A great deal of the first few entries I have already posted and many of the upcoming essays I will be posting will be familiar to some of you. You may have first read some of them or portions in many of my answers in Yahoo Answers, many of my essays on my previous Yahoo360 blog, and many things I wrote in the old "Friendly Jewish Chat" room from 2000-2005 until Yahoo closed the user chat rooms. I first began coming to Yahoo chat in June of 1999. I’ve seen the same questions asked of Jews daily.
None of the beliefs I explain from my understanding are new or my own ideas, but my own way of expressing these ideas in my own individual way. A few of the things I'll explain from a Torah perspective I may not even believe precisely as written.**(see edit below added 2/24/2016) My explanations and essays are primarily to do my little part as one small voice to help counter misinformation and misunderstanding. There are many Jews who blog about these things on the internet and there are many books written about these topics. Some of them you may find much more interesting than my words. I always hope that if there is something that I've said here that challenges you, that you will investigate on your own. I never write to missionize and I will always be happy to give you reputable references to support any claims I make about Jewish belief.
If all I was doing here was to teach about Judaism and Torah, I would not be mentioning a thing about the Christian religion or their texts. However, because most people I personally encounter who ask Jews about Judaism and who harbor misconceptions come from a Christian perspective, how Judaism contrasts with Christian doctrine will often be addressed here.
Jews live in a world surrounded by religions and cultures much more dominating public perception. Christianity, Islam, Hindu, Buddhism, all have far larger numbers of adherents. Overall, in my every day life, I don't bother to think about Christian beliefs much. I am friends with many Christians. I have a few family members that are Christians. Until or unless they're trying to convert me, they misrepresent an aspect of my faith or they're hateful to me and try to justify their hate on their belief, I get along with most folk. I try be respectful and tolerant of the right of individuals and groups to have their own unadulterated culture, customs and beliefs. My tolerance extends to the point where the expression of those beliefs violate certain standards of behaviors: If they attempt to violate another’s civil rights, seek to incite harm to anyone, willfully deceive another or misrepresent the beliefs of others then my tolerance ceases.
I do not feel I have to respect every other belief out there, but I do need to recognize and live in a manner that respects the right of others to have their different beliefs. That’s what we generally mean when we say we want them to respect us. I don’t care if someone doesn’t like Judaism, as long as they are basing their dislike on the reality of what Judaism really is and teaches. Don’t tell me how wrong Judaism is and base your dislike or hatred on misconceptions or misrepresentations, strawman arguments or bigotry. If you think Judaism is wrong, fine, don't be Jewish. Just don't tell me that Jews are wrong and evil because of things we do *not* believe and expect me to respect *you*. No one of the Jewish faith respects another when they misrepresent Judaism, either to convert us, demonize us, or justify attempts to do away with us altogether.
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Soon to come - topics of upcoming essays to explain from a Jewish perspective:
Human Sacrifice, Idolatry and the Destruction of the Second Temple
Soon to come - topics of upcoming essays to explain from a Jewish perspective:
Human Sacrifice, Idolatry and the Destruction of the Second Temple
Forgiveness
Worship of or through a Jew is not a Jewish thing to do
Christianity is of far less Jewish origin than many think
Judaism has been complete and fulfilling for 3500 years
Tikkun Olam
Identity Theft on a National Scale
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EDIT******EDIT
Almost SEVEN years after I wrote this and several hundred views to this post, it is today 2/24/2016 just a very short while after I link to this way down in a very long comment thread under an answer to a question that I receive a message from another user in Yahoo Answers. Hmm. It is a q from a profile with only a question mark for a screen name, whose q's and a's are closed and the email link does not even show to me to permit a reply. The note called me to task for the above sentence:
And I quote including misspelling:
" A few of the things I'll explain from a Torah perspective I may not even believe precisely as written." Then why do you argue if you don't believe the Torah as it is written? You are a Pharisee hypocrit.
Well, this is clearly not from a Jew,so that's the first thing I would wonder why it upsets someone that I might not believe every thing exactly as it is written in literal form... but, I guess I'll point out two things
1) I never claimed to be a Jew who observes all of Jewish law, in that manner, perhaps you can call my a hypocrite for honest Torah based answers explaining some laws like kashrut or prohibition of marriage to a non Jew all right considering I do not keep a kosher kitchen and I'm married to a non Jew..( and lest you go there, too, he's never been a Christian or any other religion's member)... but I clearly disagree with the New Testament libeling Pharisees as hypocrites and you can read my essay on that topic. I am honored to be an heir to the legacy of the REAL Pharisees.
None of those things prevent me from answering honestly from my knowledge and that I continue to do for the reasons I've stated.
2) When I wrote that seven years ago I was specifically thinking about the topic of Noah's flood, but did not care to get into that detail as I figured it a bit sidetracking from the point of my post here. But the question to why I don't believe it as literal comes down to, did it cover the whole earth or was it a great regional flood?
I happen to believe that it did not cover the whole earth, the entire sphere. I think it covered the whole world that the people who were involved there knew about. There is simply too much archaeological and historical objective evidence and even geological evidence and even PLANT evidence showing us that there has been no world wide deluge in the past 8 or even 10 thousand years, let alone the past 5775 years. I believe that the story of a flood is true, and I believe that Noah understood it to be his world. I do not believe that it was the entire globe. If you want to call me a "hypocrit"(sic) for that you'll need to redefine the English word hypocrite, and I don't know why it should get someone's knickers in such a twist that of ALL the things I said today under those comments that the ? person saw THAT as worthy of a note to me.
I now wonder now how many times that little quote of mine will be taken out of context to try to say I admit I don't believe in the Torah without the context of what I said..or more likely I wonder if I'll see it put , mama pajama said " A few of the things I'll explain from a Torah perspective I may not even believe " without even finishing the sentence. Any takers on that bet?
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EDIT******EDIT
Almost SEVEN years after I wrote this and several hundred views to this post, it is today 2/24/2016 just a very short while after I link to this way down in a very long comment thread under an answer to a question that I receive a message from another user in Yahoo Answers. Hmm. It is a q from a profile with only a question mark for a screen name, whose q's and a's are closed and the email link does not even show to me to permit a reply. The note called me to task for the above sentence:
And I quote including misspelling:
" A few of the things I'll explain from a Torah perspective I may not even believe precisely as written." Then why do you argue if you don't believe the Torah as it is written? You are a Pharisee hypocrit.
Well, this is clearly not from a Jew,so that's the first thing I would wonder why it upsets someone that I might not believe every thing exactly as it is written in literal form... but, I guess I'll point out two things
1) I never claimed to be a Jew who observes all of Jewish law, in that manner, perhaps you can call my a hypocrite for honest Torah based answers explaining some laws like kashrut or prohibition of marriage to a non Jew all right considering I do not keep a kosher kitchen and I'm married to a non Jew..( and lest you go there, too, he's never been a Christian or any other religion's member)... but I clearly disagree with the New Testament libeling Pharisees as hypocrites and you can read my essay on that topic. I am honored to be an heir to the legacy of the REAL Pharisees.
None of those things prevent me from answering honestly from my knowledge and that I continue to do for the reasons I've stated.
2) When I wrote that seven years ago I was specifically thinking about the topic of Noah's flood, but did not care to get into that detail as I figured it a bit sidetracking from the point of my post here. But the question to why I don't believe it as literal comes down to, did it cover the whole earth or was it a great regional flood?
I happen to believe that it did not cover the whole earth, the entire sphere. I think it covered the whole world that the people who were involved there knew about. There is simply too much archaeological and historical objective evidence and even geological evidence and even PLANT evidence showing us that there has been no world wide deluge in the past 8 or even 10 thousand years, let alone the past 5775 years. I believe that the story of a flood is true, and I believe that Noah understood it to be his world. I do not believe that it was the entire globe. If you want to call me a "hypocrit"(sic) for that you'll need to redefine the English word hypocrite, and I don't know why it should get someone's knickers in such a twist that of ALL the things I said today under those comments that the ? person saw THAT as worthy of a note to me.
I now wonder now how many times that little quote of mine will be taken out of context to try to say I admit I don't believe in the Torah without the context of what I said..or more likely I wonder if I'll see it put , mama pajama said " A few of the things I'll explain from a Torah perspective I may not even believe " without even finishing the sentence. Any takers on that bet?
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