| A couple of months ago, I was talking to my nephew and he told me he was a Jew. | |
| I asked if he had ever been to a synagogue. No. I asked if he had ever read the Torah or the Talmud. No. I asked if he had ever read the complete Old Testament from the Bible. No. I asked if he had ever spoken to a Rabbi about the Jewish faith. No. | |
| After chuckling, I asked him why he thought he was Jewish. He advised me that Jesus was Jewish and he was a follower of Jesus, so he was Jewish, too. Needless to say (after another chuckle), I advised him that declaring yourself to be of a certain faith does not “make” you a member of that faith if you do nothing else to demonstrate your beliefs. | |
| Later, though, it occurred to me that I know almost nothing about the Jewish faith either. Yes, I’ve read some of the Old Testament, but I’ve never read any of the Torah and would not be able to tell you the first thing about any differences between it and the Old Testament. So, when I was visiting my local second hand book shop and I stumbled upon a copy of a book which professed to be an “everymans” guide to orthodox Judaism, I picked it up and added it to the reading list. As it happens, I rested the book close to my computer and it “called” to me repeatedly – so I bumped it up the list. I finished it last week and the rest of this posting is my review… | |
| The book is titled: “This Is My God” (1988©), and was written by Herman Wouk. The book was originally published back in 1959, but this is a republishing with a chapter update about Israel (the nation-state). Mr. Wouk wrote the book because a friend came up to him and said his son knew next to nothing about Judaism and the friend knew Wouk to be a practicing Jew and could he recommend a good “starter” book for him to give to his son with the hope the son might gain some appreciation for their heritage. | |
| Now Wouk admits to not being a Rabbi (a teacher of the Torah) and could not think of (or find) such a book – even after asking around himself – so he decided to write one. After about a year or so of intense research, he did. And this book is the result of Wouk’s effort. | |
| I have not read any of Wouk’s other works, but he is a terrific writer! The book is obviously a very simplistic introduction to Judaism. That does not mean it is not worth reading. It merely recognize’s there are whole libraries devoted to the various aspects of Judaism and anything other than an overview would have taken many, many volumes. Having said this, I felt reading this book was an insightful introduction to this faith upon which my own was based. Indeed, it is the faith on which both Christianity and Islam are based. All three faiths are the “children” of Abraham. | |
| Although I don’t usually attribute such sentiments to books, this book has been a blessing to my own personal faith. (I am a practicing Roman Catholic.) Wouk’s words are kind and wise, yet humble and moving. And most of all, they are educational. There were several times I said to myself, “Wow! I never knew that!” or “So that’s why…” | |
| Two quick examples are: there is no requirement for a person to be a Jew to enter Heaven. One only needs to live a good life to be judged worthy of Heaven. And second, not all the stories in the Bible are about Jews. Some “holy” men are not Jews at all. Job for example. This was a real “Wow!” moment for me as I’d always just assumed Job was Hebrew. Wouk explains why this is not so, but I still could hardly believe it so I had to do some additional research on the internet. As near as I can tell, there is no proof he (Job) existed let alone that he was Jewish. Like I said, the book is full of little “gems” to help you explore your faith (if you are a Christian). | |
| The book is a fast read at only a little over two hundred and eighty pages and is so well written it doesn’t even feel that long. There is a fifty page “Notes” area which has clarifications and recommendations for further readings and an eight page Glossary at the very end. | |
| So, final recommendation: Highly recommended! You will, of course, see several quotes from this book over the next few months as I try to share some of Wouk’s writing with you… | |
| So I called up my nephew to thank him for “prompting” me to learn about Judaism as the basis of my own faith. His response: “Uncle Kevin, I never meant for you to read a book about it!” I guess he just doesn’t know me that well… | |
| . | |
| On This Day In: | |
| 2012 | When Young |
| 2011 | 14 Ways To A Better Judgement |
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I’d like to borrow it from you. Thanks
Sure thing. Jr has first dibs on it, though…
This is fascinating! I, too, am doing some reading along these lines and will look up and read this book. I am not an expert on the details of who did what in the Old Testament but I know that it was a foundation for the coming of Christ, the incarnation, crucifixion and ascension. I have a very tiny book that deals with what we call the communion service or the Lord’s Supper as a memorial of Jesus. I was fortunate to hear the author make a presentation of the similarities and differences of the Jewish celebration of the Passover and Pentecost. Passover was the beginning of what he calls the agricultural cycle of the Jews (their last night in captivity in Egypt) whereas the Pentecost honors Passover but commemorates the beginning of the Christian Church, God’s Church. The name of this little booklet is Behold the Lamb and the sub-title is Messianic Passover Haggadah by Stan R. Kellner. Mr. Kellner is a Christian Jew although I prefer the phrase Jewish Christian because the Jewish people remain Jewish when they convert to Christianity as they should. It was a point of contention at first in the first century, but was resolved at what came to be called the Jerusalem Conference in which both Peter, Paul and James the brother of the Lord were present. Mr. Kellner is (or was at the time) the executive director of Sheresh Ministries, Inc. The word Sheresh is Hebrew for “root”. I do not want to overwhelm you but I feel this subject is so important in today’s society. I have started reading a book (e-book) called One New Man which was Jesus prayer for unity between Jew and Gentile as a prerequisite for success in establishing the gospel. Of course many things happened along the way such as Christian Jews insisting that Gentile Christians had to be circumcised and follow certain aspects of the law; and Gentile Christians did not want to include the Jews in God’s message so there was fault on both sides. The all of partition’ between Jew and Gentile was done away with by Christ in that God’s word was for all people not just the Jewish nation when He was resurrected. Actually it had always been for all people, but that’s another story. The One New Man is a joining of leaders in both Christianity and judiasm to bring about this unity. Two of the chapters I have read were written by Jewish men and I learned so much about the Jewish stance on various things which I believe is essential if we ever gain the unity prayed for by Jesus. You would understand their message far better than I do but I continue to do what I can. Incidentally, the book that I have recently published deals with God’s continuity, that He is the same with all people, that He can’t lie, but does not always give us the whole story, that He is unchanging and that He created His purpose and His plan before the foundation of the world and everything that leads up to the resurrection is part of His foundation, and everything after the resurrection and Satan’s ejection from heaven has to do with our own personal battle with Satan. I am not a theologian but I am a student who thrives on study. I would be happy if you chose to read it . And There was War in Heaven, A Guide to God’s Purpose and His Plan. It is about 250 pages, easy to read, and very simply stated. It is available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please don’t feel you will offend me if you don’t want to read it. I am not Catholic, but I believe everyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God is a part of the same church, His church.
Hi MHA,
We each seek God in our own way. That is the true nature of faith in mankind (individual faith) even when shared in a community.
Thank you for sharing your own insights. You have given me much to consider…