Jewish Musings Wednesday, August 14

[hollygail]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:

Frieda (hopefully)?
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[hollygail]

One point that's made in this week's Torah portion is that Judaism is bigger than just the Jews. Moses tells the people that God’s laws are proof of God’s greatness, and will be their way of creating a sacred standing among the nations (see chapter 4 verses 6–8: Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children; recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up). Deuteronomy introduces the idea that what Jews do has implications for the whole world, and Jewish teachings create the way that the world perceives Jews.

In your life, what implications have your learned regarding what Jews do (or don't do) that impacts the rest of the world?

[gazelle18]

If you just start with the 10 commandments, a blueprint for modern ethical life is laid before us. Honor parents, don’t covet the wife of a neighbor, don’t murder, etc., etc.

What I always wonder about is: what is the deal with “Judeo- Christian “ principles that politicians talk about? I realize that Christianity is based upon Jesus, and I have zero against Jesus or his teachings. What I wonder is: what did Christianity add that made for “Judeo -Christian “ principles?

[peachymom1]

Wasn't it George Orwell who came up with the idea of "Judeo-Christian?" When I hear that term, I think of the Ten Commandments, as well as "Love your neighbor as yourself."

[louise]

We are known as the poeple of the book so we are perhaps considered scholarly. I don't think we have the lock on morality - I think all of the great religious traditions have this potential in common. We have tzedakah at our core but so do other religions. I can't help feeling that we nay think we are leaders, like America does, but both probably have significant room for improvement. I cringe when we get called out for bad behaviour, as sometimes happens.