Originally Posted by
Cyclosarin
I must say, you all have some fascinating conversations. I’m normally a lurker, but I’ll pop out of the shell here and there and kill a thread. I feel semi-obligated in this case. Primary purpose is to correct some mistakes noted and provide some additional, albeit unnecessary, insights.
@Champagne Brown: as someone who reads and writes Hebrew, there is no letter “J” resident to the Hebrew Alef-Bet. Nor is there in Aramaic that I’m aware of. Theoneandonly was correct in the Romanization of the Hebrew name for Jesus and the Greek translation, Yeshua. In Hebrew it’d be written as:
ישוע
Three quick hints for Hebrew; read from right to left, the name of the letter is the sound it makes and vowels aren’t normally present unless there are Nikkudot or the strange dots you may see from time to time. Knowing that, the letters are Yud, Shin, Vav (this one is a vowel under specific circumstances) and Ayin (makes no sound). The closest sound to a J would be from a Gimel or the letter ג ; it makes a sound like the G in grape 99.9% of the time. The only exception I’m aware of is for the English word Jeep, since it’s a brand. The Hebrew spelling of the word is grammatically incorrect in Hebrew since it is being translated from English to Hebrew.
Theoneandonly was comprehensive in his responses provided and his analysis is engaging. 613 is the correct number of “commandments”; to clarify they are a compilation of constraints and restraints. In other words, must do, cannot do. One area that’s likely debatable but a point to consider is that Judaism is 5779 years old by our count. Ostensibly, the era of Jesus was around 3761 years after the creation of Judaism. A finite point, to be certain. We do know, as T.O.O astutely mentioned, that Jesus came into being around 2019 years ago.
I’m not here to argue the merits of one belief system vs another; I will say that lovelyxxxo’s explanation of a temple being where she feels it to be is wholly in line with how we Jews think. We are engaged in a daily conversation with the almighty. For a primer, watch the opening scene of “Fiddler on the Roof” where Tevye is having a conversation with God about his horse coming up lame.
To the OP’s original question: As a dude that goes to temple weekly, but hasn’t drank the entire Dixie cup of kool-aid; no, I don’t sweat. I’ve made my peace with where I am destined to end up.
My ¥2
-Sarin