This is the Torah Truth. Below are those basic principles of the Rabbinical Judaism formed over the millenniums, which contradict direct wording of recorded Divine Covenant and, as a result, bring about a flood of the follow up misconceptions.
Oral Torah
Invention of Oral Torah brought about a floodgate of theoretical misconceptions which are out of touch and against the Recorded Words of Moses. It would take many volumes to cite those misconceptions rooted in Talmud and put them against the words of Torah for the human common sense to judge, yet here we will only provide a quote which for any sincerely thinking human being must be sufficient without need for further details:
God said to Moses, “Write these words down for yourself, because it is through these words coming from my mouth that I have made a covenant with you and with Israel” (Exodus, 34:27, Covenant is to be recorded by Moses because … it is the Covenant)
It is interesting to note here that not only God foresaw the possibility of distorting His words unless His words be recorded, as can be seen from above quote,but, even more, He explains His purpose to prevent such distortions:
Everything which I command you, that shall you observe to do: you shall not add to it, nor shall you remove from it. (Deuteronomy 13:1, Moses warned against any amendments to this recorded Covenant which he spelled out in his last speech in the book of Devarim )
The way of proper usage of the Written Covenant also … was recorded.
Here how it suppose to be used by a king:
And it will be when he (the king ) sits securely on the throne of his kingdom he shall write a copy of this Torah for himself on a scroll copying from the one kept by Kohanim of the tribe of Levi. It shall be with him and he shall read from it all the days of his life so that he will learn to fear YHVH his God to keep all the words of this Torah and these decrees to carry them out. (Deuteronomy, 17:18-19, explicitly stated that the source of the Divine Law to follow for a king shall be a written copy of “this Torah” written by Moshe)
And here how it suppose to be used by people:
… when you obey the voice of YHVH your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of Torah; when you turn to YHVH your God with all your heart, and with all your soul. Because this Law which I command you today is not hidden from you and it is not far away from you. (Deuteronomy 30:10, there are no hidden hints to be revealed by additional writings, it is “not hidden from you”)
It can be safely stated that all other misconceptions of modern Rabbinical Judaism could only creep into Judaism due to this gate wide open to allow all the ideas which go against Torah. The only “justification” of all those new “added” ideas go like this – that there are “hints” in Torah which are “explained” to us in “Oral Torah”… If “Oral Torah” were not allowed to take root in Jewish mind (simply for a single reason of the God’s words in Exodus 34:27), all those misconceptions would loose there foundation.
Here is a very limited list of some of the misconceptions “based” on the “Oral Tradition” only, though not supported by Written Torah:
– Idea of Moshiah/Messiah
-Idea of Olam Habaa / The World To Come
– Idea that the text of the Written Torah cannot be understood by common people but by studying the commentaries of the Jewish sages
-Idea that Jewishness as a lineage is passed by individual’s mother (direct opposite to the all texts of Tanach/Bible)
– Rabbinical introduction of the monogamy against all the texts of the recorded books of Tanach
– Rabbinical replacement of the direct commandment of God with the Godly related punishment for it’s rejection: Commandment of Yibum replaced with performance of Halitza (there must be related post on this topic. Although it is not quite relevant to our modern lives, yet it is very revealing as example how arrogant is the act of making into the “God’s commandment” the God’s prescribed punishment, which Rabbinical “law” presents as God’s commandment instead! What was the Rabbinical purpose to do that? The answer is – to make Divinely “legal” the introduction of monogamy, because God’s commandment of Yibum makes monogamy impossible.)
– Multitudes of the Rabbinical rituals incorporated into the Jewish “tradition” presented as a part of the covenant and even to be performed as a direct command from God (even Jewish prayers include a direct wording regarding God’s commandment to perform … this and that, which are not mentioned and could not be mentioned in Torah because the events, related to the introduced tradition, happened centuries after the revelation at Sinai. Just as example: Traditional Jewish prayer commemorating the miracles of the Hanukkah spells out, “God Who commanded us to light the Hanukkah Menorah”…)
Moshiah / Messiah
This Rabbinical invention, nowhere mentioned in Torah, has in fact incredibly damaging impact on understanding of Torah which we have to reveal here. This Rabbinical misconception misled not only Jewish people away from knowing God through His written word but it also misled a gentile world – it became a basic foundation of Christianity. As it was stated above so goes in here: this idea is “revealed” in “Oral Torah”…
It is important to understand the impact of such believe – how this principle contradicts God’s Torah and, as a result, it pulls individual away from knowing and understanding God.
The believe in Moshiah/Messiah introduces a mediator in a human form into the relationship between the Nation of Israel and God. The same applies to the relationship between individual and God.
Torah repeats many times in many ways the same basic idea:
Today I put before you a blessing and a curse. The blessing if you give ear to the orders of the YHVH your God, which I give you this day . And the curse if you do not give ear to the orders of the YHVH your God, but let yourselves be turned from the way which I have put before you this day, and go after other gods which are not yours. (Deuteronomy 11:26-11:28)
There is no mediator here. The premise is – the blessings do not come in the future, but right NOW just as the curses do , if Israel does not follow the Divine Law. Following the Covenant does not depend on any mediator to position between Israel and God.
Covenant is recorded. Law is known. The outcome of the choices made by Israel and individual is well described – this is what the Holly Book is for. What is there for the mediator to do?
Rabbinical answer – Mashiah is needed to know, for example:
when to start building the Temple
who is Amalekites … to start a war with them
who is true Kohen …
and many many other “issues” which are not true issues at all but made into the issues in Rabbinical unconscious wish to escape actual demand of Torah for the immediate actions right now…
Analyzing some examples from above:
The Temple should be rebuilt right now without delay – for there is no and cannot be Divinely prescribed “delay” to keep Jewish people away from building a “House of God”. Any procrastination on this matter only shows either lack of dedication to God or fear of goim world above and instead of the fear of God. Hence the idea of Moshiah is a “formal” way to run away from the commitment to serve our God. (The very fact of not acting on this topic brings many tragedies to Israel, – the topic in itself, resulting in political action versus non-action, beyond the scope of this article)
The principle of Moshiah, as a “politically correct” way to refrain from fighting the Amalekites of today is bringing about even more tragedies to Jewish people worldwide. This misconception and it’s consequences are discussed in more details in our post http://www.torahtruth.org/2008/05/amalek/ .
There are too many concepts based on this Messianic mediator between the Nation of Israel and God, to be analyzed or even mentioned here in this article. Yet, this idea has a very deep damaging impact on Jewish thinking and understanding of the Divine Law.
It is helpful for understanding of the misleading nature of this concept, also to understand why it was introduced.
Knowing human history predating the story of Jews, one can learn that in many ways the idea of a “super-human” (or we can call him a “super-man”) who acts as a mediator between man and God has it’s place in any people’s tradition … The mythology / theology of the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Indians, Chinese, American Indians, and so on, are all including the special role of the special super-human who acts as a mediator between God (or gods) and men. This Jewish idea of Messiah is no different – it just follows the worldwide tradition of other nations. It is well known that the Egyptian Pharaohs proclaimed themselves being such a “representatives” of God on Earth… Irony is that one of the major lessons of the story of Exodus is that during the story of Exodus, God displays His power in order to punish all of Egypt for their trust in their multiple man-made gods and also punishment of the arrogance of their “human representative on Earth” – the Pharaoh himself, who’s firstborn son died in the last plague.
Yet, Jews replaced the Pharaoh, as a human representative of God on Earth, with a similar Jewish version – the Jewish Messiah. Like the Pharaoh, he will also be a human, he will also be a messenger / representative of God on Earth but, unlikely Pharaoh, he will be good to the Jews…
It is significant to notice that Jewish version of the Super-human exists only in the future. It could be perceived as natural, since there is no such human today. Yet, this future tense introduces another deficiency into the Jewish thinking today – many actions suggested and even prescribed by God in His Torah to follow in our everyday life, are postponed until that special time in the future when Moshiah comes… Whence it is not for now…
Another way to refrain from many actions required by Godly way of life…
Olam Habaa – World To Come
Another damaging idea is Olam Habaa – the World to Come. As already mentioned in the section above while discussing the concept of Moshiah, many God’ s prescribed actions are postponed until the future when Moshiah comes and that idea is The World To Come. It is obvious that this concept is attached to the concept of Moshiah and cannot be explained other than necessity, the need, of arrival of that special God’s messenger without whom Jews cannot act upon many mitzvot prescribed by the Creator… All that set of mitzvot which Jews refuse to act upon now will be committed to in that future when He, the Moshiah, is here on earth.
The whole concept is nothing but a theological concept canceling / banning many Divinely required actions right now, today, any day, actions required as a way of Living Daily Life in God’s way – following the Derech Hashem…
This concept also erases the immediate nature of the God’s rewards or punishments depending on the way Israel chooses. Applying this concept it became easy for Rabbinical theology to escape inevitable confusion in trying to explain the nature of the Holocaust for example. Instead of seeing the explanation in the text of Torah, they say – “The reward of Martyrs will come in the World To Come” … whence no explanation of “why” for now …
But Torah says that the rewards, if they are due, come in this life!
And BTW, the hole idea of martyrdom is due to be discussed … as it is not mentioned in Torah either …
Main Lesson of Torah
Torah states it as a primary law above any other laws
“to love your God with all your heart and all you soul and all your strength” (Deuteronomy, made into the main Jewish Prayer – “Shma Israel”).
Instead Judaism accepted as a main law a quote from Hillel to “love your neighbor as yourself”as a single sentence representing the whole Torah. Many other delusions sprout from this one. This is nothing less than a complete replacement of the true foundation of Torah with the fake one developed in Rabbinical Judaism in the course of history.
Above misconception leads to another false principle: the most important is Jewish Unity. – Or is it? Than why did God love Pinchas for … killing the leader of the Shimon tribe? Why God elevated Levites among all the tribes for the only reason (as spelled out by God) that they killed 6,000 Jews (even their own brothers as Torah says) in the aftermath of the golden calf affair. What kind of the Jewish Unity does this display? And why God allowed all the tribes to go ahead to battle the tribe of Benjamin to the near extinction as per book of Judges? Why He commanded to kill and burn down any city in Israel which turns away from His Ways? Why God repeats so many times in His Torah
” You will not allow wickedness in your midst” (Deuteronomy, repeated in 13:5, 17:7, 17:12, 19:19, 21:21, 22:21, 22:22,22:24, 24:7 )
Reversing this principle dramatically misplaced the foundation of understanding of right versus wrong in His Torah.
Resurrection of the dead
Another deep misconception is Jewish believe in the resurrection of the dead. Based on the book of prophets, it was well understood at the time of the Jewish commentator Philo 2,000 years ago that such concepts can only be understood symbolically because a literal acceptance of the idea of the resurrection of the dead is a worldwide pagan tradition. Rambam (who BTW is proclaimed to be a “commentator number 2” by Rabbinical authorities) suggested to understand this only symbolically, yet, his approach was overwritten with opinion of the “commentator number 1” (Rashi).
Importance of the Jewish sages and their commentaries to understand Torah
In no way anybody can dismiss the role of some of the Jewish sages some of whom carried the title of Rabbi. Throughout this website one of them is quoted too often to miss – Rambam. The importance of the ancient works of the Philo (who was a Pharisee, a branch of Judaism predating and spawning the institution of the Rabbis) must be truly appreciated without necessarily delving into the speculations on how much did he represent the Pharisees of his time. The depth of the wisdom in the writings of the Rabbi Bachya Ben Yoseph Ibn Pakuda of the 11th century Spain (“Duties Of the Heart”) provides enormous wisdom to the Jewish readers.
Yet, this section will deal with a Rabbinical misconception which is usually stated as follows: “You cannot understand Torah without commentaries of our sages“.
We can easily refute this concept by quoting a very clear wording by God recorded in His Recorded Covenant – the Torah, addressing each and every individual Jew, and be done with this topic:
This mandate that I am prescribing you today is not mysterious or far away from you. It is not in the heaven as if to say “Who shall go up to heaven and bring it to us so that we can hear it and keep it? It is not across the sea as if to say: “Who will cross the sea and get it for us, so that we will be able to hear it and keep it?” It is something that is very close to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can keep it. ( Deuteronomy 30:11-14)
Yet, this Rabbinical opinion is so much damaging the individual trust in his own individual abilities to learn and understand the Divine Law that we have to bring more light from Torah into this dark corner of our “tradition”.
God said, “Let us make a man with our image and resemblance.” (Genesis, 1:26)
How and when the creature, made in the image and resemblance of God Himself, become so stupid that the Divine Book, intended for his personal consumption, became inaccessible for his mind but only to the exceptional “sages”, who suppose to be “identified” by the institution of ordained Rabbis only?
Let us try to classify their role according to the Torah or to the books of the Prophets.
Are those sages Prophets who have a prophetic vision, which we, the regular individuals, do not possess? – No. They don’t claim to be prophets.
Was their authority pointed out by Torah? Often Rabbis answer this question by pointing at the Torah requirement for Israel to follow their sages but this brings to another question “who” are those “sages” – or “elders”, mentioned in Torah and who are the acknowledged “sages” of today? Those cannot be the same as those in the time of Moses were the elders chosen by Moses himself, on another hand, who gave authority to today’s Rabbis? The other Rabbis who ordained them?
Let’s take another example – whom do you consider as your “accepted” sage – Yehuda Hadasi – 12th century Karaite or Saadia Gaon ? Depending to which branch of Judaism you belong, you would choose one over another which brings the Torah commandment to obey the sages to the point of confusion – you are on your own to decide whom do you consider a sage… So anybody’s authority for you to rely on Torah interpretation already lays within the realm of your current way of thinking even to choose who’s interpretation you agree to follow!
Antisemitism is a part of this Created World
Tragedies of the Jewish people over the centuries are not result of the kind of a “Divine plot” hinted at by the Rabbinical concept that the Antisemitism was “put in place” in this world since the time of Sinai revelation… No, it is not. God clearly said in Torah that
If only you keep the commandments of YHVH your God and walk in His path, God will establish you as His nation, as He promised you. All the nations of the world will realize that God’s name is associated with you and they will be in awe of you. (Deuteronomy 28:9-10)
Antisemitism is not to be present in this world if we follow God’s Torah. He promised this. Otherwise …
All the Yeshivot with their Rabbis and congregations in Eastern Europe (with one exception of Mir Yeshiva) were killed in the Holocaust. We are not minimizing the responsibility of the culprit nations who in the end will share the same fate as the Philistines in our past, yet, to understand our history in light of the Divine words mentioned above, to understand our current situation and to know what is coming, we must be honest with ourselves. There is no other way.
According to Torah, all our tragedies point out to the gruesome fact – something is wrong with our way of thinking, our culture, our tradition, our theology…
But if you do not listen to Me and do not keep my commandments … I will then do the same to you … I will bring upon you feeling of anxiety with depression and excitement, destroying your outlook and making life miserable. ( Leviticus, 26:16) I will scatter you among the nations and keep the sword drawn against you (26:33) You will then be destroyed among the nations. The land of your enemies will consume you. (26:38)
Our minds, our culture and religious traditions, our theology must have being out of touch with God for too long to suffer the implementation of His 3400 years old warnings …
But what could be a reason to invent such absurd theory of the “Divinely constructed” antisemitism going radically against the God’s words of Torah?
Because, otherwise, Rabbis would have to do a very detail soul searching into their Rabbinical tradition pointing to the similarity between our Jewish tragedies on one hand and the Divine warning recorded in our Torah, on the other. Then to find out, how the lives of Jewish people today, based on their millennium long process of newly inventing and “upgrading” Jewish tradition , could draw the disasters as warned by the text of Torah… and to explain where the idea of martyrdom come from, if it is not in Torah …
To conclude this painful topic, I will quote one of the best known Rabbinical sage, Rabbi Moshe Maimonides / Rambam ( Rambam speaks in metaphor to categorize people by their attitude towards finding God. ):
“Those who are in the country, but turned their backs towards the King’s palace (metaphorical “place of God”, ed.) are those who possess a religion, belief, and thought , but happen to hold false doctrines, which they either adopted in consequence of great mistakes made in their own speculations, or received from others who misled them (doctrines passed as tradition, ed.). Because of these doctrines they recede more and more from the royal palace the more they seem to proceed. These are worst than the first class (first class – “people living abroad” – the atheists in this metaphor, ed.), and under certain circumstances it may become necessary for God to slay them, and exterminate their doctrines, in order that others should not be misled.” ( “Guide For The Perplexed”, Book 3, Chapter 51. Fully quoted on our site here )
More on the Holocaust (though with most discussion based on modern Israel’s politics with some limited religious analysis) read this post on the Holocaust:
