Instead, many of us take our views from the media, accepting politically correct opinions that invariably change every few years. We eat the fashionable talking points for breakfast and repeat them all day on social media.
Torah values and observances should be a source of pride, but instead, many feel embarrassed by them. I am proud of the timeless wisdom we have been given in the Torah. LGBTQ rabbis. ELAL planes on the tarmac. Jewish theological humility. Jewish gun control advocates. Robust intellectual debate.
Taking a month each year to do Teshuvah. The variety of Jewish identities and practices. Our growing Jewish tent. The oversized Star of David around my neck. It started with Genesis , introducing the revolutionary idea of an unseen God Who is the sole universal moral authority. The Torah changed the world in many other ways, including with some of its most misunderstood passages. The rebellious son passage Deuteronomy did not grant city elders the power to execute a disobedient son; it took that power away from parents.
The Torah knew that humanity is neither inherently good nor evil, but that each of us has good and bad impulses. Jump ahead to today, the Israeli company Water-Gen created a machine that makes water out of air, only the latest of the technological advances with which Israel has made the world better.
That is our mission, we have been doing it for millennia, and we continue to do it today. Rebecca W. I love reading the stories and history of our people, and I love learning about the intricacies of Jewish law. There are so many different interpretations and loopholes.
Most of all, I love to find where the ancient wisdom has meaning for us today. I understand Judaism to be a living tradition that can be reinterpreted and used in different ways depending on the needs of the user.
Asher Lopatin, Orthodox, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School: I am proud of the impact the Jewish people has made in every quarter of the world: in saving lives through science, medicine and psychology; in making the world better through morality, ethics, law, technology and art; and in connecting much of humanity to a God of compassion and caring for every person. On a grander level, I am proud that Judaism gave the world the idea of change and hope through the Messianic vision, and empowered humanity with the responsibility to achieve an ever-more perfect world.
And I am proud that Jewish identity has always evolved to fit new needs and values, enabling us to be proud of who we are without having to defend everything that was or is Jewish.
Our religious texts are interpretive rather than dogmatic. Again, 10 generations passed, with the world's morality constantly deteriorating. It was into this pagan atmosphere that a most unique individual was born. From his earliest childhood, Abraham transcended his pagan environment and recognized that the world was governed by one Supreme Being.
As one of the greatest geniuses of his time, Abraham was able to use his keen mind to see through the sham and falsehood of the values of his generation, and understand the true purpose of creation. Abraham's faith developed and overshadowed everything else in his life, until he was even willing to suffer martyrdom for it. Never in history had an unaided individual made such a complete break with his environment, overcoming all obstacles for the sake of a yet-unknown faith.
When Abraham was 48 years old, a crucial historical event took place. God saw in Abraham a force that could bring all mankind back to Him, if only humanity could be unified. He therefore brought a spirit of unity upon the world, influencing all mankind to act in one accord. However, instead of uniting to serve God, mankind united to build the Tower of Babel. Humanity as a whole then lost the opportunity to come under the category of Israel, the group designed to receive the Torah and fulfill the purpose of creation.
Instead, the human race was split up into nations, each with its own language and mission. It was at this time that God decreed that the descendants of Abraham also become a nation, with the special mission of serving God and fulfilling his purpose in creation. At the age of 70 Abraham took a voluntary pilgrimage to the Holy Land. After a sojourn in Egypt, where he gained great wealth, he returned to the Holy Land, where he soon became caught up in a great battle that was raging there.
After playing a decisive role in this battle, Abraham was blessed by Shem and was taught by him the traditions that had been handed down from the time of Adam. At this time, Abraham took over from Shem the task of being the bearer of these traditions.
Using the methods taught to him by Shem, Abraham sought to attain true prophecy. Soon, God revealed Himself to Abraham, and promised that his children would eventually grow into a great nation. A while after this, when Abraham was 75, God revealed Himself to him again, and instructed him to leave his homeland permanently and to settle in the Holy Land. By this time, Abraham's faith was not only fully developed, but he also had the courage to act on the basis of his convictions.
Realizing that one cannot live a truth while allowing others to remain ignorant of it, Abraham became the first one publicly to teach about God and His universal commandments. Therefore, unlike the other righteous people of his time, whose children quickly became reabsorbed in the paganism of their time, Abraham was able to transmit his values to his offspring.
He was able to establish his teachings among his descendants, until a self-sustaining group of the faithful was firmly established. God thus said, Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through him. For I have known him, and I know that he will instruct his children and his household after him, that they will keep God's way, and maintain righteousness and justice, so that God will be able to grant Abraham everything He promised him Genesis Still, Abraham's environment was so corrupt that it even claimed some of his own children and grandchildren.
Of his two sons, only Isaac carried on the tradition, while Ishmael reverted to paganism. Similarly, of Isaac's two sons, only Jacob remained true, while Esav soon abandoned God's law. Thus, of all Abraham's children, only Jacob and his family were able to maintain the tradition intact. God changed Abraham's name and gave him and his descendants the commandment of circumcision as an everlasting covenant.
Abraham was circumcised by Shem, after which Abraham himself circumcised the rest of his household. This occurred on Yom Kippur, and that day therefore marks the beginning of Israel's covenant with God. Circumcision was given to Abraham and his offspring so that they would be set aside by an indelible bodily sign, symbolic of their control of their physical passions.
Since it was on the organ of reproduction, it symbolized that the particular distinction given to Abraham would also be passed on to his children. It implied that he would have offspring who would have the distinction of having the status of Israel.
To some degree, circumcision restored Abraham and his descendants to the status of Adam before his sin. It was because they were circumcised that Abraham's descendants were able to be the recipients of the Torah. Thus it was through the commandment of circumcision that the purpose of creation could be fulfilled.
The commandment of circumcision did not apply to the children of Ishmael, since it was given after his birth. Similarly, it did not apply to the children of Esav, since they rejected the distinction and responsibility that went with the covenant.
Thus, of all the descendants of Abraham, only the children of Israel are bound by this commandment. God tested Abraham in 10 different ways to prove his faith.
In the last of these tests, He asked Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. After these tests, God gave Abraham the distinction that no one other than his descendants would ever have the status of Israel.
God also promised that even if his descendants sinned, they would never be abandoned. Of all the Patriarchs, only Jacob was able to lead all his children in the way of God. It was for this reason that he was chosen to be the father of the nation dedicated to serving Him.
Jacob became worthy of this after he wrestled with an angel and defeated him. This battle took place on a spiritual level, and was perceived by Jacob in a prophetic vision. The man with whom he wrestled symbolized all the forces of evil in the world, and hence, the fact that Jacob was victorious showed that he had enough spiritual fortitude to give over to his children the power to ultimately overcome evil.
In this episode, Jacob was wounded in his thigh. This symbolized the partial victory of evil as well as the persecutions that his children would have to endure as a dedicated people. Jacob accepted both the responsibility and its consequences, merely asking for a blessing to give his children the power to endure. The angel then gave Jacob the name Israel.
This indicated that Jacob and his offspring would be great before God, and that they would have power over the highest spiritual forces. It also indicated that Jacob's offspring would survive to carry the banner of God's teachings to all mankind. God later reaffirmed that Jacob was indeed Israel. Jacob had become Israel, the head of the group that God had originally conceived as the recipients of His good.
Israel was a concept that had existed before creation, but now Jacob and his descendants would be worthy of carrying both the name and the concept that goes with it. Even the ancestry of the Patriarchs, however, would not have been enough to mold Israel into a nation capable of adhering to their faith under all conditions. God therefore decreed that they spend years in Egypt. During this time, they would be subject to the harshest persecution and slavery.
The Egyptian bondage was like a refining furnace, where all the spiritually weaker elements were weeded out, while at the same time, the Israelites grew from a small desert family to a populous nation. The Egyptian bondage would expose the Israelites to one of the greatest civilizations of the time, while at the same time strengthening them and drawing them together. In many ways, the Israelites proved themselves worthy of God's choice.
Even under the most degrading slavery, they maintained their identity and basic moral values. Out of the crucible of Egypt, Israel thus emerged, refined and ready to become the torchbearers of God and the recipients of His Torah. A small elite of priests headed the Temple, and Torah study was also the province of a very few. To ensure continuity, every man was tasked with the duty of imbuing his sons from a young age with the ability to read and write.
That was indeed a revolutionary development in a world in which a majority of whose inhabitants were illiterate.
All this is well known, but what is less clear relates to the unforeseen consequences of this dramatic development, both for Judaism and for the mutual relations between its adherents and their surroundings.
How could a simple Jewish farmer in some Galilee village in C. And what did he get out of it? This was a central existential dilemma that burdened Jews in that period: to bear the financial burden of education and thereby cleave to Judaism, or to benefit from the immediate saving of such expenditures, and thereby forgo Judaism.
Obviously, Jews whose affinity for their religion was weak to begin with, or those who had difficulty learning, would be tempted to choose less difficult alternatives. In other words, common sense says that part of the Jewish people would assimilate, and therefore the population would gradually decrease.
Epidemics and massacres also contributed to this, but these factors account at most for only about half of the steep population decline. In the mid-seventh century, there was an historic encounter between the Jews and then-ascending Islam. That encounter was destined to strengthen the literacy revolution that had taken root centuries earlier among the Jews, and to channel it in unexpected directions.
Within it was inculcated not only the religion of Islam but also a dominant language, Arabic, new institutions and laws. This tremendous wave of globalization and urbanization sparked increased demand for educated professionals with intellectual skills.
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