Torah and Jewish Idea > Torah and Jewish Idea
does the Tanakh explicitly talk about drugs?
Zenith:
--- Quote ---But the difference in Jewish thought may not be the same as what you are thinking.
From what I understand, "Deliberate" sin as it is referred to in the Torah makes a distinction between sinning due to negligence, (which can include falling to temptation) vs. sinning deliberately in order to make an affront to G-d. If someone does a sin because the temptation is too great, that's not making an affront against G-d. If chas veshalom someone says, I know this is forbidden by G-d, but I'm doing this to stick it to G-d and disobey his commands, that is what refers to deliberate sin.
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Yes, that's what I meant, and it's pretty clear from what I've written after that idea. Willfully yielding to temptation is also a "deliberate" sin, but I'm sure we agree on that. Anyway, it's too odd for one to say that he would have normally not sinned by eating the unhealthy food, but he did eat, and thus sinned, because the "temptation" was too great. So I believe that if a man ate an unhealthy food consciously, he ate it by willfully yielded to that temptation.
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--- Quote from: Zenith ---And if offerings were needed for unintentional breaking of commandments, then what to say about deliberately doing something wrong?
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It's quite clear that doing a deliberate sin is worse than doing an negligent sin. You almost imply like I'm disputing that, but we have that distinction in Jewish law, so I don't know what you're getting at.
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That was a simple rhetorical question, to emphasize that it's evil to deliberately eat unhealthy foods (if indeed harming yourself is sin).
Don't worry, my purpose in this discussion is not to accuse you, nor to complain to you, etc. I just try to find logic about the "unhealthy" sin I hear everywhere.
--- Quote ---Um yeah, ok, but just like you understood there is a difference in degree in sin, so too there is a difference in degree in the concept of "unhealthy." You simply cannot equate taking a poison to having a donut. Sorry.
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But the fact that there is a difference in degree in sin, it doesn't mean that deliberately doing lesser sins is ok. Unlike how having a donut is for the health. Which means that it is important that the lesser sins not be done.
Also, regarding the degree of harming yourself you've specified... is smoking one cigarette a sin?
Zenith:
--- Quote ---The missionaries tried to tell the Jews that even though G-d said "Do this," they missionaries have determined it's impossible to 'do this' every time without fail (and it's also impossible to do all of them - that's a separate complaint), therefore what G-d said about "doing this" is no longer in affect, since they decided that we can't possibly do it and you Jews can't possibly have allegiance to his laws because the laws were made impossible to keep. You silly Jews just haven't realized for thousands of years that trying to keep them is not what G-d intended when he told you to keep them!
This whole warped notion is not even worth addressing. G-d gave commandments to MAN. G-d knows that man is not perfect and G-d does not expect that man will be perfect. G-d still obligates us to try.
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I agree with your view, in the greatest part. But "It is possible to keep all the commandments one is obligated in" still sounds to me to include without failure, given the fact that G-d actually obligates people to try (do their best) to keep the commandments, when telling them to keep them. Or how can a man really keep the law if he is constantly or periodically breaking it?
That's why offerings were required, even for the unintentional sins: because all could not have been kept without falling. That is, in ordered for a man to be guiltless according to the law, and to G-d, after braking a law, an animal's life must have been paid for the sin(s), because "it is the blood that atones for the soul".
muman613:
--- Quote from: Zenith on February 27, 2011, 04:57:55 PM ---I agree with your view, in the greatest part. But "It is possible to keep all the commandments one is obligated in" still sounds to me to include without failure, given the fact that G-d actually obligates people to try (do their best) to keep the commandments, when telling them to keep them. Or how can a man really keep the law if he is constantly or periodically breaking it?
That's why offerings were required, even for the unintentional sins: because all could not have been kept without falling. That is, in ordered for a man to be guiltless according to the law, and to G-d, after braking a law, an animal's life must have been paid for the sin(s), because "it is the blood that atones for the soul".
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Today, without the Temple we do not need blood to atone for sin. Every year we have the Yom Kippur service during which we learn and pray in the manner of reliving the Yom Kippur offerings.
When we rebuild the Temple we we once again make the offerings for the unintentional sinners.
muman613:
During the Yom Kippur liturgy we learn that our sins are atoned for through three things:
1) Tefillah - Prayer/Connection
2) Tzadakkah - Charity/Righteousness
3) Teshuva - Repentence/Return
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/4453/jewish/Teshuvah-Tefilla-and-Tzedakah.htm
--- Quote ---Teshuvah and Repentance
"Repentance" in Hebrew is not teshuvah but charatah. Not only are these two terms not synonymous. They are opposites.
Charatah implies remorse or a feeling of guilt about the past and an intention to behave in a completely new way in the future. The person decides to become "a new man." But teshuvah means "returning" to the old, to one's original nature.
Underlying the concept of teshuvah is the fact that the Jew is, in essence, good. Desires or temptations may deflect him temporarily from being himself, being true to his essence.
But the bad that he does is not part of, nor does it affect, his real nature. Teshuvah is a return to the self.
While repentance involves dismissing the past and starting anew, teshuvah means going back to one's roots in G-d and exposing them as one's true character.
For this reason, while the righteous have no need to repent, and the wicked may be unable to, both may do teshuvah.
The righteous, though they have never sinned, have constantly to strive to return to their innermost. And the wicked, however distant they are from G-d, can always return, for teshuvah does not involve creating anything new, only rediscovering the good that was always within them.
Tefillah and Prayer
"Prayer" in Hebrew is not tefillah but bakashah. And again these terms are opposites. Bakashah means to pray, request, beseech. But tefillah means, to attach oneself.
In bakashah the person asks G-d to provide him, from above, with what he lacks. Therefore when he is not in need of anything, or feels no desire for a gift from above, bakashah becomes redundant.
But in tefillah the person seeks to attach himself to G-d. It is a movement from below, from man, reaching towards G-d. And this is something appropriate to everyone and at every time.
The Jewish soul has a bond with G-d. But it also inhabits a body, whose preoccupation with the material world may attenuate that bond.
So it has constantly to be strengthened and renewed. This is the function of tefillah. And it is necessary for every Jew.
For while there may be those who do not lack anything and thus have nothing to request of G-d, there is no-one who does not need to attach himself to the source of all life.
Tzedakah and Charity
The Hebrew for "charity" is not tzedakah but chessed. And again these two words have opposite meanings.
Chessed, charity, implies that the recipient has no right to the gift and that the donor is under no obligation to give it. He gives it gratuitously, from the goodness of his heart. His act is a virtue rather than a duty.
On the other hand tzedakah means righteousness or justice. The implication is that the donor gives because it is his duty. For, firstly, everything in the world belongs ultimately to G-d. A man's possessions are not his by right. Rather, they are entrusted to him by G-d, and one of the conditions of that trust is that he should give to those who are in need.
Secondly, a man has a duty to act towards others as he asks G-d to act towards him. And as we ask G-d for His blessings though He owes us nothing and is under no obligation, so we are bound in justice to give to those who ask us, even though we are in no way in their debt. In this way we are rewarded: Measure for measure. Because we give freely, G-d gives freely to us.
This applies in particular to the tzedakah which is given to support the institutions of Torah learning. For everyone who is educated in these institutions is a future foundation of a house in Israel, and a future guide to the coming generation. This will be the product of his tzedakah - and his act is the measure of his reward.
Three Paths
These are the three paths which lead to a year "written and sealed" for good.
By returning to one's innermost self (teshuvah), by attaching oneself to G-d (tefillah) and by distributing one's possessions with righteousness (tzedakah), one turns the promise of Rosh Hashanah into the abundant fulfillment of Yom Kippur: A year of sweetness and plenty.1
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http://www.pirkeavos.com/2007/chapter-1-mishna-2-the-three-pillars/
Zenith:
--- Quote from: muman613 ---Today, without the Temple we do not need blood to atone for sin. Every year we have the Yom Kippur service during which we learn and pray in the manner of reliving the Yom Kippur offerings.
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However, the manner of reliving the Yom Kippur offerings is not the same as the Yom Kippur offerings themselves. Anyway, it is written that it is the blood that atones for the soul, not that learning and praying.
And it is interesting that, it seems that there are different ways, or different meanings of the forgiveness of God:
--- Quote from: Amos 7.8 ---Behold I place a plumbline in the midst of My people Israel; I will no longer pardon them
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It seems that God forgave the Jews while they were intentionally sinning, until that point: By the fact that He did not punish them as He decided now.
But this 'forgiveness'/'pardon' is not "atonement for the sin".
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