Who and What is a Jew
Jim long is a Gentile, a student of Judaism and a lover of Zion. He has a better understanding of the meaning of being Jewish than most Jews. ironic that! Yamit
The Nation of Israel by Jim Long
As a Noahide who loves G-d, Torah and the people of Israel, I’m wondering if it isn’t time to stop referring to Judaism as a religion.
Consider how often we hear Judaism referenced as one of, “the world’s three great religions” and how the words—unchallenged—-promote a kind of relativism that allows true observance of Torah to be lumped into the same category as Christianity and Islam. The West also promotes this idea, they bring the whole of Torah-belief and practice down to their level, especially here here in America where politicians tout the misapplied doctrine of “separation of church and state”. The latter reinforces an idea that there exists a disconnect between the two for any credible nation. In reality, a genuine Torah government would never separate belief and law or faith and everyday life.
Calling Judaism a religion fails to recognize that the Jews constitute a genuine nation, in every sense of the word.
I cannot find any place in the Torah where G-d told Avraham Avinu that He would make him the father of a great religion. The promise was always positioned as nationhood. Four-hundred thirty years after that promise was made to the great patriarch, his descendants stood at Mt Sinai and HaShem told the people they would be a nation of priests.
By debating this issue with Christians and engaging in their faulty understanding of what constitutes a Jew, we allow the debate to continue unabated. Their entire argument is couched in spiritual terms that even they don’t understand. They dwell in a world where it’s more important to think and feel a certain way. The Jew has always been taught, in essence, what you do is what you believe. At Har Sinai Israel agreed to first DO and then HEAR.
Saying that one is a Jew should be understood as meaning the exact same thing as saying that one is American, Japanese or any nationality. In fact, when a person converts (another unfortunate term) to Judaism, they become a naturalized citizen of a great and ancient commonwealth still thriving today. The convert is subject to all of the laws of that commonwealth. Just as the children born to a naturalized citizen are automatically considered citizens of their parent’s adopted nation, children born to converts are considered Jewish. Obviously, there are certain things a convert or children of converts cannot do but, again, there are similar statutes in the American constitution. For example, a naturalized American citizen cannot hold certain public offices. This recalls the Torah commandments in respect to the Kohanim.
A Jew can make the same claim as any nation–they have a set of laws covering every aspect of daily life and they have a land in which to practice those laws. However, there is one elegant and amazing difference: Any law that I observe–for example—obeying a traffic sign, does only one thing–it maintains order. But when a Jew keeps what might be viewed as the simplest mitzvah—that Jew brings down holiness into the world!
Israel is unique in this way and also unique by virtue of the fact that they are the only nation in history that was created by G-d. What a marvelous thing this is. This idea of nationhood is so that it can be seen in the even worst English translations of the Tanakh.
Finally, I would add that being Jew has very little to do with skin color. Keeping in mind that there is a position of leadership firmly established by G-d with the Twelve Tribes and all their attendant rights under Torah
Law. there are a myriad of flesh tones and bloodlines who have become a part of this holy nation.
Clearly, there must come a day when, the State of Israel will have to grasp the concept of true Jewish nationhood. It will happen only when every Jewish family in the galuth boards the nearest plane for eretz Israel.
In the meantime, I really wonder how long any debate would last, if the next time a Christian begins to argue the merits of being Jewish versus being a Christian, if Jews would simply say, “I’m sorry, you are asking me to betray my nation. I belong to the nation of Israel and what you are asking is treason!”
Noachides are barren fools, devoid of biblical festivals and without the Sabbath and other treasures given to all mankind, living in their limbo land of neither Jewish or Christian or anything, but feeling good about being nothing.
Noahide nonsense
Noahides in No Man’s Land
Noahidism is a monotheistic Jewish ideology based on the Seven Laws of Noah. According to Jewish law, non-Jews are not obligated to convert to Judaism, but they are required to observe the Seven Laws of Noah. Those who subscribe to the observance of such laws and their supporting organizations are referred to as B’nei Noah, Children of Noah, Noahides or Noahites.
Technically, the Hebrew term B’nei Noah applies to all non-Jews as descendants of Noah. However, nowadays it is also used to refer specifically to those non-Jews who observe the Noahide Laws.
According to the Hebrew Bible, all humanity are descendants of Noah. Noah and his three children Shem, Ham, and Japheth survived the Flood aboard the Ark, along with their wives. Once the survivors were able to leave the ark for dry ground, they began to start new families and repopulate the earth. When Noah’s family left the Ark, God made a covenant with them. According to the Talmud, this covenant included the Seven Laws of Noah. Thus, to the B’nei Noah, all living humans, as descendants of Noah, are subject to the Noahide laws—although Jews as the people chosen to bear the light of Torah before humanity, have further responsibilities placed on them.
Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, also known as “the Rambam”) collected all of the talmudic and halakhic decisions in his time, and laid them out clearly in his work the Mishnah Torah; in addition to Jewish laws and their explanations, Noahide Laws were also collected with their explanation in Maimonides’ Sefer Shoftim (“Book of Judges”) in the last section Hilchot Melachim U’Milchamot (“The Laws of Kings and Wars”) 8:9-10:12, which is available in English online. Some details of these laws are also found in the Midrashic literature.
The Seven Laws of Noah
The seven laws listed by the Tosefta and the Talmud are
1. Prohibition of Idolatry: You shall not have any idols before God.
2. Prohibition of Murder: You shall not murder. (Genesis 9:6)
3. Prohibition of Theft: You shall not steal.
4. Prohibition of Sexual immorality: You shall not commit any of a series of sexual prohibitions, which include adultery, incest, anal intercourse between men and bestiality.
5. Prohibition of Blasphemy: You shall not blaspheme God’s name.
6. Dietary Law: Do not eat flesh taken from an animal while it is still alive. (Genesis 9:4, as interpreted in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 59a)
7. Requirement to have just Laws: Set up a governing body of law (e.g. Courts)
It is important to note that a knowledge and recognition of God is not one of the commandments for Noahides, while it is considered a commandment for Jews to recognize as such.
Hoover it doesn’t matter what you call yourself, Judaism recognizes either Judaism or Bnei Noach certainly not a belief in a man god ie, paganism.
Darn!
My name was legally changed from David Hoover to David Ben-Ariel for religious reasons, twenty one years ago, as related within my articles God-given Names and From Toledo to Jerusalem.
As for Judaism, I feel the same way about it as I do about TRADITIONAL Churchianity – where it’s biblical, I’ll agree, and where it’s clearly pagan I’ll disagree, expose and condemn it.
No. Believers in pagan man-god myths are, Mr. Hoover.
The jesus puzzle
Your stereotypes sadly enslave and blind you. I don’t believe Yeshua was divine when he was in the flesh and reject the accursed trinity doctrine.
“The Gentilized Israelites (many Catholics and Protestants) must confess and forsake our baptized paganism, our whitewashed heathen customs that Roman wolves have polluted the world with and misled the masses, and Judaism must reject its Babylonian relics of astrology, amulets, “hell” and other religious lies, as Zechariah proves Judah isn’t perfect either. Gentilized Jews, assimilated Jews, must remember their Hebrew roots and biblical responsibilities and act accordingly.” – Israel and Judah Must Get House in Order Before King Messiah Arrives
Insecure Jews begrudge I exercised my prerogative to legally change my name to a Hebrew name, while secure Jews respect it and admire it (knowing the list of Jews who have taken “Christian” names is endless). Ironically, I doubt “Yamit” or “Shy Guy” are legal surnames, while they obsess over mine. Regardless, “One shall say, I am the LORD’S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel” (Isa. 44:5).
As for who and what is a Jew:
Not All Twelve Tribes of Israel are Jewish?
Joseph isn’t Jewish!
An irrelevant technicality. There is no Torah distinction between the matriarchal descendants of any member of Bnei Yisrael – the Children of Israel. The usage of the term “Jews” has long ago become generic for such people.
You ignorant bozo. That’s what you get for reading books by your chief clown, Armstrong. Grow up.
Whatever happened is not irrelevant. I know very little about Armstrong or his doctrine, but there were a lot of Israelites from the 10 tribes that never made their way back to Israel. Even so, anyone who comes from a line that can be traced back to the Hebrews is considered a Jew, regardless of whether they were from the tribe of Judea or any other tribe. In any case, there must be a lot of Hebrew blood scattered around the world in the places where the Israelites who never returned home settled—many were already worshiping other gods when they were exiled, so there was no religious connection to Israel, which would have been important in retaining an identity over time. They were absorbed into the nations, and being unidentifiable are not considered Jewish.
My point was about the literal relevance of the source of the term “Jew”, originally referring to the tribe of Yehuda. The term already became generic for all Halachic Israelites (including righteous converts) during the time of the Babylonian exile, after the destruction of the First Temple. That was 2500 years ago.
Only if descended matrilineally from Jews or from a righteous convert to Judaism.
I never thought otherwise.
Since the return was from the Babylonian exile, it would seem logical, that the great majority of people identifiable as being Jewish today have roots going back to the Kingdom of Judah.
Who’s arguing?!
I don’t think we are; it’s mildly contentious agreement.