Rabbi Explains Christian Rejection

By COLlive reporter

A Jewish atheist refused to send his son to a Jewish school but wanted a private school education for his child. So he sent the boy to Trinity School, despite its denominational roots. It was a great school and completely secular.

After a month, the boy came home and said casually, “By the way, Dad, I learned what Trinity means! It means ‘The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost’.”

The father could barely control his anger. He grabbed his son by the shoulders and said, “Listen here boy, there is only one G-d… and we don’t believe in him!”

This was the opening joke that Rabbi Zalman Kravitz, Director of the “Jews for Judaism” organization, shared with a crowd of 250 people that gathered at his lecture series at Chabad Orlando this past April.

“Like many Jewish jokes, there is often a message with some wisdom and a kernel embedded in the humor-even the so-called atheist Jew rejects Christianity,” he explained.

“But why? Why have the Jewish people rejected the Christian Messiah for 2000 years? We have been killed, expelled and treated as second-class citizens over the centuries by the Inquisition, the Crusaders and many others while we stubbornly held on to our Torah, why didn’t we convert and live happily with our neighbors?”

His presentation encouraged critical thinking and provided answers to questions posed by many faiths about the similarities, differences, and connections between the two faiths. The differences are mainly the core reasons why so many individuals come to Judaism and find the answers they seek in the Jewish community.

Rabbi Kravitz spoke on various Biblical analyses of why the Jewish people rejected the Christian Messiah and the parting of the ways between Judaism and Christianity. The audience was held spellbound by Kravitz’s mixture of captivating stories, anecdotes, and biblical and historical sources.

Under the leadership of Rabbi Yanky Majesky, Rabbi Yosef Konikov, and Rabbi Alter Korf, the community commented that the lectures were clear, entertaining and extremely relevant. Many of them shared that these are subjects that they tackle on a regular basis.

“Our Chabad house tries to have several speakers a year,” said Rabbi Majesky of Chabad of North Orlando. “We always look for a few key factors when choosing a speaker: 1. a topic that would draw in a crowd and specifically new people; 2. once they come through the door, they should enjoy the talk; 3. the talk should have toichen. It is often hard to find all three. Rabbi Zalman Kravitz certainly accomplished all of the above. In addition, he was a pleasure to deal with and host.”

Through his organization, Rabbi Kravitz has committed his life to the education and support of the Jewish community. His presentations cover multiple topics among them leadership skills, the balance between faith and intellect, response to missionary, as well as other topics tailored to all audiences. For more info, visit jewsforjudaism.org