Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site masscomp.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!houxz!vax135!floyd!harpo!decvax!genrad!grkermit!masscomp!trb From: trb@masscomp.UUCP (Andy Tannenbaum) Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish Subject: Re: Assertions of jewishness by reform and Conservative Jews (long) Message-ID: <312@masscomp.UUCP> Date: Fri, 1-Jun-84 17:51:40 EDT Article-I.D.: masscomp.312 Posted: Fri Jun 1 17:51:40 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 5-Jun-84 19:57:57 EDT References: eosp1.890 <285@wxlvax.UUCP> Organization: MASSCOMP, Littleton, MA Lines: 37 M.L. Schneider mls@wxlvax.UUCP states: >There is a difference between the belief of Orthodox Jews and the rest. >Orthodox Jews believe that the Torah was given to Moshe Rabanau on Mount >Sini. The rest have stated that the Torah was written by man with divine >inspiration. Whoa Nellie! I am here to invalidate the statement above. I am not an Orthodox Jew, I do not pretend to be nor would anyone mistake me for one. What kind of Jew am I? I am a Jew Jew. Just a Jew, thank you. I DO NOT state that the Torah was written by man with divine inspiration. Well, let me be quite explicit. Judaism teaches that God gave (taught) Moses the Torah when Moses went up Mount Sinai for 50 days. God dictated, Moses recorded. If that's what you meant by "written by man," then you sure said it in a misleading way. Anybody who claims that Judaism dictates another belief, is misled and misleading. I am driven to disgust by such misleading statements as the one proffered above by M.L. Schneider. I will refrain from spewing vulgarity here, but consider it done. Note that I am not defending the absolute truth of the fact that Moses received the Torah from God on Mount Sinai, I am informing you that this is Jewish belief, this is a tenet of the Jewish *Faith*, as are the commandments in the Torah, which are accepted without question. I have NEVER heard it proffered as a tenet of Jewish faith that the Torah was written by man with divine inspiration (except as I explained above). This isn't proof that it isn't, it's just strong evidence that the idea can't be terribly widespread. (I grew up in New York City, which has a large community of Jews, and went to a yeshiva grade school, so I wasn't isolated from popular Jewish ideas.) Andy Tannenbaum Masscomp Inc Westford MA (617) 692-6200 x274