TALMUDIC TRADITIONS OBSERVED BY JESUS (RABBI YESHUA BAR-DAVID)

- Jesus notably had tassels on his garment (Tsitsiyot):
Matthew 9:20; 14:36; Mark 6:56; Luke 8:44. Tractate Menachot 43a discusses the importance of tassels.

- Jesus did traditional rabbinic blessings before meals: Matthew 14:19; Mark 6:41; Luke 9:16; John 6:11. Tractate Berachot 35a elucidates on blessings before and after eating.

- Divorce Laws in the New Testament: Matthew 5:31-32; 19:3-9; Mark 10:2-12. These were echoed from Gittin 90a, which covers debates on the grounds for divorce.

- Sabbath Observance by Jesus: Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5. Tractate Shabbat 128b discusses permitted activities on the Sabbath, which Rabbi Jesus notably tapped into.

- Jesus healing on the Sabbath:
Luke 13:10-17; 14:1-6; John 5:1-18. Tractate Yoma 85b permitted healing on the Sabbath in certain conditions.

- The Golden Rule:
Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31. Tractate Shabbat 31a is where Jesus adopted the golden rule from, it was a saying of Rabbi Hillel the Elder.

- Tithing in the Gospel: Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42. Tractate Ma'aser Sheni 5:8 discusses the same rules on tithing.

- Respect for Teachers/Rabbis: Matthew 23:2-3. Tractate Avot 4:12 discusses the importance of honoring Jewish teachers.

- Jesus' teaching on Purity Laws: Matthew 23:25-26; Mark 7:1-23. These are echoed from Tractate Chullin 120b - Discussions on purity and impurity.

- Prayer Structure in the New Testament: Matthew 6:9-13 (Lord's Prayer). Tractate Berachot 29b emphasizes the important of structured prayer in Jewish liturgy.

We should never forget that, as in Exodus and Isaiah, the socialist revolution in Russia is a pillar of hope of deliverance from exploitation and oppression. The Land of the Soviets is a light to the nations, a living beacon illuminating the road to the ‘promised land’ called the socialist world, a ‘torch lighting the path to liberation from the yoke of the oppressors’ for all the peoples of the world! As the star led the Magi to the Christ child, so is the socialist revolution a ‘Light from the East’.

𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧
Stalin, Works 4: 181-86

@USSRLovedChrist

The history of nations teaches us the necessity of the Union with Christ.

𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐱
Reflections of a Young Man on the Choice of a Profession (1835).

@USSRLovedChrist

The Soviet Constitution of 1936 stated in article 118: "Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to work… He who does not work, neither shall he eat" which was directly extracted from 2 Thessalonians 3:10. Article 12 also incorporated Acts 4:35 into the Bolshevik framework in which it said "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work"

Even Vladimir Lenin referenced 2 Thessalonians 3:10 ("If any would not work, neither should he eat") as a justification for socialist labor policies, laying the groundwork for its inclusion in later Soviet constitutional rhetoric. [Collected Works, Volume 25, pp. 381-492.]

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐬
Adopted December 5, 1936. -Bucknell University, Department of Russian Studies.

@USSRLovedChrist

Pure communism was the economic and social gospel preached by Jesus Christ, and every act and utterance which may properly be ascribed to him conclusively affirms it.

𝐄𝐮𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐛𝐬
American socialist leader, quoted in a 1914 speech, cited by Soviet sympathizers in later publications like The Communist (USSR-aligned journal).

@USSRLovedChrist

Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind.

𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐯
Quoted in The London Daily Telegraph, June 16, 1992.

@USSRLovedChrist

Moses ——— Marx
Abraham ——— Lenin
King David ——— Trotsky
Jesus ——— Stalin
Paul ——— Khrushchev

According to the memories of Stalin's bodyguard, Yu. Soloviev, who had been with the leader for his last ten years: "In his office there was an icon of Our Lady of Kazan, and he often prayed alone in the inner temple of the Nativity of the Virgin in the Grand Kremlin Palace." The fact is described in the book of Paul Pobedonostev.

This scientific work is a valuable source, because most of the materials of the research were published for the first time. Many of the facts were classified in the Soviet period. The event crucial for the entire Orthodox community took place in 1943: September 4, in Moscow, Joseph Stalin met with the Acting Patriarch Sergius (Stragorodsky), Leningrad Metropolitan Alexy and Exarch of Ukraine, Kiev and Galich Metropolitan Nicholas. At the meeting, Stalin promised that "the church can count on the FULL SUPPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT in all matters related to its organizational strengthening and development within the USSR."

From that day the church revival began. Religion has come to play an increasingly important role in the social and legal society. 22,000 parishes were opened, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra - the center of Russian spirituality – was revived along with the Theological Academy under it. Editions of the Moscow Patriarchate were published more often and in greater numbers. After a long break, in 1944, the Easter was first celebrated in the Soviet Union.

Source: The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library

[https://www.prlib.ru/en/news/658956]

"The history of early Christianity has notable points of resemblance with the modern working-class movement... Both Christianity and the workers’ socialism preach forthcoming salvation from bondage and misery; Christianity places this salvation in a life beyond, after death, in heaven; socialism places it in this world, in a transformation of society. Both are persecuted and baited, their adherents are despised and made the objects of exclusive laws, the former as enemies of the human race, the latter as enemies of the state, enemies of religion, the family, social order. And in spite of all persecution, nay, even spurred on by it, they forge victoriously, irresistibly ahead. Three hundred years after its appearance Christianity was the recognized state religion in the Roman World Empire, and in barely sixty years socialism has won itself a position which makes its victory absolutely certain."

— Frederick Engels, On the History of Early Christianity, 1894

Source

“The theory of Communism may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.”
– Karl Marx (in the communist manifesto)

Abolishing private property was an action deemed necessary by the apostles, first mentioned in Acts, where the followers of Christ were instructed to hand over ALL of their possessions and goods to the feet of the apostles. (Acts 2:44-47)

In Acts 4:34 it was pronounced that "Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold" so after these possessions were confiscated, they were redistributed according to each man's needs.

The metaphysical essence of Marxism is in complete harmony with biblical Christianity, which even Engels himself couldn't brush off his shoulder. Neither could Lenin, who infused the words of Saint Paul into the first Bolshevik declarations.

@USSRLovedChrist

League of the Just

The League of the Just was a Christian communist international revolutionary organization founded in 1836. In 1847 the LoJ met in London to formulate a political program. They sent a representative to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and got them to join the organization.

The two were tasked with writing the Communist Manifesto. The group quickly adopted it, and changed its name to "[The] Communist League", thus becoming the first Marxist political party.

The stated goal of the League was "the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth, based on the ideals of love of one's neighbour, equality and justice." Their motto was "All men are brothers". Wilhelm Weitling was one of the most prominent leaders in the LoJ.

He proclaimed himself as a "social Luther", denounced private property and advocated for violent revolution.
He later wrote "The Poor Sinner's Gospel", a commentary on the New Testament in which he traces communism back to early Christianity.

[Bibliography]

@USSRLovedChrist

Bibliography:

1) https://archive.ph/XkBjs
2) https://archive.ph/Nvrle
3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_League
4) https://t.iss.one/glynnfiles/171
5) https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/12030687

There's a great coincidence between Christianity's objectives and the ones we Communists seek, between the Christian teachings of humility, austerity, selflessness, and loving thy neighbour and what we might call the content of a revolutionary's life and behaviour.

𝐅𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨
Fidel and Religion (1988 Edition)

@USSRLovedChrist