2010.02.25 Judaism and Christianity

Rabbi Ezring from Temple Israel spoke at church tonight along with Dr. Howell, our senior minister. They took many questions from the audience and the purpose was to have a dialog between the two religions.

Rabbi Ezring began by asking the audience the meaning of revelation. One of the audience members mentioned that Revelation is the last book of our New Testament Bible. Rabbi Ezring acknowledged that but wanted the meaning of the word which he and others gave as something being revealed, enlightenment. He said that for Jews, revelation occurred at Mt. Sinai when Moses came down from the mountain. It was such a wonderful moment the people were awed by it and asked Moses to meet with God alone and report back. Moses then came back with 16 commandments (not explained but Christians count commandments differently than the Jewish people). In the Jewish Torah, God commands people 613 times. Jews believe these laws or commandments tell us how to live. What God said to Moses is still relevant to us today.

Therefore on Saturdays, Jews don't work. He said he could lead his congregation on Saturday because proclaiming God's word is not work. It is a pleasure.

Right now, Jews are reading Exodus in their services. This talks of Jews having slaves and servants which he said is not comparable to American slavery in the early days of American history. American slavery took an unacceptable form, being cruel often. Slaves in the Bible were treated better. If you hurt a slave back then, you had to free the slave. The law told an ethical way to treat the slave. The law says the punishment for murder (taking life with intent to kill) is always capital punishment. But if you take a life by accident, there are other ways to handle punishment. One thing brought out is that the death of a fetus is not considered murder, at least if the death is caused without intent. He made it clear he is not advocating abortion but Jews look at the life of a fetus differently.

Law can only be understood by the living according to Rabbi Eleazer. That has been Rabbinic attitude since early times and law is important so it can't be determined lightly.

Jews have laws around their food and it is harder for them to go out to eat and find things they are allowed to eat. He says he and Dr. Howell go out sometimes to restaurants and Dr. Howell eats what he wants whereas Rabbi Ezring has to be much more selective due to following Jewish law. For instance, Jews do not mix dairy and meat in case the dairy and meat came from mother and calf which is against Jewish law.

Rabbi Ezring said this struggle between law and the Bible is what being Jewish is about.

Dr. Howell said this importance placed by the Jews on the interpretation of scripture is to be admired and we Christians don't do our interpretations to the same detail. We Christians are more selective in what we think is important in the old laws. We are not about laws but we do think the Bible is special and to be followed.

Matthew's Jesus is interested in the law. The Letter of James says to be doers of the word and not hearers only. So many Christians get confused about the meaning of grace and its role in our responsibility to do works. Many Christians think grace forgives any works. Dr. Howell seems to come down on the side of still needing to do good works whenever we have the opportunity. Paul boasted of obeying the law but in Romans 10:4 said Christ is the end of the law. We don't know his exact meaning for those words. Paul says we can have salvation apart from the law and also said people don't need to be Jewish in order to convert to Christianity. This left open the door for people who did not follow the law to become fully Christian. As Christians we do believe in the law of Moses but we do not follow the food laws and don't believe ourselves bound by them. Yet Paul says we need to leave some for the stranger, the poor, an the hungry when doing our harvest.

Jews are asked to take a leap of action even more than a leap of thought. We Christians are willing to and often do work on Sundays, our Sabbath. Jews are not allowed this. Dr. Howell mentioned a book by Christopher Ringwold about keeping Sabbath holy. But restriction can bring joy. Christians are often more the thinkers about Scripture. As an example, Matthew 5 says Jesus expects us to obey the law. For instance, we are not to kill but Jesus says if we even harbor thoughts of anger, then we have done the equivalent of killing. Ephesians 2:8 says we are saved by grace. So we have lots to ponder in New Testament teachings, some of which seem to conflict.

Rabbi Ezring says there is a a fear of law as it limits us in what we want to do. It limits our free will. God tells us the law but He also gave us free will. Adultery is one law - it says don't mess with another man's wife but it doesn't say don't mess with a single woman. Men did and they wound up with more than one wife this way and it was legal. But in a way, law is not limiting because it evolves over time. Sometimes, law is revolutionary as in the civil rights movement. Those laws came into being as a result of unrest of our African American citizens but we still have a way to go with this as the laws can't just be in print, they must become a part of people's hearts.

He asked can we really love our neighbors as ourselves and he concluded this is don't do to others what you don't want done to yourself. Love your neighbor including the resident alien. This is a commandment too. People ask why love of God does not come first in these laws and Rabbi Ezring says loving other people is how we learn to love God. We must love God's creatures in order to love God. Rabbi Ezring says Jews believe in personal responsibility so they can't get their ideas around one person paying the price for everyone's sins and then responsibility is taken away from the individual.

Dr. Howell said God is interested in all we do and think so we can offend God by our actions. God is mortified and saddened by the actions of some. How do Christians view Jews who are worried about following the law? The effort to do what God says in the law puts Jews in conflict with society at large and society does not do enough to help them follow the law - such as provide kosher food products at all restaurants or planning around Jewish holidays the same as planning is done around Christian holidays.

Rabbi Ezring gave an example of having an election one year on Rosh Hoshana, a holy day which meant Jews should not go out to vote on that date. The election offices would not allow Jews to get absentee ballots because they were not out of town or disabled. This was taken to court and Jews won the right to vote absentee in this case.

Rabbi Ezring said it is only difficult to be a Jew if Jews are in the minority. It is not hard to be a Jew is Israel where Jews are a majority. It is harder there to be Christian.

Someone asked what kind of Messiah the Jews are expecting. He said Jews do not expect an incarnate God. They do not believe God would reduce himself to human body. The Messiah will be anointed and will restore the Davidic Kingdom as King of Israel. When Israel is a Jewish state with a Jewish king, then God will come and his focus will be on the earth and humanity.

Rabbi Ezring does not believe in the miracles that Jesus is said to perform were such big things since he said there were many other rabbis who claimed to do similar things. He doesn't believe any human can die on behalf of others. We all have to answer for our own sins. No one else can do that for us. Judaism lets God judge, not man. There are 39 forms of work not allowed on the Sabbath and there are varying degrees of how Jews observe this. For instance, they are not allowed to shove, carry, winnow, separate, or sponge. Some Jews don't brush their hair on the Sabbath because this could be viewed as separating and some do not bathe as this is sponging. Jews are not allowed to write two letters together. They can write one letter since there is no Hebrew word that is only one letter. So if you write one letter, you have done nothing.

Parents are required to do for their children: teach them about Torah, to read, to trade, and to swim. They also are required to find their children a spouse. They are required to teach children to swim as they need to learn how to "sink or swim," i.e. to take care of themselves.

God left man in the Garden of Eden. When man disobeyed God, man could no longer walk with and be in the physical company of God anymore. God stepped back to let man grow on his own.

Judaism is about relationships - community of and with God, community of individuals and God, and a community of individuals in group. They struggle all the time with what the law means. There are lots of things called abominations in the Torah which are tied to ritual acts. One of them is what is interpreted as homosexuality but Rabbi Ezring does not think it is necessarily homosexuality that is being referenced but one of these ritual acts that is called an abomination.

The essence of Judaism is to live well and do good and put yourself in place of where things are done wrong. We are to try and correct the wrongs of the world.