Hello Rabbi,
I saw what you write about the Noahite laws. Noah was an example of good behaviour to live up to. But I am concerned about the promise that God made to send a rainbow reminding us that there will never be another flood. How do we reconcile this with the speed of climate change and the predictions of rising sea levels as the ice caps melt and huge numbers of populations, especially poverty-stricken ones like Egyptians in the Nile delta, will be drowned or driven from their homes?
Yours worriedly,
Geraldine
Rabbi Jonathan responds:
Thank you Geraldine. This is perhaps the most important post so far as it is not only about Jews but about the world, and our responsibility to it - a responsibility shared by all humanity, but which in Jewish terms we call 'Tikkun Olam' (healing the world).
I think there is a most important and pressing message for us in the Noah story. Though we don't read these stories literally - we reject the idea that God picks of people to kill them, whether in this story, or in a car or air-crash, or in the Holocaust - never the less if you read Genesis carefully, you'll find at one point that the story-teller says that God promises never to bring another flood.'Never again will I doom the earth because of humanity... nor will I ever again destroy every living being...' Genesis 8:21. The message for us (who have sought to overthrow God, as our Gates of Repentance prayer book states) is not that 'There will never be another flood', but that 'God will never again flood the earth' - leaving room for US to do so by rising sea levels if we continue on our path to catastrophic climate change!
The more I learn and read, the more scared I am - the climate is changing faster than ever before. We see major changes in half our lifetimes! Average temperatures are already up one degree C. We need faith in God - but God needs us as partners in this challenge (or we and God need to work 'in partnership'). There is some hope to be found in the Paris agreement and the fact that most governments (perhaps even, dare we hope, our own Australian one) are beginning to realise the urgent importance to act, and the fact that the fossil fuel industry has been obfuscating (confusing and funding contrary research) the issues for years!
I built a house in 2006 which uses a quarter the energy of an equivalent 'normal' Australian house (and used only one tenth the mains water). Having driven hybrid cars for 13 years, I have just progressed to a plug in hybrid (2 years old) and drive 40 kms on green-powered batteries every day, which is usually all I need. But if I do go on a longer journey, it switches to normal engine/hybrid.
I don't say this to boast, but to inform. If I can do this, and dramatically cut my emissions, then why are the government (and manufacturers) advertising that this can be done and indeed helping people to do it? What a huge impact we could be having!
But there is something you can do with no expense, and with immediate and great effect. Stop eating meat - or at least reduce your red meat consumption. Emissions from cattle production are growing rapidly as we eat more meat, especially the developing middle classes of India and China - and you can help counter that trend.
You can do something else. Join the Jewish Ecological Coalition, JECO.org.au
And the Australian religious Response to Climate Change ARRCC.org.au
Good luck - l'shalom
Rabbi Jonathan
Tuesday 2 August 2016
Is there a Jewish section in Heaven?
Dear Rabbi,
I find it really hard to study and remember things at my age (actually, I always did)! But as I get older and realise none of us will live forever, I really feel Judaism is the right way to go and I need to become Jewish. Who knows, perhaps I will secure myself a place in heaven!
Rabbi Jonathan responds:
This is a most important point. You don't need to be Jewish (as a long-running British radio program was called)! Unlike most interpretations of the other monotheistic religions, Judaism says 'there are many paths to God'. Heaven, salvation, nirvana, a place in the world to come, eternal peace - whatever you call it, and hope for - and whatever there is after life (or isn't!), are all just as available for non-Jews as for Jews. There is no reserved 'Jewish section'!
All that is required is to be a decent human being. This is defined in the Jewish tradition by Noah - Noah (and his family) were the best of their generation, and thus the only ones to be saved from the flood (we don't need to take these stories literally and certainly not understand them in the traditional way - that God killed all the others. Personally I reject the idea that God kills at all - God has created a world in which human and animal lives - in fact everything, even mountains and rocks - are finite. Eventually all break down - or are broken down - and return to the 'dust of the earth' - only God is Eternal.
Anyway, because Noah (who predates Abraham and Sarah and the start of the 'Jewish Story') was good, the basic laws of common decency required are called 'The Noahite Laws'. There are only seven of them. They are not precisely enumerated and agreed, but they are common-sense ones like 'Do not Murder', 'Do not steal', as well as general structures of justice: 'You shall establish courts of Justice in your society', and some protection for animals (appropriate for Noah!), encapsulated in 'Do not tear a limb from a living animal'.
The significant thing here is that 'You don't need to be Jewish'! From that it follows 'Why on earth would you want to be Jewish, to be subject to persecution and oppression and hatred and envy - and to have to take on yourselves not 7 but 613 commandments?'! And from this the Rabbis came to the conclusion that you should turn away someone who wants to be Jewish at least two times - to test their resolve and commitment. (We don't do that! Studying and learning Hebrew and participating in the community and being questioned about why you want to convert frequently along the way for well over a year would seem quite sufficient resolve!).
So please learn more about Judaism, meet some real, passionate and serious Jews, do our Introduction to Judaism course - but know that you can still get to Heaven even without converting!
Dear Rabbi,
I find it really hard to study and remember things at my age (actually, I always did)! But as I get older and realise none of us will live forever, I really feel Judaism is the right way to go and I need to become Jewish. Who knows, perhaps I will secure myself a place in heaven!
Rabbi Jonathan responds:
This is a most important point. You don't need to be Jewish (as a long-running British radio program was called)! Unlike most interpretations of the other monotheistic religions, Judaism says 'there are many paths to God'. Heaven, salvation, nirvana, a place in the world to come, eternal peace - whatever you call it, and hope for - and whatever there is after life (or isn't!), are all just as available for non-Jews as for Jews. There is no reserved 'Jewish section'!
All that is required is to be a decent human being. This is defined in the Jewish tradition by Noah - Noah (and his family) were the best of their generation, and thus the only ones to be saved from the flood (we don't need to take these stories literally and certainly not understand them in the traditional way - that God killed all the others. Personally I reject the idea that God kills at all - God has created a world in which human and animal lives - in fact everything, even mountains and rocks - are finite. Eventually all break down - or are broken down - and return to the 'dust of the earth' - only God is Eternal.
Anyway, because Noah (who predates Abraham and Sarah and the start of the 'Jewish Story') was good, the basic laws of common decency required are called 'The Noahite Laws'. There are only seven of them. They are not precisely enumerated and agreed, but they are common-sense ones like 'Do not Murder', 'Do not steal', as well as general structures of justice: 'You shall establish courts of Justice in your society', and some protection for animals (appropriate for Noah!), encapsulated in 'Do not tear a limb from a living animal'.
The significant thing here is that 'You don't need to be Jewish'! From that it follows 'Why on earth would you want to be Jewish, to be subject to persecution and oppression and hatred and envy - and to have to take on yourselves not 7 but 613 commandments?'! And from this the Rabbis came to the conclusion that you should turn away someone who wants to be Jewish at least two times - to test their resolve and commitment. (We don't do that! Studying and learning Hebrew and participating in the community and being questioned about why you want to convert frequently along the way for well over a year would seem quite sufficient resolve!).
So please learn more about Judaism, meet some real, passionate and serious Jews, do our Introduction to Judaism course - but know that you can still get to Heaven even without converting!
Do I really need to learn Hebrew?
Hi Rabbi Jonathan
I was thrilled to find the course and information on conversion here in Australia. I was, however, concerned that I would need to learn Hebrew. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which affects my cognitive abilities, could you please explain further the level of Hebrew required in order to convert?
Thanks
George.
Rabbi Jonathan responds:
Hi George,
First, I am sorry to hear about your Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which I know can be a truly debilitating affliction. There is, however, no arbitrary level of hebrew required in order to become Jewish (indeed there are many Jews who cannot read hebrew!). What we are looking for is your best attempt to learn it. And actually Hebrew is much easier than English as it is phonetic. You just learn the sounds of the letters and vowels and put them together. My book 'Hebrew from Zero' makes it as easy and enjoyable as possible, and teaches tricks to memorise the sounds and avoid the common mix-ups between similar letters. If you wanted to be considered for conversion by the Bet Din, you'd have to have developed a relationship with a community and a Sponsoring Rabbi, who will have submitted your material showing your understanding of Judaism, and you'd have to have shown a serious attempt at learning to read (actually decode) hebrew. The reason we require it is so that you can join in with blessings etc, even though it is also written in English letters (transliterated) in our prayer book (Mishkan T'filah, World Union Edition).
Hebrew works in two ways, even if people don't understand all of it - they know the readings and prayers have been carefully composed, considered and adjusted to express Jewish prayerfulness and spirituality by our ancestors way back as well as our more recent Rabbis - so when we say the words of the Sh'ma, we are declaring God's oneness, just as Rabbi Akiva did almost 2000 years ago when he was being tortured to death by the Romans, as Jews did in the Holocaust, and as they will do, hopefully in happier circumstances, for generations and millenia into the future! That 'link in the chain of history' does not require complete understanding of every word (it is always translated in our prayer books anyway!). This first way might be considered vertical, through time.
The second way it works is 'horizontally', around the world. Jews live in almost every country of the world, and consequently speak almost every language. So if I go to our congregation in Brussels, their services may be in Flemish - and Hebrew. In France, in french and Hebrew. In South America, in Spanish - and Hebrew. Now my French and Spanish are almost non-existent, and I certainly can't read them fluently - though probably marginally better than my Flemish! I can't keep up in the service, and it doesn't sound familiar - until they switch to the Hebrew!
So yes, becoming as fluent and confident as you can with Hebrew really is one of the things that makes a confident, rounded Jew! But no, it is not an essential requirement to be able to read Hebrew fluently.
See alos the post 'Is there a Jewish section in Heaven?'
Good luck
Rabbi Jonathan
Hi Rabbi Jonathan
I was thrilled to find the course and information on conversion here in Australia. I was, however, concerned that I would need to learn Hebrew. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which affects my cognitive abilities, could you please explain further the level of Hebrew required in order to convert?
Thanks
George.
Rabbi Jonathan responds:
Hi George,
First, I am sorry to hear about your Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which I know can be a truly debilitating affliction. There is, however, no arbitrary level of hebrew required in order to become Jewish (indeed there are many Jews who cannot read hebrew!). What we are looking for is your best attempt to learn it. And actually Hebrew is much easier than English as it is phonetic. You just learn the sounds of the letters and vowels and put them together. My book 'Hebrew from Zero' makes it as easy and enjoyable as possible, and teaches tricks to memorise the sounds and avoid the common mix-ups between similar letters. If you wanted to be considered for conversion by the Bet Din, you'd have to have developed a relationship with a community and a Sponsoring Rabbi, who will have submitted your material showing your understanding of Judaism, and you'd have to have shown a serious attempt at learning to read (actually decode) hebrew. The reason we require it is so that you can join in with blessings etc, even though it is also written in English letters (transliterated) in our prayer book (Mishkan T'filah, World Union Edition).
Hebrew works in two ways, even if people don't understand all of it - they know the readings and prayers have been carefully composed, considered and adjusted to express Jewish prayerfulness and spirituality by our ancestors way back as well as our more recent Rabbis - so when we say the words of the Sh'ma, we are declaring God's oneness, just as Rabbi Akiva did almost 2000 years ago when he was being tortured to death by the Romans, as Jews did in the Holocaust, and as they will do, hopefully in happier circumstances, for generations and millenia into the future! That 'link in the chain of history' does not require complete understanding of every word (it is always translated in our prayer books anyway!). This first way might be considered vertical, through time.
The second way it works is 'horizontally', around the world. Jews live in almost every country of the world, and consequently speak almost every language. So if I go to our congregation in Brussels, their services may be in Flemish - and Hebrew. In France, in french and Hebrew. In South America, in Spanish - and Hebrew. Now my French and Spanish are almost non-existent, and I certainly can't read them fluently - though probably marginally better than my Flemish! I can't keep up in the service, and it doesn't sound familiar - until they switch to the Hebrew!
So yes, becoming as fluent and confident as you can with Hebrew really is one of the things that makes a confident, rounded Jew! But no, it is not an essential requirement to be able to read Hebrew fluently.
See alos the post 'Is there a Jewish section in Heaven?'
Good luck
Rabbi Jonathan
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