But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Matthew 23:13-15
Introduction
Judaism claims its origins are in the religion of Moses; however, Moses was not Jewish nor did he adhere to the religion of Judaism. Moses was a Yahwist; now, this is not the same Yahwism that you’ll find if you do an internet search of the term. Moses worshipped Yahweh (YHWH) in the method of worship that YHWH commanded us to worship Him, by following his Torah (Law). Yahwism is the same religion that was handed down from Adam, through Noah and Shem, to Abraham, and eventually to Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, whom YHWH renamed Israel. This is the religion whose priestly order is called Melchizedek, of which Yeshua Messiah now sits as the High Priest, at the right hand of YHWH. Judaism, on the other hand, has its true origin from the Babylonian exile in 572 BC.
Psalm 110:1-4
1YHWH says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 YHWH sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
3 Your people will offer themselves freely
on the day of your power,
in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours.
4 YHWH has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.”
Definition
We find this definition of Judaism on the Jewish website, Chabad.org:
What Is Judaism?
Author: Menachem Posner
Judaism (the Jewish Religion) is defined as the totality of beliefs and practices of the Jewish people, as given by G‑d and recorded in the Torah (Hebrew Bible) and subsequent sacred writings of Judaism (Talmud and Kabbalah).
Judaism mandates that Jewish people follow the mitzvot, Divine commandments. Major mitzvot include resting and celebrating on Shabbat and Jewish holidays, eating kosher foods, studying Torah, and living in accordance with its teachings.
Judaism is based on the G‑d’s covenant with the forefathers and the revelation at Sinai, when He chose the Jewish people as His own and they committed to follow the Torah.
We are going to take a quick detour from our topic for a moment and address a very important error in the final paragraph of Posner’s definition of Judaism. God did not choose the Jewish people as His own at Sinai.
In recent years a movement has developed to redefine what the word “Jewish” means, changing it from its historical definition to a generalized term for all Israelites. This meaning is inaccurate, as the Israelites NEVER called themselves Jews. All Jews are Israelites but not all Israelites are Jews. When people apply the term “Jews” to all Israelites they have an inaccurate understanding of end-times prophecy.
The term “Jew” did not exist until the 18th century AD, and it is a purely English creation. The Hebrew word often translated “Jew” in our modern Bible translations is Strong’s h3064 יְהוּדִי yeh-hoo-dee’: a Jehudite (i.e. Judaite or Jew), or descendant of Jehudah (i.e. Judah):—Jew. The first time the word יְהוּדִי (Yeh-hoo-dee) is used in scripture is in 2 Kings, referring to the men of the southern House of Judah, as distinguished from the men of the northern House of Israel.
2 Kings 16:5-6 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. 6 At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judahh3064 from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day.
A “Jew” is either 1) a person of the single tribe of Judah, 2) a person of the Kingdom of Judah, or 3) a person of the later region of Judea; depending on the time period in history you are talking about. Despite the intense propaganda being spread everywhere today to have a counterfeit group claim a name that does not rightfully belong to them, the whole people of Israel were NEVER called Jews!
(Disclaimer: This is not to suggest that the modern State of Israel and the Jewish people should not be living in the Land today. This is ONLY addressing the scriptural and historical fact that they are NOT Biblical Israel. To understand our position on the Land, please see our teaching: Whose Land is it, Anyways?)
YHWH entered into a marriage covenant with ALL of Israel at Mt. Sinai, not just the tribe of Judah.
Sects of Judaism
Four main sects of Judaism developed over the centuries from the end of the Babylonian captivity until the destruction of the second temple.
- Pharisees
- They adhered strictly to both oral tradition and the written Law.
- They interpreted the law in a way that allowed for evolving commentary.
- They placed great emphasis on purity rituals, tithing, and detailed observance of the commandments.
- They believed in the resurrection of the dead, angels, and the coming Messiah.
- Their approach shaped what later became Rabbinic (Talmudic) Judaism.
- Sadducees
- They were often in conflict with the Pharisees, particularly over aspects of theology and tradition.
- They were closely tied to the priestly class.
- They held significant power in the Jewish legislative and judicial assembly, called the Sanhedrin.
- They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, the existence of angels, or the concept of an eternal punishment.
- They accepted only the Torah (the first five books of Moses) as binding and did not embrace the religious traditions of the Pharisees.
- They were associated with the Temple’s administration.
- Their political influence diminished after the Temple’s destruction in AD 70, until they eventually disappeared altogether.
- Essenes
- They are linked to the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at Qumran in the mid-20th century.
- They practiced strict communal living, ritual purity, and awaited divine intervention and restoration.
- They upheld a highly apocalyptic worldview, awaiting the end of the current age.
- They practiced shared property and monastic-like communal life.
- They avoided the Temple practices under the Sadducees.
- Their strict interpretation of the Torah and estrangement from urban centers distinguished them from other groups.
- Zealots
- They were both a religious group and a political movement opposing Roman occupation.
- They viewed Roman authority as a violation of divine sovereignty, leading some factions toward militant rebellion and violence.
- They adhered to Jewish Law.
- They believed only God should reign over Israel.
- They made their final stand against the Roman armies at Masada (archaeologically confirmed fortress ruins near the Dead Sea) in AD 73.
Since the destruction of Judea in AD 70, two sects developed within Judaism.
- Rabbinic (Talmudic) Judaism
- The Rabbis claimed lineage from the Pharisees.
- The Oral Law, which was eventually written in the Mishnah and interpreted in the Talmud, guided religious practice.
- The Talmud’s role became central in Jewish religious life, shaping theology, ethics, and community practice.
- Karaites
- They developed during the early medieval period.
- They reject the Talmudic authority embraced by Rabbinic Judaism.
- They believe in following only the Hebrew Bible for doctrine and practice, and reject human traditions.
- They use a strict literal approach to interpreting the religious festivals and laws in the Hebrew Bible.
- They experienced a period of growth between AD 700 and 900 in the Middle East and North Africa.
The term “Judaism” by itself always refers to Rabbinic (aka Talmudic) Judaism.
Origin—Babylonian Captivity
As Nebuchadnezzar’s army was advancing on Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremiah took the Ark of the Covenant from the Temple and hid it in a cave away from the Babylonians. We read about this in 2 Maccabees, from the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition:
2 Maccabees 2:1-8 One finds in the records that Jeremiah the prophet ordered those who were being deported to take some of the fire, as has been told, 2 and that the prophet after giving them the law instructed those who were being deported not to forget the commandments of the Lord, nor to be led astray in their thoughts upon seeing the gold and silver statues and their adornment. 3 And with other similar words he exhorted them that the law should not depart from their hearts. 4 It was also in the writing that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him, and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God. 5 And Jeremiah came and found a cave, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense, and he sealed up the entrance. 6 Some of those who followed him came up to mark the way, but could not find it. 7 When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: “The place shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. 8 And then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon asked that the place should be specially consecrated.”
From this point, until Yeshua Messiah came, YHWH’s presence was no longer with the House of Judah. The temple was completely destroyed and the people were taken captive to Babylon.
The Jews found themselves without a place to worship and without a way to make sacrifices to atone for their sins, so they began forming a new religion with a different house of worship. They built for themselves “houses of assembly”. The Hebrew word for house is beit and the word for assembly is knesset, and the Greek word for a beit knesset is a synagogue.
This new religion, Judaism, spread back to Jerusalem after the 70-year exile was completed; however, the majority of the Jewish people remained in Babylon, and after the destruction of the second temple in 70 AD, Babylon was the center for Jewish learning for almost two thousand years.
Historical Timeline
In Jerusalem
When the Jewish people returned to Jerusalem under the control of the Medo-Persian Kings, they began building a new temple. This new temple did not have YHWH’s presence in the Ark of the Covenant.
We read from Wikipedia:
Jerusalem in Judaism
In antiquity, Judaism revolved around the Temple in Jerusalem. The Sanhedrin, which governed the nation, was located in the Temple precincts. The Temple service was at the heart of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur proceedings. The Temple was central to the Three pilgrim festivals, namely Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot, when all Jews were incumbent to gather in Jerusalem. Every seven years all Jews were required to assemble at the Temple for the Hakhel reading. The forty-nine-day Counting of the Omer recalls the Omer offering which was offered at the Temple every day between Passover and Shavuot. The eight-day festival of Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple after its desecration by Antiochus IV. A number of fast days including the Ninth of Av, the Tenth of Tevet, and the Seventeenth of Tammuz, all recall the destruction of the Temple.
From the website slife.org:
Origins of Judaism
In 539 BCE Babylon fell to the Persians and the Babylonian exile ended and a number of the exiles, but by no means all and probably a minority, returned to Jerusalem. They were the descendants of the original exiles, and had never lived in Judah […] Judah, now called Yehud, was a Persian province, and the returnees, with their Persian connections in Babylon, were in control of it. They represented also the descendants of the old “Yahweh-alone” movement, but the religion they instituted was significantly different from both monarchic Yahwism and modern Judaism.
The Yahweh-alone party returned to Jerusalem after the Persian conquest of Babylon and became the ruling elite of Yehud. Much of the Hebrew Bible was assembled, revised and edited by them in the 5th century BCE, including the Torah (the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), the historical works, and much of the prophetic and Wisdom literature.
Second Temple Judaism was divided into theological factions, notably the Pharisees and the Sadducees, besides numerous smaller sects such as the Essenes, messianic movements such as Early Christianity, and closely related traditions such as Samaritanism (which gives us the Samaritan Pentateuch, an important witness of the text of the Torah independent of the Masoretic Text).
For centuries, the traditional understanding has been that Judaism came before Christianity and that Christianity separated from Judaism some time after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Starting in the latter half of the 20th century, some scholars have begun to argue that the historical picture is quite a bit more complicated than that. In the 1st century, many Jewish sects existed in competition with each other, see Second Temple Judaism. The sects which eventually became Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity were but two of these. Some scholars have begun to propose a model which envisions a twin birth of Christianity and Judaism rather than a separation of the former from the latter. For example, Robert Goldenberg (2002) asserts that it is increasingly accepted among scholars that “at the end of the 1st century CE there were not yet two separate religions called ‘Judaism’ and ‘Christianity’”. Daniel Boyarin (2002) proposes a revised understanding of the interactions between nascent Christianity and nascent Rabbinical Judaism in Late Antiquity which views the two religions as intensely and complexly intertwined throughout this period.
The Amoraim were the Jewish scholars of Late Antiquity who codified and commented upon the law and the biblical texts. The final phase of redaction of the Talmud into its final form took place during the 6th century CE, by the scholars known as the Savoraim. This phase concludes the Chazal era foundational to Rabbinical Judaism.
In Babylon
From the website myjewishlearning.com:
Jews in Babylon
The original diaspora community.
The roots of the Babylonian community were very ancient, dating as far back as the end of the biblical period and the deportations from the Land of Israel, which both preceded and followed the destruction of the First Temple (586 B.C.E.). As it grew and prospered, the community tended to emphasize its antiquity.
By the time it had produced its own version of the Talmud, it manifested a kind of “local patriotism.” Was not Abraham the Father of the Nation born “beyond the river” (Euphrates)? Were not the Euphrates and the Tigris the two rivers which flowed out of Eden according to Genesis (2:14)? The Jews of Babylonia, therefore, considered themselves the aristocracy of the Jewish people. Even the land of Mesopotamia acquired an aura of sanctity in their eyes, second to the land of Israel, of course, but holier than all other countries.
The history of this community during the first millennium of its existence remains obscure. Following the Hellenistic conquest of the East, the Jews of Babylonia, like their brethren in Palestine, came under Seleucid rule. From the second century B.C.E. until the third century C.E., they were subjects of the Arsacid Parthians. The Parthian kingdom, a loose federation of feudal principalities, was a convenient structure for them as long as they gave their support in times of war, the rulers kept out of the internal affairs of the ethnic groups under their domination.
The little that is known of the Jews there at the time come from the quill of Josephus Flavius: they were very numerous and their brethren in Judea sought their help while preparing their revolt against Rome. This Roman historian also mentions two episodes which he most probably learned from literary fragments: the adventure of two brothers from Nechardea who had founded a kind of thieves-state near the city of Seleucia, and the famous conversion of the king of Adiabene to Judaism.
It is only after the fall of the Second Temple (70 C.E.) and the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-135 C.E.) that one can truly follow the history of Babylonian Jewry, which becomes even clearer after the fall of the Parthian regime and the accession of the Sassian dynasty (224 C.E.). Sources relating to the first two centuries of the Christian era make no mention in any form of organized Torah studies in Babylonia and note hardly any Babylonian scholars. We do know that Rabbi Akiva, in his many travels, arrived in Nechardea where he announced the leap year.
After Bar Kokhba’s revolt, we hear for the first time about groups of sages who “went down” to Babylonia, undoubtedly following the religious persecution which followed the crushing of the revolt. In Babylon, the nephew of Rabbi Joshua, Hanania, attempted to proclaim the order of the Hebrew calendar, a prerogative which until then had been indisputably reserved for the leadership in Palestine. Although Hanania was forced to make a retraction, it was nevertheless the first manifestation of Babylonian independence from the Palestinian center.
During the late second or early third century, we hear about [a title for] this community’s political [leader] for the first time: Rosh ha-golah (the exilarch, “prince of exile”). Although nothing is known about the origins of this institution, it is certain that Babylonian Jews in the talmudic period regarded the exilarch as a scion of the House of David. Many talmudic texts compare his attributes to that of the nasi [prince] in the Land of Israel–another manifestation of the singular status of this Jewry.
The new Sassian regime, unlike the Parthian, was far more centralized and strictly Zoroastrian. Certain Jewish sages were afraid that the kind and the clergy would interfere in community affairs. Others, on the other hand, hoped to find a modus vivendi with the Sassians. The sage Samuel summarized this attitude in his famous saying Dina de-malkhuta Dina, the law of the land is law. On the whole, the Jews of Babylon adopted this view, which brought them an extensive period of prosperity and cultural blossoming.
It was during this period that Babylonia emerged as the great center of religious studies which rivaled Palestine. Between the third and the fifth centuries, Babylonian academies–the future yeshivot–established a method of commentary on the Bible which became the basis for the Babylonian Talmud. This tradition, later disseminated by the geonim (heads of the Babylonian academies), was to be accepted by the entire Jewish world. Paradoxically perhaps, the sons of a community of which nothing is known prior to the third century, determined the norms and behavior of Jews throughout the world for fifteen centuries.
Religious Texts
Menachem Posner, in his article “What is Judaism?” mentioned three sources of God’s Word that are the heart of Judaism: the Torah, the Talmud, and the Kabbalah.
Talmud
We read about the Talmud on Chabad.org:
What Is the Talmud?
The primary text of Oral Law
Author: Menachem Posner
The Talmud is a collection of writings that covers the full gamut of Jewish law and tradition, compiled and edited between the third and sixth centuries. Written in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic, it records the teachings and discussions of the great academies of the Holy Land and Babylonia. With 2,711 densely packed pages and countless commentaries, learning Talmud is the occupation of a lifetime.
Is Talmud the Same as Torah?
As you can read in What Is Torah, in its narrowest sense, Torah refers to the Five Books of Moses, while Talmud contains rabbinic commentaries, traditions and laws couched in the Torah’s infinite wisdom. However, the term Torah is often used to describe all of Jewish scholarship, which includes the Talmud.
What Is the Main Text of the Talmud?
The main text of the Talmud is the Mishnah, a collection of terse teachings written in Hebrew, redacted by Rabbi Yehudah the Prince, in the years following the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
Where Was the Talmud Written?
Over the next several hundred years after the Mishnah’s completion, the rabbis continued to teach and expound. Many of those teachings were collected into two great bodies, the Jerusalem Talmud, containing the teachings of the rabbis in the Land of Israel, and the Babylonian Talmud, featuring the teachings of the rabbis of Babylon. These two works are written in the Aramaic dialects used in Israel and Babylonia respectively.
Who Wrote the Commentaries?
There are many commentaries written on the Talmuds (mostly on the Babylonian Talmud, which is more widely studied), notably the elucidating notes of Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, 10th Century France), Tosafot (a group of rabbis who lived in the years following Rashi, many of whom were his descendants and/or his students).
These two commentaries are printed together with the Babylonian Talmud, surrounding the main text, having become a part of the study of Talmud. The standard edition of the Babylonian Talmud comprises 2,711 double-sided pages, with many, many more pages filled with the teachings of other commentators.
One key takeaway here is that when Jews refer to the Torah, they are not just referring to the written Torah that we teach adherence to at Whole Word Ministries, but also the Jewish tradition of an Oral law as well.
What does scripture tell us about adding to the Torah as written down by Moses?
Deuteronomy 4:2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of YHWH your God that I command you.
Proverbs 30:6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
And what did Yeshua say to the Pharisees about their oral traditions?
Mark 7:1-9 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!
The rabbis of modern Judaism hold the Pharisees of the first century to be their forefathers. We read in the book of Acts that the Pharisees taught the Law in the synagogues every Sabbath. However, we also read in scripture that they themselves did not live by that Law—they were hypocrites. The Pharisees followed an oral law that Yeshua condemned as the “traditions of men”.
Acts 15:21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.
Matthew 23:1-36 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. 16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Also from Chabad.org:
Why Was the Talmud Written?
Was the Oral Law Supposed to Remain Oral?
Author: Yehuda Shurpin
It is an “owner’s manual” and “companion guide” (so to speak) for the Torah. With it we can understand what the Torah means, and determine the details of the various commandments. Furthermore, we have rules of exegesis so that we can determine the Torah’s view on various issues that are not directly addressed. The Oral Torah comprises traditions and extrapolations based on the inscribed Torah, the Bible.
Once again from the Jewish website Chabad.org:
Who Compiled the Babylonian Talmud?
Author: Yossi Ives
The Talmud is a vast compendium of Jewish law and lore – the product of several hundred years of scholarship. There were actually two Talmuds: Jerusalem and Babylonian. They are quite different works. The Babylonian Talmud is uniquely vast, comprehensive, and marvelously constructed. It is one of the greatest products of religious literature of all time; a central pillar in both the teachings and practice of Judaism.
It is impossible to provide a fitting description of the Talmud. It needs to be experienced to be understood. And like that metaphorical elephant, it can be approached from so many angles.
Some will be struck by the vastness of the work. It consists of 2,711 folios, or 5,422 pages, mostly written in dense, cryptic text. Others will be astonished by its comprehensiveness. There is hardly a topic of Jewish law or life that is not covered somewhere in the Talmud. It serves as an encyclopedia of the oral teaching of the early sages.
The impact that the Talmud has on Jewish life cannot be overstated. It is the final word on Jewish rite and practice. The spiritual fulfillment Jews derive from poring over its pages is immense, as if one is almost present in the study halls of antiquity. Judaism as we know it today would be unimaginable without the Talmud.
Let’s take a look at some samples from the Talmud to see if we agree with these authors that the Talmud is so amazing. Remember as you read these excerpts, that Talmudic Judaism teaches that these writings are inspired by God and are “the final word on Jewish rite and practice.” Before we look at the samples, however, we’re going to define a few terms and introduce some of the participants.
Definition of Terms
From Wikipedia:
The Mishnah is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is the first work of rabbinic literature, written primarily in Mishnaic Hebrew but also partly in Jewish Aramaic. The oldest surviving physical fragments of it are from the 6th to 7th centuries. It is viewed as authoritative and binding revelation by most Orthodox Jews and some non-Orthodox Jews.
The Mishnah was redacted by Judah ha-Nasi probably in Beit Shearim or Sepphoris, in the late second or early third century CE. In a time when the persecution of Jews and the passage of time raised the possibility that the details of the oral traditions of the Pharisees from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE) would be forgotten.
After the Mishnah was compiled, it became the subject of centuries of rabbinic commentary, primarily taking place in the Talmudic academies in Syria Palaestina (Palestine / Land of Israel) and in Babylonia (Lower Mesopotamia). Both of these centers compiled their own collection of rabbinic commentaries on the Mishnah, leading to the creation of the Jerusalem Talmud and the now more well known Babylonian Talmud (“Talmud” alone refers to the latter).
From Wikipedia:
The Gemara comprises a collection of rabbinical analyses and commentaries on the Mishnah and presented in 63 books.
Initially, the Gemara was transmitted orally and not permitted to be written down. However, after Judah the Prince compiled the Mishnah around 200 CE, rabbis from Babylonia and the Land of Israel extensively studied the work. Their discussions were eventually documented in a series of books, which would come to be known as the Gemara. There are two versions of the Talmud: the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud. The Mishnah is virtually the same in the two Talmuds; the Gemara is what differentiates the Babylonian Talmud from its Jerusalem counterpart.
From Wikipedia:
The Baraita designates a tradition in the Oral Torah of Rabbinical Judaism that is not incorporated in the Mishnah. Baraita thus refers to teachings “outside” of the six orders of the Mishnah. Originally, “Baraita” probably referred to teachings from schools outside the main Mishnaic-era yeshivas – although in later collections, individual barayata are often authored by sages of the Mishna (Tannaim).
According to Maimonides’ Introduction to Mishneh Torah, the barayata were compiled by Hoshaiah Rabbah and Bar Kappara, although no other compilation was passed down that was similar to the Tosefta.
From Wikipedia:
The Tosefta is a compilation of Jewish Oral Law from the late second century CE, the period of the Mishnah and the Jewish sages known as the Tannaim.
In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement (Toseftā) to the Mishnah. Being nearly three times as long, it often complements the Mishna and expands upon it, and it served as the primary commentary on it for the Amoraim, creators of the Talmuds.
From Wikipedia:
Halakha is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah.
Halakha is based on biblical commandments (mitzvot), subsequent Talmudic and rabbinic laws, and the customs and traditions which were compiled in the many books such as the Shulchan Aruch or Mishneh Torah. Halakha is often translated as “Jewish law”, although a more literal translation might be “the way to go” or “the way of walking”. Halakha not only guides religious practices and beliefs; it also guides numerous aspects of day-to-day life.
From Wikipedia:
Aggadah is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly the Talmud and Midrash.
In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and practical advice in various spheres, from business to medicine.
From Wikipedia:
The Tannaim were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 210 years. It came after the period of the Zugot “Pairs” and was immediately followed by the period of the Amoraim “Interpreters”.
The Mishnaic period is commonly divided into five periods, corresponding to the generations.
The Tannaim, as teachers of the Oral Law, are said to be direct transmitters of an oral tradition passed from teacher to student that was written and codified as the basis for the Mishnah, Tosefta, and tannaitic teachings of the Talmud. According to rabbinic tradition, the Tannaim were the last generation in a long sequence of oral teachers that began with Moses.
From Wikipedia:
Amoraim refers to Jewish scholars of the period from about 200 to 500 CE, who “said” or “told over” the teachings of the Oral Torah. They were primarily located in Babylonia and the Land of Israel. Their legal discussions and debates were eventually codified in the Gemara. The Amoraim followed the Tannaim in the sequence of ancient Jewish scholars. The Tannaim were direct transmitters of uncodified oral tradition; the Amoraim expounded upon and clarified the oral law after its initial codification.
The first Babylonian Amoraim were Abba Arikha, respectfully referred to as Rav, and his contemporary and frequent debate partner, Shmuel. Among the earliest Amoraim in Israel were Johanan bar Nappaha and Shimon ben Lakish. Traditionally, the Amoraic period is reckoned as seven or eight generations (depending on where one begins and ends). The last Amoraim are generally considered to be Ravina I and Rav Ashi, and Ravina II, nephew of Ravina I, who codified the Babylonian Talmud around 500 CE. In total, 761 amoraim are mentioned by name in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds. 367 of them were active in the land of Israel from around 200–350 CE, while the other 394 lived in Babylonia during 200–500 CE.
In the Talmud itself, the singular amora generally refers to a lecturer’s assistant; the lecturer would state his thoughts briefly, and the amora would then repeat them aloud for the public’s benefit, adding translation and clarification where needed.
Participants
The purpose to describing these participants is to demonstrate the high esteem the leadership of Talmudic Judaism places on them, before showing you the discussions these men participated in and the actions they supported.
The first participant that we’ll examine is Akiva ben Joseph, credited with being the Father of Talmudic Judaism. From Wikipedia:
Akiva ben Joseph (b. 50 CE), also known as Rabbi Akiva, was a leading Jewish scholar and sage, a tanna of the latter part of the first century and the beginning of the second. Rabbi Akiva was a leading contributor to the Mishnah and to Midrash halakha. He is referred to in Tosafot as Rosh la-Hakhamim (“Chief of the Sages”). He was executed by the Romans in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. He has also been described as a philosopher.
Akiva was responsible not only for systematization of the Halakha, but also for hermeneutics and halakhic exegesis, which form the foundation of all Talmudic learning.
The enormous difference between the Halakha before and after Akiva may be briefly described as follows: The old Halakha was (as its name indicates) the religious practice sanctioned as binding by tradition, to which were added extensions and (in some cases) limitations of the Torah, arrived at by strict logical deduction. The opposition offered by the Sadducees (which became especially strenuous in the first century BC) led to the development of the halakhic midrash, whose purpose was to deduce these amplifications of the Law, by tradition and logic, out of the Law itself.
It might be thought that with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem—which event made an end of Sadduceeism—the halakhic Midrash would also have disappeared, seeing that the Halakha could now dispense with the Midrash. This likely would have been the case had not Akiva created his own Midrash, by means of which he was able “to discover things that were even unknown to Moses.” Akiva made the accumulated treasure of the oral law—which until his time was only a subject of knowledge, and not a science—an inexhaustible mine from which, by the means he provided, new treasures might be continually extracted.
If the older Halakha is to be considered as the product of the internal struggle between Phariseeism and Sadduceeism, the Halakha of Akiva has been viewed as the result of an external contest between Judaism on the one hand and Hellenism and Hellenistic Christianity on the other. Akiva no doubt perceived that the intellectual bond uniting the Jews—far from being allowed to disappear with the destruction of the Jewish state—must be made to draw them closer together than before. He pondered also the nature of that bond. The Bible could never again fill the place alone; for the Christians also regarded it as a divine revelation. Still less could dogma serve the purpose, for dogmas were always repellent to rabbinical Judaism, whose very essence is development and the susceptibility to development. Mention has already been made of the fact that Akiva was the creator of a rabbinical Bible version elaborated with the aid of his pupil, Aquila (though this is traditionally debated), and designed to become the common property of all Jews.
In a Talmudic sugya, Rav Yehudah narrates the story when Moses sees Rabbi Akiva (Menachot 29b). In this legend, Moses ascended to heaven (or Mount Sinai) and saw God preoccupied with making ornamental “crowns” for the letters of the Torah. When Moses inquired what the purpose of these embellishments were, God explained that a man named Akiva would be born in several generations, and that he would be able to deduce halakha from every little curve and crown of the letters of the Law. Moses requested that he be allowed to see this man, and God assented: Moses found himself sitting in Akiva’s study hall. As Moses listened to Akiva’s lesson, he grew weary, because he could not understand it. However, when one of the students asked Akiva for the source of his teaching, Akiva replied that it was “A law to Moses at Sinai”, and Moses was put at ease. When Moses returns to God and asks what the pious Akiva’s ultimate reward will be, he is shown the grisly aftermath of Akiva’s execution. Horrified, Moses demands God explain His actions, at which point God commands Moses to be silent and respect His judgement. According to Louis Ginzberg, “this story gives in naïve style a picture of Akiba’s activity as the father of Talmudical Judaism.”
The next participant is one of Akiva’s students, and a man frequently quoted in the samples below. From Wikipedia:
Rabbi Meir was a Jewish sage who lived in the time of the Mishnah. He was one of the Tannaim of the fourth generation (AD 139–163), and a disciple of Rabbi Akiva. He is the second most frequently mentioned sage in the Mishnah and is mentioned over 3,000 times in the Babylonian Talmud. His wife Bruriah is one of the few women cited in the Gemara.
According to the Talmud, his father was a descendant of the Roman Emperor Nero who, it is said, escaped death at the time of his deposition and became subsequently a convert to Judaism. Azariah de Rossi and David Gans propose that Nero may have converted to Judaism secretly, explaining the lack of historical evidence. Maimonides and Chaim Kanievsky affirm the Talmudic claim, asserting that Rabbi Meir was Nero’s direct descendant, while Menahem Azariah da Fano offers an allegorical interpretation, suggesting Rabbi Meir was a reincarnation of Nero rather than a literal descendant.
Meir was one of the most important Tannaim of the Mishnah. Akiva’s teachings, through his pupil Meir, became the basis of the Mishnah.
According to the Babylonian Talmud, all Mishnas that state laws without introducing them with an indication that they are attributed to any one of the Sages are attributed to Meir.
The next participant is considered a type of successor to the Father of Talmudic Judaism, Akiva ben Joseph. From Wikipedia:
Judah ha-Nasi (Yehudah HaNasi or Judah the Prince or Judah the President) or Judah I, known simply as Rebbi or Rabbi, was a second-century rabbi (a tanna of the fifth generation) and chief redactor and editor of the Mishnah. He lived from approximately 135 to 217 CE. He was a key leader of the Jewish community in Roman-occupied Judea after the Bar Kokhba revolt.
The title nasi was used for presidents of the Sanhedrin. He was the first nasi to have this title added permanently to his name; in traditional literature he is usually called “Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi.” Often though (and always in the Mishnah) he is simply called Rabbi “my teacher” (רבי), the master par excellence. He is occasionally called Rabbenu “our master”. He is also called “Rabbenu HaQadosh” “our holy master” (רבנו הקדוש) due to his deep piety.
According to the Talmud, he was of the Davidic line. He is said to have been born on the same day that Rabbi Akiva died as a martyr. The Talmud suggests that this was a result of divine providence: God had granted the Jewish people another leader of great stature to succeed Akiva.
The next participant was the center of the collegiate circle of the patriarch Judah haNasi. From Wikipedia:
Hiyya, or Hiyya the Great, (ca. 180–230 CE) was one of the Chazal or Rabbinical Jewish sages in the Land of Israel during the transitional generation between the Tannaic and Amoraic eras. Active in Tiberias, Hiyya was the primary compiler of the Tosefta. His full name was Hiyya bar Abba, also the name of the third generation amora Hiyya bar Abba.
Rabbi Hiyya was originally from the city of Kapri in Babylonia and was the son of Abba Karsala. He descended from the family of Shimei, a brother of King David.
In the latter part of his life Hiyya emigrated to Tiberias where he established a business in silks, which he exported to Tyre. The high reputation acquired by him in Babylonia had preceded him to Israel, and he soon became the center of the collegiate circle of the patriarch Judah haNasi. Regarding him more as a colleague than as a pupil, Judah treated Hiyya as his guest whenever the latter chanced to be at Sepphoris, consulted him, and took him with him when he went to Caesarea to visit Antoninus. His admiration for Hiyya was so great that he used to say: “Hiyya and his sons are as meritorious as the Patriarchs”.
Hiyya is portrayed in the Talmud as a model of virtue and goodness. His house is said to have been always open to the poor. Even his death is connected by legend with an act of charity: “The angel of death could not approach him. The angel therefore disguised himself as a poor man and knocked at Hiyya’s door. Hiyya, as usual, gave the order to bring bread for the poor. Then the angel said: ‘You have compassion on the poor; why not have pity upon me? Give me your life and spare me the trouble of coming so many times.’ Then Hiyya gave himself up.” At his death, relates another aggadah, stones of fire fell from the skies.
The next participant was a student of Judah ha-Nasi and Hiyya the Great. From Wikipedia:
Rabbi Yannai was an amora who lived in the 3rd century, and of the first generation of the Amoraim of the Land of Israel.
He was a student of R. Judah haNasi, in whose name he transmitted several halakhic sayings. The best known of his senior fellow students was Hiyya the Great, who, as an assistant teacher in Rabbi’s school, sometimes acted as Yannai’s tutor. But several discussions between Hiyya and Yannai show the real relationship. Their friendship was afterward cemented by the marriage of Yannai’s daughter to Hiyya’s son Judah. Yannai transmitted also some halakhot in the name of the council (“haburah”) of the last tannaim. He established an important school at ‘Akbara, often mentioned in both Talmuds and in the Midrash as the “debei R. Yannai” or the “beit R. Yannai,” and which continued after his death. His school differed from others in that the pupils were treated as belonging to the master’s family; they worked on Yannai’s estate, took their share of the revenue, and lived under his roof. His chief pupil, of whom he thought highly, was Rabbi Yochanan, who transmitted most of his halakhot.
Yannai was prominent both as halakhist and aggadist. His name is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud 176 times, and in the Jerusalem Talmud 254 times.
From Wikipedia:
Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak, or Samuel bar Isaac, was a rabbi from the third generation of amoraim. He lived in Babylonia and eventually moved to the Land of Israel. Along with Rabbi Zeira, he was considered one of the greatest rabbis in the Land of Israel.
He was born in Babylonia to a Rav Yitzchak, who the Talmud gives the name “father of Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak”. In his youth he learned under Rav, but was considered the greatest student of Rav Huna. After becoming established as a talmid chacham, he moved to the land of Israel, where he learned from R. Hiyya bar Abba. He became so close to Hiyya that when Hiyya died, Samuel practiced the mourning rites which are generally reserved for a close family member (later, when Samuel died, Rabbi Zeira did the same for him). Eventually Samuel became known as the greatest rabbi of his generation. His son-in-law was Rabbi Hoshaiah II.
He was accustomed to entertain the bride and groom at weddings by dancing before them with myrtle-branches. Some rabbis, including Rabbi Zeira, considered this to be embarrassingly frivolous for someone of Samuel’s stature. But according to tradition, his conduct received Divine approval: When he died, a bath kol announced that “Rav Samuel bar Rav Yitzchak, the man who did kindness, has died”; at his funeral, fire descended from heaven in the form of myrtle-poles to separate the mourners from his body; and all the trees of the Land of Israel were uprooted, indicating that they had missed the chance to be taken by Samuel for his wedding-dances.
A later participant from the fourth century; from Wikipedia:
Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak (died 356 CE) was a Babylonian rabbi, of the fourth and fifth generations of amoraim.
He contributed to halakhah chiefly by collecting, arranging, and transmitting the teachings and decisions of his predecessors, which were thus saved from oblivion. He also employed mnemonics to facilitate memorizing the halakhot which he had arranged, thus beginning the redaction of the Talmud. He distinctly recognized his position regarding halakhah, saying of himself “I am neither a sage nor a seer, nor even a scholar as contrasted with the majority. I am a transmitter and a codifier, and the beit ha-midrash follows me in its decisions.”
He appears frequently in aggadah as one who arranges and explains the words of other authorities, and he frequently cites Biblical passages in support of their teachings. When the interpretations by others deviate from the Masoretic vocalization, he attempts to show that reference to the written form of the word in question allows such varying explanations. He often interprets rare or ambiguous terms in the Mishnah by citing analogous passages.
Samples from the Talmud
These samples are taken from the website, Chabad.org (links provided), from two sections of the Talmud discussing menstrual impurity, the blood that comes from breaking the hymen, and wedding night intercourse as it relates to marriage to toddlers and children. These discussion are extensive in the Talmud—there is far more than what is shared here—discussions between men that are believed to have God’s inspiration and wisdom, men who are looked up to and revered by the leadership of Talmudic Judaism. The acts being discussed here are not being condemned, they are being normalized and condoned, they are being approved.
And for the record, having a moral objection to what you are about to read is labelled anti-semitic. However, we believe that the claim that all adherents to Judaism have no moral objection to this evil is what is anti-semitic!
From Niddah 44b:
MISHNA: A girl who is three years and one day old, whose father arranged her betrothal, is betrothed through intercourse, as the halakhic status of intercourse with her is that of intercourse in all halakhic senses. And in a case where the childless husband of a girl three years and one day old dies, if his brother the yavam engages in intercourse with her, he acquires her as his wife; and if she is married, a man other than her husband is liable for engaging in intercourse with her due to violation of the prohibition against intercourse with a married woman.
And if she is impure due to menstruation, she imparts impurity to one who engages in intercourse with her who then renders impure all the layers of bedding beneath him, rendering them impure like the upper bedding covering a zav, in the sense that it assumes first-degree ritual impurity and does not become a primary source of ritual impurity, and it renders impure food and drink, but it does not render impure people and vessels.
If she marries a priest, she may partake of teruma, like any other wife of a priest; if she is unmarried and one of the men who are unfit for the priesthood, e.g., a mamzer or ḥalal, engaged in intercourse with her, he disqualifies her from marrying into the priesthood, and if she is the daughter of a priest, she is disqualified from partaking of teruma. Finally, if one of all those with whom relations are forbidden, as stated in the Torah, e.g., her father or her husband’s father, engaged in intercourse with her, they are executed by the court for engaging in intercourse with her, and she is exempt, because she is a minor.
If the girl is less than that age, younger than three years and one day, the status of intercourse with her is not that of intercourse in all halakhic senses; rather, it is like placing a finger into the eye. Just as in that case, the eye constricts, sheds tears, and then returns to its original state, so too, in a girl younger than three years and one day old, the hymen returns to its original state.
GEMARA: The Sages taught in a baraita: A girl who is three years old is betrothed through intercourse; this is the statement of Rabbi Meir. And the Rabbis say: She must be three years and one day old. The Gemara asks: What is the difference between their opinions, as both agree that she cannot be betrothed before the age of three? The Sages of the school of Rabbi Yannai said: There is a difference between their opinions in the case of a girl on the eve of the first day of the fourth year of her life. According to Rabbi Meir, she can be betrothed through intercourse, as on this day three years are complete, whereas the Rabbis maintain that she cannot be betrothed in this manner, as she has not yet entered the first day of her fourth year.
And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: There is a difference between their opinions with regard to the issue of whether thirty days in a year are considered equivalent to a year. Rabbi Meir maintains that thirty days in a year are considered equivalent to a year, and therefore a girl aged two years and thirty days is already considered like a three-year-old and may be betrothed through intercourse. By contrast, the Rabbis contend that thirty days in a year are not considered equivalent to a year, and she may be betrothed through intercourse only upon reaching the age of three years and one day.
The Gemara raises an objection against the explanation of Rabbi Yannai from a baraita: A girl who is three years old, and even one who is two years and one day old, is betrothed through intercourse; this is the statement of Rabbi Meir. And the Rabbis say: She must be three years and one day old.
From Niddah 45a:
The Gemara asks: Granted, according to the opinion of Rabbi Yoḥanan, just as there is a tanna who says that one day in a year is considered equivalent to a year, so too, there is a tanna who says that thirty days in a year are considered equivalent to a year. The baraita states that according to Rabbi Meir, a girl two years and one day old is considered like a three-year-old, following the opinion that one day in a year is equivalent to a full year. Similarly, Rabbi Yoḥanan maintains that there is a second tanna who says that thirty days in a year are considered equivalent to a full year, and therefore a girl can be betrothed by intercourse from the age of two years and thirty days.
But according to the opinion of Rabbi Yannai, that Rabbi Meir requires a full three years, this baraita is difficult, as it explicitly states that in Rabbi Meir’s opinion even a girl aged two years and one day can be betrothed by intercourse. The Gemara concludes: Indeed, this baraita is difficult according to the opinion of Rabbi Yannai.
§ The last clause of the mishna teaches that if the girl is less than that age, i.e., younger than three years and one day, the status of intercourse with her is like placing a finger into the eye. A dilemma was raised before the Sages: What happens to this hymen, i.e., to the hymen of a girl under three with whom a man engaged in intercourse? Does it disappear and come back again later, or perhaps it is not removed at all until after she reaches the age of three?
The Gemara asks: What difference is there in halakha between these two suggestions? The Gemara answers that there is a practical ramification in a case where a priest engaged in intercourse with a girl to whom he is married within her first three years, and found blood on her due to that intercourse, and again engaged in intercourse with her many times, including after she turned three, but on that occasion he did not find blood. If you say that after engaging in intercourse when the girl is younger than three, the hymen disappears and comes back again, here one can maintain that it disappeared due to the first time they engaged in intercourse and did not grow back because there was not enough time without intercourse for it to grow back.
But if you say that the hymen is not removed at all until after she reaches the age of three, the fact that this girl did not emit blood after three years must be because another man engaged in intercourse with her after she turned three, in which case she is classified as a zona, a woman who has engaged in sexual intercourse with a man forbidden to her by the Torah, and is forbidden to her husband the priest. The Gemara reiterates: What, then, is the resolution of the dilemma?
Rav Ḥiyya, son of Rav Ika, objects to this explanation of the practical ramifications of the dilemma: But even if one maintains that the hymen of a girl younger than three disappears and grows back, one can still contend that this girl engaged in intercourse with another man, as who will say to us that a wound that was inflicted within three years of a girl’s birth is not restored and healed immediately? Perhaps it is restored immediately, and this girl did not emit blood because another man engaged in intercourse with her previously, and she is therefore a zona who is forbidden to a priest.
Rather, the practical difference between the two suggestions relates to a case where the husband engaged in intercourse with this girl within her first three years, and found blood, and engaged in intercourse with her again after she turned three, and again found blood. If you say that the hymen disappears and comes back again, this blood emitted when she is less than three years old is blood from the tearing of the hymen, which does not render her impure. But if you say that the hymen is not removed at all until after she reaches the age of three, then this blood she emitted when she was younger than three is menstrual blood, which renders her impure. What, then, is the resolution of the dilemma?
Rav Ḥisda said: Come and hear the mishna: If the girl is less than that age of three years and one day, intercourse with her is like placing a finger into the eye. Why do I need the mishna to teach: Like placing a finger into the eye? Let it teach simply: If she is less than that age, intercourse with her is nothing. What, is it not correct that this is what the mishna teaches us, by its comparison to an eye: Just as placing a finger in an eye causes it to tear and tear again, when another finger is placed in it, so too after the intercourse of a girl under three the hymen disappears and comes back again?
§ The Sages taught in a baraita: There was an incident involving a gentile woman called Yusteni, the daughter of Asveirus, son of Antoninus, a Roman emperor, who came before Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. She said to him: My teacher, at what age is a woman fit to marry, i.e., at what age is it appropriate for a woman to engage in intercourse, which would therefore be the appropriate time to marry? Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to her: She must be at least three years and one day old.
Yusteni further inquired: And at what age is she fit to become pregnant? Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to her: When she is at least twelve years and one day old. She said to him: I married when I was six, and gave birth a year later, when I was seven. Woe for those three years, between the age of three, when I was fit for intercourse, and the age of six, when I married, as I wasted those years in my father’s house by not engaging in intercourse.
The Gemara asks: And can a minor of that age become pregnant? But didn’t Rav Beivai teach a baraita before Rav Naḥman: Three women may engage in intercourse while using a contraceptive absorbent cloth, a soft fabric placed at the entrance to the womb to prevent conception, despite the fact that this practice generally is prohibited. They are a minor; a pregnant woman; and a nursing woman.
The baraita specifies the reason for allowing these women to use contraceptive absorbent cloths: A minor, lest she become pregnant and perhaps die from this pregnancy; a pregnant woman, lest she be impregnated a second time and her older fetus become deformed into the shape of a sandal fish, by being squashed by the pressure of the second fetus; and a nursing woman, lest she become pregnant and her milk dry up, in which case she weans her son too early, thereby endangering him, and he dies.
The baraita continues: And who is considered a minor? It is a girl from the age of eleven years and one day until the age of twelve years and one day. If she was younger than that or older than that, she may go ahead and engage in intercourse in her usual manner, i.e., without contraception. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir. Since it is assumed that a minor who is less than eleven years old cannot become pregnant, she is considered to be in no danger.
And the Rabbis say: Both in this case of a minor girl who can become pregnant and in that case of a minor girl who cannot become pregnant, she may go ahead and engage in intercourse in her usual manner, and Heaven will have mercy upon her and prevent any mishap, as it is stated: “The Lord preserves the simple” (Psalms 116:6). In light of the statement of Rabbi Meir, how could Yusteni have become pregnant at age seven?
The Gemara answers: If you wish, say that Yusteni was able to become pregnant at such a young age because she was a gentile, and the verse states with regard to gentiles: “Their flesh is the flesh of donkeys” (Ezekiel 23:20). And if you wish, say instead that Yusteni was lying when she said she became pregnant at age seven, as it is stated with regard to gentiles: “Whose mouth speaks falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of lying” (Psalms 144:8).
The Sages taught in a baraita: There was an incident involving a certain woman who came before Rabbi Akiva and said to him: My teacher, I engaged in intercourse within three years of my birth; what is my status with regard to marrying into the priesthood? Rabbi Akiva said to her: You are fit to marry into the priesthood.
She said to him: My teacher, I will tell you a parable; to what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to a baby whose finger one forcibly dipped in honey. On the first time and the second time, he moans at his mother for doing so, but on the third occasion, once he is used to the taste of honey, he willingly sucks the finger dipped in honey. She was insinuating to Rabbi Akiva that she engaged in intercourse several times, and although the first couple of times were against her will, the third incident was with her consent. Rabbi Akiva said to her: If so, you are disqualified from marrying into the priesthood.
Rabbi Akiva saw his students looking at each other, puzzling over this ruling. He said to them: Why is this matter difficult in your eyes? They said to him: Just as the entire Torah is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai, so too this halakha of a girl who engaged in intercourse when she was less than three years old, i.e., that she is fit to marry into the priesthood, is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai, and it applies whether she engaged intercourse against her will or with her consent. The Gemara notes: And even Rabbi Akiva did not say to the woman that she was unfit to marry into the priesthood because that is the halakha; rather, he did so only to sharpen the minds of his students with his statement, to see how they would respond.
MISHNA: In the case of a boy, nine years and one day old, whose brother had died childless, who engaged in intercourse with his yevama, his brother’s widow, the status of the intercourse is that of halakhic intercourse and he acquires her as his wife; but he cannot give her a bill of divorce, if he chooses to end the marriage, until he reaches majority.
From Niddah 45b:
MISHNA: With regard to a girl who is eleven years and one day old, her vows are examined to ascertain whether she is aware of the meaning of her vow and in Whose name she vowed. Once she is twelve years and one day old and has grown two pubic hairs, which is a sign of adulthood, even without examination her vows are in effect. And one examines her vows throughout the entire twelfth year until her twelfth birthday.
With regard to a boy who is twelve years and one day old, his vows are examined to ascertain whether he is aware of the meaning of his vow and in Whose name he vowed. Once he is thirteen years and one day old and has grown two pubic hairs, even without examination his vows are in effect. And one examines his vows throughout the entire thirteenth year until his thirteenth birthday.
Prior to that time, eleven years and one day for a girl and twelve years and one day for a boy, even if they said: We know in Whose name we vowed and in Whose name we consecrated, their vow is not a valid vow and their consecration is not a valid consecration. After that time, twelve years and one day for a girl and thirteen years and one day for a boy, even if they said: We do not know in Whose name we vowed and in Whose name we consecrated, their vow is a valid vow and their consecration is a valid consecration.
GEMARA: The Gemara asks: But since the mishna teaches: With regard to a girl who is eleven years and one day old her vows are examined, why do I need the mishna to further state: Once she is twelve years and one day old her vows are in effect? After all, by this stage she is already an adult. The Gemara answers that this ruling is necessary, as it might enter your mind to say that one examines her vows forever, even when she is an adult. Therefore, the mishna teaches us that the vows of an adult are valid even without examination.
From Niddah 64b:
MISHNA: In the case of a young girl whose time to see a menstrual flow, i.e., the age of puberty, has not yet arrived, and she married and engaged in intercourse and her hymen was torn, Beit Shammai say: The Sages give her four nights after intercourse during which the blood is attributed to the torn hymen and she remains ritually pure. Thereafter, any blood is assumed to be menstrual blood and renders her impure. And Beit Hillel say: The blood is attributed to the torn hymen until the wound heals.
In the case of a young woman whose time to see a menstrual flow has arrived but she has not yet begun to menstruate, and she married and engaged in intercourse and her hymen was torn, Beit Shammai say: The Sages give her the first night during which the blood is attributed to the torn hymen. Thereafter, any blood is assumed to be menstrual blood. And Beit Hillel say: The blood is attributed to the torn hymen until the conclusion of Shabbat, and she may engage in intercourse with her husband for four nights, as it was customary for a virgin to marry on Wednesday.
In the case of a young woman who saw menstrual blood before marriage while she was still in her father’s house, Beit Shammai say: The Sages give her permission to engage only in relations that consummate a marriage, which are a mitzva, after which she is ritually impure due to the blood. And Beit Hillel say: The husband and wife may engage even in several acts of intercourse, as any blood seen throughout the entire night is attributed to the torn hymen.
GEMARA: The mishna first addresses the case of a young girl who has not yet reached puberty. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak says: And this halakha applies to her even if she has seen menstrual blood. He explains his reasoning: From where do I derive this? I derive it from the fact that the tanna distinguishes in the latter clause of the mishna between a young girl who has seen menstrual blood and a young girl who has not seen menstrual blood. By inference, in the first clause of the mishna the halakha is no different in this case, where the young girl has experienced menstrual bleeding, and it is no different in that case, where she has not yet experienced menstrual bleeding.
This explanation of Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak is also taught in a baraita: Beit Hillel say: With regard to a young girl who has not yet reached puberty, the blood she emits is attributed to the torn hymen until the wound heals, regardless of whether she has seen menstrual blood beforehand or whether she has not yet seen menstrual blood.
§ The mishna teaches that Beit Hillel say: The blood is attributed to the torn hymen until the wound heals. The Gemara clarifies: Until when can the blood be attributed to the torn hymen? Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: All the time that she is noḥeret. Rav Yehuda continues: When I subsequently said this halakha before Shmuel, he said to me: This noḥeret, I do not know what it is, nor do I know what Rav means by it. Rather, all the time that the saliva is in her mouth due to sexual intercourse, she may attribute the blood to the torn hymen. Shmuel is using a euphemism, i.e., as long as there is blood in her vagina resulting from sexual intercourse.
The Gemara clarifies: This noḥeret that Rav says; what is it like? What did he mean? Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzḥak said: It was explained to me by Rav as follows: If the young girl stands up and sees blood, but she sits and does not see blood, it is known that the wound has not yet healed, and the blood is still attributed to the torn hymen. Similarly, if she sits on the ground and sees blood, but she sits on cushions and blankets and does not see blood, it is known that the wound has not yet healed and she may attribute the blood to the torn hymen, as the blood flows due to the strain of sitting on the ground. But if she sometimes sits on all of them, i.e., the ground, cushions, and blankets, and sees blood, and on other occasions she sits on all of them and does not see blood, it is known that the wound has healed, and this blood must now be menstrual blood.
§ The mishna teaches the halakha of a young girl. The Gemara discusses the case of a girl who is older than twelve and a half. Rav says: The Sages give a grown woman, who engaged in intercourse on her wedding night, the entire first night, during which she may engage in intercourse with her husband several times. And this statement applies only if she did not see any blood. But if she saw blood, she has only the relations that consummate a marriage, which are a mitzva, and nothing more.
Rav Ḥinnana bar Shelamya asked Rav: With regard to a young girl who married before she reached puberty, and then her time to see menstrual blood arrived while she was under the authority of her husband, what is the halakha? Does she have the four nights when the blood is considered to be from her torn hymen?
And Rav said to him: All the acts of intercourse that you engage in while she is still too young are considered as only one act of intercourse, and the remainder, i.e., three more acts of intercourse, complete the total number of four nights. If so, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi could not have given her two nights as a minor, since at most those acts of intercourse count as one.
Rather, you will suggest that he gave her one night during her days as a minor, and two nights during her days as a young woman, and one night during her days as a grown woman. But this is also difficult: Granted, if you say that we generally give a grown woman more than one night, then one can understand why Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi gave her one night in this case: Just as all the acts of intercourse she engaged in as a minor have the effect to deduct one night for her days as a young woman, similarly all the acts of intercourse she engaged in while a young woman have the effect to deduct one night for her days as a grown woman, leaving her with one.
But if you say that we generally do not give a grown woman more than one night, then in this case Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi should have given her as a grown woman only the one act of relations that consummate a marriage, which are a mitzva, i.e., merely a single act of intercourse, and nothing more, as otherwise the acts of intercourse before she became a grown woman would not have affected her status.
The Gemara answers: Actually, the correct explanation is that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi gave her one night during her days as a minor and three nights during her days as a young woman. And as for the fact that she has the status of a young woman for only exactly six months, do you maintain that every three months was counted as one period of the husband’s absence, such that she had only two nights in six months? This is not the case. Rather, every two months was counted as one period, and therefore she had three nights during these six months when she could attribute the blood to her torn hymen.
How does she examine herself? She brings a tube, inside of which she places a cosmetic brush so that it is long enough to reach deeply into her vagina, and an absorbent cloth is placed on the tip of the brush. She inserts the tube with the brush and cloth within herself and then removes it. If blood is found on the top of the absorbent cloth, it is known that the blood comes from the uterus and she is ritually impure. If blood is not found on the top of the cloth, it is known that the blood comes from the sides of the vaginal walls and she is ritually pure, and she may resume engaging in intercourse with her husband.
And if she has a wound in that place, i.e., her vagina, she attributes the blood to her wound, and she is ritually pure, as it is assumed to not be uterine blood. And if she has a fixed menstrual cycle, i.e., she does not bleed every time she engages in intercourse with her husband, but only at fixed times, she attributes the blood to her fixed menstrual cycle, and she is permitted to engage in intercourse at other times.
Rav Ḥanina said to Ravina: What is this? Why did you delay the wedding by an extra week? Ravina said to Rav Ḥanina: Doesn’t the Master hold in accordance with this statement of Rava, as Rava said: With regard to one who proposed marriage to a woman and she accepted it, she must wait seven consecutive days that are clean from any flow of menstrual blood and then immerse in a ritual bath? Rav Ḥanina said to Ravina: One can say that Rava said this statement with regard to an adult woman, who has seen menstrual blood. But did Rava actually say this with regard to a minor girl, who has not yet seen menstrual blood?
Ravina said to Rav Ḥanina: Rava said explicitly that there is no difference whether she is an adult woman and no difference whether she is a minor girl. What is the reason that an adult woman must wait for seven days? She must wait because she desires to marry her husband, and this might cause her to have a flow of blood. A minor girl also desires to marry her husband, which could cause a flow of blood.
There is no conceivable scenario where these discussions could be considered acceptable. There is no conceivable scenario where a group of men who casually discuss the systemic and repeated rape of toddlers and children would be considered wise, noble, or righteous. There is no conceivable scenario where these discussions would be considered anything but horrific and evil. These men and this book are not inspired by YHWH, they are straight from the heart of Satan.
Revelation 3:9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
John 8:39-47 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
We have to believe that most adherents to Judaism are unaware that their religious texts discuss and support the rape of toddlers, and that if they knew, they would cease to follow such evil books and the evil men who wrote them!
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Kabbalah
According to Menachem Posner, the third source of “God’s Word” that is at the heart of Judaism is the Kabbalah.
We read about the Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism from the website myjewishlearning.com:
Mysticism
The Zohar
This influencial work of Jewish mysticism continues to inspire spiritual seekers.
The Zohar is the most important work of Jewish mysticism and one of the central sacred texts of Jewish tradition. It emerged in late 13th-century Spain, most likely authored by the kabbalist Moses de Leon, though it claims to be an ancient text revealed by Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai in the second century. Structured as an esoteric commentary on the Torah, the Zohar weaves a rich tapestry of midrashim, parables and mystical insights to unveil the hidden nature of God and the universe.
To understand what the Zohar is, it’s helpful to know something about Kabbalah, a particular form of Jewish mysticism that emerged in the 13th century. The mystical quest for encounter with God is arguably as old as Judaism itself. Biblical figures like Abraham and Moses had direct encounters with God, as did the Jewish prophets. Ezekiel in particular had an ecstatic vision of God and the angels that provided significant fodder for the imaginations of later Jewish mystics. Literature from the rabbinic period daringly described God’s physical form and retinue in startling detail.
Kabbalah built on these earlier traditions but took a more intimate view of God, seeing God as more closely (and vulnerably) enmeshed with humanity and the world. It can be seen as a reaction against the rationalist approach of Maimonides, the medieval philosopher who saw God as perfect and all-powerful, distant and self-sufficient, an unmoved mover of the universe. Maimonides’ God had no need for people to fulfill the divine commandments, which were simply mechanisms to teach wisdom and ethics. Kabbalists rejected this view, contending that the mitzvot are of immediate and vital importance to the world and to God. For the kabbalists, God is neither remote nor self-sufficient, but omnipresent and wholly invested in the world.
These are among the beliefs that animate the Zohar, which is structured as a series of interpretations of the Torah, many related as discussions between Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai and his nine principle disciples: his son Rabbi Elazar, Rabbi Abba, Rabbi Yehudah, Rabbi Yitzhak, Rabbi Hizkiyah, Rabbi Hiyya, Rabbi Yose, Rabbi Yeisa and Rabbi Aha.
The Zohar’s ideas are difficult to capture in everyday language, often relying on metaphor, parable and suggestive language to explain itself. This makes it challenging to capture its tenets in prose, but several ideas are central. These include:
The Ten Sefirot: In the thinking of the Zohar, God’s innermost self, the Ein Sof (Without End), is unknowable. But other parts of God are not. According to the Kabbalists, God enters the world through ten emanations, or sefirot:
- Keter (Crown)
- Hochmah (Wisdom)
- Binah (Understanding)
- Hesed (Lovingkindness)
- Gevurah or Din (Strength/Justice)
- Tiferet (Beauty/Harmony)
- Netzach (Eternity/Victory)
- Hod (Splendor/Glory)
- Yesod (Foundation)
- Malkhut or Shekhinah (Kingdom/Sovereignty)
Keter is the highest as well as the most abstract and remote. It is followed by Hochmah and Binah, the primordial Father and Mother emanations. These, in turn, birth the next seven sefirot. The lowest and most imminent sefirah is Shekhinah, God’s indwelling presence on earth.
The condition of and relationship between these sefirot is not only vital to the world but strongly influenced by human action. Harmony and balance between the sefirot is therefore one of the highest goals of human behavior. Ethical living, performance of mitzvot and prayer can all help to bring the sefirot into better balance.
Dualities: The kabbalistic fascination with dualities is clear from a cursory look at the sefirot, several of which partnered to birth new emanations. Indeed, the male/female duality is arguably one of the most important in Kabbalah. The duality between good and evil also plays a significant role, with kabbalistic thought making copious room not only for God’s goodness, but also demonic forces of evil. Equally, the duality of exile and return — both Israel’s exile from the promised land and the exile of aspects of the divine from God itself — pervades kabbalistic thought.
Interconnection of the Cosmos: In kabbalistic thought, the entire world is interconnected and interdependent, in ways both obvious and hidden. Every action has a measurable affect and influence on the rest of the world. Therefore, every action matters.
Scripture’s Layers: For the kabbalists, Torah is the gateway to limitless secrets of the universe if only one knows how to discern its inner meanings. At times, scripture is conceived as more than a sacred book, but as a living presence that forms a relationship with the one who studies it.
Cleaving to God: The highest form of spiritual expression is clinging to God. This is called devekut (pronounced: d’vay-KOOT). The term appears many times in the Bible, often alongside commandments, suggesting that devekut is realized through obedience to God’s ways. Medieval commentators extended this idea to say that devekut is achieved through imitation of God. And the kabbalists took it one step further, believing that devekut is union with God achieved through mystical practices, meditation, prayer, study and aligning oneself with the flow of divine energy.
In its early years, the Zohar was studied mainly in small circles of devoted kabbalists. But after the expulsion of Spanish Jewry in 1492, the Zohar’s influence grew dramatically. Some scholars argue that many exiles, shaken by persecution, found solace in its worldview. Others think that the Zohar contained ideas that meshed nicely with those found in the lands that ultimately absorbed Jewish exiles.
By the 16th century, the town of Safed in northern Israel, located near the traditional tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, became a kabbalistic hub. Leading figures such as Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria settled there, combining the teachings of the Zohar with their own mystical systems. Their work helped establish Kabbalah as a major force in Jewish life.
In later centuries, the Zohar continued to shape Jewish movements across the world. It played a central role in the failed 17th-century messianic movement of Shabbetai Zevi, and in Eastern Europe it became a foundation for Hasidism, whose leaders often quoted and wrote commentaries on the text. Even the Vilna Gaon, a critic of Hasidism, revered the Zohar and encouraged its study. Among Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews, the Zohar has been widely read and regarded as a sacred book up until the present.
With the rise of the Enlightenment in Europe, Kabbalah lost standing in many Jewish communities. Both Reform and Orthodox leaders in Western Europe tended to set aside or downplay mystical texts, and the Zohar was less central to mainstream Jewish practice. Still, in Hasidic and Sephardic circles, its influence endured.
Today, the Zohar is experiencing renewed attention. A growing interest in spirituality and mysticism worldwide has brought new readers to kabbalistic texts. In Israel, pride in Sephardic and Mizrahi heritage, along with the founding of new kabbalistic academies, has also fueled a revival of study.
The Kabbalah and its book, the Zohar, share many false beliefs with the Zoroastrian religion of the Medo-Persian Empire.
We read about the Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism from the Christian perspective at Koinonia House:
Kabbalah and the Rise of Mysticism
Author: Chuck Missler
Whether disillusioned by the self-imposed blinders and myopia of contemporary “science,” or frustrated by the moral bankruptcy of unbridled materialism, increasing numbers of desperate people are now seeking “answers” outside the realm of natural phenomena and are pursuing the supernatural. The anguished plea of the disenfranchised now begs the question, “Is there anyone out there?”
Beyond the beguiling allure of many contemporary forms of ancient paganism, such as the New Age, Wicca, and others, many people have become attracted to a form of Hebrew mysticism known as Kabbalah. The popular press is speckled with articles of prominent Hollywood personalities who have taken up a popular contemporary version of Kabbalah.
(Kabbalah originally simply designated “received tradition.” Now, generically, it refers to Jewish mysticism in all its forms. Denotatively, however, it refers specifically to the esoteric theosophy that crystallized in 13th century Spain and Provence, France.)
It is particularly paradoxical to find these occultic practices embedded within Judaism, despite the numerous explicit prohibitions against all forms of the occult recorded throughout the very Torah that is so highly venerated among the Jews. It is essential to explore the current resurgence of Kabbalah within a broader historical perspective.
Judaism Redefined
Having rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and enduring the subsequent destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, Mosaic Judaism was faced with a serious dilemma: the Torah, and all its related practices, had emphasized that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” How could there be a continuation of the prescribed sacrifices without an altar and a Temple?
This, and other related issues, resulted in the Council of Jamnia in A.D. 90, which began redefining Judaism and led to the formulation of the Talmud (3rd – 6th centuries) and what is known as the Geonic Era (7th – 11th centuries).
The Talmud
The Talmud is a body of Jewish civil and religious law, including commentaries on the Torah, or Pentateuch, and oral laws handed down through tradition. It consists of a codification of laws, called the Mishnah, and a commentary on the Mishnah, called the Gemara.
The Talmud also includes materials which concern decisions by scholars on disputed legal questions known as the Halakhah (from Hebrew, “to go”). The illustrations and amplifications of the ethical, political, and religious principles involved in the laws are set down in the Haggada.
Two compilations of the Talmud exist: the Jerusalem Talmud (3rd – 5th century A.D.), and the Babylonian Talmud (3rd – 6th century A.D.). Both compilations contain the same Mishnah, but each has its own Gemara.
The Babylonian Talmud became authoritative because the rabbinic academies of Babylonia survived those in Palestine by many centuries (and is referred to in the “Geonic Era”).
After the completion of the Talmud, the Halakhah continued to develop as it was applied to new situations by rabbinical authorities. The Haggada also continued to develop, in the form of compilations, commentaries, and mystical and moral literature.
One of the most important of the works of Talmudic scholarship is the Mishneh Torah by the Spanish rabbi, philosopher, and physician Maimonides; it is an abstract of all the rabbinical legal literature in existence at his time. Among the most widely known commentaries are those on the Babylonian Talmud by the French rabbi Rashi and by certain scholars known as tosaphists, who lived in France and Germany between the 12th and 14th centuries.
The epistemological problems emerge from an excessive veneration of the scholastic commentators over the text itself. This lengthening tether reaches its extremes in the imaginative conjectures that emerged among the Kabbalistic scholars of the 11th and 12th centuries and subsequently.
It is interesting to note that there emerged a Jewish sect in the 8th century known as the Karaites who clung to the strict interpretations of the Scriptures, rejecting the Talmud and the rabbinical traditions that had been incorporated during the first six centuries.
Considered heretical by “Orthodox” Jews, in Czarist Russia they were exempted from abuses such as the double taxation, the pogroms, etc., that fell on Talmudic Judaism.1
Kabbalah Emerges
One of the basic works that was to impact all subsequent mystical movements in Judaism is the Sefer ha-Zohar, (or Zohar for short). This monumental work was composed by Moses de Len (born in Lon, Spain), who lived in Guadalajara, former Spanish kingdom of Castile, until 1290, and thereafter led a life of wandering. De Len was a prolific writer, completely immersed in mysticism. The Zohar, his greatest work, was written over 30 years, in Aramaic.
To lend greater weight to the doctrines expressed in his book, de Len ascribed it to a legendary Palestinian scholar, Shimon ben Yohai, claiming that a Spanish-Jewish scholar and mystic named Moses ben Nahman had found the book in a cave in which Shimon and his son Eleazor had once hid from Roman persecution. When Moses tried to send the book to his son in Catalonia, de Len claims he intercepted it and began making copies, which he then circulated among the learned.
However, de Len failed in this attempt to hide his authorship. Even in his own lifetime a Palestinian mystic, doubting the authenticity and antiquity of the Zohar, came to the royal court at nearby Valladolid to investigate the matter. De Len promised to produce the original copy, but he died before the question of his veracity could be settled. Since the 16th century, considerable evidence has definitely established de Lens authorship of this unique book, which for more than six centuries has exercised a far-reaching influence on Judaism.
The Zohar depicts the Godhead as a dynamic flow of force composed of numerous aspects. Above and beyond all human contemplation is God as he is in himself, the unknowable, immutable Ein-Sof (Infinite “Nothingness”).
Other aspects or attributes, knowable through God’s relation to the created world, emanate from Ein-Sof in a configuration of ten sefirot (realms or planes), through which the divine power further radiates to create the cosmos. Zoharic theosophy concentrates on the nature and interaction of these ten sefirot as symbols of the inner life and processes of the Godhead (see following diagram).
Although subject to some variations in some of the Kabbalistic literature, the ten sefirot are typically:
- Kether Elyon, Supreme Crown;
- Chokhmah, Wisdom;
- Binah, Intelligence;
- Chesed, Love; or Gedullah, Greatness;
- Geburah, Power;
- Tiphareth, Beauty;
- Nezach, Lasting Endurance;
- Hod, Majesty;
- Yesed, Foundation; or Zaddik, Righteous One;
- Malkhuth, Kingdom.
Because the sefirot are viewed as archetypes for everything in the world of creation, an understanding of their workings ostensibly illuminate the inner workings of the entire cosmos and all of history. The Zohar thereby provides a cosmic-symbolic interpretation of Judaism, and of the history of Israel, in which the Torah and commandments – as well as Israels life in exile – become symbols for events and processes in the inner life of God. Thus interpreted, the proper observance of the commandments by man assumes a cosmic significance.
Right at the outset, the concept of Ein-Sof is, among other things, a tragic attempt to depersonalize God. In contrast to the unknowable, capricious (and thus, untrustworthy) Allah of the Quran, or the unknowable nothingness (their words) of Ein-Sof, the YHWH of the Old Testament is a God who delights in making – and keeping – His promises!
(Furthermore, any attempt to chart the inner life of the Godhead, by means of the sefirot or any other, is akin to uncovering the Fathers nakedness, a sin of grave disrespect emphasized in the Tenach itself!2) The disciplines of Kabbalah include meditative practices that promise to enable individuals to share and participate in the diverse dimensions of Gods being. [Similar to the claims of New Age aspirants as well.]
Kabbalistic discipline was understood to be limited to a rarefied elite who were profoundly learned in the main texts of Talmudic Judaism prior to their immersion in Kabbalistic studies. Kabbalistic communities soon developed, generally organized as secret societies of disciples that gathered around a specially gifted mystical teacher (Tziddik). Such communities soon spread from Spain and France to Northern and Eastern Europe and to the Mediterranean basin. By the mid-16th century on, Kabbalah had an increasingly broad appeal among learned Jews, especially in Eastern Europe under the influence of Rabbi Isaac Luria.
Lurianic Kabbalah
16th-century Lurianic Kabbalah (named for its formulator, Isaac ben Solomon Luria) developed dramatically the cosmic aspect of the Zohar. The Lurianic system represented a response to the cataclysmic experience of Jewish exiles expelled from Iberia in the 1490s3 and it projected this experience onto the divine world.
In this system, the Ein-Sof withdrew into itself (tzimtzum) at the outset of creation, making room for the world, but also for evil. A cosmic catastrophe occurred during emanation when vessels of the divine light shattered and the sparks were imprisoned in the world in shards of evil (qelippot).
Luria held that God, as well as Israel, was in need of redemption from exile, and that humanity was assigned the critical role in the cosmic drama of redemption (tiqqun). The human task, through prayer and proper observance of the commandments, becomes nothing less than the redemption (tiqqun) of the world and the reunification of the Godhead.
(It would seem that without you and me, God wont be able to get His act together!? Get serious. However, there was, indeed, a man assigned the critical role in this cosmic drama who was, indeed, fully qualified, worthy, and capable for the role. He is presently sitting on His Fathers throne as you read this.)
Lurias thought provided the basis for transforming Kabbalah into a popular, messianic movement that infused the rabbinic traditions and affected all Jewry, paving the way for Sabbatian messianism (after Sabbatai Zevi) in the 17th century and Hasidism in the 18th century.
Hasidic Judaism
In the Hebrew Bible, the word hasid usually refers to a pious or righteous person.4 (The plural is hasidim). This usage continues in later Jewish writings. By the 11th and 12th centuries, however, the term hasid implied a person involved in a specifically mystical form of contemplative piety.
As such, it came to be applied to a group of German Jewish mystics known as the Hasidei Ashkenaz (German Pietists). The Hasidei Ashkenaz became known for rigorous ascetic practices, such as sleep-deprivation exercises, fasting, and bathing during winter in freezing streams. These practices were designed to suppress the power of physical appetites “for sleep, food, and warmth, for example”and to place the body under the dominion of the soul as it strove for intimate knowledge of God.
Hasidism, as we know it today, developed in the mid-18th century in Eastern Europe from the Kabbalah, and continues today in dozens of Hasidic communities around the world. Some communities consist of only a few hundred members in isolated Jewish neighborhoods of New York City, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem. Other Hasidic groups, such as the Satmar Hasidim and the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim, have an international membership numbering in the tens of thousands.
All of these communities trace their origins to a single individual, 18th-century rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, better known to the Jewish world as the Baal Shem Tov (Hebrew for Master of the Divine Name). Through his use of the name of God, the Baal Shem Tov was believed to perform miraculous cures.
Alphanumeric Gymnastics
In Kabbalah, great importance is attached to manifold manipulations of letters and numbers, particularly those involved in many of the Names of God, to which are ascribed magical properties. They believe that concealed within the stories and laws of the Torah are secret guides to the mysterious powers hidden in the various names of God and to the creative force of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
(The manipulation of the numeric values attached to the alphabet is called Gametria, and there are virtually unlimited varieties of rules for their use. A study of gematria will quickly demonstrate the proverb within the computer industry that, if you torture the data long enough, it will eventually confess to anything!)
Strangely, we owe a debt for some of the discoveries of the Kabbalistic scholarship over the centuries. It was the esoteric skills of the Jewish Kabbalists who were attached to the courts of Europe that developed the techniques of cryptology which emerged during the Renaissance.
These techniques led to mechanical aids, ultimately culminating in the Enigma coding machines of the Germans during World War II which, in turn, accelerated the development of the computers to defeat them – by John Von Neuman in the U.S. and Alan Turing in Great Britain.
These computers, in turn, have now led to the rediscovery of some of the astonishing properties of the Biblical text that has caused such sensationalism – some valid, much fanciful – today.5
Occult Practices
Anyone with a modicum of Biblical literacy should realize that occult practices are expressly prohibited in the Scriptures. Scripture condemns by name spiritism, mediumism (channeling), and necromancy,6 and various forms of sorcery and divination,7 including astrology8 and magic.9 In ancient Israel, divination was a capital crime; if someone was caught casting a horoscope, or other occultic practice, they were put to death. Why?
Because God is jealous of His uniqueness, and He alone knows what the future holds.10 To intrude on His office is to attempt to intrude on His glory.11 Occult activity also courts deception and betrayal from the demonic realm, and promotes evil under the guise of legitimate religious practice. Occult involvement will eventually lead to judgment for those who refuse to forsake it.12
Notes:
1 Today there are some 30,000 Karaites, concentrated largely in Israel; small communities are also found in the United States, Poland, France, and Turkey.
2 Genesis 9:22-27; 2 Samuel 16:22; et al.
3 Columbus and his crew had to depart by midnight, August 3, 1492. Cf. Personal UPDATE, August 1996.
4 Psalm 32:6.
5 For a thorough discussion see our book, Cosmic Codes – Hidden Messages From the Edge of Eternity.
6 Deuteronomy 18:9-12; 2 Chronicles 33:2, 3, 6.
7 Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:9-12, 14; Hosea 4:12; Exodus 22:18; Isaiah 44:25; 29:8, 9; Ezekiel 21:21. Cf.
1 Samuel 15:23.
8 Deuteronomy 17:2-5; 2 Kings 17:15-17; Isaiah 47:9-14
9 Acts 13:8; 19:16-19; Isaiah 47:9, 12.
10 Isaiah 46:10; 45:3, 5.
11 Exodus 19:12, 13; 1 Chronicles 16:22 (David quoting Psalm 105:15).
12 Revelation 22:15; 2 Chronicles 33:6.
Principles of Faith
We learn about the beliefs of Judaism on the Jewish website Judaism 101:
13 Principles of Faith
The closest that anyone has ever come to creating a widely-accepted list of Jewish beliefs is Rambam’s thirteen principles of faith. These principles, which Rambam thought were the minimum requirements of Jewish belief, are:
- G-d exists
- G-d is one and unique
- G-d is incorporeal
- G-d is eternal
- Prayer is to be directed to G-d alone and to no other
- The words of the prophets are true
- Moses’ prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets
- The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses
- There will be no other Torah
- G-d knows the thoughts and deeds of men
- G-d will reward the good and punish the wicked
- The Messiah will come
- The dead will be resurrected
As you can see, these are very basic and general principles. Yet as basic as these principles are, the necessity of believing each one of these has been disputed at one time or another, and the liberal movements of Judaism dispute many of these principles.
Unlike many other religions, Judaism does not focus much on abstract cosmological concepts. Although Jews have certainly considered the nature of G-d, man, the universe, life and the afterlife at great length (see Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism), there is no mandated, official, definitive belief on these subjects, outside of the very general concepts discussed above. There is substantial room for personal opinion on all of these matters, because as I said before, Judaism is more concerned about actions than beliefs.
Judaism focuses on relationships: the relationship between G-d and mankind, between G-d and the Jewish people, between the Jewish people and the land of Israel, and between human beings. Our scriptures tell the story of the development of these relationships, from the time of creation, through the creation of the relationship between G-d and Abraham, to the creation of the relationship between G-d and the Jewish people, and forward. The scriptures also specify the mutual obligations created by these relationships, although various movements of Judaism disagree about the nature of these obligations. Some say they are absolute, unchanging laws from G-d (Orthodox); some say they are laws from G-d that change and evolve over time (Conservative); some say that they are guidelines that you can choose whether or not to follow (Reform, Reconstructionist). For more on these distinctions, see Movements of Judaism.
So, what are these actions that Judaism is so concerned about? According to Orthodox Judaism, these actions include 613 commandments given by G-d in the Torah as well as laws instituted by the rabbis and long-standing customs. These actions are discussed in depth on the page regarding Halakhah: Jewish Law and the pages following it.
Modern Judaism
Modern Jewish Movements
- Orthodox Judaism
- Follows the Torah and Talmudic traditions with minimal change.
- Regards halakha (Jewish law) as binding.
- Exercises caution with modern cultural assimilation.
- Hasidic Judaism
- A devout sect that developed in Eastern Europe in the 18th century.
- They stress mysticism and joyous worship.
- Conservative Judaism
- Began in 19th-century Europe and the United States.
- They believe in conserving Jewish traditions, while permitting subtle adaptations in contemporary society.
- They keep traditional worship with a restrained approach to modern challenges.
- Reform Judaism
- They are a movement that came out of 19th-century Germany.
- They adapted and sometimes discarded some ceremonial laws.
- They allow personal interpretation to religious texts.
- They believe in integrating into modern culture and society.
- Reconstructionist Judaism
- They formed in the 20th century.
- They treat Judaism as a religious civilization that continually evolves.
- They encourage democratic and community decision-making regarding religious practice.
During the 18th through 20th centuries, Talmudic Judaism has been dividing into an increasing number of sects as its adherents search for their preferred method of worship.
When you hear the term “Judaism” by itself it always refers to one or all of the sects of Talmudic Judaism, not Karaite Judaism.
Conclusion
Talmudic Judaism is a false religion that distorts the teachings and Laws of YHWH into a works-based salvation grounded in the traditions of men. The Talmud and its authors approve of horrific abusive acts against children and toddlers. Jewish mysticism, which is deeply ingrained in modern Judaism, practices occult rituals forbidden by YHWH.
Judaism has been fragmenting into an increasing number of “movements” as the beliefs and theology of the religion scatter to the four winds of heaven.
Acts 26:13-18 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, 17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
It is our sincere prayer that the followers of Judaism come home to their Saviour, Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ).