- Famously known as the Bitcoin Rabbi, one Israeli religious leader has been using his vast experience in the Jewish religion to spread the gospel of Bitcoin.
- He believes that Bitcoin and Judaism share several tenets, including soft and hard forks, and having a ‘chain of tradition.’
Religion and Bitcoin are not two things you would normally associate. However, one Israeli man is fusing the two, and using his standing in society to spread the gospel of Bitcoin. Known fondly as the Bitcoin Rabbi, he has advocated for the adoption of Bitcoin, including through social media where he has a huge following.
The Bitcoin Rabbi, whose real name is Michael Caras, wanted to be a computer scientist in his childhood. However, due to influence from his brother, he became a rabbi, who is a spiritual leader in Judaism. He would later get into Bitcoin and as he told The Times of Israel, he sees many similarities between his two passions.
The 31-year-old teaches Judaism and technology classes at the Maimonides Hebrew Day School in New York. He has been involved in Bitcoin for years now. In 2019, he published a children’s book that sold over 10,000 copies. The book, known as “Bitcoin Money: A Tale of Bitville Discovering Good Money,” caters to kids, breaking down Bitcoin.
Official Book Trailer – Bitcoin Money: A Tale of Bitville Discovering Good Money. Explains to all ages: “Why Bitcoin?” Get your copy at https://t.co/01PkoE8WhX pic.twitter.com/jLd6uQmRiC
— The Bitcoin Rabbi (@thebitcoinrabbi) May 1, 2019
Since then, the rabbi has interacted with thousands of young Bitcoin enthusiasts who according to him, feel some form of kinship due to his open and approachable nature on social media.
There are people who are Jewish but not observant who have never talked to a rabbi any other time. Because they feel some type of kinship with me through Bitcoin Twitter, they’ll feel comfortable that I will give them relevant information without lecturing them.
Bitcoin Rabbi: BTC has a lot in common with religion
Caras has always had a love for old records, ledgers and sacred secrets, as does any other rabbi. This, according to him, has spurred his fascination with the Bitcoin blockchain ledger. The blockchain is similar to the way Jewish communities maintained written records about their societies for thousands of years.
The Bitcoin Rabbi told the Israeli newspaper:
We have ‘the chain of tradition’ quite literally in Hebrew, this point of following the tradition back in written history. We are continuing a chain, and it is a continuous chain. There are soft forks and hard forks within Judaism, different customs, like protocols, that are compatible with each other.
Being a religious man, Caras also delved into the use of Bitcoin for crime, a facet of the cryptocurrency that’s been receiving a lot of criticism. In Israel, this has become quite pronounced of late with the use of Bitcoin by Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that Israel considers as terrorists. As we reported, the Israeli government recently seized BTC belonging to Hamas.
Read More: An Israeli militant group has been fundraising in BTC, but the government is seizing the BTC
I’m not concerned about Hamas using relatively small amounts of bitcoin to fund their terrorism, as it seems rather insignificant compared to their other funding methods.
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