anauthorandherservicedog:

elfwreck:

lesbeet:

lesbeet:

lesbeet:

listen i know a lot of you think that judaism is just like….christianity but with some cool more ~ethnique~ holidays or whatever but if you’re approaching your interpretation of judaism within any sort of framework related to xtianity you’re doing it entirely wrong

“the torah says [x]” doesn’t mean “the torah says this and so this is what everyone does bc that’s the torah”

“the torah says [x]” means “for the next several thousand years people are going to argue about what exactly this means, what the loopholes are, how many different ways this can be interpreted, whether we should even follow it, and hey maybe gd isn’t even real so maybe the question is how this impacts us and our society, what are the implications, etc”

judaism is not “the torah says sodomy is an abhorrence therefore the entire religion is intrinsically homophobic and gd hates gays and is gonna send us to hell for being gay” because that is not how judaism works AT ALL

if you’re a prospective convert, if you’re someone who’s interested in theology, if you’re someone who thinks you know enough about judaism to talk about it on the internet, it is ESSENTIAL to understand these things.

judaism is not, and has never been, xtianity. not just because of our holidays. not just because we don’t believe that jesus is the messiah. but because we have a fundamentally different philosophy about gd, the torah, and how we should live our lives.

this is ok to rb btw

ykw goyim can reblog this too just don’t be stupid

One of the things I love about Judaism, as an outsider, is that apparently the rabbis got together a long long time ago, and decided, “the IMPORTANT part of this religion, is that people be decent to each other. When you love your family and respect your neighbors and are polite to strangers, and you strive to do well at your job and to understand that even very strange or damaged people are worthy of consideration… you are living the true holy path.”

And also, “Okay, so, we got all this scripture stuffs, lots of scripture, says lots of things. … How do we interpret it so that it agrees with that?”

THIS THIS THIS

Are there hardline Jews who believe there’s One True Interpretation and All Others Are WRONG? Absolutely.

But for the most part? It’s about what feels right for you and what does right for the community. It’s about bringing light into your life, into your community, and letting that light shine out to change the world.

So yeah, outsiders get caught up in “But you ~can’t~ eat cheeseburgers because the Torah says so!” and I’m all “I do what I can to help myself, my people, and the world, but take my cheeseburger and I will stab you with my fork.”

Okay, maybe that last part isn’t Jewish, but this is what INFURIATES me about people who try to get picky at me and tell me I’m doing Judaism wrong.

Because Judaism isn’t all about “tick off all these boxes, play-act through these ceremonies, and you get to go to Heaven and laugh your ass off at all the schmucks who went to Hell.”