Q&A: Sacrifices, Judaism, and More
Sacrifices, Judaism, and More.
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I have some questions that are bothering me:
1—What is the idea behind sacrifices? And what is the idea behind the Temple? My moral instinct tells me that this cannot be a command of the Holy One, blessed be He, and that it is primitive. What is the Temple supposed to bring that we Jews are waiting for so much?
2—What is Judaism in your view? Who determines what authentic Judaism is, and who has the right to interpret it? I mean nowadays.
3—What is our message to the whole world? The Holy One, blessed be He, created the world! What is that supposed to tell me as a Jew? Is there some shared plan between us and the gentiles? What is all this for? All these billions of human beings that exist? In addition, the whole matter of the seven Noahide commandments sounds puzzling to me. I mean, what—the person living in the Amazon, in order to merit redemption (here, not in another world, which as is known in the higher world is already redeemed—unlike the Christian conception, for example) and complete good, has to accept the seven Noahide commandments, and the channel for that is the Torah of Moses?! That doesn’t seem fair. What does the Holy One, blessed be He, want from us—from him, the gentile?
Answer
If you want to have a serious discussion, these discussions need to be separated, since they are unrelated to one another. And with each question, you need to define better what exactly the question is. Such general questions cannot be answered properly. And in each item, don’t pack in several unrelated questions. That isn’t serious.
- I’ve explained this more than once. See, for example, here: https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%90%D7%99%D7%9A-%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%97%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%97%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%9F/
- Judaism is Jewish law. Anyone can and should interpret it, as long as he is capable of doing so.
- I am not familiar with any message of ours to the world. Questions about the purpose of creation should be addressed to the Holy One, blessed be He, not to me. I hope He too will soon set up a website (see item 1).
- I didn’t understand your question about the gentile.
Discussion on Answer
And rabbis don’t have personal biases? The question was who has the right to interpret it, not who will interpret it best.
Regarding item 2, isn’t it preferable to “make for yourself a rabbi”? (Even if I rule on Jewish law myself.)
Because if I know the Jewish law then there’s no question, and if a question comes up, wouldn’t personal interpretation skew it, etc.?