Hastings & Bexhill Council of Christians and Jews

At this time when dialogue seems to be the in-thing, this was a stimulating occassion. The Christians had plenty of questions and went away to think over their heritage and hopefully be thankful.

The Jewish element probably felt justified in their outlook - why not, they had a Rabbi speaking to them! Many points were put to Rabbi Danny both publicly and privately.

Questions raised included atonement, messiahship, who was responsible for Jesus’s death? what did Isaiah mean in his passage about the suffering servant? what about the Holy Spirit? the relevance of Paul’s letters to the life of Jesus, and more.

Rabbi Danny stated his belief that Jesus definitely existed - he was both man and Jew - and had an open mind as to whether Jesus was a prophet. He was not sure if Jesus was a Pharisee.

The rabbi regarded the virgin birth and the resurrection as mythological, did not believe in faith healing and said that messiahship was post-biblical.

But he stressed that we need to put things right with our neighbour when we have offended him or her, and we also need to celebrate our differences as well as trying to understand one another.