Islam's View of Judaism, Explaining the Attacks on Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                   

 "Prof. Dr. Mehmet Görmez announced that Islam was brought to the world by Allah to correct the "distortions" of Judaism and Christianity. At the center of Judaism, he said, was "material, money and wealth." Christianity, he asserted, took the opposite, albeit equally "wrong," interpretation of the divine, as it "came up with an understanding that denigrated the world and deemed property and wealth almost forbidden [haram]."

His philosophy is anti-Semitic, showing he knows nothing at all about Judaism, which is not a material religion.  Jews have been asked over and over of what Judaism teaches and Hillel said, "Don't do to others what you don't want to happen to you, and the rest is all commentary.  Judaism is all about treating people fairly, something that hasn't been happening to us very often.  It comes to us from Moses who got it directly from G-d.  

Hillel and Shammai were two rabbis in the first century who saw things differently.  They would debate each other.  "Yet these origins are indisputable and are clearly traceable to the talmudic story about the two first-century-BCE rabbinic sages, Hillel and Shammai, contemporaries paired together by Jewish tradition as archetypical opposites: Hillel the tolerant and liberal “loose constructionist” of the Law, Shammai the exacting and inflexible “strict constructionist.” In one story about them, a gentile comes to both and asks, with the obvious intention of provoking them, to be taught the whole Torah while standing on one leg. Shammai is indeed provoked and gives the man an angry whack with a measuring rod. Hillel replies, “That which is hateful to you, do not unto another: This is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary — [and now] go study.”

I'll tell you some real facts about Jews and money.

Christians soon decided in their first meeting in Constantinople to be against Jews, who they were overcoming in power during the 1st century.  Jews were not allowed by Christians in the trades, and soon the only way most could earn a living was by lending money, and that they did to kings and other Christians in power.  Christians thought it was not something they could do; that it was beneath them.  Many Jews had been involved in trading; with ships from Israel, by foot into other parts of the world, and especially working the Silk Road in trading.  They were most knowledgeable about the Trade profession and so were successful with it, getting kings and queen's to notice  them while the kings only had feeble attempts in trade.

Jews would be invited to live in a king's realm to improve their economic wealth and to be there to borrow from.  Of course most never paid their debt back to the Jews, and the ending for many Jews  has often ended in death.  Some of these Jews were even rabbis.  

Jews in Europe had no choice but to be economically savvy in order to exist, and when they moved into Eastern Europe, had an even harder time of it.  Judaism gives rules of conduct and prevents any charlatan type of behavior.  It's not teaching how to harm people in their dealings.  After all, Judaism did give the world the Ten Commandments.  Evidently Gormez has never heard of that or isn't about to let his followers hear about them.  Americans might not know of them either since it is against the law  for the 10 laws to be in public view in most places.  

                                                                   

They are in view in Portland, Oregon on the top of Neveh Shalom Synagogue, however, in Hebrew, of course.  (We read from right to left like Arabic)  Ten laws to live by, and then we have 613 more, which happens to be the amount of bones in our body.  Don't worry, most of those are things we naturally do, anyway, if we are of normal mind, that is.  I suppose the hardest to follow is one of the basic 10,, which are the fountainhead of all the other laws, is the one about adultery.  I note that the 2nd, 3rd,  and 6th-10th  start with Lo=No.  

According to Jewish tradition, the 1st 5 laws are about man's duties to G-d.  The 2nd 5 laws are about man's duties to his fellow- man.  They are found in The Old Testament (Torah) Deut. (4-13; 10-4), called the Decalogue.  They are in Exod. 20:2-14 AND IN Deut. 5:6-18

1.  I am your G-d who has taken you out of Egypt from slavery

2.. Not to recognize gods of others.  .  

3. Not to make carved images or any likeness of something in heaven above or on earth or in water under us--in other words, images of G-d. No pictures of G-d.

4. Not to worship this representative of G-d.

5. Not to take G-d's name in vain

6. Remember the Sabbath Day, keep it holy, no working on Sabbath

7. Honor your father and mother.  

8.  Not to kill or commit adultery , not steal, , not bear false witness against your fellow man

9. Not covet your fellow's house, his wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, not anything that belongs to your fellow man.  

This isn't listed 1-10 in Exodus, and I didn't separate it properly to come out to 10, but there it is, a little more in the first 5 to explain to those who might not understand and as it is written this way.  Now, does this look like we find money as our religion?  Remember, in those days all people were polytheistic, even the ancestors of Muslims.  They couldn't or wouldn't comprehend a single god ideal though one pharaoh in Egypt almost did in worshipping the sun.  

We are not concerned about being saved or what happens to us when we die like Christianity and Islam, but the orthodox believe in a time of the Moshiach and life then.  We try to do good deeds all our lives (mitzvote)  and not to be evil in any way.   Distortion?  We followed Moses to the letter, and he is accepted by Islam as a prophet.  I ask, just who is distorting his message?  

I see this twisted view of Judaism by Muslims as the reason why there has been no acceptance of Israel in their midst.  It's political religiously.  Muslims don't need this tiny piece of land.  They are jealous of Jews.  They covet what we have, and that's certainly a big No NO!  When you accept Israel, you will also be rewarded financially through your own spending habits of doing for your people and not being against the Jews.  You will trade in your weapons for doctors and proper food and more businesses and better education for your people.  

Resource:  https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10641/history-islamization

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia