Posted on 07/09/2009 7:01:40 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator
'Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. To the more thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance.' (From this week's Torah portion, Pinchas; Number 26: 53-54).
Property rights are a basic value in the Torah. Our Forefathers were all wealthy men. Jacob even endangers himself and re-crosses the Yabok stream to retrieve some small belongings. Our Sages teach us that righteous people hold their money as dear as their bodies. An entire Talmudic tractate deals with the minute details of a "strange" law that does not exist in any other legal system; the laws of returning lost property. While non-Jews may turn in items they have found to their local police station, they do it out of a healthy sense of ethicality - not because it is the law. For Jews, though, the connection between a person and his property is holy. Returning lost items rectifies the world and is a Torah obligation.
The Land of Israel is also considered the private property of the Children of Israel. It is divided equally on a sliding scale to every person aged 20 and up. That is the directive of the Creator of the world. Land is personal property. It is so linked to its owner that even if he loses it in a bad business deal, the land will be returned to him in the Jubilee year. Land and personal property are meant to help the Nation of Israel fulfill its lofty purpose. The Jew who uses his personal property according to the Torah's instructions, elevates the land and his belongings to a state of holiness. Even small items forgotten on the other side of the Yabok cliff are worth the effort and danger involved in retrieving them.
It is a pity that there are leaders in the faith based public who do not understand this fundamental principle. It is a pity that certain rabbis are captivated by populist socialist cliches that theorize that property and economic success necessarily testify to a low ethical standard.
"The Land of Israel belongs to G-d," a well-known spiritual leader explains, "and so we must oppose privatization of land." People speak in the name of Judaism while they actually promote state-supremacist, paternalistic values at the expense of personal liberty. It is a soft form of fascism - diametrically opposed to Jewish values. Afterwards, these same people cannot explain what the problem is with destroying settlements. After all, if the State built them, it can also destroy them.
The foundations of socialism can be found in Christianity; the Christian deity kicks over the table of the money changer near the Temple in Jerusalem. Communism is a distilled form of socialism. Without "God", Communism descends into the murderous atheism of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. Those who nullify the sanctity of property ultimately nullify the sanctity of life. Capitalism tempered by the Jewish cultural values of faith and loving kindness is the Jewish economic method.
We must be on guard to ensure that Netanyahu does not use his privatization plan to privatize national property to monopolies and to power/wealth clans in Israel. Manhigut Yehudit is currently preparing a legal proposal for the Knesset that will reserve plots of land for young couples who have completed their army and national service. The guiding principle is the Torah, "Unto these the land shall be divided."
Shabbat Shalom,
Moshe Feiglin
Who knew?
Jesus' wants everyone to prosper in a human and honest way. His "sin" was that he didn't like crooks who use the name of God to elevate their wealth by stealing.
Communists/marxists either want something for nothing or they want to control others by deception.
A rather stupid idea to inject into his commentary.
You know, I wasn't really being facetious.
J*sus has always been claimed by the socialists. As one who taught that obeying the letter of G-d's laws isn't as important as being "nice" one could make the case that he was the first Jewish liberal.
He never once said to let it all hang loose like a "liberal" would, he tries to explain why you shouldn't in a loving way.
Part of the message gets through sometimes and gets distorted...mostly by shameless power hungry men.
Communism follows no underlying religious ideology, and absent the hostility to religion can be adapted to most religious viewpoints. It’s a distraction from what is otherwise an interesting commentary. I think the idea of privatizing land an interesting one, particularly based on military service.
Deuteronomy 28 says nothing about "what's going to happen to you if you reject the messiah." It's all about "what's going to happen to you if you deviate from the Torah." And chr*stians have been trying to get Jews to deviate from the Torah for 2000 years.
Of course you can't get a chr*stian to even pretend to drop his preconceptions for three seconds to see this.
I'm glad you admit that Deuteronomy 28 says nothing about rejecting the messiah and everything about deviating from the commandments of the Torah. It saves me from having to cite Biblical quotations. But what makes you think that the prophet foretold in Deuteronomy 18 is J*sus? The only reason you believe this means J*sus is that you are already a chr*stian! It is impossible to prove that J*sus is the messiah. The Catholics engage in intellectual gymnastics to do so (and fail) while Protestants, more honest, merely quote the "new testament" in big colored letters (forgetting that before you can prove anything by the "new testament" you must first prove its validity, which can't be done). You know, if I were a mormon I suppose I could post quotations from the "book of mormon" in huge type and splashy colors but that wouldn't mean anything unless the person I'm arguing with already accepts the authority of the "book of mormon." Similarly the "new testament" only proves things to people who already believe in it. In other words, there is absolutely no way to prove J*sus is the messiah independently of chr*stian belief itself--unless you want to invoke your feelings.
It is indeed a mitzvah to hearken to a genuine prophet. It is also a mitzvah to refuse to listen to any "prophet" who tries to get people to believe in a higher revelation than the Torah of Moses or to deviate from it--as a matter of fact, it is a mitzvah to put that "prophet" to death. While we're at it, have you ever read Deuteronomy 13?
Which of the prophets was like Moses? Only one!
There will never be a prophet like Moses. Moses was the Ultimate Prophet, the "father of all wise men," both those who came before, and those who come after. Any "prophet" who claims to have a greater authority than Moses is worthy of death. Even the Messiah will not supersede or change the Torah of Moses. That is how you tell the real Messiah from a false one. You insist that the verse is a prophecy of J*sus only because you already believe in him. The verse itself no more objectively refers to J*sus than it does to Joseph Smith.
* Jesus brings us out of Egypt (slavery to sin) * Jesus takes us through the Red Sea (Baptism) * Jesus guides us through the wilderness of life and teaches us that "man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" * Jesus brings us to the promised land, yet he himself does not go in but lays down his life for "our" sin...
Again, this typology is a valid argument only if one already accepts chr*stianity. Otherwise it is merely an unproven subjective assertion.
“15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me;”
Wait, how can you read the above verse and say there will not be a prophet like Moses, when he said so himself? Aren’t you denying your own Torah by saying this? Irregardless of whether you believe that he was speaking about Jesus or not, he certainly was speaking about someone wasn’t he?
Jesus was the *Good Shepard* he also taught that the *LAW* without the greatest commandment of GOD which is *LOVE* is worthless....
Maybe GOD wanted MAN to endure LOVE for each other without having to command it in the *Torah* but on their own, but man could not do it...That scene is played out with the story of the *Good Samaritan* which shows a man of a different faith, race and culture coming to the aid of a Jew lying on the road when his *own* just stepped over him passing him by....
Jesus taught the Love the compassion the forgiveness for other’s when people thought just obeying GOD’s law (Torah) was *Good Enough*
It is not dis-obeying TORAH that will destroy MAN it is HATE
It is un-forgiveness, it is not having compassion for your fellow human beings...We can see that clearly being played out, as it has from the beginning in the Garden of Eden and the Fall of Man....This is what JESUS came to do....He came to instill the LOVE in the heart of human beings, that GOD is just not about OBEYING COMMANDMENTS he is about *Love*
And that we ALL FALL SHORT to GOD’s Glory....If any human being could stand before GOD with just his works and obeying of *Torah* a Infinite GOD IMHO doesn’t seem all that Powerful and Glorious.....
Anyways, that is my 2 cents...
:)
Many Atheists say to me something similar to what you just wrote..I understand that you mean well, but you understand that nothing you said actually proves the truth of chr*stianity, (*They replace christianity with GOD*) right?
I cannot prove what I actually believe, I don’t think GOD expects that of me...I just can show other’s by what I do, what I say and who I am as a Child of the Creator.
Lastly for me it is not *Religion* that makes me a better or happier person in this life, it is a relationship that I have with Jesus Christ....
One person said, to me when you pray to GOD how do you know what GOD you are praying to? I say the GOD that is the Father the Son the Holy Spirit.... One GOD that is personal in Jesus Christ that the HEAR-T HEARS with the power of the Holy Spirit...Is that a religion? more of a relationship I would say....
Many atheists I talk to have more trouble understanding and commenting on this kind of relationship with human beings and GOD, as they can only bash and hate Religion because they believe it is that which has caused all the problems in the world...
Do I know how I would prove G-d or the Torah to someone who denies them? No I do not. But chr*stians claim to believe the Torah is from G-d. I don't understand how anyone can believe G-d gave Israel the Torah and then claim that, without a bit of warning (and in fact contrary to everything the Torah says) He withdrew it a thousand years later and replaced it with something else. Now, if chr*stians (like moslems) didn't claim to acknowledge the Torah it wouldn't make any difference, but chr*stians claim that they do believe that G-d gave the Torah to Israel. Why doesn't the Torah make provision for a supersession of some kind? Why didn't G-d tell Israel "in a thousand years you'll be told to stop observing this Torah, and then you'd better stop or I'll be really angry with you"? Instead there's not only nothing of the kind, but warning after warning after warning never to deviate from the Torah. Perhaps chr*stians should rethink their "acknowledgment" of the Torah, since it simply does not allow for a later, newer, "truer" religion.
Again, I am sorry for your experiences at the hands of atheists and bigoted liberal Jews whose only belief is that chr*stianity is wrong. But that does not make chr*stianity right. And most certainly neither does the fact that it may make sense to you, or that it feels right for you, or any other such thing. The Torah, after all, forbade Israel (and through them, all mankind) from deviating from the G-d of Moses in order to follow one's eyes or even one's heart. With these two forces explicitly forbidden by the Word of G-d what happens to chr*stianity? For aren't the miracles worked by J*sus (following the eyes) or the feeling of peace in the heart the things so many chr*stians use to justify abandoning a Torah that doesn't seem to allow for it?
As I said, perhaps chr*stians should stop acknowledging the Torah. Or, if they acknowledge the Torah as the Word of G-d, rethink their chr*stianity.
I do not post these things to torment you or hurt you in the least, and I am sorry if I have done so. But you simply must have a reason beyond your own feelings and your own experience for declaring that G-d withdrew a Torah that says nothing about its ever being withdrawn at any time in the future.
Actually ZC..I often wonder if Jesus Christ never came on scene, how the world today would look?
Would the Jewish people have been successful in spreading Monotheism to the entire planet? would people of different lands embrace Judaism? people are very complex creatures and very arrogrant with pride, I think that is what creates the road to SIN, the one that Satan was the first to experience......What I know from most people I have met along the way, is that people don’t have time for GOD and most don’t want him, which I think is saddest most of all....
It’s like GOD sent out millions of invitations to people inviting them into his Kingdom and most people RSVP’s
were *Sorry I can’t make it*
Jesus humanized GOD in a way that made him available to people that would of more than likely rejected him, he provided a way that GOD above could reconcile the majority of human beings who wanted no part of the GOD the Jews were worshipping...
GOD wasn’t looking for a Small Group of People to enter his Infinite Kingdom he wanted everyone...So in my belief as Jesus Christ being the Messiah for all mankind,I think the GOD of the universe, who is much smarter than anyone I know
provided a way for people that rejected his invitation in the first place to enter his infinite realm of perfection..
Now that is LOVE far beyond what human beings are capable doing or understanding.....
Since I do post on another site with many Atheists that congregate there, I know it is the strength of the Holy Spirit that enables me to take the criticism, scoffing and mocking from un-believers and the encouragement I recieve from other believers that say I help them with courage to stand up for GOD in a world is hostile to him, I know that it is the DIVINE that works through me.....And that s enough to sho me, that my faith does sustain me...
:)Tara....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.