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Oct
25
Yeah – can’t make this up (in regard to the timing with some of the other WLST posts lately on being Jewish, me that is).
In my inbox one minute ago, from About.com:
What is the difference between a Haredi Jew and a Hasidic Jew? Have you ever heard of the Neturei Karta? What is the difference between the Reform and Reconstructionist movement? Never before in history have Jews been offered so many different ways to practice their Judaism.
In the Spotlight
Haredi Jews
Haredi Judaism is the most theologically conservative form of Judaism. Haredi Judaism is often translated as ultra-orthodox Judaism, although Haredi Jews themselves object to this translation. They simply refer to themselves as Jews, and they consider more liberal forms of Judaism to be unauthentic.Hasidic Judaism is one movement within Haredi Judaism. The Hasidic movement is unique in its focus on the joyful observance of God’s commandments (mitzvot), heartfelt prayer and boundless love for God and the world He created. Many ideas for Hasidism derived from Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah).
Neturei Karta
Neturei Karta, a stoic Litvish (as opposed to the joyful Hasidic) brand of Haredi Judaism, refers to an extreme anti-Zionistic sect. The name Neturei Karta is Aramaic for Guardians of the City, as they plan to watch over Jerusalem until the Messiah comes and creates a true Jewish homeland.More Topics
Orthodox Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Reform Judaism
Reconstructionist Judaism
Humanistic Judaism
Flexidox Judaism
Judaism Basics
Hasidic Jews
For all those links, you’ll need to go here. Or subscribe to the About.com Judaism newsletter like me.
Flexidox??? Oy.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:00 am October 25th, 2007 in Jewish, Judaism
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So in this spectrum of the faith, what's the relationship between sects? For example, do the Ultra-Orthodox Jews consider themselves to be the only true followers of the faith, and say the other sects are not Jews? I thought I might respond with a list of Christian sects and denominations which line up with this list of Jewish sects. Something like: Ultra-Conservative = Amish; Orthodox = Southern Baptist; Conservative = Lutheran, etc. But to do so would show my ignorance of Judaism and my disrespect for other Christians. Islam must have the same kind of spectrum. I wonder about the other major faiths of the world: Hinduism, Buddhism? I think the answer there is yes as well. I wonder how often it has been the case over history that intra-faith warfare erupted, as is the case in Iraq today. But then I doubt that the fighting is so much about faith as it is political power. (ps – this editor is really annoying. If you hit Preview then try to edit again, all your blank lines get eliminated….)
Yeah – I think I have to get rid of the editor – I tried it but not many folks are using it and then, all the comments seem to be going to spam.
I will check in with the very kind folks who've been guiding me in its usage – maybe they can help me get it better (I think there might be an incompatibility with the wordpress version I use or the spam filter).
Ok – spectrum – well – it primarily has to do with whether the Torah came from God, is literal or is man-made. That's a huge generalization (Jeff – feel free to improve on it if you want) but Orthodox was all there was, then Reform developed and then Conservative, because Reform wasn't Orthodox enough. Then came the other sects like Lubovich which is the same as Hasidic but they have a split now since their big leader passed away two or three years ago.
To be viewed as a Jew, you have fit certain Halacha – laws – that dictate who is a Jew. But not all branches are as stringent as others. As I've mentioned, I have very observant relatives in Israel who allow me in their home and shul, but they have relatives who wouldn't allow me in their home or shul. I mean- I could GO, but I wouldn't be welcome etc.
Now – I have not undergone any kind of Halachic conversion – I was raised in the Reform branch. But I'm born of a Jewish woman who was born of Jewish women and so on. So technically, I think! I am a Jew – regardless of the Halacha observance.
HOWEVER – they might treat me as though I'm not since I don't OBSERVE.
I honestly don't know because, well – I deal with it on a case by case basis.
As far as power – I don't know Paul – I mean, there's always a way I suppose to say that that's what it was about. But really, for Jews, none of this separation existed until the Jews were in the Diaspora. The divisions are somewhat modern, in the history of Judaism anyway – at least the formal divisions.
In practice, no one is turned away by most Jews. It's an incredibly minute minority that in application excludes people who would otherwise be viewed as Jews as not being Jews. Otherwise – it's pretty much an open door – at least in my experience.
Well – I should add of course that there has always been the Levites, Israelites and Kohanim (and the other tribes). So…I take that back about not being divisions.
My power comment was directed to the Sunni/Shi'a civil war in Iraq, or the Muslim/Christian civil war in what was Yugoslavia. I those cases, I believe the struggle was about political power, not theology. Maybe that's also the case in the Israel/Palestine situation?
PL
Hmm – can we put that question on hold?
I'm working on deadline before a bit of a break. But don't let me forget!! I would love to have an honest open thread about that (whether political power is at the root of Israel and Palestine but religion is used like a front – that's what you're saying, yes?).
Neturei Karta – Isn't that the Jewish Karma Sutra?
Now, now Scott – those are the Jew who went to Iran for the conference on whether the Holocaust happened – or whatever the exact title of that event was – last year or early in 2006 I believe.
Shalom Jill, Oy, have you opened a can of worms. I've taught both comparative religion and comparative Judaism at the high school level over the years and here's how I approach the subject with my students.
The streams of Judaism are not a hierarchy. No stream is more Jewish than another; same mountain top, different ascent routes.
Over the years I have studied with rabbis in all streams and found my teachers to all be inclusive; they weren't concerned about pedigree, they were interested in intent.
That is not to say that there aren't individuals, leaders and groups who believe that they and only they understand the Torah and everyone else has it wrong; but they are in the distinct minority among Jews.
And this is attributable to our shared oppression. Neither the KKK nor the Third Reich stopped to ask what kind of Jew you were. But the flip-side of that is that in the Western World and in Israel, where Jews do not experience State-sponsored oppression, the impetus to pull together weakens and conflict among groups arises: two Jews, three opinions.
B'shalom,
Jeff
Jeff:
I like the mountain climbing analogy. I just finished watching the rest of a lecture by James Haught which had a similar concept. Haught says the universe is moving forward from a state of simplicity to one of ordered complexity. Mankind is the current pinnacle of biological evolution (ie the development of our brain), and that religion/spirituality is the continuation of the path to God, who is more 'ahead' of us than 'above' us. Although Haught didn't say as much, I suspect he agrees with what Joseph Campbell said – it seems best to stay on whichever path you know best.
Jill: Yes, I'm proposing that war is rarely about ideology, but rather about economic and political power. Sometimes we cloak it with words like 'freedom' and 'liberty.' In contemporary America, we increasingly use 'liberty' to mean 'my team is in charge.' But when your team is in charge, I feel my liberty is being constrained.
If tolerance and compromise break down, so does the willingness to follow laws made up by the group in power. If an organizer shows up, this disenfranchisement becomes revolution.
This is why our polarizing style of politics needs to stop.
Completely, Paul re: your last two paragraphs. I know many will disagree with me, but I believe that the strength of groups like the NRA derive, in part, from that premise about the willingness to follow laws made up by the group in power. We GOT the 2nd Amendment that way to begin with. Now, it’s being used that way – in a defensive, pro-active way perhaps.
I think ideological differences have been root causes but perhaps in the sense that different ones were trying to be implemented by different groups – so in that sense, it’s power?
Jeff –
I like the hill analogy too. I think the intra-religious shunning or whatever you want to call it when one branch treats another a certain way (specifically, excluding them from some reward or recognition that adherence offers), however, might have an element of not wanting the rest of the group to get infected or however you want to say that. They don’t want there to be threats to the homogeneity I think – yes?
Shalom Jill,
I chalk it mostly up to cognitive dissonance, i.e. if the belief system I adhere to is no better, or worse, than any other belief system, why am I making all these sacrifices and avoiding all the fun stuff? (Sin — the fun stuff — all falls into one of three categories: it’s illegal, immoral or fattening.)
It’s only after you get over doing what you do for some kind of personal reward (a safe place in heaven, 72 virgins, etc.) that you can begin to see the universality of it all.
I’ve always like the idea of the 213 mitzvot, only two have any reward associated with them, and the reward is simply a long life. The reward for the other 211 mitzvot is the opportunity to perform more mitzvot.
B’shalom,
Jeff
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Jill:
A group or an individual has power when they can force another group to yield unwillingly. Very often, the ability to control the flow of money is the motivation to seek power. I think this is often the case in America. We might be talking Presidents, members of Congress, or maybe just a city mayor. When it costs a lot to get elected, the candidates, regardless of their true ideology, must allow themselves to become beholden to those who have money and want more. A very unholy alliance, and the greatest danger to our country.
There are others who thirst for power simply for the ability to control others. These are willing to use violence to get what the want. Hitler, Mao, Stalin.
Occasionally, radicals/revolutionaries emerge who are truly driven by ideology, but motivated by oppression. Martin Luther King.
In the Book of Revelations, it is said that a leader will emerge who will unite the world. It will seem good at first, but the leader is actually the Anti-Christ.
As I’ve said before, a number of Christian scholars say Revelations was written as a coded message to early Christians living under Roman rule 2,000 years ago. In my experience, mainline Christians spend little time studying Revelations. Perhaps because it is so hard to understand and has so little applicability to every day life.
But there is most definitely a part of the Christian world for whom Revelations is a roadmap of the future, and who think the world is entering the times described in that book. It talks of judgement and victory. It might be seen by the most radical of Christians as permission to do all kinds of things.
Well – I guess I always come back to the hypocrisy of how thinking one has permission to do all kinds of things will lead to doing…all kinds of things. To say one has values and then ignore those values to achieve one goal that you’re sure is what is intended for the entire human population – that is an arrogance I am sure no God intends. I just don’t buy that. And that people won’t question that, totally baffles me. We are flesh and blood, with feelings and emotions. To disregard one another and the conditions in which we live for these other ephemeral things – very hard for me to understand -I’m not disavowing them but I don’t have an easy time imagining how people come to really convince themselves of such paths.
Maybe it’s a weakness of mine. I don’t know.
Let’s start funding Neturei Karta they sound like the only ones that know what the hell is up.
Israel was supposed to be given to the chosen people, not chosen by the people while they were still wandering the earth for their sins and then taken by force, and then committing every atrocity forbidden in the bible and torah to keep it.
this will be your doom.