10 Surprising Things about Judaism

By Rabbi Benjamin Blech

Judaism always taught a belief about the world’s origin that ran counter to the teachings of science and philosophy - until the Torah view was confirmed by an idea that Nobel Laureate Prof. Steven Weinberg of Harvard University calls "one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century." Judaism believes that the world hasn't always existed. It had a beginning. It came into being. Scientific theory however for centuries firmly clung to the view that the world was eternal. The idea of creatio ex nihilo - creation out of nothing – which is at the core of Judaism's belief in a divine Creator, was considered impossible. Science and religion seemed to be locked in a duel with no hope for a clear victor. In 1946, George Gamow stunned the scientific community with a radically new theory. Instead of the accepted assumption of the constancy of the universe - that what we observe today has always existed and will always exist in essentially its present form - Gamow expressed his conviction that the universe began at a fixed moment in time, out of nothing.

By the 1960s, it had become technically feasible to detect the electromagnetic radiation predicted by the big bang theory and to validate its conclusions. In 1978, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, Gamow’s collaborators were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for their fundamental discovery. Unfortunately, George Gamow couldn't share in this honor because he died in 1968, and the rules of the Nobel Prize do not permit posthumous awards. Probably for that very same reason the award could also not go to Abraham, the first Jew, who had come to the same conclusion.

Rabbi Benjamin Blech is an internationally recognized educator, religious leader, author, and lecturer. He is the author of 12 books, including The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Understanding Judaism, Second Edition. He has appeared on national television (including The Oprah Winfrey Show); hosted a popular weekly radio program in New York; and written for Newsweek, and The New York Times. Rabbi Blech’s latest book which came out last April was featured on Nightline, Good Morning America and a 1-hour special on 20/20.

2

The reason God has two names is because He believes in "Tough Love."

The English names God and Lord are meant to stand for two different Hebrew words in the Bible that are used to identify Him. The reason for the two different names, the commentators explain, is because when He is kind and compassionate He is the Lord – “thank the good Lord”; when He is strict and judgmental He is God – “oh my God!” But why can't He make up His mind? Why would a God of love choose at times to change His nature and deal with us harshly? For the same reason parents from time immemorial have been seen by their children not only as loving but "too strict, too rigid, too stuck on stupid rules." The one line that is probably heard in households around the world from parents to children is, "someday when you get older and have children yourself you will understand." And the line is, of course, repeated from generation to generation. God understands the concept of tough love - but only by combining discipline with forgiveness can we create people who understand they need to be responsible for their actions.

4

Judaism believes that keeping healthy isn't just good advice; it's biblically required as an all-important mitzvah.

The man Jews admire as the closest to Moses in the Bible, the 12th-century Spanish Rabbi, philosopher and scholar, Moses Maimonides (1135 – 1204) was a great physician by profession. He authored a book summarizing all of Jewish law. In it he wrote: "Since it is impossible to have any understanding and knowledge of the creator when one is sick, it is one's duty to avoid whatever is injurious to the body and to cultivate habits that promote health and vigor." He then went on to list medical do's and don'ts that read like the health letter from the Mayo Clinic – and that have become an essential part of the Jewish code of law. That's why Jews have so often become doctors. And that's why cleanliness isn't just next to godliness; it's a precondition for spirituality.

5

Judaism has no problem with the theory of evolution. In the famous Scopes trial, when William Jennings Bryan argued to imprison a teacher who dared teach his class about evolution, rabbis would much more readily have sided with Clarence Darrow, the lawyer for the defense. They might well have quoted the first chief Rabbi of Palestine, Rabbi Abraham Isaac kook [1865 – 1935]: "The doctrine of evolution agrees with the cosmic secrets of Kabbalah more than any other philosophic doctrine."

Darwin had it right in regards to sequence. Everything did evolve just the way he described it. In fact, the evolutionary order is exactly what the Bible records in the story of creation. What Darwin didn't understand is that mutations are so miraculous, they can't possibly happen on their own. True, monkeys came before man. But even if men make monkeys out of themselves, no monkey can become a man unless God wills that transformation. Judaism agrees that evolution happened. It denies that blind chance could ever replace the need for a divine creator.

6

Judaism demands that we enjoy life, and not run away from its pleasures.

Religion somehow has gotten a bad rap. People think that its purpose is to restrict pleasure, to limit fun, to make life a dull and our experience. Nothing could be further from the truth, at least as far as Judaism is concerned. Over and over again, the Bible repeats the refrain, "And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God."

For the Jews, asceticism not only isn't praiseworthy, it's a sin. Self-mutilation, abstaining from the permissible, not enjoying life all go against God’s will. The Talmud teaches that in the future world every person will have to give an accounting for all the good things created on Earth that he or she did not take advantage of. When God finished creating He concluded, "Behold it is very good" - and God wants us to share His opinion. Laws may be somewhat restrictive, but their true purpose is to give us greater happiness. God doesn't love masochists, and He isn't a sadist.

7

Judaism not only allows, but encourages questions.

When the Nobel Prize winner Isidor Isaac Rabi returned from school as a little boy, he remembers his mother asking him, "Did you ask any good questions today?" Jews don't just like answers; they encourage questions as well. Judaism believes that true faith is not imposed, but the result of inquiry. Self enforced blinders don't let you see. So the great giants of Jewish history authored works of philosophy that dared to challenge fundamental religious premises and came to religious conviction after intellectual struggle. The result was a Judaism of choice, not of chance. Men like Maimonides showed that to have faith was not to suspend reason but rather to allow reason to come to its most logical conclusions.

8

Jewish laws all have reasons, even when we don't understand them.

Circumcision takes place on the eighth day after birth. Medical researchers have recently made a fascinating discovery. Vitamin K, responsible for helping the blood to clot, is found to be most abundant in a child's system are precisely the eighth day after birth. For thousands of years we never knew that scientific fact. All we had was a law that told us circumcision was to be performed on the eighth day. Jews accepted it because God said so. For a long time this could very well have been an example of law without a reason. Now we know it had a reason - we just didn't know it yet. That's the way Jews accept divine law - not as illogical but rather as supra-logical, so wise that in many instances it contains truths we have not yet discovered.

9

Judaism believes in hell - but only for a maximum of a year.

Judaism accepts the idea of heaven, and although we can't describe it, we know it's a wonderful place in which we are rewarded for all the good we did here on Earth during our lifetimes. Hell also exists, but not the way it's usually described, as a place of torture and burning with fire. The closest we can come to understanding it is that it's a place where we are estranged from God and our souls are purified from their sins. There is one thing Jews to know, though about hell. It doesn't have a sign on the door, as Dante described it, with the words, "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." God would never be so cruel. The maximum time for anyone to have his or her soul "purified" in this place is 12 months. Very righteous people might possibly have "overnight cleaning service." How long the process takes depends on how much has to be done. It’s only the very worst of all people who require the entire year for their purification.

10

Judaism believes that sex is not only kosher, it's holy.

Puritans didn't just give us the word Puritanical. Their most harmful legacy is the linking of their sexual attitudes with the supposed intent of the Bible. In Jewish thought, nothing could be farther from the truth. The chief figures of the Bible don't shy away from love and sex. As the great 10th century Babylonia philosopher Saadya Gaon pointed out, "How could there be anything reprehensible about such relations if God's holy men engaged in them with His approval? These men engaged in the act as a natural part of their lives, a part that in no way detracted from their singular relationship with God." That's why Jewish law gives the following incredible advice: "The ideal time for sexual relations is on Friday night, the time of the holy Sabbath. Let the holy act be performed on the holy day."