Sam Harris

I often hear that Judaism in general is not a very “otherworldy religion”, at least not to the degree that other Abrahamic faiths are; and that that is why there are many people who call themselves “Jews,” but are not very religous (like Humanistic Judaism and many in Reform Judaism). Instead, it has become more like a cultural tradition or a practical philosophy (doing Bar Mitzvah or Passover is simply not much different in significance from celebrating a birthday or 4th of July for some of them). The religion sounds really strict with all the kosher laws and stuff. But nevertheless, why is it sometimes seen as not being very “otherworldly”? Is it because it places more emphasis on physically obeying rules and laws (practical matters)rather than on having inner faith?

-PantheistAnonymous

Salaam, Shalom

God sent prophet Moses (peace be upon him), to stop The King Pharoah calling himself the God or the son of God… the hebrew & alot of egyptians beleived in Moses & went with him…
Judaism, Christianity & Islam R not racial beliefs but we all don’t understand the words of God & we all fanatics… it’s our fault.

Peace

I think the kabala is a mystical Jewish sect. Don’t know much about them.

PantheistAnonymous - 15 January 2008 08:47 PM

The religion sounds really strict with all the kosher laws and stuff. But nevertheless, why is it sometimes seen as not being very “otherworldly”? Is it because it places more emphasis on physically obeying rules and laws (practical matters)rather than on having inner faith?

-PantheistAnonymous

You are correct. The jewish religion is different in this way than the other “Abrehamic” ones. In the five boks of the Torah, there are 613 Mitzvahs (I guess you can call them “rules”) explainig how to be a “good” jew. The famous ones of course are keeping kosher and the sabath and getting a circumsition, but they are not the only ones.

To define who is a jew: there is a genaral concensies which says that if you are born to a jewish mother and you got circumsized (in case of males) your’e a jew. Not necceseraly a relegious one, but still a jew.

Regarding the “Otherwordly”-ness: Judiasm does not believe in heaven and hell. It does state, howerver, that there is an afterlife, and the “better” jew you are (according to the Mitzvahs stated above), the better time your soul will have.
Note: This does not mean that you can be a jackass but keep kosher and have a good afterlife. there is a strict set of Mitvahs that tell you how to be a good human: Respect your parents, respect your nieghbor, don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t be a false testimony in a trial, love your freinds etc.

I hope this has cleared up your wandering a little bit.