Dr. Jonah B. Wise, rabbi of the Central Synagogue, which was formerly associated with the Free Synagogue, commented on the sermon controversy in the following manner:
“There can really be little to add to a discussion as to the historic foundation for the belief in Jesus. As a man we have the picture drawn of him in the Gospels. If with the method of scientific historians we wish to analyze the material presented there we have a task which is a special one and requires special preparation. That the picture of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels is Jewish there can be no doubt. It aims specifically at showing him as the Messiah, a Jewish concept, and as the one predicted in the Old Testament who would save man. Jews do not believe in the salvation of man through the Gospel method. What they believe about the central figure, Jesus, as it is depicted in human form and in the langauge of the Old Testament is hardly to be reduced to a set formula. The human part of the Gospel Jesus is Old Testament and Jewish, and the supernatural part is a matter of Christian dogma and theology which can interest Christians only.
“Many Christian and Jewish thinkers are of the opinion that Jesus as a real man did not exist. Most of them admit that the heroic human concept which has been central to Christian thinking is made of Old Testament material, a mosaic of Hebrew thought and expression. This is of course not new. All that has been said about it is more prone to produce heat that light. To give the impression that Jews are anxious to discredit the Jesus narrative, on the one hand, or to make of it a special plea for themselves, on the other hand, is hardly fair to any wing of Judaism.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
