Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism: Three Peas in a Pod

Illustration: The Return of the Spies from the Promised Land

Although recent headlines show Orthodox Jews attempting to distance themselves from Conservative and Reform Jewry, the fact is these three groups have many more similarities than differences:

ALL THREE denominations agree that rabbinical traditions suggest that the oral law was given at Mount Sinai at the same time Moses received the written Torah and, metaphorically speaking, we can clearly see there is some substance to this claim. At the end of Exodus 24, the 70 leaders of the community attended a feast together with Moses and the priests on Mount Sinai and we have discussed numerous times in other articles that in the Torah: “food” is a metaphor for: “knowledge”.

The question then becomes:

“What knowledge did these leaders obtain at this: “feast” and was it different from the knowledge given to Moses?

In other words: Is it possible, as the rabbis of ALL THREE denominations insist, that the ideas contained in the oral law, differed from the laws given to Moses?

Not only is it impossible, but it isn’t even logical.

The 70 leaders of the community, later described as: “the helpers of Moses”, are instructed by Moses how to perform their tasks. If they had received a different type of law, then: how could Moses advise them on how to behave? (Moses was an authority on the law he received, but not on the different law that they received).

In addition, Moses told these leaders that if a case came before them which was too difficult for them to decide, then they should bring it to him and he would decide. Again: how is that possible if they had received a different law from the one Moses received?

Finally, we are clearly, and unambiguously, told that these leaders received part of the spirit that had been placed in Moses. They did not receive “their spirit” from a separate and independent source; they received a small part of the spirit which already was in Moses.

So this claim that somehow the “oral law” that was received at Sinai was different from the law given to Moses is simply false (i.e. it is an out-right lie) .

The original 70 leaders were underneath Moses, not a parallel authority, and the original 70 leaders received their “spirit of understanding” directly from Moses, not another, independent or parallel source.

NEVERTHELESS:

ALL THREE denominations now seem to feel that they are superior to Moses and that they have the God-given right to change the law as they see fit. So, as commented upon in other articles, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin has repeatedly asserted in the Jerusalem Post and on YouTube that: He and his fellow rabbis are: “God’s partners” and: “God’s Co-creators”. He also went on to recently claim that the rabbis in the Conservative Movement are also his partners. Therefore:

If A = B and B = C then A = C this then indicates that the conservative rabbis are also: “God’s partners” and “God’s “co-creators”.

The important point here is that the rabbis of ALL THREE denominations feel they have the right to change God’s laws to fit the needs of their individual community and that the Talmud is a higher source of authority than the Torah.

ALL THREE denominations seem to feel that God loves them and endorses everything they do; in fact, they want us to believe that they were “ALWAYS” the good guys and it was the priesthood which was evil and corrupt

YET:

When Moses was late getting back from Mount Sinai, did the 70 leaders of the community counsel the people to wait and be patient?

No, they demanded that Aaron make them a new god.

When ten of the spies whom Moses send to scout the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob returned with false and exaggerated reports: did the 70 leaders side with Moses and the two honest spies?

No, they sided with the ten dishonest spies and exaggerated the stories even more in order to put fear in the hearts of the people.

In the Book of Samuel does it say that the descendants of the 70 leaders of the community encouraged the people not to reject God and not to demand a king?

No, it says “everyone” demanded a king and “everyone” wanted a ruler like the gentile nations had.

Later, in the Book of Samuel does it say that the descendants of the 70 leaders advised King Saul to immediately kill the sheep and king of the Amalekites?

No, it says that Saul was afraid of the people, listened to them and did not follow the commands of God.

ALL THREE denominations believe that the rabbis have the right to perform conversions (They just quibble about how these conversions should be performed).

Did God tell Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to perform conversions? Did God tell Moses to perform conversions?

ALL THREE denominations rabbis seem to agree that the events in Exodus 24 are some type of conversion ceremony, but: is this belief correct?

If a Christian converts to Islam, then two things happen:

First: He is now called a Moslem and is no longer called a Christian

Second: He now believes only Allah is God and he stops believing that Jesus is God

Is that what happened after Exodus 24?

No, it isn’t…..

BEFORE Exodus 24 they people were known as: “The Children of Israel”

and AFTER Exodus 24 they were STILL called: “The Children of Israel”

BEFORE Exodus 24 the people worshiped the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and AFTER Exodus 24 the people STILL worshiped the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

So: Where’s the conversion?

Even “the strangers” were STILL called: “the strangers” after Exodus 24 !!!

 If there was a mass conversion, afterwards, shouldn’t "the strangers" have been referred to as: “Israelites” or, at the very least, “the converts”?

The fact is that there is NOT a single convert mentioned by name in the Torah; nor is there a procedure given for conversions.

YET!!!

ALL THREE denominations continue to perform conversions ….

ALL THREE denominations use Haggadahs which have almost totally removed the name of Moses from the narrative and replaced him with the names of rabbis who NEVER even were in Egypt.

ALL THREE denominations believe that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob weren’t really Jewish. After all, these men never studied the Talmud, so how could they be Jewish?

ALL THREE denominations believe Judaism is based on matrilineal descent (Although Reform Judaism is now willing “to concede” that Judaism also passes through the father). The fact is, however, that Sarah was NOT the mother of Rebecca; Rebecca was NOT the mother of Leah or Rachel; Leah was NOT the mother of Judah’s Canaanite wife and Rachel was NOT the mother of Joseph’s Egyptian wife. But hey, please read the above paragraph: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were NOT Jewish, so:

Who cares what their wives did?

This also explains why so many Jews from ALL THREE denominations don’t want to live in Israel.

After all:

Who wants to live in a land promised to some gentile who never studied the Talmud?

ALL THREE denominations encourage their congregations to break the 9^th commandment and bear false witness 52 times a year by declaring: “God commanded us to light the Sabbath candles” (Just to clarify: when you say "us" you are talking about you and your neighbors).

Really? Did God command us to light the Sabbath candles? Or: Did some rabbi about 1100 A.D. get the idea all by himself….? Because candles were only invented by the Egyptians around 500 B.C. and those weren’t even real candles…So, how did God command Moses to light candles on the Sabbath in 1200 B.C.? Better yet, the Talmud tells us that Rebecca and Sarah ALSO lit candles on the Sabbath around 2000 B.C.....(Imagine that, and they weren't even real Jews !!!)

Nowhere in the Torah is it written that anyone, anywhere, lit candles on the Sabbath……  Nor does it say God commanded anyone to light candles….it’s a lie…

ALL THREE denominations agree that a mere wall supporting an unauthorized extension of the Temple Mount; which was built by an Edomite murderer using slave labor, is now: "a Holy site". I say "un-authorized" because it is generally agreed upon that King Herod, who was appointed king by the Romans, expanded the Temple to enhance his own ego and NOT to honor God.

Nonetheless, without question it is a historical site, but:

How is it "a Holy site"?

In case you aren’t too up on Jewish history, around 300 B.C. a group of Pharisees got the bright idea of converting, under threat of death, all the Galileans (as in: “Jesus of Galilee”) and all the Edomites (as in: “Herod the Great”) to Judaism.

What they don’t like to tell people these days is that the descendants of these “converts” formed the nucleus of the Zealot party during the period of the 2^nd temple. It was these “Zealot converts”, which most historians now agree, who were responsible for the destruction of both Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. It is also now well understood that it was these “converts” who insisted on fighting to the death and that they murdered any “natural born Jews” who sought to make a peace agreement with the Romans….

YET!!! In spite of this knowledge:

ALL THREE denominations still continue to perform conversions and ALL THREE denominations still continue to pray at the wall built by an Edomite murderer who history clearly records murdered BOTH Levitical priests and rabbis/Pharisees with equal enthusiasm… 

Sounds like: "a Holy place" to me. How about you?

ALL THREE denominations use Haggadahs which have almost totally removed the name of Moses from the narrative and replaced him with the names of rabbis who NEVER even were in Egypt.

Yet, these same Haggadahs do include quotations and stories about Rabbi Akiva, the son of a convert and a man who declared that the general “Bar Kochva” was the messiah.

So you see: when a group of Galilean converts declares that some guy named: “Jesus” is the messiah, this is blasphemy….

BUT!!!

When the son of a convert declares that Bar Kochva is the messiah, then he gets to replace Moses in the Haggadah…..

Think about that again…

God commands the Jews to tell the story of Passover, in which Moses is the central character.

YET !!!

ALL THREE denominations agree to remove Moses from the narrative and replace him with the son of a convert and other rabbis who have absolutely no part in the Passover story….

I guess we can all consider ourselves lucky that the Haggadah does not quote King Herod…..after all, he too was the son of a convert…

BUT: why would the rabbis do that?

In conclusion: all the struggles between the rabbis of ALL THREE denominations comes down to quibbling over one issue:

Who has the final word?

ALL THREE denominations have replaced the Ten Commandments on the people’s doorposts, with THEIR mezuzahs because they want the people to follow rabbinical laws.  The ONLY question is:

 Which rabbinical laws?

Orthodox Rabbinical laws?

Conservative Rabbinical laws?

Or:

Reform Rabbinical Laws?

One thing is absolutely sure:

ALL THREE denominations don’t want you to follow God’s laws……

So, as I said:

 “Three peas in a pod”…