“Is this thread part of the Religion forum? Would any Christian care for a counter-point? I mean, I have the “traditional” post-Shabbos (Sabbath) dishes to wash, prayer shawl to fold up, and web sites to browse (as did the Pharisees,) but I could shed some light... Or I could butt out... whatever...
But I cannot resist my favorite Temple-period joke. Why were the Saducee unhappy sitting in the dark on the Sabbath, careful to kindle no fire in his tent... because he was very sad, you see.....”
The Kabbalah stuff would be the perfect example to prove the point of the thread against the traditions of men.
Wait....was that official permission or consensus-tested interest in a rebuttal?
Again I can’t resist... Fiddler on the Roof is a horribly misleading movie. Secularists call the commandments “tradition” and relish when it breaks down and the guy’s daughters all marry out of the faith (except one as I recall...but it was a long time ago.)
Even without Kabbalah, a commandment, “MITZVAH” in Hebrew, is given by the Commander in Chief. The very word MITZVAH means “connection.” The mitzvas are a connection to G-d Almighty. Immagine if a king (back in the day) pointed to a simple subject and said, “Hey, do this or that for me...” He would be delighted to be noticed. The Tevye quote almost had it right, we Jews do have discrete, objective commandments given by G-d at Mount Sinai for everything: how to sleep, how to eat, how to work, how to wear clothes... but there is incredible meaning and depth in the simplest act or utterance in our thrice-daily, scripted, never-to-be-changed liturgy.
We wouldn’t change it for the world.
I felt highlighting the real meaning of our “traditions.” I can’t address anything past Daniel though, my gentile friends. So take it for what it’s worth.
In the Jewish month of Elul...the month before Rosh Hashana (the Jewish ‘new year’ but more precisely the day Adam the first man was created, and ‘crowned’ G-d King) we wish each other to be inscribed and sealed for a good, sweet year. So may you all be.
(the gentile mitzvas: http://www.noahide.org/ :)
How many Pharisees does it take to screw in a light bulb?
20. One to screw it in and 19 to argue over the best way to screw it in.