"Concluded with a glorification of Jesus whom he described as 'the choicest Son of Abraham' and an appeal to the Jews to accept and acknowledge this 'choicest son' of their people."

The editorial designated the Doctor's utterances as "missionary blasphemies," and proceeded to ask.

"The responsible leaders of American Jewry, those of Reform Judaism no less than those of Orthodoxy, whether 'Such a travesty should be tolerated, or whether American Jewry, like one man, should arise to put a stop to the disgrace of notorious missionaries being presented on the platform of a Rabbinical seminary," who "sing the praises of his strange God in the halls that are meant to be the abode of Jewish inspiration and learning."

   The spirit of Caiaphas must have guided the pen of the editor of "The Jewish Spectator," though the sentence of death for blasphemy was not pronounced in the New York Sanctum Sanctorum as it was in the Jerusalem Sanhedrin on the occasion, when in answer to the question, "art thou the Messiah, the Son of God?" the Divine Friend replied, "Thou hast said it, I am."
   Why this crucifying spirit still exists, that shuts the door of Jewish hearts to "the choicest Son of Abraham," is a difficult question to answer, though I and thousands of others before me have speculated as to its cause. God alone knows fully the reason why the greatest of all Israel's heroes is spurned by Israel. One thing is certain, it cannot be said to have originated as a reaction to persecution of Jews by Christians, as hostility toward the Divine Friend was witnessed in His arrest, conviction and crucifixion, and the punishment and death of thousands of Christians by Jews during the centuries before Constantine safeguarded converts from the Synagogue to the Church from Jewish persecution and stoning.
   I am firmly of the conviction that the persecution affliction Jews have had to endure during the Christian ages, which at times were unchristian in spirit and method, is due primarily to the uncharitable and blasphemous attitude they have taken towards the Divine Friend, who is, without a question of doubt, "the choicest Son of Abraham." When not spurned, He has been deliberately ignored. Early Rabbinical literature, including the two Talmuds, refrain from mentioning the name of Jesus, referring to Him as "oso ha-ish...... that man"; or "ish-peloni," "the certain anonymous one." The reference made to His Blessed Mother, the sinless Virgin who is the Jewel of Jewish motherhood, in relation to the birth of her Son, is so grossly insulting, that there was ample warrant for burning Talmuds during the middle ages.
   Some of this intense hostility towards the Divine Friend still abides in Jewry, as seen in the "Jewish Spectator" editorial referred to in this letter. Writing in the "Jewish World" of London, England (Dec. 11th, 1925), regarding the unscientific spirit of Jews who resent even the name of Jesus; "not a line having been written by a representative Jew" about Him "in fifteen hundred years"; while, on the other hand, the most pious Jews wrote about Mohammed and Buddha, Dr. S. M. Melamed says:

"From time to time Jewish heretics would voice a strong protest against the attitude toward the founder of Christianity, Sanchez, the French heretic of the sixteenth century and the actual founder of French agnosticism, as well as Spinoza in the seventeenth century, had something to say about Jesus, but since these were 'outsiders' their remarks made no impression on Jews."

"Only fifteen years ago, one of the most learned Hebrew scholars of his time, the late S. I. Hurwitz, editor of a Hebrew philosophical quarterly, was nearly lynched for having published an essay in his journal in which he took a positive attitude toward the figure of Jesus. Another Hebrew writer accused him of Missionary machinations, and a public trial was held in the city of Lemberg to determine whether or not S. I. Hurwitz acted in good faith." He "was acquitted," though the trial showed "how rooted in Jewish life" is the hostility towards Jesus.

   It surprised the world in 1925 when, for the first time in nineteen centuries, there appeared in Hebrew, from the pen of an Orthodox Jew (Dr. Joseph Klausner), a reasoned, though modernistic, life of the Divine Friend, respectfully called "Jesus of Nazareth."
   A change of attitude took place during the present century, but mainly among Reform Rabbis, who claim Jesus as the Jew of Jews, but minus those teachings and practices that make Him the Hero of Heroes; that make Him the Messiah, the Divine Friend Christians devoutly love. Such Rabbis have no more right to claim Jesus de-doctrinated than modernistic Ministers (who sustain these Rabbis in their false concepts) have to claim Jesus doctrinally for their rationalistic sects. The Jesus these Rabbis and Ministers claim does not exist in the New Testament. Such Rabbis have not even the right to claim the Old Testament heroes as their own, save from an ancestral point of view, so long as they refuse to accept the Divine Friend Jesus as the Messianic Hero whom the Old Testament heroes prophesied to come, and who did come in the time, place and manner they foretold. Those Old Testament heroes belong to Christianity by right of spiritual inheritance, just as the Old Testament itself belongs with the New Testament, being but the First Volume of God's Two Volume Book.
   Great, and worthy of honor, as are the heroes of the Old Testament, all of them combined cannot equal the Divine Friend in sublimity of life, teachings, and blessings conferred upon humankind. This the heroes of the Old Testament would no doubt say themselves were they with us in the flesh, as they are in spirit. They would be in the Church and not in any present day Synagogues. They would salute this Son of David as David did himself, as "my Lord" (Ps. 109).
   Jacob would salute the Divine Friend as "the seed" in which the whole world is "blessed" (Gen. 28: I4)
   Isaiah would salute Him as "the Emmanuel, the God with us," who came from "a Virgin" (7:14); "God the Mighty - the Prince of Peace" (9:6).
   Micheas (Micah) would salute Him as the Ruler of Israel, whom he had told the world would come forth in Bethlehem (5:1-2).
   Daniel would salute Him as the anointed Saint of Saints who came in the time he foretold (9:24-27).
   Aggeus (Haggai) would salute Him as "the desired of all nations, " who made the second Temple greater than the first one, by entering therein (2:8).
   Ezechiel would salute Him as the "One Shepherd" who was sent to gather together the flock from all nations (34:23)
   Zacharias would salute Him with a shout of joy, "Behold thy King" whom I told you would triumphantly enter Jerusalem, "riding on an ass" (9:9)!
   Malachi would salute Him as the inaugurator of the new and "clean oblation" in place of the bloody oblation of Israel; in which the Gentiles would participate instead of Jews only, to be offered to God all over the world instead of in one central place. (1:11)
   David would salute Him again and again, as his descendant; both as Priest and King (Ps. 109); whose hands and feet he knew would be pierced, and bones numbered (21).
   Jonas (Jonah) would salute Him as the Resurrected whom he typified when swallowed by the big fish, and then cast out (2:2).
   Moses, last in my list, but most important, would salute the Divine Friend as the "Prophet" he told the children of Israel that "God will raise up whom thou shalt hear" (Deut. 18:15-19).
   Do, I beg of you, do learn to know Jesus, your Messiah. He is "the choicest Son of Abraham." He is your Divine Friend, as well as mine, and of every other son of Abraham. To truly know Him is to love Him. He is the King of hearts; the Consoler of the suffering; the Refresher of the heavyburdened; the Reconciler of sin-sick humanity; the Solution of all the grave problems that confront man individually, domestically, economically, civilly, socially, and internationally. He is the Way to happiness; Truth in perfection; and the Life of the soul. Cry Out, as did I, in the concluding words of one of the meditations in "Our Divine Friend" -