We have periodically encountered in passing broad criticism of contemporary Christian society and its behavior patterns. We recall for example the attack leveled by Jacob ben Reuben against the teachings of Jesus promulgated in the Sermon on the Mount. According to Jacob, Jesus proclaimed a Torah of grace, a Torah that is in fact unattainable. The proof of this unattainability lies in the everyday existence of Jacob's Christian contemporaries, with regard to whom he says the following: “You war with one another; you despoil one another. [This is true] not only for you, but even for those who enter the priesthood and wear hair-cloth and refrain from wine and meat. Even they despoil property and do most of their business in ways severely prohibited to them.” Christian society, according to Jacob's Jewish protagonist, is awash in moral failure, from its lowest to its highest levels.

Rabbi Moses ben Nahman pointed in much the same direction, purportedly arguing to King James the Conqueror that, in contrast to messianic ideals of peace and tranquility, medieval Christendom was a society steeped in warring and warfare. He portrays himself as noting sarcastically to the king: “How difficult it would be for you, my lord the king, and for these warriors of yours, if they were to no longer learn war.” In both cases, our Jewish polemicists highlight what they see as the moral failings of Christianity and Christian society. Religions should be judged by the behavior patterns observable among their adherents.