Judaism Ask A Rabbi Anything!

[Awakeand Singh]

Ambarsaria wrote (Nov.3, 2011)

What makes us think a person is a Rabbi? Did speak or write with a touch of clarity about Judaism, so I learnt a few things.The handle "xxxxx 007" does not feel much like a Rabbi. It could be someone with ulterior motives to bring out Sikhs against Israel sentiment. I heard the Sikhs were getting very close with Israel and then this was thwarted by intervention of politicians from India. I got no proof of this though.

My own take on the handle "xxxxx 007" is that, based on my extensive knowledge of and experience in the orthodox Jewish community, thatguy007 "feels" very much like a rabbi who's into kiruv, ie. bringing unaffiliated Jews closer to orthodox Jewish observance. "007" means, like James Bond, he's an undercover agent with a definite agenda of ferreting out Jews who might be on the forum, with the aim of "setting them straight". The offer to exchange comparative views on Sikhi and Judaism is nothing but a decoy, as normative orthodox Judaism considers itself the only God-given faith - while all others are the products of human imagination. I say this as an ordained orthodox rabbi.
I could be completely wrong on 007's motivations, but, while to the uninitiated casual observer, this neither walks like a duck nor quacks like a duck, I believe I detect webbed feet under the hem of his long, black coat! :grinningsingh:

 

[Parma]

The questions I would like to ask the Rabbi is this. In judaism or according to judaism where does god abide in the body or on the land? Which one can bring a more closer communion to god the earth on which the body rests or the body in which the soul rest?

Thank you kindly Sir!

 

[spnadmin]

The rabbi has not posted on the forum for a long time. Maybe we will hear from the rabbi in the near future. Or maybe someone else can fill in for a time.

 

[Awakeand Singh]

The questions I would like to ask the Rabbi is this. In judaism or according to judaism where does god abide in the body or on the land? Which one can bring a more closer communion to god the earth on which the body rests or the body in which the soul rest?

Thank you kindly Sir!

As it says in Psalms, "There is no place devoid of His Presence"; so, the question falls away.

 

[Parma]

If there is no place devoid of God's presence then the entire earth and the entire body is equally within God's presence. Which part of your body would you consider more unholy then the other parts of your body and which parts of the earth would you consider more holy then the other parts as it is all in God's presence! Is any part of gods presence unholy? As you say it is everywhere so why is there any need to dispute the infinate! My end question is this; If god has given something to you it is the earth, any section of it is apart of Gods creation, what part of creation do we really own, you come from nothing and in the end it all goes and turns to nothing! You can never own creation(look at children for starters, they never listen to their parents have their own independant minds and they have their own ways of doing things, I dont think you can say you own them) the creator owns you! Peace to all thanks for the time! I will not reply back!!

 

[Brother Onam]

Parma ji,
Thought you might like this passage from the writings of the great Kahlil Gibran


On Children
Kahlil Gibran
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.


Another quotation I love:


"There are no un-sacred places. There are only sacred places and desecrated places"
-Wendell Berry


The reason I love this is because it points to the one crucial truth we so need today, if we are to change this slide to doom into a chance at heavenliness again. Har Har is indeed in the whole creation, and beyond, within every mountain, every blade of grass, every little fish... And within all people. If we really felt this, and our devotion and perception of holiness really extended to this degree, we could not engage in the demolition and pollution and exploitation, whether of resources, animals, races, castes, or killing so much.
Prayer and heartfelt reverence to the Holy One within all of His creation is not misplaced.

 

[Harry Haller]

every blade of grass, every little fish..

at the risk of being obtuse, such examples are easy to accept, however, practically every Christian and Muslim I have had this conversation with, is adamant that while Creator exists in the above, to contemplate Creator existing in faeces, mud, corpses, bacteria, pus, etc seems hard to fathom and accept.

Creator is everywhere and in everything, I cannot see what is so hard to accept about that.

 

[Harkiran Kaur]

at the risk of being obtuse, such examples are easy to accept, however, practically every Christian and Muslim I have had this conversation with, is adamant that while Creator exists in the above, to contemplate Creator existing in faeces, mud, corpses, bacteria, pus, etc seems hard to fathom and accept.

Creator is everywhere and in everything, I cannot see what is so hard to accept about that.

I can easily see how the Creator would be within everything and everyone, and yet still be separate from creation. Jus as we can dream in our sleep, and be immersed within the dream, we play all the characters, and yet we are still also separate from our 'creation'. The only difference is that THIS reality is the dream of the Creator.... which also means our dreams are ALSO the Creator's (not to make it even more confusing). SGGS has MANY references to this world being only a dream.

How can you quantify your dreams? You can't... how can you say that a dream takes up no space (since it's only a concept in your mind, and yet while inside the dream world, you see there is space, and passage of linear time? Days can pass in a dream, but in reality you have only been in REM for mere moments. That's how I view the Universe. And when I view it that way, all that really exists IS the Creator, and the creation is the dream of the Creator. All that exists comes from the Creator, everything we consider as impure even... but to the Creator everything that exists serves a purpose and nothing is 'bad'.

So I have no trouble seeing the Creator in everything...

 

[Awakeand Singh]

My end question is this; If god has given something to you it is the earth, any section of it is apart of Gods creation, what part of creation do we really own, you come from nothing and in the end it all goes and turns to nothing!

Parma ji, I absolutely agree. Not only is there nothing we "really own", but the entire concept of "we" is nothing but a construct which allows us (ie. our souls; the Presence of God within) to interact with the stage set we refer to as Maya. I would disagree with your statement that, "in the end it all goes and turns to nothing!", and would propose instead that, in the end it all goes back to God - minus the context of Maya. Indeed, it never ceases being God, whose challenge to us is to uncover His Presence within these layers of physical and mental processes that we refer to as, "life".

Brother Onam ji, Harry ji and Akasha ji - we're not only on the same page; I think we're even in the same book, as I find myself moving further and further away from Jewish thought and practice (other than the overlapping values common to all faiths, which Guru Nanak recognized from the start) and moving into the Guru's warm embrace.:happysingh:

 

[Awakeand Singh]

The difficulty now is resisting the natural temptation to come down on my former belief system (even though I'm still physically living within it). As all belief systems deserve respect, so does this one - no matter how difficult the balancing act!