Ask me about Judaism

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Ask me about Judaism

Cat Wings: Oct 12, 2012

MrWilderheap posted:

I'd be interested to hear more about the origins of Reform Judaism, or any of the other branches.

What does converting to Judaism entail? Is there a ceremony? Do men who convert get circumcised?

Reform Judaism split sometime in the 1800s I believe (could be wrong), and conservative Judaism split from reform some time after that. Each branch generally considers the people in the other branches legitimate, although they might not agree with all the practices.

In conservative and orthodox, conversion requires several years of study, following the rules very strictly, and then an examination by a beit din (kind of like a thesis defense). Men get circumscribed, if they already are they get a ceremonial nick, and they go through a ritual bath in a mikveh.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2015 17:39

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 13:29

Cat Wings: Oct 12, 2012

Green_Machine posted:

I can see that, although what would probably lead me to stop short is the thought of letting another person cut off part of my penis.

I guess no one can do more than speculate, but I wonder if the origin of that requirement isn't to make conversion more appealing for women than for men. There's a reason that the only convert in the Tanach was a woman, right? I vaguely remember that there's one story where an ancient tribe agrees to convert to Judaism en masse, and the Jews in the story take advantage of their post-circumcision weakness to slaughter all of their men and steal their stuff. I think if you don't get cut when you're born, circumcision is an exceptionally hard door to walk through later in life.

That story, if I remember correctly, is of a city that stole two of Jacob's daughters and had their way with them, and then when they were making a treaty with the Israelites later, they made circumcision part of the deal, and then went in and did the whole slaughtering thing.

As for reasons to convert, in traditional Judaism at least, there isn't any. It is actually generally discouraged, and potential converts are often told by Rabbis that it isn't worth it. It isn't like Christianity or Islam where the conversion is rather simple, conversion to Judaism (in traditional, aka Conservative and Orthodox circles at least) requires years of study, and an examination by a beit din (a court made of several Rabbis).

# ¿ Jul 8, 2015 04:56

Cat Wings: Oct 12, 2012

JcDent posted:

Maybe it's discouraged so that only the ones who really, really want it remained?

Pretty much exactly this. You have to show that you really want it. It's a life long commitment. You can't stop being a Jew once you are one (in the eyes of Jewish law at least).

Green_Machine posted:

So what's the "official" word on non-Jews participating alongside Jews in worship and other religious activities? I have a number of Jewish friends and they invite me along for naming ceremonies, holidays, etc... both those are more like special occasions. If I just show up for Shabbat services every Saturday week after week, Torah study, and other events, is a Rabbi eventually going to be like "This is weird, why do you keep coming here? Our services are really for Jews only." Is it possible to participate long-term as an unofficial Jew? I'm talking Reform here. I'm not hung up on labels, but I enjoy the services and community.

From the Orthodox and Conservative shuls I've gone too, they aren't really going to care for the most part, as long as you're respectful and follow along with what others are doing. No one is going to ask if you're a Jew or anything, but if they ask you to perform an honour (holding the torah, saying a blessing, whatever), then you should probably let them know you aren't Jewish, and they'll find someone else to do it.

Enophos posted:

Fair enough. Black is not a part of Biblical Judaism. Even on Yom Kippur, the "Day of Atonement" Jews are not commanded to wear black. The observances are:

No eating and drinking
No wearing of leather shoes
No bathing or washing
No anointing oneself with perfumes or lotions
No marital relations

I don't know how black became a custom in Judaism.

I'm pretty sure its the custom to wear white on Yom Kippur actually, although most people tend not to follow that outside of like, a white kippah (white formal clothes aren't exactly common).

e:

AGirlWonder posted:

This reminds me, what's the deal with Dinah in Judaism? The translations I've read (which are coming out of Christian traditions) don't actually indicate that she was raped, but that's how Christians usually spin it. Is that something we've gotten from Jewish tradition?

I just checked an online chumash with translation that chabad has, and welp, it pretty clearly looks like rape.

Genesis 34:2 posted:

And Shechem the son of Hamor, the Hivvite, the prince of the land, saw her, and he took her, lay with her, and violated her

Pretty rapey.

Cat Wings fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Jul 9, 2015

# ¿ Jul 9, 2015 06:05

Cat Wings: Oct 12, 2012

waitwhatno posted:

Two questions:

- Jews have been extremely overrepresented in important works of science and mathematics in the last hundred years. And not just the important stuff, but also the really groundbreaking, revolutionary research. Do you think there is some specific cultural factor that's responsible for this? What is the general attitude toward intellectual and manual work in your family?

- I'm not sure I really get how the special relationship between god and the Jewish people works. All people are equal before god, but Jews get to have a closer spiritual relationship with him anyway? How is that equal, especially when you have to be born into this privileged relationship?

First question is hard to answer, and aside from a general tradition of studying and scholarship being encouraged, can't really answer.

Second question: the special relationship is generally seen as Jews having more responsibilities. We are expected to follow a much larger set of rules than non-Jews, and we don't really gain anything out of it. A non-Jew can get all the rewards that a Jew would get, just by being a decent person. The metaphor I've often heard used for it is that we've been chosen to stay behind and clean the blackboard after class.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2015 20:42

Cat Wings: Oct 12, 2012

Xander77 posted:

How the poo poo do you go from "do not cook a kid in its mothers milk" to "construct your entire dietary system around a strict separation of all meat products from all milk products, up to, including, and beyond having separate dish sets for each"? I know the Ethiopian Jews are just like... "k, we won't cook kids in their mothers milk. If we want to be extra-extra strict about that poo poo, we won't cook goats in milk, period".

Basically it comes from there being the written and the oral Torah. The written Torah is what most people know, but the oral Torah is considered just as important. The oral Torah is like case law for the legislation that is the written Torah. So from don't cook a kid in its mother's milk, you get a whole bunch of things about how you're supposed to respect an animals life, and eating meat (dead animal) at the same time as milk (life giving substance) is disrespectful, and you shouldn't combine them in a meal. Kashrut also has a ton more laws to it regarding what you can and can't eat and how to properly cleanse eating materials. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashrut

# ¿ Oct 5, 2015 20:14

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