Ask a Rabbi

[The Rebbe]

Ok, my brain has taken a leave of absence (as it tends to do), and I realize I should probably have created this thread earlier.

Perhaps we can keep the other thread (regarding Jewish thought and the Book of Mormon) to that topic alone and ask any questions you may have regarding Judaism and/or LDS theology here in this thread.

Confused much?

I get excited about meeting new people and learning new ways of seeing the world and history and religion and practice and I sometimes forget to take a deep breath and look around first to see how things work.

I do beg your forgiveness in this regard.

This is a great place, and I do so look forward to getting to know all of you better.

I also suffer from Sarcasm, so please proceed with caution.

In all things, I pray the Almighty blesses you tremendously.

Shalom, shalom...

[Love]

What do you think of the Dec 10th dedication of the temple alter, And the holy site miracles?

[Love]

I think the messiah is coming!!! I don’t know how soon but it excites me.

[The Rebbe]

What do you think of the Dec 10th dedication of the temple alter, And the holy site miracles?

This is indeed an interesting development. We have always been determined to be a part of seeing HaShem keeping His promise to bring about the building of the Third Holy Temple...we can only hope that it will bring about the resting of the Divine Presence and the ultimate healing of all mankind.

Still...you and your fellow LDS have been determined to better us in the temple building department! We have a lot of catching up to do.

Of course, I jest, but it will be fascinating to see what transpires. It is difficult to say with certainty how to substantiate the claim of the Kohanim!

One thing is certain...there is a spiritual awakening taking place in Israel. This past Sukkot bore witness to a great outpouring of Jewish love, dedication, and devotion to the Temple Mount.

[The Rebbe]

I think the messiah is coming!!! I don’t know how soon but it excites me.

This is a most interesting question! Especially in light of the fact that it is not...well, a question.



In the looking forward to the coming of Messiah, we can both rejoice.

[Love]

Thank you Rabbi . The 3rd Temple is very important, it is part of the restoration of all things before the Messiah. So a perfect red heftier being born in Sept of 2018 is a miracle. What is the roll of Messiah ben David? Some on this forum call him The Davidic Servant.

[The Rebbe]

Thank you Rabbi . The 3rd Temple is very important, it is part of the restoration of all things before the Messiah. So a perfect red heftier being born in Sept of 2018 is a miracle. What is the roll of Messiah ben David? Some on this forum call him The Davidic Servant.

Our tradition speaks of two redeemers, each one called Mashiach (Messiah). Both are involved in ushering in the Messianic era.

If we take the term Mashiach unqualified, it always refers to Mashiach ben David of the tribe of Judah. He will be the final redeemer who shall rule in the Messianic age.

On the other hand, Mashiach ben Yosef (Messiah ben Joseph) of the tribe of Ephraim will come first, before the final redeemer, and later will serve as his attendant or, in some descriptions, his general.

So...the ultimate task of Mashiach ben Yosef is to act as a precursor to Mashiach ben David...he will prepare the world for the coming of the final redeemer.

When that final time comes, we often think of the second Masiach in military terms. He shall wage war against the forces of evil that oppress Israel. And, more specifically, he will do battle against Edom, the descendants of Esau. It was said of old, "The House of Jacob will be a fire and the House of Joseph a flame, and the House of Esau for stubble..." Further in Obadiah 1:18..."...the progeny of Esau shall be delivered only into the hands of the progeny of Joseph."

To complicate things (we are good at that!)...it is said that the ordering of the two will not necessarily be sequentially definite...In other words, Mashiach ben Yosef will not necessarily have to appear before Mashiach ben David. We believe that it all depends on the spiritual "health" of the Jewish people at the time the redemption is to take place.

Shalom

[ElizaRSkousen]

Hello,

When I was in college I had a Jewish coworker who was married to a Mormon woman. He taught me some interesting things, including my first introduction to Lilith. I had never heard of her or the other related eden charectors before.

That peaked an interest in me to study more of Jewish and Hebrew traditions, and I bought a few interesting books.

I checked out every book from the library I could find about the Hebrew goddess.

I am interested to learn about any ancient traditions regarding midwifery, birth, or related topics.

Any ideas of where to look?

(I have the Dead Sea scrolls but have not deeply searched them.)

[kittycat51]

Welcome The Rebbe! I will love reading your insight and learn from what you share.

[BeNotDeceived]

What are your thoughts on 7 good years, followed by 7 bad years, as was the case with Joseph? Please discuss similar situations and ideas that the pattern may repeat.

[The Rebbe]

Hello,

When I was in college I had a Jewish coworker who was married to a Mormon woman. He taught me some interesting things, including my first introduction to Lilith. I had never heard of her or the other related eden charectors before.

That peaked an interest in me to study more of Jewish and Hebrew traditions, and I bought a few interesting books.

I checked out every book from the library I could find about the Hebrew goddess.

I am interested to learn about any ancient traditions regarding midwifery, birth, or related topics.

Any ideas of where to look?

(I have the Dead Sea scrolls but have not deeply searched them.)

Ah, yes...the Hebrew goddess (or is that demon? feminist hero?)...

Lilith was Eve's alleged predecessor who enticed Adam into illicit...well, let's say procreative activities.

There are four specific references to Lilith in the Talmud. We learn that she was a wild-haired and winged creature with a taste for lasciviousness. She was the mother of demons. In fact, it was said that she would "kill one hundred of her demon children daily."

According to Rabbi Chiya, she "returned to dust" (Genesis Raba 22.7), and G-d proceeded to create a second Eve for Adam (Genesis Raba 18.4).

In reality, the legend of Lilith reaches back before Jewish tradition. It seems that it was a myth in Sumeria before finding its way into Jewish stories.

I am desperately trying to find ways of not making this "R" rated. In Genesis Rabbah we encounter a brief midrash that claims that Adam had a first wife before Eve. This interpretation is largely taken from the two creation stories of Genesis...

In Genesis 1, man and woman are created at the same time, while in Genesis 2 Adam proceeds Eve. Rabbinic tradition suggests that the first of the two creation stories is different in that Adam has a wife, like he is, from the earth. For reasons unknown, this marriage doesn't really work out, and so G-d makes a second wife for Adam, namely Eve.

There is far more to it than this, but suffice it to say that the name Lilith means "the night" in Hebrew. She has come to embody the emotional and spiritual aspects of darkness...terror, sexuality, unbridled freedom, this sort of thing.

As for midwifery, there is a fairly detailed article that can be found at TheJewishWoman.org entitled "The Untold Story of the Hebrew Midwives and the Exodus." While this refers specifically to Sh'mot, it is a good overview of some of the customs and traditions surrounding motherhood and such.

[Cimorene]

I am so glad you are here and willing to answer our questions. Most of us have a very deep appreciation and affinity for the Jewish people and the troubles you have had as a people.
I have a few questions:
I was watching a show on Jewish dating recently and they mentioned an idea about a husband and wife each being one half of a whole spirit that was split before they each came to earth and found each other. Is that a common belief? And can you expand any more upon it?
Also, do Jews believe in an afterlife and if so what does that mean for the couple who are now one? Do they still have their separate bodies? What is their role and relationship in the post Earth life?
Thanks so much in advance.

Ok, my brain has taken a leave of absence (as it tends to do), and I realize I should probably have created this thread earlier.

Perhaps we can keep the other thread (regarding Jewish thought and the Book of Mormon) to that topic alone and ask any questions you may have regarding Judaism and/or LDS theology here in this thread.

Confused much?

I get excited about meeting new people and learning new ways of seeing the world and history and religion and practice and I sometimes forget to take a deep breath and look around first to see how things work.

I do beg your forgiveness in this regard.

This is a great place, and I do so look forward to getting to know all of you better.

I also suffer from Sarcasm, so please proceed with caution.

In all things, I pray the Almighty blesses you tremendously.

Shalom, shalom...

[The Rebbe]

I am so glad you are here and willing to answer our questions. Most of us have a very deep appreciation and affinity for the Jewish people and the troubles you have had as a people.
I have a few questions:
I was watching a show on Jewish dating recently and they mentioned an idea about a husband and wife each being one half of a whole spirit that was split before they each came to earth and found each other. Is that a common belief? And can you expand any more upon it?
Also, do Jews believe in an afterlife and if so what does that mean for the couple who are now one? Do they still have their separate bodies? What is their role and relationship in the post Earth life?
Thanks so much in advance.

Ok, my brain has taken a leave of absence (as it tends to do), and I realize I should probably have created this thread earlier.

Perhaps we can keep the other thread (regarding Jewish thought and the Book of Mormon) to that topic alone and ask any questions you may have regarding Judaism and/or LDS theology here in this thread.

Confused much?

I get excited about meeting new people and learning new ways of seeing the world and history and religion and practice and I sometimes forget to take a deep breath and look around first to see how things work.

I do beg your forgiveness in this regard.

This is a great place, and I do so look forward to getting to know all of you better.

I also suffer from Sarcasm, so please proceed with caution.

In all things, I pray the Almighty blesses you tremendously.

Shalom, shalom...

As with so very many things in Judaism, if you ask two rabbis, you'll get three answers. Judaism is maddeningly ambiguous when it comes to the matter of the afterlife. It is rarely discussed, to be honest, among almost all Jewish groups...be they Orthodox, Conservative, or Reformed. When scholars do discuss it, the immortality of the soul, the O'lam Haba (world to come), the resurrection of the dead, etc....there is seldom any consensus. How do they relate to each other?

As Winston Churchill so famously said (albeit about something else entirely)...

"It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."

The Bible itself (at least the Hebrew Bible) makes only but a few references to life after this. Sheol is portrayed as a place where the dead go, but in most instances Sheol seems to be more of a metaphor for oblivion than an actual physical location.

Daniel and Isaiah comment on certain things, but there is a variety of disagreement among the sages as to what it all means.

Maimonides stated that the World to Come refers to a time even beyond the world of resurrected souls. He believed that the resurrected will eventually die a second death, at which time the souls of only the righteous will enjoy a spiritual, bodiless existence in the presence of G-d.

Though some Jewish scholars have tried to clarify these ideas, it would be quite impossible here to reconcile all the diversity of Jewish texts and sources that discuss the afterlife.

So...why is the Torah so silent on things that are especially important to Christianity and Buddhism and other faiths?

I have a theory. The Torah might have been silent about the afterlife out of an innate desire to ensure that Judaism not evolve in the direction of the death-obsessed Egyptian religion. Everything that G-d did for us was designed to bring us out of that world and set us apart as a people holy to G-d.

My rabbi growing up told me that in the afterlife all the tzaddikim (the righteous) will sit at the feet of Moses and listen to his teachings on Torah all day.

One other folktale we were often told that is humorous, albeit kind of sweet, is that in both heaven and "hell," human beings cannot bend their elbows. Why is this? I'm glad you asked! In hell, people are perpetually starved, whereas in heaven each person feeds his neighbor out of love.

Bottom line is that G-d is good, and He blesses those who call upon His Name. The rest is in His hands.

[The Rebbe]

So much of this falls back on tradition. Are any of you familiar with Fiddler on the Roof? I keep thinking of what Tevye said at the beginning...

"You may ask, 'How did this tradition get started?' I'll tell you.........I don't know."

So important to us is tradition!

As Tevye goes on to say...

"...because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is and what G-d expects him to do..."

[larsenb]

. . . . . . .

On the other hand, Mashiach ben Yosef (Messiah ben Joseph) of the tribe of Ephraim will come first, before the final redeemer, and later will serve as his attendant or, in some descriptions, his general.

So...the ultimate task of Mashiach ben Yosef is to act as a precursor to Mashiach ben David...he will prepare the world for the coming of the final redeemer.

When that final time comes, we often think of the second Masiach in military terms. He shall wage war against the forces of evil that oppress Israel. And, more specifically, he will do battle against Edom, the descendants of Esau. It was said of old, "The House of Jacob will be a fire and the House of Joseph a flame, and the House of Esau for stubble..." Further in Obadiah 1:18..."...the progeny of Esau shall be delivered only into the hands of the progeny of Joseph."

To complicate things (we are good at that!)...it is said that the ordering of the two will not necessarily be sequentially definite...In other words, Mashiach ben Yosef will not necessarily have to appear before Mashiach ben David. We believe that it all depends on the spiritual "health" of the Jewish people at the time the redemption is to take place.

Shalom

LDS scholars have speculated that Mashiach ben Yosef could be identified as Joseph Smith. Any comment on that? Also, what do you think of the Book of Mormon, and the claim of its compilers that it was a further record representing primarily the 'Tribe of Joseph', specifically the Manasseh branch.

The specific quote making Lehi (the initial leader of the group coming out of Jerusalem) a descendent of Joseph through Manasseh is this:

Alma 10:3 : And Aminadi was a descendant of Nephi, who was the son of Lehi, who came out of the land of Jerusalem, who was a descendant of Manasseh, who was the son of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by the hands of his brethren.

I just saw your thread apparently addressing this question. I'll have to go check it out.

[MMbelieve]

So much of this falls back on tradition. Are any of you familiar with Fiddler on the Roof? I keep thinking of what Tevye said at the beginning...

"You may ask, 'How did this tradition get started?' I'll tell you.........I don't know."

So important to us is tradition!

As Tevye goes on to say...

"...because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is and what G-d expects him to do..."

Thats a great movie!
My favorite part is when he does the wish i was a rich man song and dance.

[The Rebbe]

So much of this falls back on tradition. Are any of you familiar with Fiddler on the Roof? I keep thinking of what Tevye said at the beginning...

"You may ask, 'How did this tradition get started?' I'll tell you.........I don't know."

So important to us is tradition!

As Tevye goes on to say...

"...because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is and what G-d expects him to do..."

Thats a great movie!
My favorite part is when he does the wish i was a rich man song and dance.

It is an interesting film. Some of it, I would say, is accurate for Jews at that time and in that place, and some is less so. But, it certainly is entertaining!

[ElizaRSkousen]

Hello,

When I was in college I had a Jewish coworker who was married to a Mormon woman. He taught me some interesting things, including my first introduction to Lilith. I had never heard of her or the other related eden charectors before.

That peaked an interest in me to study more of Jewish and Hebrew traditions, and I bought a few interesting books.

I checked out every book from the library I could find about the Hebrew goddess.

I am interested to learn about any ancient traditions regarding midwifery, birth, or related topics.

Any ideas of where to look?

(I have the Dead Sea scrolls but have not deeply searched them.)

Ah, yes...the Hebrew goddess (or is that demon? feminist hero?)...

Lilith was Eve's alleged predecessor who enticed Adam into illicit...well, let's say procreative activities.

There are four specific references to Lilith in the Talmud. We learn that she was a wild-haired and winged creature with a taste for lasciviousness. She was the mother of demons. In fact, it was said that she would "kill one hundred of her demon children daily."

According to Rabbi Chiya, she "returned to dust" (Genesis Raba 22.7), and G-d proceeded to create a second Eve for Adam (Genesis Raba 18.4).

In reality, the legend of Lilith reaches back before Jewish tradition. It seems that it was a myth in Sumeria before finding its way into Jewish stories.

I am desperately trying to find ways of not making this "R" rated. In Genesis Rabbah we encounter a brief midrash that claims that Adam had a first wife before Eve. This interpretation is largely taken from the two creation stories of Genesis...

In Genesis 1, man and woman are created at the same time, while in Genesis 2 Adam proceeds Eve. Rabbinic tradition suggests that the first of the two creation stories is different in that Adam has a wife, like he is, from the earth. For reasons unknown, this marriage doesn't really work out, and so G-d makes a second wife for Adam, namely Eve.

There is far more to it than this, but suffice it to say that the name Lilith means "the night" in Hebrew. She has come to embody the emotional and spiritual aspects of darkness...terror, sexuality, unbridled freedom, this sort of thing.

As for midwifery, there is a fairly detailed article that can be found at TheJewishWoman.org entitled "The Untold Story of the Hebrew Midwives and the Exodus." While this refers specifically to Sh'mot, it is a good overview of some of the customs and traditions surrounding motherhood and such.

Thank you very much I will read that article

[The Rebbe]

Thank you very much I will read that article

If there is anything confusing in there that I may clarify, please let me know.

[Arenera]

Thank you very much I will read that article

If there is anything confusing in there that I may clarify, please let me know.

Do you agree that Abraham and Jacob, his grandson, who became Israel, practiced plural marriage? Didn't the Jews practice plural marriage for hundreds of years?

[Tbone]

Perhaps we can keep the other thread (regarding Jewish thought and the Book of Mormon) to that topic alone and ask any questions you may have regarding Judaism and/or LDS theology here in this thread.

Hello The Rebbe, I worked with a Jewish man with the last name of Cohen, which I later found out means priest and is a fairly common last name. Would that indicate that he and others of that same last name are Levites?

I am glad you are here and hope you stick around awhile. I've had Judaism on my mind recently as my son is learning about the holocaust in school and we watched "The Devil's Arithmetic" at home for one of his assignments. I don't know if you have seen that movie or not, but I had just read Isaiah 36 where the King of Assyria through Rabshakeh told the people of Jerusalem that he was going to move them to a new land that was just as good as Jerusalem. Pretty much the Germans in the movie told these poor people the exact same thing to get them on the trucks to the work camp. I'm not sure if that's how it actually went down in real life, but the parallel caught my attention.

I also very recently watched a fascinating Youtube video on archaeology near the temple mount:

[The Rebbe]

Perhaps we can keep the other thread (regarding Jewish thought and the Book of Mormon) to that topic alone and ask any questions you may have regarding Judaism and/or LDS theology here in this thread.

Hello The Rebbe, I worked with a Jewish man with the last name of Cohen, which I later found out means priest and is a fairly common last name. Would that indicate that he and others of that same last name are Levites?

I am glad you are here and hope you stick around awhile. I've had Judaism on my mind recently as my son is learning about the holocaust in school and we watched "The Devil's Arithmetic" at home for one of his assignments. I don't know if you have seen that movie or not, but I had just read Isaiah 36 where the King of Assyria through Rabshakeh told the people of Jerusalem that he was going to move them to a new land that was just as good as Jerusalem. Pretty much the Germans in the movie told these poor people the exact same thing to get them on the trucks to the work camp. I'm not sure if that's how it actually went down in real life, but the parallel caught my attention.

I also very recently watched a fascinating Youtube video on archaeology near the temple mount:

Shalom!

Cohen...interesting question.

The Holy Temple was destroyed millennia ago, but we (meaning Conservative, in my case, as well as Orthodox Jews) still acknowledge the three-fold division of ancient Israel into the Kohanim, the Levi'im, and the Yisraelim. Reforms Jews do not believe any congregant should have a different status than another, and therefore they do not recognize these divisions. At least, that is my understanding.

So...that was a rather long way of saying, yes, I believe that those with the last name of Cohen are most likely descended from the Levitical priests.

My daughter read The Devil's Arithmetic in school a few years back. I always meant to read it myself (or see the film, which she told me was somewhat different from the movie), but I never did take the time. You have reawakened in me that desire to read it. I shall have to let you know.

I hope to stay around for a while. I have a congregation to run, and duties to perform (weddings, funerals, bris...well, you probably don't want to know about that one!), but I will reply when I can. If ever you (or anyone else) ask me something and I don't respond, remind me! I may have missed it.

It is great to be here among your fine selves.

[The Rebbe]

Let me ask myself this:

All are Jewish mothers crazy? The answer has to be a resounding, "YES!"

Here is a letter from a Jewish mother to her son at Chanukah...

Happy Chanukah to you, my baby boy, and please don’t worry. I’m just fine, considering I can’t breathe. Or eat. The important thing is that you have a nice holiday, thousands of miles away from your ailing mother. I’ve sent along my last ten dollars with this card, which I hope you’ll spend on my grandchildren. G-d knows their mother never buys them anything nice. They look so thin in their pictures, poor babies.

Thank you so much for the birthday flowers. I put them in the freezer so they’ll stay fresh for my grave. Which reminds me — we buried your Grandfather last week. I know what you're saying...he died years ago, but I got to yearning for a good funeral, so your Uncle Mordecai and I dug him up and had the services all over again. I would have invited you, but I know that goy you live with would never have let you come. She seems nice. I bet she’s never even watched that videotape of my surgery that I sent to you, has she?

Well, son, it’s time for me to crawl off to bed now. I lost my cane beating off muggers last week, but don’t you worry about me. I’m also getting used to the cold since they turned my heat off. I’m grateful because the frost on my bed numbs the constant pain. Now don’t you even think about sending any more money, because I know you need it for those expensive family vacations you take every year that I’m not invited to go on. Give my love to my darling grandbabies and my regards to whatever-her-name-is — the one with the black roots who stole you from my bosom.

Happy Chanukah,

Love, Mom

[abijah]

I checked out every book from the library I could find about the Hebrew goddess.

You may already be familiar, but have you read The Hebrew Goddess by Raphael Patai?

[Original_Intent]

Hey The Rebbe!

Like you, I have found it enlightening to study many traditions. My question to you is "What are the most profound truths you have found from different religious traditions, or what things that you perhaps already knew did you get a deeper understanding from another faith's teachings?