Jews and Jesus - Zola Levitt

Published by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago/Moody Press: Chicago, USA, 1977.

A few months back we had a Jewish trainee teacher arrive at work. We got along well, and I was interested to learn more about her faith. During her time here, the annual Founders Book Fair happened, and among the books on offer, I found this one. I read half of it at that time, but when Elise and I went to Australia, I put it down. This week I finally picked it up and finished it.

Zola Levitt is a Jew himself, but one who has accepted Jesus as Messiah. This gives him an 'inside perspective' on Jewish culture and faith, along with an understanding of the main reasons why Jews can struggle to accept Christ. The history of Christians persecuting Jews is a big one(!), and is rightfully seen as a blot on our record. But even the fact that we call Jesus by a non-Jewish name can make things difficult. After all, Levitt points out, in Hebrew Jesus's name would actually be "Yeshua Hamashiah ("Joshua, the Messiah")" (page 123).

The author's love for his people is apparent, as well as his conviction that Jesus/Yeshua is a Jewish Messiah before he is the founder of Christianity. Levitt refuses to hold back in his witnessing, pointing out that to do so would be unloving of him. "I wouldn't dream of acting in the ecumenical spirit, which says I should treat Jews as if their faith, or lack of it, is perfectly acceptable to God. If I did this, I would condemn my people to death - not death of the body, as they fear from so many quarters, but death of the soul, the final death." (page 31). He is also almost disbelieving as to how uninterested many of his fellow Jews are in their own Scriptures, pointing out that over the years the teachings of the Rabbis about Scripture (the Talmud) has become more important that Scripture itself.

The book (written in the late 1970s) is occasionally dated in terms of current events - something that is most obvious in a chapter where Levitt starts talking about end-of-times prophecies - but is otherwise an interesting look at a faith that I have not actually had all that much exposure to in Nelson!

Completed 19 August 2025.

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