2009/07/15 Eighth Introduction to Judaism Class Notes

Teacher: Rabbi Judy Schindler

Class Members Present were Jonathan Stewart, Beth Stewart, Tammy Hawa, Melanie Pace, Nikki Lathrop, Malia Daniels (engaged to Ricky Segal), and Ricky Segal.

We began by going around and saying what each was going to do with these classes. Most were planning to convert or had taken the classes as a refresher or to be with the one who might convert. Don, Melanie and I were not planning to convert but had each gotten much meaning out of the classes. Judaism is certainly a rich and wonderful faith tradition from which Christians can gain insight into their own roots, I think. There are other classes being offered. I think the classe geared more toward conversion are called Finding Your Inner Jewish Identity (FIJI) and there is also a Jewish University at Beth-El where much more can be learned about Judaism. Both are offered at the same time and there is a study of Torah going on right now that sounds very detailed and informative, not just about the written Torah but the Talmud and other information about it as well. More info on both is available on the Web Site, www.beth-el.com .

Rabbi Schindler began by saying all faiths have their truths and not everyone needs to believe alike.

There are differences between what Judaism and Christianity teaches. Rabbi Schindler said to imagine we were the rabbi and people come to you and ask about marrying a Jewish person and a Christian. What advice would you give? But first, we went over the differences she had compiled for our class and she let the class come up with ideas as well.

Christian Beliefs compared to Jewish Beliefs:

Christians have a New Testament in addition to the Hebrew Bible which they call the Old Testament. Jews have the Hebrew Bible plus oral tradition and other writings such as the Talmud. The Hebrew Bible for the Jews is not in the same order as the "Old Testament" in the Christian Bible.

Christians believe the Messiah has come and he was a man called Jesus. Jews believe the Messiah will come but has not come yet. He will come when the world is perfect and Jews strive to live their lives so that the world becomes a place where it is acceptable for the Messiah to come.

Christians believe in God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is a monolithic view. There is one God but three parts to God. Jews have many images of God but there is only one God. The Orthodox view of God is more rigid while the Reformed view is more liberal.

Christians are evangelical. They proselytize, hoping to win converts. Judaism is more closed. It is said they turn away people three times saying, you just think you want to convert. We are a persecuted people, why do you want to be Jewish? They want true inner conviction that someone wants to convert, not just that their spouse is Jewish so they want to be Jewish too or any other reason that might be outside their true desire to be Jewish. Reform Judaism is more open to these conversions than the Orthodox.

Christian Old Testament ends with Malachi and the last verse ends with "Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." These words indicate that Israel might be rejected rather than the Jewish hope that they will return to Zion someday. Thus, Jesus is made to succeed and supplant the Hebrew prophets. And also, the old covenant is broken and Israel comes to depend on the resurrected Savior for redemption. The Jewish Bible is not in the same order as the Christian Bible and the last book is II Chronicles. The last verse refers to King Cyrus who is charged with rebuilding God's Temple in Jerusalem. Cyrus is referred to as a messiah, the anointed one, meshiach. He proclaims to the Jewish people "Whoever is among you of God's people, may the Lord be with you. Go up!" This is a more hopeful message to the Jewish people than the rejection indicated by Malachi.

Christians believe in original sin and that man is guilty of sin throughout life although forgiveness can be sought and granted. Christians confess sin in most of their services on a regular basis. Jews do not believe in original sin. They believe we are born with negatives and positives and that we must learn to reign in our bad side. In other words, we all sin and we then get it right. We learn to do better. They say "We have sinned" as a community, not "I have sinned." There is a confessional deathbed prayer that is said that basically asks God to take the dying person into his care and says the person has tried to live a good life.

There are 613 commandments in Judaism. 365 are positive and 248 are negative. Since there are no more animal sacrifices, there are about 300 laws for which Jews are responsible for following.

We went on to read some New Testament scripture and see that things changed from one scripture to the next.

Matthew 5: 17-19 says "Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law of the Prophets. I tell you solemnly, til Heaven and Earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved." It goes on to say that keeping the Law will make one considered great in the kingdom of heaven and infringement of the law will make one be considered least in the kingdom of heaven. But then in Galatians 2:15, the New Testament says, "Though we were born Jews and not pagan sinners, we acknowledge that what makes a man righteous is not obedience to the Law, but faith in Jesus Christ." So Christians believe faith is the key to gaining heaven. Jews believe their actions are what get them to heaven. So to Jews, actions are very important.

Matthew 7:12 says "So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets." This (Christian) wording means to treat others as you would like to be treated and is different from the Old Testament (Jewish) "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Chrhistian: Matthew: 19:16-22 tries to reduce the law (613) down to five, with four of the five being part of the ten commandments. In this reading, a young man comes to Jesus and asks what he must do to possess eternal life and Jesus tells him "These. You must not kill, You must not commit adultery. You must not bring false witness, Honor your father and mother; and, you must love your neighbor as yourself." When the man says he has kept all these, he asks what else? Jesus tells him, "'If you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.' But when the young man heard these words he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth." Giving up all you own is not a Jewish belief. Jews believe in giving but people are not required to live in poverty.

Jews want their good deeds to outweigh their bad deeds so that at the end of life the scales are weighted toward the good deeds. Christians put more emphasis on faith. Leviticus 18:5 says "The Law is not even based on faith, since we are told: the man who practices these precepts finds life through practicing them." So, again Judaism is based more on actions rather than faith.

In Galations 5:1-6, Paul tells people if they allow themselves to be circumcised then Jesus will not be of benefit to them. "With all solemnity I repeat my warning: Everyone who accepts circumcision is obliged to keep the whole Law. But if you look to the Law to make you justified, then you have separated yourselves from Christ, and have fallen from grace. Christians are told by the Spirit to look to faith for those rewards that righteousness hopes for, since in Christ Jesus whether you are circumcised or not makes no difference - what matters is faith that expresses itself in love." Paul is looking upon circumcision not as a medical act but one of putting oneself in with the covenant of the Jewish people and he is saying don't do that.

Another difference between Christians and Jews is that of prayer. Christians do pray alone and Jews do more in the way of community prayer. Matthew 6:5-6 says "And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them. I tell you solemnly, they have their reward. But when you pray, go to your private room and, when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you." In Judaism, there are some prayers that require a group of 10 people to be said such as Kaddish. A time for individual prayer is giving during Shabbat services but some of the prayers that are said at each service require a minion (group of 10).

Christians have different takes on whether divorce is allowed and under what circumstances. Catholics almost do not allow it unless there is abuse involved. Matthew 5: 31-32 "It has also been said, Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a writ of dismissal. But I say to you, everyone who divorces his wife, except for the case of fornication, makes her an adultress, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery." Jews allow divorce under certain circumstances such as adultery. Reform Jews allow it more leniently than the Orthodox since if the love is gone out of a relationship, why make it continue. This does not mean that people should not try or should give up too easily. But when a divorce is granted, the wife must have a "get" which gives the wife money and other things on which to live. This is agreed on at marriage and must be honored. In Hebrew the word man is pronounced Eesh and woman is Eesha (sorry, I don't know the spelling). When they marry, they come together and the two should be stronger than the one. When this bond is broken, then they should separate.

Christians believe Jesus is the suffering servant referred to in Isaiah 42: 1-4. Jews believe we are all suffering servants. Jews believe they were chosen for the responsibility of keeping the commandments. Jews - we lost the Temple and we are all suffering servants but we will get the Temple back. Isaiah 42: 1-4 "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, My beloved, the favorite of my soul. I will endow him with my spirit, And he will proclaim the true faith to the nations. He will not brawl or shout, Nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets, He will not break the crushed reed, Nor put out the smouldering wick Till he has led the truth to victory; In his name the nations will put their hope."

Matthew 13: 24-30 was read where good seed (wheat) was mixed with bad (darnel). The master said to await the harvest when the wheat and darnel would be separated and the darnel burned. Then in Matthew 13:36-43, Jesus explained the parable as meaning "The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingsom all things that provoke offenses and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father."

Christians believe John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost but may have eternal life." Jews do not believe God can be in human form.

Christianity believes you must believe in Jesus as Savior and Messiah to be saved.
Mark 16:16: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." And Acts 4:12: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." And Matthew 21:22: "And if you have faith, everything you ask for in prayer you will receive."

In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus says He has been granted all authority in heaven and on earth and tells his disciples to go to all nations and baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jews believe there is a coming Messiah (meaning anointed) who will restore the Davidic kingdom and act as God's agent in bringing about the Messianic age. It was asked whether we can identify those who are David's descendants and the answer is that Elijah will return and identify this Messiah for us. In Kings, Elijah did not die and Jews believe he is here in evey generation. He won't reveal the Messiah until we deserve it. The Messiah will bring peace to the land and He will be a military leader, but one who has laid down his sword. This last part was put in later as we discussed whether He would be a warring "person." The rabbi will try and find more about this descendant of David and email Don with some more information about it. However, it is believed this Messiah will bring about a time of peace in the land and the Messianic age will be a time of perfection. It is important to do good in order to help bring about this age. This Messiah will be someone chosen by God. He will be an anointed one and chosen to lead the people. All mankind will be redeemed at this time, not just Jews. The golden age of man and the world is in the future. This Messianic age is possible for man to achieve. The (Jews,people?) will be gathered and restored to their land. People will live peaceably and be united in their land.

I looked up something on the Web about it to be sure it was Elijah who will come back and identify the Messiah. Malachi 3:23 (Malachi 4:5 in the Christian Bible) says "Behold I will send you Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord." This is traditionally interpreted to mean that Elijah will precede the coming Messiah who will bring about a Messianic age of peace. The next verse in my Bible says "He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse." See above that this last phrase is taken as a negative by the Jews and it is the end of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible.

Christians believe that Christ was the savior and he died on the cross in atonement for man's sins. The way to salvation is through faith and that is the source of hope for the world. Man's fate is at the mercy of God's grace and the individual can be passive. Personal and individual redemption comes only for those who accept faith through Jesus. The golden age, the coming of the Messiah, is in the past and only faith in his saving power is needed now.

So we concluded that it would be difficult to be in a Christian/Jewish marriage and raise children "both ways." There are too many differenes. The conclusion was to advise parents-to-be to raise the children in one faith or the other but expose them to the traditions of the other faith. Until the children are adult enough to understand the complexities of religious beliefs, they are little able to choose between the different traditions and not grounding them in one or the other specifically leaves them open to having no religious grounding. I hope that explanation is true to the spirit and gist of our last class discussion.

As we were leaving class, I mentioned to Rabbi Judy that the concept of grace as the means to forgiveness and heaven was an important Christian concept and a difficult one for most of us to grasp. I noticed this concept was not mentioned in class and suggested it might be one to look into. Faith in Jesus as Savior is very important but I hear much about grace in the churches I have attended throughout my life and I think grace warrants coverage in any discussion of the Christian belief system.

FROM PREVIOUS CLASS: I looked up something on Pharisees in a Rabbi Telushkin book that our first Introduction class teacher used. It said most Jews at the time of Jesus called themselves Pharisees but the term became synonymous with Hypocrit due to Christian writings. The term was therefore given up and Jew or Judaism became the prevalent identifier. I am going to read more on this in other books but I never knew this and find it very interesting to discover more about these groups which the Christian Bible uses throughout the New Testament.