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Showing posts with label Reform_Judaism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reform_Judaism. Show all posts

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Speaking Of Shabbat...

If I already posted this from Yahoo! Answers before, please let me know. Nonetheless, a refresher always helps. On Shabbat especially, to talk about the different forms of Judaism would begin to give others—including Jews who don't know what the heck their own people do, and those who suspect that they are Jewish and would like to have an idea of what Jews do—an idea of what Jews do on Shabbat. Granted that this is basic, modified from the original Yahoo! post, and more for reference than anything else; but it should still give you an idea of what Jews do on Shabbat.

Conservative Judaism is the closest form of Judaism to Orthodox (really, Orthodox Pharisaic) Judaism. Conservative (Masorti) Judaism broke away from Reform Judaism in order to maintain Matrilineal Descent as the rue for "Who is a Jew?" and other traditions, although they do not believe in the inerrancy of Tanakh or the Talmud. The hierarchy is something along the lines of: 

1) Haredi ("Hasidi", "Chabad") Judaism (including Kabbalah) 2) Orthodox Judaism 3) Conservadox Judaism 4) Reformodox Judaism 5) Conservative (Masorti) Judaism 6) Reform (Liberal, "Progressive") Judaism 7) Reconstructionist Judaism 8) Renewal Judaism or Alternative Judaism 9) Humanistic Judaism 10) Atheistic Judaism 


There's also Karaite (Mikra'iti, Scripturalist) Judaism and Messianic (Christian) Judaism, neither of which are accepted by Pharisaic (Mainstream) Judaism.

Now that you have an idea of each of the forms of Judaism, you can pretty much guess what a Jew who affiliates with a given denomination of Judaism does on Shabbat. If you can't, keep reading...

1) Haredi ("Hasidi", "Chabad") Judaism (including Kabbalah)—will not work on Shabbat. "Work" certainly includes even writing, and may even include walking for the extremely-haredi Jew. For the Jew who does not even walk on Shabbat, he or she may sit in his or her home and privately worship (He or she would certainly not walk to shul.). If he or she has any light on in his or her dwelling, the light will come only from the Shabbat candles, as "work" includes turning on a light switch!
2) Orthodox Judaismwill not work on Shabbat. "Work" may include even writing for the more-Orthodox Jew (as opposed to the Modern Orthodox Jew, depending on what he or she is writing). He or she will usually walk to shul, and drive only if tikun ha'olam v'piku'ach nefesh (e.g., getting a disabled family member to shul) requires him or her to do so (He or she may hire a shabbos goy to drive the family member, however.). If he or she has any light on in his or her dwelling, the light will come only from the Shabbat candles, as "work" includes turning on a light switch!
3) Conservadox Judaism—will mix Conservative and Orthodox practices.
4) Reformodox Judaismwill mix Reform and Orthodox practices. 
5) Conservative (Masorti) Judaismmay or may not work on Shabbat, depending on whether he or she leans toward being Orthodox or Reform. "Work" may include even writing for the more-Orthodox Conservative Jew (as opposed to the more-Modern-Orthodox Jew, depending on what he or she is writing). He or she will usually walk to shul, and drive only if tikun ha'olam v'piku'ach nefesh (e.g., getting a disabled family member to shul) requires him or her to do so (He or she may hire a shabbos goy to drive the family member, however.). If he or she has any light on in his or her dwelling, the light may come only from the Shabbat candles, as "work" may include turning on a light switch! 
6) Reform (Liberal, "Progressive") Judaismmay or may not work on Shabbat, depending on whether he or she leans toward being more traditional or more liberal. "Work" may include even writing for the more-Orthodox Reform Jew (as opposed to the less-Orthodox Reform Jew, depending on what he or she is writing). He or she will usually drive to shul—if he or she attends shul at all.  He or she will also likely turn on light switches.
7) Reconstructionist Judaismmay or may not work on Shabbat, depending on whether he or she leans toward being more traditional or more liberal. He or she will write, usually drive to shul—if he or she attends shul at all—, and likely turn on light switches. 
8) Renewal Judaism or Alternative Judaismmay or may not work on Shabbat, depending on whether he or she leans toward being more traditional or more liberal. He or she will write, drive to shul—if he or she attends shul at all, and turn on light switches.  
9) Humanistic Judaismwould not be opposed to working on Shabbat. He or she will write, drive to shul—if he or she attends shul at all, and turn on light switches.  
10) Atheistic Judaismwould not be opposed to working on Shabbat. He or she will write, drive to shul—if he or she attends shul at all, and turn on light switches. 


Karaite Judaism and Messianic (Christian) Judaism, meanwhile, accept few to no Orthodox practices as authoritative. Karaite and Messianic Jews, therefore, usually work on Shabbat except for in the ways which are prohibited by TaNaKh—for Messianics, TaNaKH ("H" stands for "[B'rit] Hadashah", or "New [Covenant] [or "New Testament"]"). Both Karaites and Messianics usually write, drive to shul, and turn on light switches.







Monday, August 26, 2013

"What's the difference between Jews, Christians, and Catholics?"

I can sadly and unfortunately tell you that a majority of Jews actually do not believe in Jesus (Hebrew, "ישוע", "Yeshua"). In fact, Jews like me are often intraethnically persecuted (e.g., told that we're no longer Jewish or even that we're actually just gentiles posing as Jews in order to proselytize and destroy Jewish souls, thus attempting to finish the evil work of the Nazis). Also, I am quite sure that this answer may even be disliked and/or reported by Anti-Messianic Jews who will attempt to slanderously portray me as Anti Semitic.

However, many (if not most) Non-Messianic Jews are tolerant of Jesus-believing (Messianic) Jews (Jewish Christians), although they disagree with Messianic Jews on whether or not there is even a literal Messiah ("משיח", "Mashiach) and/or who Mashiach is. For example, Karaites and Orthodox Pharisees (and Ultra-Orthodox Pharisees) do believe in a literal, yet-to-come (or, in the case of Menachem Mendel Schneerson's followers, yet-to-be-resurrected) Mashiach. Conservative and Reform Pharisees generally do not believe in a literal Mashiach.

Some Non-Messianic Jews, and even some Messianic Jews, are Crypto Jews ("אנוסים", "Anusim"). Many direct paternal ancestors from the 1700s-1900s became or were born to such--in fact, my dad and his parents deny that we're Jewish because (long story short) dad's paternal granddad became an Anusi when he was a baby to survive the pogroms and escape Anti Semitism in better-than-nothing America, and my dad's Anusit maternal grandmother was partly responsible for the murder of her Non-Anusi relatives who died in the Holocaust (which, for Grandma, is pretty painful to recall--she was six to eight years of age when her mother denied Vilmos Rusznak, Zoli Grinfeld, and other cousins [z'l] financial help to leave Europe and make aliyah ["עליה"]. In fact, she once snapped at my mom, "You keep your money in your own country." when Mom unknowingly and unintentionally opened that painful and reminding wound that Great-Grandma left in her daughter's soul.).

Most Anusim were or (as are my grandparents) are Roman or Byzantine Vaticanists ("Catholics", "universalists")--partly because they're in dread of the Vatican, which attempted to supersede Mount Zion with Vatican Hill because of replacementism. Some Anusim (e.g., Issac D'Israeli and Heinrich Marx) were or are Lutheran, Anglican, or affiliated with other denominations that broke away from Vaticanism. Very few Anusim are affiliated with Anabaptist or other Non-Vaticanist denominations (Even my dad, who goes to a Southern Baptist church, goes to a Southern Baptist church only because his wife is a Southern Baptist. If he were not an Anusi, he'd be a Reform Jew.).

As for Vaticanists, be sadly assured that most are not Christians. Christians (including Jewish Christians) believe in the inerrancy and infallibility of the Christian/Completed Jewish Bible (Old and New Covenants/Testaments). Vaticanists generally do not, as they tend to either believe what the Vatican says about it (as opposed to what it says for itself) or the "Documentary Hypothesis" (e.g., Non-Messianic Jews--excepting Karaites, Orthodox Pharisees, and Ultra-Orthodox Pharisees--and Vaticanists alike would agree with the words of Reform Pharisee clergywoman Amy Scheinerman--i.e., "Some institutions are considered to be a product of the cultural milieu and societal norms of the ancient Near East when the Hebrew Scriptures [i.e., the Old Covenant] were written down, and do not speak to our lives today.")

Hopefully, this clears up any confusion and specifies differences as well as similarities for you.