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From: dsg@mhuxi.UUCP (GREEN)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: What is a Jew?
Message-ID: <211@mhuxi.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 21-Sep-84 09:10:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: mhuxi.211
Posted: Fri Sep 21 09:10:47 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 20:47:50 EDT
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[Hi Mr. Golem, its me again.]

	There seems to be much discussion about "Who is a Jew". 
 If your mother was/is a Jew,  you are Jewish, like
it or not.  Of course you may convert, deny your heritage or whatever.
What does a Jew believe? Very simply:
(From "Ethics of the Fathers")
	Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua;
Joshua to the Elders; the Elders to the Prophets; and the Prophets transmitted
it to the Men of the Great Assembly.  They said three things: Be deliberate in
judgement; develop many disciples; and make a fence for the Torah.

Now, what does that mean?
	The term Torah includes the Written Law ( i. e., the Five Books
of Moses), *AND* the accompanying Oral Law ( Talmud ) which is the 
interpretation of the Text as divinely handed down to Moses in its
entirety and expounded by successive generations of Sages.  Moses
received the Torah from G-d at Sinai in full view of all the people.
Moses  expounded the Torah during the forty years of the wanderings through
the desert, and before he died he 'transferred' the tradition to Joshua
to ensure its perpetuation.  The Great Assembly and their successors
at around the time of the Second Temple laid the foundation for the liturgy,
edited several of the Scriptual books, provided for the intensified study
of the Oral Law, and enacted many ordinances designed to prevent laxity
in observance of the commandments.  FENCES are provisions and cautionary
rules enacted to safeguard against transgressions of the laws of the Torah.

What does this mean to you?
	Unless you are aware of the Written and Oral Laws and the 
"fences" you are engaging in intellectual masturbation.  Some on the net
are well versed in the laws.  I do not always agree with the resultant
philosophical implications.  The various "laws" tell the Jewish community 
how to act between man and G-d, man and man, and Jew and non-Jew.

Try to place yourself in this Matrix:

Persuasion	Observant	Non-observant	Knowledge of the Law
Orthodox
Conservative
Reform
Non-Jewish
Other
	
	As you can see, there are many "boxes" or permutations where you
may fit into.  Note that because of the different profiles, conversations
between person "x" and person "y" can get a little heated.  Lets try, for the
new year, to be a little more tolerant of different personalities, and try
to learn!!!

Shalom,
David S. Green   mhuxi!dsg   201-564-4468