cathyyg

Thank you for the priestly blessing! Would you be kohain?

As a liberal Jew, and not near any Jewish community, it is easy to stop observing Shabbat. I resist this. If I don't do a proper Shabbat, the rhythm of my whole week is disrupted. Now, a proper Shabbat for me is nothing like an Orthodox Shabbos. I use electricity, for one thing! But it is distinctly different for me. I bake challah on Friday - nowhere to buy it! - and say HaMotzi when it is cut for Shabbat evening dinner. I light the candles and say the blessing. I don't cook, nor do I reheat food on my gas stove. I do reheat in the microwave. I read the parshah, and a commentary on it. Nobody to discuss it with at my rather elementary level. I try to keep up with the Conservative Daf Shevui, which is more my speed than Daf Yomi.

Well, shalom! I am the friendly occasional liberal Jewish stream member here. So good to see a rabbi here! Would you be Orthodox, I suspect?

To remind us of the huts we lived in during our wandering in the desert. “On the first day you shall take the product of hadartrees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook" (Lev. 23:40), and "You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt" (Lev. 23:42–43).” It is a pilgrimage holiday, one of the three holidays where going to the Temple in Jerusalem was required of all those able. Finally, it marks the end of the harvest season in Israel, a typical agrarian society holiday. Lots of Jewish holidays are based on agrarian events.

This will happen when God wants it to happen, and support or opposition from any group of people whatsoever is irrelevant. In a more practical vein, Jews do not practice biblical Judaism. They practice Rabbinic Judaism. The Levitical laws pertaining to to ritual purity for priests and sacrifices in the Temple have, as much as is practical, been converted to Oral Law commandments for the masses or reinterpreted as applying to all Jews, not just the kohanim, the high priests. The home has replaced the Temple as the holy place for those commandments. There is no actual need or purpose for a Temple. Prayer and repentance has replaced animal sacrifice as a means of atonement, and Judaism ever going back to animal sacrifice is very improbable.

You are overlooking usage by the general public. If it fails there, it fails, as it is an effort to “Christianize” the image of the Church. If the rest of the world continues to refer to your church members as Mormons or LDS, as if they were something other than Christians, then the attempt to rename will fail, as it did in 1982, 2001, and 2011. And, frankly, your dogma differs from standard Christian dogma significantly enough that the basic Christian nature of the Church is validly questioned.

Well, I read an article today that says the Church doesn't want to be called either the Mormon church or for the abbreviation LDS to be used. They want to have their name, when shortened, to be The Church of Jesus Christ. I will go out on a limb here and predict failure. Mormon and LDS are used because anything else is inconveniently long. https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/17/us/mormon-church-name-trnd/index.html

Yes, a human man, nothing more.

In Judaism, prophets are not seen as predicting the future. Their role is speaking truth to power, particularly the ruler. They are the check and balance against corruption and sin, by making it public and holding them accountable to HaShem for their actions. Sin has consequences, as we see going back to the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy, and continuing on. But those are potentialities, not predictions, for teshuva by the ruler and the people can alter those consequences.

My September calendar of religious holidays only!

The Days of Awe is the literal translation of the Hebrew term for the 10 days starting with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur. Better known as the High Holy Days. On Rosh Hashanah the Book of Life for the next year is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed. The second most famous prayer segment from the special service: ”On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed – how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die after a long life[29] and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword and who by beast, who by famine and who by thirst, who by upheaval [30] and who by plague, who by strangling and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquility and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted. But Repentance, Prayer, and Charity annul the severe Decree." The holiday greeting is “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.” We are commanded to hear the shofar blown (the ram's horn) as a call for repentance on Rosh Hashanah. The shofar is blown 100 times in the Rosh Hashanah service. It is a very long service, several hours. It is traditional to eat apple slices dipped in honey, symbolizing a sweet year. The challah is made in a round or ring shape, rather than oval or oblong loaves, because Rosh Hashanah is also the Jewish calendar New Year, symbolizing the continuation of life and time from one year to the next. Apple cake is traditional, too. On erev Rosh Hashanah, 18 minutes before the holiday begins at sunset, I will light candles and recite the blessings, particularly the Shehecheyanu. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shehecheyanu I will be making a brisket, obviously, and challah. I make a honey-apple bundt cake. I'll do a salad of chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. Oh, potatoes and carrots cooked with the brisket, and quarts of gravy. I keep it much, much simpler than most, usually opting out of the traditional tzimmes, matzoh ball soup, kugel, and gefilte fish. On the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah I will do tashlich, putting bread crumbs into the local river to be washed away, eventually reaching the sea, representing the washing away of my sins. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/tashlikh/ During those 10 days I will be asking forgiveness from those I have wronged, and giving forgiveness to those who may have wronged me. We are as obliged to give forgiveness as we are obliged to ask for it. I will be considering if my efforts to improve myself are adequate, and if I have been remiss in my observance of the commandments. (I have been; I am a very liberal, rather than traditional, Jew) September is a long, long month for Jewish people. Right after Yom Kippur comes Sukkot, which is a week long, then Shemini Atzerat, followed by Simcha Torah. I will talk about those after Yom Kippur.

Love the link you provided! Thank you for that. Yes, the Yetzer Hara is not evil in itself. Only when it dominates. And since our task as we await the World to Come is tikkun olam, to repair the world, we need strong Yetzer Tov and committment to tzedekah (charity/righteousness) to accomplish that.

It is the time of year to repent, to seriously consider whether we are following our Yetzer Tov or allowing our Yetzer Hara to sway our actions. Who have we wronged? Make a list, because you need to ask forgiveness from them, not HaShem, and make restitution.

Why would you think that quoting the Christian scriptures in the Jewish forum lent any credibility to what you are saying? PLEASE stop with your offensive spouting of your Christianity in here. Take it to the Christianity forum.

For ATTENDING SERVICES. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur only. Bear in mind there is no plate passing, no collection, at any Jewish services.