Jews3: Talmud a lie, Schem Hamphoras powerless

      This continues from Part 2 (Table of Contents in Part 1) in a series presenting an exchange between Old Missouri Synod's missionary Daniel Landsmann and a learned Jewish Rabbi. — The Rabbi was notably peaceful during this debate, even calming down his own zealous Jewish people.  This afforded Landsmann more time to continue with his remarkable defense of the Christian faith. He shows the Jews by their own Jewish writings that the Talmud's "fairy tale"  of Schem Hamphoras could not be possible. From Der Lutheraner, vol. 42 (May 1, 1886), pages 65-67 [EN]:

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From our mission to the Jews.

[by Daniel Landsmann] (cont'd from Part 2)

1) Where did that name [Schem Hamphoras] stand?

All answered: “In the Ḳodesh ha-Ḳodashim [kodzhekodshim], that is, in the Holy of Holies!” 

I [Landsmann]: “Very good! Now I ask you: How could JEsus, who was not descended from Levi or Aaron, enter into the Holy of Holies and steal that wonderful name, to go out for God by His miracles, and go out from there still alive? I ask you: ‘If the high priest himself should have dared to enter into the Holy of Holies on any other day than the Day of Atonement, what would have been his end?’” 

All answered: “He would have been, like a Nadab and Abihu, Lev. 10:12, certainly put to death!” 

I: “Certainly, you are right! The high priest could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year at a certain time. For this he had to bathe himself beforehand, put on the special garments and enter with incense and sacrificial blood. Otherwise, as you said, like a Nadab and Abihu, he would certainly have fallen down dead. — How is it, then, that Jesus, who was not descended from Aaron at all, entered the Most Holy Place and yet did not die? God should have killed him right away because He desecrated the Holy of Holies. But if God did not do it, then Jesus must truly be greater than Aaron and the temple with all their sacrifices. Therefore He did all the miracles by His own power. [i. e. not by Schem Hamphoras]”

Jerusalem saved (top)
Jerusalem destroyed (bottom)

2) “If there really was such a name [Schem Hamphoras] that could be used to perform miracles, why didn't the chief priests and scribes at that time [of Jerusalem’s destruction] do something similar to what happened under King Hezekiah (Isa. 37:36) [Assyrian army struck dead.], namely that the whole Roman army was destroyed in an instant and Jerusalem, the Temple and the people were liberated? And truly, that would have been a small thing compared to the great miracles that Jesus is said to have done through that name. For, as your Talmud itself tells us, Jesus raised up a man who had been dead twenty-five years by a word. But if the Jews did not deliver themselves by that name [of Schem Hamphoras], they could not, because such a name did not exist; the whole story is a fairy tale. But if Jesus did such great miracles, He did them absolutely by His own power. And verily He could do it, for He was God Himself, or, as it is said in Isa. 63:9, the maleach panaw, the angel of God’s countenance, or, as the Apostle says, the reflection of the glory of God, and the image of His being.”

The Jews jumped up hastily and their faces were terrible. [As they were with Jesus and Stephen, now also with Luther.] I was frightened and wanted to leave; it had become scary for me. The Rabbi alone held me and calmed me down. — My few friends, as well as two Jewish teachers unknown to me, surrounded me and protected me from maltreatment. The [pg 67] Rabbi — I must give the testimony — calmed them, and they all sat down, snorting with anger. —

I did not speak a word. — The Rabbi said in a serious tone: “We must be ashamed of ourselves before Mr. L. We are a hot-tempered and impatient people, just like the Greeks and French, and that has always been our misfortune! To be zealous is good, and we ought to be zealous for God, but with understanding. But the way you are zealous now, it is not pretty.” 

Some zealots stood up and answered: “Rabbi, it burns! It hurts us very much! For if there was no Schem Hamphoras, we Jews are buried, and the Meshumad (apostate) is right. But by no means do we wish to become Christians, even if our heads should be cut off.” 

My compatriots and the two Jewish teachers said: “Mr. L. does not force us to become Christians. But it is certain that there was no such name. The Talmud made us believe something here.” That was a particularly hard blow for the others. A silence fell. 

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Landsmann's defense against the Talmud's "Schem Hamphoras" echoes what Luther wrote about it. Of course trapping the Jews in their own writings would not convert them by itself.  He must present the Gospel in its full glory, for them.  We will see just that in the next Part 4.