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Originally Posted by orthodoxymoron
Could someone direct me to the best source of information regarding the various types of Jews? They seem to get blamed for just about everything...from the Crucifixion of Christ to World War II! I thought the Torah was morally superior to the Talmud. Who follows the Old Testament God most closely? I would think that the Talmud Jews might be considered by some to be the bad-guys. How close (in philosophy and purpose) is Jerusalem to Rome? They worked together to eliminate Christ (at least aspects or factions of each did so). I don't care about bloodlines. I do care about philosophical lines. Can good be consistently traced throughout history? Can evil be consistently traced throughout history? Who has consistently been associated with each?
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Hi Orthodoxymoron - It's complex historically. At the time of Jesus Christ there were I think 4 sects only 3 of which I remember, Essenes, Sadducees, Pharisees. The Torah is the original Word (Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Old Testament) and the Talmud is a compilation of law etc. The Pharisees were in a cozy power arrangement with Herod/Rome, and Jesus thought it was a corrupt partnership, hence, the storming of the temple where there was a lot of merchanting - den of thieves - stuff going on.
I always thought Jesus kicked butt in this regard, the western world's most excellent social activist goes berserk. The Essenes are the Dead Sea Scrolls in the caves recluse ascetic group who pulled away from society. Jesus's 'lost' years are said to have been spent in India with Buddhist influence - but that may be lore. Anyway, the Torah and Talmud aren't really separate things; there's more too, like one key ancient scholar whose name I can't remember right now and his annotations to the sacred books.
The blood line is important via King David and via mothers still. Philosophically, the lines split at Abraham into Judaism (Sarah/wife, Isaac)> Christianity (Isaac>Jesus)> Islam (Hagar/Egyptian maid, Ismael). I don't know if good can be traced throughout history; same for evil, except the absense of certain stories in western culture makes me suspicious.
Is knowledge a bad thing? Who determines? My opinion is that people are what they are - we all have choices. It doesn't matter on the belief, or position in society. So good and evil seem to swing all ways depending on the person and maybe even the time in a person's life.
Speaking from a 'consistency' point of view, er, it seems Christians have a lot to answer for to me, e.g. conquest of the Americas, the wealth and political intrigue of the Catholic Church, the Inquisition, the snootiness about other religions and cultures, meddling. Yet, some of the best humanitarian work I see is done by servants of Jesus Christ.
I don't know the inside story on Judaism. My dad says that becoming merchants was one of the few occupations for Jews in Europe because Jewish peoples were not allowed to own land. Anyway, the options historically were limited by Christian culture.
My view is we're all in the soup together.
