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Ask me anything Jewish

Orthodox Jew from Manchester, ask me anything serious about Judaism or the Jewish people and i'll try answer! (pls don't get political or antisemitic)

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Reply 1

Thanks for making this thread, you’ve said u r an Orthodox Jew, what r the different sorts of Jews and their beliefs?

Reply 2

Ok, if you don’t mind answering these questions: Who do you think Isaiah 53 is about since you don’t believe in Jesus? And Isaiah 7? Also, since there’s no Temple, how do you believe your sins are forgiven? And if David’s dynasty will continue forever, who is the person continuing it in the present? Also, how does someone convert to Judaism? For example, Muslims take a Shahada. What do you take?

Reply 3

Original post
by RedFeatherx
Thanks for making this thread, you’ve said u r an Orthodox Jew, what r the different sorts of Jews and their beliefs?

There are lots of different types of Jews. All believing Jews believe in 1 G-d. Orthodox Jews keep to tradition and perform the commandments as stated in the Torah (Bible) and interpreted by the Sages, and keep traditional Jewish law (halacha), guided by rabbis. Reform and Progressive Jews don't keep to traditional Jewish law and have reinterpreted many of the commandments in a way they think is more applicable nowadays, e.g. Orthodox Jews don't drive, write or do work on Saturday (Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest) and spend hours praying in synagogue and learning Torah, whereas Reform Jews may attend synagogue, but they will also drive and their services are much shorter and often include modern elements, e.g. microphones or musical instruments, which Orthodox Jews would consider breaking Shabbat. They also ordain women as rabbis and include women in the 10 needed for public prayer, while Orthodox Jews wouldn't. Conservative Jews are somewhere in between, not as traditional as the Orthodox but not as Progressive as Reform. There are also different types of Orthodox Jews, e.g. "Litvaks" originate from Lithuania and are mainly focused on learning Torah (collection of Jewish texts, ranging from commentary on the bible to Mishnah, the collection of Jewish law, to Talmud, a vast commentary on the Mishnah and the Torah) as a way of connecting to G-d, while Hasidim originate from Poland and Hungary and focus more on prayer. Hasidim are the ones with the long sidelocks (peyos). There are also Sephardim, who originate from Spain and Portugal, and also Moroccan, Syrian and Yemenite Jews, all with different pronounciations of Hebrew and different styles of dress.

Reply 4

We interpret Isaiah 53 as referring to the nations' reaction when they see the Israelites' rejuvenation, they will regret their former treatment of the Jews and realise their grandeur. Isaiah 7 refers to King Ahaz's son, Hezekiah. Nowadays, we believe our sins are forgiven through prayer - there is a verse that says "let our lips replace the bulls", i.e. prayer is in place of the Temple sacrifices. We believe David's dynasty will be continued in the future by Messiah, son of David, but right now we don't know who is descended from David or not. Converting to Judaism is a long and complicated process, particularly as Jews don't actually encourage conversion, unlike Christians. One has to learn the tenets of Judaism, principles of Jewish faith, the commandments, how to read Hebrew, etc, and they they have a ritual immersion in a sort of bath (mikvah). Men have a circumcision too.

Reply 5

Original post
by MillieeM2
Ok, if you don’t mind answering these questions: Who do you think Isaiah 53 is about since you don’t believe in Jesus? And Isaiah 7? Also, since there’s no Temple, how do you believe your sins are forgiven? And if David’s dynasty will continue forever, who is the person continuing it in the present? Also, how does someone convert to Judaism? For example, Muslims take a Shahada. What do you take?

also some jews say the verses which speak about the sacrifices before morning prayers every day

Reply 6

Interesting thread, shmuel88 what do you think about Jews needing to be grafted back onto God's olive tree in order to get into the kingdom of God. The Jews were God's chosen people, but with the merger of the tribes we all became as one before God in that the sense we are all equal now before God (Galatians 3:28).

The Jews fell of the olive tree when they refused to accept Jesus Christ. The Gentiles were grafted into their Olive tree.The Jews will be grafted back in, when they come back to God, which they will have to through Jesus Christ to accept him as the Son of God and Saviour (Romans 11:24).

I love Jewish custom, the Bible says Jesus will do a rampage on fake Jews, those who are not born Jews and who are pretending to be (Revelations 3:9). "I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars." There appears to no such thing converting to Judaism without any blood line as well. Be proud of who you are if not Jewish born.

How would you describe a Messianic Jew. I know some who see Y'shua as the Son of God.

Reply 7

Original post
by shmuel88
Orthodox Jew from Manchester, ask me anything serious about Judaism or the Jewish people and i'll try answer! (pls don't get political or antisemitic)

Anything jewish

Reply 8

Do Jews believe in heaven/hell? If they do, do you need to be Jewish to enter? And if that's the case, why do Jews not encourage others to enter Judaism?
Original post
by shmuel88
Orthodox Jew from Manchester, ask me anything serious about Judaism or the Jewish people and i'll try answer! (pls don't get political or antisemitic)


Is this true that Jews don't believe in Jesus as saviour in contrast to the Christians? Are there another differences between these religions?

Reply 10

Original post
by Kallisto
Is this true that Jews don't believe in Jesus as saviour in contrast to the Christians? Are there another differences between these religions?

Yes Jesus was a Jew and is mentioned in the Talmud. He was part of an ancient Jewish sect called the Essenes who kind of integrated into Greek society and gradually separated from traditional Judaism until they had their own customs and beliefs, which most historians believe influenced Christianity. As a result Jews do not believe in Jesus as saviour and don't actually refer to him by name as he's considered a defector. There are loads of other differences between Judaism and Christianity, e.g. the Jewish day of rest ("Sabbath") is on Saturday, the Christians' is on Sunday. Jews believe in 1 All-Powerful G-d, Christians believe in the Holy Trinity. Christians believe in the New Testament, Jews don't, and many many more!
Original post
by shmuel88
Yes Jesus was a Jew and is mentioned in the Talmud. He was part of an ancient Jewish sect called the Essenes who kind of integrated into Greek society and gradually separated from traditional Judaism until they had their own customs and beliefs, which most historians believe influenced Christianity. As a result Jews do not believe in Jesus as saviour and don't actually refer to him by name as he's considered a defector. There are loads of other differences between Judaism and Christianity, e.g. the Jewish day of rest ("Sabbath") is on Saturday, the Christians' is on Sunday. Jews believe in 1 All-Powerful G-d, Christians believe in the Holy Trinity. Christians believe in the New Testament, Jews don't, and many many more!


Bit it is true that Jews believe in Last Judgement? The day in which everyone's good and bad actions are counted to decide where people spend their eternity?
What will happen to animals then?
(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 12

Original post
by Kallisto
Bit it is true that Jews believe in Last Judgement? The day in which everyone's good and bad actions are counted to decide where people spend their eternity?
What will happen to animals then?

when everyone dies they are judged then whether they enter the Garden of Eden or Gehinnom (Hell). We believe animals are placed on this world to help us serve g-d by being eaten so we have strength to perform g-d's commandments

Reply 13

Original post
by rahrahrachel
Interesting thread, shmuel88 what do you think about Jews needing to be grafted back onto God's olive tree in order to get into the kingdom of God. The Jews were God's chosen people, but with the merger of the tribes we all became as one before God in that the sense we are all equal now before God (Galatians 3:28).
The Jews fell of the olive tree when they refused to accept Jesus Christ. The Gentiles were grafted into their Olive tree.The Jews will be grafted back in, when they come back to God, which they will have to through Jesus Christ to accept him as the Son of God and Saviour (Romans 11:24).
I love Jewish custom, the Bible says Jesus will do a rampage on fake Jews, those who are not born Jews and who are pretending to be (Revelations 3:9). "I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars." There appears to no such thing converting to Judaism without any blood line as well. Be proud of who you are if not Jewish born.
How would you describe a Messianic Jew. I know some who see Y'shua as the Son of God.

tbh sounds like ur quoting the new testament which isn't really a thing in judaism so sorry for my ignorance but can't really help u on that one. Messianic jews are christians who believe that messiah wont come and redeem us until all jews are christian and live in israel, they are not jews. as a result of these beliefs they expend a lot of efforts into evangelising jews e.g. with pamphlets. we have had multiple pamphlets posted through our door in the past year

Reply 14

Original post
by Aryannadeem
Do Jews believe in heaven/hell? If they do, do you need to be Jewish to enter? And if that's the case, why do Jews not encourage others to enter Judaism?

yes, heaven is called "gan eden"/ the garden of eden and the equivalent of hell is called "gehinnom". you dont need to be jewish to enter, non-jews who keep the 7 noahide laws are known as "righteous gentiles" and they can enter gan eden, and non-jews who act sinfully or oppress jews will go to gehinnom. jews dont encourage conversion as there have been people who converted and turned out to be false
Original post
by shmuel88
when everyone dies they are judged then whether they enter the Garden of Eden or Gehinnom (Hell). We believe animals are placed on this world to help us serve g-d by being eaten so we have strength to perform g-d's commandments


And it is true that the animals eaten by the Jews have to be kosher? does it mean that there must not be a drop of blood in animals to eat them?

Reply 16

Original post
by Kallisto
And it is true that the animals eaten by the Jews have to be kosher? does it mean that there must not be a drop of blood in animals to eat them?

yes thats one element of kosher but theres many other rules e.g. fish must have fins and scales to be kosher, animals must have split hooves and chew the cud, and there is a list of birds that are kosher

Reply 17

Original post
by Kallisto
And it is true that the animals eaten by the Jews have to be kosher? does it mean that there must not be a drop of blood in animals to eat them?

also they have to be ritually slaughtered in a process called shechitah, and if they aren't or the shechitah is performed wrongly, we can't eat them

Reply 18

I was thinking today there are prophecies in the Old Testament where it says that God will send us his Son Jesus Christ. As a Jew you believe in the word of God, but why do not most believe what the Bible says that Jesus was God’s Son to come to?
It is like you choose to believe in some of it the Old Testament but not all of it. I respect all faiths but I am intrigued how someone decides not to accept all of it. Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2 and
Jeremiah 23:5-6.

I studied religious studies and Judaism to and I probably heard of this, but I have forgot.
Please explain this to me if you can. I just thought of this today and remembered this thread and though the original poster might be a good person to enquire about this.

Reply 19

Original post
by shmuel88
Orthodox Jew from Manchester, ask me anything serious about Judaism or the Jewish people and i'll try answer! (pls don't get political or antisemitic)

My understanding is that John Hyrcanus (Hasmonean / Maccabean leader and Jewish High Priest of Israel, 2nd century BC) allowed non-Jews to "convert" to get equal political status. This allowed the Idumean Herodians to rise to power by Jesus' time. It occurs to me that just as Jacob impersonated Esau to get the birthright so Esau/Edom/Idumeans impersonate Jacob to in a sense, get it back.

Have you met Jews who say this?

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