VICE embeds with the London branch of the Neturei Karta, an extremist group of controversial Ultra Orthodox Jews who campaign against Zionism and for the immediate dismantling of the state of Israel.
Because of their unusual views, and support of people like ex-Iranian president Ahmadinejad and groups like the Hungarian far right Jobbik party, other Jewish people often label them as extremists.
Reporter Milène Larsson goes behind the closed doors of this secretive community to understand why this Jewish group's anti-Israel sentiment has led them to join Palestinians protesting Israeli occupation and burn Israeli flags.
Certain ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) groups oppose Israel's Zionist government primarily on religious grounds, believing that Jewish sovereignty over the Holy Land must only be established by divine intervention via the Messiah, not by human political action. They view Zionism as a secular heresy and a violation of a religious oath requiring peaceful coexistence with other nations during exile.
Key reasons for opposition:
Theological Objection: Groups like [Neturei Karta] and [Satmar Hasidism] argue that building a state via political means is a sin and an attempt to "force the end" of exile before the designated time.
Rejection of Secularism: They oppose the secular nature of Israel's foundation and government, arguing it ignores divine authority and Torah law.
Military Service/Draft Protest: Many Haredi fear army service will force secularization and diminish strict Torah study, leading to protests against government attempts to draft them.
Independence: Strict sects, such as [Eda Haredit], refuse to recognize the state's legitimacy, declining to use government services, IDs, or money.
It is important to note that many other ultra-Orthodox parties, such as Agudat Israel and Degel Hatorah, work within the Israeli government to secure funding for their communities, despite not identifying with the ideological tenets of Zionism.
What really happened to Judaism after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD?
This video explores the hidden transformation that reshaped Judaism forever. As the Temple burned and the priesthood scattered, a new form of Judaism quietly emerged—centered not on sacrifices, but on study, rabbis, and the Oral Torah.
We uncover how figures like Yohanan ben Zakkai helped build what would become Rabbinic Judaism. At the same time, we explore how early Christians saw these events as the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecies and the end of the old covenant.
Discover the sharp contrasts between Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity in the post-Temple world, and how both faiths responded to the loss of the Temple.
Topics covered in this episode:
1. The fall of the Second Temple in 70 AD
2. The rise of Rabbinic Judaism and the Oral Torah
3. Jesus’ prophecy about the Temple
4. Hebrews 10 and the finality of Christ’s sacrifice
5. The diverging paths of Judaism and Christianity
Did Rabbinic Judaism preserve the faith of Moses—or reshape it?
What does the fall of the Temple reveal about God’s plan?
Debunking Rabbinical Judaism typically involves questioning the divine authority of the Oral Law (Talmud/Oral Torah), arguing it is a human-made tradition developed by the Pharisees rather than a command given to Moses at Sinai. Arguments often focus on historical, biblical, and logical contradictions between traditional rabbinic laws and the Hebrew Bible.
Here are the key arguments used to critique Rabbinical Judaism:
The "Oral Law" Myth: A central argument is that the Oral Torah—the foundational legal interpretations in the Talmud—is not divine but developed centuries after Moses by rabbis. Critics maintain that the Hebrew Bible contains no evidence of a parallel, binding oral tradition given at Sinai.
Contradiction of Scripture: Many arguments highlight instances where Talmudic law seems to supersede or contradict the direct instructions found in the Pentateuch (Written Torah), claiming rabbis often elevate their own traditions above Scripture.
The Shift from Temple to Synagogue: Historically, Rabbinic Judaism emerged after the destruction of the Second Temple, replacing the biblical, sacrifice-based system with prayer and Torah study. Critics argue this shift turned Judaism into a "different Judaism" based on obedience to rabbis rather than direct biblical instructions.
Lack of Historical Evidence for Rabbinic Succession: Research argues the assertion that there was an unbroken chain of authority from Moses to modern Orthodox Rabbis is historically unfounded.
Focus on Pharisaic Origins: The origins of Rabbinic Judaism are tied specifically to the sect of the Pharisees, who, after the fall of Jerusalem, became the dominant authority and imposed their interpretation of law, which was not universal among ancient Jews.
Theological Changes: Arguments exist that Rabbinical Judaism shifted Jewish identity from being purely an ethnic lineage to a theological and religious affiliation, introducing the concept of modern conversion.
These arguments are often presented within academic or theological debates, particularly by researchers examining the historical roots of Jewish traditions.
RECOMMEND READING
"This book provides a critical survey of Judaism, making it an excellent introduction for anyone interested in learning about the Jewish faith from a critical perspective!"
The central aim of this book is to argue that the God of Israel did not give Moses the traditions of the Orthodox Rabbis, known as the "Oral Law" or "Oral Torah." Jewish tradition claims that the Oral Law, which includes rabbinic laws and statutes, was handed to Moses alongside the Pentateuch. However, drawing from biblical scholarship, history, and archaeology, this book demonstrates that it is unreasonable to believe God gave Moses a concealed Oral Law at Mount Sinai—one that only Rabbis can interpret, thus making the people of Israel dependent on them to connect with God.
This book defines Judaism, explores its origins, and critically examines rabbinic arguments for the Oral Law. It also offers evidence to show that the Oral Law is untenable biblically, historically, and logically while revealing its true sources and intentions based on Jewish scholarly research.
Rabbinic Judaism relies entirely on the claim that God provided an additional, oral body of law. Refuting this claim undermines its foundational premise. As one Jewish professor admitted, “There is no greater threat to Rabbinic Judaism than the refutation of the Oral Law as handed down to Moses at Sinai.”
We wish to clarify three key points:
First, this book explores challenging issues but is fully supported by academic research. Drawing on studies from Israeli scholars, it presents rigorous arguments while remaining accessible to non-academic readers.
Second, we deeply respect the Jewish people (of which we are a part) and their dedication to preserving God’s Word and identity throughout the diaspora. However, we lament that traditions rooted in the Oral Law have led to a version of Judaism that diverges from the Hebrew Bible and the God of Israel.
Third, this critique is an internal discussion between Jews who believe in Yeshua (Jesus) and those who do not. It is not an attack on the Jewish people but a call for dialogue grounded in biblical and historical truth.
If you’d like to go beyond a simple survey, don’t miss my other book, The New Kings of Israel: A Theological Survey and Critique of Rabbinic Judaism. There, I take readers on a far deeper journey — a bold and comprehensive apologetic exploration that uncovers the roots and challenges of Rabbinic Judaism with clarity and conviction.
About the Authors: Dr. Eitan Bar (1984) is an uprising Jewish-Christian scholar and thinker with several advanced Bible and theology degrees living in Israel. His unique combination of Jewish background and Christian education and faith offers a fresh view of various spiritual doctrines. As a native Hebrew speaker and a Bible scholar, he combines his Jewish heritage with his Christian education and faith to offer new and timely perspectives on Christianity.
Dr. Golan Broshi was born and raised in a Kibbutz by the Galilee in Israel. He holds a Dual Bachelor's degree in Education and in Social and Anthropology; a Master's degree in Jewish Education; and a Doctorate (D.Min) degree in Middle Eastern studies.
Many assume Rabbinic Judaism faithfully continues the Hebrew Bible’s message—but is that really the case? In this video, we dive deep into early Jewish sources, Talmudic commentary, and biblical narratives to explore how rabbinic tradition have reinterpreted—and even contradicted—the plain meaning of Scripture. Whether you're a Christian trying to understand Jewish objections to Jesus, or a Jew questioning the authority of the Rabbis, this video below offers a respectful but challenging look at where Rabbinic Judaism has diverted from biblical faith.
The Jews rejected Jesus because He failed, in their eyes, to do what they expected their Messiah to do—destroy evil and all their enemies and establish an eternal kingdom with Israel as the preeminent nation in the world. The prophecies in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 describe a suffering Messiah who would be persecuted and killed, but the Jews chose to focus instead on those prophecies that discuss His glorious victories, not His crucifixion.
The commentaries in the Talmud, written before the onset of Christianity, clearly discuss the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 and puzzle over how these would be fulfilled with the glorious setting up of the kingdom of the Messiah. After the church used these prophecies to prove the claims of Christ, the Jews took the position that the prophecies did not refer to the Messiah, but to Israel or some other person.
The Jews believed that the Messiah, the prophet which Moses spoke about, would come and deliver them from Roman bondage and set up a kingdom where they would be the rulers. Two of the disciples, James and John, even asked to sit at Jesus’ right and left in His kingdom when He came into His glory. The people of Jerusalem also thought He would deliver them. They shouted praises to God for the mighty works they had seen Jesus do and called out, “Hosanna, save us,” when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (Matthew 21:9). They treated Him like a conquering king. Then, when He allowed Himself to be arrested, tried, and crucified on a cursed cross, the people stopped believing that He was the promised prophet. They rejected their Messiah (Matthew 27:22).
Note that Paul tells the church that the spiritual blindness of Israel is a “mystery” that had not previously been revealed (Romans chapters 9–11). For thousands of years, Israel had been the one nation that looked to God while the Gentile nations generally rejected the light and chose to live in spiritual darkness. Israel and her inspired prophets revealed monotheism—one God who was personally interested in mankind’s destiny of heaven or hell, the path to salvation, the written Word with the Ten Commandments. Yet Israel rejected her prophesied Messiah, and the promises of the kingdom of heaven were postponed. A veil of spiritual blindness fell upon the eyes of the Jews, who previously were the most spiritually discerning people. As Paul explained, this hardening on the part of Israel led to the blessing of the Gentiles who would believe in Jesus and accept Him as Lord and Savior.
Two thousand years after He came to the nation of Israel as their Messiah, Christ is still (for the most part) rejected by the Jews. Many Jews today (some say at least half of all living Jews) identify themselves as Jewish but prefer to remain “secular.” They identify with no particular Jewish movement and have no understanding or affiliation with any Jewish biblical roots. The concept of Messiah as expressed in the Hebrew Scriptures or Judaism’s “13 Principles of Faith” is foreign to most Jews today.
But one concept is generally held as universal: Jews must have nothing to do with Jesus! Most Jews today perceive the last 2,000 years of historical Jewish persecution to be at the hands of so-called “Christians.” From the Crusades, to the Inquisition, to the pogroms in Europe, to Hitler’s Holocaust—Jews ultimately believe that they are being held responsible for the death of Jesus Christ and are being persecuted for that reason. They, therefore, reject Him today.
The good news is that many Jews are turning to Christ today. The God of Israel has always been faithful to keep a “remnant” of believing Jews to Himself. In the United States alone, some estimates say that there are over 100,000 Jewish believers in Jesus, and the numbers are growing all the time
Rabbi Schneider preaches the Messianic fulfillment of Jesus to a crowd of Jews in Israel in video below. Many accept Jesus as their Savior for the first time.
Why did Jesus rebuke the scribes and Pharisees so harshly in Matthew 23:13–36?
Answer
In Matthew 23 Jesus pronounces “woes” on the scribes and Pharisees, the religious elite of the day. The word woe is an exclamation of grief, denunciation, or distress. This was not the first time Jesus had some harsh words for the religious leaders of His day. Why did Jesus rebuke them so harshly here? Looking at each woe gives some insight.
Before pronouncing the woes, Jesus told His listeners to respect the scribes and Pharisees due to their position of authority but not to emulate them, “for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for people to see” (Matthew 23:3–5). The scribes and Pharisees were supposed to know God and help others know Him and follow His ways. Instead, the religious leaders added to God’s Law, making it a cumbersome and onerous burden. And they did not follow God with a pure heart. Their religion was not true worship of God; rather, it was rooted in a prideful heart. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount emphasizes the true intent of the Law over the letter of the Law. The scribes and Pharisees emphasized the letter, completely missing its spirit.
The first woe is, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Matthew 23:13). Jesus cares for people. He desires for them to know Him and to enter into His kingdom (John 3:16–17; 10:10, 17; 2 Peter 3:9). After rebuking the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus lamented over rebellious Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37–39). Clearly, His heart is for people to find life in Him. It stands to reason, then, that He would have harsh words for those who prevented people from finding salvation. The teachers of the Law and Pharisees were not truly seeking after God, though they acted as if they were. Their religion was empty, and it was preventing others from following the Messiah.
In the second woe, Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees for making strenuous efforts to win converts and then leading those converts to be “twice as much” children of hell as the scribes and Pharisees were (Matthew 23:15). In other words, they were more intent on spreading their religion than on maintaining the truth.
The third woe Jesus pronounces against the scribes and Pharisees calls the religious leaders “blind guides” and “blind fools” (Matthew 23:16–17). Specifically, Jesus points out, they nit-picked about which oaths were binding and which were not, ignoring the sacred nature of all oaths and significance of the temple and God’s holiness (verses 15–22).
The fourth woe calls out the scribes and Pharisees for their practice of diligently paying the tithe while neglecting to actually care for people. While they were counting their mint leaves to make sure they gave one tenth to the temple, they “neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). Once again, they focused on the letter of the Law and obeyed it with pride, but they missed the weightier things of God. Their religion was external; their hearts were not transformed.
Jesus elaborates on their hypocrisy in the fifth woe. He tells the religious leaders they appear clean on the outside, but they have neglected the inside. They perform religious acts but do not have God-honoring hearts. It does no good, Jesus says, to clean up the outside when the inside is “full of greed and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25). The Pharisees and scribes are blind and do not recognize that, when the inside is changed, the outside, too, will be transformed.
In the sixth woe, Jesus claims the scribes and Pharisees are “like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean” (Matthew 23:27). The deadness inside of tombs is likened to the “hypocrisy and wickedness” inside the religious leaders (verse 28). Once again, they appear to obey God, but their hearts are far from Him (see Matthew 15:7–9 and Isaiah 29:13).
Jesus concludes His seven-fold rebuke by telling the religious leaders that they are just like their fathers, who persecuted the prophets of old. In building monuments to the prophets, they testify against themselves, openly admitting that it was their ancestors who killed the prophets (Matthew 23:29–31). Although they arrogantly claim that they would not have done so, they are the ones who will soon plot the murder of the Son of God Himself (Matthew 26:4).
Jesus’ words are harsh because there was so much at stake. Those who followed the Pharisees and scribes were being kept from following God. So much of the teaching in Jesus’ day was in direct contradiction of God’s Word (see Matthew 15:6). The religious leaders made a mockery out of following God. They did not truly understand God’s ways, and they led others away from God. Jesus’ desire was that people would come to know God and be reconciled with Him. In Matthew 11:28–30 Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Unlike the burdens the scribes and Pharisees laid on the people in a human effort to gain reconciliation with God, Jesus gives true rest. The religious leaders spread lies covered in a veneer of godliness (John 8:44); Jesus spoke harshly against them because He came to bring life (John 10:10).
Also, the word woe carries with it a tinge of sorrow. There is an element of imprecation, to be sure, but with it an element of compassionate sadness. The seven woes that Jesus pronounces on the religious leaders are solemn declarations of future misery. The stubbornness of the sinners to whom He speaks is bringing a judgment to be feared. The scribes and Pharisees are calling down God’s wrath upon themselves, and they are to be pitied.
Immediately after Jesus’ rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees, we see Jesus’ compassion. He asks, “How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (Matthew 23:33). Jesus then expresses His desire to gather the people of Israel to Himself for safety, if only they were willing (verse 37). God longs for His people to come to Him and find forgiveness. Jesus was not harsh to be mean. He was not having a temper tantrum. Rather, love guided His actions. Jesus spoke firmly against the deception of Satan out of a desire for people to know truth and find life in Him.
