- There is only one God.
- God has revealed his will to mankind in the Torah
One God
According to Jewish tradition Abraham's father Terach was an idol dealer.[1] At the age of 5 Abraham deduced that there was only one God. In his time people commonly worshiped the sun and the moon. Abraham decided to worship the sun feeling that it was the most powerful deity being that it made the Earth warm and made the vegetation grow etc. When the night came, he saw how the sun went away and was seemingly banished by the moon. So he worshiped the moon only to find that in the morning the sun overpowered the moon once again. He came to a realization that both of these entities must be controlled by a higher power. This was the beginning of his recognition that there was one omnipotent God who creates and controls all forces in his creation.
When little Abraham realized this he went and smashed all of his fathers idols leaving only the largest one intact. He placed a club in the hand of the remaining idol and waited to see his father’s response. His father became angry and accused him. "Father, can't you see? The big idol got mad and broke all of the other idols", said Abraham. "It is only an idol made of stone! It can't move", replied his father. "If it can't even move, how can you worship it as a god?” said little Abraham.
With this the first stage of Judaism was established. Abraham came to recognize the one God and to communicate with him through prophesy. Abraham spent his life teaching others to believe in the one God.
Abraham and his family had a personal relationship with God based on prophesy. What was still missing was a system for mankind to serve God by doing his will.
The Torah
Several generations later, Abraham's decedents had formed into a people called the Hebrews. They became enslaved in Egypt. God had promised Abraham that he would form his family into a special chosen people who would be a blessing to all of mankind. God's plan was to give his teachings in the form of the Torah to the Hebrew people. They in turn would be enjoined to serve as a shining example for all of mankind and to teach to Torah to all of the nations of the world. God appointed Moses as his agent to bring the people out of slavery in Egypt and bring them to Mt. Sinai in the Sinai Desert where they would receive this Torah.
Two major things happened at Mount Sinai:
- God revealed himself to the entire Hebrew people by personally telling them ten out of the 613 commandments of the Torah. This was done in a spectacular revelation where the people saw that which can normally be heard and heard what is normally seen. This makes Judaism unique because its primary revelation was to an entire nation of millions of people. Most other religions are based on a revelation to and individual or a small group of several people.[2]
- God summoned Moses up to Mount Sinai for 40 days. During this time God revealed the entire Torah to Moses in condensed form.
Over the 40 years that the people were in the Sinai Desert, God periodically called him into the tent of meeting. There God would teach the Torah to Moses in two formats, written and oral.
The Written Torah
God ordered Moses to prepare a scroll of parchment. From time to time, he would order him to take his quill and ink and take dictation. The Written Torah (Torah SheBichtav) that we have today in the form of the first five books of the Bible is the product of this dictation. This written Torah is meant to be an anchor text for all of the teachings that God was to teach Moses in the Oral Torah (Torah SheBaal Peh).
The Oral Torah
Each time that God would dictate a portion of the written Torah, he would also elaborate all of its meanings and applications to Moses in oral form. For example, Deuteronomy 6 states, "Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads." God first dictated these rather ambiguous words to Moses. After Moses had written these words in his scroll, God elaborated on the meaning. This statement was referring to Tefillin. They were to be black, square boxes made of leather. The boxes were to contain strips of parchment with specific verses from the written Torah inscribed by hand. Jewish men over the age of 13 were to bind these boxes to their head and arm on weekdays using black leather straps. The head box was to have 4 compartments and the box for the arm was to have only one. These details and many more were taught to Moses by God in the tent of meeting.
Similarly each of the 613 commandments in the Written Torah was elaborated on at length. Also God gave Moses a set of guidelines of how to interpret and apply the Written Torah where no explanation was explicitly given in the Oral Torah. Any explanation which is derived from the written Torah via a legitimate application of these rules is considered to be a part of the Oral Torah as well.
Moses was to teach this Oral Torah to the 70 elders. The elders were to teach it to the people. It was to be passed on from teacher to student generation after generation for all time. Each student was to delve into the Torah and attempt to apply it to new situations as they arise using the principles of interpretation that were given to Moses. In this way the Oral Torah remained a living, breathing teaching while the written Torah remained fixed and entirely unalterable keeping the Oral Torah grounded.
The Recording of the Oral Torah
- The 60 volumes of the Talmud deal mostly with the legal teachings of the Oral Torah.
- The Midrash deals with the stories and ethical lessons.
- The Zohar is a repository of the mystical aspects of the Oral Torah known as the Kabbalah.
This same group of Rabbis created the institution of the Synagogue with a regimen of prayers to be recited daily by every Jewish person. This institution together with the compiling of the Oral Torah in writing was to allow relatively small Jewish communities to remain intact even without a large group of scholars and a Holy Temple to focus their service of God. This became the Judaism that has existed for the last two millennia.
The prophets of Israel had foretold that the Jewish people would sin and be exiled. They also foretold that ultimately the Jews would repent and return to God in their lands of exile. Once this happens God will send a redeemer descended from David to bring them out from exile and return them to the Land of Israel. He will rebuild the Holy Temple and God will place his Torah in the hearts of his people so that they will never again deviate from it. This time which is yet to come is known as the Messianic Era. The descendent of David who will be appointed to stand at the front of the process is known as the messiah from the Hebrew word Mashiach (annointed).
What about Everyone Else?
When God created the world, he gave 6 basic rules to Adam and Eve.
- Do not worship other gods
- Do not murder
- Do not steal
- Do not blaspheme God
- Do not engage in prohibited sexual relations (i.e. adultery, homosexual intercourse, bestiality etc.)
- Establish courts of law to judge and punish those who violate the laws.
Later when Noah came out of the ark, God permitted the eating of meat adding the following stipulation bringing the laws to seven:
7. Don't eat part of an animal that was removed while the animal was still alive.
God sealed a covenant with Noah and all of his decedents (all of mankind) to keep these laws which now became known as the Seven Laws of Noah. In return, God agreed never to bring a flood to the entire Earth again. God made the rainbow the symbol of this covenant. The rainbow has seven visible colors alluding to the seven laws. It also typically comes after a rain, serving as a reminder that though it may rain, God will never again destroy the Earth through a flood.
When God gave the Torah to Moses, he reiterated his desire for all of mankind to keep these laws thereby creating a world based on simple justice and morality. He also elaborated on the details of these laws. (For example the prohibition against stealing would also prohibit false weights, cheating in business etc.)
In Judaism, Gentiles who keep the 7 Laws are known as the "Children of Noah" or the "Righteous of the Nations of the World". Those who are faithful to the 7 Laws enjoy will be rewarded in the afterlife as well as in the future messianic redemption.
Gentiles are not expected to keep the 613 laws of the Torah. Those laws are there to create an extraordinary people with a special calling to dedicate their life to the service of God and serve as a "light unto the nations". God does not demand such an exacting standard from all the people of the world. This is the meaning of the term Chosen People. A people who have been appointed to live up to a standard much higher than that demanded from the rest of the world. At the same time, a Gentile who desires to be a part of this higher mission can convert to Judaism and become a full member of the People of Israel. If they do so, all of the 613 commandments with all of their details become incumbent upon them just as if they were born Jewish.
In this way Judaism is unique in teaching that one need not be a Jewish to fulfill the will of God and reap the benifit of doing so.
Summary
References
- Bereishit Rabbah 38:19
- For example, Christianity is based on a revelation to Jesus and his 12 disciples. Islam on a revelation to Mohamed.
Ginger
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Great Facts About Judaism
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Spiros Kakos
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Knol recorded in the List of Religion Knols
cipher
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Untitled
Thank you for taking the time to write to Rabbi Shafran. I appreciate his time and yours, although I find it troubling that he hasn't revised a work that he wrote over thirty years ago, as a teenager(!), that is directed at Jews with little or no knowledge of traditional Judaism. He was able to clarify his point in two brief paragraphs; I have to think he could rework the relevant paragraphs in JewThink accordingly. To tell Jews that we believe in eternal damnation (again, the implication being that this "penalty" is imposed upon the unobservant) is no small thing.
A couple of clarifications of my own:
1. I suggested Aish, OS and Chabad because I was trying to think, off the top of my head, of Orthodox organizations that present an overview in a somewhat less intimidating manner. I'm not a fan of them by any means, and I'm well aware that Aish and OS are Hareidi. I probably should have just mentioned Chabad, and left it at that (I consider Chabad to be Hareidi as well, but my Chabadnik nephew disagrees; I imagine most Hareidim would also disagree!).
The OS and Aish materials don't necessarily imply eternality, and the Chabad quote is more indicative of what I understand the majority opinion to be, and what you subsequently describe - Gehinnom as a state of purgation.
My further understanding of the Chabad position is that the Rebbe was unequivocal in his insistence that unobservant Jews not be regarded as apikorsim, but rather as being in the category of those who have been brought up among strangers – in other words, they can’t be held responsible for nonobservance.
2. The reason I was surprised that you linked to Judaism 101 is that they attempt to present views from all denominations. I actually wasn’t even aware that the authors are Orthodox (or if I knew, I’d forgotten).
In any case, thank you again for your time, and I won’t post any more comments. I didn’t intend (as I said) to turn this into a thread; also, it’s your article and therefore your prerogative to present the information as you like.
Aaron Shaffier
Rabbi Shafran's Clarification
Although there are sources that refer to at least some olam habah punishments or negative states of being as eternal, in retrospect I think I should not have included that word, since I was referring to punishment in general and did not have the space (within the constraints of a small book like JewThink) to present a more nuanced presentation of the "complexity of rabbinic opinion" -- that Mr. Eyges rightly references. My apologies to him and other readers for not having adequately vetted the word (for what it might be worth, I was 19 years old when I wrote JewThink).
There is also, of course, the question of the very meaning of time in olam habah, since time would seem to be a construct exclusively in this world. But I do not feel qualified to opine about nistarim so I will leave that thought undeveloped.
cipher
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Untitled
Not that I intend to turn this into a thread, but you've misunderstood me completely. Firstly, I'm not defending the non-Orthodox denominations; I understand that would be pointless. I almost didn't include that parenthetical statement about them, and now I'm sorry that I did.
Secondly, I'm not denying that the concepts of reward and punishment in the afterlife have been part of Rabbinic Judaism for 2,000 years. However, Shafran implies strongly that everyone who disobeys God (by which he obviously means all nonobservant Jews) will suffer for all of eternity. This is simply not an accurate appraisal of the totality and complexity of Rabbinic opinion. My repeated and ongoing experience with many Hareidim has been that they take the most negative opinions, out of context and without regard for the mefarshim, and use them in an attempt to frighten people into submission. In this regard, there is very little difference between their approach and that of the Christian fundamentalists.
I don't expect you to link to a site that promotes the non-Orthodox denominations (frankly, I'm a little surprised that you linked to Judaism 101), but Shafran's views are extremely one-sided. I'd suggest that Aish, Ohr Sameyach or Chabad, for example, would be better choices.
I honestly don't get your point. It is almost as if you only read one line from the chapter and formed your opinion based on it. If you read the chapter thoroughly, I think that you will find that it presents a very nuanced and accurate portrayal of Judaism's view regarding reward and punishment.
I chose to link to this article and not Chabad.org or Aish.com as you suggested, because it sums up much of the philosophy of Judaism in one rather short work. In an hour or so, someone can read this and have a really good background in what Judaism believes.
I think that you are just biased against Haredim since you keep mentioning the fact that Rabbi Shafran is Haredi. I personally am not Haredi, but there is much that Haredi Jews have to offer in the realm of Torah scholarship. I don’t think it is right to discriminate against accurate information just because its author is Haredi. By the way, Aish.com that you mentioned is no less a Haredi website only that they perhaps avoid some of the issues that may make people uncomfortable because of their focus on outreach. I understand their position, but I prefer academic honesty. The point of my article is not outreach, it is to present and honest look at the basics of Judaism. I think that all of the concepts that Rabbi Shafran covers in his article are very basic to Judaism and that is why I linked to it. I would challenge you to find another article that tells so much about the core beliefs of Judaism in such a small space.
Also, if you do a search on the Aish or the Chabad website, you will find several articles by the same Rabbi Shafran so I’m not quite sure what you are trying to accomplish by suggesting that they would be better sites to link to.
You express surprise that I link to Judaism 101. I am not sure why. The homepage of the site states that it is written from a primarily orthodox point of view and that it is. It is a great resource for information on observance of specific Mitvot etc.
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http://www.aish.com/
I also found the following article on Ohr.edu much in the same vein.
http://ohr.edu/yhiy/
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"The soul's experience of the G-dliness it brought into the world with its mitzvot and positive actions is the exquisite pleasure of Gan Eden (the "Garden of Eden"--i.e., Paradise); its experience of the destructiveness it wrought through its lapses and transgressions is the excruciating pain of Gehinom ("Gehenna" or "Purgatory").
The truth hurts. The truth also cleanses and heals"
http://www.chabad.or
I think I have made my point.
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cipher
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On the related links ...
Although I'm familiar with Judaism 101, I hadn't seen the JewThink site before. I just looked at it; the author is unashamedly Hareidi, and makes no bones about it: "The subject of this book is what I call ‘Real Judaism’. Sometimes referred to as ‘Ultra-Orthodox’, ‘Extreme-Religious’, or ‘Way-Out’ Judaism, it is the single remaining force of authentic Judaism." I know quite a few Modern Orthodox Jews who would disagree (not to mention Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist, but I would assume you don't see those as legitimate expressions of Judaism).
In perusing, I found one example that stood out for me. In the chapter entitled "Reward and Punishment", Rabbi Shafran displays an almost Christian mindset. He describes divine punishment as being "intense" and "eternal", without qualification, and suggests that one "take note of the horror and pain possible in this world and realize that hell's a 'hell of a lot' worse, in comparison. " This is a gross generalization, a simplistic characterization of centuries of Talmudic opinion which doesn't reflect those opinions as much as it does the Hareidi preoccupation with these themes.
Really, if I wanted to point Gentiles (or Jews, for that matter) toward a website that explains the basics of Judaism, I think one could do a lot better.
I completely understand why you are uncomfortable with JewThink. For the average American Jew, "Orthodox" Jews represent a small minority or Judaism. Coming from that perspective JewThink would seem to represent the most extreme form of Jewish belief.
The fact though is that from the time of the destruction of the Holy Temple, until the advent of the Reform movement in Germany not much more than a hundred years ago, there was only one form of Judaism practiced by all Jews. This was simply known as Judaism. It is based on the Torah, Talmud, Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch) and other basic Jewish works. Modern Orthodox Judaism also recognizes all of the above. What differentiates them from the mainstream Orthodox is that whenever there are multiple legitimate interpretations within these works, they lean towards the one which most fits a modern lifestyle.
Reform Judaism is not so much a branch of Judaism as it is a movement of Jewish people. It claims no divine revelation. It states that the Torah is essentially a repository of legends and wisdom of the Jewish people and not necessarily divinely inspired. In that sense, it is really almost a different religion that traditional Judaism which is based on the 13 principles of the Jewish faith. (I will write a knoll on the 13 principles shortly, but for anyone not familiar with them, I believe there is an article on wikipedia). Conservative Judaism is a break away from Reform which also doesn’t believe that the Torah is given by God. They believe that it is at best divinely inspired. This too does not conform to the 13 principles of Judaism.
I feel that it is important to stress, that I don’t begrudge anyone their right to hold the above mentioned positions. Nor do I question the Jewish status of those who do. Any person born to a Jewish mother is Jewish regardless of what beliefs they hold. It is only that I am writing an article about basic Judaism and this is BASIC JUDAISM. Reform and Conservative are brand new movements which are loosely based on the traditional (basic) Judaism which has been practiced for well over 2000 years.
Perhaps you will say that basic Judaism is the Judaism practiced by most Jews? Even according to those criteria, orthodox Judaism is basic Judaism. Everywhere in the world outside of the United States, orthodox Judaism is the status quo. In most of the world, Jews who are not personally orthodox, recognize that there is only one Judaism. They may opt not to follow it, but when they want to have a wedding or Bar Mitzvah, they go to an orthodox synagogue. In all of Israel, you can count the Reform and Conservative synagogues on one hand.
You seem to be particularly disturbed by the idea of reward and punishment, as it is expounded in JewThink. Although it may be disturbing to you, reward and punishment is also one of the 13 principles of Judaism. The system of reward and punishment as it is described by Rabbi Shafran is firmly rooted in the Talmud and many other primary sources. You say that it is almost Christian. The idea of punishment in the afterlife for those who deserve it is basic to Judaism. Of course, unlike Christianity, we believe that it is on a merit based system whereas the Christians believe that you only go to Hell if you don’t believe in Jesus. Also, it is important to point out that nobody can ever know about any other person what will happen to them in the afterlife. God has his own criteria for how he judges each person based on their circumstances.
Its not that I consider Reform etc. as illegitimate. I consider them to be wrong! They would say the same about what I believe. The difference is that I have the Talmud, Shulchan Aruch, Zohar, 2000 years of precedent, and the status quo of world Jewry on my side.
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Anonymous
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Helpful introdution - thanks!
Pssst....typo at "SummAry". :^)
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