Jews.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Question 01 · Identity
Belonging to the Jewish people
Jewish identity is larger than a single belief, practice, or level of observance.
What does it really mean to be Jewish?
To be Jewish is a peoplehood shaped by ancestry, covenant, history, culture, community, and faith. Jewish identity is not simply a set of religious beliefs. Jewish people do not all believe, practice, or think alike. A person may be observant, secular, traditional, skeptical, or still searching and remain part of the Jewish people.
According to the Hebrew Scriptures, God chose Israel because of His love and His covenant with Abraham, not because Israel was superior to other nations. Through the Jewish people, God gave the world the Scriptures, the prophets, and the promise of blessing.
Jewish identity is based on being a physical descendant of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. Believing in Jesus (Yeshua) does not erase a person’s Jewish ancestry or identity. Being Jewish is determined by birth, while faith is a person’s individual response to God and His Word.
Question 02 · History
Jesus within the Jewish world
His life, teachings, worship, disciples, and Messianic identity are deeply rooted in Israel.
Was Jesus Jewish?
Yes. Jesus (Yeshua) was Jewish. He was born, lived, taught, worshiped, and died as a member of the Jewish people.
He was born into a Jewish family, circumcised according to the Torah, presented at the Temple, and raised in the land of Israel. He attended synagogue on the Sabbath, celebrated the biblical feasts, quoted the Torah and the Prophets, and was addressed as Rabbi. The New Testament identifies Him as the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
His apostles and earliest followers were also Jewish, and the first community of believers in Jerusalem was Jewish. Jesus did not enter the world as a Gentile teacher disconnected from Israel’s covenant and history, but rather came to reach Israel and the Jewish people. He said that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, and He was crucified beneath the title “King of the Jews.”
To fully understand Jesus accurately, we must see Him within the first-century Jewish world and within the larger biblical story of Israel.
Question 03 · Messiah
Jewish identity and faith in Yeshua
The Messiah is not originally a Christian concept. Mashiach is a Jewish and biblical hope.
Can a Jewish person believe Jesus is the Messiah?
Yes. A Jewish person who believes that Jesus (Yeshua) is the Messiah does not cease to be Jewish. Faith in Him does not erase a person’s Jewish identity, ancestry, family history, or connection to the Jewish people.
The Messiah is not originally a Christian concept. The Hebrew word Mashiach means “Anointed One.” Jesus, His apostles, and His earliest followers were Jewish people who believed that the promises of the Hebrew Scriptures were being fulfilled in Him.
The central question, therefore, is not whether faith in Jesus makes someone less Jewish. The real question is whether Jesus is who he claimed to be and fulfills the Messianic promises revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures.
He does. Yeshua’s descent from King David, birth in Bethlehem, rejection, sacrificial death, resurrection, and promised return form the Messianic portrait revealed throughout Scripture. Receiving Israel’s Messiah is not a rejection of Jewish identity, but the fulfillment of Israel’s deepest biblical hope.
Question 04 · Prophecy
Isaiah’s righteous Servant
Rejected, suffering on behalf of others, cut off from the living, and ultimately vindicated by God.
What does Isaiah 53 say about the Messiah?
Isaiah 53 describes a righteous servant who is rejected, suffers willingly, bears the sins of others, dies, and is ultimately vindicated by God.
The passage says that this servant would possess no outward majesty that would naturally draw people to Him. He would be despised and rejected, wounded for the transgressions of others, silent before His accusers, and led like a lamb to slaughter. Although He would be cut off from the land of the living to bear the sins of many, afterward He see the fruit of His suffering.
Some Jewish interpretations have identified the suffering servant described as being Israel. However, Isaiah 53 speaks of an innocent servant who suffers on behalf of the guilty, and this finds its fullest fulfillment in Jesus (Yeshua).
It is important to note that, Isaiah 53 presents more than the suffering of an ordinary person. It reveals that an innocent servant give His life in the place of the guilty. Through His sacrifice, many are counted righteous, and the servant is ultimately vindicated and exalted by God.
Question 05 · Recognition
A question with historical, cultural, theological, and spiritual dimensions
Explore the religious world of Jesus’ Day.
Why did many Jewish people not recognize Jesus?
There was no single reason. There were both cultural and theological misunderstandings that prevented many from recognizing who Yeshua (Jesus) was. It is also important to remember that many Jewish people did recognize Jesus for who he was. The fact is that His apostles, the earliest congregation in Jerusalem, and thousands of the first believers described in the Book of Acts were Jewish.
A common expectation, among those who did not recognize Him, was that the Messiah would bring political and national deliverance from Israel’s enemies. They were not expecting the Messiah first to suffer, bear sin, and be rejected as our patriarch Joseph was before his exultation.
Some religious leaders in His day opposed Jesus because His claims challenged both their interpretation of Scripture, their established authority, and their pride.
Under Roman occupation, Jesus’ growing influence also created fears of political instability and Roman intervention.
In later centuries, the separation between Jewish communities and the increasing numbers of Gentiles who became followers of Jesus, created an additional barrier. Persecution carried out against Jewish people in the name of Jesus, along with portrayals of Him that obscured His Jewish identity, made Him appear foreign or even hostile to the Jewish people.
Additionally, the New Testament describes a spiritual mystery in which Israel would experience a partial hardening toward Yeshua, yet this did not break God’s covenant with them. It also declares that Israel will ultimately experience a glorious awakening to the reality that Jesus is the Messiah.
We repudiate any and all accusation and antisemitism against Jewish people. The fact that many did not recognize Jesus should never be used to condemn the Jewish people collectively. It must be understood historically, culturally, theologically, and spiritually. Yeshua’s rejection fulfills Messianic prophecy, and God’s covenant purposes for Israel remain firm.
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