פורום ארץ הצבי

Yooval,
Note that the word Koshrness in my previous note was under double quotes, which means that I referred to the external, as well as to the internal meaning of the word. Therefore, everything that a Jew does and everything that he believes in is, as I said before, based on the Torah, not on someone’s opinion.

As for the belief that the events in Har-Sinai are true, my belief stems from two sources. The first is Torah and the second is based on the collective testimony of the Jewish people that has been represented by our celebration of this event, which is Shavuot.
Is it possible to say in words that the Torah was an invention and that Shavuot is a fabrication? – of course it is possible, you said it already several times. However, if you were INTELLECTUALY honest, and if you were to learn Torah, then you would have realized that the Torah is divine and you would not have denied its authenticity.

As for the “mistakes” in Torah, you can’t expect me to explain to you all the things that you don’t understand about Torah. If you were to learn and ask a Rabbi then those “mistakes” will not look like “mistakes” anymore.

Your previous notes suggest to me that you think that Judaism is like other religions that tried to impose themselves in order to force people into subservience. This is of course nonsense because if it was indeed the case then why would there be a need for commandments like Shabat? Not to mention the fact that in the Tanach the deeds of a ruler who sinned became punishable by G-D. Therefore, Judaism is antithetical to your thesis.

Yooval,
To only address your last point, what do you mean when you say that Judaism wishes to impose itself?
I can understand if you were to tell me that certain people want to impose themselves, but what does it mean when one says: “Judaism wants”?
Are you saying that the book of Torah has political aspirations? Are you saying that the 7th day of each week has an ego and that this day suddenly decided to call itself “Shabat” and try to impose itself on humanity?

Yooval,
We are clearly not going to come to a final conclusion at this stage.
However, since you are saying that it is people who invented the commandments of Judaism then I think that it is worth while to contemplate as to what was their motivation for instituting 613 commandments and how did these commandments came to be accepted by the Jewish people throughout a period of 3500 years.
Even if you don't believe in anything the question is academically relevant.

It's not a question of whether there are 613 or 300. The question is fundametal. Why were these commandments instituted in the first place and how did they come to be accepted for 3500 years by the Jewish people.

Yooval,
This is a simple question. If it was G-D that gave us those commandments then there is no problem. However, if it was people who invented those commandments then why would these people invent 613 commandment, most of which ''don't make sense'' and then succeed in making the Jewish people accept them for 3500 years?

For the last time, the people who worship monkeys and cows are the same as those that worship Jesus. They just worship. These people have no commandments and they are free to live their life any way they like, as long as they don't break any laws that might get them in jail.

In that respect, Judaism is different from ALL OTHER monotheistic religions. The definition of monotheism may include the worship of a single G-D but it may also include the worship of a single monkey or a single lunatic who may think and say that he is the son of G-D. Judaism however has Mitzvoth and in that respect there is not a single parallel to it in Man's history.

Yooval,
THEY don't have Mitzvoth.

Anyway, I think I said all that I wanted to say at this point.