#judaism — Public Fediverse posts

Some Chabad People Are Coming for Ramat Aviv’s Children

When adults with an agenda approach your children when you aren’t around, look for us somewhere between the…
#Israel #News #Chabad #Judaism #telaviv #Ultra-Orthodox
https://www.europesays.com/3237015/

My dad’s determination to choose life despite his cruel illness has taught me gratitude | Nomi Kaltmann
By Nomi Kaltmann

We can’t control what happens to us – only how we react to it. And when we help others we are reminded that we are more than our suffering

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/07/making-sense-dads-parkinsons-disease-taught-me-gratitude

#Parkinsonsdisease #Judaism #Religion #Health #Health #Australianews #TheGuardian #NomiKaltmann

My dad’s determination to choose life despite his cruel illness has taught me gratitude | Nomi Kaltmann
By Nomi Kaltmann

We can’t control what happens to us – only how we react to it. And when we help others we are reminded that we are more than our suffering

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/07/making-sense-dads-parkinsons-disease-taught-me-gratitude

#Parkinsonsdisease #Judaism #Religion #Health #Health #Australianews #TheGuardian #NomiKaltmann

My dad’s determination to choose life despite his cruel illness has taught me gratitude | Nomi Kaltmann
By Nomi Kaltmann

We can’t control what happens to us – only how we react to it. And when we help others we are reminded that we are more than our suffering

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/07/making-sense-dads-parkinsons-disease-taught-me-gratitude

#Parkinsonsdisease #Judaism #Religion #Health #Health #Australianews #TheGuardian #NomiKaltmann

‘Pod Save America’ hosts botch blood libel definition while mocking Vance

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! “Pod Save America” co-hosts Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett mocked…
#UnitedStates #US #USA #anti-Semitism #controversies #hatecrime #JamesDavidVance #jdvance #Judaism #media #vance #vicepresident #VP
https://www.europesays.com/3234824/

https://www.europesays.com/people/216459/ ‘Pod Save America’ hosts botch blood libel definition while mocking Vance #AntiSemitism #controversies #HateCrime #JamesDavidVance #JDVance #Judaism #Media

Israel must give Ethiopian Israelis a bigger role in politics and at the UN

For generations, in the highlands of East Africa between the Blue Nile basin and the Red Sea world,…
#NewsBeep #News #BreakingNews #breakingnews #christians #EthiopianJews #ethiopianjewsinisrael #famousjewishpeople #generalassembly #Israel #israelipolitics #Judaism #muslims #Opinion #Sigd #UnitedNations #UNSC #USPolitics #zionism
https://www.newsbeep.com/712314/

https://www.europesays.com/iran/269507/ NYC-funded puppet show turns into Israel bashing hatefest: ‘Came out of nowhere’ #HateSpeech #Israel #IsraelHamasWar #Judaism #LowerManhattan #Metro #puppets #UsNews

" #Rabbi #ChaimSteinmetz of #CongregationKehilath on the #UpperEastSide has #published “A Proud #Jew,” drawing on his weekly #Torah #essays.

The essays collected in the new volume, his third #book, reference weekly Torah portions, the holidays, Jewish life and contemporary events. Together, they explore what it means to live as a Jew in a complicated world and why #Jewish identity should be a source of strength rather than something to conceal.

The book’s title comes from one of its essays, but as #RabbiSteinmetz writes in the preface, it reflects the message of the entire collection: “Our mission is to carry with pride #Judaism’s message to humanity.”

That message has taken on particular urgency in Rabbi Steinmetz’s work in #NewYork."

https://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/rabbi-steinmetz-book-presents-a-proud-jew,26755?

@aartaka

According to man's understanding, what you say could introduce doubt about the Christ, who gave us the new testament, which is his blood, a sacrifice he made available also to you.

Before #Judaism, there was Abraham. He was never called a #Jew, but he was a friend of #God. And #Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am."

Nothing predates God, who is the Eternal Truth. This planet was created by Jesus, who is the Word of God made flesh, who existed before the world was.

There's actually a very active frum fitness scene.

"It may be one of the most overlooked #religious obligations of our time.

Not #prayer. Not #charity. Not even #Torahstudy. But #exercise.

That may sound odd, because #Judaism is not a culture of physical vanity. We do not worship the body, glorify muscle, or measure human worth by outward appearance. The #Torah’s ideal is not the #athlete in the stadium, but the #Jew who lives with #faith, discipline, humility, and a sense of higher purpose.

And yet, somewhere along the way, many of us seem to have confused rejecting vanity with neglecting #health.

When it comes to sleep, diet, movement, and basic physical care, too many people treat the body as if it were religiously irrelevant."

#Jewish tradition says otherwise."

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-904096

Ashkenazi Jews

Author’s Note: This post has mentions of Nazis, the Holocaust, & Nazi Germany. We completely understand if you wish to skip over this post. We’ll catch you in the next one!

Also known as Ashkenazic Jews, Ashkenazis, or Ashkenazim.

This is a form of distinct ethnic subdivision of the Jewish Diaspora. Emerging from the Jewish communities that consolidated during the 10th century in the Rhineland (Western Germany) & northern France. They migrated there from centers such as the Italian peninsula & the Southern Levant. This includes present-day Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, & Jordan.

After numerous massacres of Jews during the Crusades (11th-13th centuries), they began a gradual eastward migration due to mounting restrictions within the Holy Roman Empire & the favorable policies of Casimir the Great & others.

This diaspora ramped up after the persecution during the Black Death of the 14th century. The bulk of the Ashkenazi Jews had migrated to the Kingdom of Poland (which includes modern-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, & parts of Russia). This area became the main center of Ashkenazi Jewry until the Holocaust.

Ashkenazim adapted their traditions, rites, & customs to Europe. They traditionally followed the German rite synagogue ritual & until the Holocaust primarily spoke Yiddish, an offshoot of Middle High German written in a variety of the Hebrew script, with significant Hebrew, Aramaic, & Slavic influences.

The Yiddish language progressively declined in prestige, in favor of national languages & Hebrew, being stigmatized by assimilationists & later also Zionists. Though it was spoken by over 11 million people worldwide before the Holocaust. The Yiddishist movement, which sought to preserve & revive the language, faded through the 20th century. Including Duolingo adding Yiddish as a language.

As a proportion of the world Jewish population, Ashkenazim were estimated to be 3% in the 11th century, rising to 92% in 1930, near the population’s peak. The Ashkenazi population was significantly diminished by the Holocaust carried out by Nazi Germany during WWII, which killed around 6 million Jews. Before WWII, the estimated worldwide Jewish population was 15.3-16.7 million, with 92% being Ashkenazi. As of 2023, the population of Ashkenazim was estimated to be around 10-13 million out of 15.8 million total Jews.

The name Ashkenazi comes from the biblical figure of Ashkenaz. He’s the 1st son of Gomer, grandson of Japhet, great-grandson of Noah, & a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations. The name for Gomer has often been linked to the Cimmerians.

The Biblical Ashkenazis are usually derived from Assyrian Askuza, a people who expelled the Cimmerians from the Armenian area of the Upper Euphrates. The name Askuza is identified with the Scythians.

In Jeremiah 51:27, Ashkenaz figures as 1 of 3 kingdoms in the far north, the others being Minni (or Mannaea), an ancient kingdom that flourished in northwestern Iran, & Arrat (corresponding to Urartu), called on by God to resist Babylon.

Ashkenaz is linked to Scandza/Scanzia (usually identified with Scandinavia), viewed as the cradle of Germanic tribes, in the 6th-century gloss to the Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius. In the 10th century, in the History of Armenia of Yovhannes Drasxanakertci, Ashkenaz was associated with Armenia.

As it was occasionally in Jewish usage, where its denotation extended at times to Adiabene, Khazaria, Chimea, & areas to the east. They’re also identified with the Slavim or Slavs. In keeping with the custom of designating areas of Jewish settlement with biblical names, Spain was called Sefarad (Obadiah 20), France was called Tsarefat (I Kings 17:9), & Bohemia was called the Land of Canaan.

Given the close links between the Jewish communities of France & Germany following the Carolingian unification, the term Ashkenazi came to refer to the Jews of both medieval Germany & France.

In later times, the word Ashkenaz is used to designate southern & western Germany, the ritual of which sections differs somewhat from that of eastern Germany & Poland. Thus, the prayer book of Isaiah Horowitz (a prominent rabbi & mystic), & many others, give the piyyutim (a Jewish liturgical poem), according to the Minhag of Ashkenaz & Poland. A Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism.

In a religious sense, an Ashkenazi Jew is any Jew whose family tradition & synagogue ritual follow Ashkenazi practices (German rite). Until the Ashkenazi community 1st began to develop in the Early Middle Ages, the centers of Jewish religious authority were in the Islamic world, at Baghdad & Islamic Spain. German Ashkenaz was so geographically distant that it developed a minhag of its own.

The counterpart of Ashkenazi is Sephardic. Since most non-Ashkenazi Orthodox Jews follow Sephardic rabbinical authorities, whether or not they’re ethnically Sephardic. By tradition, a Sephardic or Mizrahi (a.k.a. Oriental Jews; Jews who lived in the Muslim world) who married into an Orthodox or Haredi (a.k.a. ultra-Orthodox) Ashkenazi Jewish family raises her kids to be Ashkenazi Jews.

On the other hand, an Ashkenazi woman who married a Sephardi or Mizrahi is expected to take on Sephardic practices & the kids will “inherit” a Sephardic identity. Though in practice, many families do compromise. A “convert” usually follows the practice of the rabbinical court (beth din) that converted them.

Culturally, an Ashkenazi Jew can be identified by the concept of Yiddishkeit, which means “Jewishness” in the Yiddish language. Before the Haskalah (a.k.a. the Jewish Enlightenment) & the emancipation of Jews in Europe, this meant the study of the Torah & the Talmud for men, & communal life governed by the observance of Jewish Law for men & women.

From the Rhineland to Riga (the largest city in Latvia) to Romania, most Jews prayed in liturgical Ashkenazi Hebrew, & spoke Yiddish in their secular (worldly) lives. But with modernization, Yiddishkeit now includes not just Orthodoxy & Hasidism, but a broader range of movements, ideologies, practices, & traditions in which Ashkenazi have participated & somehow kept a sense of Jewishness. Although pockets of Jews still speak Yiddish, Yiddishkeit can be identified in manners of speech, styles of humor, & in patterns of association.

As Ashkenazi Jews moved away from Europe, mostly in the form of aliyah to Israel. Or immigration to North America, South Africa, Europe (particularly France), & Latin America, the geographic isolation has given way to mixing with other cultures, & with non-Ashkenazi Jews who, similarly, are no longer isolated in distinct geographic locales.

Hebrew has replaced Yiddish as the primary Jewish language for many Ashkenazi Jews. Although many Hasidic & Hareidi groups still use Yiddish in daily life. Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographic Land of Israel or the Palestine region, where the State of Israel was established.

France’s blended Jewish community is typical of the cultural recombination that’s going on among Jews throughout the world. Although France expelled its original Jewish population in the Middle Ages, by the time of the French Revolution, there were 2 distinct Jewish populations.

One consisted of Sephardic Jews, originally refugees from the Inquisition (which no one expects! Sorry, we’re Monty Python fans here.) & concentrated in the southwest. While the other community was Ashkenazi, concentrated in formerly German Alsace, & mainly speaking a German dialect similar to Yiddish.

The 3rd community of Provencal Jews living in Comtat Venaissin was technically outside France, & was later absorbed into the Sephardim. Comtat Venaissin (called Comtat, for short) was a part of the Papal States from 1274 to 1791.

But after emancipation, a sense of a unified French Jewry emerged, especially when France was wracked by the Dreyfus Affair in the 1890s. (We’ll be doing a post about the Dreyfus Affair.) In the 1920s & 30s, Ashkenazi Jews from Europe arrived in large numbers as refugees from antisemitism, the Russian Revolution, & the economic turmoil of the Great Depression.

By the 1930s, Paris had a vibrant Yiddish culture, & many Jews were involved in diverse political movements. After the Vichy years & the Holocaust, the French Jewish population was augmented once again, 1st by Ashkenazi refugees from Central Europe, & later by Sephardi immigrants & refugees from North Africa, many of them francophone. Francophone refers to people/organizations who use French (language) regularly.

Ashkenazi Jews didn’t transmit their traditions or achievements by text. Instead, these traditions were passed down orally from one generation to the next. The desire to maintain pre-Holocaust traditions relating to Ashkenazi culture has often been met with criticism by Jews in Eastern Europe.

In an ethnic sense, an Ashkenazi Jew is a descendant of the Jews who settled in the Central European region of “Ashkenaz.” For roughly 1,000 years, the Ashkenazim were a reproductively isolated population in Europe.

Despite living in many countries, with little inflow or outflow of countries from migration, conversion, or intermarriage with other groups, including other Jews. Since the mid-20th century, many Ashkenazi Jews have intermarried, both with members of other Jewish communities & non-Jews.

Religious persecution of the Jews in Western & Central Europe led to a significant migration of the Ashkenazi Jews into Eastern Europe. This resulted in a major cultural divide between Western/Central & Eastern Ashkenazi communities. In particular, this was reflected in the division of Yiddish into Western & Eastern Yiddish dialects. As well as in other cultural distinctions: traditions, food, dress, etc.

Initially, the Jews of Eastern Europe enjoyed relative freedom in terms of movement, being invited by the kings of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Over time, the situation was reversed. By the 19th century, the Jews in the West had gradually been integrated into the general society.

While the Eastern Ashkenazi maintained their strict Jewish traditions & were mostly confined to ghettos, especially in the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire, which incorporated a considerable amount of land where the Eastern Ashkenazi lived: Poland & Lithuania.

Well-known differences in practices include:

• Observance of Passover (Pesach)
  • Ashkenazi Jews traditionally refrain from eating legumes, grain, millet, & rice. Quinoa has become accepted as a food grain in North American communities. Sephardi Jews typically don’t prohibit these foods.
• Notwithstanding stricter requirements for the ACTUAL slaughter, Sephardi Jews permit the rear portions of an animal after proper Halakhic removal of the sciatic nerve. While many Ashkenazi Jews don’t.
• Ashkenazi Jews often name newborns after deceased family members, not after living relatives. Sephardi Jews often name their kids after their grandparents, even if those grandparents are still living. An exception to this is among Dutch Jews, where Ashkenazi for centuries used naming conventions otherwise attributed exclusively to Sephardim, such as Chuts. Chuts is the name given to Jews who immigrated to London from the Netherlands in the 1850s-1860s.
• Ashkenazi tefillins are wound toward the body, not away from it. Ashkenazim put on the tefillin while standing up. Other Jews generally do so while sitting down. A tefillin(s) is/are sets of small black leather boxes with leather straps having scrolls of parchment written with verses of the Torah inside.
• The prayer shawl (tallit/tallis) is worn by all Ashkenazi men AFTER marriage. Except for Western European Ashkenazi men who wear it from the bar mitzvah. In Sephardi or Mizrahi Judaism, the prayer shawl is commonly worn from early childhood.

The term Ashkenazi also refers to the Nusach Ashkenaz, the liturgical tradition used by Ashkenazi Jews in their siddur (prayer book). A nusach is defined by a liturgical tradition’s choice of prayers, the text of prayers & melodies used in the singing of prayers. 2 other major forms of nusach among Ashkenazi Jews are Nusach Sefard (not to be confused with the Sephardic ritual), which is the general Polish Hasidic nusach, and Nusach Ari, used by those in Chabad.

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Ynet News: From torn doll to prisoner art: Digital archive opens Majdanek to the world. “A new digital archive gives free access to rare documents, artwork, photographs and personal belongings from the Majdanek, Bełżec and Sobibór death camps, preserving Holocaust history and supporting research, education and remembrance.”

Judeo-Christian :fozzie_wocka_wocka:

"Among the many #faiths practiced by millions of #Texas #students, a new statewide required #reading list that includes #biblical passages draws from just two traditions: #Protestant #Christianity and #Judaism.

Yet Texas #rabbis say #Jews had no role in shaping how #Judaism appears in the #curriculum, and they disagree with how the lone #Jewish text is presented. Rather than teaching about Judaism on its own terms, they argue, the lessons filter Jewish texts through a #Christian perspective.

The #readinglist, which is expected to go into effect in 2030, will have #publicschool students across the state reading passages from the #NewTestament and mostly Christian #translations of the #Hebrew Bible alongside #literary classics. Of the curriculum’s six #HebrewBible readings, just one uses a Jewish #translation."

https://forward.com/news/834539/texas-bible-curriculum/

"Many of us probably don’t imagine the #UnitedStates as a nation in which a tradition of #antisemitism reaches back to the original 13 colonies and has emerged in every generation. In her new #book, #historian #PamelaNadell carefully documents the #history of #discrimination, #conspiracytheories, and #violence against #Jews in our republic, as well as the resilience of #Jewish #Americans in resisting and organizing against antisemitism, both at home and abroad. This highly readable book offers an excellent introductory text for undergraduates, theological students, clergy, and adult study groups.

#Nadell defines antisemitism largely with #historical and contemporary examples rather than abstract theories. The term was coined by #WilhelmMarr in 1879 to distinguish the “modern #racial basis of #Jewhatred” from traditional Christian anti-#Judaism. The #author defines it as “#Jew hatred” and cites “many episodes of anti-Jewish animus” in #US history."

https://www.christiancentury.org/books/antisemitism-more-american-we-want-admit

https://youtu.be/EgGfQdv_rPc

#agriculture #animism #apocrypha #astrology #bible #collectivism #civilization #christianity #culture #cosmology #cosmos #earthmother #esotericism #individualism #judaism #knowledge #materialism #monism #monotheism #motherearth #mothergoddess #nephilim #neuroscience #neuropsychology #pantheism #philosophy #poetry #polytheism #psychology #religion #secretsociety #spiritualism #spirituality #symbolism #theism #theology #society

(2/6)

https://humanistictorah.org/2025/09/26/humanistic-torah-podcast-episode-3/

Episode #3 of the #HumanisticTorah podcast is now out!

In this episode:

1. Reflections on last night's Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma's Annual Dinner
2. Podcast round up- focusing on episodes from Judaism Unbound and Called to be bad
3. Some practical ideas on how ordinary folks can take small actions in support of peace in Gaza,
4. A D'var Torah based on Deuteronomy 31 and the Tao Te Ching chapter 78.

#HumanisticJudaism #Mazeldon #Judaism #Deuteronomy #Interfaith #TaoTeChing #Taoism #Oklahoma

Apotheosis

This is also called divinization or deification. It’s from the Latin deificato, meaning “making divine.” This is the glorification of a subject to divine levels & commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity.

The original sense of apotheosis relates to religion & is the subject of many works of art. Figuratively “apotheosis” may be used in almost any context for “the deification, glorification, or exaltation of a principle, practice, etc.” So normally attached to an abstraction of some sort.

In religion, apotheosis was a feature of many religions in the ancient world. Some that are active today. It requires a belief that there’s a possibility of newly created God’s, so a polytheistic belief system.

The Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam, & Judaism don’t allow this. Though many recognize minor sacred categories such as saints. They’re created by a process called canonization. In Christian theology, there’s a concept of the faithful becoming god-like, called divinization or in Eastern Christianity theosis.

In Hinduism, there’s some range for new deities. A human may be deified by becoming regarded as an avatar of an established deity, usually a major one, or by being regarded as a new, independent deity (usually a minor one), or a mix of the 2.

In art, an apotheosis scene usually shows the subject in the Heavens or rising towards them. They’re often partnered by a number of angels, putti, personifications of virtues, or similar figures.

Especially from Baroque art onwards apotheosis scenes may show rulers, generals, or artists purely as an honorific symbol. In many cases, the “religious” context is classical Greco-Roman pagan religion, like The Apotheosis of Voltaire, which features Apollo. The Apotheosis of Washington (1865) sits high in the dome of the United States of America Capitol Building is another example. Personification of places or abstractions are also shown receiving an apotheosis. The classic composition was suited for artistic placement on ceilings or inside domes.

Before the Hellenistic period, imperial cults were known in ancient Egypt (pharaohs) & Mesopotamia (from Naran-Sin through Hammurabi). In the New Kingdom of Egypt, all deceased pharaohs were deified as the god Osiris, having been identified as Horus while on the throne. They were sometimes referred to as the “son” of other various deities.

The architect Imhotep was defied after his passing away. Though the process seems to have been gradual. This took over 1,000 years, by which time he had become associated with medicine. About a dozen non-royal ancient Egyptians became regarded as deities.

Ancient Greek & Roman religions have many characters who were born as humans but became gods. Like Disney’s Hercules. They’re usually made divine by 1 of the main deities, the 12 Olympians. In the Roman story of Cupid & Psyche, Zeus gave the ambrosia of the gods to the mortal Psyche. This transformed her into a goddess herself.

In the case of the Hellenistic queen Berenice II of Egypt was deified like other rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The court dispersed a myth that her hair, that was cut off to fulfill a vow, had its own apotheosis before becoming the Coma Berenices, a group of stars that still bear her name.

In the Greek world, the 1st leader who granted himself diving honors was Philip II of Macedon. At the wedding to his 6th wife, Philip’s enthroned image was carried in procession among the Olympian gods. Such Hellenistic state leaders might be raised to a status equal to the gods before death, like Alexander the Great, or afterwards, like members of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

A heroic cult status that’s similar to apotheosis was also an honor given to a few reversed artists of the distant past, such as Homer.

Up to the end of the Roman Republic, the god Quirinus was the only 1 the Romans accepted as having undergone apotheosis, for his identification/syncretism with Romulus. Syncretism is the practice of meshing together different beliefs & various schools of thought. Eventually apotheosis in Ancient Rome was a process whereby a deceased ruler was recognized as divine by their successors. This was usually done by a decree of the Senate & popular consent.

The 1st of these cases was the posthumous deification of the last Roman dictator Julius Caesar in 42 BC by his adopted son, the triumvir Caesar Octavian. In addition to showing respect, the present ruler often deified a popular predecessor to legitimize himself & gain popularity himself & gain popularity with the people.

A vote in the Roman Senate, in the later Empire confirming an imperial decree, was the normal official process. But this sometimes followed a period with the unofficial use of deific language or imagery for the individual. This was often done rather discreetly within the imperial circle.

There was then a public ceremony, called a consecratio, including the release of an eagle which flew high. This represents the ascent of the deified person’s soul to Heaven. Imagery featuring the ascent, sometimes using a chariot, was common on coins & in other art.

The largest & most famous example in art in a relief on the base of the Column of Antoninus Pius, showing the emperor & his wife, Faustina the Elder, being carried up by a much larger winged figure, described as representing “Eternity,” as the personifications of “Roma” & the Campus Martius sit below, & eagles fly above. The imperial couple are represented as Jupiter & Juno (or Zeus & Hera).

The historian Dio Cassius, who said he was present, gives a detailed description of the large, & lavish, public consecratio of Perinax, emperor for 3 months in 193, ordered by Septimius Severus.

At the height of the imperial cult during the Roman Empire, sometimes the emperor’s deceased loved ones (heirs, empresses, or lovers) like Hadrian’s Antinous were deified as well.

Deified people were posthumously given the title ‘Divus’ for men & ‘Diva’ for women to their names to signify their divinity. Traditional Roman religion distinguished between a deus (god) & divus (a mortal who became divine or deified), though not consistently. Temple & columns were erected to provide a space for worship.

The imperial cult was mainly popular in the provinces. Especially in the Eastern Empire, where many cultures were well used to deified rulers, & less popular in Rome itself, & among traditionalists & intellectuals.

Some privately, & cautiously, ridiculed the apotheosis of inept & feeble emperors, as in the satire The Pumkinification of (the Divine) Claudius. This is usually attributed to Seneca.

Numerous mortals have been deified into the Taoist pantheon. Examples are Guan Yi, Iron-crutch Li, & Fan Kuai. Song dynasty general Yue Fei was deified during the Ming dynasty. He’s considered by some practitioners to be 1 of the 3 highest-ranking heavenly generals. The Ming dynasty epic Investiture of the Gods deals heavily with deification legends.

In the complicated, & variable, conceptions of deity in Buddhism, the achievement of Buddhahood may be regarded as an achievable goal for the faithful. Many significant deities are considered to have begun as normal people, from Gautama Buddha (the original Buddha & the creator of Buddhism) downwards. Most of these are seen as avatars or re-births of earlier figures.

Some significant Hindu deities, in particular Rama, were also born as humans. He’s seen as an avatar of Vishnu. In more modern times, Swaminarayan is an undoubted & well-documented historical figure, who’s regarded by some Hindus as an avatar of Vishnu, or as being a still more elevated deity. Bharat Mata (Mother India) began as a national personification devised by a group of Bengali intellectuals in the late 19th century. But now it receives some worship.

Various Hindu & Buddhist rulers in the past have been represented as deities, especially after death, from India to Indonesia. Jayavarman VII, King of the Khmer Empire the 1st Buddhist king of Cambodia, had his own features used for the many statues of Buddha/Avalokitevara he erected.

The extreme personality cult instituted by the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-Sung, has been to represent a deification. And continues to this day with the current leader. Even the nation is admittedly atheist.

In Christian theology, instead of the word “apotheosis,” they use the words “deification” or “divinization” or the Greek word “theosis.” Pre-Reformation, & mainstream theology, in both East & West, views Jesus Christ as the preexisting God who undertook mortal existence. Not as a mortal being who attained divinity. A view known as adoptionism. Adoptionism is an early Christian non-Trinitarian doctrine that holds that Jesus was born a mere human being. But Jesus was later adopted by God as His son, usually at Jesus’ baptism or resurrection, rather than being divine from eternity.

It holds that he has made it possible for human beings to be raised to the level of sharing the divine nature as II Peter 1:4 states that he became human to make humans “partakers of the divine nature.”

In John 10:34, Jesus referenced Psalm 82:6 when he stated: “Is it not written in your Law, I have said you are gods?” Other authors stated: “For this is why the Word became man, & the Son of God became the Son of man: so that Man, by entering into communion with the Word & thus receiving divine sonship, might be made God.” Accusations of self deification to some degree may have been placed on heretical such as the Waldensians.

The language of II Peter is taken up by St. Irenaeus, in his famous phrase, “if the Word has been made man, it is so that men may be made gods.” It becomes the standard in Greek theology. In the 14th century, St. Athanasius repeats Irenaeus almost word for word. In the 5th century, St. Cyril of Alexandria says that we shall become sons “by participation” (Greek methexis). Methexis is “group sharing,” where the audience actively participates in the performance.

Deification is the central idea in the spirituality of St. Maximus the Confessor. For whom the doctrine is the result of the Incarnation: “Deification, briefly, is the encompassion & fulfillment of all times and ages.”

The Roman Catholic Church doesn’t use the term “apotheosis” in its theology. This is equivalent to the Greek word theosis are Latin-derived words “divinization” & deification” used in the Latin tradition of the Catholic Church.

The concept has been given less prominence in Western theology than in that of the Eastern Catholic Churches. But is present in the Latin Church’s liturgical prayer.

Despite the theological differences, in the Catholic church art depictions of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in art & the Ascension of Jesus in Christian art do share many similarities in composition to apotheosis subjects. As there are many images of saints being raised into Heaven.

Anthropolatry is the deification & worship of humans. It was practiced in ancient Japan towards their emperors. Followers of Socinianism were later accused of practicing anthropolatry.

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#1865 #193 #42BC #4thCentury #5thCentury #AbrahamicReligions #Adoptionism #AlexanderTheGreat #Ambrosia #AncientRome #Angels #Anthropolatry #Antinous #Apollo #Apotheosis #AscensionOfJesus #AssumptionOfTheVirginMary #Atheist #Avalokiteshvara #Avatar #Avatars #BaroqueArt #bengali #BereniceIIOfEgypt #BharatMata #Buddha #BuddhaGautama #Buddhahood #Buddhism #CaesarOctavian #Cambodia #CampusMartius #canonization #CatholicChurch #Christianity #ColumnOfAntoninusPius #ComaBerenices #Consecratio #Cupid #Deification #Deity #Deus #DioCassius #Disney #DIva #Divinization #Divus #EasternCatholicChurch #EasternChristianity #EasternEmpire #Egypt #Egyptians #Emperors #FanKuai #FaustinaTheElder #GrecoRoman #Greek #GuanYi #Hadrian #Hammurabi #Heaven #Hellenistic #Hera #Hercules #Hindu #Hinduism #Homer #Horus #IIPeter14 #Imhotep #ImperialCults #India #Indonesia #InvestitureOfTheGods #IronCrutchLi #Islam #Japan #JayavarmanVII #Jesus #John1034 #Judaism #JuliusCaesar #Juno #Jupiter #KhmerEmpire #KimIlSung #Krishna #Late19thCentury #Latin #LatinChurch #Mesopotamia #Methexis #MingDynasty #NaramSin #NewKingdom #NorthKorea #Olympians #Osiris #pagan #Pertinax #Pharaohs #PhilipIIOfMacedon #polytheistic #Psalm826 #Psyche #PtolemaicDynasty #Putti #Rama #Reformation #Roman #RomanCatholicChurch #RomanRepublic #RomanSenate #Romans #Romulus #Saints #Senate #Seneca #SeptimiusSeverus #Socinianism #StAthanasius #StCyrilOfAlexandria #StIrenaeus #StMaximusTheConfessor #Swaminarayan #Syncretism #Taoist #TaoistPantheon #Temple #ThePumpkinificationOfTheDivineClaudius #Theosis #Triumvir #USCapitolBuilding #Vishnu #Waldensians #YueFei #Zeus

#Trumpsupporter doesn't realize he's talking about HER #religion - The Good Liars

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iaAcI4Fppug

#maga #bible #judaism #christian #rape #slaves

Tips for #Shabbat observance? #Mazeldon #Judaism #Shabbos #AskFedi (https://calebh.top/?p=258)

https://chng.it/SgmS8T5rTC

I was a fan of #Matisyahu for many years, so it is with great sadness that I'm sharing this petition.

Excerpt: Matisyahu has, in recent months, become a prominent supporter of BETAR, a movement on the far-right of Zionist political spectrum. Matisyahu himself is featured prominently on the homepage of BETAR’s website, in a video playing the guitar and wearing a shirt with BETAR’s logo, and a headband with the logo of the Jewish Defense League. Matisyahu has also publicly posted about his support of BETAR and the other organizations mentioned all throughout his various social media channels. BETAR began as the youth wing of a right-wing Zionist group with fascist influence and a long-standing hostility to Arabs, critics of Israel, and to Jews and Israelis seeking peace and coexistence. In recent months BETAR has “rebooted” and has been actively threatening Jews, and non-Jewish officials, critical of Israel’s war in Gaza. In the spirit of Meir Kahane’s legacy they encourage violent confrontation when working through the censoring mechanisms of the state to deport critics are not available.

BETAR is heir to the legacy of far-right militias and movements which were inspired by European fascism and hypernationalism. One of BETAR’s most famous products was the late Prime Minister Menachim Begin, who, as a leader of the far-right Irgun, terrorized both the British and the local Arab populations. In 1948, as Begin was forming a right-wing political party in the new State of Israel, Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt, and other Jewish luminaries signed an open-letter decrying Begin’s fascist influences and the crimes of the Deir Yassin massacre. Like Einstein then we protest now the welcoming of a supporter of this latest iteration of far-right Zionism.

#Peace #ShalomSalaam #ResistFascism #Fascism #Judaism #JewishMusic #Mazeldon #Palestine #israel

I'm working on an original translation of the Bible. My goal is to let the words of scripture guide my translation rather than reading a favored theology into the text. As the saying goes, "Where the Bible speaks, we speak, where it is silent, we are silent." In addition to being a formal equivalence, I try to preserve original idioms (with clarification in the footnotes), poetic and metaphorical language, and distinct synonyms (ie. land/ground/dust) where possible.

The text is available under a Creative Commons license. And it is available at a website, and as an ebook, though it is still incomplete.

Please support my translation work:
☕ https://ko-fi.com/wltbible
📖 https://wlt.ct.ws

#Bible #Tanakh #Torah #Religion #Christianity #Christian #Church #ChurchOfChrist #Judaism #Jewish #MessianicJudaism #LGBTQIA2S #LGBTQIA #LGBTQ #LGBT #Transgender #Nonbinary #Agender #CreativeCommons #CCBY #FOSS #Translation #Language #Literature #Books #English #Hebrew #Aramaic #Greek

Please help me descend to the depths of nerdery. At least Biblical nerdery. I'm writing a translation of the Bible and trying to crowdfund this to make it my job for the next few years to translate the Bible.

I think we can all agree that among biblical translators there are far too few furry, nonbinary, tabletop gamers and far too much bias.

This translation will be released for free under a CC-BY 4.0 license when it is finished. (It's not like Zondervan or Nelson is going to be interested in an *unbiased* translation anyway.) You can use it for sermons or bible studies without limit, fill it with notes, share it with friends, or even change the parts you don't like. It's yours, do whatever you want with it.

:blobcoffeeraccoon: https://ko-fi.com/wltbible

#Bible #Scripture #Translation
#Christian #Christianity #Church
#ProgressiveChristianity
#Judaism #Jewish
#Tanakh #Tanach #Torah
#LGBTQIA2S #LGBTQIA #LGBTQ #LGBT
#Transgender #Agender #Nonbinary
#Furry #FurryArt #FurryFandom
#TTRPG #DnD #DnD5e

I'm heartbroken to hear the news that #Matisyahuu not only voted for the fascist but is now defending Elon's fascist salute, and the ADL's terrible response.

I will always love his music, but I will no longer be buying any of his albums, going to his concerts, etc.

This is horrible news.

#Matisyahu #Fascism #Judaism #JewishMusic #Elon #ADL #Mazeldon

I'm heartbroken to hear the news that #Matisyahuu not only voted for the fascist but is now defending Elon's fascist salute, and the ADL's terrible response.

I will always love his music, but I will no longer be buying any of his albums, going to his concerts, etc.

This is horrible news.

#Matisyahu #Fascism #Judaism #JewishMusic #Elon #ADL #Mazeldon

This 500th anniversary of the founding of the #Anabaptist movement (from which the Mennonites, Brethern, Amish, and realted traditions sprung forth --- and that were theological cousins of the early Baptists) is all the more important to me this year, because of what happened yesterday in this nation. I'm grateful that the Anabaptist tradition is very clear that we do not kiss the ring, we do not bow the knee to the empire, ever.

This is one of the reasons I treasure my connections to this tradition.

One detail of my religious journey that many do not know, is that I chose to become Jewish through the Humanistic movement primarily because it was (and as far as I know still is), the only Jewish movement that is open to biereligous converts (those who are seeking to become Jewish, while still maintaining connections to another tradition). I had fallen in love with #Judaism (thankfully a passion that still is with me 10 years later), but I also loved the Mennonites, particularly its strong belief in the moral imperative of peace (or rather the Hebrew concept of Shalom which is far more than the cessation of hostility but also has the connotations of harmony, equity, and wholeness), a belief that #nationalism is just another form of idolatry, and the power of simple living (even though I do a lousy job of living this out). In other words, at its best moments, the #Mennonite / Anabaptist tradition provides a critical witness against the values of the American Empire through its focus on the ethical earthly teachings of Jesus.

I am grateful that I was able to find a path to embracing Judaism that did not require me to leave my Mennonite values out.

And so I say, Happy 500th birthday to the Anabaptist movement! And thank you to #HumanisticJudaism for giving me a way to be true to my #bireligoius values.

(graphic from Druhart on FB)

#Anabaptism500 #Theology #AntiNationalism

The Fundamentals of Tawheed (Islamic Monotheism) by Dr. Bilal Philips Foreword | #Audiobook Preview

#islam #audiobooks #theology #religion #spirituality #monotheism #tawheed #tauheed #tawhid #tauhid #aqeedah #sunnah #internationalopenuniversity #bilalphilips #islamicstudies #christianity #judaism #hinduism #astrology #witchcraft #blackmagic #magic #sorcery #jinn #devils #demons #superstition #sufism #unitarian #trinity #god #faith

#التوحيد #العقيدة #كتاب_صوتي #الإسلام #القرآن #القرآن_الكريم

Deuteronomy 21:10-19.
How's that sound now?
-
#Deuteronomy #Torah #Bible #Christianity #Judaism #atrocity #apologetics #Putin #meme

"Labour has gone to great lengths to make clear that nothing substantial will change."

"Centrist rule, typified by the incapability or unwillingness to take seriously the manifold crises humanity now faces, only increases the political dissatisfaction on which the far-right feeds. The […] Tories – or Reform itself – may well return renewed and worsened in 2029 when public frustration sees Labour’s exercise in political nothingness collapse."

Francesca Newton writes: https://vashtimedia.com/election-labour-victory-keir-starmer-shehecheyanu/ 🧶

#farCenter #conservation #rule #austerity #publicHealth #resentment #cultureWars #antiWoke #lifeConditions #healthCare #hostility #disdain #brutalization #farCentre #LabourParty #Labour #England #Britain #UK #centreLeft #leftOfCentre #takeOver #elections #UKPol #politics #SocialDemocracy #SocDem #triangulation #Starmer #ballot #UKPolitics #parliament #vote #campaign #government #HouseOfCommons #ambivalence #Shehecheyanu #hope #Macron #Jewishness #Judaism #Jews

https://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2024/06/07/a-tale-of-lists-and-blacklists/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email I'm really loving #ErikaDreifuss essays for her debunking of Jewish villainy and scapegoating. Like I keep saying, #Gazans are not the entirety of their tyrannical representives, and in the same way, #Israelis are not either. Throwing loaded language at each other and making inferences at behaviors is keeping us back. #Hadassah #judaism #censorship

-- The Diablocritics Ep 4 — ‪@ TruthUnites‬ and Apologetics for War Crimes in Deuteronomy 21 --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNQTiDG1jFU

#Diablocritics #Deuteronomy #Bible #Torah #law #warCrimes #Hebrew #Judaism #Christianity #apologetics

Rabbi #Hillel, when challenged by some joker to teach the Torah while he stood on one foot, responded:
“Do not do to others what you don’t want done to you. The rest is commentary.”

What #Israel is doing to Gazans goes against everything #Judaism has always stood for.

It is beyond horrible for Palestinians.

It’s time more of us realized that it is also very bad for the Jews.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/20/2218502/-But-is-it-good-for-the-Jews

Everything Wrong With #Deuteronomy 34 in the #Bible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd-j-WZIRw0
RELAX and watch #Moses die.
#judaism #christianity #mythology #cults

I got a letter!

#Sefaria, a digital library of Jewish literature, is celebrating its 10 year anniversary by letting folks claim a Hebrew letter from the Torah. I know very little about #Hebrew so why not learn about what the letter means, as well as what the word in the verse means. (1/5)

#abjad #languagelearning #etymology #Judaism #tanakh #genesis

I picked up a JPS #Tanakh in like-new condition for dirt cheap so I’m vibin’. Wanted something physical as I explore things.

The wildest thing was seeing an original hardcover copy of the JPS #Torah – 1st Edition from 1962! The cover was worn but it was neat nonetheless. #Judaism

Everything Wrong With #Deuteronomy 23 in the #Bible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kWx7X1JWO0

This is a chapter about #wetdreams. And #pooping. And #runawayslaves. And #sodomy. All in one! And all in 25 verses.
#judaism #christianity #sundayschool #OT #moses #TNK #torah

The following is a talk I gave at Joy Mennonite Church in Oklahoma City on April 23, 2023. I am very thankful that this church (where I once ministered) was willing to let me come back and share some of my observations from these two traditions (FYI, I am now Jewish).  Also, FYI – the accompanying slide show for this talk can be found here.

(SLIDE 1)  It is such a joy to be here at Joy today! (laughs)

Today I’m going to speak about what I see as significant common ground between the two spiritual traditions that have shaped my life the most — the Anabaptist/Mennonite tradition and the Jewish tradition. But I also want to share a bit about the differences between these two traditions. My hope is that this exploration will help you to understand your Anabaptist views better, but also to hopefully have a better understanding of your Jewish friends, folks who you likely have a lot of common ground with.

But first, before I dig into those commonalities and differences, I wanted to share just a bit about my context and why I care so much about these two traditions, both of which are traditions I did not grow up in.

(SLIDE 2) So first, on the Mennonite side of things — I have had a connection with this congregation for almost 20 years.  The first time I visited was in 2003 — back when I was in law school and preaching at the Church of Christ where I grew up. 

(SLIDE 3) I had previously met Sadie for the first time at a peace protest in Oklahoma City. We had a great conversation (I believe at the Gold Dome corner), and while we were there holding protest signs, she actually invited me to come speak at Joy as a guest speaker by the end of this conversation. — And I never could say no to Sadie!

I had a wonderful experience visiting Joy, so much so that I actually considered leaving my old church and joining Joy right after being there, but Sadie discouraged me from doing this, saying I should “grow where I was planted.”

But a few months later, the Church of Christ fired me because I wasn’t evangelistic enough (and I also think because I was talking too much about peace during a time of war), so I took that as a sign that it was time for me to come to Joy. And I officially joined the church, the following spring on Easter Sunday 2004.

(SLIDE 4) During my last year of law school, Joy enabled me to start some peace organizing work focusing on helping members of the military get discharged, as well as to challenge mistreatment they experienced in the service. Doing this work under the auspices of Joy, eventually as our “Minister of Peace and Justice,” was a wonderful opportunity. And it brought me in contact with a cohort of older experienced activists who had been doing spiritually-rooted peace work for many years, including Catholics, Quakers, Unitarians, and other fellow travelers.

(SLIDE 5) But Joy wasn’t just my church. And it wasn’t just my hub for activist organizing . . . it also gave me a home, quite literally. At first, I lived in this building upstairs but later I was in the garage apartment (and then back and forth at least one more time)

And it was a good place to be.

(SLIDE 6) My first five years as an attorney were challenging but also good years. The congregation grew in numbers, especially with a new surge of young adults who were busy deconstructing their evangelical conservative upbringings but also seeking to find new ways to follow Jesus. 

(SLIDE 7) We did a lot of good work together, had a lot of fun, and built some strong friendships. And we were blessed to have so many elders to guide us, Moses and Sadie especially, but others too, both inside the congregation as well as some fellow travelers like Art & Marianne.

(SLIDE 8) We also faced challenges and times of conflict too, but through it all, this congregation and its people taught me a great deal about what it means to seek the way of peace and justice in the context of a spiritual community.

But by 2011, my personal life was getting messy. I was hitting a wall of burnout in my activist lawyering but also was reconnecting with Becky, who I would end up marrying at the end of the year. 

(SLIDE 9)  Marrying her at age 35 also meant that I would become one of Ty’s dads.

… which brings me to the Jewish part of my story. In our first year of marriage, Becky came out to me as being secretly interested and compelled by Jewish spiritual practices. She came to this place, not because of her background, but rather because she found that the spiritual practices she had inherited from her Christian upbringing didn’t give her what she needed when she was fighting cancer and going through a divorce as a new mother. In those difficult days, she had experiences that pointed towards Jewish spiritual practice as a way for her but she had not yet had a chance to really explore them in earnest.

(SLIDE 10)These conversations led our family to seriously explore Jewish spirituality in our home context, while still remaining part of our respective church communities. This exploration evolved over the years and became more and more important to us — and to make a very long story short, we as a family reached a place where we felt it was time for us to commit to Jewish community in a more tangible way. 

(SLIDE 11) This desire, coupled with my desire to take a break from some congregational conflict that we were dealing with at Joy during that time period, led me to step down as one of the ministers of this congregation.

(SLIDE 12) Today, I see myself as a Jew, but as one that has been shaped in deep and profound ways by the radical community of Jesus-followers here at Joy Mennonite, as well as by the broader movements of Humanistic Spirituality. This is the perspective I’m bringing to this conversation. (SLIDE 13)  (SLIDE 14) (SLIDE 15)

So… that brings us to the heart of today’s message: I think there are four primary points of commonality between these two great faith traditions, which are: (1) an ethic that focuses more on the earth in the present, rather than focusing on the afterlife, (2)  a strong focus on social justice, (3) an experience of diaspora, and (4) a practice of reading and interpreting sacred texts in in the context community.

But before I go on, I should also say that I will be using a big-picture, 30,000 feet up approach to this. The movements of Judaism and Anabaptism are diverse and huge, and hence it is hard to make accurate generalizations that apply to all people within those movements. And so I would suggest that what I will be saying is more of a discussion of tendencies, rather than concrete judgments. — I also think it is important to say that I will be speaking of Judaism in the 21st century, a very important distinction — because Judaism today is a radically different tradition than what is depicted in the Bible. A lot of history has happened in the last 2000+ years on all branches of the Abrahamic religious family tree, and so we are speaking of the present.

(SLIDE 16) So… the first area of commonality is this: both traditions share a present-tense Earth-centered ethic.

So first, looking at Judaism … there are almost no references to the afterlife in the Hebrew scriptures (what Christians call the Old Testament), and those that are there are fuzzy and unclear. 

(SLIDE 17) Later generations of Jews did talk about ideas like heaven and hell (especially during the times of struggle with the Greeks in the 2nd century BCE), but there was never any kind of consensus on the subject, and that continues to the present because according to the folks at Pew Research, the majority of Jews in the US today do not believe in the concept of Heaven and Hell.

So, what about the Anabaptist tradition? Many Anabaptists have for the most part held to some traditional Christian views about heaven and hell, but it generally is not an aspect of the faith tradition that is emphasized. This means that most Anabaptists do not spend a great deal of time speaking about Heaven as being the goal for Christian living, but rather speak about the values of the Kingdom of God in the present. (SLIDE 18)

This is quite different than what is often taught in other Christian faith traditions.

This common focus on the present tense and the earthly, has powerful ethical implications and helps to avoid the pitfall that so many religious folks have, of deferring the work for justice because “God will fix everything in the end.”

(SLIDE 19) Speaking of the struggle for justice, we come to point Two, that both traditions share a deep focus on social justice.

(SLIDE 20) For Jews, this stems from a concept called Tikkun Olam, which mean “to repair the world.” So, to do tikkun Olam, is to work in the world today to repair it. This includes all of the ways that the world is broken, including care of the earth itself, but also mending broken and fractured human relationships. The value of Tikkun Olam goes back to the earliest parts of Jewish scripture, but was especially amplified through the writings of prophets who called the people of Israel to righteous ethical living. And since at least the 1960’s, the idea of Tikkun Olam has animated a new generation of Jewish social justice activists.

(SLIDE 21) For Anabaptists, the focus on social justice primarily comes from their reliance on Jesus’ teachings on the KIngdom of God, a coming reality that would be manifested not only in eternity, but especially in the present-world. Unlike Luther who saw the Sermon on the Mount as an impossible discouraging burden, Anabaptists read saw hope. They read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as a actionable manifesto of ethical living and as a sort of “canon within the canon,” a central text that was used to inform all interpretation of scripture.

Speaking of the passion of these two traditions as it relates to social justice, reminds me of two bits of good advice I’ve heard from those who’ve gone before. One is a Jewish voice, the other an Anabaptist.

(SLIDE 22) The first is from Rabbi Tarfon, a rabbi who lived sometime between 70-135 CE and who was quoted in the work Pirkei Avot: “It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but neither are you free to neglect it.” In other words, we are called to fight injustice and work for good, even if we do not know how and when the work wil ever be completed. We cannot neglect this work.

(SLIDE 23) And then, I have to quote Joy’s own Sadie Mast, who told me many times, “Do what you can… but not too much.”

What I take from both of these teachers is the reality that the struggle for justice is long and that we have to keep our work sustainable to go the distance in seeking a better world.

(SLIDE 24) Three, the experience of being in diaspora is important. In fact it is a big factor that led these two traditions to go through times of transformation and evolution.

Starting on the Jewish side — I think it is fair to say that what we call “Judaism” today is really at its heart a religion of diaspora— because it was in diaspora that Jews fully embraced the idea of God as a portable deity, one who is not tied to a specific geographic location. But it was, more importantly, in diaspora that Jews developed forms of worship (most notably liturgy and prayer) that replaced the cult of animal sacrifice, a total reinvention of this religion. In fact to give you an idea of how profound this change has been, our rabbi at Temple B’nai Israel recently said in her one of her messages, “if they bring back animal sacrifice, I’m out!” And I think 99% of Jews living today would agree with her. Two thousand years ago, Judaism was a religion of animal sacrifice. Today it is not. The reason for this reinvention is diaspora.

But… life isn’t easy in diaspora. Maintaining religious and cultural identity in a foreign land requires a great deal of thoughtful education and the maintenance of markers of cultural identity — as well as arguably the preservation of language skills. And yet, arguably doing these things has made Judaism what it is today.

Anabaptists also know diaspora very well. Anabaptists have been on the move since the earliest days of the movement, choosing to leave the homes of their birth, rather than to give up their core values, or having to use violence to defend themselves.

(SLIDE 25) And like Jews, Anabaptists have also had to work hard to maintain their religious and cultural identity in foreign lands. Some have taken a much stricter approach by using cultural lifestyle markers like clothing, language, food, etc as dividing lines, but many more have found positive ways to live out their Anabaptist values and to enjoy the unique aspects of their culture, while also still being part of a broader modern world. This dynamic of different approaches makes me think of the Oklahoma Mennonite Relief Sale. Folks gather to eat food with cultural history, enjoy quilts, hear some music, and give to MCC. — while at the same time maintaining their own specific community practices.

(SLIDE 26) Four, the practice of reading and interpreting sacred texts in community is a shared value of these two traditions. 

(SLIDE 27) The Anabaptist tradition has long embraced a community-hermeneutic (that is the method in which one reads a text)… in which all voices (from the most learned to the least learned) are valued. This is why the “Anabaptism at 500” project is so powerful because it is a celebration of this democratic tradition.

(SLIDE 28) The Jewish tradition also values reading and interpreting texts in the context of community, but adds another element to the equation – time. In other words, Jews generally do not read the text in isolation but rather read it alongside commentaries that provide insights into the lessons learned from past generations. But at the same time, as the old saying goes, “the past has a voice, not a veto,” which means that the voices of modern interpreters is also important.

These four points of commonality are significant, but they are also not the whole story —  which is why I also want to take a moment to talk about two points of difference as well.

(SLIDE 29) By the way, these two points are not the only one ones, but I chose them because I think these two points of distinction are ones that might lead to helpful insights, by both Anabaptist and Jews. — In other words, we often learn to understand ourselves better, when we hear how others see us.

So, first there is the issue of nationalism.

Judaism is rooted in a national identity, one that has at times in human history been represented by actual governments: (1) including the early tribes of the Israelites, (2) the United Kingdom of Saul and David, (3) the later twin kingdoms of Israel and Judah, (4) the brief period of autonomy after the Maccabean revolt, and (5) most recently the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948.

Today, about half of the world’s Jews live in Israel/Palestine, and about half live in disapora. While many of us in diaspora have complicated (and sometimes even antagonistic) relationships with the state of Israel, it is still always a part of the equation — if for no other reason than that about half of the world’s Jews live there. For me, the complicated issue of nationalism is the hardest aspect for me of being Jewish.

The Anabaptist approach has long held out the ideal of anti-nationalism and of calling its people to a higher loyalty than state power – a sentiment that I find pretty compelling. These ideals are not easy to live out by the way, and often there are very different approaches taken by different Anabaptists in various contexts. Nevertheless, I appreciate the fact that Anabaptist keep bringing this issue to the table.

Second, we have profound differences in how we engage in dialogue

Both Jews and Anabaptists place a high value on community, and hence traditions both seek to practice conversation and dialogue. But, they differ on how they do this. 

Anabaptists tend (and I emphasize the word “tend”) to focus on gentleness and in finding consensus as being the most important value in these conversations. Jews, on the other hand,  tend to focus more on disagreement and even purposeful argument. — The best example of this might be found in the Talmud (the central text of Rabbinic Judaism, written from around 200-500 CE), which provides detailed accounts of the arguments of the rabbis on various topics, with there normally not being an editorial voice to say which rabbi was right and which one was wrong. This is because all of the voices, even those in disagreement, count.

This different conversational style takes some getting used to, but I think I prefer it today, because in a Jewish context, if someone disagrees with you, they likely will tell you, right away. People are much more blunt.

(SLIDE 30?) I hope that today’s message helps to explain why I am so drawn to these traditions. I see so many, many points of commonality and connection, but I also see deep value in the different perspectives the two traditions have. And I personally think both traditions would be richer if there were more opportunities to connect past the typical religious boundaries.

Tags: #Mennonite #Judaism #Mazeldon #Anabaptist #Ecunemical #Interfaith #Peace #Oklahoma #OKC

#anabaptist #ecunemical #interfaith #judaism #mazeldon #mennonite #okc #oklahoma #peace

https://jmb.mx/blog/2023/05/08/a-presentation-comparing-the-anabaptist-and-jewish-traditions/

#atheism for #lent, days 34 and 35(belated): #sublimation and Abraham’s dick

http://courtcan.com/2023/03/29/atheism-for-lent-days-34-and-35belated/

#RichardBoothby
#JacquesLacan
#DasDing
#Christianity
#Judaism
#pantheism
#faith
#God
#Jesus
#LoveYourEnemy

One’s Jewish lineage, or yiches, can be serious business:but should it be? Our deep dive into the meaning of yiches, and its tension today. https://momentmag.com/jewish-word-yiches/

#Religion #Judaism #Spirituality #Clergy #Faith #Torah #Bible #Tanakh

All forms of #Judaism have taught that we have an immortal #soul. But what precisely is it, how does the soul work? Our #Torah and #Tanakh don't go into detail. More thought is found in our oral law, but there is no unified understanding of it. It is only among kabbalists or the philosophical rationalists (e.g. Maimonides, Gersonides) that we find detailed discussions. For a Jewish mystical view of the soul let's see ->

https://merrimackvalleyhavurah.wordpress.com/2022/01/10/what-is-the-soul-a-kabbalistic-view/

@judaism
#Mazeldon #Jewish #Judaism #Jews

An intermarried couple joins a synagogue. What are the boundaries for participating in Jewish prayer services? The answer varies significantly among Jewish denominations

https://merrimackvalleyhavurah.wordpress.com/2017/08/18/the-role-of-non-jews-in-the-synagogue/

@judaism
@mazeldon
#Jewdiverse #Mazeldon #Jewniverse
#Jewish #Judaism #Jews

#Torah #OrthodoxJudaism #ConservativeJudaism #ReformJudaism #havurah #beitmidrash #intermarriage #synagogues #interfaith

I am also fiercely interested in #ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue: within #Christianity between #Orthodox, Roman #Catholic, #Anglican/#Episcopalian, #Methodist, #Pentecostal, #Anabaptist churches and confessions especially; but also between Christian churches and #Judaism and #Islam.