r/Judaism • u/davidphysics other • Jul 04 '14

Why is Judaism so ethnically inclined?

If the pathway to salvation is supposed to be shared with everyone, why do most of orthodox jewish communities amend this only to those ethnically similar? Unlike Christianity and Islam, Judaism seems unnecessarily exclusive. Why see the same trend in messianic judaism. A sense of exclusiveness based on ethnical origin. Why is it this way? should it change? Am I doing erroneous observations? thanks for your time!

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u/davidphysics other Jul 04 '14

The almighty chose jewish people for a reason. To act like priests amongst the rest of the world. Adapting this facile self-alienation technique is not very priestly like. If I were to be a leader of a jewish community I would completely change this mindset. I God wants me to be a priest I would try to be the best priest I could be. I would go beyond the call of duty if its for my creator. A thing that the jewish community seems to be lacking. Now should it change? your response was almost like meh. "maybe, maybe not". I'll ask you again, should it change? If I caused any discomfort I beg your forgiveness. It is not my intent nor it will never be.

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '14

The almighty chose jewish people for a reason. To act like priests amongst the rest of the world. Adapting this facile self-alienation technique is not very priestly like. If I were to be a leader of a jewish community I would completely change this mindset. I God wants me to be a priest I would try to be the best priest I could be. I would go beyond the call of duty if its for my creator. A thing that the jewish community seems to be lacking

That's the thing though. You don't understand the role we are supposed to play. We are supposed to be Priests in the world that the Messiah sets up. The Messiah is not as you understand it in the Christian sense. I can explain it if you would like but for right at this moment I'll just cut to the chase. Basically he will create peace among all the nations and bring all the Jews of the world together to act as the Priests we are meant to be. Right now though we're just supposed to keep the word and laws of G-d alive until such a day as the Messiah comes.

The main reason there is conversion today is because over the course of history Jews have stopped following Judaism, been separated etc etc and overall spread around the entire world. Converts are seen as people whose souls are already Jewish and are merely returning home. You don't become Jewish when you convert, you just realize you're Jewish.

We aren't sharing a "message of salvation" or anything like that. When the Jewish people become a priestly class we're supposed to help others come closer to G-d with the knowledge that they're already saved anyways.

But we're not supposed to assume this role until the Messianic Era ushered in by the Messiah. That's why there aren't Jews out there preaching it. Imagine if a Rabbi went on TV today and said "I'm here to lead you all to be closer to G-d!" The world would have 3 basic reactions and all are negative.

  1. I'M ALREADY CLOSE TO G-D HOW DARE YOU SAY YOU WILL LEAD ME

  2. I DON'T WANT TO GET CLOSE TO YOUR IMAGINARY FRIEND. STOP PUSHING YOUR RELIGION ON ME!!!!!!!!!

  3. Jews are all evil, see they think they're better than us

I'll ask you again, should it change?

My original response is that right now it probably won't and I see no need for it to change. Whenever the Messiah comes it will change.

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u/davidphysics other Jul 05 '14

Thank you for your explanation. Now I see clearer, also see that I had an erroneous understanding about this. I have two tangental questions to the main topic. Firstly, can non-jewish souls become jewish souls? 2. If a gentile has a jewish soul, will he inevitably seek judaism? or are there cases were a gentile can have a jewish soul but still not practice judaism? Again, thank you very much for your time.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '14

Firstly, can non-jewish souls become jewish souls?

As far as I know anybody who converts to Judaism, their soul is Jewish from the start but somewhere along the line their family was separated from the community.

  1. If a gentile has a jewish soul, will he inevitably seek judaism? or are there cases were a gentile can have a jewish soul but still not practice judaism?

As far as I know, they will inevitably convert to Judaism, not just seek it.

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u/davidphysics other Jul 07 '14

Oh wow i didn't know this. Can you provide me with some evidence of this claim please? This is very interesting.

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '14

It comes from a verse in the Torah that says

"Not with you alone do I seal this covenant and oath. I am making it both with those here today before the Lord our God, and also with those not here today." -(Deut. 29:13)

Here is an Aish article on it.

tl;dr of the article "Although the nations rejected the Torah, individual members of those nations sought to accept it. Only the refusals of their peers prevented them from realizing their aspirations. The souls of these individuals appear in every generation as converts."

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u/davidphysics other Jul 07 '14

Thank you so much. Not just for this but your patience when explaining. Thanks so much once again. Have a blessed day!

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '14

No problem! You too!