2009/05/06 Taste of Judaism Session #02
5/6/09: Second Session: Rabbi Judy Schindler. Think of Judaism as a triangle with God at the top (there are 70 faces of God and 70 faces of Torah). God is many things: judge, healer, etc. God is eternal and is connected with our very breath. (If you try to pronounce YHWH, it is a breathy sound so the connection with breath is made this way.) Torah, The Hebrew Bible is another point on the triangle. Tanach is 1. Torah (5 books of Moses), 2.Prophets and 3. Writings (Psalms, Ruth, etc). Should always be studying Torah.
It is okay to challenge God in Judaism. Aaron Zeitlin has poetry about this. Torah can mean the first 5 books or the whole Hebrew Bible. Or it could mean the oral Torah - Oral Torah is where the Midrash, Talmud came from and all of it can be Torah if you are trying to be holy in your life. Torah is God and Torah is living concepts. Mitzveh means good deed but actually means commandments. There are 613 commandments in the Torah with 365 don'ts and 248 dos. The first one is "Be fruitful and multiply" because Jews need to multiply. Fruitful does not have to mean having children. To teach a child is also being fruitful and can be more fruitful than having the child. Some Jews go to their rabbi for permission to stop having children. There are 3000 years of commentary on this one verse.
613 Mitzvo (commandments) and the Orthodox believe in them all. Reformed Jews have a problem with them. About 300 involve animal sacrifice which is no longer necessary since the destruction of the temple. Jews believe the Torah was divinely revealed and divinely inspired. We do all struggle with the commandments but still believe strongly in them. Conservative Jews go to rabbis to determine what to do but Reformed Jews make their own decisions. There are also commandments between people. These are our ethics. Basic Jewish thought is that Good leads to good and Sin leads to sin. We strive, therefore, to obey even in minor things.
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