According to Osho, many Jews gather around him because, being intelligent and historically alert, they don’t want to ‘miss’ a living master again as they did with Jesus. Pragmatic and future‑sensing, they recognize where living truth and opportunity converge. His humor underscores a serious point: those who learn from past mistakes, stay flexible, and value direct experience are naturally drawn to vibrant spiritual work.
They’re smart, learned from history, and don’t want to miss a real living teacher again.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY JEWS HERE? Gandharva, why not? The last time they missed Jesus; this time they don't want to miss! It is so simple. And they are very intelligent people: once they missed -- and they really missed! -- and now they feel very sorry because if they had been with Jesus they would have been doing the greatest business in the world! They feel very jealous of the Vatican. They cannot believe how these dumb Italians defeated them! It was basically their right. This time they don't want to miss. They have arrived. A Jewish father and his son are standing in front of a cathedral. "Father, what is this house with the high steeple?" "Son, you should know this. It is a church." "What is a church?" "Well, the Christians say that God lives there." "But, Father, isn't God living in Heaven?
Question: BELOVED MASTER, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY JEWS HERE? They are doing the same to me. I am not interested in politics, I am not interested in that stupid game at all, but they are very much afraid. And the best way to kill me will be to find a sannyasin, a Judas, to kill me; that will be the best way. Then there will be no problem. If a sannyasin kills me, then the whole responsibility falls on my own shoulders or on the shoulders of my sannyasins. The sannyasin may not be a true sannyasin, he may be just a detective, a spy, a government man, who has taken sannyas just to kill me. That will be the easiest and the most diplomatic way. And there are many spies here: German spies and Italian spies and Indian spies. One Indian spy took sannyas.
Question: BELOVED MASTER, WHY ARE SO MANY JEWS HERE? But religions have existed, and they are powerful, for the simple reason that they create fear in you -- fear of hell -- and they create greed in you -- greed for heaven. They wound you deeply. The more you bleed, the more your wound bleeds, the more powerful they are over you. My effort here is to redeem you from all your wounds, to redeem you from the fear of hell and the greed for heaven. There is no hell and no heaven. Those are not places somewhere, those are just your own states of mind. Whenever you are in anger, in rage, you are in hell; and whenever you are in love, in compassion, you are in heaven. So you can move from heaven to hell many times in a day.
Osho, when you speak of religions, you usually mention christians, mohammedans and hindus, but not jews. Is there a reason for it?
And, moreover, Judaism is a dead religion, just as Hinduism is. In fact, there have been only two source religions in the world: Hinduism and Judaism. Both are dead. Jainism and Buddhism are offshoots of Hinduism but because the root is dead the branches are dead too. And Christianity and Islam are branches of Judaism, and because the root is dead the branches are dead too. These are dead phenomena. I am not much concerned with the past. Yes, something beautiful has happened in Judaism, too, and that is Hassidism -- and I have talked about it a lot. Just as I love Zen people in the tradition of the Buddha, I love Hassids in the tradition of Moses and I love Sufis in the tradition of Mohammed. These three are still alive in some small way because these three have never become established religions; they have always been anti-establishment,…
Why are the jews hated everywhere in the world?
Because they are clever, intelligent. Nobody likes clever, intelligent people. One feels inferior, hence, the hatred. Adolf Hitler must have felt very inferior to Jews. He Was. He was almost idiotic, imbecilic. But he must have felt it tremendously -- this inferiority. And Jews have a certain intelligence, and because of that intelligence they become rich fast. Put them in any situation and sooner or later they will be on top. How can you avoid not hating them? They simply go directly to the top; they don't wait. And particularly about money, they are the cleverest people in the world. For a certain reason: because after Jesus' crucifixion, they lost all power -- all political power; Christianity became politically powerful. There was no way for the Jews to be politically powerful, so their whole mind turned to the second power -- money. They became focused on money. These are the…