Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Religious Observance | |
Posted by: | Sara Nathan | |
Date/Time: | 22/09/10 22:44:00 |
Goodness knows how anyone receives forgiveness from God...though maybe you think you know... Blood sacrifices were common to many early forms of religion - though of course you could read the binding of Isaac - not as it turned out a sacrifice - as a people's final move away from human sacrifice - generally thought a good thing on the whole. They may have started before any temple building but they became pretty obsolete from the destruction of the second temple. Never thought much to the scapegoat idea myself but if you go into Hendon or Stamford Hill at New Year (a couple of weeks ago)you can still find orthodox people doing bizarre things with chickens near rivers and streams. Leaves me cold and don't know much about the details. The thing I rather like about Judaism is that you don't HAVE to believe too many impossible things before breakfast. Belief in God pretty important and as Rabbi Hillel explained when asked by a non-Jew to relate all the Torah had to say while standing on one foot, he responded, "Do not unto your neighbor what you would not have him do until you; this is the whole Law; the rest is commentary." |