Shalom from the City of Lights in the desert

[Aish HaTorah]

Shalom, shalom.  I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself.  My name is Yared and I hail from Las Vegas, NV.  I am Jewish father of two and love all things theological.  I enjoy meeting people and hearing about their journey with G-d.  I am easy going, love to exchange ideas, and am currently in recovery from sarcasm.  I am excited to get to know you!  Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

[tesuji]

Hello. I'm very new here too, but I think it's great to see a Jewish father here.

I happen to have recently started reading the following book, which explains to us clueless Christians how much we don't understand about what Jesus said, because we are ignorant about his Jewish roots. (I hope this does not offend you in any way - no offense intended.)

Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life 
by Lois Tverberg  (Author), Ray Vander Laan 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0310330009/

I've also started learning ancient Hebrew recently. For the third time...

Edited April 14, 2016 by tesuji

[pam]

Welcome to you.  Look forward to being able to learn more about your beliefs and able to share ours.  I'm happy you are here.

[Aish HaTorah]

18 minutes ago, tesuji said:

Yom Tov, tesuji.  Thank you kindly for your warm welcome.  Before I say anything further, allow me to mention that I am VERY SELDOM offended.  I do not mind speaking of Yeshua (I am sure you already know, but Yeshua is Jesus's Hebrew name).  Please feel welcome to ask me anything.  I come with no agenda.  I am not hear, certainly, to disparage your beliefs in any way.  It is not in me to be unkind.  It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.

And good luck with your Hebrew studies.  It truly is a beautiful language.

 

 

 

Hello. I'm very new here too, but I think it's great to see a Jewish father here.

I happen to have recently started reading the following book, which explains to us clueless Christians how much we don't understand about what Jesus said, because we are ignorant about his Jewish roots. (I hope this does not offend you in any way - no offense intended.)

Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life 
by Lois Tverberg  (Author), Ray Vander Laan 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0310330009/

I've also started learning ancient Hebrew recently, for the third time...

 

Edited April 14, 2016 by Aish HaTorah

[Aish HaTorah]

17 minutes ago, pam said:

Quote

Welcome to you.  Look forward to being able to learn more about your beliefs and able to share ours.  I'm happy you are here.

 

Thank you, Pam!

 

Edited April 14, 2016 by Aish HaTorah

[pam]

So my first question is going to be:  What does your username mean?

[tesuji]

9 minutes ago, Aish HaTorah said:

 

OK, I'm working on some questions. Everything is jumbled in my head at the moment - so much to absorb from that book. But I'm definitely realizing as a Christian I need to know the Old Testament a lot better. And how cool would it be to learn enough Hebrew to read the Tanakh. Is Isaiah as hard to understand in Hebrew as he is in English, I wonder?  I love Isaiah, but I can only imagine he is hard to read in a (for me) foreign language (the original Hebrew). He's a very literary writer, from what I gather.

[Aish HaTorah]

9 minutes ago, pam said:

Quote

So my first question is going to be:  What does your username mean?

It literally means Fire of Torah, or G-d's word.

 

[estradling75]

Aish HaTorach... welcome to the site...  I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas

 

On the technical side... looks like you are having some issues with the quote function

To clear that up you will find that when you quote someone it will put a quote box in the reply box.

Your reply needs to be outside the quote box (but inside the reply box)

 

 

[tesuji]

14 minutes ago, Aish HaTorah said:

 

So, Aish (I'll call you Aish)

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of Jewishness do you follow? From your user name, I assume you are religious? Do you follow reformed, conservative, etc Judaism? (I forget the categories).

Do you know Hebrew? Read the Torah often? Go to synagogue?

Once again, pardon anything that might offend. You said you won't be, but I feel particularly strongly about not offending Jewish people, including from my ignorance.

Edited April 14, 2016 by tesuji

[Aish HaTorah]

13 minutes ago, tesuji said:

OK, I'm working on some questions. Everything is jumbled in my head at the moment - so much to absorb from that book. But I'm definitely realizing as a Christian I need to know the Old Testament a lot better. And how cool would it be to learn enough Hebrew to read the Tanakh. Is Isaiah as hard to understand in Hebrew as he is in English, I wonder?  I love Isaiah, but I can only imagine he is hard to read in a (for me) foreign language (the original Hebrew). He's a very literary writer, from what I gather.

 

14 minutes ago, tesuji said:

Quote

OK, I'm working on some questions. Everything is jumbled in my head at the moment - so much to absorb from that book. But I'm definitely realizing as a Christian I need to know the Old Testament a lot better. And how cool would it be to learn enough Hebrew to read the Tanakh. Is Isaiah as hard to understand in Hebrew as he is in English, I wonder?  I love Isaiah, but I can only imagine he is hard to read in a (for me) foreign language (the original Hebrew). He's a very literary writer, from what I gather.

Isaiah is a piece of cake in any language...except, perhaps, Icelandic.    (Did I mention anything about my sarcasm.  *sigh*  I'll conquer it one day.)  Seriously, though, it certainly helps knowing Hebrew and understanding the context in which Isaiah was writing as well as to whom.  Also, I am no expert.  I flirt with intellectualism and theology.  I do, however, promise to answer with what knowledge HaShem has given me and with person experience.

 

[Aish HaTorah]

13 minutes ago, estradling75 said:

Aish HaTorach... welcome to the site...  I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas

 

On the technical side... looks like you are having some issues with the quote function

To clear that up you will find that when you quote someone it will put a quote box in the reply box.

Your reply needs to be outside the quote box (but inside the reply box)

 

 

Thank you for that! 

[Aish HaTorah]

13 minutes ago, tesuji said:

So, Aish (I'll call you Aish)

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of Jewishness do you follow? From your user name, I assume you are religious? Do you follow reformed, conservative, etc Judaism? (I forget the categories).

Do you know Hebrew? Read the Torah often? Go to synagogue?

Once again, pardon anything that might offend. You said you won't be, but I feel particularly strongly about not offending Jewish people, including from my ignorance.

No offense taken, I promise.  I am a conservative Jew.  I do know Hebrew.  I read and ponder the Torah every day.  I do go to temple.

May I ask, why do you feel particularly about not offending Jewish people?  I hope that we have not given you reason to feel that we are unapproachable or easily offended.  If this is the case, I am truly sorry.

[estradling75]

14 minutes ago, Aish HaTorah said:

Thank you for that! 

You are very welcome...  We do have also Jewish Beliefs subfourm http://lds.net/forums/forum/61-jewish-beliefs-board/

I thought some of the post there have been very insightful... but it has not been very active lately

 

 

[tesuji]

8 minutes ago, Aish HaTorah said:

No offense taken, I promise.  I am a conservative Jew.  I do know Hebrew.  I read and ponder the Torah every day.  I do go to temple.

May I ask, why do you feel particularly about not offending Jewish people?  I hope that we have not given you reason to feel that we are unapproachable or easily offended.  If this is the case, I am truly sorry.

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.

[tesuji]

Aish,

You may also find it interesting that interest in studying Hebrew goes back to the very beginning of our church. Our founder Joseph Smith (we believe he was a prophet) took an interest in Hebrew early on:

https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V03N02_43.pdf
(if you are interested enough to read a whole article... - please note also that this is not an official church journal)

I can't say that a majority of Mormons currently learn Hebrew, but I think most would say they would like to.

Edited April 14, 2016 by tesuji

[LeSellers]

13 minutes ago, tesuji said:

I can't say that a majority of Mormons currently learn Hebrew, but I think most would say they would like to.

Count me in on that one.

Welcome Aish.

Lehi ( בַּלֶּֽחִי )

[Aish HaTorah]

11 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

Count me in on that one.

Welcome Aish.

Lehi ( בַּלֶּֽחִי )

Thank you, sir!  Lehi?

[tesuji]

Aish,

OK, at the risk of overwhelming you with all my posts here, I do have a question - are you familiar with the Book of Mormon?

Our book of scripture, not the Broadway musical

Introduction to the Book of Mormon, https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/introduction?lang=eng

I've always wondered what Jew people thought of it. It's the book that our nickname "Mormon" comes from.

Edited April 14, 2016 by tesuji

[Aish HaTorah]

11 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

Count me in on that one.

Welcome Aish.

Lehi ( בַּלֶּֽחִי )

Thank you, sir!  Lehi?

[tesuji]

Aish,

OK, at the risk of overwhelming you with all my posts here, I do have a question - are you familiar with the Book of Mormon?

The real book of scriture, not the broadway musical

Introduction to the Book of Mormon, https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/introduction?lang=eng

I've always wondered what Jewish people thought of it. It's the book that our nickname "Mormon" comes from.

Edited April 14, 2016 by tesuji

[Aish HaTorah]

10 minutes ago, tesuji said:

Aish,

OK, at the risk of overwhelming you with all my posts here, I do have a question - are you familiar with the Book of Mormon?

The real book of scriture, not the broadway musical

Introduction to the Book of Mormon, https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/introduction?lang=eng

I've always wondered what Jew people thought of it. It's the book that our nickname "Mormon" comes from.

I haven't been called a "Jew people" before.    Only joking with you.  I have a "working" knowledge of LDS scripture.  I am far from an expert.

[tesuji]

8 minutes ago, Aish HaTorah said:

I haven't been called a "Jew people" before.    Only joking with you.  I have a "working" knowledge of LDS scripture.  I am far from an expert.

He he. "Jewish people." I fixed it

[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.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Aish HaTorah

[estradling75]

11 minutes ago, tesuji said:

Aish,

OK, at the risk of overwhelming you with all my posts here, I do have a question - are you familiar with the Book of Mormon?

The real book of scriture, not the broadway musical

Introduction to the Book of Mormon, https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/introduction?lang=eng

I've always wondered what Jew people thought of it. It's the book that our nickname "Mormon" comes from.

In the Jewish beliefs subforum there is a user by the name of the thekabalist who started reading the Book of Mormon and documenting his findings and thoughts for each chapter in a thread.  He didn't get past first Nephi before he stopped but what he did post was very interesting.