Two hours with an orthodox Jew and I learned more about my God and my faith than months of sitting in Christian church. I want to learn to speak like this man, in honest stories and metaphors. He spoke carefully, but assuredly. You could tell that everything filtered through his mind first and then landed on his tongue. He spoke about living the traditional life of a Hasidic Jew, with all the traditions, customs, and rituals. He said that the journey of faith is gradual, and as someone who entered into the strict Jewish customs later in his life, he explained that he didn’t try to change everything at once; it would have been too overwhelming. “That which is acquired all at once is shed all at once,” he said. He also challenged us to be in our scriptures and pray, even thought it can be hard and seemingly tedious some days. “Do it even when you don’t feel like it,” he said. “There’s a certain groove that’s worn on the soul when you do something over and over. There’s something beautiful about the journey, about the process. There has to be. God set it up that way.” And when speaking about the conflicts in Jerusalem he said “A traditional Jew doesn’t believe in coincidences. It’s no coincidence that the sons of Abraham have come together in the same city and now have to work together. The Arabs are our brothers, or at least our cousins. We need to love. God said his home would be a house of prayer for all nations. He never said one nation prays better than another and those people will receive the Temple on the Mount. Jews aren’t living like they should and following the Law. My purpose as a Jew is to work towards the perfection of the world and making it a fit place for God’s glory to dwell.“
One of the greatest points of interest for me was the discussion on the Jewish understanding of Satan. Since last semester, I’ve been wrestling with the idea of Satan and Hell. Both exist because they’re mentioned in the Bible, but the ideas we’ve come to regard as truth about Satan and Hell seem more influenced by culture than scripture. The Jewish man referred to Satan as “the adversary,” because that’s what Satan means in Hebrew. He described it as a courtroom setting. God is the judge, and Satan is the prosecuting attorney who holds everything bad you’ve ever done against you. He fights ruthlessly to see that the Judge does not rule in your favor. What I find really interesting about this analogy is that there's one aspect missing… where’s the defense attorney? Jews also believe Satan comes to earth as our tempter and tester, so that he can have more to hold against us. They believe there is no other power besides God, not even Satan. Angels cannot do anything outside what God tells them, meaning they can't rebel. Dualism is not as evident because they believe God created Satan and gave him the job as the challenger. He gave an analogy. A great king wants to test his son, the prince, to see if he is ready to rule the kingdom and avoid the trappings that come with great power, so the king goes to a prostitute. He tells the woman that she is to do everything in her power to seduce the prince; that is her goal. In the essence of her being she doesn’t really want the prince to fail; she wants him to be king. But the king commanded it, so she will follow his command with fervor. He said the Jews believe Satan is in the same boat as the prostitute. He was created by God, and was given the task of being our challenger to test our true loyalties, and because the king said so, he will do everything in his power to come against us. This is why Satan can come to God in the Old Testament book of Job and ask for permission to test Job. Now, I’m not sure how much of all that I will take as theology and truth for my own beliefs, but it does paint a picture that is perfectly set up for Jesus to step in. He is our defense attorney, the man who stands up before the Judge and says, “This one’s mine. She is innocent.” Jesus can also step back and say, “I never knew you, evildoer.” And there you stand without a defender, all your wickedness held against you. God is just. That’s why it’s important to make sure you have a dang good defense lawyer on your side. I don’t want this to sound like one of those “I’m using Jesus to get to heaven” deals. Jesus also gave us a way to have relationship with God, and He gives us guidance and strength to withstand our earthly testing and to live in the power and glory of the Judge. I’m simply saying that this view of an adversary in a courtroom-type setting makes sense. The Bible says that God has given Jesus the power to judge, and those who know him are found innocent. It says that the people will separate out, some to his right and to his left… and Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father, our eternal sacrifice and defender.
The Jewish man talked about a lot more, obviously I can’t write about everything. J But yeah, those were some of my thoughts. It was great to hear him talk. He was a man of God, and he spoke to me. Twas great.
