Rabbi Riskin & Rabbi Jesus

Here are some interesting letters to and from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin.

In the first letter, dated March 26, 1991, Rabbi Riskin tries to hire Rabbi Baruch Lanner to recruit for him. Lanner would be great for bringing people through the door.

By this time, the accusations of child abuse against Lanner were widely known in Orthodox life.

Shlomo Riskin supported the controversial rabbi Mordecai Gafni through the 1990s, trying to find him jobs, including one in Australia.

In the second letter, dated February 15, 1999, the late PLO leader Yassir Arafat expresses to Shlomo Riskin his “profound support for your idea of a establishing a joint School of Business for Palestinians and Israelis.”

This proposed school was to bring in millions of dollars in donations to Rabbi Riskin. There was one donor who was only willing to give money if it would promote peace. So Rabbi Riskin found somebody with a connection to Yassir Arafat. He then wrote a letter to Arafat saying we should make peace together. All he needed was a letter back from Arafat and he got a couple of million dollars out of it.

Here is a video of Rabbi Riskin praising Jesus and referring to him as a rabbi.

All Jewish leaders down through the centuries have referred to Jesus of Nazareth as a false messiah. Over the past hundred years, some rabbis such as Riskin have taken to calling him a failed messiah.

There’s a big difference.

The traditional Jewish perspective was that Jesus of Nazareth was up to no good and that Jews have nothing positive to learn from him and his movement. That he and they are fundamentally theologically corrupt.

The new approach is to embrace Jesus and Paul as brothers, a radical departure from 2,000 years of the Jewish tradition.

Rabbis with this new approach find it a lot easier to fundraise from evangelical Christians such as Pastor John Hagee.

For similar reasons, Mordecai Gafni circa 1983 and then took it back in 2004 when he believed a false newspaper report (Maariv) that Gafni supported same-sex marriage.

From Yeshiva World News:

In a shocking video making its way around the Internet, the Chief Rabbi of Efrat, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, is seen praising “J”, and even referring to him as “Rabbi J”.

In the modern Orthodox community, Rabbi Riskin is more than a ‘rabbi’ but an icon, one who has set the path for many modern balei tshuva, who has set a path for aliyah and incorporating a life style which emulates his mentor, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik zt”l.

While according to a growing number of followers Rabbi Riskin has adopted a controversial position on Christianity and perhaps other matters as well, including Israeli politics, this latest video will prove to be the ’straw that broke the camel’s back’ according to many, and time will dictate the ramifications of this highly irregular documented statement of this highly respected rabbi’s views on “J”.

The video is currently posted on Jewish Israel, and the following are some excerpts of the 5 minute video:

Shalom to all. My name is Shlomo Riskin. I am the Chief rabbi of the City of Efrat…..I am an Orthodox Rabbi…and an Orthodox Rabbi who is very profoundly interested in religion in general, in Christianity, and especially in the persona of Jesus in particular….I was truly fascinated by the personality of Jesus, whom to myself I have always referred to as “Rabbi Jesus”….because I think he is indeed a “model Rabbi” in many counts…and he lived the life of a Jewish Rabbi in Israel in a very critical time in our history…..I have constantly come back to the study of his personality and his teachings which are very strongly rooted in Talmudic teachings…..”

YWN VIDEO LINK: Click HERE to watch the video.

Jewish Israel reports:

When a prominent Anglo Israeli Orthodox rabbinic leader cites the new testament’s concept of a fusion of faiths, and then proceeds to call for the need to “resurrect god” in a promotional Christian evangelical (ICEJ) video, how is the Torah observant community supposed to react? How will that declaration be perceived by fervent Christians, and how will that ambiguity (heresy?) effect and reflect on the Jewish community?

The problem:

For a period of two years, Jewish Israel and this writer have been questioning Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s interfaith endeavors, and his shift towards a close theological dialogue and relationship with Christian evangelists.

Jewish Israelfeels Rabbi Riskin’s imprudent approach towards interfaith relations is part of a trend among certain community leaders, government officials, and entrepreneurs which has led to the compromising of Jewish tradition, the erosion of halacha, and the breaching of fences built around the Torah.

The following approaches have been initiated by Jewish Israel in an attempt to stem any further deterioration of the situation and to, hopefully, reinstate a sense of clarity, propriety, and accountability in our dealings with other faith communities.

Ultimately, Jewish Israel hopes our efforts will be instrumental in helping rabbinic and political leaders establish guidelines and legislation which will help manage the currently unregulated Israel-evangelical relationship.

John emails: I think the Jesus issue is over stated. In Israel, many religious academics write that way, using the “Rabbi Jesus” concept out of Geza Vermes and blaming Paul for the anti-Semitic turn, particularly in the Dati Leumi world where they accept the Evangelicals as political allies, Beni Elon would be a well known rav known for those ties. Riskin is, after all, a West Bank rabbi, and its hard to argue with press like this: http://twitter.com/kathyireland (famed model now Christian Entrepreneur visiting Israel).