D&D Religion's "Ask About Judaism" Thread

What is the Jewish concept of God like? We always hear it is similar to Islam and Christianity but never in great detail...there must be a difference somewhere, no?

Also your holy scripture the Torah...when, where and how is this constructed? Was it sent down like the Qu'ran or is it a collection put together like man?

Thanks.

Tony, I can take some of the heat off you if you like and field a few questions it looks like fun!

But, being Jewish, we'd probably give three different answers between us

So i don't know much about judaism, but i know somebody who was apparently converting to judaism because of marriage. First of all i always though that your mother (or is it father?) had to be jewish for you to be able to be jewish and that you couldn't convert. I've heard of people 'converting' in the sense that they become cultural jews or christians/muslims etc. because of their family (which i think makes no sense because signing a piece of paper to declare your religion when you don't believe in it is pointless, you can just celebrate holidays etc. without pretending to be religious but never mind that). So, can you become jewish and is there any difference between a convert and somebody that is born jewish?

Why are you religiously Jewish?

Anyone, I guess. I've often thought that Judaism doesn't actively seek converts, and so I'm curious as to why people have Jewish beliefs. Were they convinced by someone else? Family tradition? Family tradition but then recognise that you believe it to be true? Personal experiences? Any historical or philosophical argument for why you chose Judaism, or continue to follow Judaism? This follows vaguely on from the 'believing they are God's chosen people' discussion, I guess...if one searches hard enough for that connection...

Do practising Jews look upon ethnically Jewish apostates with anything other than typical non-Zionist Jewish apathy? Are they still considered as "full" Jews?

Also, does the constant mentioning of the Holocaust and Jews in general cause irritation? Does Reductio ad Hitlerum turn the Holocaust into a gimmick?

Sorry if these have been asked before.

Do you have any doubts about your religion? If another religion came up with an unquestionable fact that said that there was only one god, their god et etc would you continue to believe?

Godwin's Law is, I think, a little separate from the Holocaust. What is more concerning is the increase in recent years of Holocaust Denial or "revisionism".

I think any Hitler/Nazi-related fallacy is usually only ever used in argument if a person intends to evoke what is considered the height of evil (considered so, surely, because of the Holocaust).

The only other question I can think to ask is probably something pretty obvious to most people, but I've never really thought about it much. Is there any discrimination, prejudice, antipathy, whatever, between the different subgroups of Jews? Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi, any others (are there others?), is what I mean.

I just watched a good film, sunshine, and at the end there was a very interesting scene in which a speech was given by several generations of fathers to their suns.

One of the ideas that came up was the idea of a "sacred duty to study" not only the Holy Scriptures, but also secular knowledge.

To what extent do you think this is true, and do you believe that it is a reason for the professional and academic success of the Jewish community.

Studying is a hugely important aspect of Judaism and it is likely that the tradition of studying has helped Jews achieve disproportionately great things in academia. Whether there is a particular duty to study secular knowledge is doubtful.