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Previous Posts
Animal Wisdom: The Voice of the Serpent
Our family watched Jaws together the other evening -- which, in case you're wondering, I regard as responsible parenting since our kids are basically too young to be genuinely scared by the film. The whole rest of the next day, two-year-old Saul was chattering about the "shark teeth." "Shark teeth g
posted 3:56:33pm Mar. 16, 2010 |
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Reading Wesley Smith: Why the Darwin Debate Matters
If the intelligent-design side in the evolution debate doesn't receive the support you might expect from people who should be allies, that may be because they haven't grasped why the whole thing matters so urgently. I got an email recently from a journalist whom I'd queried on the subject. "All told
posted 5:07:12pm Mar. 15, 2010 |
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The Mission of the Jews
Don't miss my essay over at First Things on the mission of the Jews to the world. This, I think, the key idea that the Jewish community needs to absorb at this very unusual cultural moment, for the time is so, so right. Non-Jews are waiting for us to fulfill the roll God gave us in the Torah. Please
posted 6:14:16pm Mar. 05, 2010 |
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Darwin at the Mountains of Madness: Evolution & the Occult
Of all the regrettable cultural forces that Darwinism helped unleash, perhaps the most surprising and seemingly unlikely is its role in sparking the creation of modern occultism. Charles Darwin himself could not have been less interested in the topic. But no attempt to assess the scope of his legacy
posted 2:04:11pm Mar. 04, 2010 |
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Why Women Will Never Be Orthodox Rabbis
I have sympathy for religious mavericks like Rabbi Avi Weiss of New York, who for ordaining a woman as a rabbi, or "rabba" as he calls her, is under fire from Orthodox rabbinic colleagues on the Rabbinical Council of America. To be Avi Weiss takes guts. Unfortunately for him, as the N
posted 6:10:06pm Feb. 28, 2010 |
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posted April 27, 2009 at 5:54 pm
As a Christian reader of Scripture I have observed such a mission for the Jews. As I read your posts, I see that perhaps I’m not just imposing a Christian reading on the text (though my perverse imagination can imagine some folks accusing you of allowing yourself to read the text from a Christian point of view).
posted April 27, 2009 at 7:15 pm
No, I still don’t believe that Jews are running around trying to convert people to their way of life to try to prevent them from falling into the fiery pit that is Hell. No, I don’t. This, though, was one of things I liked about it when I finally converted to Judaism.
posted April 27, 2009 at 10:08 pm
I’m not a Jew, Aliza, (and I’m not David either), but my guess is that he’d define the mission of the Jews not as prevent people “from falling into the fiery pit that is Hell,” but as extending the blessings of God to outsiders (remembering David’s starting point at Ex 19:5-6 – & Gen 12:1-3).
posted April 27, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Thanks, Richard, yes that’s exactly right — and I appreciate Aliza’s prompting me to clarify. The Jewish mission isn’t to save people from damnation by turning them into Jews but to save the culture of nihilism and meaninglessness by seeking to help people clarify ultimate questions with the help of the moral, spiritual, intellectual framework given in Torah for non-Jews, namely the Noachide code.
posted April 28, 2009 at 10:14 am
All religions attempt to convert others to their way of thinking. But one must remember that the mind dies with the body…so thoughts are short term..thank Wakanda.
Religion is Man’s view of God.
Spirituality is God’s view of God.
As a breed Ponca elder and healer, I seek to convert no one for I have no religion, just my own spiritual connection to Wakanda (God)…which I cannot share with anyone and I cannot take their spiritual connection to God…whatever that may be.
Be at peace now, for soon your mind will die and your soul will be free to live in peace, harmony and love with the Universe.
I have said enough, for my words are beginning to sound like a religion…aho…
posted April 28, 2009 at 11:35 am
I am a converted Jew…I wasn’t pursued, I chose…I’ve found TRUTH in Judaism…Judaism is a difficult path and isn’t easy…but I am happier than in Christianity!
posted April 28, 2009 at 2:35 pm
My life was transformed by Judaism, I still have to convert. My first conection with Judaism was because of my granfather that was a Jew. First time I heard the Shema was from my granma that was a non jew.
posted April 28, 2009 at 4:47 pm
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him:
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22: 36-40)
posted April 28, 2009 at 7:17 pm
A rising tide of righteousness elevates all souls, eh? A concept.
More simply put, everthing which adds goodness, add it for all. It may be worth recognizing that this is no less true of what non-Jews contribute.
Just an opinion.
posted April 28, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Judaism does not only not have a mission to convert others, we actively try to dissuade those who come to us stating their wish to convert. It is only after the third time that they state their intention and desire to convert that we begin teaching our way of life to a stranger who would like to become one of Klal Yisrael.
posted April 28, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Rebecca, the issue isn’t converting people to Judaism. It’s awakening them to spiritual realities as framed by the Torah. Big difference!
posted April 28, 2009 at 10:23 pm
I would characterize the external mission of Judaism as converting the gentiles into Noachides. Elijah Benamozegh (e.g., “Israel and Humanity”) is excellent on this topic.
posted April 29, 2009 at 3:35 am
Judaism recognizes the fine line between respecting the beliefs of all good people and the desire to show our way to those interested in conversion. We believe all good moral humans are deserving of respect regardless of their religious beliefs. If they choose to join us out of a sincere belief that our belief systems is the one closest to their own, then we have no right to send this person away.
posted April 29, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Mission? No. We have no mission to convert others to our way of life. Not having a mission doesn’t mean we can’t do so. There is a difference between mission and permission, and we are not forbidden from “welcoming the stranger”. But we tend to lead by example, to live our lives in such a way that others want what we have.
posted May 17, 2009 at 7:53 pm
I’m not a Jew and I am searching for information and trying to learn about the jewish life style (To Convert to Judaism )
I would appreciate all the help and advice I can get to reach my goal
posted May 18, 2009 at 10:56 pm
You should read “The Lord Will Gather Me In” by the author of this blog!!!
posted October 24, 2009 at 1:02 am
i read in the torah that ishmael was a son of Abraham . a promise made by god that his descendants would be a great nation. i do not see that this promise has been realised.
posted October 26, 2009 at 5:56 am
Isaac (such an ironic name, given your post),
Assuming the we can identify the descendants of Ishmael as the Moslems, I suppose I see your point. However, at /one time/ in history, the Moslems were relatively great. (I’m not sure if the promise must be that they’d be /eternally/ great. I guess this greatness was before a certain type of fundamentalism set in, though.