Sages and mystics explore the primordial "mind" of G-d to ask: Is it the Torah that makes the Jew a Jew, or is it the Jew who makes the Torah a Torah?
11 Comments Posted
"This means that G-d's relationship with Israel "pre-dates" (in the conceptual sense) the Torah, for the Torah comes to serve that relationship."
Yet the Torah defines who is part of Israel!
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Thank you for the beautiful and insightful teaching.
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If this is so, why then Jewishness justified through maternal lineage, when the nation of Israel composed of the inheritance of the twelve sons, not of Dinah's descendants.
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What is it that transpires when a non-Jew becomes a Jew that makes the commandments a commitment? What does it mean for a non-Jew to have a Jewish heart? Is it just the recognition within the community that someone has converted? How does someone "become" Jewish?
By the way, great article. :)
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My most valuable possesion, my Bible, sitting open to Psalms on an outdoor table while I am relaxing in the morning, and a homeless man is slowly walking by, he says "I'm thirsty, I'm going to get a beer", then as he is staring at the open Bible, he says " I'd like to have a Bible". This is a man who scoffed, while drunk, when I was reading Psalms one rainy night, who would not accept a Bible from me when I offered it to him. Now I see the result of praying for this person. I thought briefly about what I was about to do. Can I give up this treasure? How can I possibly.... ? It didn't take much thought, what the man is really thirsting for is right here, and that was a request as far as I was concerned to give drink to the thirsty, so I followed him, found him sitting a block away, sat down beside him and handed the book to him. I said, you said you would like to have a Bible? Here, enjoy it, it is life for you. When he looked up to thank me the greatest reward was in that smile.
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There are two views on this.
According to one view, the "non-Jew" actually is a Jew. He has a Jewish soul that somehow got "lost" in a non-Jew's body. His Jewish soul calls out and sometimes finds its way "home" to us. And if he insists on "converting" even though he is discouraged, he is permitted to be immersed in the mikveh with a bet din as witnesses, to formalize his Jewishness.
However, others think that a true non-Jew who desires to convert and who learns and then goes into the mikveh will, at that moment, receive a Jewish soul. There are plenty of Jewish souls in heaven, and one of them will join him. I have heard people who have undergone orthodox conversion {or even other Jewish conversions) say that they felt this happen.
Either way, once a person has been in the mikveh, s/he has a Jewish soul.
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Isn't the deeper idea of 'who is a Jew' and 'what is a Jew' the story that Gd asked each nation to accept the Divine Laws but no one wanted to follow this way of life until he came across the rag tag slaves of Mitzraim-the descendants of Yaakov. These people CHOSE Gd's Divine Laws (I hear and I will do). Therefore, it is a misnomer that we are "The Chosen People"-because ALL PEOPLE ARE CHOSEN. The Jews are, in reality, THE CHOOSING PEOPLE. And, because we are called "Yehudim" , we are the people who give THANKS to Gd (the root of yehuda is lehodot- to give thanks- the only tribe that was not "lost" by the way). Therefore, a "Jewish" Soul is one who has turned towards the One Gd that is all and everything, expresses his/her life in GRATITUDE for Gd's omnipotence and chooses Gd's Divine Laws to live by. Gd continually asks all people to turn towards Him and abide by His laws. Therefore, this is a potentially all-inclusive state of being, depending on ones own self-determination. If all "gentiles" and "jews" knew this, then anti-"semitism" might not exist.
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We're all worms, admit it!
Soon all of humanity will rejoice together; all of us, being one of G-d's special creations, will experience consumate joy and prosperity.
Jew this, non-Jew that, Moshiach will sort it all out. The universe is destined to be composed as a perfect symphony by our Moshiach. What a great conductor this One will be.
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Recent genetic studies have shown that Jews all over the world share a common hereditary pattern, Especially the Cohens and Levites (Cohen Modal Haplotype ). Also the fact that one must have a Jewish mother to be considered so (Halakha) is a sure indicator (given the millenia old tendency not to intermarry with non-Jews . i.e. Jewish males can marry and Jewish women cannot) of Jews as people or what the Germans call a "Volk ".
"we are all one people " ---Theodor Herzl
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that is one of the best articles i have read all week. please keep up the good work. it made me feel good what you wrote mam. thank you very.
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