"Ask A Jew" Wednesday

[u/AutoModerator]

It's everyone's favorite day of the week, "Ask A (Anti-Zionist) Jew" Wednesday! Ask whatever you want to know, within the sub rules, notably that this is not a debate sub and do not import drama from other subreddits. That aside, have fun! We love to dialogue with our non-Jewish siblings.

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[u/verrma]

This is more of a religious question. I also recognize that it’s not limited to Judaism, but it also applies to Christianity, Islam, and the other Abrahamic faiths. So if any Christians, Muslims, etc. see this, feel free to answer this as well.

I also want to emphasize that I mean absolutely no disrespect, I just want to understand other people’s beliefs.

I know the God of Abraham is considered merciful. However, some things I had read about the Torah have me confused (I have only seen summaries of the books, so I recognize that I may be missing context). In particular, I’m confused about the Binding of Isaac and the whole situation with Pharaoh. God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son just to test his loyalty definitely rubbed me the wrong way. Also, I can accept that Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites and that he needed to be held accountable for it, but why did God harden Pharaoh’s heart further? It did lead to his downfall, but it made things worse for both the Israelites and the Egyptians, correct? And then there’s the 10 Plagues, and killing the firstborn sons of all Egyptian families. Was it really necessary to punish all of Egypt just because their ruler was evil?

Again, I don’t mean to be disrespectful. I’ve basically been agnostic my whole life, and I want to understand other people’s beliefs. If I got anything wrong, please let me know

[u/quartzysmoke → u/verrma]

These are great questions, and I’ve had many discussions about them with friends and family. I plan to look for some scholarly articles to share, but in the meantime, here are some perspectives I’ve heard from others and/or had myself:

• the Torah isn’t a history book, it contains stories from which we can draw wisdom

• we don’t have to agree with everything that the Torah says God did. It’s more important to explore what we can learn from it

• my mom hates the story of the binding of Isaac. It makes her so angry at Abraham and at God. She thinks they were both wrong. That has been the basis for enlightening conversations between us about faith, parenthood, childhood, trust, and more

• I think that the idea that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart teaches us that most/all behavior, however horrible, is influenced by context. People do evil things bc their hearts have been hardened, not spontaneously, but because of the actions of themselves and others

• I think the story of the ten plagues and the killing of the first born draws our attention to the horror of collective punishment. At the Passover Seder, we set aside ten drops of wine to symbolize that bloodshed, and I think we should take significant time at the Seder to talk about and reflect on it

[u/verrma → u/quartzysmoke]

This is very interesting. From my understanding, the Torah is supposed to be Moses describing what God told him, and also his life as a prophet. I imagine more orthodox people would treat the Torah as historical fact as they view it as the word of God, the creator of everything, while more secular folks would view the Torah as legends with important messages about life.

Also, I imagine that the more orthodox people would have the view that nothing God does is ever wrong, and that even if something he does seems to bring harm, it is because he sees it as necessary to bring greater justice to his creation. It’s certainly interesting to see different perspectives on these sort of things.

[u/Thisisme8719 → u/verrma]

the Torah is supposed to be Moses describing what God told him, and also his life as a prophet

That's just what Orthodox Jews and some Protestant fundamentalists believe. Most other Jewish and Christian denominations (including Catholicism) accept that it was written over centuries and redacted. That's nearly the consensus in the scholarship aside from some fundamentalists on the fringes, but they differ in which models they use

[u/quartzysmoke → u/verrma]

Yeah, my point of view has been shaped by growing up in a progressive synagogue. There are so many different analysis within and across the movements of Jewish thought, the Sefaria website has great commentaries from different sources as a starting point maybe