What is the definition of, the God of the ewish faith?
piedmont
withing the Jewish faith. Is there a 'Jewish" God that early Jews believe in
as strictly the God of the Jews and not all inclusive. Was the original God
of the Jews strictly the God of the blood family of Jews.
Or was the early concept of God within the Jewish faith the God of all
mankind, the creator of all mankind or just the benefactor of the Jewish
family of people? I say this repeatly as I'm not certain how to made my
question clear and I attempt to speak with respect.
I always thought that the origianl God of Jews was for Jews only, that other
tribes or other people had their own God/s. Is this correct??
Is the Jewish concept of God the same as 3,000 years ago or has it changed?
--
Regards,
piedmont
mm
wrote:
>I'm unable to find information about Judaism's conception of God from
>withing the Jewish faith. Is there a 'Jewish" God that early Jews believe in
>as strictly the God of the Jews and not all inclusive.
No.
>Was the original God
>of the Jews strictly the God of the blood family of Jews.
No, not from our point of view. But it has taken time, a lot of
time, for people around the world to learn about God. Still not
everyone knows, and of those who know, not everyone believes that God
in the Torah is the only god, or that He is their God.
>Or was the early concept of God within the Jewish faith the God of all
>mankind,
Yes. Those who are born Jews or who choose to become Jews should all
know that God is the God of all mankind. My mind doesn't work well at
recalling particular lines but I'm sure it's in the liturgy many
places. Well, it says in all the blessings we make, "Blessed are you,
Lord, our God, King of the universe,...." That's one common example.
Well, on rereading your line above, I think it depends on what the
meaning of "concept and "of" are. OUR concept of God was that he
created the world and everything in it, and when Israel was an
independent nation, aiui non-Isralites living among us were not
allowed to practice idolatry or commit blasphemy, blasphemy against
our God. Saying outloud that he's not real or he doesn't have power,
and maybe other things like he's evil, I think. But we didn't force
them to pray to our God either. I haven't heard it discussed, but I
don't think that meant they couldn't have their own gods, as long as
they didn't worship them through idols, and didn't blaspheme our God.
One meaning of "of" would mean from their point of view, and Jews know
that not everyone beiieves in or even knows of the God of the Torah.
BTW, it says clearly in the Talmud that "The righteous of all nations
have a place in the world to come." As I understand this, but I'm no
rabbi, so you probably shouldn't quote me, this doesn't even require
people to believe in any god as long as they don't worship idols,
blaspheme our God, and don't murder, steal, and a few other things.
>the creator of all mankind or just the benefactor of the Jewish
>family of people?
I'm not sure that God is so much our benefactor, especially not moreso
than that of other peoples. I might compare the Jews to Lewis and
Clark. Thomas Jefferson, I think it was, hired them and gave them a
great duty, difficult task, and great honor, to investigate the
Louisiana Purchase. And it was a very hard job, and Jefferson didn't
keep the rain from falling on them, or make the river they were
paddling on run upstream, etc.
So Lewis and Clark might have been happier if Jefferson hadn't hired
them.
>I say this repeatly as I'm not certain how to made my
>question clear and I attempt to speak with respect.
Understood. You've been very respectful.
>I always thought that the origianl God of Jews was for Jews only, that other
>tribes or other people had their own God/s.
Other people did have their own gods -- there are Hindus, for example,
who still have their own gods -- but that isn't because our God was
only for us.
> Is this correct??
>
>Is the Jewish concept of God the same as 3,000 years ago or has it changed?
I think it is the same.
It's worth reading the Book of Jonah, to see how at least the people
on that ship respected Jonah's God, another people's God, even though
they had gods of their own. (I capitalize my God when writing
English, but Hebrew doesn't have capital letters, and if the alphabets
used by the people n the book of Jonah did have capitals, they'd
probably be likely to capitalize equally all the gods they thought
were real.) It's worth noting that they didn't want to throw him
overboard, even when their ship seemed in danger of sinking because
Jonah's God was angry at Jonah. Jonah had to insist on it. The crew
seem like righteous people to me.
--
Meir
"The baby's name is Shlomo. He's named after his grandfather, Scott."
Patty
What have you read? With whom have you spoken? If you haven't
accessed the following material, try it. It's all free.
www.jewishencyclopedia.com
FAQ
http://shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/
Lots of other info
http://613.org/
http://www.ou.org/torah/judaism_101
http://www.jewfaq.org/index.htm especially http://www.jewfaq.org/g-d.htm
Herman Rubin
mm <mm2...@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>On Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:20:20 +0000 (UTC), "piedmont" <N...@Spam.net>
>wrote:
>>I'm unable to find information about Judaism's conception of God from
>>withing the Jewish faith. Is there a 'Jewish" God that early Jews believe in
>>as strictly the God of the Jews and not all inclusive.
>No.
There are many who believe that the original concept
of God was that He was the supreme God of many, and
that Jews could ONLY worship Him. However, after the
Captivity, the belief in the existence of other Gods
disappeared completely from Judaism.
--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
hru...@stat.purdue.edu Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558
Dennis
Ah, a comment from another non-Jew. I know that Jews usually write
"G_d", it's considered inappropriate to write it out. They take the
Commandment not to take His Name in vain very seriously. They often usse
such circumlocutions as "ha-Shem" (Hebrew for "the Name") or "the Holy
One." The others can tell you more.
Dennis
sheldonlg
> piedmont wrote:
>
>> I'm unable to find information about Judaism's conception of God from
>> withing the Jewish faith. Is there a 'Jewish" God that early Jews
>> believe in as strictly the God of the Jews and not all inclusive. Was
>> the original God of the Jews strictly the God of the blood family of
>> Jews.
>>
>> Or was the early concept of God within the Jewish faith the God of all
>> mankind, the creator of all mankind or just the benefactor of the
>> Jewish family of people? I say this repeatly as I'm not certain how to
>> made my question clear and I attempt to speak with respect.
>>
>> I always thought that the origianl God of Jews was for Jews only, that
>> other tribes or other people had their own God/s. Is this correct??
>>
>> Is the Jewish concept of God the same as 3,000 years ago or has it
>> changed?
>
> Ah, a comment from another non-Jew. I know that Jews usually write
> "G_d", it's considered inappropriate to write it out. They take the
I don't and I don't. I write "God" for our god and "god" when referring
to the ones of idol worshipers or mythology (Greek, Roman, Norse, etc.).
I think "G_d" is a bit of overkill. However, that is just my opinion.
BTW, "God" is not his name.
cindys
Some Jews write "G-d," but others (including some O Jews) just write
"God." When God's name is written on a piece of paper, we take care to
bury it, not just throw it in the trash or something, but that is when
God's name appears in Hebrew (like in a prayer book). Abbreviating the
English word "God" as "G-d" is just an additional safeguard that some
people like to use, but writing it this way is a point of debate,and
"God" is not His name.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.
Henry Goodman
news:585f1b1f-98d8-483e...@o28g2000yqh.googlegroups.com...
Typing it on a computer screen is of less importance than writing it on
paper.
--
Henry Goodman
henry dot goodman at virgin dot net
Fattush
> On Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:20:20 +0000 (UTC), "piedmont" <N...@Spam.net>
> wrote:
>
> >I'm unable to find information about Judaism's conception of God from
> >withing the Jewish faith. Is there a 'Jewish" God that early Jews believe in
> >as strictly the God of the Jews and not all inclusive.
>
> No.
>
> >Was the original God
> >of the Jews strictly the God of the blood family of Jews.
>
> No, not from our point of view. But it has taken time, a lot of
> time, for people around the world to learn about God. Still not
> everyone knows, and of those who know, not everyone believes that God
> in the Torah is the only god, or that He is their God.
SNIP
I snipped most of this to save space, but I just wanted to say this is
a beautiful, moving post. Thank you.