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Jacob Immanuel Schochet is a rabbi, academic and scholar who has written and lectured on the history and philosophy of Hassidism and topical themes of Jewish thought and ethics. He received his early education in his native Switzerland and in Holland. After moving to North America, he attended the Central Yeshivah Tomchei Tmimim in New York from which he graduated in 1958. He received his secular education in Canada, attending the University of Toronto, University of Windsor, McMaster University, and University of Waterloo, holding the degrees of BA (Phil), MA (Religious Studies), MPhil (Phil) and PhD (Phil). His specialties in philosophy are Logic, Epistemology, Ethics, and Philosophy of Religion.

Schochet is an authority on Jewish Philosophy, Mysticism and Hassidism, the branch of Judaism to which he subscribes. He has written 30 books, mostly on the history and philosophy of Chassidism (including biographies of the Baal Shem Tov and his successor the Maggid of Mezhirech, Mystical Concepts in Chassidism, The Mystical Dimension (3 volumes), and annotated translations of the classical Chassidic texts Tanya, Tzava'at Harivash, and Likkutei Sichot), as well as The Treatment of Anthropomorphism in Targum Onkelos, and The Psychological System of Maimonides. He has also penned numerous articles in academic and popular publications dealing with philosophy, Jewish Mysticism and socio-ethical issues. He lectured at the universities of Yale, UCLA, Berkeley, McGill, Oxford, London, Cape Town, Melbourne, and has spoken for communities throughout the USA, Canada and Europe, Australia, South Africa, the Far East and Israel. He is the editor of critical editions of the principal Chassidic texts Keter Shem Tov, Tzava'at Harivash, Maggid Devarav Leyaakov and Or Torah, which are accepted as the authoritative editions.

For 30 years he was the rabbi of Kielcer Congregation in Toronto, Canada, and since 1996 he served as rabbi of Cong. Beth Joseph. He is professor-emeritus of Philosophy, and Comparative Religion, at Humber College, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and served as adjunct-professor on Jewish Bioethics at University of Toronto Medical School, and professor of Jewish Law and Philosophy, and dean of degree studies at Maimonides College, in Toronto, Canada.

Schochet is a son of Rabbi Dov Yehuda and Sarah Schochet. The elder Schochet was born in Telsiai (Telshe, Telz) Lithuania, and was an alumnus of the Telshe yeshiva and a Talmud scholar. He served as rabbi in Basel, Switzerland from 1930 until 1947, and from 1947 to 1951 he served as chief-rabbi of The Hague and the adjacent regional towns, in Holland. Shortly after emigrating to Toronto in 1951, Rabbi and Mrs. Schochet and most of their ten children joined the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Numerous reasons are cited to explain this 'conversion', the most likely being friendship by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson. There is also a supposed miracle that the Lubavitcher Rebbe performed in saving the life of the youngest daughter after she had suffered severe burns. Essentially, though, the reorientation of the family was mainly due to their direct contact with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Schochet Sr. admired the Rebbe's scholarship in various areas of Judaism. Rabbi Immanuel Schochet had a relationship with Rebbe from the time he was a young student in the Yeshivah, and thereafter the Rebbe urged and encouraged his academic pursuits and literary efforts.

Schochet is active with writing and lecturing and communal affairs in Toronto. He is a member of the executive committee of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, and on the boards of many educational and social institutions. Biographical data of his are listed in a number of "who is Who"s, such as Directory of American Scholars, Encyclopedia of Hassidism, and Who is Who in Canadian Jewry.

Controversy

Who is a Jew?

With the heated controversy on the issue of 'Who is a Jew' arose in the 1970s, Rabbi Schochet was a leading proponent for amending the Israeli Law of Return to recognize only halachic (orthodox) conversions, as opposed to conversions performed by the reform, conservative and reconstructionist movements. He published numerous articles in the general and Jewish press, in addition to speaking at many public forums, to explain that position. His book Who Is A Jew? has gone through several editions and translated into many languages.

Kabbalah Center

Schochet is an opponent of the The Kabbalah Center accusing it of distorting the teachings of the Kabbalah, that its philosophy is antithetical to traditional Judaism, and that it is guilty of cultish practices. In 1993 the Kabbalah Center opened a slander lawsuit in Canadian Court against him, but eventually withdrew it in the face of Rabbi Schochet's vigorous defense of his position.

Jews for Jesus

Schochet has outspoken opinions about, and vehement opposition to, Jews for Jesus and Christian missionaries that target Jews. Inn the 1970s and 1980s he was the pioneer in anti-cult and anti-missionaries activities, addressing communities throughout the world on this problem, and working with Jewish youths to bring them back to their Jewish roots. "For a Jew, however, any form of shituf is tantamount to idolatry in the fullest sense of the word. There is then no way that a Jew can ever accept Jesus as a deity, mediator or savior (messiah), or even as a prophet, without betraying Judaism. To call oneself, therefore, a 'Hebrew-Christian,' a 'Jew for Jesus,' or in the latest version a 'messianic Jew,' is an oxymoron. Just as one cannot be a 'Christian Buddhist,' or a 'Christian for Krishna,' one cannot be a 'Jew for Jesus.'" Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet said. There are dozens of audio- and video-tapes of his powerful polemics against these missionaries, as well as a transcript circulating in manuscript-form.

Chabad Messianism and Modern Orthodoxy

Schochet is known as opposing the messianic branch within Chabad. He has called certain ideas prevalent in some modern orthodox groups specifically those relating to Bible criticism as non-normative.

Schochet has been critical of attacks on Chabad-Lubavitch, including specific accusations levelled against its messianic group which he himself opposes. He responded sharply to a critical article by Rabbi Chaim D. Keller of the Telshe Yeshiva in Chicago that appeared in the Jewish Observer, and more so to Prof. David Berger's book The Rebbe, The Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference. In his responses Rabbi Schochet demonstrates on the one hand how many of the criticised practices of Chabad are well-founded in normative orthodoxy of Jewish tradition, and on the other hand how other criticisms are unfounded or based on crude distortions. He is especially critical of the mostly anonymous anecdotes and attributions in Berger's book, his reliance on the innuendos and unsubstantiated accusations and excoriations by individuals known for their persistent historical opposition to Hassidism in general or Chabad in particular beyond the context of contemporary controversial issues in Lubavitch, noting that material like that is dishonest and devoid of academic value and validity.

He wrote Mashiach: The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition, which has appeared in editions and translated into eight languages. Its first edition appeared before Chabad-messianism became a controversial issue, and even the later expanded and revised editions do not deal with the controversy at all.

Revolutionary Debating Method

Over the years it has not been uncommon to have had Jewish-Christian debates. Typically,the Jewish representative was challenged to answer questions attacking his belief. Schochet had a new approach. He usually began his debates with questions that suggest contradictory statements between the New Testament and the Torah. His opponents rarely had time to present their challenges, and instead were forced to defend one attack after another.

Rabbi Schochet's debates have included the following. Many of these are well known arguments that predate him:

• The virgin birth

The Hebrew word used to describe the alleged scripture is 'almah'. Shochet argues that this word simply means 'a young woman,' not a 'virgin' the Hebrew word for which would be 'betulah'.

On the other hand, Shochet added a new angle to this: (a)he would concede the possibility that 'almah' may refer to a virgin, yet this crucial Christian argument of Isaiah 7:14 could not refer to the Christian allegation. After all, it states "behold, the Lord shall give you a sign: the almah shall conceive and bear a son and you shall call his name Immanuel." He maintains the "sign" cannot refer to a "virgin pregnancy", for after all no one would or could know that she is a virgin! (b) Moreover, nowhere do we find that Jesus was ever called 'Immanuel', thus whatever the verse relates to it cannot refer to Jesus! The retort that 'Immanuel' means 'God is with us', and that this would be the message, he rejects by stating:every Jewish name has a meaning, yet nowhere in the Bible do we find that a name is to be applied where this would relate to the meaning of the name as opposed to the actual name.

Likewise, with the Isaiah 53 argument (suffering servant passage), Shochet claims that indeed many Jewish sources read this as a messianic prophecy. However: it cannot possibly refer to Jesus because (a) that passage states that the 'sufering servant' "like the lamb which is led to slaughter... he opened not his mouth;" yet the crucified Jesus protested loudly "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me!" (b) The sufferings servant is said to "see seed, live many days..." yet Jesus had no children nor did he live many days.

• Prince of peace

He would bring many accounts from the New Testament that portray a not-so-peaceful Christ, then sit back as the opponent tries to clarify the story, and then proceeding to demonstrate that in the same vain only the Jews can interpret their Torah.

More people have been killed in Jesus' name than anyone else in history

• Supposed contradictions in passages
• Quotes credited to Jesus that have source in earlier Rabbinical texts

Shochet's "trump-card" in responding to missionaries is to simply ask them why they reject Mohammad and the Quran, or Krishna or Buddha, etc., and to meet any response offered with: "Whatever you have to say about Mohammad, Buddha etc., and the Quran or Bhagavad Gitta etc., is exactly what we say about Jesus and the New Testament.

References

1. http://www.cjnews.com/pastissues/99/july29-99/feature/feature2.htm

External links

• Webpage includes a brief account of the Schochet miracle.
• Collection of articles and classes by Jacob Immanuel Schochet
• Schochet's review of Berger's book.
• Schochet's response to Keller

• Living people
• Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis
• Canadian Orthodox rabbis
• 20th-century rabbis
• 21st-century rabbis
• Jewish writers
• People from Toronto