An Open Invitation to Dr. Michael Brown
It has come to my attention that Dr. Michael Brown has posted a public challenge to Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi to engage him in a public debate. In the context of this challenge Dr. Brown tells his audience that he has nothing to hide and that he is willing to the debate Rabbi Mizrachi in any venue.
The Jewish community has nothing to hide. Dr. Brown took the time and the effort to spell out his position in a comprehensive 5 volume series entitled “Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus.” In response, the Jewish community took the time and the effort to write and to publicize a comprehensive rebuttal to this series. As far as the Jewish community is concerned, all the cards are now on the table.
If you are seeking the real Jewish objections to Christianity, you shouldn’t expect to find them in a missionary publication. In 2007 I wrote “Contra Brown” as a response to the central arguments of Dr. Brown’s first 4 volumes. In 2010 I wrote “The Elephant and the Suit” in which I present a general refutation to his 5 volume series. In these articles I point out that Dr. Brown did not address some of the core Jewish objections, I point out that some of his central arguments contradict each other and I demonstrate that he has seriously misrepresented the Jewish position on the core issues.
This was followed by Supplement to Contra Brown in which I go through his 5 volume series page by page and I respond to every argument that he raises against the Jewish position. You can find these articles on my blog “1000 Verses.” Simply google the number “1000” followed by the word “verses” and you will find my blog ( https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/ )
Since then, I have written several responses to issues that Dr. Brown has raised on his radio shows. These can be found on my blog under the title “Response to the Line of Fire.” When Dr. Brown came out with a new book, “The Real Kosher Jesus,” I responded with “Kosher Reality.”
I am satisfied to say that the Jewish community has fulfilled its duty toward the truth seeker. We have nothing to hide and we have laid all of our cards out for anyone to study and to come to their own conclusions. Many people have availed themselves of the information that we have publicized, both Jews and Gentiles, they have studied the issues, and they have turned their hearts to the God of Israel.
To date, Dr. Brown has failed to respond to any of my writings. If Dr. Brown feels that he has laid all of his cards on the table, then I am more than satisfied to let things stand where they are. If Dr. Brown feels that he has responses for the arguments that I have raised in my writings I invite him to publicize those responses in whichever format he sees fit. He could use his radio show, he could write, he could make a video presentation; it’s up to him. And if he brings a new argument to the table it will be our duty to provide a response in a format that is available to the seeker of truth.
If you have questions or if you are confused I encourage you NOT to take me on my word. It’s not about me and it’s not about Dr. Brown. It is about you, you will have to live with your decision, it’s between you and God. I encourage you to study what I have written and evaluate the opposing arguments using your own sensitivity to truth.
All the cards are on the table. Study them, and may the God of truth be with you every step of the way.
CONTRA BROWN: Answering Dr. Brown’s Objections to Judaism
https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/contra-brown/
THE ELEPHANT AND THE SUIT: A Critical Review of Dr. Michael L. Brown’s “Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus” – 5 Volumes
https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/the-elephant-and-the-suit/
SUPPLEMENT TO CONTRA BROWN: A Critical Review of “Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus”
https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/supplement-to-contra-brown/
Response to Dr. Brown LINE OF FIRE Radio Broadcasts:
https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/category/response-to-dr-brown-line-of-fire/
KOSHER REALITY: A Jewish Response to “The Real Kosher Jesus” by Dr. Michael L Brown
1000 Verses - a project of Judaism Resources 
His response:
“Yes, my friend Yisroel! As always, I’m open to having a live, public debate with Rabbi Blumenthal, but he prefers a written debate, which I do not have the time to engage in, since those can drag on for years. Thanks!”
Raphael This is not an invitation to “debate” it is an invitation to lay his cards on the table – if he has no more cards to put on the table then I am happy to let things stand
1000 Verses – a project of Judaism Resources wrote: >
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Luke 24:45 says that Jesus “opened their eyes to understand the scriptures.” The Jewish community is consistent in stating that if Jesus had to explain to his own students how he fit scriptural predictions, (it is clear from the gospel that his role was not self evident to the disciples,) on what grounds could any person (who did not personally know Jesus) presume him to be the messiah without having to be taught by Jesus? On what grounds could you require belief in Jesus’ messiahship when that claim hasn’t been demonstrated to be true in an unambiguous way?
Following.
nowadays it is no longer god who is being worshipped , but in christianity god is viewed as “council of god”
“team in god”
” group in god”
god has within it object and subject tasks.
god can no longer be seen as 1 god whom besides there is no other. he has other he’s besides him and each he is suppose to be equal to the other he. god is no longer god or 1 god but simply team/company.
Hello Rabbi Blumenthal,
Personally I think you should bite the bullet and debate Dr. Brown. Otherwise some idiot like Rabbi Boteach will debate him and embarrass your religion. You could do 5x the job he does. Writing these refutations is extensive and with all of the stuff Dr. Brown is doing, he probably doesn’t have time for that.
Btw, it would have to be a specific topic. One that I would like to hear is “Does the Hebrew Bible teach that there is an Oral Law”.
Ugh, Boteach is so embarrassing.
Allan Interesting that you would want that as the subject of the debate – in fact in my first conversation with Dr. Brown he asked me that question (does the Hebrew Bible teach that there is an Oral Law) I answered him – since then I put my answer to him in the form of a challenge – here is how I describe it in Supplement to Contra Brown – Response to Volume 5
I presented the following challenge to Brown in August of 2001. (At that point in time, his projection for this series was that it would only contain three volumes, and it was the third volume that would include his arguments against the traditions, hence the reference to the third volume as opposed to the fifth.)
/I will present you with a challenge. You are presently preparing the third volume of your book for publication. I did not see it, but I can tell you what it does not contain. I will list three objections to the Christian belief system which you were not planning to mention. Two of these objections lie at the heart of the Jewish resistance to any belief system aside from their own. Here they are./
/1) The medium through which we learned that scripture is authentic is the testimony of our parents. These same people testified to us that there is a body of unwritten Mosaic law which is crucial in understanding how God wants us to live. If they lied about these unwritten traditions then why should we believe their testimony about scripture. (The Ibn Ezra articulates this argument in several places)/
/2) The one item which the Torah itself is most explicit and clear that we are to follow the testimony of our fathers, is the issue of “who are we to worship”. Scripture tells the witnesses of Sinai, “you should make it known to your children and children’s children”. It is obvious that God considered this a valid medium of transmitting information, that is the chain of parent to child. Once God explicitly designated a medium of transmitting information, we can be sure that He will ensure its preservation. Until today jews testify that God revealed Himself at Sinai as an absolute unity. All those who deviated from this tradition never claimed that with their worship they follow a tradition which goes back to Sinai. (This is the main point of the Jewish insistence on clinging to their belief system)/
/3) An honest reading of the NT will reveal that Jesus and his followers believed in, and observed the unwritten traditions which the Jews accepted as God‑given. (I hope to substantiate this at length later in this letter) /
At the time, Brown responded by accepting the challenge and assuring me that he will address these arguments in his upcoming volume. But he did not. He devotes one paragraph, in an end-note (#131) to the first objection (- see our response below in point #16). He touches upon one limited aspect of the third of the three Jewish objections in the main body of the book (6.15 – see our response in point #69), but he completely ignored the second objection.
1000 Verses – a project of Judaism Resources wrote: >
The ONLY reason people like Brown even suggest such debates is to create a sense of “legitimacy” in their own minds. The more scholarly the person is the more legitimacy it gives to himself. He isn’t worth the time nor effort. If Brown wants to have a REAL debate then he should do the Entire debate in Hebrew. Then we will see.
Excellent suggestion! And you’ve hit the nail right on the head! The purpose of these “debates” from the christian point of view is not truth, but rather a chance to show the world how legitimate their faith is in light of what they deem “Pharisaic” or “Rabbinic” Judaism; ignoring the blatant truth that any of the truth as it relates to Torah and G-d is plagiarized from Judaism itself.
The rules and conditions of public debate may certainly have changed since the Middle Ages when Jews were actually forced into these kangaroo debates, but the raison detre behind them, at least for christians, has not changed since then.
And in agreeing with you, the entire lecture should be done in Hebrew. If such christian missionaries and described “scholars” want to tout their erudition with respect to both the Hebrew Scriptures and what they claim is their understanding of the Oral Torah, then by all means, they should demonstrate that “erudition” by conducting the debate in the languages (Hebrew with respect to their understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures and Aramaic in terms of the Oral Torah) of the subject matter. This would in one fell swoop validate both their proficiency and their erudition (or at the very least resolve the matter decidedly once and for all for everyone concerned!)
That is one subject that I really tire of, i.e., Torah She’be’al Peh. Just because no other culture maintained their original teachings it is automatically assumed Jews didn’t either. They really cannot grasp Torah Moshe mi’Sinai.
They also read “their” bibles and “assume” they understand Korbanos. I have a book published in South Africa, Avodas HaKorbonos which gives all the Korbanot in tables, with their requirements and manner of service. If they were to understand All this they should realize how utterly simplistic their thinking IS when it comes to Da’as Torah and how little they truly know.
I read his 4/5 painful and really boring books about answering Jewish objections to Jesus. (Fine I stopped at no 2 and keep at reading quickly the rest!) It’s just full of very weak arguments and he only repeats the same lies. I wonder how I did buy to his lies before?
I wonder why every time I post on a wordpress site I start getting malware spam. Fortunately I am quite computer literate and know how to deal with it.
“DR” Brown avoids actual debate. Several years ago, Messiahtruth moderators had also invited “Dr” Brown to a debate on their forum; with clear guidelines as to how the debate was to progress and that each side was to be given time to respond and to present their evidence. Guess who decided to be a “no show” and genuflected with several reasons why he could not debate in such a forum?
Rabbi Tovia Singer of Outreach Judaism has debated “Dr.” Brown on several occasions.
As for Rabbi Boteach.. I think the only word that could properly sum up his apologetics and antics without digressing into vitriol would be “OY!”.
Actually I don’t care for Rav Singer’s debate style, either. Lots of jokes and stories. Not enough meat and potatoes. He can be hard to follow with his sloppy speech and poorly organized talking points. He is much better in print.
He may take a lot of detour. What I realize is that he wants Christians to see him genuine. You can tell them a bunch of reason why their interpretation is wrong, but if the Greek Testament say so, they will not listen. I guess he is playing his card with honesty and changing the way most non-Jews think about the Rabbi (trying to deceive and hide Jesus)
But for me also, I’d rather having meat than a long 40 minute story about Rav Singer’s life…
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