THE BLOOD OF JESUS: Pagan or Jewish? with Rabbi Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Duration: 7:53 1235 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

Jewish tradition teaches that the death and suffering of righteous individuals serve to atone for the sins of their generation, a concept found in the Talmud and various rabbinic writings. Missionaries often cite this teaching as evidence that Judaism accepts vicarious atonement, similar to Christian theology regarding Jesus, thereby challenging the Jewish principle that every person is solely responsible for their own sins. However, the speaker clarifies that the biblical foundation of individual responsibility is actually stronger in Judaism than in missionary claims, citing verses like Ezekiel 18:20 and Psalm 49:8 which explicitly state that a son does not die for the father's sin and that one person cannot redeem another. This establishes that the core Jewish belief is that each individual stands accountable to God for their own transgressions, making the missionary argument based on a misunderstanding of the text. The speaker explains that the concept of the righteous dying for others should be understood not as a transfer of guilt or sin, but as an inspirational mechanism within a communal framework. Since Judaism views humanity as a community rather than isolated individuals, the passing of a righteous person creates a void in qualities such as kindness, justice, and morality that encourages the living to grow closer to God by emulating those virtues. When people face death, whether their own or that of others, it prompts introspection about what truly matters, shifting focus from material wealth to spiritual goodness. Therefore, the death of the righteous does not mean they are dying for someone else's sin; rather, their life and sacrifice inspire the community to become better, more godly people who actively pursue a path of repentance and closeness to God. In mystical Jewish traditions, this idea is further expanded by the belief that all humanity shares one soul, meaning that when one person elevates themselves spiritually, it positively affects others on a spiritual level. This perspective emphasizes that the impact of a righteous person's death is not an external atonement received passively, but an internal transformation where the recipient becomes part of the process of becoming better. The speaker contrasts this with Christianity, where accepting Jesus as a savior provides atonement regardless of whether the individual becomes more godly, whereas in Judaism, the "atonement" is entirely dependent on the individual's active journey toward God through inspiration and moral improvement. Ultimately, the death of the righteous in Judaism is about bringing people closer to God through personal growth, while Christianity focuses on bringing people closer to Jesus as a separate entity from their own spiritual development.

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[music] Jewish tradition teaches us that the death and the suffering of righteous people atone for the sins of this generation. This this teaching appears in the Talmud. It appears in various rabbitical writings. Missionaries point to this teaching and they say look this concept is parallel to the Christian teaching the Christian theology of the sacrificial death of Jesus the vicarious atonement of Jesus. They use this to challenge the Jewish claim that Jews use against Christianity. Everyone is responsible for their own sins. One person doesn't die for another person's sins. And this is an argument that Judaism and Jews have used against Christianity. But here the missionary points to a Jewish teaching found in the writings of the Jewish teachers, the rabbis, which seemed to contradict that principle and it allows one person to suffer for the sins of another. So how do we understand this? What how do we understand the concept of the death of the righteous atoning? So before we answer the question, just let me point out that this idea that one person doesn't die for the sins of another, one person doesn't suffer for the sins of another is not something that's simply rooted in the traditions of Judaism. It's in the Bible itself. In Ezekiel 18:20, it says the son doesn't die for the sin of the father. The father doesn't die for the sin of the son. In Psalm 49:8, it says a brother cannot redeem anyone. One person can't redeem another person. A person can't give the ransom for another person. In other words, the Bible itself teaches this concept that every person is responsible to God for their own sins, for their own transgressions. So it's not it's not something that's rooted in Jewish tradition. So then just makes the question stronger. What what is this business? What is this teaching about the death of the righteous or the suffering of the righteous atoning for sin? So on one level we understand it as follows. Judaism is is a religion of a community. We don't we don't live on islands. We're part of a community. We're part of a group. We're part of a society. And it's encouraged. We see ourselves as part of a nation before God. We interact with each other. When a righteous person passes on to the next world, at that point people appreciate the righteousness of the person. Doesn't have to be someone who's unbelievably righteous. The fact is even someone who's a little bit righteous. But when he leaves, when he leaves this world and we know he's not going to be with us anymore, at that point once we realize we'll never have this anymore, we appreciate the goodness that was present in that person's life and we're encouraged to grow from that. We're encouraged to say, you know, that was a good quality. This person was a kind person and now he's not here anymore. There's a void. There's a void in the realm of kindness. We're lacking that kindness. That this person was an honest person, a just person, a moral person, an ethical person, a holy person. When he leaves this world, that puts into our hearts, into our minds the goodness of whichever quality this person possessed. And it encourage us encourages us to come closer to God on that path of kindness, justice, morality, holiness. So in that sense, the death of the righteous encourages people to come closer to God. The same thing applies to just simply the coming face to face with death. When a person comes face to face with death, he starts asking himself questions. So hey, life is but a dream. Everyone's going to die at one point in time. What is it worth investing in? What is is it worth investing in running after material pleasures, wealth, fame? It's not going to go to the grave with me. The only things I'm gonna impact, I'm gonna leave behind in the world that the things I'm be happy to leave behind in the world is the goodness that I in the blessing that I brought to the world, the goodness, the kindness, the justice. So the death of the righteous inspires us to become closer to God. So, it's not that he's dying for my sin, but his death or his suffering inspires me to become a godlier person, a better person, a person that's closer to God. There is a teaching in other mystical Jewish works which explain it in a different way, not contradicting, but adding on to the first thought, which is that all of us are one soul. All humanity is one soul. All of the Jewish people being one family are one soul. So when one person elevates himself and raise himself to a higher level, it somehow affects on a spiritual level the other people as well. So again, take it or leave it. This is but this is what the Jewish traditions teach teach us. In other words, they're not teaching us vicarious atonement. They're teaching us how one person's righteousness and suffering adds on to his righteousness. Death is a pinnacle of righteousness. When a person accepts his death as God's will, it elevates the people around him. So it's not vicarious. It's not he's dying and I'm benefiting. It's his death impacts me. It makes me a better person in some mysterious mystical spiritual way. So it's not about it's not detached from me. It's part of the person who is receiving that atonement. as opposed to in Christianity the teaching is is that the death of Jesus atones it's not you don't have to become a godlier person you don't have to become a greater person let me just illustrate this imagine if you have a person who reads about the death of Jesus and he he's not a Christian at all he believes or imagines that Jesus was a good person debatable we're not going to get into that debate right now but that let's assume for argument sake that that's what this person for purpose of illustration that's what this person thinks thinks and he thinks it was a godly person and he's inspired to become a more godly person on the basis of reading the story of the death of Jesus. Did he receive the atonement of the death of Jesus? Any Christian will tell you no. As long as he didn't put his faith in Jesus, he didn't receive the atonement to Jesus. But if the person did put his faith in Jesus and now he worships, he gave his heart to Jesus whether became a godlier person or not, they perhaps Christians believe that that will be a result of it. But that's not the atonement. The atonement is accepting Jesus. So in short in in one line, the death of the righteous atoning in Judaism is all about bringing the person closer to God. The person who's receiving the atonement becomes a person who is closer to God. And that is the process of atonement. That's a process of cleansing and repentance. As opposed to in Christianity, the death of Jesus is not about bringing people closer to God. It's about bringing people closer to Jesus. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music]