I don’t know if you guys ever read Pilgrim’s Progress as part of your schooling, but as someone who is homeschooled, it was part of my curriculum. At the time, I didn’t really know much about it other than it was considered a classic and was supposed to be an allegory for Christianity. Thus, I read the book and the additional notes that came with it and honestly, I wasn’t that impressed.
#1: Creativity
Allegory wise, there’s not a whole ton of creativity. The characters are either flat or static with the only semi-round one being Christian (heh-heh, get it? His name is Christian because he’s a Christian. Hilarious!) and there names usually are very on point with their personalities, which I’ll get to in a second.
However, as far worldbuilding goes, there’s some creativity. While – once again – the names of the places make it pretty obvious as to what’s happening and where the people are, their descriptions are pretty interesting and do serve as pretty good allegories for places that believers end up in. An example of this is The Slough of Despond, which is representative of the guilt of sin that you have to wade through to understand why you need to be saved. Paul Bunyan (the author of Pilgrim’s Progress), also shows in this scene how reaching this point can go two different ways, with it either leading to your repentance and eventual relationship with Christ, or it can lead to you backing away from Christ because you don’t want to deal with the fact that you suck.
Another example of good worldbuilding to serve an allegory is Vanity Fair, which is representative of this world and its tempations that Christians have to struggle through for the sake of following Christ. The entire scene where Christian is going through Vanity Fair is actually pretty fun to read about and you can see how Pilgrim’s Progress, though written in 1678, is still relevant today, with Christian and friends meeting false teachers, annoying salesmen, and eventually being mocked and chased out of Vanity Fair for their beliefs.
#2: Very Obvious Allegory
Though the worldbuilding in Pilgrim’s Progress is pretty good and might as well be a DND dungeon campaign with how many boss fights the characters end up having, the entire story is allegory after allegory that seems to almost be punching you in the face with how obvious it is. Christian’s a Christian (duh) who came out of the City of Destuction to get to the Celestial City (Heaven) and must go through a ton of other places where it’s very obvious what they represent when given Biblical and general context about the book. The people are also all named after what could basically be summarized as their personalities. Helpful is named Helpful because he’s helpful, Pliable is named Pliable because he is easily persuaded, etc. Throughout the book, I felt that it was just very ham-fisted and took away from some of the story.
Conclusion
Ultimately, though I am not a huge fan of the allegorical part of Pilgrim’s Progress, I still think that it was an okay story and is pretty readable. It still is relevant to this day and if I had to, I would recommend that people read it on the basis that it is a classic and you could learn a bit about how to worldbuild from it.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
More revisionist history. Easter has a long bloody history of blood libels followed up with murderous pogroms throughout European history. Every Easter the “homo fags” hiding in Xtian closets, rattle their bones.
The Fundamental Difference between Jews from Goyim. Condensed to a few pages of reading. Goyim take immediate “offense” when Jews points out their total and complete ignorance of the Hebrew T’NaCH. That’s their problem, and thankfully not mine.
The power of the kabbala taught by Rabbi Akiva to raise rabbinic mitzvot unto mitzvot from the Torah. For Jews the zenith of our spiritual experience in life – the revelation of the Torah at Sinai. Goyim never accepted the revelation of the Torah at Sinai.
Therefore, Goyim love to believe in fanciful mythologies and their revisionist history calls these mythical belief systems – a real life experience. For a Jew to make “Aliyah” of rabbinic halachot unto Sinai Torah commandments – herein defines the vision: that all Jews in all generations stand and accept the revelation of the Torah at Sinai.
Orthodox Judaism FAQ • Answers to frequently asked questions on Judaism
To keep shabbat requires knowledge how to distinguish shabbat from the weekday. This discernment of languages employed within the Hebrew T’NaCH qualifies as making “the” most essential “הבדלה”. Torah faith which bases itself through the expression of common law, absolutely requires – as the most basic requirement of understanding Oral Torah logic – the skills required to make logical inferenced reasoning.
For example: the Torah commandment – not to work. Biblical translations, they hide a multitude of sins. The word “work” expressed as מלאכה: skilled labor. While עבודה: unskilled labor – also subsumed under the word translation: Work. Every Goyim Bible translation of the Hebrew T’NaCH makes this most basic and fundamental perversions of the original texts in Hebrew and in Aramaic – like the example of the Book of Daniel. Daniel a mystic and not a prophet. Ooops
The bible translations “broad brush” of “work” conceals this subtle דיוק/inference logical distinction. The Talmud studies how different languages say the same thing, by means of making דיוק/inference logical distinctions. Examine the Targum Onkelos and witness a masterpiece by which a scholar makes a near Hebrew/Aramaic 1:1 translation.
The study of this Targum assists all generations of “down- stream” pupils to learn the Aramaic employed by the Talmud Bavli. Gemarah-Aramaic repeatedly employs the clause: “מאי נפקא מינא”, which asks the question: “What’s the differerence”?
The study of the Torah commandments, all 613 Torah commandments, most essentially requires asking this מאי נפקא מינא question, which possesses the power to transforms positive & negative commandments – which do not require k’vanna; to tohor time oriented commandments, which do require k’vanna. Herein a concise definition of Oral Torah logic as expressed through Talmudic common law.
Why do Jews not believe in JeZeus? Any belief in a myth as in- fact historical and real life; such false prophet, false messiah, Xtian theology does not understand tohor time-oriented commandments. This type of Torah commandment the New Testament remains totally oblivious to its Top Priority which defines Jewish spirituality.
A failure of Torah understanding, which compares to check-mate in chess. Gehinnom, a mussar message within the pages of the Talmud? Xtian avoda zarah, mythical revisionist history, perverts Talmudic mussar, into a bi-polar dynastic dispute which pits Heaven and Hell, God vs. Satan. Jews absolutely reject Xtian preachers Fire and Brimstone sermuns. Xtianity exists for us as but just another example of false revisionist history. For 2000+ years the Jewish people have abhorred and decried belief in the JeZeus myth, as a false messiah-avoda zarah.
And for 2000+ years Goyim have both ignored and despised the Jewish rejection of their theological belief systems. They abhor the Talmud because this body of Jewish legal common law scholarship, which seeks to make an Aliyah of rabbinic mitzvot, and make them on par with the Sinai revelation, as the Oral Torah definition of Jewish spirituality.
Goyim resent that Jews refer to their attempts at theological revisionist history as bull shit. It truly offends Goyim, that Jews call what Goyim heart-feel-believe, as jibberish nonsense on par with the ancient generations of the past who whole-heartedly worshipped graven idols, which they crafted with their own hands as their personal Gods.
The idea that Jews fundamentally reject all the theologies creeds and dogmas of the church, as no different than crafting a piece of wood into a God and placing that revisionist history of a God upon a pedestal to worship; herein explains the basis why Goyim often turn into a horde of locust Haman Amelekite antisemites.
New Testament theology amounts to revisionist history. The church abomination must have a physical JeZeus. Despite the explicit Torah statements: God is not a man that he should not lie. Furthermore, T’nach does not teach history, despite the quisling assimilated historical/conservative Judaism narishkeit which prioritizes the subject of history over prophetic mussar.
The T’NaCH defines prophesy: as a tohor person who commands mussar. This prophetic mussar – applicable to all generations of Israel. But Prophetic mussar only impacts the lives of Jews who live inside the oath sworn lands. G’lut Jews, they lack the wisdom to observe doing mitzvot לשמה.
Hence the T’NaCH and Talmud for g’lut Jewry, a closed-sealed Book. Jews living in g’lut lands struggle with assimilation. Many of these Jews convert and embrace the revisionist history theologies which pervert myths into actual historical events and whole heartedly likewise believe in JeZeus as God, and Muhammad as the prophet of Allah. And similar tumah avoda zarah.
Goyim spirituality too seeks to elevate their theological Creeds unto the holiness of God. The Nicene Creed and Muslim belief that if a Man believes in Allah and Muhammad as the prophet of Allah, that this belief converts that Man to becoming a Muslim. Two attempts made by Goyim avoda zarah theology to duplicate the spiritual vision of rabbi Akiva’s פרדס kabbalah of the Oral Torah revelation at Horev – following the tumah avoda zarah of the Golden Calf.
Goyim theology, oblivious to the fact – that any translation of the Name revealed in the 1st Sinai commandment, (The Greatest commandment in the whole of the Sinai, uniquely Jewish spiritual experience.), perverts שמור מצוות לשמה to belief in Torah commandments לא לשמה. This perversion of the רוח הקודש שם השם לשמה to common words which the lips can easily frame and pronounce – herein defines the k’vanna of the Golden Calf which defines avoda zarah throughout the generations.
Witchcraft, by stark contrast, compares to a tumah – false prophet – it by definition attempts to predict the future. This New Testament revisionist history, it totally ignores the chief defining concept of “avodat HaShem”; the Torah restriction placed upon the House of Aaron ((The oath alliance sworn at Sh’Cem – the k’vanna of the Rabbeinu Tam tefillen.)), to only dedicate an oath/sacrifice while breathing tohor spirits; the critical subject of tohor vs. tumah spirits: like the Sinai experience – which only the Jewish People accept to this day – the New Testament revisionist history totally ignores.
Hence the New Testament (Roman counterfeit) declares that JeZeus fulfilled the words of the prophets. Proof that the New Testament promotes false prophet theologies. False prophet theologies defined as a predetermined creed/dogma which dictates what and how people should believe in God as an act of faith.
The Torah defines the tohor concept of faith as: Justice, Justice pursue.
Based upon the cruel corrupt and oppressive Courts of king Par’o, who withheld straw to Israelite slaves and who thereafter ordered the overseers to beat without mercy Israelites for our failure to meet our quota of bricks, as imposed upon us by king Par’o.
Through a treacherous act of deception, Par’o tricked Israel unto slavery. Par’o pretended that Egypt faced a crisis of bricks. Israelites volunteered to make bricks for Par’o. Par’o supplied these Hebrews with the straw we required to meet Egypt’s needs for bricks. The tale of bricks produced under voluntary conditions, thereafter became the quota of bricks imposed upon Jewish slaves. Hence the Torah writes: Par’o did not know Yosef.
Yitro likewise commanded a strong mussar to Moshe. When he witnessed that Moshe judged all Israel disputes by himself alone. Justice defined, based primarily from Yitro’s mussar rebuke to Moshe, as the power of common law courtrooms to make fair restitution of damages inflicted upon Jews by other Jews.
Muhammad pulled a similar rabbit out of his tumah magic-hat as did the New Testament. The Koran rhetoric repeats prophet, prophet, prophet Ad infinitum, yet never defines – from the Torah – the term prophet. The Gospels avoda zarah duplicates this same tumah Abracadabra, with the ((to quote Baba Kama: “Mountain hanging by a hair”)), the Pie in the Sky Xtian term of: Love.
T’NaCH prophets command mussar. Why? Because mussar applies straight across the board to all generations of bnai brit Israel. Bnai brit Israel grows the תוכחה\mussar prophetic rebuke within our hearts.
We grow and nurture this prophetic mussar within us. And these “tohor spirits” (based upon the revelation of the שם השם לשמה), they live within our hearts. Prophetic mussar causes bnai brit Israel to dedicate defined tohor middot (‘ה’ ה’ אל רחום וחנון וכו, also known as the Oral Torah revelation at Horev), in all our future social interactions with our family, neighbours & people.
Hence the mussar spirituality known as: the baali t’shuva. Mesechta Sanhedrin of the Talmud learns the mitzva of Moshiach emphatically tied to the mitzva of baali t’shuva. Based upon the prophetic mussar of Moshe and the burning bush confrontation.
Wherein Moshe vocally opposed to go down unto Egypt to bring Israel out from judicial oppression slavery. Yet Moshe, as a baali t’shuva, descended unto Egypt and brought Israel unto freedom. Moshe serves as the Torah mussar model for the tohor time- oriented mitzva of Moshiach. Furthermore, Moshe did not build a Catholic assimilated Cathedral as did king Shlomo. King Shlomo worshipped avoda zarah. A significant מאי נפקא מינא distinction between the mussar of Moshe from the avoda zarah of king Shlomo son of David.
Moshe struggled to build the small sanhedrin Federal courts on the far side of the Jordan river. When king David, ((based upon the mussar commanded by the prophet Natan)), commanded his son Shlomo to build the Beit HaMikdash, he had no such k’vanna for king Shlomo to assimilate and copy the customs manners and ways of the Goyim.
Goyim who reject the revelation of the Torah at Sinai, and who build Cathedral Temples throughout the annuls of their Human History. The mussar k’vanna of the Moshiach, to build the Beis HaMikdash, learns from Moshe Rabbeinu who established the small Sanhedrin Federal Courtrooms in 3 of the Cities of Refuge on the other side of the Jordan river. And this mussar k’vanna does not learn from the avoda zarah of king Shlomo son of David who built the First Jewish assimilation to Goyim cultures and custom: the Temple.
The mussar mitzva of Moshiach constitutes as a tohor time oriented commandment; applicable to all generations of the Jewish people, just like tefillah stands in the stead of korbanot. All mussar tohor time oriented commandments, applicable to all the Jewish people throughout time. All tohor time oriented commandments stand upon the foundation\יסוד of “fear of Heaven”. Hence the Oral Torah common law as codified in the NaCH, it to makes an aliyah of prophetic mussar unto Torah Sinai commandments. Jewish spirituality spin around the axis of the revelation of the Torah at Sinai. Just that simple.
This mussar foundation: definitively expressed through the Torah commandment – judicial justice pursue. This prophetic mussar requires that a baali t’shuva dedicates a tohor middah לשמה. Which tohor middah does the mussar mitzva of Moshiach require, as its holy defining dedication לשם השם לשמה? The mussar middah dedication, to restore the lateral Sanhedrin Federal common law courts across the Torah Constitutional Republic, based upon the mussar which Yitro commanded Moshe.
Not ‘religious fetishization’, of how the Sages of the Talmud interpreted judicial common law? A question which requires an answer: מאי נפקא מינא between Statute Law from Common Law? Among the Jewish people, the T’NaCH Talmud, exerts a strong cultural masoret, practiced among and between Jews. Assimilated Jews refuse to address the fundamental distinction which separates Common Law from Statute Law. Unto this very day, the Yeshiva education institutions fail to ask the essential מאי נפקא מינא question which separates משנה תורה common law from assimilated Roman statute law.
Roman Statute Law, according to the Talmud, qualifies as assimilated avoda zarah. Kapo Jews: too, an example of avodah zarah. Why? Because they “convert” to cultures and customs practiced by the dominant Goyim majority. Therefore, how does the logic format in Jewish common-law differ from the logic schematics which defines and separates Roman statute-law, from Jewish common-law? מאי נפקא מינא?
Many Traditional Jews chose to follow the path defined as: ritual religiousism. Such ritual religiousism Jews, they tend to view: Jews who follow the path of Talmudic common law – which requires פרדס logic – ((a very tiny minority know anything about Talmudic common law today.)) Does this tiny minority qualify as a small ‘tiny voice’, a Bat Kol, from Heaven? No, not in the least. Torah prophetic mussar breathes within our hearts, in all times and generations.
Muhammad, by stark contrast, declared that an Angel dictated the Koran. He knew nothing about prophetic mussar like and similarly comparable to his ignorance between tohor vs. tumah spirits. Angels according to this bi-polar perverse theology come from a bi-polor Heaven/Hell theological paradigm. Giving proper Names to Angelic beings, a post Babylonian g’lut assimilated trauma.
The sages of the Talmud emphatically rejected this theological premise, which Arab theologian/philosophers stood upon Aristotelian logic. Torah comes from the Earth and not the Heavens. פרדס mussar logic distinct and apart from ancient Greek logic philosophical formats. Track-n’-field sports by comparison, involves many completely different Sports skills. Long distance runners require completely different skill sets from the one, to the other Track-n’-field sports combats.
Torah learns from the Earth, and NOT the Heavens. Torah commands Mussar NOT History. A distinction of Depth that Goyim remain blind thereto. The theology of Historical/Conservative Judaism confuses History with Mussar. The Talmud often teaches: How to logically think. RATHER than what to logically think. Mussar requires the wisdom knowledge how to logically think. Church theological dogmatism-creeds: command what a person believes as true. A huge: מאי נפקא מינא.
T’NaCH/Talmud common law (also known as משנה תורה) usually, or at least frequently, learns by comparing similar cases – the one compared to the other. The study of literature refers to this as the discipline of: “Compare & Contrast”. This type of comparative competitive logic, completely different from the Ancient Greek mathematical syllogism deductive logic (If the premise wrong, then the conclusion reached – likewise wrong.).
Inductive reasoning totally distinct and different from deductive reasoning. Ancient Greek deductive logic completely and totally different from Rabbi Akiva’s פרדס logic inductive reasoning, which makes comparisons of Case/Rule precedents to similar judicial Case/Rule rulings of law. The difference between the skill set of marathon runners, from athletes who specialize in running the mile in under 4 minutes; contrasts Oral Torah common law to Roman statute law avoda zarah.
The Torah mussar k’vanna learned to the mitzva of lighting the lights of Hannukka. To learn Torah using the פרדס logic system. Which by definition totally rejects the ancient Greek philosophical schools, despite their worthy accomplishments; which perhaps achieved the ultimate elevation of thought. Nonetheless two totally diffierent logic formats which frame thought. The revelation of the Oral Torah, with its 13 tohor סודות middot, defines Jewish spirituality. The concept within the Talmud of רוח הקודש, means blowing the שם השם לשמה, like the case of blowing the Shofar. 3 + 13 + 3 ((the order of the Shemone Esrei blessings)) tekea tr’uah, shvarim ———-———- קום ועושה/ שב ולא תעשה\ טהור זימן גרמא מצוות.
Mesechta קידושין teaches that tohor time oriented commandments, as applicable to women, qualifies as a רשות option. This concept of רשות, it most essentially defines the k’vanna of all tahar time-oriented commandments, as they apply not just to women but to Goyim as well. If a women chooses to place tefillen or read from a Sefer Torah, these tahar time-oriented commandments come within the רשות of her Will to sanctify the Torah. The NaCH kabbalah בנין אב (which means: precedents) for this Talmudic ruling, the story of D’vora & Barack fighting together to defeat the Army of Sisera.
Another example which explains “all” tahar time-oriented Torah mussar commandments, which “all” deal with some crisis – life or death – situation(s): the reading of the Megillah of Esther: The fast made by Queen Hadassah. Where she made the רשות choice to approach the king and plead for mercy for the Jewish people, at the threat to her life; to thwart the efforts of Haman and his attempt of the war-crime genocide.
Purim and Pesach share a “כרת-like” common denominator. Purim links to learning avoda zarah: which prohibits assimilation and intermarriage with Goyim. While Pesach links to learning the removal of chametz which teaches the essential נמשל, the removal of avoda zarah from within our hearts, in order to accept the Torah without any av tumah avoda zarah – in our midst.
Counting the Omer, yet another prime example of the exact same tahar time-oriented commandment. The 42 letter Divine Name, known as אנא בכח, carries the mussar k’vanna dedication to remove the Av tumah avoda zarah from within the bnai brit hearts; who thereafter reading a listing of korbanot within the opening pages of the Siddur, dedicate a tefillah oath known as Shemone Esrei.
Tahar time-oriented commandments require k’vanna. K’vanna makes a mussar Order of priorities. Removal of avoda zarah most essentially obligates Jews not to assimilate and embrace the cultures, traditions, and mannerism practices by any particular person or people who reject the revelation of the Torah at Sinai. Herein defines the Torah tumah commandment against “assimilation”. The New Testament myth revisionist history knows nothing of prophetic mussar which defines the revelation of the Oral Torah at Horev.
Removal of avoda zarah obligates Jews not to intermarry with Goyim, who never accepted the revelation of the Torah mussar at Sinai. Both Xtianity & Islam promote belief in some Universal Monotheistic God. Both Unitarianism type religions of avoda zarah, promote assimilation and intermarriage with Goyim who do not accept the revelation of Torah mussar at Sinai.
Tahar time-oriented commandments require k’vanna. A fundamental example: the תפילת ערבית says קדיש before davening tefillah whereas תפילת שחרית adjoins the 3rd rabbinnic blessing סמוך to תפילת שחרית. The קדיש prayer establishes a mussar Order of k’vanna.
According to how Rabbeinu Tam learns the Av Mishna of ברכות, a person should place tefillen when accepting the yoke of the kingdom of heaven in תפילת ערבית. Whereas Rashi learns this Av Mishna which links the time when Cohonim can eat their t’ruma, to after 3 stars appear in the Heavens. מאי נפקא מינא?
The קדיש which separates the 2 + 2 blessings which surround the kre’a shma ערבית, that קדיש establishes a partition which separates, through mussar k’vanna, the kre’a shma ערבית and attaches that tefillah of kre’a shma, to the מנחה shemone esrei, which – like tefillah ערבית employs a קדיש which separates אשרי יושבי ביתך וכו from אדני, שפתי תפתח. The Order of קדיש links tefillah ק”ש ערבית to the tefillah shemone esrei of מנחה. A powerful mussar k’vanna of tefillat ערבית as a רשות מצוה.
Because 3 Stars have yet to appear in the heavens (the sh’itta of Rashi on the Gemara of ברכות), that Shemone Esrei davened while yet shines the Sun of day. Therefore, the k’vanna of the tahar time-oriented commandment of tefillah, known as ערבית: רשות to attach that kre’a shma tefillah דאורייתא to the מנחה Shemone Esrei דרבנן. And likewise attach the Shemone Esrei ערבית to the קריאת שמע שעל המטה. This kre’a shma unlike the davening of the other two kre’a shmas: said without tefillen because clearly 3 stars visible at that time. An interesting מאי נפקא מינא.
The oath sworn alliance, known as “Brit”, (like as found in בראשית\ברית אש, ראש בית, ב’ ראשית, yet incorrectly translated as “covenant”.), this key Torah term, “Brit”, means “alliance” and also “Republic”. The 12 Tribes forged this oath brit alliance which established the First Commonwealth of the Torah Constitutional Republic of the 12 Tribes. Based upon the Torah precedent, (known in Hebrew as בנין אב) upon Moshe anointing Aaron and his House as Moshiach.
This key Torah term, does not correctly translate into “Covenant” because the latter does not fundamentally require swearing an oath שם ומלכות. Tehillem prayers lack שם ומלכות; this type of spiritual praise does not compare to swearing a Torah oath brit alliances by means of שם ומלכות.
Aaron, the anointed Moshiach, dedicates korbanot. A korban sacrifice does not at all represent a ‘Barbeque unto Heaven’.
To dedicate a korban absolutely requires swearing a Torah oath. Just as to cut a brit לשם השם לשמה requires swearing a Torah oath. Just as the Shemone Esrei standing tefillah requires the k’vanna to swear a Torah oath, through the dedication of one or more defined tohor middot.
Blessings contain שם ומלכות. The שם ומלכות precondition, required to swear a Torah oath. The first verse of the ק”ש, contains 3 Divine Names together, a סוד mussar kabbalah to the 3 oaths sworn by the Avot, wherein they each cut a Torah oath brit with HaShem לשמה. Striking! The ק”ש lacks שם ומלכות! The mussar k’vanna of ק”ש, teaches that the translation of מלכות to king – just wrong. On the inept order of “covenant”. The term מלכות refers to the tohor 13 Oral Torah middot.
The tahar time-oriented mitzva of Moshiach, a mitzva applicable to all generations of Israel. ((מאי נפקא מינא between tohor and tahar? Tohor applies to males while tahar as a רשות, applies to females.)) Just as tefillah and the mitzva of shabbat, and all other Tahar time-oriented commandments, applicable to all generations of Israel. Swearing a false oath or public profanation of Shabbat, both carry the din of – כרת. The din of כרת – a life or death crisis of faith. For example: If a רשע refuses to give his ex-wife her ‘get’. A beit din can make a נידוי decree of כרת, and there-after issue a ‘get’ and free that woman, based upon the precedent of prosbul; permitting her to do the tahar time-oriented commandment of קידושין.
The revisionist history of Xtian avoda zarah lacks the wisdom to discern between T’NaCH/Talmudic mussar common law from Roman statute law. This Av tumah avoda zarah has witnessed: oppression and cruelty, that far surpasses the evil ways of Par’o and the Egyptians. This false prophet, false messiah – based religion – proves the Gospel declaration of: “By their fruits you shall know them.”
The church stands guilty of the Shoah blood of Caine: Inquisition mass public torture, 3 Century ghetto war crimes, annual blood libel slanders, mass expulsion of Jewish refugee populations from virtually every European country etc etc etc.
This Av tumah avoda zarah condemned by the נידוי כרת decree, as expressed through the k’vanna of the 9th middle blessing, within the Shemone Esrei oath blessing. Swearing a Torah oath through the mussar mitzva דרבנן of Shemone Esrei, raises this tefilla to a tahar time-oriented oath commandments דאורייתא. At Sinai Israel denounced and rejected avoda zarah.
Tahar time-oriented mussar mitzvot can include all the halachot contained within the mitzvot, posok halacha, within the Talmud. The Oral Torah פרדס logic kabbalah of rabbi Akiva has the power to elevate rabbinic mussar mitzvot, to mitzvot from the Torah at the revelation at Sinai. Hence all tahar mussar time-oriented commandments require the Oral Torah k’vanna learned through the פרדס logic kabbalah taught by rabbi Akiva.
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The first thing I would like to say to this is that you are attacking the wrong person. I don’t know how many blog posts you’ve seen of mine, but I am actually a huge supporter of the Jews and Israel though I do not profess the Jewish faith.
(You can read my blogs defending Israel’s sovereignty here: https://tanukicorner.com/2023/10/10/blog-news-israel-belongs-to-the-jews-you-deserve-to-rot-in-the-worst-fires-of-hell-if-you-support-hammas/
https://tanukicorner.com/2023/11/08/blog-news-rick-riordan-needs-to-keep-his-mouth-shut-about-things-he-doesnt-understand/ )
Secondly, I would like to point out that Christians do actually recognize the revelation of the Torah at Sinai. While we don’t center our faith around it, Christians believe that Moses was the person that would be a predecessor to Jesus in terms of a metaphor. While Moses came to free Israel from slavery in Egypt , Jesus would come to free all people – the Jews first and the Gentiles later – from the bondage of sin which leads to the wrath of God (hence the need to sacrifice a perfect lamb). Additionally, Christians believe that the Law was given to the Jews (and later was spread to the Gentiles) to show our need for a perfect savior because we cannot totally fulfill every commandment given to us. Christians believe that it is not through works that we are saved (since we have proven time and time again that our works are inadequate to please God), but rather through faith in Christ, God who came as a mortal man to die as propitiation for our sins, that we are saved. This is explained much more in depth by Paul in the book of Romans, especially in chapter 9 if you care to read more into this.
Thirdly, there is plenty of archeological and historical evidence for the existence of Christ. To name some of the proofs for Christianity, consider that christ wasn’t just spoken about by his disciples, but was also spoken about by people of other faiths, most notably the Jewish historian Josephus. Another bit of evidence for Jesus’ existence is the fact that 11 of his closest disciples were killed in horrible ways for professing their faith in Christ and one was exiled to an island in the middle of the Mediterranean where he too died. If they were lying and trying to cover up for a madman saying he’s the Son of God, they surely would’ve cracked under the threat of death. After all, there were twelve people involved in the water gate scandal and when threatened with imprisonment, they started dropping like flies. Christ’s disciples would have had to have been truly convinced of his life, death, and resurrection to have continued professing him as Lord. A good resource for more arguments explaining Christ’s existence would be The Case for Christ by Lee strobel. While you could argue that Muslims are also very convinced of their religion to the point of dying for it, let me just say that there is more proof for the faith of the disciples then there is for the Muslims. Once again, I would encourage you to look into some of the archeological and historical evidence for Christianity and then look at some of the evidence for Islam and compare the two.
Fourth, Christianity is a fundamentally Jewish religion. Christians believe that Christ was Jewish and many of our beliefs stem from Jewish traditions. Heck, many of the early Christians were Jewish. And while yes, Christians have committed many crimes against the Jews over the centuries, I would like to point out that 1). Not all Christians are anti-Semites, 2). The vast majority of those that did commit war crimes against the Jews weren’t Christian or, at least, shouldn’t be considered Christian and 3). Times have changed. While there are some people out there who claim to be Christians and act anti-Semitic, we are not as the Catholic Church was 600 years ago and there is also the vast majority of Christians that stand with the Jews and Israel who recognize how important your people group is and await the return of the Messiah.
I hope this response was insightful and thought-provoking. I am happy to hear other opinions on this blog.
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Cool. There’s so much anti-Israel war propaganda flying these days.
[[[I would like to point out that Christians do actually recognize the revelation of the Torah at Sinai.]]] The Xtian bible translations all duplicate the sin of the golden calf. They translate the Spirit Name of the 1st Sinai commandment to words: Lord or Allah or YHWH or Jehovah etc etc etc. Herein defines the worship of the golden calf throughout the generations.
The New Testament fails to learn the Torah commandment for Moshiach. Had it based itself upon Torah common law it would have known that any Torah commandment, for instance the Torah commandment of Moshiach, must learn from the Torah and not the NaCH prophets. This fundamental error of the New Testament authors exposes a fundamental flaw in those much later texts.
[[[Christians believe that the Law was given to the Jews]]] Torah common law has nothing to do with belief systems/theologies/Creeds or dogma. The latter defines Xtian theology not Jewish common law.
The statement “LAW” requires a qualifying particular lacking in the New Testament. The fundamental difference between common law from statute law. The church has never in 2000+ years addressed this most basic of fundamentals. My Rav taught me that if the foundation of a building cracked, that the whole structure must come down. Xtianity never addressed T’NaCH and Talmudic common law judicial models. Statute law comes from governments rather than court rooms.
[[[(since we have proven time and time again that our works are inadequate to please God)]]] This Pauline theological construct has no portion with Torah common law. The latter bases itself upon the judicial oppression by which the Court of Par’o withheld the necessary straw to make brick and order the beating of Israelite slaves for their failure to make bricks. Something like withhold flour require to bake a cake!
The Torah defines faith NOT as belief in any God. BUT the pursuit of fair judicial justice. Based upon the rebuke made by Yitro to Moshe when he witnessed that Moshe judge the judicial conflicts among the nation all by himself alone.
[[[most notably the Jewish historian Josephus.]]]
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/eusebiuss-quest-for-the-historical-jesus/
Many scholar argue that Eusebius added the remarks about Jesus in the Josephus history. The church controlled all text manuscripts. For example the ancient writings of the Greek philosophers hidden from 450 to 900 – the Dark Ages.
[[[archaeological and historical evidence for the existence of Christ]]] Sorry, not enough physical evidence to even write a decent obituary for this imaginary Harry Potter myth. Herein defines the revisionist history of the Xtian church for thousands of years.
How do Jews view the letters of Paul? That’s a fair question. Obviously I cannot speak for all Jews (Jews: two Jews and 3 opinions), but it seems to me that Paul qualifies as an Agent Provocateur.
Based upon the precedent (Torah exist as common law, and common law stands upon the foundation of precedents.) of the Book of the Maccabees where Yechuda Maccabee declared the loyalty of Judea to a false king of the Syrian Greek empire. The New Testament refers to this precedent [The Judean revolt against the Syrian Greem empire proceeded the gospel fiction stories by over a Century.], as “a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand”.
Ceasar considered himself as “the son of god”. The Paulin propaganda which preached: “Romans Jesus is the king of the Jews and the son of god” this did not sit well with Ceasar.
Injecting a form of monotheism into a polytheistic system done to promote Civil War. Just as Yechuda Maccabee’s recognition of a false king as the ruler of the Syrian empire likewise provoked Civil War within that Greek empire.
Sorry nothing Jewish about the New Testament. Orginally written in Greek, not Hebrew or Aramaic. Jesus did not understand how to keep shabbat, a Jewish fundamental. Shabbat observance (Open a Jewish prayer book, requires making a separation from Shabbat from the work week. Hence the Torah forbids work. The Hebrew for work includes the verbs מלאכה as well as עבודה. The distinction between skilled labor as opposed to unskilled labor. The construction of the Mishkan require artisan skilled labor.
The mesechta of Shabbat focuses upon the 39 מלאכות required to build the Mishkan in the days of Moshe. However unskilled labor עבודה likewise forbidden on shabbat.
The mesechta of Baba Kama (first gate) defines unskilled labor, viewed from the perspective of damages. Theft, oppression, incest, and judicial bribery of court justices. Obvious other forms of unskilled labor, like sweeping a floor for example. But Baba Kama classifies the 4 Arch types of unskilled עבודה judicial damages. These 4 Arch types of damages done with intent.
The Jewish prayer book therefore understands that a Jew dedicates not to do the 39 principle מלאכות required to build the Mishkan on the day of Shabbat; the Jew does so to dedicate not doing the 4 Arch type עבודות mentioned above during the week. Hence to keep shabbat involves all 7 days of the Week!!! Based upon the Most Holy || Holy partition within the Mishkan itself.
The Mishkan serves as a model for T’NaCH and Talmudic common law. The church with intent distanced itself from the Torah. It changed shabbat to Sunday. If failed to grasp that a person dedicates not doing work on shabbat to include not oppressing the weak or poor etc during the week-day as part of keeping shabbat!
The Roman counterfeit New Testament. ((The Romans understood the power of propaganda. The gospels of Jesus promotes a false messiah idea devoid of the Torah commandment of the mitzva of Moshiach! No different than Yechuda Maccabee swearing the allegiance of Judea to an upstart Greek Syrian wannabee king.
The gospel all written no less than a Century AFTER the events which they pretend to give eye-witness testimony. This makes the gospels a false witness testimony. The gospel narrative exists as revisionist history. The Torah explicitly writes in the story of Bilam the prophet: that God is not a man that he should lie.
Thank you for your generous support of Israel my homeland.
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Thank you for reading my response to your previous comment and taking the time to write a counter argument to those I presented. I try to encourage free speech and difference of thought here and am happy to hold a respectful debate so that everyone involved, readers and debaters, might learn at least a little bit.
I will start off with the most glaring problem in your argument that the New Testament isn’t an inherently Jewish book and that is the argument that it was originally written in Greek. This can be countered with the fact that the New Testament was written during the rule of the Roman Empire. Though Latin was commonly spoken, Greek was like English is today. It was the main trade language that everybody spoke (including most Jews), thus making it perfect for sharing the Gospel to everyone in the Roman world, helping it’s spread over the years.
Second, there is the idea that the New Testament was Roman propaganda. My problem with this train of thought is this: why would the Romans, who wanted the pax romana to last forever and believed that their emperor was a god (specifically the sun god, Apollo) write a book in which the main character that everything centers around denies the emperor’s supposed deity? And why would they then persecute the followers of the book that they wrote as propaganda? The only reason I could think of is that they needed scapegoats, but they already had plenty of options for finding those throughout the empire.
Third, the New Testament wasn’t written 100 years after the fact, it was written during a span of a hundred years after Jesus’ death, with the earliest gospel – the gospel of Mark – being written in 70 AD, 40 years after the death of Christ. There was plenty of eye witness testimony to back up what the disciples were saying. Though you could argue that they might be exaggerating and be forgetting things, remember that people tend to have very vivid memories of things that completely changed their lives or were a big deal. Many people could tell you in vivid detail where they were, what they were doing, etc. during 9/11 or something similar years and years after it happened. Something as big as Christ’s death on the cross and the events that happened afterwards (the earthquake when he died, the curtain of the temple being ripped in two from the bottom up, the spirits of dead prophets appearing out of nowhere to the people, the later resurrection which caused yet another earthquake, etc.) would be something that you would remember quite well for the rest of your life.
On top of that, if the disciples were making it up, wouldn’t they have very similar stories and try to make themselves look amazing? If you have read or at least taken a cursory look over the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) you’ll find that all of the disciples come of a bumbling fools and often give very damning testimonies of themselves. Moreover, they differ here and there enough where, when looked at by someone like J. Warner Wallace (someone who worked as a professional crime scene detective for years and wrote a book called God’s Crime Scene discussing why Christianity is real), there is enough evidence that they weren’t conspiring together to make up a lie. We also have the fact that there is the testimony of the women who knew Jesus that is included in this, something that was not exactly looked favorably upon in those days.
Fourth, Jesus, the disciples, and Paul all acknowledged Jewish law in their teachings, especially the Ten Commandments. While yes, their views on the law often differed wildly with what was taught in the temple by groups like the Pharisees and Sadducees, in general the law is a good thing. In fact, Paul was very well versed in the law, which came in handy when writing the Epistles.
Fifth, even if you believe that Josephus’s account of Jesus was included by Eusebius, there’s also the account written by Lucian, a roman who many think may have been an atheist.
Sixth, in the Christian faith God can do anything. If he wants to come down to earth in some form (such as a burning bush or a man), he totally can. Jesus’ humanity does not deny his divinity. This is called the hypostatic union: that Jesus was 100% God and 100% man, incapable of sinning because he was God, making him the perfect one to attone for our sins.
However, at the end of the day, I’m not trying to convert you or anyone else as that is a decision that is up to you and God. Once again, I thank you for taking the time to read through my past response and I congratulate you on your knowledge of Judaism. This has been an interesting debate that I don’t think many high schoolers get to have and I learned quite a bit. All true Christians, though we disagree with you on many things, will stand with the Jews as we recognize them as God’s chosen people and an important part of our history and our future.
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