In his recent lecture to a Christian audience, Rabbi Ephraim Palvanov made a striking claim: Judaism and Christianity are “two sides of the same coin.” He used the biblical image of Jacob and Esau — twin brothers from one father — to suggest that despite centuries of tension, the two faiths are destined to reconcile.

As someone who has been studying and teaching the original blueprint of creation for over two decades, I must respectfully ask: How?

When I apply the same rigorous historical-critical method that Jay Smith uses to examine Islam, Christianity reveals the same pattern of late writings. There is also a lack of early independent evidence. Furthermore, there is a significant departure from the source material provided at the beginning.

The Blueprint Was Given to Adam, Not Invented at Sinai

The Torah is not merely a Jewish book given at Mount Sinai. It is the blueprint of creation itself.

God gave this blueprint to Adam in the Garden of Eden. The moral and spiritual pattern for how humanity should live was embedded from the very beginning. Sinai did not create something new — it revealed and formalized what had already been given to Adam and later to Noah.

This is exactly what Rabbi David Fohrman demonstrates in his powerful series A Book Like No Other. In his Shavuot lectures on the Ten Commandments, Fohrman shows that the Ten Sayings at Sinai are not new laws. They are the full revelation of principles and patterns already present in the Book of Genesis. The Torah at Sinai is the expansion of the original blueprint given to Adam.

This understanding lies at the heart of my book, Adam, The Blueprint of Creation and The Tree of Life.

The only verse in the entire Bible that explicitly promises eternal life is found in Genesis 3:22, where God says:

“Behold, the man has become like one of us… and now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat, and live forever…”

Eternal life was never meant to come through someone dying for our sins. It was always meant to come by reaching out and taking from the Tree of Life — the original blueprint.

This same universal language appears in Leviticus 26:5. The Torah does not say an Israelite, a Levite, or a Kohen shall live by these statutes. It says, “by which a man (Adam) shall live.” The word ” Adam “ is used deliberately. The blueprint was always meant for all humanity.

The Universal Code: From Adam to Ruth

Rabbi Palvanov made this point beautifully in his lecture. He explained that six of the seven Noahide laws were given to Adam, with the seventh added to Noah after the Flood. These are not a later invention for Gentiles — they are the original moral code for all humanity.

He showed how these laws are derived directly from the early chapters of Genesis. One powerful example comes from Genesis 9:6: “Whoever sheds the blood of a man inside a man (ba’adam), his blood shall be shed.” The Talmud understands this as a clear prohibition against abortion under the Noahide laws. The fetus inside its mother is considered “a man inside a man.”

The same depth appears in Genesis 2:24 — “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” From this single verse, the rabbis derive commandments against adultery, bestiality, and the protection of unborn life.

Rabbi Palvanov also shared a stunning gematria. The name Ruth in Hebrew equals 606. As a righteous Gentile, Ruth was already keeping the 7 Noahide laws. When she joined the Jewish people, she accepted the additional 606 commandments, bringing her total to 613 mitzvot.

606 + 7 = 613. One code. Two paths. Same blueprint.

The Baal HaTurim takes this even further, noting that the Ten Commandments contain exactly 620 letters — 613 for the Jewish people plus 7 for all humanity. The number 620 is also the gematria of keter (crown). When a person fulfills this code, they are crowned by God.

There has only ever been one original code.

The Real Twins: Christianity and Islam

Christianity and Islam: The Two Messiahs That End Judaism

Both Christianity and Islam took the Hebrew Scriptures and built new systems around a central “messianic” figure (Jesus and Muhammad/Isa). Both developed replacement theologies:

• Christianity: The Church becomes the “New Israel,” the Law is fulfilled/abolished in Christ, and Jews must eventually accept Jesus (often after tribulation).
• Islam: The final revelation supersedes previous ones; Jews (and Christians) are relegated to dhimmi status or worse in end-times scenarios involving the Mahdi and returning Isa.

Both change “times and laws” (Daniel 7:25). Both were shaped without the original keepers of the code at key decision points (e.g., Nicaea for Christianity).

When I apply Jay Smith’s historical-critical method (the man, the book, and the land/place) to Christianity the same way he uses it on Islam, I see the same pattern: a new central figure, a new set of writings, and a new story that was shaped long after the events.

Recent scholarship, featured on channels like History Valley and on Rabbi Tovia Singer’s site, shows that large portions of the Book of Acts closely parallel the writings of Josephus, my ancient relative. Some scholars argue that the author of Acts copied material directly from Josephus to create a smoother, more “historical” narrative, especially around the character of Paul.

If that’s true, then much of the Christian story was constructed using a Jewish historian’s work — a man whose writings Judaism would never use to promote a new religion.

Many experts today, including Bart Ehrman and others, are openly saying that significant parts of the Christian Bible were shaped, edited, and in some cases fabricated long after the time of Jesus.

So I ask with sincerity: How can Judaism and Christianity truly be “two sides of the same coin” when one looks so different from the original blueprint given to Adam?

Wouldn’t the true “two sides of the same coin” actually be Christianity and Islam — both emerging from our Bible, both creating new messianic figures, new scriptures, and both teaching that the Jewish people and the original Torah are ultimately replaced or superseded in their end-time vision?

I would genuinely like to hear your thoughts on this.

When I apply Jay Smith’s method — demanding early manuscripts, contemporary evidence, and honest chronology for “the man, the book, and the place” — both Christianity and Islam show the same weaknesses.

Jay Smith’s recent lecture at Calvary Chapel powerfully demonstrates that Islam lacks 7th-century evidence for its traditional narrative. When the same standard is applied to Christianity, we see late writings, historical and geographical problems (such as those Rabbi Tovia Singer highlights in the Gospel of Luke), and a theology that departs significantly from the original blueprint.

Both religions took material from the Hebrew Bible, introduced new central figures, created new scriptures, and developed end-time scenarios in which the Jewish people and the original Torah are ultimately sidelined or replaced.

Christianity and Islam, not Judaism and Christianity, appear to be the true “two sides of the same coin.”

My Personal Journey

I was born in 1966 to a Black father from Wellington, Texas, with roots in Cameroon and Nigeria, and a Spanish-speaking mother with deep family history in Jalisco, Guanajuato, Durango, Chihuahua, and New Mexico. Our family has carried the cry “We are from Spain” for nearly five hundred years.

After 9/11, my mother told me that we were Jewish. My maternal grandfather was a Cohen. Even though I am not a Cohen on my father’s side, something ancient awakened in me.

As Isaiah 56 promises, the stranger who joins himself to the Lord is brought into the covenant. Almost twenty-five years later, the original blueprint given to my ancestors has been awakened in me. The same code that was given to Adam now burns inside me.

This is the power of the Tree of Life — it can find anyone, anywhere.

The Blueprint of Creation: From Adam to Sinai

This understanding is at the very heart of my book, Adam, The Blueprint of Creation and The Tree of Life.

Rabbi David Fohrman, in his series A Book Like No Other, shows that the Ten Commandments given at Sinai were not new laws. They were the full revelation of the same blueprint that already existed in the Book of Genesis. Sinai didn’t create something new — it revealed and expanded what had been given to Adam from the beginning.

This is why the Torah consistently uses the word “Adam” when speaking of man’s responsibility. In Leviticus 26:5, it does not say an Israelite, a Levite, or a Kohen shall live by them. It says:

“You shall therefore keep My statutes and My rules, by which a man (Adam) shall live.”

The Torah is speaking to Adam — to all humanity. The blueprint was always meant for everyone.

This connects directly to the only verse in the Bible that explicitly promises eternal life. In Genesis 3:22, God says:

“Behold, the man has become like one of us… and now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat, and live forever…”

Eternal life was never meant to come through someone dying for our sins. It was always meant to come by reaching out and taking from the Tree of Life — the original blueprint of creation.

This is the same Tree of Life that Ruth recognized. It is the same code that the Jewish people have preserved as the firstborn. And it remains available to every human being who is willing to return to the original pattern given to Adam.

Hazan Gavriel ben David