Israel only goes to war as a last resort when backed against the wall and when their survival depends on it. Judaism is a peaceful belief system and only believes in 'just wars.' War is conflicting to Judaism because Judaism strives for 'Shalom' peace within the nation as well as with its neighbors and this has been the nature of Judaism since the time of the Patriarch Abraham, through King David and today. Israel will have to protect itself from 'losing its soul' because war can be very violent totally opposite to Shalom. This is a conundrum.
Judaism closely believes in and closely embraces the concept of 'Tikkun' which literally translates to 'repair.' Israel strives to engage in tikkun olam which is repairing the world and as you see war is not a part of this commitment to repair a broken world. Israel would rather repair the world than break it by war. Israel also is commited to repairing ones self individually or tikkun atzmi, repairing their broken communities such as the poor Charedim or tikkun Kehila, repairing the Jewish people as a group or tikkun Am and repairing Israel as a Jewish State or tikkum medinat. For Israel it is difficult to go to war but to protect Judaism and their beliefs and values they have no choice.
Before making foreign policy regarding Israel, we must understand the nuances and esoteric nature of Israel that includes theocracy where God's laws influence all aspects of government, society and policy as opposed to a democracy where all eligible citizens participate. In a theocracy God is the head of state and His laws supreme while in a democracy the rulership of the people stands supreme. When creating policy regarding a theocratic style society we cannot ask constituents to violate their consciences by bending religious written and oral laws and traditions from either the Tanak or Talmud, ignoring religious laws called Halakhah that are also woven into governmental laws, domestic and foreign policy making to accommodate an agreement.
The Jewish system of laws Halakhah is held tightly in the hearts of Jews as they relate to living, governing and policy making; it is the comprehensive path Jews walk. The system of laws are also comprised of moral laws found in the Gemara section of the Talmud called Haggadah. The Mishna portion of the Talmud is a brief summary of the oral law while the Gemara section comprise lengthy discertations and explanations of the outlines in the Mishna. The various sects of Judaism honor Halakhah differently to varying degrees and interpretations but the common denominator of honoring Halakhah is influential. We see the differences between the sects of Judaism played out even in the Knesset among the 12 seated parties comprised of the deeply religious Charedim, Orthodox, Conservative or Masorti, to the Reform, Reconstructionist, Humanistic, no Messianic sect openly represented in the Knesset. To Judaism as with Abrahamic religions 'life, law and policy' are synonymous.
Over the past 10 years there has been a keen interest in Jewish Studies as it relates to Christianity, the making of foreign policy and I wanted to help bring authentic information regarding Judaism to several audiences that will bring each from a near ideologue to ideologues. As I traveled I noticed some people were familiar with terms from Judaism but did not know the meaning of the terms, traditions or protocols. I hope to lay a foundation of Judaism with Christians, members of every belief system, media professionals and those who serve politically.
There are also several compelling reasons to present Judaism to an audience that is interested in the Jewish roots of the Christian Bible. There is an apologetic perspective whereby many Christians have nagging questions about the Bible and even frustrated regarding where to find the actual answers. This article provides many of those answers. God requires all Christians to have understanding about Christianity and the belief system they adhere to. The answers to Judaism as it pertains to our Old and New Testament are not obvious and require a command of Judaism to include the Tanakh and the Talmud that provide answers and explanations of what the Old and New Testaments are really saying.
It is important to possess an authentic perspective not only a romantic perspective of Judaism. Christianity without realizing it can push Jews far from them especially Charedim, Orthodox Jews because we do not understand their scheme of thinking and how esoteric their beliefs are. To connect with Israel and its foreign and domestic policy making one must understand how they think and find the wisdom regarding their beliefs and values.This message is powerful and will provide insight as to Israel and their raizon d' etre or the purpose that justifies a things existence. Israel was designed to be a leadership nation to the entire world and is still in birth pains with regards to this God ascribed objective.
For example, I will share this much with you. God has given every people group a purpose in relationship to the entire world to make a unique contribution. The ancient Greeks contributed philosophy, ancient Egypt for their great monuments, ancient Persia food culture, ancient Rome the congressional style of government, ancient India University system, ancient China election of government officials, ancient Sparta military warfare.
Israel is the only nation and people group given the three-fold objective to
1. Receive the Ten Commandments including Noahide Laws
2. To disseminate God's law to the entire planet
3. To bring forth a Messiah
These laws are the only laws that could keep the planet sound and congruent to God's system and His way of doing things. Countries that have adopted Noahide Laws and laws associated with the Ten-Commandments are first world countries and countries that ignore the laws given to Israel are essentially still developing countries.
If it weren't for Judaism there would be no Christianity. To conclude the Church has replaced the natural nation of Israel is a premature conclusion called "replacement theology." The Church and the natural nation of Israel operate side by side never one replacing the other or becoming obsolete. Remember Galatians 3:13 "the blessing of Abraham came on the gentiles through Jesus Christ."
The Christian Old Testament is translated verbatim from the Tanak or the Jewish Bible in a different sequence but the books are the same. The Christian New Testament quotes much of the Old Testament and draws historic and cultural contexts all sourced in the Tanak.
Definitions: Abrahamic religions - the monotheistic religions (one God) who accept the patriarch Abraham as their father of faith. Judaism, Islam, Christianity and more recently B'Hai also has this claim because of Keturah a wife of Abraham who settled in ancient Iran.
For more information see the following Books and Publications: THE MANY FACES OF JUDAISM Understanding Israel Geo-Politically
BARNES AND NOBLE - PAPERBACK AND NOOK
AMAZON - PAPERBACK AND KINDLE EBOOK
POWELL'S BOOKS - PAPERBACK AND EBOOKS
ANDERSON'S BOOKSHOP - PAPERBACK
Chinese Version
以色列外交政策的回應 以色列只有在面臨絕境且其生存依賴於戰爭時才會將戰爭作為最後手段。猶太教是一個和平的信仰體系，只相信「正義的戰爭」。戰爭與猶太教是衝突的，因為猶太教致力於在國家內部以及與鄰國之間爭取「平安」和平，這一直是猶太教的本質，從族長亞伯拉罕時代到大衛王，一直到今天。以色列必須保護自己免於“失去靈魂”，因為戰爭可能非常暴力，與沙洛姆完全相反。這是一個難題。 猶太教堅信並擁抱“Tikkun”的概念，字面意思是“修復”。以色列致力於參與修復世界的 tikkun olam，正如你所看到的，戰爭並不是修復破碎世界的承諾的一部分。以色列寧願修復世界，也不願透過戰爭破壞世界。以色列也致力於修復個人或 tikkun atzmi，修復他們破碎的社區，如貧窮的 Charedim 或 tikkun Kehila，修復猶太人作為一個群體或 tikkun Am 以及修復以色列作為一個猶太國家或 tikkum medinat。對以色列來說，發動戰爭很困難，但為了保護猶太教及其信仰和價值觀，他們別無選擇。 在製定有關以色列的外交政策之前，我們必須了解以色列的細微差別和深奧本質，其中包括神權政治，其中上帝的法律影響政府、社會和政策的各個方面，而不是所有合格公民參與的民主制度。在神權政治中，上帝是國家元首，祂的法律至高無上；而在民主政治中，人民的統治至高無上。在製定有關神權社會的政策時，我們不能要求選民違背自己的良心，歪曲《塔納克》或《塔木德》中的宗教成文和口頭法律和傳統，忽視被稱為“哈拉卡”的宗教法律，這些法律也融入了政府法律、國內和外交政策制定中以達成協議。 猶太法律體系哈拉卡（Halakhah）深深印在猶太人的心中，因為它們關係到生活、治理和政策制定；這是猶太人所走的綜合道路。法律體係也由塔木德的格瑪拉部分（稱為哈加達）中的道德法則所組成。 《塔木德》的密西那部分是對口頭律法的簡要總結，而格瑪拉部分則包括對《密西那》大綱的冗長論述和解釋。猶太教的各個教派對哈拉卡的尊崇程度和解釋各不相同，但尊崇哈拉卡的共同點是具有影響力的。我們甚至在以色列議會中也能看到猶太教派之間的差異，在由宗教信仰深厚的查雷迪姆派、東正教、保守派或馬索爾蒂派到改革派、重建派、人文主義、沒有在議會中公開代表的彌賽亞教派組成的12 個政黨之間也存在差異。對猶太教來說，正如對亞伯拉罕宗教一樣，「生活、法律和政策」是同義詞。 在過去的十年裡，人們對猶太研究產生了濃厚的興趣，因為它與基督教、外交政策的製定有關，我想幫助向幾位受眾提供有關猶太教的真實信息，使他們從近乎空想家變成空想家。當我旅行時，我注意到有些人熟悉猶太教術語，但不知道這些術語、傳統或協議的含義。我希望與基督徒、各個信仰體系的成員、媒體專業人士和政治服務人士一起奠定猶太教的基礎。 向對基督教聖經的猶太根源感興趣的觀眾介紹猶太教還有幾個令人信服的理由。有一種護教的觀點，許多基督徒對聖經有一些揮之不去的問題，甚至對在哪裡可以找到真正的答案感到沮喪。本文提供了其中許多答案。神要求所有的基督徒都了解基督教以及他們所堅持的信仰體系。與我們的舊約和新約有關的猶太教的答案並不明顯，需要猶太教的命令包括塔納赫和塔木德，它們為舊約和新約的真正含義提供了答案和解釋。 擁有真實的猶太教觀點而不僅僅是浪漫的觀點很重要。基督教在沒有意識到的情況下可以將猶太人推離他們，尤其是查雷迪姆（Charedim），東正教猶太人，因為我們不了解他們的思維模式以及他們的信仰有多麼深奧。為了與以色列及其外交和國內政策制定建立聯繫，我們必須了解他們的思維方式，並找到有關他們的信仰和價值觀的智慧。的合理性的目的提供見解。以色列被設計為成為全世界的領導國家，但在實現這一上帝賦予的目標方面仍處於陣痛之中。
例如我就跟大家分享這麼多。上帝賦予每個民族一個與整個世界建立關係的目的，以做出獨特的貢獻。古希臘人貢獻了哲學，古埃及的偉大古蹟，古波斯的飲食文化，古羅馬的國會政府風格，古印度的大學制度，古代中國的政府官員選舉，古代斯巴達的軍事戰爭。 以色列是唯一一個擁有三重目標的國家和人民團體 1. 接受包括諾亞德律法在內的十誡 2. 將上帝的律法傳到整個星球 3. 產生彌賽亞 這些法律是唯一能夠保持地球健康並符合上帝的製度和祂做事方式的法律。採用諾亞德法和十誡相關法律的國家是第一世界國家，而無視以色列法律的國家本質上仍然是發展中國家。 如果沒有猶太教，就沒有基督教。得出教會已經取代以色列自然民族的結論是一個不成熟的結論，稱為「替代神學」。教會和以色列自然民族並肩運作，從來沒有一個取代另一個或變得過時。請記住加拉太書 3 章 13 節：“亞伯拉罕的福，藉著耶穌基督臨到了外邦人。” 基督教舊約是從塔納克聖經或猶太聖經以不同的順序逐字翻譯的，但書籍是相同的。基督教新約引用了舊約的大部分內容，並繪製了所有源自塔納克的歷史和文化背景。 定義： 亞伯拉罕宗教 - 接受族長亞伯拉罕為信仰之父的一神論宗教（一位上帝）。猶太教、伊斯蘭教、基督教以及最近的 B'Hai 也有這種說法，因為定居在古代伊朗的亞伯拉罕的妻子凱圖拉 (Keturah)。 欲了解更多信息，請參閱以下書籍和出版物： 猶太教的多種面貌 了解以色列地緣政治 巴恩斯與諾布爾 - 平裝本與角落 亞馬遜 - 平裝本和 Kindle 電子書 鮑威爾的書 - 平裝本和電子書 安德森書店 - 平裝本
