Question regarding claims about Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri and the Messiah and other similar cases?
There is a fairly well known claim that has been made by several people about the late Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri and that he allegedly identified the Messiah as being Jesus.
Here is an example (including my own response to the issue):
/question/index?qid=20120814092109AA6MIlh
This claim is bogus BTW, but that is not what I want to focus on.
I want to know what exactly is the mindset of those who actually believe this sort of story?
It seems to me that the word "gullible" comes to mind. Would it be fair to use that word?
Another way of putting it... since the chances of a well known rabbi with numerous followers believing in Jesus is nil, then why do some people not approach the claim with skepticism? Why do they so readily believe it?
And another case (this may seem to be a bit of jump) : Dr. David Stern, in his initial editions of his book "Jewish New Testament Commentary", made a claim about the Jewish commentator Rashi that seemed to imply that Rashi supported the concept of the virgin birth. Later on, he was told that this was based on a misquote and he eventually corrected the issue.
Now, it came to light in the affair, that Dr. Stern did not actually do the research on Rashi and instead got the claim from another source (which he didn't cite).
So, my question is similar to the one above? Why wasn't he more skeptical about the claim? Why did he readily believe this claim about Rashi to the point where he didn't bother to double check?
And another case: There is another claim that Isaiah 53 was deliberately omitted from the Hatarah. This claim is also false. But my question is the same: Why is such a claim so readily believed?