Three core facets of Judaism include that Judaism is an Interpretative Tradition, a Ritual System, and a Quasi-legalistic and spiritual tradition operating between the two poles of law and the Torah. Judaism contains an Oral Law, which complements the Written Law and forms a ‘way’ for Jews to live their daily lives. Through fulfilling obligations of positive and negative commandments or mitzvah through rituals, Jews aim to bring about redemption and usher in the messianic era. Judaism is a quasi-legalistic and spiritual tradition operating within the dichotomous spheres of law and Torah. At one pole, Halakha functions as ‘a system of rules designed to govern human behavior.’ (Saiman 2018, 9) At the other pole, ‘Halakha functions as torah, as an object of torah study, and even as literature…’ (Saiman 2018, 9)
These facets of Judaism might be challenging in an interreligious encounter such as an encounter with Christianity in that Christians do not possess an oral law. Furthermore, “In contrast to the Bible, the Talmud is filled with disagreements and differences of opinions.” (Hartman 2001, 20) This is in contrast to Christianity, however, similar to Islam. “The Mishnah or the Talmud may determine the official law by choosing among opposing views on the basis of accepted mechanisms of decision-making, but they never eliminate the rich variety of opinions or diminish the creativity of the moral imagination that is able to make sense of alternative positions…It is with this in mind that the Tosefta says “make yourself a heart of many rooms” so that your heart can contain a variety of conflicting opinions.” (Hartman 2001, 22) In fact, according to Hartman, “The test of excellence of the Torah scholar was the ability to read and analyze a talmudic text, to explain and defend both sides of a disagreement by offering imaginative and compelling reasons for both positions.” (Hartman 2001, 23)
Nor are Christians bound to fulfill commandments through rituals in order to bring about redemption and the messianic era in the same manner as Jews. Although bound by commandments, Christians do not have the same ritual system as the Jews. Christians desire salvation through Jesus Christ and await his return as the Messiah. “Salvation in Christianity, or deliverance or redemption, is the ‘saving of human lives from death and separation from God’ by Christ’s death and resurrection.” (Wikipedia 2023) In Judaism, it is not known who the Messiah will be and it is not the son of God or a God. “He is considered to be a great political leader that has descended from King David, hence why he is referred to as Messiah ben David, ‘Messiah, son of David.’” (Wikipedia 2023)
Furthermore, there is a definitional divide for Jews and Christians in terms of commandments. For Jews, commandments or mitzvah ‘is a particular instance of halakhic-legal obligation, while for Christians, commandments refers “to the overall content of God’s teachings and commandments.” (Saiman 2018, 18) Based on this definitional analysis and more, Christians critique Judaism as being legalistic or focusing so much on the law that Jews are actually are missing the spiritual picture.
Bibliography
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