Questions about Judaism answered by a Jew!

[Jayda]

hola rav,

i do not mean to sound pushy, but by any chance have you heard anything regarding this connection between St. Peter and judaism?

Dios te bendiga

 

[rav]

The Torah forbids suicide (see Rashi on Genesis 9:5).

There are no accidents or coincidences, everything is planned by G-d. If you are in this world it is because G-d has a specific plan for you. There is something which you can, must, and will, accomplish which no one else can.

G-d is good. Period. G-d did not put a person on this world in order to have a miserable time. So if someone is having a difficult time, it must be that Hashem also gave him/her the ability to overcome the difficulties and still lead a happy and productive life.

Life is all about the struggle. And, yes, some people -- those who G-d feels can handle the test -- struggle more than others. Relief, for all of us, comes in the next world. But we have no right to determine when that will be.

THE ONLY TIME EVER:

However, if a person is afraid that he/she will be forced to violate one of the three cardinal prohibitions which one must never violate even at the pain of death (idolatry, murder, or certain sexual prohibitions such as incest or adultery) or to avoid terrible degradation and torture (like King Saul) then his/her suicide is not censured. This is the rationale behind the mass suicide at Masada, and King Saul's suicide.

 

[rav]

i do not mean to sound pushy, but by any chance have you heard anything regarding this connection between St. Peter and judaism?

I am afraid not.

 

[Jayda]

I am afraid not.

muchos gracias,

do you think it would be a bad idea for me to ask a rabbi? would they become insulted... i have only met one ever and he was a very nice man but i do not know how jewish people feel about this kind of thing... and i do not know how to approach them, last time i had a jewish friend show me how...

Dios te bendiga

 

[rav]

muchos gracias,

do you think it would be a bad idea for me to ask a rabbi? would they become insulted... i have only met one ever and he was a very nice man but i do not know how jewish people feel about this kind of thing... and i do not know how to approach them, last time i had a jewish friend show me how...

Dios te bendiga

Possibly. I would suggest an Orthodox one, since I do not believe in the validity of a non-Orthodox Rabbi.

There are plenty of resources online to ask a Rabbi. Check google.

 

[rav]

Re: Jews: What is a "Gentile"?

so a rightious muslim can still go to heven by your beliefs, wouldn't u agree we have the best of both worlds then

A Muslim that follows his code of laws (which is basically following what the Torah says for gentiles to follow) and doesn't try to convert, mislead, or disrupt the Jews from following the responsiblities G-d put on the Jews, then yes you go to heaven.

extremist Muslims will probably not of course given there desire to wipe Israel off the map which would certainly prevent the Jews from following are laws, but a peaceful Muslim that follows his scripture will go to heaven, I believe. (As longas the info on the Quran I get from Muslims is true).

How do you have the best of "two" worlds?

 

[Abu Zakariya]

Re: Jews: What is a "Gentile"?

Judaism believes that gentiles who are righteous will go to heaven. You believe a "Kafir" can never go to heaven.

The word "kafir" doesn't refer to a nation, like the word "gentile" does, so you cant compare the two terms. We believe that everyone, no matter what ethnicity he has, can go to Paradise. So if you want to compare your belief that a gentile can go to Paradise with Islam's stance on this issue, then compare it with the Islamic belief about nations. In this sense, even someone born of a Jewish mother (i.e. an ethnic Jew) can go to Paradise.

We don't believe that kafirs can go to Paradise, but you still believe that the non-Jews that don't follow the Noachide laws wont go to Paradise. It's really not as different as you think. The only difference is that you have different laws for Jews and non-Jews.
So according to Islam, you dont go to Paradise if you don't follow the Qur'an. According to Judaism, you don't go to Paradise if you don't follow the Bible. In Islam all of mankind follows the Qur'an, in Judaism a part of mankind follows the Torah and the other part of mankind follows the seven laws (from the Bible). So in Judaism, mankind still has to follow a set of laws.

So the equivalent to a "kafir", would be a non-Jew who doesn't follow the Noachide laws.

 

[rav]

Re: Jews: What is a "Gentile"?

We don't believe that kafirs can go to Paradise, but you still believe that the non-Jews that don't follow the Noachide laws wont go to Paradise. It's really not as different as you think. The only difference is that you have different laws for Jews and non-Jews.

That is debated and many opinions say they can, just will have a long time to rid themselves of there sins before being clean enough to enter paradise.

According to Judaism, you don't go to Paradise if you don't follow the Bible.

No. You do not have to follow the Bible to go to heaven. To go straight to heaven you might though.

So the equivalent to a "kafir", would be a non-Jew who doesn't follow the Noachide laws.

Wrong. We believe the only people who will never see heaven are evil people who kill like terrorists, hitler, etc.

 

[Abu Zakariya]

I do not. Killing yourself by blowing yourself up as a military strategy is suicide. There is no difference. many suicide bombers are just brain washed bafoons, or have no reason to live and go crazy at the promise of "virgins". It is a sick concept and reasoning they have.

It's because of reasoning like this I objected to what you said in the first place. Earlier you tried to explain this by saying that they are evil. It's not as easy as that.
Look at how former President Jimmy Carter explains the situation of the Palestinians:

* For 39 years, Israel has occupied Palestinian land, and has confiscated and colonized hundreds of choice sites.
* Often excluded from their former homes, land, and places of worship, protesting Palestinians have been severely dominated and oppressed. There is forced segregation between Israeli settlers and Palestine's citizens, with a complex pass system required for Arabs to traverse Israel's multiple checkpoints.
* An enormous wall snakes through populated areas of what is left of the West Bank, constructed on wide swaths of bulldozed trees and property of Arab families, obviously designed to acquire more territory and to protect the Israeli colonies already built. (Hamas declared a unilateral cease-fire in August 2004 as its candidates sought local and then national offices, which they claim is the reason for reductions in casualties to Israeli citizens.)
* Combined with this wall, Israeli control of the Jordan River Valley will completely enclose Palestinians in their shrunken and divided territory. Gaza is surrounded by a similar barrier with only two openings, still controlled by Israel. The crowded citizens have no free access to the outside world by air, sea, or land.
* The Palestinian people are now being deprived of the necessities of life by economic restrictions imposed on them by Israel and the United States because 42 percent voted for Hamas candidates in this year's election. Teachers, nurses, policemen, firemen, and other employees cannot be paid, and the UN has reported food supplies in Gaza equivalent to those among the poorest families in sub-Sahara Africa, with half the families surviving on one meal a day.
* Mahmoud Abbas, first as prime minister and now as president of the Palestinian National Authority and leader of the PLO, has sought to negotiate with Israel for almost six years, without success. Hamas leaders support such negotiations, promising to accept the results if approved by a Palestinian referendum.

Desmond Tutu, who experienced apartheid in South Africa, compared what his people had to go through in Sout Africa to what Palestinians have to go through in Palestine:

What is not so understandable, not justified, is what it did to another people to guarantee its existence. I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about.

On one of my visits to the Holy Land I drove to a church with the Anglican bishop in Jerusalem. I could hear tears in his voice as he pointed to Jewish settlements. I thought of the desire of Israelis for security. But what of the Palestinians who have lost their land and homes?

But you know as well as I do that, somehow, the Israeli government is placed on a pedestal [in the US], and to criticise it is to be immediately dubbed anti-semitic, as if the Palestinians were not semitic. I am not even anti-white, despite the madness of that group. And how did it come about that Israel was collaborating with the apartheid government on security measures?

No, rav, it isn't about being "evil". If you experience all of this, you are desperate. As for being "brainwashed" and "going crazy", this isn't something unique to the Palestinians: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/685792.stm

 

[rav]

First off, these people are bias. Jimmy Carter's book has laready been found to have many wrong sourcing and inaccuracies. Desmond Tutu has voiced support for Israel's security needs and against tactics of suicide bombing and incitement to hatred.

We condemn the violence of suicide bombers, and we condemn the corruption of young minds taught hatred;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,706911,00.html

Yet, his mind so distraight over the terrible tragedy which happend to him, now looks desperatly for another cause.

A suicide bombing is a sick act, and all I have to say, is the people that do this are going to be suprised when they are judged for what they have done.

The occupation of "palestinian land" is a direct result of Arab agression against israel in all the wars they tried to destroy the Jews with. Tutu recongnizes the pre-1967 borders, and I nor any Jew want the occupation to continue, but as long as Hamas swears to destroy Israel, Israel should not negotiate with them.


Here is something interesting on Tutu:
Originally published in Seattle Times, 18 January 1990.

On the day after Christmas, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Anglican Primate of South Africa and holder of the Nobel Peace Prize, standing before the memorial at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem to the millions of Jews murdered by Hitler, prayed for the murderers and sermonized the descendants of their victims. "We pray for those who made it happen, help us to forgive them and help us so that we in our turn will not make others suffer" (New York Times, 27 December 1989). This, he said, was his "message" to the Israeli children and grandchildren of the dead.

Moral obtuseness, mean spite, and monstrous arrogance do not make for sound ethics and theology. Neither Tutu nor the Israelis he lectured can "forgive" the Nazi murderers. Representatives of an injured group are not licensed (even by the most unctuous of preachers) to forgive on behalf of the whole group. In fact, forgiveness issues from G-d alone. The forgiveness Tutu offers the Nazis is truly pitiless because it forgets the victims, blurs over suffering, and drowns the past.

 

[Abu Zakariya]

Re: Jews: What is a "Gentile"?

That is debated and many opinions say they can, just will have a long time to rid themselves of there sins before being clean enough to enter paradise.

So according to this opinion, pagans will eventually go to Paradise?

No. You do not have to follow the Bible to go to heaven. To go straight to heaven you might though.

Okay, I went by what I heard in the Jewish Q&A thread, that gentiles go to Paradise by following the seven laws. So at least according to that opinion you go to Paradise by following the Bible (since the seven laws are derived from the Bible). Right?

Wrong. We believe the only people who will never see heaven are evil people who kill like terrorists, hitler, etc.

So what has been said in the Jewish Q&A thread about having to follow the Noachide law represents one opinion? Or is it false?

Anyway, my point is that we don't make a distinction based on ethnicity. We dont divide people between "this nation" and "that nation". But we still agree that mankind has to follow a set of laws from God. The "kafir" is the one who doesn't, basically. "Kafir" doesn't refer to a person of a certain ethnicity or nation.

 

[rav]

Re: Jews: What is a "Gentile"?

So what has been said in the Jewish Q&A thread about having to follow the Noachide law represents one opinion? Or is it false?

Depends. Many opinions difer because we are not told exactly how people are judged. G-d looks at every individual however and sees why they did not keep it etc. A Budhist who lives in seclusion on China who has never heard of the laws can go to heaven. There is no straight foward answer. Just opinions based on the interpretations of the scripture.

So according to this opinion, pagans will eventually go to Paradise?

Depends on there situation. Pagans who unknowingly did not follow the laws could very well go to heaven after a long time. You never know since it is G-d's descion to make.

We honestly do not know, beyong the fact the gentiles must keep thr seven laws and G-d judges everyone individually and looks at the situation. Judaism does not see the need to find converts or even encourage it. The seven laws for humanity are what gentiles should adapt, not Judaism. Judaism has no desire to become a huge political force or power on this earth. We humbly trust in G-d and remain faithful to the L-rd.

 

[rav]

Rabbinical tradition, however, provides a simpler explanation of Tutu's eagerness to "forgive" the Nazis while excoriating the descendants of their victims: "Whoever is merciful to the cruel," the rabbis warn, "will end by being indifferent to the innocent."

 

[Abu Zakariya]

First off, these people are bias.

Are they anti-Semites as well?

Yet, his mind so distraight over the terrible tragedy which happend to him, now looks desperatly for another cause.

Whoa, I didn't know that you're a psychologist.

Keltoi

If you fight the enemy you fight soldiers, not innocent men, women, and children at a bakery(for example), that is the difference and a very large one.

Of course there's a difference. But do you see a difference between a state that is backed by the US and supplied with weapons and the Palestinians? Since pretty much every Israeli has to serve in the military, they don't really see them as civilians. My point isn't that this military strategy is a good one, but it's still just that and it can't be explained away by saying that they are "evil" instead of realising that you can't keep oppressing a people and not expect them to react.

 

[rav]

Are they anti-Semites as well?

Being bias or naive doesn't make you an anti-semite.

Whoa, I didn't know that you're a psychologist.

Oh well.

Of course there's a difference. But do you see a difference between a state that is backed by the US and supplied with weapons and the Palestinians? Since pretty much every Israeli has to serve in the military, they don't really see them as civilians. My point isn't that this military strategy is a good one, but it's still just that and it can't be explained away by saying that they are "evil" instead of realising that you can't keep oppressing a people and not expect them to react.

When the Nazi's opressed the Jews, the Jews never blew up german civilians. The Jews never killed non-Jews on the street. The Jews would fight against the Nazi soldiers. That is what war is. Not blwoing up a bakery. That is murder.

Now we are getting off topic. Suicide is terrible according to Judaism.

Anymore questions?

 

[thirdwatch512]

well of course some how or another this got turned into an anti israel post. :-/

well i as a christian have a question.. why exactly do you guys reject jesus as the messiah? what DIDN'T he fufill?

also, and this is a question i've wondered for months..

42% of converts to christianity convert because they have some sort of dream or vision of jesus. also, a lot of miraculous healings have happened all of over the world from people who convert to christianity. during the israeli/lebanon conflict there was a church in lebanon with the virgin mary, and the statue was literally crying. and this has happened before as well. there have been many people who have seen the virgin mary or jesus through a ghost like form.

the lady of fatima incident happened on may 17th, in the early 1900's. 3 things were prophesised, every one written down. every one of those prophesies came true too. one of them was the kids had a vision of a man wearing white getting shot. not dying, but getting shot. well guess what! in the 80's, on MAY 17TH, the pope got shot! lol so yeah, i'm not trying to spread christianity hear, i'm just wondering how you, as a jew can explain it?

 

[lavikor201]

also, and this is a question i've wondered for months..

42% of converts to christianity convert because they have some sort of dream or vision of jesus. also, a lot of miraculous healings have happened all of over the world from people who convert to christianity. during the israeli/lebanon conflict there was a church in lebanon with the virgin mary, and the statue was literally crying. and this has happened before as well. there have been many people who have seen the virgin mary or jesus through a ghost like form.

the lady of fatima incident happened on may 17th, in the early 1900's. 3 things were prophesised, every one written down. every one of those prophesies came true too. one of them was the kids had a vision of a man wearing white getting shot. not dying, but getting shot. well guess what! in the 80's, on MAY 17TH, the pope got shot! lol so yeah, i'm not trying to spread christianity hear, i'm just wondering how you, as a jew can explain it?

Explain it? Of course I cannot. I have heard just as many stories from Muslims, Hindu's, Budhists and other religions.

well i as a christian have a question.. why exactly do you guys reject jesus as the messiah? what DIDN'T he fufill?

Here are links to previous posts and anti-missionary sites about this:

http://www.islamicboard.com/436853-post281.html (my previous post)

http://jewsforjudaism.com/jews-jesus/jews-jesus-index.html
http://messiahtruth.com/divine.html
http://messiahtruth.com/eternal.html
http://messiahtruth.com/analysisc.html

 

[thirdwatch512]

the only muslim ones i have heard of are the ones about like in the tomato the word "allah" appears, which technically is just the word of God in arabic.. so it sort of applies to all that believe in God, and not just Islam.

buddhism.. i've never heard of any from buddhism.

hinduism.. i've heard of the cow that goes into a temple every time there is a service during a hindu holiday, but that's all.

how do you explain any of these apparations? do you think that such things might be true apparations sent from God?

 

[lavikor201]

the only muslim ones i have heard of are the ones about like in the tomato the word "allah" appears, which technically is just the word of God in arabic.. so it sort of applies to all that believe in God, and not just Islam.

buddhism.. i've never heard of any from buddhism.

hinduism.. i've heard of the cow that goes into a temple every time there is a service during a hindu holiday, but that's all.

how do you explain any of these apparations? do you think that such things might be true apparations sent from God?

I have heard many Muslim stories, and I have heard many Budhists say that they have seen Budha and other things like visions that have told them the "right way".

They could be sent by G-d, they might not, who knows. G-d works mysteriously. each religion has a share of people who claim to have seen a prophet and tell them their religion is right and other things. It is common in many faiths, not just Christianity.

I am certainly not in a postion to judge these claims, but they certainly do not convince me of anything, except the mysteries of the universe.

 

[Malaikah]

thirdwatch512

I know this thread is for Jewish answers, but can I please explain from an Islamic perspective?

You see, the devil is out there to destroy mankind and make them fall into disbelief in God, so they can go to hell for ever, correct? And the devil can do things that us humans can not do... So the devil uses his abilities to try to trick people through 'miracles', and get them to deviate from the proper belief in God.

For example, I heard a Christian tell a story about missionaries in Africa. There was an African Muslim guy and his friend, who was 'possessed'. The Muslim guy tried to 'cure' him and get the 'spirit' out of his friend using Islamic methods such as read the Quran and stuff like that... it didn't work. Later on they encountered Christian missionaries and when the man was alone with his friend he thought, 'well the Quran didn't work... here I am alone with my friend, why don't I try in the name of Jesus and see what happens'. So he said something like "In the name of Jesus, come out". And, what do you know, the spirit came out...

Amazing? Not really. Remember that the devil's ultimate goal is to get humans to commit acts of disbelief so they can go to hell forever. The devil didn't leave the body when Quran was being read because the person reading it was not strong enough in faith to be able to take on the devil, the devil was stronger. But then, when the man said "In the name of Jesus", what do you think the devil would do? He would realise, "hey wait a sec, if I leave this guys body now, these Muslims are going to think that it happened because they mentioned the name of Jesus, and they would become Christians, thereby earning themselves an eternity in the hell fire".... realising that he no longer needs to posses the body, the devil leaves... the men convert to Christianity... mission completed...