Comments on: 7 Things You Need to Know about the Torah

By: flossa

flossa — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:39:45 +0000

IMO Religion is just an escape, an illusion, but I’m not hating on it. What I hate are these fundamentalists (and they exist in every religion, and even atheism).

Books that were written by MEN, should not be taken so seriously as the word of ‘God’. The Bible for instance is packed with weird stuff.

If you actually make an effort and try to investigate the origins of nearly every religion, you’ll notice they were either lying, crazy, or as high as the Mount Sinai.

By: Angel H.

Angel H. — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:32:33 +0000

Vorple,

Please respect the fact that what you see as “fairy tales” are the foundations on which many people choose to live their lives. Why anyone would choose to mock that – whether they are agnostic, atheist, or have a different set of beliefs – says more about you and less about the point you’re trying to make.

By: Vorple

Vorple — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:13:04 +0000

Hi Karen,

Geez, I don’t like your hope that I’m immature. The post is interesting and I did learn stuff I didn’t know. Didn’t mean to give offense but was making a statement based on my observations. I think it’s silly and tragic that people are spending so much time on making others feel guilty over breaking a rule that seems rather arbitrary. At some point I’ll bet some radical said it was ok to have a metal rail, steps, blue tiles, and faucets in the mikvah. How did that change come about while other rules are maddeningly fixed? Why are people starving themselves over a document that’s self contradictory. The order of the creation in two books of Genesis, for one example. It’s not just self-starvation. People are killing over cartoons and over the right to eat flesh and drink blood. I think there would be close to zero suicide-killers if people didn’t believe silly thoughts born from religions. I like fairy tales, if that makes me immature. But at least I recognize them for what they are.

By: karen

karen — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:46:17 +0000

Vorple – even if you believe that religions are silly, why would come to a board like this to assert that belief? Is it necessary for everyone to agree with you? Do you care if you greatly offend people that have a long standing beliefs and traditions? What exactly is your point? Do you think your POV is unique and you just need to enlighten the rest of us?

Additionally, even if you find it silly, you might find it interesting. I do and I’m not Jewish.

I’m hoping that you are just immature and that you’ll grow up and recognize how “silly” your comment is. This is a defiantely a case where you might abide by the “if you have nothing nice to say” rule of thumb.

By: Vorple

Vorple — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:42:03 +0000

This post adds weight to my thesis that religions are silly.

By: GTT

GTT — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:14:23 +0000

There is no way I would hold a Torah… As the self-proclaimed clumsiest person on the planet I would somehow manage to drop the thing several times and would have the entire congregation fasting for a year…

By: Rich

Rich — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:59:38 +0000

Another interesting fact is that the greatest ‘collector’ of torah scrolls was a man named Adolf Hitler. Torah’s from burned and destroyed synagogues were collected and saved, as part of an attempt to build a historical record of how the Nazi’s wiped the Jews off the map. Many modern synagogues now have one of these damaged scrolls in their possession.

By: k

Wed, 07 May 2008 14:01:11 +0000

from what i remember every Synagogue has to have one. you can even buy one that is all writen except for the last couple words which you write in and are given credit for writing the whole thing.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:52:13 +0000

Every synagogue/temple has at least one Torah, since it is essential to public worship (see #2, above). In many cases the Torah comes to represent the community to which it belongs, and becomes their most treasured possession. It’s rare for an individual family to have their own Torah scroll, since they are so expensive and time-consuming to make. However, it is traditional to give a Bar/Bat Mitzvah their own bound copy of the Torah, since they are now responsible to live by its commands. This is just a normal book, though it is usually printed right to left since that is the way that Hebrew is read. For an example, go to Amazon and search for “Torah Modern Commentary.”

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:42:35 +0000

@nikki – Nope, you don’t get one @ your bar mitzvah – they cost upwards of $50,000 each, new, and are given to synagogues as major donations. There are many sofrim (scribes) out there writing, especially in Israel. Note that they can also be restored, which makes the cost substantially cheaper – closer to the 10-20k range, depending on the Torah.