From: solovay@netcom.com (Andrew Solovay)
Subject: Re: Religious question
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 92 08:04:05 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Summary: Misc. answers

Well, no Orthodox Jews will be posting for another day or so, but as a
once-Orthodox Jew & a would-be apikoros, I think I can answer. I'm
sure people will correct my errors...

In article <1992Sep29.034520.21551@javelin.sim.es.com> JHIATT@130.187.170.178 (JOHN HIATT) writes:
>  Do Orthodox Jews still practice animal/food sacrifice to the God of Abraham?
>Why or why not?

The best answer would be "not at the moment". According to Orthodox
(Talmudic) belief, sacrifices may only be performed on the site of
Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem; this site is currently occupied by a
pair of mosques, making it inaccessible. There are other technical
problems; for example, we no longer know many of the details necessary
for the sacrifices. For this reason, prevalent belief is that
sacrifices cannot resume until the Messiah comes (which will bring
about a restoration of prophecy). However, Orthodox belief is that the
current situation is an aberration; sacrifices ought to be performed,
and will be again (soon).
>
>  What do Orthodox Jews think of these Hebrew names:
>-Elohim

Well, no Orthodox Jew would give that name to a child, if that's what
you mean. But for God, it's a perfectly good name.

>-YHWH (pronounced yaw-way)

Gaagh! According to Orthodox belief, the sacred name of God can only
be pronounced in *very* *special* circumstances (mainly the Yom Kippur
service in the temple). As a result, we no longer know how the name is
pronounced; we don't know what vowels go between the four letters. The
pronounciation you suggest is only a conjectured one; in any event,
Orthodox Jews consider it a very grave sin to pronounce it, since it's
a possible pronounciation of the Name.

>-Jehovae?

This is the result of a scholarly error by Renaissance Catholics. It
is a conjectured pronounciation of the four-letter name; it is almost
certainly wrong. Nevertheless, Orthodox Jews are unlikely to pronounce
it for the same reasons as above.


>  Refering to the Old Testament in the christian bible, how do Jews refer to
>this book?  (i.e. what name do they call the scriptures).

In Hebrew, it's known as the "Tanakh" (an acronym for "Torah, Nevi'im,
Ketuvim", i.e. "Law, Prophets, and Writings"-- the three divisions of
the Jewish Bible).

When speaking among themselves (in English), OJs (and Jews in general)
will generally refer to the book as "Tanakh" or "the Bible". When
speaking with non-Jews, Jews are more likely to call it "the Jewish
Bible," (or "Hebrew Bible," etc.) to make clear that they mean just
the Hebrew part, not the New Testament.

>  Are there any differences in the writings contained in the Old Testament and
>the Jewish Scriptures?

There is no difference between the Protestant books of the "Old
Testament" and the Jewish Bible, except the way the books are
arranged. However, Jews find most Protestant *translations* of the
Jewish Bible highly problematic. Jews tend to feel that the
translations are fudged to make it look like the books prophecy Jesus.

The Catholic Old Testament is significantly different; it is based on
the Septuagint, an early translation of the Jewish Bible into Greek.
This translation contains several books which Jews do not think are
normative (the Apocrypha, which comprises Jude, Macabbees,
Eclesiasticus, Wisdom of Solomon, a few others...). The text of
certain books of the Bible is also significantly different (e.g. the
Septuagint's Esther & Daniel have portions not found in the
traditional Jewish versions).

>  What do Orthodox Jews think of:

The following are my personal opinions, but I've tried to make them
general... caveat lector.

>-Jesus Christ

Who? Oh, you mean "Jesus of Nazareth". "Christ" is the Greek
translation of the Hebrew "Mashiach", i.e. Messiah (lit. "annointed
one"). Jews do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, so they do not
refer to him as Christ.

Jews don't think much of him one way or the other. Prevailing opinion
is that he cribbed all his good lines from the Bible and the
Pharisees. (Orthodox Jews, by the way, are big fans of the Pharisees,
who were the authors of the first part of the Talmud, and thus the
founders of post-biblical Judaism.)

Oh, by the way: Orthodox Jews do *not* believe the Messiah will be
God. We had a God-King in Egypt, and we didn't like it; why would we
grow our own? He'll be a king of the line of David, and he'll preside
over a world of perfect peace and harmony, but he won't be God.
According to Maimonides, the Messiah will eventually die, and his son
will be Messiah in his place.

>-christians

Some of my best friends are Christians. I just wouldn't want my
daughter to marry one.

There's some debate about whether Christianity is idolatrous. The
problematic things are the trinity (which looks an awful lot like
polytheism) and the belief that a human (Jesus) was God (worshipping
humans is a classic form of idolatry). General consensus is that it's
a sloppy form of monotheism, and thus a permissible religion for
non-Jews, according to divine law. Islam, on the other hand, is
clearly (and vehemently) monotheistic; there is a good argument to be
made that, from a Jewish religious perspective, Islam is a better
religion for non-Jews then Christianity.

Righteous Christians get eternal life; but then, so do righteous
Moslems, righteous Buddhists, righteous Aztecs... The Kingdom of
Heaven doesn't card very strictly.

>-Saul of Tarsus (known as Paul in New Testament bible)

Blecch. He ranks high on my list of "Jews Who I'm Glad Changed Their
Names", right between Trotsky and Andrew Dice Clay.

>-John the Baptist (New Testament)

Well, Josephus mentions him (he never mentions Jesus, nor does any
other contemporary text besides the Christian Bible). As near as
anyone can figure, he was an okay dude. (There's no reason to believe
he ever became a Christian, by the way. My personal opinion is that
Christians put the John the Baptist stuff in the Gospels in an attempt
to convince Jophn B's many followers to join up.)

>-Ezekiel (Old Testament).

Most excellent dude. One of the three "big prophets", i.e. the
prophets who wrote the longest books. (The other two are Isaiah and
Jeremiah.) Not the easiest book to read, though...

>I am really curious.  John R. Hiatt
>JHIATT@SIM.ES.COM
-- 
Andrew M. Solovay       "Work is the curse of the drinking class."
solovay@netcom.com			--Wilde

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