What do you know about the Jewish Religion?

by anewme 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  anewme

  I am curious about the Jewish religion today. What do you know about it?
  How is it doing today? It is one religion I have had little contact with but have always been curious since so much of the Bible deals with people of that faith.
  What is it like today?
  And can you point me to any websites that could give me more info.
  
  Thanks,
  Anewme
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  Narkissos

  http://www.jewfaq.org/

  As a side note, the Israelite religion evolved a lot through the centuries (or millenia), and the Hebrew Bible (what we call the OT) reflects only one segment of that evolution (roughly, from the 8th to the 2nd century BC). Most of modern Judaism is derived from the Pharisee branch which was only one school among many in the 1st century AD.
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  anewme

  Thanks Narkissos for the web site.
  
  So the religion today is not the same as the religion of the OT?
  
  You say it has "evolved". Interesting.
  
  Smart marketing no doubt.
  
  It is still held in high esteem by many who extoll its sacred traditions and ancient roots.
• 

  z

  Anewme what would u like to know????
  Must Israeli are secular but today there is growing movement of Orthodox and the control daily life in Israel because the are part of the coalition government the Israeli Canniest (parliament) have 120 seats you need 61 seat to have majority every government in the past had Orthodox party and this last election will be the same

  What evolved is in the secular movement on the other hand the Orthodox are going back to the root and becoming hard line

  Tradition are almost same as the OT but today I don’t think you can stones someone

  Z
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  Justin

  You might not feel comfortable visiting a synagogue at this point, but I would suggest you visit a local Jewish Community Center and see what educational programs they might have to offer. These centers expect visitors from the general public, and there would be no awkwardness in not being Jewish.

  Judaism originally centered around the temple in Jerusalem and the sacrifices which were performed - and these were integral parts of the holidays. This was succeeded by rabbinical Judaism - a reinterpretation developed by the early rabbis out of necessity - initially because the Jews were scattered throughout the ancient world and couldn't visit the temple regularly, and then because the temple was finally destroyed by the Romans. Rabbinical Judaism has correspondencies to the ancient temple services - for example, the daily prayer services are timed to correspond to the sacrifices at the temple because the prayers are considered to take the place of the sacrifices. You can purchase a prayer book (siddur) and learn the prayers.

  There are three main Jewish movements today - Orthdodox, Conservative, and Reform. The Orthdodox stay as close as possible to the traditional Judaism developed by the rabbis, the Reform are a modern version of the Jewish faith, and the Conservative midway between the two.
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  anewme

  Thankyou Justin!
  We do have a Jewish Community Center in the next town.
  It would be fun to check it out.
  Just for educational purposes.
  I am pretty reluctant to burden myself with another religion at this point.
• 

  kid-A

  I am an atheist and I have much greater respect for Judaism than Christianity. To me, christianity represents human grovelling at its lowest form, we are born as "hopeless sinners" and condemned to die unless repent of our alledged "sins" against god. Christianity is obsessed with guilt, sin, repentance, and more guilt.

  In Judaism, you are allowed to have a "Socratic" dialogue with your god. You are allowed to question, and interpret, even re-interpret past dogma, whereas chritian thelogy for the most part is cast in stone, despite the myriad variations on the same theme.

  I have had several excellent, intelligent conversations with Rabbis, and have even received some excellent advice from them regarding important decisions in my life. They didnt care that I was'nt a jew. They didnt accuse me of being a sinner in need of repentance. In short, they didnt judge me.

  In contrast, I have NEVER received good advice or helpful insights from a christian theologian, and I have spoken with many, from catholics to baptists, it all comes down to: repent ye hopeless sinner or thou shalt be cast down into the eternal fire of hades!!! LOL......

  If you are curious Anewme, I highly recommend chatting with a Rabbi, this "gentile white boy" has always had interesting debates and conversations with my friends in the jewish community.