Returning to the main body of the essay:
Needless to say Judaism does not want people to violate its laws. But if a
Jew does violate them, Jewish law enables him to return to God and right
action through repentance-in Hebrew, teshuvah, from the word for "return".
Teshuvah consists of three steps: the sinner must recognize his sin, feel
remorse at having sinned, and resolve to return to fulfilling the law. There
was also a forth step during the time of the Temple-the bringing of a
sacrifice-but since the destruction of the Temple this step has been
unnecessary, a fact long forseen by the Bible. In the words of Hosea (14:3),
prophesying of a time when the Temple would no longer be standing, "...turn
to the Lord, say to Him Forgive all inquity and receive us graciously, so we
will offer the prayers of our lips instead of calves." Hosea's statement is
paralleled by proverbs 21:3, "To do righteousness and justice is more
acceptable to God than sacrifices," and by the book of Jonah , which recounts
that when the people of Niveveh repented, their sins were forgiven by God
despite the fact they brought no sin-offering.
There is a footnote here, which reads:
There are numerous other biblical passages reffering to the possibility of
forgiveness and redemption without sacrifices, e.g. Leviticus 26:40-5;
Deuteronomy 4:29-31; Jerimiah 10-20; Ezekiel 22:15.
Returning to the body of the essay:
Finally, the doctrine that God would curse men whom He created imperfect
for being imperfect is one which deplicts God as cruel and sadistic, notions
utterly foreign to Judaism.
Here there is the footnote:
This caricature of God which results from Paul's caricature of the law, is
the major source of the penicious myth which contrasts the "vengeful Jewish
God of the Old Testament "with the "loving Christian God of the New
Testament."
Back to the body of the essay:
As noted at the onset, Judaism considers people's actions more important
than their faith. The Talmud, basing itself on Jereriah 16:11, states:
"Better that they (the Jews) abandon Me (God) and continue to observe My
laws," because the Talmud adds, through observance of the laws they will
return to God (Jerusalem Talmud, Hagiggah 1:7).
Later in the essay:
It may be objected that Christians who have committed evil acts have
misconstructed Paul. Perhaps they have, for Paul certainly advocated loving
behavior. The fact remains, however, that whereas in Judaism the good people
of all nations attain salvation (Tosefta Sanhedrin 13:2), in Christianity,
belief in Christ, not in good deeds, had to become the sole means of
salvation since, as Paul reasoned, if good deeds could achieve saalvation,
there would be no purpose to the crucifixion and "Christ would have died in
vain" (Galatians 2:21)
Helen Willis
hhiwater@bright.net