Responding to False Accusations Against Judaism: The “Forbidden Chapter” (Part 3/7)

Accusation: Interestingly enough, Isaiah 53 is called “The Forbidden Chapter” in the Jewish community.

Response: Isaiah 53 is not called a forbidden chapter and it is studied by many, many Jews. There is a section from the prophets that is read each week in synagogue alongside the Torah reading for that week. This is called the Haftorah. Since there is no parallel to Isaiah 53 in the Torah, it is not read as a Haftorah and neither are a lot of other parts of the Tanach.

“No part of the Jewish Bible was ever censored by the Jewish people; at no time were Jews forbidden by Jewish authorities to read certain parts of the Bible. Had the Jews wanted to censor any part of the TaNaCH (the Hebrew Bible), they simply would have removed it from the TaNaCH to begin with, or not included it in the Canon. It was, after all, the Jews, specifically the Rabbis of the post second-Temple period that determined what would, and what would not, be in the Bible.” (What Jews Believe)