WHY RELIGION?

[Yonadav]

I'm Jewish but I didn't grow up religious. I became very religious (Orthodox) later in life-- what we call a Baal Teshuvah (Master of Return).
I spent several years studying for several hours every day with a kollel.
Mitzvot (or mitzvos in Ashkenaz) means 'commandments. We say that there are 613 of them, but that's sort of based on some difficult to explain traditions. We have a couple of different lists of what the 613 mitzvot are but one list will have things that the other doesn't, and so on. The basis for the mitzvot all come directly from verses in the Five Books of Moses, which is the part of the Old T that we call the Torah (instruction).

From our perspective, the that xian guy can't possibly have been Moshiach. He just didn't do any of the things that Moshiach must do in order to claim that title. We have pretty strong reason to believe that he wasn't even Jewish, since turning a Jew in Judea over to gentiles for trial and execution is highly problematic in Jewish law (halakhah). I have never read the xian new testament, but my understanding is that the king of Judea asked the guy some questions that seemed like maybe he was questioning whether he was Jew or gentile, and then handed him over to the gentile authorities.

Honestly, I am the wrong guy to ask about Jewish understandings of prophecy. We call the study of prophecy Nach, and it is studied by women. Educated Jewish women know prophecy better than most Jewish men. Men concentrate primarily on the Five Books and halakhah, as well as naviim rishonim (the early prophets- Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings).

We don't have the concept of eternal hell. We have Gehinnom. We burn there. It burns away our impurities, leaving whatever is left of us after that. The longest time that we can spend there is one year. We do pray for the resurrection of the dead in our thrice daily prayers, but we generally don't think about the afterlife very much. Judaism is about how you live, not what happens to you after you die.

Revenge and bearing grudges are forbidden in Judaism. Rashi gives a good explanation of what this means. A man says to his neighbor, 'Let me borrow your axe." The neighbor says no. A year later, the neighbor goes to the man and says, "Let me borrow your sickle." The man says, "I will let you borrow my sickle even though last year you would not let me borrow your axe." That's grudge bearing. Or the man says, "I won't let you borrow my sickle because last year you wouldn't let me borrow your axe." That's revenge.

 

Thanks mate.   More detail than I expected, but most welcome.

I was pretty much aware of much of the stuff, but you've explained clearly and succinctly. Thank you

I was aware that Yeshua/Yoshua bar Yusuf (?) is not considered to be  the Moshiach. My understanding is, in part, because : The Moshiach  is to be a warrior priest in the tradition of David, he is most definitely NOT divine, he does not die, and most important, his arrival heralds an era of world peace.  (???)

I was not aware his Jewishness was in question.  My understanding has aways been that he was handed  to the Romans for execution by the pharisees. The time was  the Day Of Preparation for Passover. They made sure that the would not be left on the cross overnight. Would this have been done with a gentile?. I think I understand the problem of handing a Jew to the Romans.  That certainly suggests, that Jesus was not Jewish. Not sure that such an argument is conclusive , especially seen in the light of the 'Jewishness' of some of his teachings;Eg The Lord's prayer and The sermon on the mount. I understand that uncertainty is not uncommon in Talmudic study.  

Jesus founded a small Jewish sect.  To belong ,a person had be jewish or a Jewish convert, which meant keeping the mitzvot, as well as the mitzva of the bris.  In fact ,Jesus states categorically in the Gospel of Matthew that he has not come to change the law "by a jot or a tittle' (english translation).

It was Paul of Tarsus who abolished the rituals of the mitzvot,  well as the mitzvah of the bris, and allowed gentiles to join the sect..That is why  scholars often refer to Christianity as "Paulism". Without Paul, Christianity would have died as quickly as it had begun.


According to the Gospels, Jesus was questioned by Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea. He was flayed, and sent to be crucified, on the insistence of a Jewish mob ---this apocryphal event formed a base for centuries of antisemitism; the Jews as Christ killer. It was Pope John Paul 2  who graciously absolved the Jews from any guilt in the death of Jesus. (I think the word is 'chutzpah')

My comments are by way of a short explanation for your information ,in hope that they may be of some help. They are in no way meant as an argument. The purpose of my questions was to obtain some credible information. This you have provided, and I thank you.

Yeah, I knew you weren't arguing. We're just sharing with each other from our traditions.