You Should Know This: A Rabbi Explains Christianity to Jews

Description

American Jews live in a predominantly Christian society. Jews have many questions about Christianity but have a hard time getting objective answers. Jews and Christians in dialogue often use the same words without realizing that they have a different meaning in each religion. Rabbi Wylen, a devoted Jew with a positive view of Christianity and a passion for interfaith understanding, responds to the questions that members of his congregation and classes are always asking, in a way that Jews can understand. This book will also be of interest to Christians who want to know how Christianity appears when viewed through Jewish eyes. Jews and Christians will each learn more about their own religion while learning to appreciate the other. Why are there so many Christians and so few Jews? Has the existence of Christianity been good or bad for the Jews? How can anyone be an antiSemite when Jesus was Jewish? Do Christians really believe that Jesus, our Jewish brother, is God? What does Christ mean? What does Messiah mean to Christians and Jews? What do Christians and Jews believe about Heaven and Hell, the end times and the afterlife? What does each religion teach about Love and Forgiveness? How have Christians and Jews reconciled since the Holocaust? These are some of the questions answered in this book. For most of the past two thousand years, interfaith discussion was characterized by competition and, often, denigration. We are fortunate to live in the modern age, when people can study and appreciate other faiths. We have come to understand the common origins of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism while recognizing the distinctive features and integrity of each religion. Despite this progress, there is still a great deal of mystery and misunderstanding between religions. Well intentioned efforts at mutual understanding sometimes misfire. Negative perceptions from the past still intrude. We hope that this book will make a positive contribution to interfaith relations. Rabbi Wylen believes that when Jews and Christians all live up to the better angels in our own traditions, the whole world benefits. May knowledge lead to wisdom and wisdom lead to peace.

Stephen Wylen lives in Wayne, NJ. He is the rabbi of Congregation Knesseth Israel in Bound Brook. He has served congregations in Seattle WA, Huntington WV, Scranton PA, Wayne NJ, and as an interim in Jackson MS, Glastonbury CT, and Wyckoff NJ. He was born and raised in Philadelphia. He earned his BA at the University of Pennsylvania and rabbinic ordination at Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem and New York. He is married to Cheryl and is blessed with children and grandchildren. His books include Settings of Silver: an introduction to Judaism, The Jews in the Time of Jesus, and The Seventy Faces of Torah. He also wrote The Book of the Jewish Year, an elementary textbook on Jewish holidays. Rabbi Wylen enjoys Torah study, golf, bicycling, the Jersey shore, Israel, and family time.