A Jewish Orthodox scholar is proposing an Old Testament ceremony, the redemption of the firstborn, to return Jesus of Nazareth to the Jewish fold and then hold a retrial at which he could be acquitted.
The first trial, two millennia ago, resulted in Jesus’ condemnation by the high priests for blasphemy, his crucifixion by the Roman conquerors and his resurrection through which Christians worldwide believe they can receive salvation and life eternal.
The Jewish authorities, however, have been libeled ever since as “Christ-killers” and more.
One scholar, Ariel Cohen Alloro, while not “an official rabbi,” is a student of one of today’s great rabbis and a longtime student of Judaism and Christianity. He is proposing the “traditional Pidyon haBen” ceremony – the “Redeeming of the Firstborn Son” – to welcome Jesus, known to the Jews as Yeshua, “back to his Jewish family and remove all the old taboos and restrictions related to his name from the Jewish Orthodox standpoint.”
He said the next step should be to open a public retrial on behalf of Yeshua in the presence of 10 most important rabbis in Israel, “meant to fix the initial rigged trial that took place 2,000 years ago and to clarify in front of the whole world all the aspects and issues related to this delicate subject.”
Alloro is trying to generate interest in his plan on his Facing Each Other website as well as on Facebook.
He comments on his hopes in an online video:
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He was profiled this week by the Jerusalem Channel TV:
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Show host Christine Darg described Alloro as a well-respected Israeli Bible scholar who has studied the Hebrew Scriptures for more than three decades.
“Although not an ordained rabbi, Ariel Cohen Alloro is called ‘rabbi’ by many of his followers due to his years of scholarship. He has developed a Jewish Orthodox view of Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) from an insider’s perspective. Alloro insists that he is not a missionary, nor a messianic, but a scholar within the Chasidic stream of Judaism,” she reported.
She explains one of the conditions to Jesus’ return has been that the Jewish people must summon him and welcome him back.
She described how just as, in the Old Testament, Joseph was sold by his family, “so Jesus was sold by his kinsmen.”
The first step, then, Alloro suggests, is to follow Old Testament instructions for the redemption of the first-born.
Then, he hopes, a retrial would exonerate Jesus of the allegations leveled by the high priests at the time.
“Israel’s native son never should have been sold down the river, so to speak,” he explained.
Alloro’s argument is that the retrial of Jesus is necessary because the original trial before the high priest in the middle of the night was illegal.
Alloro’s website welcomes people to “the virtual tent of meeting between Judaism and Christianity.”
He explained: “After 2,000 years of ideological misunderstandings and misconceptions between Judaism and Christianity, The Facing-Each-Other initiative is undertaking an historical, major, crucial task to reach authentic reconciliation between the two main streams of faith that have both emerged from the same Torah received on Mount Sinai.”
He said the Jewish Rabbinical Institution hasn’t responded yet to his request for a retrial of Jesus.
“Currently it is in an advanced process of negotiations through one of the great rabbinical authorities now[a]days,” he said.
Alloro continued: “If you are a Christian from any denomination, a Hebraic Roots follower or a believer in Yeshua, you will find amazing resources here on the Facing-Each-Other website. Are you looking for a gateway to connect your faith with the genuine roots? You are at the right place! The Facing-Each-Other site is still at its first draft, so hopefully soon, we will turn it into a proper educational center in the near future.”
