Kosher Sex?

Don't matter to me...Jews don't believe in hell Incidentally, I was raised 'Reform' and our 'synagogue' used to be referred to as "The Church on the Hill". When I came of age, I refused the offer of membership.

Jews do not believe in Hell? That is new to me: what then does the Hebrew word "Gehenom" mean? Well, it can be translated as "purgatory" as well, but purgatory is a synonym for Hell.

Preservation of ethnic identity?

What? With all the intermarriage between Reform Jews and Christians?

Come tp the bar and bat mitzvahs and hear the names of the kids!

Ha! Ha!


How is Jewish ethnicity preserved, when the last names of the children become, Kelly, O'Brien, Ling, Lu, Mastrello, etc?

Do you see what I mean?

I'm not against intermarriage if the partner wishes to become Jewish via conversion. That's a good thing and the kids will be brought up in a Jewish home.

If this is done, Jewish ethnicity is partially preserved, but more importantly, Judaism is preserved. The latter is of the utmost importance, not the former.

I have to refuse membership, because it's too expensive. If I had the big bucks, I'd be happy to be a member. While I am Reform, I tend more to the Conservative side, but not Orthodox.

Steissd-



I think that you have implied, in a nutshell, one of the reasons that I turned away from religion in my younger days. What you are saying is that there are certain acts that most people commit that are perfectly natural for them. The Church or Synagogue comes in, tells them that they have sinned, and engender guilt over something that has harmed no one, and is quite common thrughout humanity.

Then the young person, riddled by guilt, has to expiate it through forgiveness from his Church. What a recipe for control over people! Make them feel guilty, and then tell them that you (the Church) have a way out of their guilt. No thank you, I will pass!

Religious Studies | Hell and Heaven in Judaism
R202 | 3630 | Yechiel Shalom Goldberg

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is often stated that Judaism as a religion has no doctrine of hell
or heaven! This course will refute this assertion by exploring a
wide variety of notions of hell and heaven in Judaism. Through
reading and discussion of texts and ideas ranging from biblical
descriptions of the depths of She’ol and the heights of the heavens
to the modern day rejection of hell and heaven as part of a Jewish
concept of the afterlife, we will address fundamental questions of
life, death, and the hereafter as they emerge in the vast literature
of the Jewish tradition. We will explore the ways in which concepts
of the afterlife impact on how people live their lives on a day-to-
day basis as well as how people cope with difficult times, and we
will place these Jewish views into comparative perspective by
considering views of the afterlife in other religious traditions.
There are no prerequisites for this course.

Requirements are:
1) Three written assignments:
a. The first assignment gives the student the opportunity to
explore and express his or her own views regarding Heaven and Hell.
b. The second is a take home midterm.
c. The third is a term paper on a topic that the student will
choose in consultation with the instructor.
2) One in-class presentation: Students will be divided into
groups and give group presentations on selected texts relating to the
themes of the course.

The following is a partial bibliography of works from which required
readings will likely be drawn: Bernstein, Alan E., "The Formation of
Hell"; Gillman, Neil, "The Death of Death: Resurrection and
Immortality in Jewish Thought"; Kraemer, David, "The Meanings of
Death in Rabbinic Judaism"; Stories by I.L. Peretz, "A Treasury of
Yiddish Stories"; Raphael, Simcha Paull, "Jewish Views of the
Afterlife"; "Tanakh: A New Translation of the Holy Scriptures
According to the Traditional Hebrew Text"; Wright, J. Edward, "The
Early History of Heaven".

Heaven/Hell?

Who really knows? Has anyone reported back to us, after death, of their experiences?

If they did, how would this change the way that we live?

Can you be hopeful about the significance of human life, without having a religion?

Well, technicaly, no one of the contemporary people has ever been in direct contact with the Creator. But still the people believe in Him.
By the way, New Haven, are you Jewish??? I was almost sure that you were a WASP.

I am Jewish, and I suspect you've not been reading the threads very carefully. Would you like to receive a failing grade in "thread reading"?

Maybe, I missed the point in several occasions. You displayed awareness of Judaism, but the Old Testament may be familiar to a Christian as well; and the Christian fundamentalists have high Biblical erudition, they know by heart large parts from the Holy Scripture text, they can compete with rabbis in this aspect.

You're the Christian, not me.

Anyone who "needs" religion to be hopeful or aware of the significance of human life is seriously misguided, IMO. Religious teachings, on whatever side, should be used as a scalpel to the mind, not a sledgehammer.

Definition


WASP1 or Wasp ( P ) Pronunciation Key (wsp, wôsp)
n.

A white Protestant of Anglo-Saxon ancestry.
A white, usually Protestant member of the American upper social class.


I like the "American upper social class" bit! So, when's "high tea"?

Values and morality are things we have created culturally to assign worth to desired behaviours. Why would the belief that your values are divinely dictated be more motivating than the knowledge that your values come from informed and educated conclusions. What is more likely to be exploitative and harmful: blind acceptance of a code of ethics supposedly dictated by an omnipotent being, or morality based in rational thought, education and debate?

Well I just finished a bottle of Sobe "Green Tea"

Here here, Monger, you f--ing raver (kidding)...your words were more clear than mine, and completely along the same sentiment.

Monger- Right on!