Is it okay for Jewish people to have a spiritual connection with God?
maybe reform/reconstructionist/humanistic or progressive Judaism is where you'd feel more confortable.
i am a progressive Jew and believe that we should question the torah. i dont believe it all but i do believe that a lot of the biblical stories can teach us life lessons and morals. i once doubted Gods existence but have recently started to believe in God as a great force. Jews can have a spiritual connection with God even if they aren't religious. you don't have to go to temple to be religious. our family prefers to do the traditions inside our home (lighting the candles on a friday evening) because it is more ritualistic and meaningful to us than going and praying in synagogue or temple. being close to one another and keeping your morals can make you a spiritual person. also praying can be when you see something you consider to be beautiful or that brings you joy (a rainbow, the years first snowfall etc.) you just notice this something and think about it. acknowledge the good things in life :)
and maybe you even want to question Gods existence before you try to make a spiritual connection?
I personally think that jewish ritual is beautifull, shabbat candles , kaddish etc but there are some jews who seem to place more importance on the rituals themselves than what they are supposed to mean or do...
just look at the argument within orthodoxy over the length of skirts or whether women can wear flesh coloured tights etc ... such a small thing yet so much time has been wasted on it ... meanwhile the real meaning of modesty and related laws in the torah seems to have been forgotten...
One thing I'd like to suggest? Even for those of us that are not Orthodox, we need to know Jewish theology and how to define Jewish beliefs.
I highly recommend: http://www.whatjewsbelieve.org/
We don't follow the 'old testament'. That is a purely Xian text.
We follow the Tanakh, the original Hebrew scriptures. The Tanakh and the OT are *not* the same.
And let's be crystal clear:
The Xian Evangelists that pose as 'messianic jews' are just that: XIANS
There is NO 'messianic' sect in Judaism.
The entire Messianic movement was founded by Xian Ministers, it is run by Xians and it is funded by evangelical Churches. No link to Judaism whatsoever.
'messianic jew' = Xian, person who is ***literally*** NOT JEWISH
'completed jew' = Xian
'fulfilled jew' = Xian
'restored jew' = Xian
'hebrew christian' = Xian
'israelite' = Xian
Jewish = JEWISH
http://www.ajewwithaview.com
HEY PARA :)
WITHIN Judaic dogma, there's a word for you, but I can't bring it to mind just now. It describes "spiritual death" of being "cut-off" from your people by disregarding . . .um . . . Judaism.
"Religion-wise" your question proves you aren't Jewish, really. I think you have a binary choice.
a) Get some Judaism (and some penitence.)
b) Just forget about it, do your own thing with respect to God/spirituality and stop thinking of yourself as "Jewish."
"That" is the entire point! We are to seek to be yoked with YHWH through "worshipping HIM in SPIRIT and in Truth!" It is far from "religious" to be right with Yah!
Now, I know you more than likely do not want to hear this, being Jewish and all...but!,,Yeshua WAS Jewish too. Now, listen again at what he most powerfully said about the "relgious":::
"WOE unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. [Ye] blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
[Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [which is] within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men's] bones, and of all uncleanness.
Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
[Ye] serpents, [ye] generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord."
~Matthew 23:23-33, 39
See? And does not YHWH also say in Hosea 6:6:
"For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings"
Your relationship with Yahweh means everything; the "traditions of men" mean little! Do not misunderstand, I do not make null and void His Eternal commandments. But rather emphasis that HE wants you to be in communion with HIM at all times. He will show you how to discern the Torah and the Tanakh.
Shalom my friend; and Please atleast consider reading through the New Covenant, Yeshua is the Moshiach and you can prove this by Isaiah 53, Zechariah 12:10 and by simply going through all of the prophets and listing their prophecies, they really were all fulfilled in Yeshua. Please atleast consider it?
Bless your heart for seeking the right relationship with Elohim YHWH!
~Seven~
"
And the final goal of the spiritual path is revealing the Creator, which we can only do by connecting to a like minded group of people, and helping the whole world achieve the same state.
I was searching, and searching, similar to your situation, going through books, and teachers, while one day I found a free, online kabbalah course, which slowly answered all the questions about God and spirituality I have ever had.
So if you are interested in a similar experience I would recommend the following video and then link which can guide you to the first steps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuuWPDx-Z...
http://www.kabbalah.info/course/main/?ut...
All the best with your search!
I consider myself Reconstructionist because of their activism and deeds.
Do feel free to e-mail me!
The term "religious" is oftentimes used as reference to one who is firm in his or her beliefs. People who attend services regularly are considered to be more religious than those who aren't as frequent attendees.
According to Judaism, however, being religious means observing G-d's laws. We believe that G-d has given the Jewish people 613 commandments - mitzvot. Each mitzva provides us the opportunity to strengthen our bond with G-d.
Every mitzva is independent of the others, and with every mitzva performed - or transgression avoided - a link is added to our connection. The more we do, the stronger the bond.
At times, we may hesitate taking upon ourselves the observance of certain mitzvot. The reluctance usually stems from feelings of hypocrisy. For, how can I observe one mitzva while I disregard another?
A quote I am fond of repeating is "There are three types of Jews: Those who do mitzvot, those who do more mitzvot, and those who do even more mitzvot." Simply because you aren't prepared to make a life changing decision regarding some mitzvot, shouldn't preclude you from observing those you are able, and willing, to.
We aren't at all perfect-every activity is judged by its own merit.
And the more we do, the better we off we are.
You have gotten very few answers from actual Jews as most of the observant ones will not be online for the Shabbos.
You have also gotten answers seeking to convince you to become a part of destroying Judaism from within by trying to get you to join so-called "Messianic Judaism".
I think that you don't know enough about Judaism at this point in time to make an informed choice.
Try studying and I believe that you will find that there is a place for you in Judaism and can show you that relationship you want.
Maybe you'd like to learn more about Judaism? You can take a class at temple instead of focusing on services as the only connection. Also in larger cities JCCs have classes on all sorts of things.
This site is a good summary. Some stuff will be familar, but others might not. It's written by an Orthodox women but she spans the range nicely (I'm Reform.): http://www.jewfaq.org
Also these sites are good:
http://www.aish.org
http://virtualjewishlibrary.org
http://judaismoutreach.org (I may be off on that name.)
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BTW, Messanics call themselves Jews according to their main websites, to make it easier to convert vunerable Jewish folks. They follow Christ & their beliefs match Christian beliefs. Every Jewish organization considers them evangelicals, not related to Judaism in any way.
Then I see you say you are Jewish, you use the word Temple for your place of worship so that would be a Reform synagogue..but oddly, you use the name of the Christian Bible's adaptation of our Bible, the Tanakh. That's not something I see Jewish people doing, unless they know nothing about Judaism.
I'm not sure how you're defining religious. If you mean simply observant of custom or ritual, I would say that unless you understood the concepts of faith and the path of living those customs are designed to honor, then they would be meaningless to a connection to God.
Then I see this answer included in the responses to this q: "You guys" should really come up with more adjectives so "Jewish" doesn't have to describe a culture, a bloodline AND a religion.
WITHIN Judaic dogma, there's a word for you, but I can't bring it to mind just now. It describes "spiritual death" of being "cut-off" from your people by disregarding . . .um . . . Judaism".
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THAT answer is devoid of knowing anything about Judaism. Jewish doesn't describe a "bloodline". And the word..apostacy only applies to someone who has abandoned the covenant of faith of Israel for one that is contradictory to it..adopted a DIFFERENT faith. It is frustrating to read answers telling you in an authorotative tone, things about Judaism that are so utterly off base.
I suggest that people learn about a religion and people before they answer for them as misunderstanding abounds about Judaism primarily for those reasons and that too often, Christian doctrine ABOUT Judaism that has nothing to do with what the Jewish people believed or believe now..is taken as word over the Jewish people's declarations of belief, even sometimes when the listener doesn't agree with anything else Christianity has to say.
Continue to study and explore, test, question, challenge and learn. Judaism teaches us that it is how we live and interact with one another that opens us up to the awareness and direct connection to the Divine. For many people, it appears to be a slow process of growth into an awareness of our connection to God, rather than some kind of overwhelming divine revelatory moment.
Judaism is a path of LIVING and honoring this life God gave us and the lives that come after us while we build on the wisdom of those who came before us.
I think that was part of the hard lesson of coming out of slavery from Egypt. The bonds of idolatry and superstition that enslaved the mind were broken when Israel came to the recognition that all those man/gods and animal gods were powerless over this life. It wasn't only deliverance from physical bondage that is told about at Passover, but the deliverance for each generation when we remember of the kind of enslavement that focusing on concern for another world than this one is made priority.
Judaism is a world-affirming, not world-denying faith. We use the gifts and blessings we have in this world to make it better for ourselves, for our families and for the rest of the world.
The book of Kings records Gentiles worshipping at the Temple , Torah teaches that every human can directly connect to God and the righteous of all nations are blessed. It is Christianity that has as a part of it's dogma that one must accept their New Testament doctrine to connect to God, not vice versa.
Jews are obligated to participate in repairing the world by participating in tzedakah (justice and righteousness) and g'milut hasadim (acts of loving kindness). As the prophet Micah so succinctly stated : What does God require of you, Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God. In practical application I see this teaching to practice living as if you are in partnership with God in perfecting the world and then one day you'll understand that is exactly what you were doing
Jews test and scrutinize everything..we are taught to do so in Torah. If something is real and valid, it will stand up to any test put before it. Blind faith isn't a path of Judaism.
Cher and Paperback gave you answers that contain things I was going to say myself. I'll just say ditto to save space since I've said so much already!
Why ask this on Sabbath when many Jewish R&S users are offline?
Also why refer to it as the Old Testament and not the Torah ?
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