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The Essence of Religion


One of the amazing things for me is finding principles and values in the teachings of modern Judaism that the Real Yeshua taught – and that are found in the opening chapters of Genesis. Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins’ book The Wisdom of Judaism is a treasure chest of those ideas. I have no idea of what Rabbi Elkins thinks about Yeshua, but their teachings share a lot in common. The following is from his book, and in my opinion, it is sums up the foundational concepts of the Yeshua Movement.

The Torah begins and ends with acts of kindness.
Sotah 14a

The Torah bases itself on two stories: in Genesis God clothes the naked — God covers Adam and Eve —and in Deuteronomy God buries Moses. (See a similar statement in Judaism’s early morning service -- These are the deeds that yield immediate harvest and continue to yield in future days…)

Clothing the naked and burying the dead are among the acts of kindness frequently mentioned when the ancient Rabbis discuss the daily acts of goodness that every human being may be called upon to perform.

There are several things that stand out regarding this Talmudic passage. First, it is not the gigantic, heroic, once-in-a-lifetime things we do that Judaism (and all religions, I believe) demands of us. It is the simple daily acts, the repetitive acts of goodness, thoughtfulness, and concern for the other, that make us “religious,” that is, ethical and spiritual. Helping a neighbor, providing food for the hungry, giving clothes for the needy, and offering assistance with a life-cycle event — such as a birth, a wedding, or a burial — are the mark of the religious person in Judaism.

Second, what we call “the essence of religion” in Judaism is what we do for others. In a famous passage in the Jerusalem Talmud, God says that, if necessary, it is more important to treat your fellow humans well than it is to treat God well. God says, “I wish that when necessary, my children would forget me, and pay more attention to the Torah’s ethics about treating one another” (Jerusalem Talmud, Hagigah 1:7).

As Martin Buber, the Austrian-Jewish philosopher, points out in Hasidism and Modern Man, this is one of the primary characteristics of Hasidic philosophy, which is to say that it is a Jewish doctrine that Hasidism emphasizes. In Buber’s words, the core teaching of Hasidism is that “[You] cannot approach the divine by reaching beyond the human; [you] can approach [God] through becoming human. To become human is what [you have] been created for.”

I highly recommend this book as a resource for information about the Jewish culture and how it has evolved over the centuries. 
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