The Death of Jesus the Jew: Midrash in the Shadow of the Holocaust

Our 'Gospel truths' are largely sourced and redacted from the Hebrew Bible. The Death of Jesus the Jew demonstrates how the Passion Narratives have little to do with 'Gospel truth' and how these stories, with their anti-Jewish polemic, hosted the unintended seedbed for the racial anti-Semitism of the nineteenth century, which in turn led to the Holocaust. Judas didn't betray Jesus with a kiss, even if this 'event' inspired Caravaggio and many other artists; Judas didn't hang himself or take 30 pieces of silver and probably died in his bed. Women were almost certainly present at the Last Supper where no one was ordained; Jesus never met Pilate and died a faithful Jew. While this book makes no claim to originality, it hopes to make established scholarship more accessible to lay people, clergy and teachers.