Thread: Judaism

I've decided to talk about my religion for a little bit.
Yes, I am Jewish.

One thing that I've come to wonder about is why are Jews able to live practically anywhere, yet still retain their jewish identity? Jews have survived Hitler, the pogroms in Russia, the inquisiton, the crusades, general anti-semitism everywhere, and yet, people are as Jewish today as they were a thousand years ago.
Obviously certain things have changed, but the core of the Jewish identity hasn't.

Now why is that? Well, the answer is found in the Torah.
When God took us out of Mitzrayim, everyone knows that the Jews wandered around the desert for forty years on there way to the promised land. On the way, they stopped at Mount Siani, where God gave them the Torah. So while God physically freed the Jews from slavery in egypt, when the Jews were given the Torah, they were given the laws by which they were separated from everyone else. The Torah, is what makes a Jewish community, Jewish.
Israel, as it is written, is nothing more than a promised land, one that provides much to the Jews. However, the Jewish community does not revolve around it - the Jewish community revolves around the Torah, and by extension, the synogauge. Thus, even when the Jews went into a diaspora, whether by the Romans or the Babylonians, as long as the Jews took a Torah with them, they took a Jewish Community with them, and thus that is they ahve been able to survive - because a community is capable of surviving on its own, without any outside help.

So literally, the reason for the Jews persistence is found in the Torah. Take away Israel, and there will still be Jews. Take away the Torah, and there will not be Jews.

This stands in contrast, in my opinion, to other religions. Certain religions are intertwined with specific lands or institutions. For instance, Islam - Islam regards the western part of Saudi Arabia as holy land, because that is where it was established. However, if Mecca was to disapeer, an integral part of their faith would be gone; you cannot make a pilgrimmage to a place that does not exist. Another example is Roman Catholicism - if a church refuses to recognize the Pope as its ruler, then in a sense, they are not really Roman Catholics, even if they adhere 100% to its biblical doctrine.

No other religion has shown the capacity to exist all over the world in minority status, and do so without proselytizing or trying to convert other people to its faith. The closest thing that Jews do to proselytizing is that they try to get some Jews to become more Jewish - a very legitimate thing to do for any religion.

In sum:
Jews rule.

In sum: God is Santa Claus with a different name.

Thanks for sharing that, Bear.