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Aish HaTorah

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Posts posted by Aish HaTorah

  4. Shalom from the City of Lights in the desert

    in Introduce Yourself

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

    Dear Aish,

    so pleased you are here! In the Book of Mormon, those who follow the law of Moses sometimes make an animal sacrifice. For example in Mosiah, the people have a big meeting and they bring a long a first born lamb to sacrifice. Are animal sacrifices part of Jewish observations of the law of Moses? Perhaps only in certain denominations? Perhaps the practice is archaic?

    I am well-pleased to be here.  THAT is a loaded question.  ;)  It depends on your flavor of Jew.  Many Hasidic Jews practice some form of Qorbanot (sacrifice), animal notwithstanding.  Especially during Yom Kippur.  The glaring problem with this, of course, is that there is no temple in which to provide said sacrifice.  Home sacrifices were and can be performed, but it isn't the same as the temple was destroyed.  Without quorbanot, we believe forgiveness is received through repentance, prayer, as well as good deeds. 

    This, by the way, is why many Jews wear black, to mourn the temple.

  6. A Jewish Voice From the Desert

    in Jewish Beliefs Board

    Posted

    10 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

    "The Shema" is refers (as shown below) to the passage in Deuteronomy.

    "Shema" is the first Hebrew word in the passage: "Hear". Many Jews recite it as part of their daily prayers.

    Note to Aish: Not all of us have learned these things. I'm trying to plug some holes in our collective education.

    Lehi

    I am so sorry about that!  I forget what people know or do not know.  I should make no assumptions; that isn't fair.  Thank you for checking me!  :)

  7. A Jewish Voice From the Desert

    in Jewish Beliefs Board

    Posted · Edited by Aish HaTorah

    11 minutes ago, tesuji said:

    So you're telling me that we believe essentially the same things and the only issue Jews and Christians really have is a minor disagreement about who Jesus was?

    :D

     

    Well..."minor" is a bit subjective :D, but yes in essence.  Your faith, as does most all of Christianity, has its roots in Judaism.  Of course, there were no Jews before Abraham.

    Your view of Yeshua and who he was is a bit of a hurdle for us.

  8. A Jewish Voice From the Desert

    in Jewish Beliefs Board

    Posted

    55 minutes ago, tesuji said:

    What is your interpretation of the word Elohim as used in the first line of Genesis?:

    בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ:

    If I remember my alefbet correctly, I believe אֱלֹהִים says Elohim?

    "El" is "God," but "Elohim" is plural. Correct? I always that it was interesting - so why isn't it ever translated as "Gods created the earth?"

     

    To give you the Mormon angle on this, we believe in and worship what we call the Godhead, which consists of 1) God the Father (whom we call Elohim), 2) Jesus Christ (Jehovah, the God of Abraham and the rest of the Old Testament) and the 3) Holy Spirit. We believe they are three separate beings but one in purpose.

    We believe Jesus Christ created the earth under the authority of God the Father. So I think Mormons would tend to think of the beginning of Genesis as "in the beginning, Jesus Christ created the heavens and earth."

    But our founder Joseph Smith also delivered a sermon where he gave the idea as "In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted [prepared] a plan to create the world and people it." https://www.lds.org/ensign/1971/04/the-king-follett-sermon?lang=eng
    This interpretation isn't discussed much by Mormons, but it's out there.

     

    You are correct, It does say Elohim, which is a plurality.  G-d often refers to himself in the plural, but then He uses a singular form of whatever verb follows.  In the example from Bereshit you mentioned above, Elohim is plural, while the verb "bara," created is singular.

    This isn't always the case.  He sometimes uses the plural form of the verb as well.

  9. A Jewish Voice From the Desert

    in Jewish Beliefs Board

    Posted · Edited by Aish HaTorah
    Can't type accurately and quickly at the same time!

    22 minutes ago, tesuji said:

    I was fascinated to learn about the Shema. Because I recently decided that if I were to sum up what Mormonism is about, what all Christians should be about, I would give the following scripture from Matthew:

    It turns out Jesus was quoting from the Torah here. Isn't that right?

    Absolutely!  Yeshua, of course, was Yehudim, so he would most certainly have been referring to Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4-9:

    Quote

    HEAR, O ISRAEL: The L-rd our G-d, the L-rd is one.  ANd thou shalt love the L-rd thy G-d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.

     

  10. A Jewish Voice From the Desert

    in Jewish Beliefs Board

    Posted · Edited by Aish HaTorah

    12 minutes ago, tesuji said:

    So it's grammatically plural, but you understand it to be singluar. one G-d?

    Hey, I just learned about the Shema from that book I mentioned. So you say it every day? Very cool. I googled it - is this what you repeat every day?:

    http://www.jewfaq.org/shemaref.htm

    Singular, yes.  That is a very LONG debate for which you will get no consensus.  Ask two rabbis a question and you'll get three answers ;).

    We recite it twice daily, except on Yom Kippur when we recite it thrice.  We consider it a mitzvah.

  13. Unexpected hobbies

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Aish HaTorah

    On Friday, March 25, 2016 at 0:27 PM, MormonGator said:

    Does anyone else have hobbies that people wouldn't assume you to have?

    I have quite a few.  Then again, I just joined this site today, so you don't know me, and you therefore would not have any assumptions to make about my hobbies.  :D  Now I am just rambling, forgive me.

    I have a great fondness for old clocks and watches.  I have been fascinated with them since before my Bar Mitzvah.  I love the cogs and springs and gears.  It gives me great pleasure to find an old and forgotten pocket watch and make it work again.

    Great thread, by the way.  And Shalom to you.

    imagesCARJEOCB (2).jpg

  14. A Jewish Voice From the Desert

    in Jewish Beliefs Board

    Posted · Edited by Aish HaTorah

    15 minutes ago, tesuji said:

    What brought you to this site, full of crazy Mormons? I hope we have at least given you a good welcome.

    Do you want us to call you Aish?

    What kinds of discussion are you interested in? What sort of questions from Mormons would you enjoy responding to?

    Are there any questions you want to ask of Mormons?

     

     

    Let's see...what brought me to this site?  The Almighty Google.  ;)   As to the matter of whether or not you are all crazy, the jury is still out.  You have all, indeed, given me a warm and thoughtful welcome.  Thank you.

    You may call me Aish.  I don't believe I am Catching Fire like some of those Hunger Games folks, but Aish will do.

    I am interested in most any discussion.  I cannot promise that my contribution will be at all stimulating (I tend to suffer at times from verbal diarrhea), but I do genuinely enjoy conversation.  What sorts of questions...I am sure that there will be a few (or more) that will come to me in time.

    Any and all questions you'd like to ask are welcome.  From serious theological to esoterical to cultural to...whatever.  :)

  15. A Jewish Voice From the Desert

    in Jewish Beliefs Board

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

    We believe that Jesus Christ was "the God of the Old Testament", i.e., that He was haShem befoer His birth. This requires a very detailed explanation (or none at all) because there is a relationship between Who he is/was, and Eloheim.

    I don't have time to do it justice, but the Saints here will know Whom I am speaking of.

    lehi

    Elohim, as in the Hebrew plural form of El?  The plurality of G-d.


     

    11 minutes ago, estradling75 said:

    We believe that the Jesus Christ of the New Testament is the God of the Old Testament.  The same one that you use HaShem and the tetragrammaton to represent.

    Thank you for clarifying that.  Thanks to all of you.

  16. A Jewish Voice From the Desert

    in Jewish Beliefs Board

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

    We believe that Jesus Christ was "the God of the Old Testament", i.e., that He was haShem befoer His birth. This requires a very detailed explanation (or none at all) because there is a relationship between Who he is/was, and Eloheim.

    I don't have time to do it justice, but the Saints here will know Whom I am speaking of.

    lehi

    Elohim, as in the Hebrew plural form of El?  The plurality of G-d.


     

    11 minutes ago, estradling75 said:

    We believe that the Jesus Christ of the New Testament is the God of the Old Testament.  The same one that you use HaShem and the tetragrammaton to represent.

     

  17. A Jewish Voice From the Desert

    in Jewish Beliefs Board

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

    We believe that Jesus Christ was "the God of the Old Testament", i.e., that He was haShem befoer His birth. This requires a very detailed explanation (or none at all) because there is a relationship between Who he is/was, and Eloheim.

    I don't have time to do it justice, but the Saints here will know Whom I am speaking of.

    lehi

    Elohim, as in the Hebrew plural form of El?  The plurality of G-d.

  19. A Jewish Voice From the Desert

    in Jewish Beliefs Board

    Posted

    10 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

    "HaShem" is a Hebrew euphemism meaning "the Name", used by respect the way we use "the Lord" to avoid saying the antemortal name of Jesus Christ (no other way to say it without saying it).

    Lehi

    I do not believe that I am familiar with the "antemortal name of Jesus Christ.  You are correct, however about the respect part.  We take it a step further.  To us it is forbidden to say the name of HaShem (i.e. the tetragrammaton "yod hey vav hey").

  22. Shalom from the City of Lights in the desert

    in Introduce Yourself

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

    I am curious about your avatar. The tablets I get, the rest is a mystery.

    Two (at least) Hebrew words, and a tree (of life?). Can you fill me in?

    Lehi

    You mean the one I just changed?  Sorry about that.  :)  The tablets, of course, are the Torah.  The Hebrew on the tablets are the first 10 letters in the alefbet.  The two Hebrew words are "Etz Chaim", meaning "Tree of Life."

    1419895982.png

  24. A Jewish Voice From the Desert

    in Jewish Beliefs Board

    Posted · Edited by Aish HaTorah

    Shalom everyone.  A moderator (my apologies for forgetting which) was kind enough to point me in the direction of this subforum.  I have not had the opportunity to read any of the topics here, but I wanted to say hello and to offer my friendship as well as my brain (that didn't sound quite right...) to anyone who wishes to ask me questions or share your own experiences with our culture and faith.

    Oh, and I happen to be Jewish.  I suppose that might be apropos to mention.

    I greatly look forward to meeting each of you.

    A few things I'd like to mention:

    1) I am NOT easily offended.  I am kind and respectful, and if you are the same, I would appreciate that.  Ask me anything without fear.

    2) I am NOT here to challenge your faith or disparage your beliefs in any way.  I love learning about all faith experiences.

    3) I work odd hours, so if you ask me something and it takes me a spell to respond, please do not think I forgot you.  If it takes a REALLY long time for me to reply, I may not have seen what your post.

    4) I am in recovery from sarcasm.  This is an ongoing process.  You have been warned.  ;)

     

    May HaShem bless you and keep you.

  25. Shalom from the City of Lights in the desert

    in Introduce Yourself

    Posted · Edited by Aish HaTorah

    39 minutes ago, tesuji said:

    No, you haven't done anything. I used to visit a forum on another website. A gentleman living in Jerusalem, an Orthodox Jew I believe, seemed to get offended at everything I said as a Mormon. I think maybe he had a lot of past annoyances from Christians there. I guess some Christians in Jerusalem, maybe mostly the tourists?, can get rather obnoxious, trying to convert Jews, etc.

    Also, we Mormons have a lot of respect for Jews and value their experience and scriptural teachings very highly. And of course there's the terrible history of anti-Semitism and persecution, which apparently unfortunately continues in some parts of the world today. We Mormons also suffered a bit in our history for being seen as being outside the mainstream as far as religion, so we can empathize at least a little about that experience.

    You have nothing to worry about.  An Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem?  I don't even think they like me.  Haha!  They can be pretty "hardcore," and yet I do have a deep respect for them.  I do not believe, however, that some of their exegesis is reasonable.  That is a very LONG discussion for a different thread than this.