/lit/ - Literature

>>15631217
Tradition holds that Kabbalah should only be taught to men over 40 who are already well learned in Jewish Law and tradition. Maimonides says this is because learning Kabbalah without the necessary prior knowledge leads to misunderstanding. Just the chart you posted-- each of the words in those spheres is a hebrew word used often throughout the tanach, mishnah, talmud, and Jewish tradition. Knowledge of Jewish law is needed to precede kabbalah, and personally, I am against the popularization of it. I personally know and have learned from actual Kabbalists and the reality is very different from what will be accessible to most.

Jewish mysticism is much more related to the idea of The Divine Chariot in Isaiah than the sphirot, which are the most well known and popular.

>>15631281
There's a difference between clever analysis and blatant disregard for fact

>>15631291
I personally believe Christian societies produce atheists like Richard Dawkins and reddit atheists because they are raised in a society whose main religion is theologically inconsistent. Judaism is not just a matter of blind faith, but an all encompassing system of understanding and logic that informs the world. "Belief in God" is very different in Judaism, as the Jewish god is completely transcendental and beyond human comprehension while the trinity exists to minimize God into accessible chunks with an accessible human face. I know orthodox atheists-- what matters in Judaism is not your words but your practice. Your adherence to Jewish law determines your level of religiosity, not your personal faith. There's lots for secular people, myself being one of them. I don't keep jewish law intensely, I just find it super interesting.

>>15631296
Spinoza was able to take the conception of God given by Maimonides's Mishneh Torah and apply a new method of thought to it, and to me it was a very good enhancement of describing how the Jewish conception of God varies so greatly from the Christian. I believe it is crucial to read him in context and not just read The Ethics, but also his works on Judaism, which (i could be mistaken) are the majority of his writings.

>>15631297
>Don't see the issue here. Most cultures have at least some version of this.
Let me know when Nicki Minaj performs at a quincenara. The 3rd richest family I know had cirque de soleil at their daughter's bat mitzvah. My bar mitzvah party was a saturday afternoon bagels lox and whitefish luncheon followed by a small barbeque. Decadence is a virus of the capitalist west and we are infected
>fewer and fewer people care
Yea, because fewer and fewer people have a personal relationship to the text because leadership is pathetic.
>>15631324
yeah, and nobody in those communities gives a shit what their peers believe either way. Which is better than the dogmatic faith demanded by some other religions