by James Pate

Created on: October 13, 2010

There are at least four misconceptions of Jews and Judaism that I have encountered over the years:

1.  Many Christians have viewed Judaism as a dry, legalistic religion that is devoid of spirituality and love for neighbor.  In the eyes of many Christians, Jews believe that one receives a good afterlife through obedience to the Torah, rather than through accepting the love and free grace of God.  Christians have portrayed Jews as emphasizing ritual rather than love for God and neighbor, and Christians have regarded Judaism as oriented towards the physical and the literal, rather than the spiritual.  For many Christians, Jews believe in a Messiah who will be a warrior, and Jewish rejection of Jesus stems from Jews' shallow desire for military dominance, implying that Jews do not appreciate the spiritual.  Because many Jews do not believe that the Hebrew Bible contains deeper meaning that foreshadows Jesus Christ, many Christians have concluded that Judaism is overly-literal in its interpretation of Scripture, as if it fails to appreciate its own Bible's spiritual significance.   

Indeed, Judaism believes that good works will play a significant role in what happens to a Jew after death, but it does not exclude the love and the mercy of God from the equation.  That is why Jews observe Yom Kippur, a day on which they ask God for forgiveness.  Jews even appeal to the righteousness of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when they ask God for forgiveness, the same way that Christians ask God to look at the imputed righteousness of Christ rather than their own sins.  It is one-sided to assert that Judaism believes people must become good enough to enter heaven, for Judaism holds that people need God's love, grace, and forgiveness, and that God is eager to extend those things.

Does Judaism emphasize ritual rather than love for God and neighbor?  Indeed, it does focus a lot on ritual, as a look at the Mishnah, the Tosefta, the Talmuds, and other halakhic works would indicate.  But there is also much in rabbinic literature about the love of God and neighbor.  There is a legend that states that the first century rabbi, Hillel, told a potential convert that the entire Torah is summed up by the principle of not hurting one's neighbor.  Jewish literature has also discussed the importance of helping the poor, and there have been prominent strands of Judaism (e.g., Hasidism, mysticism, kavanah)

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