New Testament Put Words in Jesus' Mouth? Gospel Writers Conveyed Jewish Values By LAWRENCE W. CROHN Editor's Note: Octogenarian Lawrence W. Crohn, for many years a leader in major move- ments here and now a resident of Rich- ardson, Tex., has devoted many years of studies to history, Bible and theology. He continues to write extensively, and the accompanying essay is a portion of his lengthy research on Jesus, the emerg- ence of Christianity, the Pharisees and related themes. Crohn has served as president of the Zionist Organization of Detroit, the Detroit Zionist Council and The Jewish Community Council of Metro- Crohn politan Detroit. Once the miraculous stories became widely accepted, a body of literature, drawn largely from Old Testament sources, accumulated. New Testament scholars believe that one central archive was accumulated, for, perhaps, 100 years. Out of this depository, the so-called synoptic, and the Johannine account were put together. Once having accepted Jesus as the Savior, the New Testament writers must have labored hard and long to make the odyssey fit into what they thought were the prophecies that were realized in the life of this messiah. It is indeed revealing to see how the writers must have had the Jewish records in front of them, and to observe how strange and farfetched are the allusions to this source. The whole idea of John the Baptist was concocted from the In this latter-day rationalistic world it is difficult to words of Malachi, about the forerunner to the eventual unravel the circumstances and the appeal which Jesus had redeemer. The virgin birth story appears in Matthew and Luke, for his small group of followers. His odyssey is hidden be- but is absent from Mark or John. The genealogy of Jesus, hind the cultic beliefs that followed his early death. The strange theologic ideas that he and his followers tracing him back to David or all the way back to Adam, engendered, quickly distorted the historic events of that is pure "folk tale," as is the tale of the shepherds in the period. Only now, when orthodox verbiage and beliefs are field, seeing the coming of Christ in the stars, juvenile in bing tempered by rational research, is a true picture of language and sentiment. The great Christian theologian Lousey so describes the Christmas story. this young man made possible. Jesus, dying on the cross, is reported to have said, "My There is meager evidence in the literature of the period that Jesus could read or write. At last, nothing has sur- God, why bast thou forsaken me?" Or in another version, vived bearing his imprimatur. Everything about him was at "Unto thy hand I commend my spirit." Both are literal first circulated from mouth to mouth by a small group of excerpts from the Psalms. The intention of the Gospel writers to make every incident and every saying of Jesus followers. A legend developed fast in those trying times when an- a fulfillment of Old Testamene prophecy becomes at times ludicrous. cient Israel was at war with powerful neighbors. Thus, Christian art and literature has dwelt in pic- It was, to be sure, an apocalyptic age. First Greek and turesque fashion with the prophetic writings. The prophet then Roman overlordship produced a sense of impending Zachariah declares, "Behold your king is coming to you doom. Like everywhere, some of the people grasped for humble and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an new ideas and new leaders. For those times, the Jewish ass." population was quite numerous. Perhaps a million Jews in An ancient literary device, a parallelism, is taken liter- the homeland, with a million in the Roman domain, and ally by the church, and Jesus is often pictured as coming with numerous colonies in Egypt and beyond. to Jerusalem on an ass, and a colt following him. The ancient Diaspora was torn between various civili- There are many beautiful Old Testament poetic phrases, zations, and any scheme to simplify Jewish practice and particularly from Isaiah and some of the minor prophets, belief was to be welcomed. Likewise, in the homeland where that are translated into grotesque statements about the son life had become very precarious, and where knowledge of the of God and his works. In a beautiful statement, Isaiah great Jewish heritage was of necessity limited to the small declares, "Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened," educated minority, the general population, the so-called Am alluding obviously to the unlettered folks of his homeland. Haaretz, was becoming restless, and as everywhere, sought The uneducated followers of Jesus thereby were treated to for easy solutions. the fable of cures for the blind. The real historic Jesus is shrouded in mystery and leg- The general character of early Christian ethics, as de- end. Nevertheless, it is obvious that a young, imaginative picted in New Testament literature, is idealistic. and uneducated person began to preach, wherever he could In ancient Jewish literature, the coming of the messiah find a platform. The language put into his mouth by the was expected to lead to an ideal existence. But, as Prof. New Testament was composed much later. Herbert J. Muller, in his "Uses of the Past," remarks, "It Jesus and his small band of followers in upper Galilee was not the Sermon on the Mount that conquered the world. were probably part of a farming community. Word got The ruling ethics of Christianity has been not only more around that a young man had a message for poor people, wordly in practice, but more militant in principle." sick people; perhaps, perhaps, the messiah. The story of Christianity is not a product of contempo- The lines of demarcation between rich and poor are well rary writing. The New Testament was composed, especially documented in the literature of the period. "Who shall the basic gospels, from 75 to 150 years after the events ascend the mountain of the Lord? He that has clean hands described. Paul's letters preceded the Gospel stories and and a pure heart" point to a society with inequality and the Book of Acts, a fact which seems to shock many pious injustice. Christians. The early legends had much time to expand, According to the propaganda literature, which is what and in the process, took on an antagonistic coloration. The the New Testament really is, the established population diatribes against the Pharisees, became hatred of the Jews. It may seem unholy and a travesty upon a world-shak- was unaffected by the little schismatic group. Quick solu- ing event in Jewish history, but the story of Jesus reminds tions, then as today, always give promise of a new life. Thus, the Gospel literature, in many ways noble and one of an ancient "Woodstock." The so-called multitudes deeply Jewish, are befouled and belittled by the constant, of the NEW Testament, were in their time equivalent to over-all ubiquitous story of miracles, casting out of demons, the protest marches of our time. There was no other course sick cures, bringing dead people back to life, even, as in open to them, they must have thought. Meanwhile, the early rabbis, who, of course, were just the story of Lazarus, after the body has already decom- posed. And the feeding of thousands by miraculous sleight- plain people, since ordination was unknown, mapped out a of-hand, two fishes and five loaves of bread turned into a way of life that in some measure guides a living Judaism today. vast supply of food. History repeats itself, but in the process new emphases And then there are the New Testament strictures against the rich, the money changers, those who occupy seats of shape up. It appears that Jewish history is marked by movement to oversimplify and to dismiss all but some power. Certainly it is clear that ancient Jewish society had overriding essential. Despite these strictures upon the New Testament episode gone beyond this idyllic picture of rural life in the patri- archal stage. The farmers brought their first fruits to the in Jewish history, one may be thankful that an event in temple to be blessed, and to pay their taxes or tithes, ancient Judea has been preserved by the Gospel writers. their half-shekels, and one can readily imagine the joy with For, in retrospect, it is all part of Jewish history and Jew- which those hard-working people came to the temple three ish literature. So much of what is of value in early Christian writings times a year, at harvest time. The money changers that Jesus is pictured as thrashing is a direct result of Jewish influences. Christian writers and abhorring were obviously the ancient bankers. They have traced the Jewish sources of the Sermon on the Mount, served a useful purpose, and as far as fair dealing is con- the Beatitudes and the beautiful sayings of Jesus and his cerned, the Levitical code specifically declares for fair friends to their parent sources in the Old Testament. The New Testament collections lean heavily on Jewish weights and measures and other procedures to effect justice with mercy. writings. The intrusion of antagonism and hatred came A judicial system, begun by Moses, was doubtless in after the events, not before. In his epic book, "The Pharisees," E. Travis Herford operation, and more effective it would seem, than the wild diatribes of an unknown wonder-worker. says, "Paul, who as a former Jew did not know what else All through the Old Testament writings there is a there was in Torah besides Halakha, has inflicted upon the passionate concern for the weak and the poor, but all in the Jews an injury without excuse by steadily ignoring that context of a living, throbbing society. Jesus brought the other element, (Hagada), in order to build upon that omis- passion for miraculous salvation to a high pitch. sion in his argument for the superiority of the Gospel over In all this, there is ample evidence that in a realistic the law." " Yet putting aside the magic and the story telling, the sense, there was no reason for ancient Jewry to fall at the feet of this strange, unknown, self-imposed liberator. To his Christian aberration from Judaism produced some glorious countrymen, Jesus was a false messiah, and the Jewish pages in Jewish literature. Though admitting the dependence of church writers history of that period is devoid of any references to his apocalyptic message; witness the absence of comment, either upon Jewish sources, over and over again, it is still a fact favorable or unfavorable in the massive literature of his that our biblical genius gave rise and produced the early time. church writings. A Jew cannot be called educated without some knowledge of this chapter in Jewish history. 48 Friday, February 1, 1974 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Whether or not there is a so-called Judeo-Christian — Newsprint Shortage Causes Concern for Jewish Press By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ — he is a member of the board of the Jewish Tele- A crisis in newsprint is not graphic Agency — views the limited to the daily news- situation as follows: , papers of this country. The "1. I do not believe that Jewish press is similarly af- the newsprint used by the fected. Jewish press compares to Thus far, there have been the little Pontiac (Oakland) no serious casualties. The Press Daily Newspaper — Yiddish newspapers are ap- thus the tonnage requirement pearing; the magazines have are relatively insignificant. not- been affected; the weekly "2. The least difficult time English-Jewish periodicals you had was caused not by are publishing. But that insufficient production, b u t part of the story. rather by strikes — these The reason the monthly strikes are now over and as magazines and those printed soon as warehouses reach on heavier or coated stock reasonable levels of in —"- are not suffering is because tory, there should be no the costlier — much costlier! lem—especially for the — - —paper they use is available. lish press. But they, too, may suffer and "3. Long term — I believe could well be pressed to the that paper will not be as wall for survival because of plentiful as in the past — the mounting costs. reason is that the total needs, For the weekly press it has especially in Europe, a r e been a near-calamity. On sev- much greater. Finland used eral occasions some weeklies to export newsprint to the were printed on colored stock United States — now Europe —blue, green, yellow, pink, imports newsprint from Can- whatever was available as ada and uses all the paper scrap, scrap the printers they can produce in Europe. were anxious to get rid of. "4. Newsprint prices will In the meantime, the pap- ers suffered. For the first probably stabilize at about time in its experience, The $150 per ton — at that fig- Detroit Jewish News aban- ure they tell me that it will doned a Hanuka issue. It make economic sense to be- published a statement with gin building new paper mills. the names of some 200 adver- Up to now they could not af- tisers, apologizing to them ford it at the combined low that the usual Hanuka greet- rates paid for newsprint plus ings will not be published the escalating costs of capital because there won't be a equipment." One publisher of an English- Hanuka issue. There are three traditional holiday issues — Jewish weekly bewailed that Rosh Hashana, Passover and he was forced to buy news- Hanuka. Now there is the print on the black market for puzzle: Will there be Pass- $400 a ton and Editor and over and Rosh Hashana is- Publisher, the leading jour- sues? Will there be enough nalistic organ in the coun- newsprint for such special try, under the heading editions which are always "Newspaper Crunch and eagerly awaited by the com- Gouge," commented upon it munities served by the news- editorially, stating: paper? "Everyone knows there is Weeklies in small commun- a newsprint crunch which has ities are not affected: their resulted in a black market. needs are minimal. In the But this exorbitant price goes larger communities it is near- far beyond what the traffic ly calamitous. The Cleveland will bear and amounts to a Jewish News, for example, gouge of the small, weak or was forced to use the colored defenseless. Probably other paper already referred to, small newspapers have suf- and its size was cut from 16 fered similar experiences. inches deep to 14 inches. But "It shouldn't happen but it even that was a blessing — does and it has. Leaders in that there was no restriction the newspaper business are otherwise. concerned about it and to The publisher of the largest their credit help is available of the Jewish papers had this when needed in such cases. to say: "We use 40 tons a Not one newspaper has had week. We have enough for to close for lack of paper." two months. We just bought Strikes in paper mills are 400 tons at a prohibitive price. over; now they maintain they There is danger of a black do not have enough energy market that may demand power to produce all that is anywhere from $225 to $400 needed. The Washington Post a ton. That would ruin all of gave up its Sunday Bbok us." Magazine Section. Some pap- But one of the most author- ers abandoned Sunday edi- itative printers in America tions, and some are curtail- is more optimistic. Hyman ing to such an extent th n i. Safran, one of the country's instead of printing 60 per largest printing plant oper- news matter and 40 per ators — the president of De- advertising, they have turned troit's Safran Printing Co. — their papers into reverse, responded with his views. with as little as 30 per cent Safran, who just retired reading matter. The problem has reached from the chairmanship of the Institute for Jewish Life of the Jewish press. It is sur- the Council of Jewish Fed- viving. There are, neverthe- erations and Welfare Funds less, obstacles to be hurdled. (Copyright 1974, JTA, Inc.) civilization is an interesting question. But the message of Jewish. justice and humanity did pass into Western civiliza- tion through the writings of the evangelists. Sadly, this message was turned upon itself, and in- flicted terrible harm to the Jewish people. Yet Jewish values passed into world civilization via the Gospel writers. That these values were encrusted with strange ecclesi- astical trappings by the church fathers, is not our concern. Modern Christian theologians have the task to analyze the miracle stories, God-become man and to reconstitute a great human document.