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Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor on The Passion of the Christ

 


I came across a speech today that Rabbi Jeffrey made seventeen years ago (2004) when he was asked to commit on the movie “The Passion of the Christ.” It is an amazing speech that could only be delivered in true “Rabbi Leynor” style.

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Good evening!

 

Thank you for the invitation to be here this evening.  I choose to begin my statements tonight with a disclaimer.  I do not speak for the Jewish Community in any official capacity.  What you will hear are some of my own opinions and observations about Mr. Gibson's movie and some reactions in both the Jewish and non-Jewish communities.

 

I do not feel the need to point out the number of historical inaccuracies in the film, except for one, which I will address shortly.  Since I could understand the Aramaic, I had a slight advantage over the average moviegoer, especially concerning what was actually being said as opposed to what appeared on the screen.

 

At no point did I personally, as a Jew, worry about the reaction to the movie in this country.  I can understand alarm bells going off in the minds of Jewish leaders.  I am sure they feel, as I do, that the movie's release in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia will fuel anti-Jewish incidents and sentiments, which appear to be on the rise around the world.

 

What were Mr. Gibson's intentions?  I don't believe it was a conscious effort to stir up hatred of the Jews.  The evidence of the movie is predominantly that he sought to make a movie that showed the suffering of Jesus to the world, and that it was sufficiently important for him to make it, no matter the obstacles.

 

The dispute, it seems to me, is not about Christianity, but about Mel Gibson's version of one part of that story.  He chose to emphasize the things that were important to him and his B.S., -- that's Belief System, folks!

 

What I find more distressing than the movie is Hutton Gibson's psychotic ranting, his holocaust denying and his echoing the Jew hating of Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.  Mel Gibson's refusal to distance himself from his father's views, I believe, comes out in the film. 

 

In Gibson's movie, "Satan" or the "devil" appears four times.  Not one of these appearances occurs in the four Gospels, an inconsistency, which is an invention or innovation of Mel Gibson's conscious or subconscious Belief System.  This sinister figure moves among the crowd of Jews as if to define the crowd.  Satan is at home moving among his own people.  For the Jews, after millennia as the "outcasts", the rejected ones, Satan's spawn, parasites, it is not a far leap to vermin, subhuman, something to be exterminated.  Mel Gibson may deny his true beliefs and feelings, but they manifest themselves in the film. 

 

We should also remember that this movie is "Hollywood" as well.  I do not feel the piece had a lot of merit as a film.  I have seen a number of other films that I think are a better portrayal of the Life and Death of Jesus.  If one were not familiar with the Christian Bible, one would be lost in the film's flashbacks.  The four or five that were covered left me wanting more in that context.  But then again, no one gave me 25 million dollars to make a movie!

 

I move a lot in non-Jewish circles and have done so for the past 15 years in Dallas.  I have gone out to many churches and other houses of worship of other faiths.  I serve both the Plano and Dallas Police departments as a Chaplain serving all faiths.  In all of my encounters with Christians, clergy and lay people, I have not heard one anti-Jewish reference or statement.

 

In fact, this film has caused many Christians to revisit their own beliefs and re-evaluate their religious education and, in some cases, their commitment to G-d.  The media blitz and controversy surrounding the film has brought the Life and Death of Jesus into the popular American mindset.  Other books have recently done the same thing like the Da Vinci Code, which brings up a lot of questions for people about religious authority.  Many people are asking questions, and I believe that is good.

 

Let me conclude by reiterating two questions that Christians asked to one another during my visits.

 

The first question affected me deeply.  How can the scourging, humiliation, torture and crucifixion of Jesus possibly add up to all the hatred, horror, persecution, atrocities and deaths done in Jesus' name or in G-d's name?  No Hollywood movie could represent what human beings have done, and continue to do to one another in this world.

 

And finally, if Jesus is supposed to die to bring salvation from sin, why blame the Jews?

 

Thank you.

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Rabbi Leynor played an important role in helping Christians understand the Jewish Jesus and bridge gaps between Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. He is truly missed, but his words continue inspire us.

 

Thank you for reading this.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

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