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December 28, 2025       Share:    

Source: https://forward.com/opinion/793825/jesus-is-a-palestinian-times-square-billboard/

"Jesus Is a Palestinian," Claims a Times Square Billboard. Not Quite

(Forward) Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin - A billboard in Times Square proclaims: "Jesus is Palestinian." Many will believe it - but that statement is a mistake. Jesus was a Jew, born to Jewish parents, and lived as a Jew. He taught from the Hebrew Scriptures. He worshiped in the Jerusalem Temple. He observed Jewish festivals. He debated Jewish law with other Jews using Jewish modes of argument. In the New Testament, Luke 4:16 says, "On the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom." In John 4:9, a Samaritan woman asks Jesus: "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me." Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, refers to Jesus as a Jewish figure executed in Judea. No serious historical study of Jesus elides this basic truth: Jesus was a Jew. You might ask. "Didn't he live in Palestine?" The short answer is: Not yet. When Jesus lived, the Land of Israel was called Judea. It was under Roman rule. The name "Palestine" comes from the ancient people known as the Philistines, a perennial enemy of the Israelites. After the Romans crushed Jewish independence, they deliberately renamed the province in an effort to sever Jewish historical ties to the land, as well as to humiliate them by naming the land after their ancient foes. The writer is co-founder/co-director of Wisdom Without Walls: an online salon for Jewish ideas.

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