“Peter was an observant Jew,” said Sobel. “He wasn’t going to fish on Shabbat, but that was an integral part of Peter’s backstory.”
So while Sobel pointed out that Peter would not have been fishing on the Sabbath, he also noted that in Jewish thought “there is an understanding that you can break almost any commandment to save a life. It’s called pikuach nefesh. So if you believe that your life is in danger, sometimes you have to do things in order to save a life. And so they actually put that into ‘The Chosen.’”
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Another example Sobel gave was how the writers had intended to portray Rosh Hashanah (a Jewish holiday that just took place Saturday, Sept. 16). Said Sobel, “They originally had Rosh Hashanah being celebrated like a carnival or a festival. Well, it’s a holy day of the year. There are no carnivals on Rosh Hashanah.”
Rosh Hashanah “commemorates the day God created the world,” Sobel explained. “You blow the shofar. It’s about God judging the world, the awe of God.”
Based on his input, the “Chosen” team said, “Ok, we’ll correct that and we’ll make the carnival leading into the New Year.”
“There’s been a number of different things like that,” said Sobel, “such as some of the prayers, the Shabbat dinner, that we’ve been able to give input into.”
Read our full interview with Rabbi Jason Sobel here: “‘God Can Break In’—Rabbi Jason Sobel Explains Why the Miracles of Jesus Give Us Hope for Today.”
