Jewish Sources On "HaSatan" or "The Adversary", or "The Devil"

BecomingJewish.org:


Satan

Satan, or more properly, HaSatan is an angel who resides in the heavenly realm. HaSatan means the accuser or the adversary. The term Satan or HaSatan is used in three different contexts within the Tanach.^[1]

First, as an enemy in war as seen in I Kings 5:18: And now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, (there is) neither adversary (שָׂטָן) nor evil occurrence.^[2]

Second, as an accuser before the seat of judgment as seen in Psalm 109:6: Set a wicked man over him, and let an adversary (וְשָׂטָן) stand at his right hand.^[2]

Third, as an adversary in the general sense of the term as seen in II Samuel 19:23...

HaSatan is an angel who watches over the activities of humanity, searching for mankind’s sins and then appearing as their accuser to Hashem. HaSatan is not considered an opponent to Hashem as Christianity teaches. Monotheistic teachings are no more disturbed by the existence of HaSatan than by the presence of other beings that go before Hashem. This view is shown in Zechariah 3:1-2 where HaSatan is described as the adversary of the high priest Joshua....

Head Coverings By Devorah:

Ha-satan is Identified with the Yetzer Ra:

In Judaism, ha-satan (the adversary) is mostly identified with the yetzer ra, but also identified with one who leads astray, then brings accusations against man.  Its chief functions is those of temptation, accusation and punishment.  Under the control of G-d it acts solely with divine permission to carry out its deeds.

As we see in the book of Iyov, ha-satan's function is described as that of testing the sincerity of men's characters.  Ha-satan is at all times under the control of G-d and keeps within the limits which G-d has fixed for it.

In Talmudic literature, ha-satan's function is to strengthen man's moral sense by lending him into temptation....  

Orthodox Judaism: Purpose of HaSatan:

Firstly, "the Devil" and "Satan" are one and the same - I think this nomenclature is used interchangeably rather than to show they are different entities.  

Satan is indeed G-d's angel (messenger) sent with the explicit purpose of making us the best we can be - challenging us to do the right thing by presenting a not-so-clear choice.  Remember Deuteronomy 30 - choose between life and good, or death and evil - and we are perfectly capable of making the right choice.  Satan is sent to not throw you off the righteous path, but to help you walk it in a more confident way.  

Hashem gives us all our challenges in order for us to overcome them and become stronger. Only in adversity do we grow; otherwise, we would not advance at all.  It doesn't mean Hashem sends Satan to drive you into evil; He sends Satan so you could choose good and therefore become more like Hashem.  

The statement you quoted correctly states that evil is created only by the absence of good.  Speaking in more spiritual terms, G-d is the ultimate good, and everything is G-d, so evil appears with G-dlessness. We are constantly challenged to stay on the side of light, on the side of good, on the side of G-d - that way, we are actually active participants in the process of creation...


For more, see "HaSatan Judaism", Google search term.   

In Case You Were Too Tired Or Even Too Lazy To Read Some of the YNet Comments For Yourself...

• I reported this comment for hate speech against a religious group. "hey Paolo in Italy you sold us out to the Nazis so instead of killing Catholics who believe all the Jews are going to hell we just won't deliver their bs bubbemeisers :D"

This comment I concurred with except for the "ignorant" part

• Only ignorance + fear could drive such hatred
  			If it's nonsense, then what is there to fear? Why hate? Why not have compassion and educate the ignorant instead of making enemies of them?  Thinking Jew ,   real world   (03.05.12)

• i want to throw up
  			great done postmen!!!! im not going to express my real opinions about that heretic called "jesus" cause ynet wouldnt post my comment lol but u can imagine  esty (03.05.12) This was the highly-inappropriate comment that I referenced:

• 24.  A question to the Israel Postal company
  			Israel Postal Company officials responded: "The Israel Postal Company is a governmental company operating in accordance to the Postal Law, which obligates us to distribute any mail it receives. The Israel Postal Company has no right or ability to chose what it can or cannot distribute...". Now my question. Would they distribute Hitler's "Mein Kampf" translated into Hebrew or "The Protocols of the Zion Sages" - in accordance with the Postal Law?  Vladimir ,   Yerushalayim   (03.05.12)

  
  

There were other highly-inappropriate and unfair comments as well, some of which I still haven't read the full extent of or chose to originally not read the full extent of.

To Correct pboisei And Others About Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism

Reform Judaism does believe in Israel as the chosen people in the privilege-and-responsibility sense. Reconstructionist Judaism believes in responsibility chosenness. Mordekhai HaKohen (Moredechai Kaplan) specifically founded Reconstructionist Judaism on that principle and other principles: "Kaplan rejected several traditional Jewish categories, most notably Chosenness. He felt that the term was misunderstood and too often taken as a sign of Jewish superiority, when instead it was conceived as an expression of Jewish obligation to God and humanity. So, too, Kaplan rejected the idea of a personal messiah (that is, that God will send a messiah in the form of a human being). He wrote the "Sabbath Prayer Book" in which he expunged both notions from the prayers. Some Reconstructionist synagogues employ a different version of the Torah blessings to this day, avoiding the phrase "...asher bachar banu mi-kol ha-amim..." (...Who chose us from all the peoples...)."


Reform Judaism "views the idea of the Chosen People as a metaphor for the choices we make in our lives. All Jews are Jews-by-Choice in that every person must make a decision, at some point in their lives, whether or not they want to live Jewishly. Just as God chose to give the Torah to the Israelites, modern Jews must decide whether they want to be in a relationship with God."

AKA, "How Antimissionaries Lie All the Time"

I honestly don't know how this guy with no conscience sleeps at night. As I told him, he can lie about me, the Foczkos, Rusznaks, Uszinskys, Gajdoszes, Chernetskis, etc. all that he wants. But he's serving only to get my YouTube video more views and to make my family history known, not to push his Self-Hating-Jewish cause-- since, if you don't love Yeshua (Jesus), you can't possibly love yourself or anyone else. 

These Blog Shabbats Have Been Useful...

Meanwhile, I could tell that in that moment between David McArthur and Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney was trying not to break down and cry himself. As for the timing of the elections, one could argue that these election cycles are short since past presidents didn't become presidents until later than January 20 (e.g., Lincoln in March). However, election cycles also started later back then. So, I agree with the "Special Report" panel in that unless some miracle for good or bad happens (since a miracle for Santorum would be bad for the rest of us-- e.g., if he won the Super Tuesday states), Mitt Romney's going to be the nominee. So, Super Tuesday should've been the day that the rest of the states (including Maryland) voted-- why drag the election out to April 3rd and all the way into June, even though I have time to get my absentee ballot application in?

I Lied When I Said That "It's [only] the Depression again."...

For example, when dogs and cats (like Moki, Mishka, Laika, Skeen, Winston, Cassy, etc.) are more famous than me, that's not only depressing; that's also (or so the situation seems that) G-d seems to be rubbing in my face that dogs and cats are more famous and loved than me. Then there's that (and I've blogged about all this before; but there's still that) sense of loneliness, injustice, etc.. I know that others are going through worse (which is another way of G-d rubbing my pain in my face-- "You know, there are people going through worse than you.")-- but my pain is not mitigated or taken away from.

I know why I'm lonely-- I'm an OCD/Anxiety-, Depression-, Cerebral Palsy-diagnosed, also ADD and IBS-afflicted, Anusi-born Messianic Jew with divorced parents and (with few exceptions) a Hell of a meshuga family and family history on both sides-- and I've already given you the megillah of my dad's family history (with yet more for me to find out and give, I'm guessing-- and the roadblocks in finding out the family history, including my meshuga family being deliberate roadblocks-- is depressing).

I've also given you a little of my mom's family history with the roadblocks in finding more out about it-- and, for example, try being cursed because your great-great-great-granddad was a Confederate veteran; and I've discussed how inquity visits the third and fourth generations continually, even to the thousandth-- the 250th of fourths of-- generations.

I mean, let's face very clearly that Pop-Pop Farrell's daughters and granddaughters, among others, suffered post-partum depression because "‘The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’" By the way, if you think that having to know that many in your family suffered terribly under post-partum depression is just another facet of life, you're meshuga-- and you don't understand that one begins to suspect that the post-partum depression was just a manifestation of depression within the family or genepool.

In conclusion, I lied when I said that "It's [only] the Depression again."... es mi pinche vida y mi historia que puede me deprimir.

A Response To the Following "Devil's Advocate" Argument

"Just an apologetic argument for the Mormon side:

"The belief is that you are giving the deceased a second chance to enter Heaven by performing a proxy baptism. They are then given an audience with God and allowed to pledge allegiance, even if they had not done so during life."

The sin known as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the following:

"The blasphemy of the Spirit today, which is the same as the unpardonable sin, is the state of continued unbelief. There is no pardon for a person who dies in unbelief. Continual rejection of the Holy Spirit’s promptings to trust in Jesus Christ is the unpardonable blasphemy against Him. Remember what is stated in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Further on in the same chapter is the verse “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him” (John 3:36). The only condition wherein someone would have no forgiveness is if he is not among the “whoever believes in Him,” for it is he who “rejects the Son.”"

Once a person dies in blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, he or she will not want an audience with G-d:

"Death freezes the moral compass. People will remain in the fashion they enter. Revelation 22:11 seems to emphasize hell's unrepentant evil: "Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy" (RSV). The God-less remain ungodly."

"I don't think it's that big of a deal. If the Mormons are correct and, say, Anne Frank was not allowed into Heaven, she now is. If they are incorrect, then they've done absolutely no harm to her."

The Mormons have desecrated Anne Frank's memory, and Anne Frank was known to have died in peace despite her circumstances-- read the epilogue to her published diary. Also, the Mormons have done harm to themselves and others by preaching Joseph Smith's "gospel":

"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ⁷ which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed."

"Since the Mormons believe that this is the only way for the deceased to enter Heaven, according to their theology, it's hard to condemn them for caring about those in the afterlife. Because what we're really saying is, "Don't you worry about the fact that they're burning in Hell for eternity, with no chance of escape, simply because they had never converted during their lifetime. Leave them be!""


No Christian ultimately, even if initially he or she, wants for even the vilest of beings to die-- even if he or she struggles with wanting the vilest of beings to die for the rest of his or her life:

"Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’"
"What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin."