Beit Ya'acov Messianic Synagogue

WWJD? These four letters are popping up everywhere. I first noticed them on the large outside bulletin boards of many churches, then on t-shirts, and finally on necklaces and bracelets on my own kids. When I inquired what these letters stood for I was told they were short for "What Would Jesus Do?" Immediately I thought to myself "that's easy, Jesus would always be a good Jew." Sadly, not enough Christians (who should be followers of the Rabbi from Nazareth) know what that means, and sadder still, a good number of modern Jews also have little knowledge of WWJD?

We can only mention a few things here, but hopefully one of the things we consistently do at Beit Ya'acov is introduce our readers to a Jewish Jesus. I am always a little amazed at those who are not only ignorant of the Jewish Jesus, but who read the Gospels with a super-critical attitude towards the Jews, as if Jesus and His disciples were not also Jews.

WWJD? We know that as an observant Jew He was circumcised on the eighth day (brit milah), that His parents performed the redemption of the first-born son in the Temple (pidyon haben), that He became a son of the commandment around the age of 13 (bar mitsvah), that He worshiped in the Temple (Beit HaMikdash), studied in synagogue (Beit HaMidrash - Arsnv ,hc) and celebrated the feasts of Israel, that He wore tsitsit, (Num. 15:37-41) and phylacteries or tefillin, (Ex. 13:9, 16; Deut. 4:8 and 11:18), that He kept kosher and was Sabbath observant (shomer Shabbat).

WWJD? Jesus, as an observant Jew would have lived a life of kedushah (holiness). "You shall be holy, for I Hashem your G- d am holy," is taken very seriously by a believing Jew. Kedushah is acted out in two ways. On the positive side; by doing, by imitating G- d in every aspect of life, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. On the negative side; it involves a separation from anything that is unpure, offensive or sinful. Kedushah permeates every aspect of Jewish community life and every aspect of life for the individual Jew.

WWJD? He would practice gemilut chasadim (acts of loving-kindness). As G-d makes His loving-kindness available to everyone, so the obedient Jew is to imitate Him by gemilut chasadim. If there is anything that characterizes Jesus' Jewish life it is this. He is the epitome of acts of loving-kindness, as well as the attitude of ahavat chesed (the love of loving-kindness). Ahavat chesed is taken from Micah 6:8 "He has told you O Man what is good and what does Hashem require of you, but to act justly, to love loving-kindness (ahavat chesed), and to walk humbly with your G-d.

WWJD? As a believing Jew, Jesus would have had kevod habriyot (regard for human beings). Jewish thinking and tradition holds this quality in very high regard as can be seen in the Sage Ben Azzai's declaration that the foundation of religion is found in the verse "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that G-d created man, in the likeness of G-d made He him. "Because man is made in G-d's image, man is of incalculable worth, therefore if man is so precious to G-d, we too, should treat our fellow human beings with regard.

WWJD? Jesus would have been daily involved with Talmud Torah (the study of Torah). None of the things we have talked about so far just materialized in the Jewish mind, they were learned from studying the Bible. We now know from the studies of many modern scholars of the 1st century that the Israeli generation of Jesus not only studied the Bible, but had massive portions (if not all) of it committed to memory, and many of them also memorized much of the Oral Torah as taught by the great Sages of Israel up to that time. It is hard to imagine that level of dedication today, but this is one of the most essential keys: to make G-d's Word part and parcel of your mind and being. Jesus was not only a student of Torah, He was a Talmid Chakham (a scholar and teacher of Torah) being an accomplished 1st century Israeli Rabbi in the tradition of the Sages of Israel.

WWJD? A simple cursory reading of the Gospels tells us that His life was characterized by rachamanut(compassion). Rachamanut is an interesting Hebrew word. It comes from the root-word rechem - ojr which means "womb." This reveals to us that real compassion is like that of a mother for her child. It is unconditional and the true meaning of rachamanut is that unconditional compassion that is extended to others, even when they may not be aware of us. Real rachamanut is a maturing beyond the normal self-centeredness of life, even to the point of feeling another's pain as our own.

WWJD? Jesus would have practiced the first commandment with promise, kibbud av vaem (honoring father and mother). This commandment links the first half of the Ten Commandments that deal with man and G-d with the second half that deal with man and man, and many Jewish scholars teach that in honoring your parents you are also honoring G-d.

WWJD? We have only mentioned a very, very few of the ingredients as to What Would Jesus Do. Hopefully we have sampled enough to see that He lived a life full of G-d, Torah and Israel. He would have done more than just avoid sin. His every thought and action would have been in obedience to and in imitation of G-d. In short, He would be a good Jew.