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Questions about Judaism

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Sox7:
My background is Christian, so I am quite ignorant about some of these points, and these are questions I had:

1.) What is the Jewish belief on the creation of the world and life? Do they believe in a literal 6 days of creation, as some Christians do, or do they believe in 6 "undefined ages" that would allow for an old earth geology and evolution?

2.) What is the Jewish belief regarding eternal life? Is there a resurrection of the dead? What happens to the spirit between the moment of death and the resurrection of the body? Is there an eternal hell?

3.) Are there angels, demons, Satan, etc. who are actively involved in human destiny?

4.) How long will Messiah rule? Is it an eternal rule, 1000 years, something else?

muman613:
Wow, you have asked a lot of questions.

I usually try to answer peoples questions about Judaism. But some of the ideas you are asking are very deep and complex to explain.

Let me give short and simple answers:

1) Creation of the world.

It is not necessary to believe in a literal 6 days of creation. There are those sages who explain that before the sun and the stars were created there was no concept of a 24-hour day, and thus the days may actually be 1000s of years in our time today. There is also the concept that the story is an allegory for the reason Hashem {G-d} created mankind.

There have been many discussions on evolution on this forum. Personally I don't subscribe to that belief. But it is not against the Torah to believe that, as we certainly believe that science is a tool given by Hashem for us to understand the wonderful world which he created for us.

2. Eternal Life

Yes, we believe in Olam Haba which means 'The World to Come'. We believe that our souls are judged after death, and our mitzvot {deeds} are weighed on a scale. Our sins are weighed also, and depending on whether we reached the potential which we were created with, we are rewarded with the pleasure of Olam Haba. If we have transgressed we are punished in a place called Gehennom, which is called Hell by some... But our punishment there is not eternal as it acts only as a purification for our souls so that they may be rewarded in Gan Eden {Paradise/Heaven}.

We have the belief in Ressurection of the Dead. After the age of Moshiach comes all the Jewish souls, and those righteous souls, will walk again. Our souls will re-inhabit our bodies. It is one of the 13 major principles of Jewish faith to believe in the Resurrection.

3. Angels & Demons

Yes, we believe in angels and demons. But they are not like they are portrayed in common Christian imagery. The Hebrew word for angel is Molach, which also means messenger. In the Torah the angel is a power created by Hashem in order to influence physical events in the world. An angel is sent on a particular mission, and its name represents its mission.

Demons are created by humans through their sinful acts. Our demons will testify against us on judgment day. This is also the concept of Satan, who is the lead prosecutor on judgment day. The word Satan in Hebrew means Prosecutor, and he also acts as the Yetzer Hara, which is the personal force inside all of us to do evil {Yetzer Hara=Evil Inclination}.

4. Messiah

The Moshiach is the anointed king of Israel. When Moshiach comes he will usher in an era of great change. There are many different interpretations of the events which will occur. The Prophets discuss this event quite often. One of the concepts is that he will rule for 1000 years before the Resurrection of the Dead.

If you are interested in more in-depth discussion please ask.

Here is an interesting discussion on Jewish Eschatology  : http://www.aish.com/jl/l/a/48943926.html

muman613:
Here is a short excerpt from this Aish article:

Reincarnation and Jewish Tradition
by Yaakov Astor
Does Judaism believe in reincarnation?

The word eschatology is defined in the dictionary as a branch of theology concerned with the final events of the history of the world. The truth is that eschatology is not exclusively the domain of religion. The most striking example of a secular eschatology would be Marxism: the convulsions and agonies of the class war, its evils resolving themselves into the classless society, the withering of the state and the blissful existence ever after.

Jewish eschatology is made up of three basic pieces:

   1. "The Era of the Messiah."
   2. "The Afterlife."
   3. "The World of Resurrection."

The Messiah, according to traditional Jewish sources, will be a human being born of a flesh and blood mother and father,1 unlike the Christian idea that has him as the son of G-d conceived immaculately. In fact, Maimonides writes that the Messiah will complete his job and then die like everyone else. 2

What's his job? To end the agony of history and usher in a new era of bliss for humanity at large.3 The time period in which he emerges and completes his task is called the Messianic Era. According to one Talmudic opinion it's not an era of overt miracles, where the rules of nature are overturned. Rather the only new element introduced to the world will be peace among the nations, with the Jewish people living in their land under their own sovereignty, unencumbered by persecution and anti-Semitism, free to pursue their spiritual goals like never before.4

The Afterlife proper is called in the traditional sources olam habah, or the World to Come. However, the same term, "olam habah," is also used to refer to the renewed utopic world of the future -- the World of Resurrection, olam hat'chiah (as explained in the next paragraph). 5 The former is the place righteous souls go to after death -- and they have been going there since the first death. That place is also sometimes called the World of Souls. 6 It's a place where souls exist in a disembodied state, enjoying the pleasures of closeness to G-d. Thus, genuine near death experiences are presumably glimpses into the World of Souls, the place most people think of when the term Afterlife is mentioned.

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muman613:
Ok, you got me going....

Here is a little excerpt from an article on angels, and it is very timely because we have been reading these portions of the Torah as the weekly Shabbat readings these last couple of weeks.


http://www.aish.com/tp/b/mt/48951236.html

Understanding the Angels
by Rabbi Max Weiman

Jacob encounters angels in several places, for example during his ladder dream (Genesis 28:12), and again in Genesis 31:10 and 32:2. It seems that more than anyone else in the Bible, Jacob has a special affinity for "angel contact."

What's an angel?

In English the expression "You're an angel," is always used in a positive sense. It seems many people are under the impression that the spiritual realm is only good. Yet an angel was sent to destroy Sodom. And we're all familiar with the famous "bad" angel called Satan. So we see that angels can do both "good" and "bad."

The Hebrew word for angel is malach, which actually can also mean a messenger, even a non-angel. An angel is merely a messenger of the Almighty; sometimes the messenger is sent to do something positive, sometimes it's sent to carry out a punishment or negative consequence, and sometimes it's sent to test a person.

Free will is the main thing that separates mankind from angels, and makes us more like God. Angels are bound to do God's will and can do nothing else. Even Satan, the angel created to test us with moral challenges, is only doing exactly what the Almighty wants him to do. He is a messenger.

Angels are absorbed in the spiritual realm. They have form without physicality. They are pure conduits for the Infinite to have an influence in our realm. God doesn't "need" them, but he uses them to bridge the gap between the finite and the Infinite.

If you look up at the heavens at night, you will see more stars than you can count. The stars are an analogy to angels. There are more than you can count. Each angel has a job to do and there is a hierarchy amongst all of them, with categories of angels in higher and lower positions.

* * *

YOU, TOO

You also have "angel contact" without realizing it.

    Every blade of grass has an angel that hits it and says "grow." (Zohar)

Every event in your life, great and small, good and bad, happens because God causes an angel to act through His grand system of the spiritual infrastructure. The difference with Jacob was that he was sufficiently attuned to actually recognize the angel involvement.

There was a time when people detected the accompaniment of angels and would say a short prayer to them when they parted. Although I don't know how many people can say they feel the presence of angels on the way home from synagogue on Shabbat, but even to this day the custom is to sing a song to the angels at the Friday night table.

* * *

COMMANDING THE ANGELS

Queen Esther, the mystics say, employed a demon to sleep with King Achashverosh so she wouldn't have to. Joseph did the same with the wife of Potiphar, but he was eventually discovered. The Talmud relates how King Solomon forced an angel to give him information he wanted.

Jewish tradition has numerous accounts of people having the ability to coerce different angels to do their bidding. Sometimes it's because the person was so holy that he was given this ability by God, as it says in Pirkei Avot, "Do His will, and He will do yours." If you follow the will of the Infinite in your life, you have the special merit of having God put His angels at your call.

The Kabbalistic writings contain the knowledge of incantations that can coerce angels to do you bidding. If, however, you are not spiritually strong enough for this act, it will seriously harm you. In other words, play with fire and you may get burned.

* * *

muman613:
In case you were wondering about the 13 principles of faith according to the great Jewish sage RaMBaM.


http://www.ou.org/torah/rambam.htm

THE RAMBAM'S THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES
OF JEWISH FAITH

1. I believe with perfect faith that G-d is the Creator and Ruler of all things. He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.

2. I believe with perfect faith that G-d is One. There is no unity that is in any way like His. He alone is our G-d He was, He is, and He will be.

3. I believe with perfect faith that G-d does not have a body. physical concepts do not apply to Him. There is nothing whatsoever that resembles Him at all.

4. I believe with perfect faith that G-d is first and last.

5. I believe with perfect faith that it is only proper to pray to G-d. One may not pray to anyone or anything else.

6. I believe with perfect faith that all the words of the prophets are true.

7. I believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses is absolutely true. He was the chief of all prophets, both before and after Him.

8. I believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that we now have is that which was given to Moses.

9. I believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be changed, and that there will never be another given by G-d.

10. I believe with perfect faith that G-d knows all of man's deeds and thoughts. It is thus written (Psalm 33:15), "He has molded every heart together, He understands what each one does."

11. I believe with perfect faith that G-d rewards those who keep His commandments, and punishes those who transgress Him.

12. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah. How long it takes, I will await His coming every day.

13. I believe with perfect faith that the dead will be brought back to life when G-d wills it to happen.

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