.

As insinuated above, the biblical icons include Moses, Jesus, Paul, Aaron, John, James, King David, and several other important icons.

Bible fans include young Jonathan and young Paul, James, Stephen, Baruch, and other people from the audience.

Spiritual leaders who are also speakers and interpreters of the Bible within their respective religions are Father D’Alessandro, Father Vincent, Rabbi Rosen, Rabbi Silver, Father O’Donnell, and others.

Among the imaginary scientists and anthropologists represented here are Dr. Benjamin, Dr. Roman, Dr. Carson, Dr. Moon, and others.

Finally, several people in the audience are great contributors to the making of this project by asking questions, sharing their expertise, and by venting their opinions.

Chapter%201.JPG

THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

CHAPTER ONE

WONDERING ABOUT THE

WANDERING OF FORTY DAYS

Bible Fans Try to Make Sense of the Wandering in the Desert by Moses and Jesus

Jonathan was a young boy who liked to watch old movies. This time, he watched The Ten Commandments on the classic channel. Wow! said he. How could the waters be split this way? I saw it in the movies with my own eyes. He kept watching and watching what were supposed to be miracles until his eyes began to tire.

Since it was getting late, he fell asleep to the sound of thunderclaps, which were coming from the scenes in the movie.

When he woke up the next morning, he met his good friend Paul. They conversed daily about their cell phones and their tablets, not to mention their latest version of Windows and iPhones. Although young, Paul, being twelve years old, and Jonathan, almost eleven years and six months, made often the joke of teaching their parents how to troubleshoot problems in computers, cell phones, and other electronic gadgets.

This morning, in a small town in the rural Midwest of the United States, Jonathan and Paul were heading for their weekly get-together with older scholars. The group talked often about the Bible—its meaning and its mysteries. Some other times, they spoke about science, climate change, and perhaps in a deeper context, how the world was going to end, if ever.

Getting back to their serious talk, Jonathan, a bright child, mentioned the discussion he had in school about the possibility of an existing god. Paul concurred with Jonathan with some exceptions that he often mentioned the story of Darwin and other evolutionists.

Paul and Jonathan were avid readers. While they were in the height of a discussion, James, Paul’s cousin, entered the room. James just graduated from Loyola. There, he acquired so much knowledge about God and the marvels of life. Although he believed in Creation, he still maintained that evolutionists had some good points.

James was always friendly. He liked to fascinate others with his Jesuit upbringing. He informally joined the discussion between Jonathan and Paul and said, God is one. God is for all. We cannot have so many gods. Although I believe the world has evolved in millions and millions of years, yet there must be something that allows the birds to find their way after they flew a distance of two thousand miles. Furthermore, how in the world do they come back to the same place every single year? I see them on the parking lot in the winter. They like to be fed by the shoppers.

Jonathan and Paul intervened. I just saw them this morning, said Jonathan.

Paul was happy to add, I went to the store and bought some popcorn for them. They prefer that to just bread crumbs.

James added, Can you imagine this? I can tell you right now a dozen things that make us humans wonder how the world turns. Let us just mention one thing: the human body. I am not sure that those who believe in the process of evolution could actually explain how the human body works so perfectly.

Jonathan said, Yes, I heard lately that they make robots to replace humans.

James responded, Yes, of course. Technology keeps moving forward. One thing is sure. They might create a robot that can do so many human things except one—to have a human feeling.

Jonathan answered, Yes, you are right. What about faith? Can a robot pray? Of course not! Would God ever respond to a robot?

James was the modern type. He did not get involved in politics. He did not condone nor condemn the phenomenon of climate change, yet he believed the world was constantly changing.

James and Paul belonged to the neighborhood church, while Jonathan belonged to the local synagogue, often called a congregation. It was one of the largest congregations in the nearby town. Besides his regular daily school, he attended the afternoon Hebrew school to complete his studies in Jewish history and other Jewish subjects, such as the Pentateuch, the Hebrew language, and the meaning behind each holiday, prescribed by the Bible of Moses.

Speaking of Moses, James reminded his young friends that, actually, according to the New Testament, Jesus met Moses when Jesus went meditating in the wilderness. In some instances in the New Testament, he read that Jesus was more important than Moses was.

Jonathan, who studied the Pentateuch, seemed a little surprised. He said, Was it really necessary to state in the New Testament that Jesus was more important than Moses? What difference does it make? They were both equally important to their followers. If I remember well, it is written in the very Bible that there would never be another prophet like Moses. Actually, we learned last week that Moses was the only prophet who saw God. If I remember well, God told him something like this: ‘You can never see me face-to-face, but you will be allowed to see my back.’ You can check it out for yourself.

Relax! said James. We are not talking here about a competition between Jesus and Moses. The new faith in the Holy Land was so compelling for many people during the time of Jesus that some disciples really thought it was about the time to continue the same faith but with a newly spirited leader who was alive and present. During that time, there must have been many self-declared prophets and healers. However, in my opinion, Jesus got the most attention from most of the people in his travels. Actually, Jesus Himself declared several times that he came to earth in order to obey and observe the Torah of Moses. There must be a good reason why Jesus met Moses in the wilderness but did not meet Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or even the legendary biblical Joseph.

While discussing the Moses-Jesus encounter, James saw his best friend Stephen entering the room and joining the conversation. Stephen just graduated from the famous Colorado Christian University. Stephen and James were always best friends, and they often discussed the phenomenon of evolution versus creation.

When Stephen heard the last words about Moses and Jesus, he reminded everyone that Jesus retired to the wilderness and remained there for forty days and forty nights. Here comes the young Jonathan, who added, Was it a coincidence that Jesus remained solitary for forty days just like Moses? Why did he not stay any longer than forty days or less than forty nights? Was that a coincidence?

There was some quiet in the room, and nobody wanted to comment on the question. Stephen took the lead and started talking about symbolism in the Bible. He said, "Things may not have happened exactly the way it is described. We read the Bible and take every