What did Jewish people believe about Jesus?

Answer 1

Firstly, Christians today would say that Jesus is stillalive. After his crucifixion Christians believe that he was resurrected into a new glorified existence, and is still alive today. Despite many trying to disprove this, there is overwhelming evidence that this actually happened. That said, let's return to the question:

There is no doubt that Jesus was, on the whole, adored. There were some towns, most notably his home town of Nazareth, where Jesus was not accepted ("he's only the carpenter's son!" - they exclaimed.), but in the rest of Galilee and in Jerusalem he had a huge following. Often this is a common trait - if a local guy makes good, he or she is often not accepted in the area in which they grew up... elderly ladies will still remember him or her in nappies/diapers and so any credibility is difficult!

The gospels tell us that on many occasions thousands would flock to listen to him and be healed. And let's not forget, the population was much smaller in those days and so a few thousand would be a very large percentage. AND they would have had to walk miles in the heat and dust to get to him (no buses or cars in those days!). The most famous of these occasions one of the two incidents as recorded in Mark's gospel where Jesus fed a large crowd - on one of the occasions numbering 5000 men (+ women and children). On other occasions, Jesus would have to preach from a boat on the Sea of Galilee so that enough people could see him from the shoreline. Other occasions Jesus is recorded having to press through the crowds who had come to see him. One such incident was when a lady who had had, for many years a 'discharge of blood', came to him in the crowds and touched the hem of his garment hoping to be healed. esus asked who touched him... but the disciples laughed saying that "all the crowds are touching you!". Jesus knew the reason for her touching and so she became healed.

In Jerusalem too, the people adored him on the whole welcoming him into the city with cries of Hosanna! ("Save us") and "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord".

However, within a week the people's attitude was turned. The Jewish authorities, who enjoyed power and wealth at the expense of the people regarded Jesus as a threat and they plotted to be rid of him. By arranging a group of their own henchmen in the temple who would condemn him, they put him trial on jumped up charges and arranged his execution.

However, the resurrection and appearances of Jesus - at one time to a crowd of over 500, ensured that the love they had for him was rekindled, and so the church spread throughout the area and across the Roman Empire and beyond.

And Jesus is still adored by Christians all over the world, even today, 2000 years later.

Answer 2

Let's say "the crowds that called for Jesus crucifixion," of which, yes, many were probably Jews.

What they thought was they were killing a blasphemer. In the Bible you are supposed to show deference to God and worship no other Gods. When Jesus said he was God incarnate (Matt 26: 63-64) there were two options. A) Bow down and worship or B) Kill the man who is claiming to be God. Because Jesus was doing things differently then the church leaders of his day they didn't want to conform to his teaching. Despite all the miracles that Jesus did, the leadership wanted to have him killed as a false teacher. The crowds probably just went along with what the church leaders said. Here is another answer: First and formost the Jews did not kill Jesus of Nazareth! Jesus, no matter what claims of divinity, was a stirrer of souls. When that occurs people's emotions can get whipped up into a frenzy. Uprisings can feed off emotions. Also, attempts to overthrow government is a possibility. Jesus, if anything was tried and executed for sedition. Jerusalem at this time was very unstable. Several minor attempts had been made to uprise against Rome, but nothing came of them. The reason was strict Roman control. Pontius Pilate ( pon-te-us puh-la-tay ) was a Roman Governor of Jerusalem during this time. Make no mistake, Pilate was no patsy of the Jewish priests as described in the Gospels. Pilate would have ruled Jerusalem with an iron fist. If he felt Jesus was a threat to the peace and quite of day to day activities, Pilate would not hesitate to kill Jesus or anyone else to make an example. In reality, the Sanhedrin were opposed to crucifixion due to its cruel, prolonged and agonizing slow death. No group of Jewish people would have endorsed such a heinous method of torture and death to another Jew.

Answer 3

The people of Jerusalem and the people of Galilee should have been eyewitnesses to the wonders performed by Jesus and should have come to know of his resurrection, so their reaction should be critically important to history.

The gospel stories and Acts of the Apostles are one possible source of information regarding what the people of Jerusalem thought about Jesus. However, they were written long after the events they portray and could have been coloured by exaggeration, intentional or otherwise.

The best way to know what the people thought about Jesus is to look at what they wrote at the time and how many converted to Christianity. In spite of the many strange wonders that occurred during the lifetime of Jesus and on the day of his crucifixion, no one wrote record of these events, either in a letter to friends, to the Roman authorities or otherwise. Philo of Alexandria was a contemporary who wrote of every Jewish sect and every religious event or belief that came to his notice, but he nver mentioned Jesus. At the time of the First Roman-Jewish War, the number of Christians in Jerusalem was so small that they did not even figure in accounts of the civil war or the war against the Romans. The people of Jerusalem either knew nothing about Jesus, or considered him of little interest or importance.

Answer 4

• Christian answer:

They wanted a political messiah, one who would end Roman oppression and restore Israel to a glory resembling in a materialistic way that of the days of Solomon. How, then, could they accept this humble son of a carpenter, this Nazarene who showed no interest in politics or riches? How, especially, could he be Messiah after he suffered and died.

• Jewish answer:

According to our tradition, the vast majority of the Jews at the time didn't hear of him. The Torah-sages were active at that time and their yeshivot (Torah-academies) were flourishing. Their tens of thousands of disciples and hundreds of thousands of sympathizers were active in the Jewish world in that generation; they were the leaders and the forefront of Judaism. The great majority of Jews loved their sages and their Torah.

The unlearned class of the Amei-haaretz (ignoramuses) was a small fringe of society, but even they would and did lay down their lives in order not to change anything of the Torah. As one ancient historian (Hecateus) famously wrote:
"They [Jews] may...have torments inflicted upon them, and be brought to the most terrible kinds of death, but they meet these tortures after an extraordinary manner, beyond all other people, and will not renounce the religion of their forefathers."

No one (even any of them who did hear of Jesus) - would have given any consideration to what was and is considered unacceptable for us. The few who came in contact with Jesus soon lost interest, and the early Christians felt the need to turn to non-Jewish centers of population in order to gain adherents, while the Jews remained Jews. In Judaism, Jesus was a regular human being who lived in olden times, and is not part of Jewish religious belief.

Answer 5

That he was not really the son of God, just a prophet.

Answer:According to traditional Judaism, Jesus is viewed as a regular human being. Not a prophet either; because according to Judaism, prophecy ended three centuries before his time.

Answer 6

Judaism says very little about Jesus. According to our tradition, the vast majority of the Jews at the time didn't hear of him. The Torah-sages (Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel, Chanina ben Dosa, Bava ben Buta, Shimon ben Hillel, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Akiva, and hundreds of others) were active at that time and their yeshivot (Torah-academies) were flourishing. Their tens of thousands of disciples and hundreds of thousands of sympathizers were active in the Jewish world in that generation; they were the leaders and the forefront of Judaism. As Josephus (Antiquities book 18) writes, "the cities give great attestations to them." The great majority of Jews loved their sages and their Torah.
The unlearned class of the Amei-haaretz (ignoramuses) was a small fringe of society, but even they would and did lay down their lives in order not to violate anything of the Torah. As one ancient historian famously wrote:
Hecateus declares again, "what regard we (Jews) have for our laws; and we resolve to endure anything rather than transgress them." And he adds: "They [Jews] may be stripped on this account, and have torments inflicted upon them, and be brought to the most terrible kinds of death, but they meet these tortures after an extraordinary manner, beyond all other people, and will not renounce the religion of their forefathers."
No one (even any who did hear of Jesus) - would have given heed to what was and is considered unacceptable for us. The few who came in contact with him soon lost interest, and the early Christians felt the need to turn to non-Jewish centers of population in order to gain adherents, while the Jews remained Jews.
Rather, you might prefer to ask "What does Judaism not say" about Jesus. And the answer is that we do not believe that he is or was anything other than a regular human being. We may also note that according to our tradition, prophecy ceased about 340 years before the birth of Jesus; and public miracles stopped even earlier.
Here is a related topic:
The word "messiah" is the transliterated form of the Hebrew "moshiach." The word moshiach translates to "anointed." The title of moshiach was given to any person who was appropriately anointed with oil as part of their initiation to their service of God. We have had many meshichim (plural) in the form of kings and priests. There is absolutely nothing supernatural about a moshiach.
This being said, there is a prophecy of a future moshiach; however, this is a relatively minor topic in Judaism and the Tanach.
The Jewish requirements of the messiah are:
* Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28)
* Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6)
* Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:4)
* Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world. On that day, God will be One and His Name will be One." (Zechariah 14:9)
* The messiah must be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1)
* The messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah-observance. The Torah states that all of its mitzvot (commands) remain binding forever.

Answer 7

According to our tradition, the vast majority of the Jews at the time didn't hear of him. The Torah-sages (Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel, Chanina ben Dosa, Bava ben Buta, Shimon ben Hillel, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Akiva, and hundreds of others) were active at that time and their yeshivot (Torah-academies) were flourishing. Their tens of thousands of disciples and hundreds of thousands of sympathizers were active in the Jewish world in that generation; they were the leaders and the forefront of Judaism. As Josephus (Antiquities book 18) writes, "the cities give great attestations to them." The great majority of Jews loved their sages and their Torah.
The unlearned class of the Amei-haaretz (ignoramuses) was a small fringe of society, but even they would and did lay down their lives in order not to violate anything of the Torah. As one ancient historian famously wrote:
Hecateus declares again, "what regard we [Jews] have for our laws; and we resolve to endure anything rather than transgress them." And he adds: "They [Jews] may be stripped on this account, and have torments inflicted upon them, and be brought to the most terrible kinds of death, but they meet these tortures after an extraordinary manner, beyond all other people, and will not renounce the religion of their forefathers."

No one (even any of them who did hear of Jesus) - would have given any consideration to what was and is considered unacceptable for us.

• Link: What in Christianity is unacceptable in Judaism?
  

The few who came in contact with Jesus soon lost interest, and the early Christians felt the need to turn to non-Jewish centers of population in order to gain adherents, while the Jews remained Jews.

In Judaism, Jesus was a regular human being who lived in olden times, and is not part of Jewish religious belief.

• Link: What do Jews believe about God?
  

We may also note that according to our tradition, prophecy ceased about 340 years before the birth of Jesus; and public miracles stopped even earlier.

Here is a related topic:
The word "messiah" is the transliterated form of the Hebrew "moshiach." The word moshiach means "anointed." The title of moshiach was given to any person who was appropriately anointed with oil as part of their initiation to their service of God. We have had a number of meshichim (plural) in the form of kings and priests. There need be nothing supernatural about a moshiach.
This being said, there is a prophecy of a future moshiach. However, this is a relatively minor topic in Judaism and the Tanakh.
The Jewish requirements of the messiah have not yet been fulfilled. They are:
* Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
* Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).
* Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred and oppression. "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:4).
* Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. "God will be King over all the world. On that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).
* The messiah must be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1).
* The messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah-observance. The Torah states that all of its mitzvot (commands) remain binding forever.

Answer 8

In general. The Jewish people thought of them as "unclean", would not go to one of their homes and would not intermarry with them.

Answer 9

By historical evidence, we know that Jesus was a Jewish rabbi. In Jewish tradition, he receives no special status: they believe he was a good man, and nothing more.