Now–editorial Notes

RABBI Louis I. Newman, of Rodeph Sholom, in his sermon last Sunday, criticized the recently published story of “The Life of Our Lord,” by Charles Dickens. Dr. Newman said that the Dickens story “adds nothing to our knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth and merely reinforces the ancient legend of Jewish guilt in the death of the Rabbi of Galilee… It is merely a rewriting of the Gospel story without any attempt at scientific criticism and analysis. It adds nothing to Dickens’ fame, and in fact tends to detract from it… The unremitting emphasis upon the morbid and unhappy end of Jesus on the cross has served to encourage hostility and hatred against the very people whose blood Jesus bore in his veins.”

This is a correct estimate of the Dickens story of the life of Christ.

Charles Dickens, according to the publicity issued by the literary agents representing the Dickens estate and by the publishers who have paid a fabulous price for the publication rights, wrote the story of Jesus for his children. It was not intended for publication during his lifetime or during the lifetime of his children. The story has now been sold by his grandchildren. It is quite obvious why Charles Dickens did not publish this story. Neither the detailed account of the great tragedy of the Nazarene nor the form in which the story is told represented the high literary quality of the great novelist’s work. From a literary viewpoint, it is his weakest story. Charles Dickens and his children must have known it, and that was in all likelihood the real reason why this story has not been published until now.

But it is not because of its literary weakness that the present publication of Charles Dickens’ “The Life of Our Lord” is most unfortunate. The story contains so many embroidered exaggerations in the life of Jesus, especially in the scenes in which the trial and crucifixion are depicted, that it cannot fail to create new anti-Jewish prejudice and hate. For Dickens went far beyond the accounts of the Apostles in blaming the Jews for the tragic end of the Nazarene. He practically whitewashes the Romans of all guilt in the crucifixion. He places all responsibility upon the Jews. The Jewish priests and certain elements of the Jewish masses are portrayed by Dickens as heartless villains. He disregards the fact that among the modes of capital punishment according to Jewish law, crucifixion was unknown, that this form of capital punishment in Palestine was introduced by the Romans, that many Jewish rebels had undergone this extreme penalty at the hands of the Romans, and that the date and time of the trial of the crucifixion, as stated in the Gospels, point to the fact that the Jews could not have played the role ascribed to them. The discrepancies in the various stories of the crucifixion have led numerous serious students to revise the account of the tragedy which has served to this day as the real cause of anti-Jewish prejudice.

The crucifixion of Jesus was enacted by the Roman government. Jesus was executed as a rebel against the Romans who conquered Palestine and oppressed the Jewish people. Pontius Pilate is depicted in the Gospels as a wretched coward. In Charles Dickens’ story, Pontius Pilate is described as a just, merciful man, and as a defender of Jesus.

Thus the Dickens story of Jesus is adding fuel to the flames of anti-Semitism, based on distortions of an ancient crime committed by the Romans who ruled over Palestine. This story, written for children, will now be read anew by millions of children in many lands. New conceptions and new distortions will breed new anti-Jewish hate.

It has been proved that some of the pogroms in Russia were made by peasants immediately after they had heard for the first time sermons on the crucifixion of Jesus as preached by the Russian priests. As soon as they were told by the priests that the Jews had killed Jesus, these Russian peasants rushed out of the churches to punish their Jewish neighbors.

Charles Dickens never intended to publish his story, “The Life of Our Lord.” His grandchildren have not honored his memory by selling it for publication now for a huge sum.