Rabbi Joshua D. Garroway, Ph.D. Explores Relations Between Jews and Early Christians as Scholar-in-Residence at two New York Congregations
February 4, 2025
Josh Garroway teaching at Temple Sinai in Rochester, New York
Credit: Laura Chekow
“People love learning about Jewish-Christian interaction,” said Rabbi Joshua D. Garroway, Ph.D., the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judaeo-Christian Studies and Professor of Early Christianity and the Second Commonwealth at Hebrew Union College, and Interim Dean at the Jack H. Skirball Campus in Los Angeles. “There’s something exotic about it, something sexy, something a little bit dangerous.”
“How Christianity emerged, and how its relationship to Judaism has evolved, those are the questions that put wind in my sail,” Garroway said. And they’re the questions that led him to research the subject and teach others about it – not only in the classroom, but also when he goes out on the road to offer teachings to the public.
Garroway recently engaged with congregations on topics of Jewish identity and interfaith relations as a scholar-in-residence at two New York State synagogues: Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, and Temple Sinai in Rochester.
At Temple Beth-El’s Miriam & Moses Center for Pluralistic Adult Jewish Learning, Garroway held a session examining where the concept of waiting for the Messiah came from. He also offered a twist on the “who’s a Jew” debate with his teaching “What’s a Half Jew? Fuzzy Identities, Ancient & Modern,” discussing the “fuzzy boundaries around today’s Jewish identity” embodied in expressions like “Jew-ish” and “Jewish-adjacent. These qualifiers, Garroway said, “are hardly a new phenomenon,” pointing out the way “ancient Jews dealt with nearly the same issues and concerns” as part of his discussion on “why Jewish identity has been so uniquely complicated for more than two millennia.”
During his residence in Great Neck, Garroway also drew on his research on Christian-Jewish relations in a teaching “The Apostle Paul: A First-Century Reform Jew?”
“His disparagement of the Torah and his conferral of the Abrahamic covenant on Gentiles have earned Paul the reputation among Jews as a perfidious huckster who abandoned Judaism to create another religion,” said Garroway, who says he presents Paul “as a very sympathetic Jewish character who’s struggling with Jewish theological questions” —something he says audiences really respond to.
“People who know anything about Paul come ready to fight: ‘No. Paul’s a turncoat. Paul rejects Judaism. Paul’s nothing but a pitch man for a ‘Judaism light.’ And I love that, because I’m trying to convince them that there’s actually something quite redeeming that one can see in the apostle Paul. And I hope that I move people a little bit from where they were. That’s the whole point of education is to get people into a slightly different place from where they were before.”
Rabbi Brian Stoller, who invited Garroway to be a scholar-in-residence at Temple Beth-El, said the sessions proved Garroway to be an outstanding scholar for the community. “He has a unique ability to convey complex history and ideas to lay learners in an engaging and accessible way. His teaching is deep, substantive, and thought-provoking, spiced lively anecdotes and a dry wit, Stoller said. “By introducing us to key ideas and phenomena of early Christianity and Second Temple Judaism, Rabbi Garroway helped us better understand how Reform Judaism addresses the modern spiritual, intellectual, and cultural context in which we live.”
Stoller pointed out that Garroway also brought teachings to the congregation’s administration. “Our Temple is going through strategic visioning right now, and I asked Josh if he could do a session that would help our board members think about leadership in this important moment for our temple. Josh crafted a session in which we studied writings by Philo of Alexandria and applied Philo’s insights to our work as board members. It was an excellent conversation that was very participatory and reflective, and our board members came away feeling that they had gained insights that are very helpful to our process.”
During his residence at Temple Sinai in Rochester, Garroway touched on similar themes, with the teaching “Inside the Mind of God: Influences on Ancient Jews and Christians,” examining the ways in which Jewish and Christian authors incorporated Greek philosophy into their understanding of Creation. During the session “Jewish Views on Christianity: Ancient Through Modern Times,” Garroway discussed how Jews have viewed Christianity across 2000 years—its value, purpose, and fate—and how those views have changed many times over.
Victor Poleshuck, Temple Sinai’s Chair of Adult Education, said the sessions were well attended, and said that did not come as a surprise. “Josh’s quality was known to us, as he had been a scholar-in-residence at our synagogue about ten years ago and was widely remembered as being a phenomenal teacher. Plus, Josh is one of ours–he grew up at Temple Sinai here in Rochester.”
Poleshuck continued that “the whole weekend was quite wonderful. As the Chair of Adult Education and the one responsible for bringing Josh, I received dozens of thank you’s, and the follow-up comments were just glowing.”
Garroway, he said, “is a superb teacher, and on top of it all, a lovely man who gave generously of his time to answer questions and speak with members of the audience. It was such a pleasure to have him here.”