His statement is to say that even if you decide to worship Jesus, you will still be a Jew.
What is bizarre, and I mean
really bizarre is that he uses the talmud (Sanhedrin 44a) to make his point. Although he does paraphrase it. Let me first show you the part in whole:
Sanhedrin 44a - Part 1 wrote:Rabbi Abba bar Zavda said 'Although it had sinned, it [remained] Israel.' Rabbi Abba said, 'This is a common saying, A myrtle that is amidst willows is still named "myrtle" and people call it thus."
This was being stated in reference to the people of Israel, even though they were aware that Achan had sinned they took no action, and thus were sinful. But they did not share in his fate, but remained Israel [there is much commentary on this].
Just a couple of lines down however, it tells us about Achan (Yoshuah 7:15) and his fate, that he had violated the entire Torah and undid his circumcision. Since he had violated the entire Torah, he was deemed worthy of death and to be cut off from the Jewish people.
According to the Rambam, one who worships and [i]Alohim Acharim has violated the entire Torah. (More about that
here.) You would think, therefore that one who worshipped Jesus would be cut off from the Jewish people. But Mike Brown takes the commentary of the Maharsha (Rabbi Shmuel Edels, who lived some time later in the lat 16th and early 17th century) who ruled that even if one violates the entire Torah, he is still a Jew.
Keep in mind that a lot was happening during this period (click
here for a sample, including the publication of
The Jews and Their Lies). The Rabbi was addressing the problem with the Marano Jews, stating that they would still be Jews and the halacha considers that they would not need to convert.
Ok, so here is the weirdness in using this:
1) Michael Brown is indirectly stating that even if praying to Jesus is violating all of the Torah, you will still die a Jew because of the halachah.
2) The Gemara actually says that one who
witnesses another's sin is part of that sin, but
that person is still part of Israel while the person who does sin is cut off (killed). To use the halachah of the Maharsha who spoke of Jews who converted because of duress or because they were clueless or could care less as a proof that you can still worship Jesus is pretty amazing.
He also quotes that the Rambam says that one who does not believe in the coming of the Messiah is cut off, but he leaves off the saying of the Rambam who says that one who willingly prays to an
Elohim Acharim is also cut off from the Jewish people.
And in the end, Michael Brown says (you can almost see the smirk) that although you might want to call him an apostate,
your tradition says that he is still a Jew.
A final point. He takes some time to provide a proof that we are to be a ntion of priests, and that it is your Jewish duty to bring the word to the Gentiles. The word, of course, is that Jesus is the Messiah. This is, of course, a reversal of reality, for it is the Gentiles of the world who have fought and struggled so hard to being Jesus to the world while the Jewish people have continued to speak of our concept of a Moshiach that has fallen upon deaf ears.
