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The Jewish Religion

Z Y G G Y

Z Y G G Y

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 10, 2009
Messages
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I noticed that we have a lot of religious diversity here on BL. I came up with the idea of making several different threads each with a specific religion as the topic. I'm thinking of making a new thread every month. IF it has been done before I apologize. It's always more fun learning from people than reading endless texts.

So, anyone who is Jewish could you please shed some light on what your religion is about, how it differs from other religions and anything interesting you want to share with the BL community.

Thankx in advance.
 
Hi.:D

I was actually in a tizzy about this from hearing the phrase "Judeo-Christan God", which is a falsehood.

In Judaism, one of the most important lines from the Torah, or first five books of the Bible roughly translates to, "Listen, Israel, God is our God, God is Singular." This is one of the most important precepts of our faith. As opposed to the Trinity concept, God Is. There's a spark of the Divine in all that is. That is One.

The next are the laws. The laws upon laws upon laws upon laws. If followed to the letter as allowed today, being a good Jew means being chosen by God to look like an idiot, appear to be haughty and stuck up, ridiculed, hated, have food restrictions, living restrictions, be behind in the workforce, not being able to do much of anything a seventh of your life...and for what? A closer connection with God, we believe. We weren't chosen to be better than other nations, we were chosen to be closer to God by following his commandments. Sure we may get a lot of shit for it, but that makes following them all the more important.

If anyone wants to pick up where I have left off or correct me, go ahead.
 
it's probably fair to say that all jewish men wear helmets after a certain age
 
I should elaborate I guess.

I was under the impression that all jewish men were circumcised but a jewish friend of mine was recently explaining the concept behind the bah mitzvah. He mentioned that many Jewish parents weren't actually aware this is not compulsory.

Correct me if i'm wrong, just something I learnt during my brief nah mitzvah education.
 
Male circumcision is compulsory. It is a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham to protect the Children of Israel.

I just didn't expect you to make a cock joke in P&S, that's all. ;)
 
Some things I wonder about. Haven't read much religious material in years and I'm sure a lot of my ideas about Judaism are skewed by Catholic upbringing.

The line in Genesis is correctly translated as "We have made him in our image"

It is posited by some Bible scholars that until about the time of the Book of Daniel, Adonai was a tribal God among many tribal Gods. In Daniel or before its being written something changed, after that point, other nation's Gods are regarded as inert, impotent statues and trinkets.

Writings about the times of Jesus posit factions. I wonder if these factions have correlates in modern Judaism.

Pharisees--Greek spirituality influenced Jews who are concerned with immortal souls, life after death, and believe in angels as beings rather than literary allusions of God's message.

Sadducees--who reject Pharisees propositions and stick with the law and traditions and reject most all else

Zealots--Rejected the priesthood as entirely corrupt and without authority because of their collaboration with Rome, with religious ferver reject all authority but Adonai. Often immanent 'end of days' types by some accounts

Essenes are a mysterious group that is hard to characterize that get a lot of attention but I'm not sure we know if they had significant numbers or influence. Probably 'end of days' types as well

Is it disrespectful when Christians attempt to pronounce the Tetragrammaton? I always try to avoid it but I've never heard any one raise it as an area where Christians could start showing more respect.

There are groups of Jews that posit different folks from the last century as the Messiah? How are relations between Jews that feel we are post-Messiah and mainstream Jews?

I got lots more but this is probably enough for one post. I'm sure I am asking from some faulty suppositions anyways, so thanks in advance for any answers or clarifications.

ETA: Just found http://jewishencyclopedia.com and am getting much more informed on Jewish Sects of the Second Temple Period. I was told Pharisee spiritual concepts were probably Greek influenced but it is looking like Pharisees were ardently anti-Hellenic. Anyways my summary of the four groups is weak. Wikipedia says that modern Rabbinical Judaism is descended from Pharisees. Given Judaisms indifference to life after death I would have thought more Sadducee, but it wasn't so much life after death in the heaven sense but resurrection includes individual or just the rebirth of the nation, in the 2nd temple Pharissees vs Sadducees issues.
 
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^ LOL, I was about to say ib4rachamim :D

---

On a more humorous note, I quote for you from one of my favourite works of one of my favourite authors: Oscar Wilde's Salomé.

SECOND SOLDIER

The Jews. They are always like that. They are disputing about their religion.

FIRST SOLDIER

Why do they dispute about their religion?

SECOND SOLDIER

I cannot tell. They are always doing it. The Pharisees, for instance, say that there are angels, and the Sadducees declare that angels do not exist.

FIRST SOLDIER

I think it is ridiculous to dispute about such things.

(...)

FIRST SOLDIER

The Jews worship a God that one cannot see.

THE CAPPADOCIAN

I cannot understand that.

FIRST SOLDIER

In fact, they only believe in things that one cannot see.

(...)

HERODIAS

I tell you you are afraid of him. If you are not afraid of him why do you not deliver him to the Jews who for these six months past have been clamouring for him?

A JEW

Truly, my lord, it were better to deliver him into our hands.

HEROD

Enough on this subject. I have already given you my answer. I will not deliver him into your hands. He is a holy man. He is a man who has seen God.

A JEW

That cannot be. There is no man who hath seen God since the prophet Elias. He is the last man who saw God face to face. In these days God doth not show Himself. God hideth Himself. Therefore great evils have come upon the land.

ANOTHER JEW

Verily, no man knoweth if Elias the prophet did indeed see God. Peradventure it was but the shadow of God that he saw.

A THIRD JEW

God is at no time hidden. He showeth Himself at all times and in all places. God is in what is evil even as He is in what is good.

A FOURTH JEW

Thou shouldst not say that. It is a very dangerous doctrine. It is a doctrine that cometh from Alexandria, where men teach the philosophy of the Greeks. And the Greeks are Gentiles. They are not even circumcised.

FIFTH JEW

No man can tell how God worketh. His ways are very dark. It may be that the things which we call evil are good, and that the things which we call good are evil. There is no knowledge of anything. We can but bow our heads to His will, for God is very strong. He breaketh in pieces the strong together with the weak, for He regardeth not any man.

FIRST JEW

Thou speakest truly. Verily, God is terrible. He breaketh in pieces the strong and the weak as men break corn in a mortar. But as for this man, he hath never seen God. No man hath seen God since the prophet Elias.

HERODIAS

Make them be silent. They weary me.
Click to expand...

;)
 
^Nice quote, which is actually a pretty interesting observation.;)

And Enki. We're thinking of two different quotes which are both correct quotes. I'm just not using the King James Translation.
 
Just wondering...Christianity has a lot of different religious "offshoots", dose the Jewish religion have that also or is it mostly one group? Are there extremists like in the Muslim religion?

I really don't know much about it, so if I sound callous by comparing religions, it's not my intention.

Jesus was Jewish, right?
 
Of course there are Jewish extremists as in the Muslim and the Christian and the Buddhist and the Zoroastrian and the Voudun, and all other, faiths.

The technical term you're looking for is "sect" not "offshoot". An "offshoot" would be an entirely different religion that started out as a cult within the context of another and grew into an entirely separate entity.

An example is the Baha'i faith, which is an offshoot of Islam.

And yes, there are several Jewish sects. The most prominent of these are Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, and Re constructionist. There are definitely more, but these are the most prominent in the west. I'll leave it to a Jew to explain the nuances to you (and indeed, correct me if I am mistaken, although I can provide refs if necessary).
 
We Jews are so fucking good at controlling the media,

That even if, by some chance, we were to ever lose said control,

You Gentiles would never find out.
 
Jesus was Jewish, but never God. Jesus plays no role in Jewish Scripture.
 
^ Correct.

I actually have two curiousities about Jewish Folklore about which not much seems to be known:

- The use of phylacteries ("Tefillin" / תפילין‎) in the mystical sense (as being capable of containing a consciousness - kinda like the genie's lamp)

and

- Golems

Both of which are used extensively in fantasy settings, but both tracing back to Judaism.

p.s. Interesting fact you probably never expected to hear about Jamshyd: I actually have a fond appreciation of Klezmer!
 
I must say, I am positively shocked that Rachamim hasn't chimed in yet ;)...
 
New said:
Jesus was Jewish, but never God. Jesus plays no role in Jewish Scripture.
Click to expand...

Jews_For_Jesus_logo.png





What's the Jewish view of this mass display of cognitive dissonance??8o8o
 
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