In his book, “The Real Messiah? A Jewish Response to Missionaries,” Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan does the very things that he accuses Christians of doing. He offers wrong citations, takes texts out of context to make pretexts for prooftexts and tries very hard to find fault where there is none to be found.
Following are some examples.
One of the most shocking, serious, and disappointing errors is when he states:
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructed his followers (Matthew 5:43) “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and do good to those who hate you.”
This might have been a fine lesson if Jesus himself lived up to it. But when it came to his own enemies, Jesus declared (Luke 19:27), “Take my enemies, who would not have me rule over them, bring them here, and kill them before me.”1
This error is repeated by Gerald Sigal when he refers to Jesus as,
He who advocates…killing enemies (Luke 19:27) cannot be called a ruler of peace.2
This is a perfect example of just how important it is to check the citations. The text they are referring to in Luke 19:27 begins in v.11 with this statement, “While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable.” It is a man in the parable that said, “Take my enemies…bring them here, and kill them before me.” Jesus said it, but they were not his words.
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan states that Jesus,
was not so broad minded. When he sent his twelve disciples, he charged them (Matthew 10:5, 6), “Do not take the road to the gentile lands, and do not enter any Samaritan city. Go only to the lost sheep of Israel.”3
Jesus just cannot seem to do right in the eyes of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan. In this case Jesus is wrong for neglecting the Gentiles but when Jesus tells a parable that favors the Samaritans, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, again, reacts negatively in stating:
We would expect that after the Cohen and Levite passed up the victim, the story would tell us that the third person was an Israelite, an ordinary Jew. Instead, however, Jesus substitutes a Samaritan, a member of a tribe who had been enemies with the Jews for almost five hundred years.This Samaritan then becomes the example of moral love. The Priest and Levite, who were the religious leaders of the Jews, were thus downgraded, while the hated Samaritan was praised. What Jesus is implying is that every Jew, even a religious leader, is incapable of even a simple act of mercy.
Even in his parable about love, Jesus was not above demonstrating his spite towards the Jewish leaders who rejected him.4
When Jesus begins His ministry and sends His disciples exclusively to the Jews He is said to be discriminating against Gentiles. Later, when He is ready to send His disciples to the Gentiles He is also said to be discriminating, this time, against the Jews. Either way; Jesus appears to be wrong, when He does or does not do that which Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan thinks that He ought.
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan complains that people think that Leviticus 18:19 is an original teaching of Jesus. On the other hand he says that the Messiah is supposed to teach the Torah to the world. He writes:
(Leviticus 18:19), “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This commandment is so important that Rabbi Akiva declared that it was the fundamental principles of the Torah. Even though this is openly stated in the Torah, written over a thousand years before Jesus’ birth, many people still think of it as one of Jesus’ teachings.5
The evidence, as admitted by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, is that the Gentile world has learned the Torah from Jesus. The Messiah is supposed to teach the Torah and we find that the Gentile world knows the Torah by the teachings of Jesus. Apparently, in this case Jesus is at fault for doing what the Messiah is expected to do.
Unfortunately, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan gets downright silly in stating,
Jesus was even able to be vindictive against a tree…Did this innocent tree deserve such cruel punishment?6
Need any response be offered? I had to respond to this issue as it was brought up by another Gentile militant activist atheist Cliff Walker and since I responded to it elsewhere I will merely point you to this essay: Weak Bible Week Poster, part 7 of 7
Pinchas Stolper, who contributed to Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s book, wrote,
The Missionaries claim that Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies pertaining to the Messiah.7 [emphasis mine]
This is not only utter falsehood, but also contradicts a large portion of the rest of the book. Many prophecies that Jesus did not fulfill are pointed out in the book, along with admissions that Christianity awaits a Second Coming when Jesus will fulfill those prophecies-thus, there is an internal inconsistency within the pages of “The Real Messiah? A Jewish Response to Missionaries.”
I was corresponding with a Jewish gentleman who recommended that I read Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s book so that I could understand that Jesus was not the Messiah. I was more than glad to oblige.
However, I found a book that was quite fallacious and in that sense disappointing and not worthy of the popularity which it has enjoyed in the anti-missionary realm. The above represent mere a few of the many examples that may be pointed out.