http://www.sinaicentral.com/jewhaters/defending_the_talmud.htmQuestions and Challenges to the TalmudFrom the time my dear friend Bob educated me on the need to answer the critics about the Talmud and all of their other complaints, I had wanted to do that. Here and there I put together some material, but was not ready yet for a fuller exposition of the issues. I was after all dealing with people who have no love of Jews, and I was willing to answer many questions, but to go into the Talmud, my beloved Talmud, and explain things about the Talmud to people who have not shown much love for it, was frightening to me. But I recently saw in I believe it was StørmFrønt.org the website for people who usually don't love Jews, that they asked in a very dignified manner why someone is not really answering their questions about the Talmud. I was happy to see that they listed this website, in a very kind manner. This is the second time I have seen my material in StørmFrønt. The other time was about their quoting my material on the Gay Lobby. Also, recently I have received some letters from people who seem very sincere, especially "Judy," so I feel obligated to do a better job, even though I am nervous.Attacks on the Talmud are claims and quotes that it teaches 1) to steal from gentiles 2) to have sex with children 3) to have no respect for gentiles, in the worst way and 4)the Talmud is attacked for its statements about Christianity and its founder 5) Jewish supremacy.
Here is a letter I wrote recently about the above. I am happy that it was well received by the person I sent it to, so I am not so nervous about putting it here. Anyone who has any comments, criticisms, etc., please let me know. I thank you.
Judy,
Thank you very much for your interest and concern. I will try to answer your concerns here briefly, until I get a larger piece which I hope to post on my jewhaters.com website, when I am able to do so.
I have studied Talmud for fifty years, even more, and the ideas that the Talmud teaches to steal from gentiles, or to have sex with minors, are completely wrong. The Code of Law clearly states that stealing from a gentile is forbidden, as does Maimonides. Maimonides clearly states that one who fools a gentile, even a pagan, with false weights, is an abomination. All codifiers agree on this point. I cannot understand how anyone can say that Talmudists and Orthodox Jews believe in stealing from gentiles. As a matter of fact, the great Rabbi Yehuda the Pious writes that someone cheated from a gentile and his children died and he lost his money as a punishment. Does this sound like the Orthodox Talmudists approve stealing from gentiles?
The Talmud, while proscribing stealing, looks to define it in terms of various of the 613 commands, to categorize it technically. Therefore, certain passages about theft apply to all people and some do not. For instance, we are commanded to return the lost objects of our pagan neighbors, and certainly our gentile neighbors, and we must participate in the community, pay our taxes, and certainly not steal. But if we find a pagan's lost chicken, we do not have to take hours of our time to return it. If, however, we want to be pious and sanctify G-d's Name, we do return it, and it is meritorious to return it, but we are not sinners if we do not return it. Recall also that the pagans of the Talmud and bible were very great sinners and murderers, so that should be part of the discussion. Biblical pagans put their children in metal pots and cooked them for the gods. Nonetheless, we may not steal from them. I have a book written by a Holocaust survivor who discusses at length if Jews in the camps were forbidden to steal from the Nazis. One idea is that stealing from a pagan or very vicious person is forbidden because it damages the character of the one who steals, even if the victim of the theft is totally wicked.
The Talmud has many arguments and statements that are understood by scholars but are not understood by others. For instance, if the Talmud is interested in knowing at what age intercourse is intercourse rather than simply a damage, for reasons important to the Talmud, it has a right to study this, but this is not to infer what the haters do that Orthodox Jews sleep with little children. When, historically, have Orthodox Jews slept with little children? The Talmud maintains that intercourse before the age of three is not intercourse in the sense that the child is no longer a virgin. Virginity is very important and must be defined, but this discussion if intercourse at age four or five destroys virginity does not mean that one may sleep with little children.
Maimonides, and this is quoted in the Code of laws, says that anyone who marries a minor has sinned. How can anyone say that Talmudists and Orthodox Jews believe in having sex with little children?
This applies to sex. But marriage itself may be made with minors. This is because in ancient times and even in some communities in recent times, families looked high and low for the right match for their children. When they found it, they sometimes made the match years before the marriage. In this sense, when parents feared that they would miss a good opportunity for their children, they might make the marriage while the child is young, at least the engagement part, while the actual marriage could wait. If someone married a minor and had sex with her this would not be incest or adultery or fornication, but we don't approve or like it. If there was an emergency, or if someone went ahead and had sex with his young wife, this would not be considered child abuse. Today, we may not understand this, but this is a far cry from saying that the Talmud allows sex with children without marriage.
David Eidensohn
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