Ask a Jew

[Spiderman]

That is both ignorant and offensive. It presumes that someone (and even more problematically, someone outside of Judaism) is entitled to judge what is "pure" Judaism and decide on what basis it existed or ceased to exist, thus disempowering Jews of the claim to knowledge of their own religion or the right to claim being practitioners of their own religion.

What I mean is modern Judaism no longer resembles Judaism of the Old Testament. There is no more animal sacrifice nor stoning of adulterers or a lot of what is called for in Leviticus and other Old Testament Prescriptions and traditions is no longer relevant, at least not relevant enough to take serious/practice.

 

[CMike]

What I mean is modern Judaism no longer resembles Judaism of the Old Testament. There is no more animal sacrifice nor stoning of adulterers or a lot of what is called for in Leviticus and other Old Testament Prescriptions and traditions is no longer relevant, at least not relevant enough to take serious/practice.

What is the "Old Testament"?

The death penalty was very rarely carried out. The criteria to carry out the death penalty was almost impossible to meet.

 

[Spiderman]

What is the "Old Testament"?

The death penalty was very rarely carried out. The criteria to carry out the death penalty was almost impossible to meet.

Animal sacrifice is no longer practiced. That was practiced in Judaism as early as Abraham

 

[rosends]

What I mean is modern Judaism no longer resembles Judaism of the Old Testament. There is no more animal sacrifice nor stoning of adulterers or a lot of what is called for in Leviticus and other Old Testament Prescriptions and traditions is no longer relevant, at least not relevant enough to take serious/practice.

A. Animal sacrifice was an element of temple (and pre-temple) Judaism. But Judaism has a clear set of laws surrounding what one does when sacrifice is impossible (as it is today). Having no sacrifices today is the hallmark of "pure" Judaism because it means we are following the ancient rules which FORBID sacrifice today.
B. There was very rarely any "stoning of adulterers" even when there was a theocracy or a religious court which had authority to do so. But, again, we are following ancient Jewish law when we do what we are commanded in the absence of the religious court.
C. Many of the Levitical laws which cannot be carried out today in the absence of a temple are still relevant (in fact still actively taught). You might want to study up on the Temple Institute and then visit a synagogue on the high holidays and watch the duchening.

Your judgment about what is "relevant" and taken seriously is not a valid arbiter of what makes for Judaism.

 

[Spiderman]

A. Animal sacrifice was an element of temple (and pre-temple) Judaism. But Judaism has a clear set of laws surrounding what one does when sacrifice is impossible (as it is today). Having no sacrifices today is the hallmark of "pure" Judaism because it means we are following the ancient rules which FORBID sacrifice today.
B. There was very rarely any "stoning of adulterers" even when there was a theocracy or a religious court which had authority to do so. But, again, we are following ancient Jewish law when we do what we are commanded in the absence of the religious court.
C. Many of the Levitical laws which cannot be carried out today in the absence of a temple are still relevant (in fact still actively taught). You might want to study up on the Temple Institute and then visit a synagogue on the high holidays and watch the duchening.

Your judgment about what is "relevant" and taken seriously is not a valid arbiter of what makes for Judaism.

Cool. So you still think they are following the law of Moses...maybe not in practice, but in theory?

 

[rosends]

Cool. So you still think they are following the law of Moses...maybe not in practice, but in theory?

We are following it in both. People who say we aren't often don't know what the law of Moses is.

 

[Spiderman]

tell me what the law of moses is in your words without copying and pasting anything

 

[rosends]

tell me what the law of moses is in your words without copying and pasting anything

OK. The law of Moses is the corpus of law and lore codified in the written text of the 5 books of Moses and the Prophets and later writings, and in the oral Torah as codified in the Talmud and its commentaries.

 

[Spiderman]

OK. The law of Moses is the corpus of law and lore codified in the written text of the 5 books of Moses and the Prophets and later writings, and in the oral Torah as codified in the Talmud and its commentaries.

im not letting you off the hook that easy....nice try!

 

[rosends]

im not letting you off the hook that easy....nice try!

How is giving you a direct and straight answer being "let off the hook"? If you have a question, ask it. But don't assert things based on your idea of Judaism and expect it to be a persuasive or welcome judgment of the religion by its practitioners.

 

[Harmonious]

Since I'm follicly challenged, I use tacks.

I have friends who solve the problem by wearing Yemenite-style kipot. They are large and cover a larger portion of the head. They stay on nicely, as gravity is all that is necessary to keep them on.

Tacks... Cute.

tell me what the law of moses is in your words without copying and pasting anything

What type of answer are you looking for, since the answer you were given was accurate and complete?

The answer you got wasn't what you were looking for. So, I repeat: what are you looking for?

 

[Spiderman]

I'm on my phone right now not on a computer so I'm not going to quote all of the verses that I would like to.

I'm not going to quote any verses at all.

how about the purification rituals of a woman menstrating and everything she touches becoming contaminated.

and how about the consequences of a person who doesn't rest on Sabbath or the law calling for the stoning of an adulterer?

no cutting off from the community those who drink blood of an animal?

How is giving you a direct and straight answer being "let off the hook"? If you have a question, ask it. But don't assert things based on your idea of Judaism and expect it to be a persuasive or welcome judgment of the religion by its practitioners.

 

[rosends]

I'm on my phone right now not on a computer so I'm not going to quote all of the verses that I would like to.

I'm not going to quote any verses at all.

how about the purification rituals of a woman menstrating and everything she touches becoming contaminated.

and how about the consequences of a person who doesn't rest on Sabbath or the law calling for the stoning of an adulterer?

no cutting off from the community those who drink blood or eat the fat of an animal?

Well, the purification of a niddah (as a rabbinic obligation) in the mikvah is actually something that every bride preparing for an Orthodox wedding learns. I learned it in high school because it was part of the curriculum (at an all boys school, no less). Other issues of tum'ah through contact are actually not in effect because we don't have the primary cleansing ritual of the parah adumah, so we are all tamei meit all the time anyway.

The consequences of any breaking of the laws would be, as I stated, enforced by a ritual court which we don't have in the absence of the temple and the theocratic country.

And the idea of "cutting off" is actually a state called "kareit" which a court would have to impose also. There are actually lower states of excision which still exist and are sometimes put in place, called "bans."

It seems that you have created a vision of what you think Judaism is, based just in written verses and your understanding of what they are and how they are incorporated into a complete system of living. That's an error on your part.

 

[Tarheeler]

What I mean is modern Judaism no longer resembles Judaism of the Old Testament. There is no more animal sacrifice nor stoning of adulterers or a lot of what is called for in Leviticus and other Old Testament Prescriptions and traditions is no longer relevant, at least not relevant enough to take serious/practice.

Keep in mind that this the Judaism DIR; this in not the place for you to define what you think "pure" Judaism is or to challenge the members of the DIR.
There is no debating allowed in any DIR.

 

[Spiderman]

Tarheeler, post: 4135380, member: 23639"]Keep in mind that this the Judaism DIR; this in not the place for you to define what you think "pure" Judaism is or to challenge the members of the DIR.
There is no debating allowed in any DIR.

Thanks for the reminder

IShould not have used the word pure. Original would have been better. I should have said ancient, then it would not be offensive.

 

[Flankerl]

Oh my.

 

[dantech]

A. Animal sacrifice was an element of temple (and pre-temple) Judaism. But Judaism has a clear set of laws surrounding what one does when sacrifice is impossible (as it is today). Having no sacrifices today is the hallmark of "pure" Judaism because it means we are following the ancient rules which FORBID sacrifice today.
B. There was very rarely any "stoning of adulterers" even when there was a theocracy or a religious court which had authority to do so. But, again, we are following ancient Jewish law when we do what we are commanded in the absence of the religious court.
C. Many of the Levitical laws which cannot be carried out today in the absence of a temple are still relevant (in fact still actively taught). You might want to study up on the Temple Institute and then visit a synagogue on the high holidays and watch the duchening.

Your judgment about what is "relevant" and taken seriously is not a valid arbiter of what makes for Judaism.

We should all quote this post in our signatures, seeing as how there's a new "expert" every week or so who feels the need to tell us our religion is irrelevant...

 

[dantech]

Saint Matthew, what is the purpose of your posts in our DIR? What are you trying to prove? Or rather, in an ideal world, what would you have the Jews practice which they aren't already practicing?

If any part of your answer somehow refers to the name Jesus, then just move on and know that you're wasting your time.

 

[Akivah]

im not letting you off the hook that easy....nice try!

You don't sound like a sincere questioner to me. It sounds like you have something in your head what you think Judaism should be and when we don't meet your fantasy, you are just here to say "Gotcha!".

 

[CMike]

tell me what the law of moses is in your words without copying and pasting anything

There are no "laws of Moses". The laws were given by G-D.