Can a Jewish FReeper explain this in context? Just so we know how far out of whack BamBam took it.
only G-d decides who will live and who will die. We’re not partners in this. this is a very scary thing for obama to say...
mark
GOD decides. End of story. Jews are under the admonition that NO life is to be taken by human hands that might otherwise be saved. That includes abortion. Abortion is MURDER.
Note that Ariel Sharon is STILL on life support.
You pray for sinners. You pray for the sick. You ask the LORD’S intervention in their healing, but in the end, “O LORD, THY WILL BE DONE.”
There is only one divergence from this. A MURDERER who can not asked his victim for forgiveness is to be put to death.
The Book of Jubilees speaks of two heavenly tablets or books: a Book of Life for the righteous, and a Book of Death for those that walk in the paths of impurity and are written down on the heavenly tablets as adversaries (of God).
Also, according to ib. xxxvi. 10, one who contrives evil against his neighbor will be blotted out of the Book of Remembrance of men, and will not be written in the Book of Life, but in the Book of Perdition.
In Dan. vii. 10 and Enoch xlvii. 3 “the Ancient of days” is described as seated upon His throne of glory with “the Book” or “the Books of Life” (”of the Living”) opened before Him. So are, according to Enoch civ. 1, the righteous “written before the glory of the Great One,” and, according to Enoch cviii. 3, the transgressors “blotted out of the Book of Life and out of the books of the holy ones.” To this Book of Life reference is made also in Hermas (Vision i. 3; Mandate viii.; Similitude ii.); in Rev. iii. 5, xiii. 8, xvii. 8, xx. 12-15, where “two Books” are spoken of as being “opened before the throne, the Book of Life, and the Book of Death, in which latter the unrighteous are recorded together with their evil deeds, in order to be cast into the lake of fire.”
The Pharisaic school taught that on the first day of each year (Rosh ha-Shanah) GOD sits in judgment over His creatures and has the Books of Life and Death opened, together with the books containing the records of the righteous and the unrighteous. And out of the middle state of the future judgment, there arose the idea of a third class of men who are held in suspense.
I tried to make a start on this in the other thread
where this appalling non-quote appeared.
Can a Jewish FReeper explain this in context? Just so we know how far out of whack BamBam took it.
Very far out of whack. G-d the Almighty decides who will live or who will die. Obviously G-d does know who will be blessed in the next year already. But in the liturgy of both Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) and one week later Yom Kippur (the Jewish Day of Atonement), there are prayers in which we beg for forgiveness, promise to right our wrongs, all to G-D!!! (Not to Obama) There is the hope that through our penitence, our prayers, our restitutions, and our deeds of kindness, we might change the fate that awaits us, if it's not a good one.
There is NOTHING in Jewish liturgy in these sacred holidays OR in any other Jewish prayer saying that we are partners in choosing who lives or who dies. We have the choice to REPENT, to REDEEM our own lives, and to do good works.
However, there is in the Jewish religion the concept of G-d taking us as his partners to make the world a better place (Tikkun Olam) during our lives. We are supposed to use our lives for good, and to help make this place better. The Almighty taking us as partners in that endeavor is like us trusting our little tot to hand out cocktail napkins at a party. We are not REALLY anywhere near the equal of our Creator. But the way he holds his head does lead one to believe that Obama may feel he is on that level.