Jewish News Will Serialize Zeitlin's 'Who Crucified Jesus?'
(Continued from Page 1)
In 1950, at the time when a
number of books dealing with the
founding of Christianity and with
the crucifixion were published and
were serialized in a number of
newspapers, The Detroit Jewish
News presented the Jewish view
as contained in Dr. Zeitlin's book,
by serializing his authoritative
presensation of the historical evi-
dence relating to the Sanhedrin,
the Gospels, the trial by the Ro-
mans, and exposing the numerous
distortions which had led to so
much misery suffered by Jews.
The re-emergence of the issues
once again makes the deicide ques-
tion a major issue being discussed
in Catholic and other ranks. To
make the facts known, The Jewish
News will reprint the serialized
articles based on Dr. Zeitlin's book,
starting in next week's issue. The
serialization was done for us by
our former city editor, Ruth L.
Cassel, by special arrangement with
Harper & Bros. and Dr. Zeitlin.
The series will appear in five
installments. When first published;
Dr. Zeitlin highly commended Mrs.
Cassel for having made "an ex-
cellent condensation?'
Upon the appearance of Prof.
Zeitlin's "Who Crucified Jesus?",
comments by reviewers included
the following:
New York Herald Tribune: "Corn-
bined with more detailed studies
of Jesus' trial and crucifixion, this
book is an answer to the dread
accusation against the Jews. The
shout, `Christ killers,' should never
be heard again."
Kansas City Star: "Here is a
book that should be read by Chris-
tians and Jews alike. Its spirit,
scholarship and its message are
highly commendable."
Westminster Theological Jour-
nal: "Our interest is aroused by
the fact that a noted Jewish au-
thority on Rabbinics writes on the
ever-fascinating theme of the cruci-
fixion . . . his treatment can hard-
ly be stereotyped."
The Christian Recorder, official
organ of the South African Meth-
odist Church, hailed the book as
marshalling "an imposing array of
historical evidence to show that
Jesus was disposed of by the Ro-
man Empire."
The Christian Advocate, official
organ of the Methodist Church,
welcomed "Who Crucified Jesus?"
as "an illuminating and important
work."
Prof. Zeitlin heads the rabbinics
department at Dropsie College,
Sinful Charity
(From the Admonitions of Judah
ben Samuel he-Hasid—"the Pious"
—the renowned German cabalist
and ethical writer who died in
Regensburg in 1217.)
There is a kind of charity which
is pernicious. And what kind is
that? One who gives alms to
adulterers or to a glutton or a
drunkard. . . He who supplies
weapons of destruction to murder-
ers is regarded as if he himself
had committed murder.. .. He who
gives food to robbers is like their
accomplice. Similarly, he who
Philadelphia. He is the editor of
gives alms to adulterers is regarded
the Jewish Quarterly Review and
as though he had aided them and
is- editor-in-chief of the Jewish brought them toether, for they
Apocryphal Literature series.- He take the money that is given to
is the author of "Josephus on them, and offer it as a hire to har-
Jesus"; several books dealing with lots. It is also said that a man
the Pharisees, Saducees and Zea- should give no alms at all rather
lots; numerous works on the era of than give it publicly. In a similar
the Second Commonwealth; essays sense it is also said that if a man
demolishing the vie _ w that the Dead who cannot pay his debts gives
Sea Scrolls stems from antiquity, alms, it is obvious that his charity
and the first volume of his "Rise is robbery.
and Fall of the Judaean State"
books," that their authors were was issued by the Jewish Publica-
He is called .a man who subdues
not interested in presenting facts tion Society of America last year.
his evil desires.—Zohar.
but in the "theological conception
of Jesus and his ministry, and that
"to them the resurrection as well
as the crucifixion was the corner-
stone upon which the new religion
of Christianity was founded."
* * *
* * *
* * *
Revised Edition of 'Who Crucified Jesus?'
by Prof. Solomon Zeitlin Issued by Bloch
Dr. Solomon Zeitlin's 'Who
Crucified Jesus?" is exceedingly
timely in its revised fourth edi-
tion just issued by Bloch Publish-
ing Co. (Harper's published the
first editions).
Prof. Zeitlin's is unquestionably
one of the most authoritative books
on the subject. It is a history of
the events that occurred in the
early Christian era. It reviews the
problems of that time, evaluates
the various Jewish parties and de
molishes the false beliefs that the
Sanhedrin was guilty of the cruci-
fixion. There were two Sanhedrins,
he shows, and he deals firmly with
the historical distortions that have
been responsible for so much suf-
fering by Jews because of the Dei-
cide charge.
In his introduction to the first
edition of his book that appeared
in 1942 (now out of pint), Dr.
Zeitlin points out that:
"The Church Fathers, begin-
nhtg with the second century,
brought the charge against the
Jews of crucifying Jesus. Justin
Martyr was the first to do so.
This charge was brought to the
force by the subsequent Church
Fathers. The Apostolic Fathers,
however, never attributed the
crucifixion of Jesus to the Jews.
The Church Fathers maintained
that God had forsaken the Jews
because of their rejection and
crucifixion of Jesus. This was
the reason they assigned for the
burning of the Temple, the de-
struction of the Jewish State,
and their dispersion among the
nations. The charge of the
Cburch Fathers that the Jews
were deicides, the. killers of
Jesus, has been a battle cry
since the second century. The
charge that the blood of _Jesus
was perpetually upon the hands
of the Jews was stressed through
the Middle Ages. Many leaders
of the Church at that time tried
to protect the Jews from perse-
cutions and pogroms. The masses
could not understand why they
were not permitted to kill the
Jews since they had been taught
that the Jews killed their Lord-
deicides."
Dr. Zeitlin made it clear in his
book that Jesus was not crucified
by the Jews, that "Jesus was tried
by a state synedrion and not by a
religious Sanhedrin," and he as-
serted: "As modern Quislings, pup-
pet governments and puppet rulers
betrayed their people and became
governments to work the will of
the conqueror, so in a world now
passed away Jewish Quislings
proved traitors to their own peo-
ple that they might, for personal
aggrandizement and power, do the
bidding of Roman masters."
Pilate's role and the Roman cru-
cifixions are explained and a deep
study is made of the Gospels by Dr.
Zeitlin to prove the falseness of
the charges against Jewry.
In his introduction to the re-
vised edition, Dr. Zeitlin points
out that "certain Christian theo-
logians have maintained that Jews
should acknowledge the actual his-
torical fact that their forefathers,
the spiritual leaders, were respon-
sible for the crucifixion, and that
the Jews could eliminate anti-
Semitism if they would make that
admission."
He proceeds to show that the
four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, John
and Luke, "are not historical
Incorporation Granted to Communities
Banding Together in European Body
GENEVA (JTA) —The formal
incorporation of the Standing Con-
ference of European Jewish Com-
munity Services as a duly recog-
nized international non - govern-
mental organization under the laws
of Switzerland, was announced by
Dr. Astorre Mayer, chairman of
the Standing Conference and pres-
ident of the Jewish community of
Milan.
Among some new develop
ments cited by Dr. Mayer was a
report from Claude Heiman of
Paris, vice president of the
Fonds Social Juif Unifie and
i representative for France in the
Standing Conference, on a new
influx of; Jews from Tunisia into
France.
Noting Kelman's view that this
was only a beginning and that it
would take on the proportion of
"a mass movement," Dr. Mayer
said that "since this comes at a
time when the French community
is still struggling to provide need-
ed facilities and services for 110,-
000 Algerian Jews who came to
France in 1962, the. French Jews
fear that, if it continues, they will
need more help from world Jew-
Dr. Mayer also reported that a
new Jewish community center was
being built in Skopje, Yugoslavia,
to replace the one destroyed in the
1963 earthquake which destroyed
that city. He said the Standing
Conference raised $14,000 for the
new center which will be named
for the late Dr. Albert Vajs, Yugo-
slav Jewish leader and prominent
figure in world Jewry.
Israel Housing Minister
in Turkey for Talks on
Welding Closer Bonds
WOOL AREA and ACCENT RUGS
His book, he emphasizes, was
written "from the historical
angle" to demonstrate that the
Jews are guiltless and cannot be
blamed for the crucifixion."
He concludes by asserting that
"the Jews do not wish to convert
the Christians nor to be converted
to Christianity," and he expresses
the hope that the Ecumenical
Council "will show good will to
the mother religion by removing
the unjustifiable stigma from the
Jews in declaring in its seherna
that historically The Jews are not
guilty of the crucifixion of Jesus.
This would erase the guilt of the
Church for defamation of an in-
nocent people, the people of the
prophets."
Dr. Zeitlin's historical account
of the entire issue will appear be-
ginning next week in the seriali-
zation of his "Who Crucified
Jesus?" in The Jewish News.
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ANKARA (JTA) — Talks began
here between visiting Israeli Min-
ister Joseph Almogi and Turkish
government officials on closer co-
operation between the two coun-
tries in housing and rural develop-
ment.
The visit by Almogl, Israel's
housing and development minister,
is the first by an Israeli Cabinet
member to Turkey.
Almogi arrived for a week-long
visit as a guest of his Turkish
counterpart. He was received at
the Ankara airport by Mehmet
Yuceler, the customs minister, who
substituted for the housing min-
ister, who was ill. Almogi also was
greeted by senior ministry officials
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, November 13, 1964-7
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