Posted on 05/28/2014 12:29:03 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Over what?
“The Herods were practicing Jews”
Hahahaha.
Orthodox converts are Jewish, just as much as I am. Such is not the issue.
The Herods did not have a valid conversions, did not observe the Law, and were not Jews.
I never said they were good Jews, only that they and those around them considered them to be Jews.
Even Herod the Great apparently observed at least some of the Law, as Augustus famously observed by Greek pun that it was better to be Herod’s pig than his son, after one of the intrafamily Herodian bloodbaths.
I also believe some of the later Herods, notably Agrippa I, were considered Jews, and even good Jews, by even the strictest. Josephus and the Talmud certainly speak highly of them.
Arippa had a Jewish mother.
It is well-document that the first Herods had an invalid conversion, the second had no conversion at all, and both did nothing more than pretend to keep the law (note your comment about his keeping of pigs — not sure if that was literal, but I bet it was), and neither was born a Jew.
I think you are right about Guatamela, and there is a tendency to bloodshed which is roused for almost any reason - there also has been a wave of sadistic/sexual killings of women.
However, about this particular group - they themselves are evidently not normal people. If they were normal, they wouldn’t suddenly be relocating to a Mayan town in Central America.
Apparently, these are members of a group called Lev Tahor. Some say it is a cult, and also some even dispute if they are really Jewish. I don’t know - I had never heard of them until now. However, I quickly found out that they had been in the US, but moved on after trouble with the law, were in Israel, but moved on after disputes with the Rabbical authorities, were in Canada, but moved after disputes with the child welfare system. Hmmmm ....
Interesting- it’s a cult that seems to be a mixture of islam and Judaism?
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