The rabbis claim that it is forbidden for a Jewish person to read or even go near the New Testament. But this does not prevent many of them, who have never read or even touched the New Testament, from making all kinds of claims against the book! They claim that it is anti-Semitic; that it teaches that God rejected the people of Israel and tossed them to the trash. So is the New Testament really Anti-Semitic?

See for example what rabbi Pinchas Badush had to say, when he answered the question on the “Mako” website: “Did Jesus establish Christianity?” He answered: “He was considered an establisher, and spread his ideas further on; That God has rejected the Chosen People, and has now decided to take a new People for himself. He called it the ‘New Covenant’. Christians acknowledge the Old Testament, but say that at some point, a switch was made.”

This of course is contradicting the Pentateuch (Law), that clearly says that God will never leave the people of Israel.

But let’s see what the New Testament really teaches about the people of Israel. Does it say, as Rabbi Pinchas claims, that God rejected the people of Israel, tossed them to the trash and took another people instead? Or, are we dealing with prejudice and lack of knowledge?

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband…”

Did you think this was from the New Testament? No.

The speaker here is the prophet Jeremiah from the Old Testament, chapter 31. He is prophesying that God will make a new covenant, instead of the covenant that was made during the exodus. And what does the New Testament have to say? Here are the words of the apostle Paul from his letter to the Romans, chapter 11 in the New Testament, as he addresses the gentiles;

“Now I am speaking to you Gentiles”, and says to them: “If some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.”

The apostle Paul warns the gentiles… That the branches that were grafted in, should not be arrogant over the People of Israel, who are the root. This is after that just a few paragraphs earlier, in chapter 9, he said to the same gentiles: “Has God rejected His people? By no means! God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.”

Even Gamliel, who was a great rabbi in the Sanhedrin recognized that Jesus and His disciples are a part of the people of Israel, and even though he himself probably did not accept the messiahship of Jesus, he warned those who opposed Jesus and His disciples:

“But a Pharisee in the council named Gamliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men… keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!””(Acts 34-39)

And indeed, like Gamliel predicted, no one was able to overthrow God’s plan, which continues to spread to this day, all over the world. Instead of turning people against the New Testament, if the rabbis could overcome their fear of what is in it and dared to read the New Testament, they would understand that this is a completely JEWISH book! The message of the New Testament is not like what certain Christian denominations are unfortunately telling Jews today, but it is a message of love, grace and compassion – to the Jew first and also to the gentiles. We want to challenge you to think for yourselves and invite you to read the New Testament and decide for yourselves.

But beware! It could change your life, as it happened to Rabbi Lichtenstein, a head rabbi in Hungary during the previous century, who said:

“In the past I thought the New Testament to be an unclean book, a source of pride, selfishness, hate, anti-Semitism and violence, but when I opened the book, I felt how it captivated my heart in a wonderful and peculiar way. Suddenly, glory and light entered my soul. I was searching for thorns but I found roses, pearls instead of stones, instead of hate I found love. Instead of revenge I found forgiveness. Instead of slavery I found freedom.”