Is God Real or Pretend? by JJ Flowers

Author:JJ Flowers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: religion, science, christian, judaism, astronomy, muslim, hindu, buddhist, comparative religion, astronomy for kids
Publisher: JJ Flowers

Chapter Six

Judaism

“Do the Jewish people believe God is pretend or real?”

“The Jewish people believe God is real,” Rabbi Daniel White said as he and I walked through the park. The tall and thin rabbi wore a bright red baseball cap over his brown hair and a red tee shirt over black sweat pants. He looked like a baseball player. Leafy green trees grew on both sides of the path. The path followed a near-by stream. The calls of kids playing soccer sounded in the distance. I wondered if I knew any of them.

Oso ran to the bank of the stream and splashed in. “Here Oso!” The Rabbi threw a stick for Oso. Oso raced to retrieve it. “We also believe God created the universe, but after that God is a great mystery. Of course, there are about 12 million Jews in the world. This means there are twelve million different opinions on the subject. In fact almost half of all Jews in America do not believe in God.”

“They don’t? Can they still be Jewish if they don’t believe in God?”

“Yes, they can,” Rabbi Daniel said. “Jewish people feel that following God’s commandments and rules are what are important.”

Oso dropped the stick at my feet.

I threw it as far as I could. “My mom told me to google the Jewish religion before I met you, so I would know the basics.”

“Ah. And what did you find out?”

“That Jewish history began before Christianity and Islam. It started with Abraham around 1812 BCE in the Middle East. Moses gave the Jews the Torah, which is the Jews’ Holy Book.”

The Rabbi nodded. “The Torah is the first five books of the Jewish bible. These are the same books in the Christian Bible’s Old Testament.”

The Rabbi was easy to talk too.

“My mom has a Bible. I tried to read it, but couldn’t,” I confessed.

“Maybe someday when you’re older,” Rabbi Daniel said. “We also have the Talmud, which is the written collection of different people’s ideas about Jewish laws.”

“Jewish people believe a new leader is coming, right?”

“That’s right. Most people call this the messiah.”

“Christians believe Jesus was the Messiah, right? But the Jewish people do not believe in Jesus.”

“We believe in a historical Jesus. We believe that Jesus lived and preached in Jerusalem, but we do not believe he was the son of God.”

We turned our discussion to famous Jewish holidays. Rosh Hashanah was a celebration of the Jewish New Year. Passover celebrated the story of Moses, a famous story from Exodus in the Bible. My mom had read the story to Harriet and me.

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