Diane Bederman | Dec 8, 2025
We are coming up to Christmas. The celebration of the birth of Jesus. A holiday that brings joy to everyone. How can it not? So much happiness; Santa laughing, presents shared, families together. Christian or not, this time of year is lovely.
I, along with my fellow Jewish classmates, “celebrated” Christmas back in the 1950’s. It was lovely. We put decorations on the tree, we shared gifts, we sang songs. We all knew we were not Christian; that we were Jews and celebrated Chanukah around the same time. But Christmas time was always a fun time – not religious for us. But we all understood the importance to our Christian friends.
Much is written about the Jews killing Jesus. For millennia, all Jews were accused of his killing and later, many were murdered for “killing” him. It wasn’t until after the Holocaust that the Pope declared an end to the accusation that Jews killed Christ. The Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI finally discredited the notion of Jewish deicide in 1965 in its “Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions” (Nostra aetate), published by the Second Vatican Council. In no uncertain terms, the Declaration states that the crucifixion of Jesus “cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. That accusation had led to prosecutions, persecutions, pogroms, Inquisitions and expulsions, and, of course, the Holocaust.
Did the Jews kill Jesus?
Jesus, Yeshua, that is his name as he was Jewish, walked the Galilee, Judea and Samaria, the northern and eastern portion of Israel, teaching and preaching as many had done before. He clearly stated that he would change not one jot nor tittle of the Jewish teachings.
Matthew 5-17/18
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Jesus was upset about some Jewish rituals that he felt went against the teachings of the Jews. He went to the Temple Mount(today a mosque sits on top of the Temple Mount) and flipped the tables where Jews had purchased sacrifices. Seems the business of buying and selling had obscured the reason for the sacrifice. Jesus turned over tables in the Jerusalem Temple to protest the commercialization and corruption of God’s house, which had become a “den of thieves” exploiting worshippers through inflated prices for sacrificial animals and unfair currency exchange rates, desecrating the space meant for prayer for all nations. Buying the sacrifice became more important than the act of forgiveness it was meant to aid. Jesus had good reason to be upset.
So, Jesus upset a few Jewish people.
In the meantime, the Romans were getting upset with the Jews. The Jews refused to bend the knee to false gods. Rome’s conquest of Israel occurred in stages, beginning in 63 BCE when Pompey the Great conquered Jerusalem and ended Jewish independence under the Hasmonean dynasty(141 BCE to 37 BCE). The Jewish elders knew they had to keep things quiet – for millennia Jews have been “ducking and hiding” or “appeasing” their tormenters in order to survive. Anyway, seems word got out that Jesus was causing trouble. Troublemakers were routinely targeted by Romans because of their potential to influence large numbers of people and possibly incite insurrections.
The crucifixion of Jesus was not unique. Roman crucifixion was frequently used against rebels and during times of war or large-scale suppression.
In 76 BCE Alexander Janneus crucified 800 Jewish men in one day. “During the the suppression of the Spartacus revolt in 71 BCE, Rome lined the famous Appian Road stretching from Capua to Rome with 6,000 crucified rebels. During the siege of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 CE, 500 Jews were crucified each day for several months. In 4 BCE, Quintilius Varus crucified 2,000 Jews in Jerusalem during the reign of Herod the Great.
“In times of war, crosses were haphazardly constructed, and the victims were nailed to them in every imaginable position. In peace time, in occupied cities such as Jerusalem, crucifixion was carried out with sadistic formality. The whole procedure was supervised by an official known as the Carnifix Serarum. Once the victim was condemned to be crucified, he was led from the Praetorium to an outside court where he was stripped, bound to a column, and savagely scourged with a flagellum, a short whip consisting of several single or braided leather thongs of varied lengths. The ends of these thongs contained sharp bits of sheep bone that tore into the flesh…At a stone quarry outside the city, the offender’s wrists were nailed to the crossbeam. Then he was hoisted up to the top of a stake called the stipe, where his feet were nailed against the upright beam. There he would hang for a few hours or even days until death came. Jewish sensitivities in Judea required that the body not be allowed to remain on the cross overnight; therefore, the offender’s legs were often broken to hasten death, permitting burial to take place before nightfall.”
The Trial of Jesus took place around Passover. He was on trial with others, including Barabbas, a rather nasty man. During the Passover feast, it was customary for Pontius Pilot to free one man. The time came for the people to decide and they chose to kill Jesus and free Barabbas.
So let’s think about this. Some Jews in leadership were fearful of reprisals from the Romans – a fear well-earned, considering the number of Jews the Romans had crucified. They feared the teachings of Jesus would lead to an insurrection, cause another uprising, and consequently bring a bloodbath.
But, what if the Jews had protected Jesus? And perhaps there had been reprisals – again? More Jews crucified. If Jesus had not been taken by the Romans, had he not died on the cross; been crucified…would there be Christianity? Jesus had to die in order to be resurrected. This was all needed for people to believe that Jesus was the son of God.
If Jesus had been protected by the Jews of the time…then what? Would there be Christianity?
Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
Diane Weber Bederman
Here’s a contemporay account of what happened:
Matthew 27:
[27] Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
[28] And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
[29] And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
[30] And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
[31] And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
[32] And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
[33] And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
[34] They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
[35] And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
[36] And sitting down they watched him there;
[37] And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
[38] Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
[39] And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
[40] And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
[41] Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
[42] He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
[43] He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
Go figure. What was the cause of death? Was a weapon involved? Who had the motive, and who had the opportunity? Go to it, Sherlock.