Any Jews around, a genuine question

[DreamBream234]

Im a Christian, and Im curious about Judaism.

Jews believe they are the chosen people and they dont encourage converts...so why were the rest of us created....what do Jews believe will happen to the goys (non Jews).

Christians, Muslims and other faiths preach their faith so that others may be "saved" why isnt this the case for Judaism....

So Gehenom is a bit like purgatory?
Can I ask about diamonds please. I get the false idols, the golden Calf, Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods (silver and gold). So my understanding of an "idol" is something that we worship instead of G-d, but people place such importance on diamonds that it could be construed as worship. So is it the difference of metal than rock that matters? From my upbringing the worship of money and consumerism would be seen as false idols so diamonds has always confused me.

Jewishbookworm
Step Two: Fix up what you did
How: Apologize and compensate to whoever may have been affected by your mess-up. If at first they don’t forgive, keep trying until they get unreasonable.
In reality probably many murderers/rapists/sexual predators are not able to do an authentic teshuvah.
Is the forgiveness from the victim integral to teshuvah, or can you go to your Rabbi and say I did my best, give them a list of what you did do to prove it and move on that way? Catholic confession kind of skips the victim straight to the priest.

613 rules, but some are for certain groups of people and not others, and some are only absolute commandments when living in Israel.

Thank you, I feel like I have a better understanding now. I really appreciate those who took the time to answer my OP.

I opened this thread with some trepidation but it's so interesting. I'm ethnically Jewish but atheist and wasn't brought up with religion in my life. I love my heritage though, especially being a mix of Ashkenazi and Sephardic. Your posts are all fascinating, thank you for starting the thread OP! (Although your use of the term 'goys' set me on edge).

@MrsTerryPratchett mentioned the idea of conversion to atheist Judaism as being odd and I also can't get my head round that one. What would the point be? Was it maybe conversion to reform Judaism?

Slightly irrelevant, but I read that if a Jew was going to marry someone of a different faith, then the Catholic/Jewish combination was the most successful. I wondered why this would be the case?

Yes, thanks very much. The Mitzvot is an interesting rabbit hole into a different culture.

Probably the ability to commiserate about both dealing with guilt 😀

Christians teach about Jesus and his teachings because that was the last command to his disciples. Matthew 28:19-20 before He ascended into Heaven. Sending out all His disciples to share the Gospel.The Commission includes Jesus’ promise to be with us, “to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

I can't speak for Muslims.

a rabbi might give you advice on how to do teshuva, but yes, if you hurt someone you get their forgiveness.

I think teshuva is between you, the victim and God. Only God knows what is in your heart so He is the only one who can forgive you. A Rabbi doesn't know if your teshuva is sincere or not.

Well that's my set up and I'd say we're happy! But not sure if it's got anything to do with being Jewish/Catholic. His family are actually religious unlike mine and I honestly think his very devout Irish mother would love it if I had more Jewish 'faith'.

I am sorry you had a nasty boss but yes, not every single observant Jew is sweetness and light and full of forgiveness. And of course not all Jews are observant, athough many keep at least some of the commandments.

As you're asking from a Christian viewpoint... There was a huge debate between two major Jewish groups, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, about this and many other points (see Matthew 22:29). The Sadducees were almost exclusively focused on ritual worship at the Temple, and when that was destroyed by the Romans, it was the Pharisaic form of Judaism which developed into rabbinical/synagogue Judaism. (That's a very brief summary of a complex bit of history!)

For the poster upthread who keeps wondering aloud: Needless to say Jews do not “worship” diamonds. There is no special exemption for wealth, diamonds, or property when it comes to the commandment against worshipping false idols.

Within the tradition there is a pretty constant requirement or exhortation to share wealth, to diminish the gap between have and have not, to care for widows and orphans, to pay the labourer his hire. There is a very strong social justice component in the tradition.

@Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain two of the most vile teachers I’ve ever met - racist, classist and hateful etc. identified as Jewish and Christian respectively. Yes it does make you wonder about their level of self awareness.
but you get hypocrites in all walks of life.

More money for the cult church

Been thinking about your question. Teshuva, as someone said above, is complicated. You certainly don't need to confess to anyone else - if it's sincere, it's between you and G-d., unless someone else is involved who you need to apologise to. In biblical times, blasphemers would have been put to death - it's one of the 10 commandments not to blaspheme and to accept G-d as the only G-d and not to take his name in vain / no idols etc. Nowadays we obviously live in different times.

There are a lot of opinions about how to live a Jewish life and about what is a sin. There have always been questioners - (know the saying 2 Jews, 3 opinions?!) There is, in a lot of circles, realisation that a lot of people are on a journey or may not have been brought up to be religious (I wasn't!) and there is so much information about everything in the world at our fingertips and so many opinions and different takes on religion. There is the idea that inside every Jewish soul there is a spark waiting to be lit and that spark is the spark of connection to G-d. Generally speaking, if your teshuva is sincere, you can still have that relationship with G-d. Human beings are certainly not perfect - we make mistakes and if we genuinely accept that then you can do teshuva and grow from it.

Behind all the laws which govern our lives, the whole point is that connection. I guess the idea is that anything that weakens the connection is a 'sin' and anything that strengthens the connection is a mitzvah.

And we don't do hell the way that Christians do - the idea is that it's all about regret for things you did / didn't do and it's not eternal, only for about max 11 months after death (when then headstone is set onto the grave) and by then your soul can rejoin G-d. There are lots of stories of learned people being worried about death because they will be asked not why they weren't as great as Moses or King David but because they will be asked why they weren't the best person that they were meant to be. I'm not talking about mass murderers or serial killers here - I'm sure there is a special place for them somewhere - but for regular people.

@Hélène79 Im so sorry about saying "goys" it what my Jewish colleague uses 😬🫣 I didnt realise it was offensive.

An idol is anything that comes between you and G-d. It doesn't matter what it's made from. One of the reasons that Jews rejected Christianity is the idea that you need someone between you and G-d and certainly the statues of Jesus on the cross etc that you see hanging in churches (mostly Catholic I think) would, to a Jew, be a form of idolatry.

Diamonds and metals are not important. There are a lot of Jews in the diamond trade but this is not a religious thing. Historically there were a lot of Jews in banking as well but this was due to the church basically forcing them into it but denying them other ways of making a living due to laws in the New Testament. I guess diamonds are small and portable and easy to carry if you think you're going to have to make a run for it as frequently happened throughout history.

My patchy knowledge of early Christian theology...I believe 'Hell' was never specifically mentioned by Jesus in terms of the concept we have of it now (& for most of Christian history).

The way it was explained to me was that Gehenna (another name for Gehenom I think?) was a place outside the city where rubbish would be burned, etc and it served as analogy: sin removed one so far from a connection with Gd that it was akin to being in such a place, and the soul suffers from this distance.

My brain is fried tonight but a quick search suggests there's a bit more to it...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna

But, it does seem to tie in with the Jewish concept as described in this thread.

Staunch atheist here, but I'm really enjoying this thread because it ALL baffles me - any religion. I don't understand it at all and it's something I would like to study because, in spite of being of average intelligence, religion is something that never crossed my path other than at school, Brownies and Guides.
I used to quite like reading Christian bible stories as a child. Put on me through the above organisations. I like to think I lead a good life with good morals, but that's me as a person and I won't be labelled by a religion or belief system.
I can't even imagine where it all started.
Do all religions believe in Jesus? With a different God? See - there starts and endeth my knowledge.

A friend of mine way back Uni identified as Jewish due to his bloodline... He liked gummi bears, copious McDonald's burgers and masses of weed. So I got very little insight from him, other than he was Jewish. Well,
That lead me to believe that Jews were a race. Like White, Black, Asian (I am so sorry if those are the wrong terms, I am so thick in many ways!). I'm confusing myself now. But now I only know them as a religion?

I've only learnt from the war that Jews were placed in to Israel after WW2 to make that their home...??
I am so outing my ignorance and lack of knowledge. I've heard of antisemitism of course, but why is being pro gaza not anti semitic? Or is it.

I'm so sorry. I am going to educate myself!

I will say this though. We came across a group of orthodox Jews at Twycross Zoo. They were the rudest people I have ever met. Properly pushing through any queue (I was pregnant and gnarly). Kids absolutely no respect - hammering on glass to gorilla, frightening birds in the aviary, adults not giving a shit. It just gave the impression of - if that's religion, keep it. Awful folk. I'm not tarring all with the same brush etc, but that was my experience.

I think I need Religion For Dummies if they do it!

Fascinating thread by the way & I revisit tomorrow when I'm less tired, but the explanations here of what it means to be Jewish & why Jews are "chosen" is really interesting.

Forgive me putting it bluntly (I hope I don't offend) but if it makes no difference to to God whether someone is Jewish or not, what is the 'benefit' of being so?

Is it as simple as the belief that living a Jewish life brings one closer to God?
And if so, what does that mean for Jewish people who adhere in different ways - e.g some people live an Orthodox life, others live a comparatively relaxed Jewish life?

Further to that, would a secular Jew be considered closer to God than a non-Jew who lived a more pious life (at least with regards to the 10 commandments)?

www.jta.org/2019/04/22/culture/is-goy-a-slur

Goy is a Yiddish word to describe someone not Jewish, but it's all about context .

That's kind of funny. It was my DS who looked up the facts on Jewish/Catholic marriages as his friend was taking home a Jewish boyfriend to her very Catholic Irish mother, we weren't sure how that would go! The relationship didn't work out in the end, but the mother still says why didn't you stick with that lovely Jewish boy😁. I think one of the things she liked was he had a proper religion, even though he wasn't Catholic.

Goyishe naches” describes the kinds of things that a Jew mockingly presumes only a gentile would enjoy, like hunting, sailing and eating white bread

Just read the article posted above, this is a really interesting thread.
I assume the quote is tongue in cheek, but curious as to why sailing wouldn't be seen as a Jewish activity?