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Phew.... lot of eating, praying, diaper changing, shvitzing, napping....and post-sabbatical dishes. I even spent a good, long time cleaning (to the best of my ability and visible spectrum) any possible bugs off of my spinach—in the way of the ancients—with Veggie Wash.

So HiTech, it was a good catch on “pride.” Though on Friday afternoon I thought you were merely referring to my yes, blatant barb and assertion of the Sabbath being Saturday. Now from your subsequent posts I believe you feel all Jews have a pride in being antithetical to Christianity...if I’m right, then you’ll probably also end up being right...

I was momentarily upset about my humble world-dominating posting being invaded, but I’ve done the same to non-Jewish posts in the past, so no harm no foul. AND, good background on Christian beliefs on The Lords Day vs Christian pro-7th-day-Sabbath sects. Good to know.

But like Zionist Conspirator said, it is a stated (mission?**) of Judaism to enlighten the world to monotheism and our individual responsibilities toward G-d Almighty, 613 commandments and their off-shoots (as ordained by the written and oral Torahs given on Mt. Sinai,) and 7 commandments for non-Jews, full stop.

**Not just a mission, but one of the actual commandments—here is one of many, many sites codifying the commandments for which non-Jews (you! :) are responsible: http://templemountcenter.com/Rambam7Commandments.htm

But we are certainly at odds. We will never accept your beliefs or scripture subsequent to our canon and traditions—which are not mere ‘nice-to-do’s. Rather a Jewish tradition has the weight of the written law (as ordained in the written law itself, again, just for Jews, so don’t worry yourself about dancing around the lectern with a Torah scroll in you hands on the day after the ‘Festival of Tabernacles, though you will find no explicit reference to this in the entire Jewish canon—darn perplexing ain’t it!?)

And Jews see your messiah as a heretic and false prophet.

The very best we can hope for is to out-nice each other and show how wonderful the competing dogmas are. Let Moshiach sort it out.

I’m jumping around a bit...sorry.

Re: Chabad— the other posters are correct. We strive to bring Torah-Judaism to every Jew no matter where, and in this day and age, 100% made possible by America, to preach to non-Jews who would formally respond with violence. Preaching the 7 Commandments for non-Jews, mind you, not conversion to Judaism.

It really must drive non-Jews and not-yet-religious Jews batty, by the way. We have rules that guide our lives from morning til night. How we wash our hands, tie our shoes, eat our food, the exact words we say while praying (fear not, beatnik Jews—there is a time for freestyle...) And we doggedly claim it’s all directly from and exactly how G-d wants us to do it— yet you won’t find it in the Torah explicitly, not even in Hebrew! When the heck will we give it all up and see the light? Never, ever. It’s the best. You are right, in part, that G-d is a G-d of joy. (of course, as you implied, of many other things as well.) But we Jews have an actual explicit commandment to be happy! It’s the best I tell ya.

Brief story— two brothers and chassidic masters in their own rights, were in prison. :( One brother was sad. His brother asked him why and he said that because of the waste bucket the prisoners in the cell use, he could not say his prayers since he was in close vicinity to it. When his brother reminded him that to NOT pray when in its presence was ALSO a commandment, he became happy—because he was therefore still doing what G-d wanted of him— and they began to dance. When the guard asked one of the other prisoners why the Jews were so happy, he was told that it was something to do with the waste bucket. “I’ll show them....” said the guard, as he took the bucket away, doubling their joy.

The point is, we have many, many commandments that connect us to G-d. Even non-Jews do (their 7 have their own offshoots.) We would/will never give up the direct connection to the King, G-d forbid. We are chosen (who wouldn’t want to be....) and are G-d’s sons and servants, in that order. We disagree irreconcilably with you. And there’s not much we can do about it, ey?

SO, pride still probably not in check, I carry on, though maybe I’ll just PM my Jew buddies when I see Christian posts with which I disagree. Or maybe not.

And hey, those scriptures DO outline the way you ought to live. Christian theology is better planned than the caricatures made out of it by many Jews. Yes there are stumbling blocks in Christian theology for Jews, but there is no need to multiply the stumbling blocks beyond what they already are.

What the line of Pharisees that refused the Christ (some accepted — you are from the line that refused) got so hot and bothered over, is that this was God dressed in human skin telling them that a lot of their religious rules were nonscriptural and made up. He stole their show. Now when God wants to steal your show, that should be a pretty good clue that your show isn’t worth keeping.

I’ve followed Judaic thought enough to have a respect for where it is. If there was no Christ, that would be the best line available to mankind to take. However there is a Christ and I am personally in His supernatural sphere and can see the effects plainly in my life. Christ has reintegrated a shambles that was my life into a glorious whole that earnestly seeks God. The devil can’t do that.

Anyhow, Christianity teaches that the Old Testament was a training ground, and that its laws are tied to its covenant. But a new covenant came sealed by the sacrifice of the Christ. The way we learned to fundamentally live based on the Old Testament doesn’t change. But the worship framework does. It becomes much freer. Now anywhere you go you can pray. You can pray on the toilet or you can pray in a temple. I wouldn’t suggest purposing the toilet for serious devotions, but if the Lord puts something on your heart while there you can pray.

And, God bless you... but if you’ve acknowledged Holy Spirit then you already have gone on the road that explains the Christian trinity. I understand that in modern Jewish thought the Holy Spirit is an “attribute” of God. But that wasn’t an “attribute of God” talking to Moses out of that burning bush. That was a person, He conversed with Moses. Attributes don’t act like persons.

And, some earlier, pre-Christian rabbinical thought allowed for a divine son as well, based on scriptural hints that implied a person with divine attributes standing distinct from the Father. That thought was abandoned when Jesus of Nazareth presented himself and clashed with the establishment. The establishment was all that was left (the rest became Christians and peeled off).

What Christians say is, look at this Jesus. This is it! Doo wop! That’s the son! As much a person as that Holy Spirit who talked to Moses!