Purely COMmentary
Noted Scholar Views
By Philip
Background of Bias WOMOVitZ
in Christian ,History
The distinguished British scholar and author, Hugh Trevor-
Roper, already has rendered valuable service to the cause of
truth by exposing many of the Hitlerite and Nazi libels, to
presenting the truth about those who sought the destruction
of Jewry, by revealing factual data relating to the Holocaust.
He was in Jerusalem during the early weeks of the Eich-
mann trial and was able, in his way, to provide data regarding
the immense crimes that were perpetrated against Jewry and
huManity in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
Now this eminent writer—who is Regius Professor of Modern
History at Oxford and the author of "The Last Days of Hitler' and
"Men and Events" — has rendered another great service — by
exposing the untruths -regarding the crucifixion story.
In a leading article in the London Times, which appeared
under the heading: "The Basis of Anti-Semitism Re-Examined-
The Crucifixion: Jewish Scapegoats, Roman Guilt," he reviewed
a new book, "On the Trial of Jesus," by Paul Winter, published
by Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.
Trevor-Roper's article delves into the backgroUnd of the
crucifixion tale, describes the true position of the Sanhedrin,
delves into the motives that made Jews the scapegoats and
explains the _true role of Pontius Pilate. Trevor-Roper's analysis
is so important, even in this' enlightened age, that we offer it•in
'full as follows:
*
*
*
•
Why, and by whom, was Jesus condemned to death? For
centuries the orthodox reply has been, for religion, by the
Jews. In the ages of faith this reply supplied the excuse
for anti-Semitism and pogroms. The Jews, to Christian mobs,
were the cursed race who put to death our blessed Saviour
and whom God therefore condemned to perpetual 'exile.
The guilt of Pilate, compared with theirs, was trivial.
He- would have listened to his wife, would _ have spared
"that just man," would have executed Barabbas instead, and
finally. washed his hands of the whole affair. It was the
Jewish Sanhedrin which, since it could not impose the death-
penalty itself, made the mild, indecisive, - protesting governor
its instrument. So Pilate is excused: Christ was crucified no_t
"by" but "under." , him: the real villains are the Jews.
INCONSISTENCIES
So We are' told, but what are the true facts? The Gos-
Pels, once we get down to detail, are full of impossibilities
and notoriously inconsistent, and it is no good trying to
"harmonise" them. We *Must' separate, scrutinise and test.
The difficulty is that we have so few external tests. Inade-
quate though they are as. sources for the history of Jesus,
the Gospels are all we have. So we must use internal tests.
To extract positive histOrical results from purely textual
study is a laborious and often speculative work, but if done
with sense and scholarship _ it can be wonderfully awarding.
It is because Dr. Paul Winter's book is an exciting work
of this kind that I want to write about it, even though
it is not a book for every man. It is (as it has to be) erudite
and minute, and though written in English it is published
in Germany. But it is a fascinating and convincing piece of
detective scholarship and its conclusions, though not all new,
combine to reverse the orthodoxy of centuries.
ORAL TRADITION
Dr. Winter's method is twofold. First, he examines the
Gospels historically. What was the -purpose, what the cir-
cumstances of their writers? For whom, against whom, were
they written? What were their sources? Neither these ques-
tions nor their answers are very new. It is generally agreed
now that the Gospels were compiled out of the oral tradi-
tions of Christian preachers after the suppression of the
great Jewish revolt of A.D. '70. The Christian missionaries
had by then 'largely despaired of the Jews, but they had to
reassure the Romans, who regarded all Jewish Messianism
as politically subversive—the sort of thing which had caused
and animated the great revolt.
CENTRAL MESSAGE
The message of these missionaries was, like that of St.
Paul, "Christ, and Him crucified." The crucifixion was cen-
tral. "The Gospel," as Dr. Winter writes, "grew backwards,"
it "grew in the shadow of the Cross"; and the , illustrative
details of Jesus' life are often either fitted into that shadow
or drawn not froin history but from the background of the
evangelists' own work. •
All this, is well known. It supplies the milieu against
which the content of the Gospels must be seen and tested.
The real importance of Dr. Winter's work lies in the next
stage: the exact scholarship with which he has analysed a
By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
(Copyright, 1961,
Jesus, the limits of Jewish jurisdiction, the character of
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
Pilate, the Pharisees, etc.
Why is it customary for the
From this analysis emerge conclusions, some of theta
admittedly speculative, others apparently conclusive. For congregation to parade
instance, Dr. Winter finds it "inescapable" that the Jewish around the altar seven times
,Sanhedrin had the right to condemn Jewish subjects to death on Hoshana Rabba, occurring
for religious reasons. They therefore had no need to call in this year on Sunday?
the Romans. If they had really, tried Jesus,• they could have
The Talmud ,relates that on
stoned him as they stoned St. Stephen. The phrase ascribed this day there was a special
to them in St. John's Gospel, "it is not lawful for us to put ceremony in the Temple in
any man to death," is simply advice to explain why Jesus, which the priests circled the
allegedly tried by the Jews, suffered an exclusively Roman altar seven times holding wil-
form of execution.
low branches in their hands
(Sukkah 44a). The sages con-
THE HIGH PRIEST -
tended
that this practice was
Again, there is the question of the High Priest. Dr. instituted by the prophets and
Winter shows that the evangelists had great difficulty in served as a reminder of the
finding room for him in their story. Their sources did not seven circuits made around the
even supply his name. The evangelists , called him Annas, wall, of the city of Jericho be-
an absurd error. Late in the day some of them discovered fore it came tumbling down
his 'real name and shoved it in, spoiling both sense and (Sukkah 43b, Yerushalmi Sue.
grammar. And other significant admissions point the same
4:3). Our tradition today
way. St. Luke, though he knew St. Mark's Gospel, studiously cah
is to encircle the altar seven
omits both the prophecy and the fact of Jesus' condemna- times
all four of the
tion by the Jews, as if he knew better. And St. John, the species with
(i.e. the L u l a b,
most anti-Jewish of all, so far forgets himself as to admit atrog, the Haddasim and the
the
that Jesus was arrested by Roman soldiers.
aravot). The general idea of
ARREST OF CHRIST
encircling the altar is to demon-
It is tempting to linger on the evidence and the detec- strate that the produce of the
tive work, but I have only space for the conclusion. It is world's vegetation is dependent
that Jesus was arrested by the Romans (though the Temple • upon the Almighty whom we
Police were used too) on a charge of insurrection; that he serve at the altar. Indeed, the
was not tried by the Sanhedrin at all (though its officials productivity of the fields de-
obliged by identifying and interrogating him—out of this pends upon man's measure of
come the travestied Barabbas episode and the alleged night service to Deity. The ultimate
session of the Sanhedrin); and that Pilate, who had de- climax of this idea is reached
manded his arrest and whom we know to have been a on the seventh day when the
mean, cruel and summary governor had him executed, by very last chance to obtain the
the Roman method, as a revolutionary, a Messianic "king favorable decree of judgment
presents itself — thus the cir-
of the Jews" threatening public order and Roman rule.
are made seven times this
Later, when Messianic zealots had indeed threatened cults
day.
Roman rule, it was prudent to conceal these facts. The more
* * *
Christians were persecuted, the more they insisted on the
Why
are
the wilow
political innocence of their fOunder, and called in to' witness
it the imaginary Pilate of the Gospels. Only did the con- branches beaten on Hoshanah
version of Constantine did this myth become unnecessary. Rabbah?
Then Pilate was devalued. But had Christians been perse-
It is an indication and a
cuted for another generation, "Pontius Pilate would have source of hope and courage as
heen a saint today in Western Christendom, as his wife is the last of the Days of Judg-
in the Greek Church."
ment for this season comes
upon us. Some claim that the
THE MOTIVE
Meanwhile the Jews became the residuary scapegoats. willow is beaten five times to
What in fact was their responsibility? That the Sanhedrin indicate the five exiles of the
cooperated with the Romans both in the arrest and in the people of Israel, telling us that
interrogation, Dr. Winter thinks certain. But that is all. in spite of the "beatings" which
Their motive was intelligible. Pilate was determined on the Jewish people underwent,
action, and if they had not collaborated, "the Romans," as there still remained some leaves
they said, "shall come and take away both our place and on the twig of the nation and
our nation"—i.e., they would suppress the last relics of that there has never been a
time when all were destroyed
religious and national independence.
at one time. Others further
Poised between radical Jewish discontent and over- amplify this point by claiming
whelming Roman power, the Sadducean aristocracy "acted that the ceremony was meant
from motives they considered to serve the best interests to show us that just as the tree
of the nation; and the 'best interests,' as so often, hap- which loses its leaves, is later
pened to coincide with their own." In the short run they
may have been right. How were they to guess that, in on reinvigorated with the corn-
postponing social revolution and foreign conquest for one ing of spring and fills up with
generation, they had provided an excuse for 2,000 years leaves all over again, so will the
of national persecution?
Jewish people, who so often
So much innocent Jewish blood has been spilt through have lost their most beautiful
the ages as a result of the libels that were attached to the foliage of scholars and -laymen,
crucifixion story that every time it is debunked it serves to be revived and resurrected with
enlighten the masses about the truth of an important historical
the coming of a new era and
episode.
Once again we are indebted to Hugh Trevor-Roper for a the Messianic ideals of human-
valuable service in delving into the truth, in an effort to pre- ity. This ceremony is most
vent injustice to our people.
timely in the fall season of the
The Trevor-Roper article instigated lengthy discussion by critics year when the trees are actu-
who differed with him over the status of the priest Annas, who was_
related to Caiaphas, and details entailed in "the trial of Jesus." ally losing their leaves and the
The basic points raised by,Prof. Trevor-Roper remain to challenge bleak prospect of winter lies
those who resbit to crucifixion propaganda to harm Jewry.
ahead.
Rosenberg Paintings I xhibit Starts Tuesday
into the background of American art and artists,
Traditions of
Hoshana Rabba
series -of. subjeCts: the trial, interrogation and arrest of
Hugh Trevor-Roper Debunks Crucifixion Libels.
The exhibition of paintings and documents illu-
strating the art and life of James N. Rosenberg, the
distinguished lawyer who has become one of the chief
advocates in behalf of American artists and who is
himself one of America's noted artists today, will open
at the Art Institute, Woodward and Kirby, Tuesday
evening.
A reception, arranged by the sponsors of the
exhibition, the Detroit Board of the Society of Con-
tributors of the Archives of American Art, has been
planned for 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The exhi-
bition will continue through Oct. 29.
At 87, Rosenberg is creating as much today as he
did 12 years ago when he retired from a lucrative
law practice to devote himself exclusively to painting.
While he had made his mark in the world in the
practice of law, and later as a humanitarian, in posi-
tions of leadership in the American Jewish Joint Dis-
tribution Committee and other philanthropic move-
ments, he had been painting from his early youth, art
having been his hobby all his life.
Fifty of his paintings will be on exhibition
here, and most of them will be placed on sale, all
proceeds going to the sponsors, the Archives of
American Art.
Having devoted himself to the need for research
.
Rosenberg has given the documents of his 50 years
as a painter to the Archives of American Art. He
has expressed the hope that sufficient sums will be
raised to enable the Archives to delve into the history
of American art and to gather historic material neces-
sary for the perpetuation and the continuation of
interest in American creative art activities.
In a statement on the eve of the exhibition,
Rosenberg declared:
"Statesmen, Icientists, and soldiers have
produced this nuclear era, which threatens to
erase mankind from this planet. The arts, which
speak a universal language, can be a bridge
toward world peace. That bridge Archives of
American Art helps to build. _
Rosenberg, accompanied by his wife, will attend
the formal opening of the exhibition on Tuesday
evening.
Called a romanticist and a poet, Rosenberg is still
a painter for whom the visible world exists, and he
is able to distill what he sees and feels and transmit
it to canvas. His works are owned by more than 40
major 'art museums in this country and abroad and
in U.S. Embassies in all parts of the world. He has
painted in the Adirondacks, in Israel and in Europe
and many of his paintings are of Israeli scenes.
: . >:::MUEZMIZREMMUMFRESM.P5:-
James N. Rosenberg Before
One of His Paintings