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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Oy vey! Ask us about Judaism!
 
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Keromaru5
Dec 28, 2012

Pictured: The Wolf Of Gubbio (probably)

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On another forum I used to frequent, there was an Orthodox Jewish poster with a thread just like this. I seem to remember him very much despising popular Kabbalah for bastardizing such an important part of Judaism.

* # ¿ Mar 17, 2017 21:26
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Keromaru5
Dec 28, 2012

Pictured: The Wolf Of Gubbio (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund
I had a few instances in mind, myself.

IIRC this Jewish poster very specifically hated... I want to say Yehuda Berg? But this was years ago, and that thread is long gone.

(And in searching Berg's name, I found out he ran the Kabbalah Center, and was sued for sexual assault in 2014, so yeah, it probably was him.)

* # ¿ Mar 17, 2017 21:38
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Keromaru5
Dec 28, 2012

Pictured: The Wolf Of Gubbio (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

Earwicker posted:

Here's I think one way a lot of Jews see it: it's hard enough to make sure you as an individual are following the laws in your own life. Harder still to be sure of your family, let alone your particular branch of the Jewish community, let alone the Jewish community as a whole. You aren't going to have the time and competence to make sure your own house is in order and also be concerned about whatever laws the gentiles are following.

Another way that some Jews deal with this is by turning to political/social activism rather than religious evangelization per se.
That Orthodox Jewish poster I mentioned earlier? His signature was a paraphrase of the following quote from Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, which seems to express what you're saying pretty well (and has affected my thinking, even though I'm not Jewish):

"A pious Jew is not one who worries about his fellow man's soul and his own stomach; a pious Jew worries about his own soul and his fellow man's stomach."

RagnarokAngel posted:

I legit think you're asking interesting questions, but I think trying to argue thousands of years of philisophical and religious debate with a couple out of context bible quotes is not really the answer. Jews aren't biblical literalists, for one thing. I'm not a Rabbi so I'm going to claim to be on the up and up about every little thing, but the continuing interpretation via Midrash is more important than just what one line out of the Bible says.
To build off of this, about how accessible would the Talmud and/or Midrash be to the average Jewish person? I don't just mean how easy they are to find (my local college library has plenty of both in translation), but how much a non-rabbi might be expected to study on their own.

* # ¿ Mar 22, 2017 14:21
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Oy vey! Ask us about Judaism!