Rabbi Gellman Gets It -- The Resurrection Really Matters
Albert Mohler
Friday, March 09, 2007

Rabbi Marc Gellman, senior rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Melville, New York, is a familiar figure in the media. He is telegenic and witty, and he serves as half of the "God Squad" team on national television.

In a recent column in Newsweek, Rabbi Gellman responds to the "Lost Tomb of Jesus" controversy with a very interesting analysis. In the first place, he voices his regret that an Orthodox Jewish filmmaker, Simcha Jacobovici, had made a film casting doubt upon the resurrection of Jesus.

But the main trust of the rabbi's argument was far more interesting. In his words:

If this was indeed the tomb of Jesus, then not only is the Christian Testament false but, worse, Christianity is a cruel deception, à la "The Da Vinci Code," foisted on the world by Jesus' panicky followers to help market a faith led by a dead messiah. I don't think that is how Christianity was born, and I don't think interfaith relations are improved when a Jewish filmmaker implies such a thing. the rest