What Causes People To Be Good and Follow the Laws of Their Family and Country? Part I

 Nadene                                                                 

Religion seems to be the cause of people's behaviors in keeping people obeying the laws of their lands.  They can be threatened about what happens to them when they die.  

In the beginning, to be fertile was the desire of all peoples; both for animals and for people in order for the future to exist. Sacrificing something dear to them was used to persuade their god to help them out.                                         

                  Finding baby Moses in bullrushes.  

Shiphrah (Hebrew: שִׁפְרָה  and Puah (Hebrew: פּוּעָה  were two midwives who briefly prevented a genocide of children by the Egyptians, according to Exodus 1:15–21. According to the Exodus narrative, they were commanded by the King of Egypt, or Pharaoh, to kill all male Hebrew babies, but they refused to do so. When challenged by the Pharaoh, they told him that Hebrew women's labour was short-lived because they were 'lively' or 'vigorous', and therefore the babies had been born (and protected) before the midwives arrived. God "dealt well with the midwives" and "made them houses".  

It says "the midwives feared G-d and they did not do as the king of Egypt spoke to them, and they caused the boys to live."  According to the Sages, the midwives were really Jochabed and Mirium, mother andsister of Moses.   

Judaism developed out of the Laws of Moses, an Ivrit-from the other side-- Jewish man raised since birth in the Egyptian royal family to the point where he realized that beating a slave to death was not right, and he in turn when stopping the beating accidently killed the Egyptian beater and felt he had to flee being it was against the law to kill a man like that.  So Egypt had a rule about killing another, and this was a good 3,400 years ago.  We figure that Moses was born in 1391 BCE (almost 1400 BCE which was  3,422 years ago, and he was about 18 years old.  Moses knew of the law that was against killing a man, even under accidental circumstances.  He also may have had an instinctive feeling that what he did was overdoing a good deed and his killing someone was wrong.  As we understand, Moses was selected by G-d and given direction and laws so that the Exodus occurred. His family line went back to Abraham.  

Abraham (c1948 BCE) , ready to sacrifice Isaac, his son, but stopped by an angel, turned out to be a test of his obedience.  This was the only example of human sacrifice practiced by our Jewish people  of the Ivrit/ Hebrews   It was the Canaanites who sacrificed people.    

Abraham is considered as the father of Judaism due to his oral teachings to his children as they followed his and Sarah's behavior towards other people.  For instance, they always offered food and water to strangers passing by their tent. "When Abram was ninety-nine years old, HaShem appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty ; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers." "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations." Evidently in those days, strangers could be attacked and killed for whatever they carried with them.  That was 3,600 years ago.

Jews of the 40 year Exodus from Egypt, figured by some to have commenced by 1579 BCE, others by 1445 BCE, were the descendants of Abram/Abraham and Sarah, and their children:  Isaac, then Jacob-Israel and their 12 sons including Judah, Boaz, Oved, Jesse, David-king of Israel, Solomon.

   Moses confronting the Pharaoh when he returned to Egypt at about age 80-81.  

Moses was from Levi of the 12 sons of Jacob.  He was the son of Levi's daughter, Jochabed who was married to Amram. It was Jochabed who saved Moses's life by hiding him in the bullrushes as a time when the pharaoh put out a "papal bull" saying that all boy babies under age 2 had to be killed because he feared his own death would come from this person.   

  Even in the book, Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, England was pictured as a very dangerous land in the 12th century CE.  So after almost 3,000 years, people were really no better in their treatment of other people in Europe.  That shows that we have improved a great deal from 822 years ago, though.  

It wasn't until Jews had been taken to Babylon in 597 BCE and then more taken in 586 BCE and living there until 538 BCE living there for about 60 years and writing the Babylonian Talmud after 200 CE, that they had developed  more to their original ideas about death which was that  when people died, they joined their fathers.  Death was not an evil thing, but a premature death was looked upon as a great misfortune.  Even today, the Jewish blessing is that a person will live to age 120 (like Moses did).  

                 The Moabites and their human sacrifice

Now this was regarded at a time when all other nations believed in human sacrifice in order to right a bad situation.  Human sacrifice was going on during our biblical family's existence.  That's one reason they fought to keep their own religion going by resisting the temptations to do so that existed.   

A belief was that in death, there was some kind of existence in SHEOL (situated far below the earth, whose inhabitants will not give thanks to the Lord.  Sheol is more especially the dwelling of the wicked.  The dead had a certain kind of psychic powers.  Sheol is not  subject of any Shabbat service.  It has never been mentioned in my experience.                     

Later on in Hebrew Eschatology, death came to be considered a prime evil.  At the End Of Days hopefully many years in the future, death would cease and all the dead would rise.  The idea of Resurrection became a fundamental doctrine of Pharisaic Judaism.  Faith in God came to mean believing in the the Reviver of the Dead.  The Rabbis taught that death came to the world because of sin either that of Adam, from which mankind still suffers, or else personal sin.  

There were some Rabbinic legends that held the belief that the dead carry on some connection with the living and even take an interest in their affairs.  The practice of praying for the intercession of the dead is considered by the rabbis as of early origin. 

 The last act of the dying Jew is the recitation of the Shema which is still in practice today.  Shema Yisrael Adonoi Elohenu, Adonoi Echad.  Hear oh Israel, God is One.  It is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Its first verse encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism: "Hear, O Israel: YHWH is our God, YHWH is one" (Hebrew: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃), found in Deuteronomy 6:4

              Blowing the Shofar on Yom Kippur

Jews have a way of getting rid of their sin. First of all, what is sin?  It is defined as being any violation of righteous actions, whether toward God or one's fellow man, is considered sinful by Judaism.  There are variations in the degree of sin. 

1. unwillful sin (bet)

2. knowledgeable sin (avon)

3. rebellious sin (pesha)

No man is free of sin, although he has the free will to reject it.   

Jews have a day of Atonement or Yom Kippur.  Tishri 10  is the most solemn day of the year and is a fast-day of 25 hours of fasting and attending synagogue service.  In Lev.23:32 it is described as a Sabbath of solemn rest.  It is the day on which Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the 2nd tablets of the law and announced to the people the Divine pardon for the sin of the Golden Calf. 

(The people had been waiting for Moses by dancing around this golden calf they had made while waiting.  Aaron made it when the Israelites demanded it.  The calf was burnt by Moses who ground the gold to dust and subsequently obtained Divine forgiveness for the Israelites.  (Exod.32).  The sin of the Golden Calf immediately after the giving of the law, was regarded as the primary offense of the Hebrew people.)                          

Repentance and forgiveness are inextricably linked in Judaism with the subject of sin.  No sin is unpardonable.  Sacrifice, repentance, the Day of Atonement, and death bring forgiveness.  For a sin against a fellow-man, restitution and placation are essential.  Biblical narrative invariably links individual punishment and national calamity to sin.  Confession of sin is important in the Jewish conception of atonement.  This confession, however, is made directly to Heaven and not to any intermediary.  Moreover, it is considered improper to confess private sins aloud, and for this reason, the Day of Atonement ritual has all confessions in the plural. People recite together a list of sins listed in the prayerbook.  

 It just happened to be that calf worship had been going on with other people, especially the Canaanites.  Calves or young bulls were regarded as symbols of strength and fertility among ancient Semitic peoples.  Traces of calf worship are found in the bible in the stories of the Golden Calf constructed by Aaron at Mt. Sinai and the golden calves set up at Dan and Bethel by Jeroboam much later on after Solomon's death in 920 BCE.  

Mentioned in Exodus 32 and I Kings 12 in the Tankah or Old Testament, worship of the golden calf is seen as a supreme act of apostasy, the rejection of a faith once confessed. The figure is probably a representation of the Egyptian bull god Apis in the earlier period and of the Canaanite fertility god Baal in the latter.

Apis was the most important and highly regarded bull deity of ancient Egypt. His original name in Egyptian was Api, Hapi, or Hep; Apis is the Greek name. Worship of the Apis bull is recorded as early as the First Dynasty (c. 3150 - c. 2890 BCE) in ceremonies known as The Running of Apis but veneration of the bull in Egypt precedes this time, and so it is thought that Apis may be the first god of Egypt or, at least, among the first animals associated with divinity and eternity. He was originally a god of fertility, then the herald of the god Ptah but, in time, was considered Ptah incarnate. He was also, in some eras, depicted as the son of Hathor and was closely associated with her goodness and bounty.

        The bull is Baal, the Canaanite god.  

      Sargon, king of Assyria (721-712 BCE) is shown as a bull. He's the one who caused the 10 tribes of Israel to be taken to Assyria.  He had taken the throne when Shalmaneser III had died.  He died from being assassinated.      

We Jews do not make pictures or statues of G-d.  To us, G-d is an unseen force, the Supreme Being.  "The biblical God is already unique by virtue of His non-mythological character;  He has no body, no kindred, no human needs.  All depends on Him and He on nothing."  It definitely is not a man or woman, either, or animal like many in  the ancient world believed. 

                            Herman Wouk in Jerusalem 1955
 Herman Wouk(1915-2019) explains Judaism in This Is My God. "Our place in the world, I believe, depends on what we contribute to mankind.  We have contributed our Torah, the Mosaic vision of G-d, of right conduct, and of first and last things.  It is our life, and the length of our days.  As we keep that flame burning, it seems to me, we earn our right to survive as a people before G-d and man."  He's not a rabbi, but explains it so well.  Our rabbis, whatever type of Judaism they believe, whether Reform, Conservative or Orthodox, are highly well educated people in that religious persuasion.  

• Columbia University, New York, 1934 (A.B. with general honors)
• Yeshiva University, New York, 1954 (Hon. L.H.D.)Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City. The university's undergraduate schools—Yeshiva College, Stern College for Women, Katz School of Science ...
• Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1960 (Hon. D.Lit.)
• American International College, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1979 (Hon. Litt.D.)
• Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, 1990 (Hon. Ph.D.)

Grandson of Rabbi Mendel Leib Levine, rabbi in Minsk, New York, and Tel Aviv.  

After Christianity, Judaism is the next largest religious affiliation in the US, though this identification is not necessarily indicative of religious beliefs or practices. There are between 5.3 and 6.6 million Jews. A significant number of people identify themselves as American Jews on ethnic and cultural grounds, rather than religious ones. For example, 19% of self-identified American Jews do not believe God exists. (They could try reading This Is My God).  

 According to a 2020 study by the Pew Research Center, the core American Jewish population is estimated at 7.5 million people, this includes 5.8 million Jewish adults. According to study by Steinhardt Social Research Institute, as of 2020, the core American Jewish population is estimated at 7.6 million people, this includes 4.9 million adults who identify their religion as Jewish, 1.2 million Jewish adults who identify with no religion, and 1.6 million Jewish children.   According to a 2017 study, Judaism is the religion of approximately 2% of the American population.       Israel has two head rabbis and many synagogues.  

Empathy, the key emotion supporting a sense of right and wrong, emerges early and, it seems, naturally, said William Damon of Standford University.   Babies cry in response to the wails of other babies, "and not just because it's a sound that upsets them," notes Carolyn Zahn-Waxler of the National Institute of Mental Health. "They cry more in response to human cries than to other aversive sounds. Somehow, there's a built-in capacity to respond to the needs of others." Babies as young as 1 try to console others in distress. Toddlers offer their security blanket to a teary-eyed parent or a favorite toy to a distraught sibling, as if understanding that the very object that brings them comfort will do the same to another. 

This is used in Judaism, such as treatment of animals that show empathy.  We do not eat meat with milk so as not to hurt the feelings of the mother cow in that she gives mankind her self as meat, and she doesn't want to know that we drink her milk in this same meal. 

The Torah simply gives an example of a "kid in its mother's milk" because that was common practice in ancient times.

Some Jewish authorities give reasons for this prohibition. One reason given is, that it is cruel to cook a baby in the very milk that was intended to nourish it. The Torah forbids the cooking and consumption of any milk with any meat to prevent one from cooking a kid in its mother's milk.

 Even the whole law of kashrut teaches that only a small proportion of living creatures are permitted to be eaten, and every precaution is taken to avoid the consumption of blood or the partaking of meat with milk products.  Even milk from a prohibited animal is forbidden.  

Compassion is to be extended to animals as well as to humans. It is strictly forbidden to cause unnecessary pain to animals. There is a Talmudic rule (Gittin 62a), still followed by pious Jews, that before sitting down to a meal one must first see that the domestic animals are fed. The Midrash remarks that Moses proved his fitness to be the shepherd of Israel by the tender care with which he treated the sheep when he tended the flock of his father-in-law.

In Jewish teaching compassion is among the highest of virtues, as its opposite, cruelty, is among the worst of vices. 

The Amaleks were the cruelest of all people met shortly after the Exodus and always hostile to Israel, annihilating the weak and the wearyl.  they were eventually defeated by the Isrelite army under Joshua (Exod 7-8-13).  They were finally regarded as an eternal foe, the extermination of which was a national mission incompletely carried out later by King Saul. In king David's time they invaded southern Judah, burning the town of Ziklag.  David fought and defeated them heavily, but 400 got away.  In 720 BCE the tribe of Simeon overwhelmed the Amalekites and settled in their territory.  Haman, the Agagite, is regarded as a descendant of Agag, king of Amalek.  

The prophet, Jeremiah, speaks of the people from the north country who ‘lay hold on bow and spear, they are cruel, and have no compassion’ (Jeremiah 6:21). The people of Amalek, in particular, are singled out in the Jewish tradition as perpetrators of wanton cruelty, and an uncompassionate Jew is called an Amalekite. 

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States#:~:text=People%20with%20no%20formal%20religious,%25%20Catholic%20and%202%25%20other.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/golden-calf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shema_Yisrael

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Wouk

https://www.worldhistory.org/Apis/

https://www.jccmb.com/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/1339531/jewish/Milk-and-Meat.htm

https://ulpan.com/why-hebrew-is-called-ivrit/

The Development of Death in Judaism

Nadene Goldfoot                                                    

I'm standing at my paternal grandmother,
Zlata "Hattie" Jermulowske Goldfoot's grave in Portland, Oregon.
We leave pebbles by her tombstone.  Hebrew writing is
on the other side of her stone.    

The Torah first mentions death as "going to our fathers."  Since the Torah first talks about Adam and Eve, and such people as Abraham, this is the early Hebrew thought going back more than 3,000 years ago.  It was a very scientific outlook without any additional add-ons, because they knew this is what happened to one's fathers.  A premature death was looked upon as a terrible misfortune, such as a small child dying, as indeed it was.  A blessing pronounce over people was that they would live till a ripe old age.  Moses lived till 120, so our blessing said today is that you live till 120.  In doing a toast, we say, L'Chaim! (To Life!)  Life is the best of all possibilities.  We are here on this earth to care for all life.   Becoming a doctor is the best thing our children can become; "My son, the doctor!"  
                                                  

Jewish people cherish life.  The Torah was given to ISRAEL SO THAT "YOU SHALL LIVE" BY THE TEACHINGS, AND NOT
DIE THROUGH THEM."  Death has no virtue since THE DEAD CANNOT PRAISE THE LORD"  (Psalms 115:17)   King Solomon said, "A good name is better than precious oil;  and the day of death than the day of one's birth."  This was said about a man who died a peaceful death  following a long life blessed with good health and vitality of mind and body; a life rich in good deeds.  

Then Sheol was developed, a place the dead were at in a questionable existence. It's location was far below the earth, looked upon more as the dwelling of the wicked with later writers.   The dead were also considered to have certain psychic powers.

Sheol (/ˈʃiːoʊl/ SHEE-ohl, /-əl/; Hebrew: שְׁאוֹל‎ Šəʾōl Aramaic: ܫܝܘܠ), in the Hebrew Bible, is a place of darkness to which the dead go. Under some circumstances they are thought to be able to be contacted by the living. Sheol is also called Hades.

"While the Hebrew Bible describes Sheol as the permanent place of the dead, in the Second Temple period (roughly 500 BC – 70 AD) Sheol is considered to be the home of the dead wicked, while paradise is the home of the dead righteous until the Last Judgement (e.g. 1 Enoch 22; Luke 16:19-31). In some texts, Sheol was considered a place of punishment, meant for the wicked dead, and is equated with Gehenna in the Talmud. When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek in ancient Alexandria around 200 BC, the word "Hades" (the Greek underworld) was substituted for Sheol."

Soul:  Our Nephesh, ruah, neshamah, all understand life as the animation of the body and is connected to breath.  After death there is merely a shadowy existence in the underworld (sheol)  Only in the last centuries  CE did the soul-body dualism and the concept that the soul was an independent substance joined to the body gain general credence;  the soul originates in heaven and descends to earth, joining a material body at the moment of conception or birth and losing its original perfection.  this dichotomy, fully developed in hellenistic literature, is also accepted by the Talmud where it is said that all souls exist from the creation of the world and are stored in heaven until their time comes to join the bodies destined for them.  The rabbis do not merely equate soul and body with good and evil;  it is always the soul which sins and not the body.  Maimonides and other Jewish Aristotelians assumed that only that part of the soul which man develops by his intellectual efforts is immortal;  other thinkers defined the soul in such a way as to extend immortality also to non-philosophers.  

Kabbalists generally accepted the belief in Metempsychosis (gilgul).  The desire to express one's  love for departed souls and if possible, to improve their lot in the hereafter has given rise to a large extent under non-Jewish influence to various rites, some of which such as Yizkor and Kaddish, have become permanent features of the synagogue service.  Somewhere I read that when the living are doing something worthwhile, this raises the station of where their parent is in sheol.  Our acts reflect on our parents, even in their death.                                                  

headstone of a Cohen, with the hands on top,
sign of the Cohen (descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses)

In later Hebrew thoughts on death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind,  death came to be considered a prime evil;  at the end of days, death would cease and all the dead would rise.  These developments all occurred before 70 CE.                                                 

The thoughts on Resurrection became a fundamental doctrine of Pharisaic Judaism.  Remember, there were the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  They were the Jewish political and Religious parties during the 2nd Temple period (c 580 BCE and on). At the same time, the Sadducees had absolute control over the Temple.  Their differences were somewhat like the Democrats and Republicans of today, with a lot of antagonism, but with Jews then due possibly to differences  in basic social differences. 
                                                      

Resurrection is the belief that that at the end of time, the bodies of the dead would rise from their graves.  It was a philosophy adopted by post-exilic Judaism, particularly by the Pharisees, although rejected by the Sadducees.  The Talmud teaches belief in resurrection as a fundamental of the Jewish faith, and Maimonides incorporated it into his 13 Principles of Faith, so it did not come from Moses's laws.  The denial of Resurrection was generally considered as heresy until the modern period when various Reform prayer books substituted phrases like "eternal life" for the earlier references to resurrection.  Although belief in resurrection seems to contradict belief in Immortality, the 2 views were combined in Jewish as well as  in Christian and Muslim orthodoxy.  
                                                     

Traditional Jews believe that during the Messianic Age, the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, the Jewish people ingathered from the far corners of the earth and the bodies of the dead will be brought back to life and reunited with their souls. It is not entirely clear whether only Jews, or all people, are expected to be resurrected at this time. 

This belief — distinct from, though connected to, the belief in the immortality of the soul — is mentioned explicitly only twice in the Hebrew Bible, in the books of Isaiah and Daniel, though hints of it are extrapolated from other biblical sources. 

  Pharisees admitted Divine predestination with man's responsibility for his deeds; life after death, the resurrection of the dead, the advent of the Messiah, and the Day of Judgement.  Not all Pharisees lived up to their high principles, and the Talmud itself lists 7 hypocritical types;  nevertheless, in reality they were far removed from the demogatory New Testament picture.   

Pharisaism was responsible for strengthening morality and introducing elasticity which enabled Judaism to withstand its subsequent tribulations.  The movement was continued in the stream of historic Judaism of which we now have 3 basic avenues to walk upon;  Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism.  

The Sadducees were more scientific in their theories;  no belief in a future world, resurrection, or the immortality of the soul and also rejected the evidence given of angels and spirits.  They stuck with Moses's written law so much that they would behave severely if it was broken.  Their interpretation was more literal causing severe punishments.
                                                     

Neveh Shalom Synagogue with 10 Commandments 

 The classical liturgy reiterates faith in G-d as the "REVIVER OF THE DEAD."  Death came to the world, according to the rabbis, because of sin;  either that of Adam, from which mankind still suffers, or else personal sin.  Various rabbinic legends convey a belief that the dead carry on some connection with the living and even take an interest in their affairs.  The practice of praying for the intercession of the dead is considered by the rabbis as of early origin.                      

 The last act of the dying Jew is the recitation of the Shema. It is read from right to left, starting with the word, Shema. 

Then the body of the deceased is washed by a certain group of people prepared to do this, and the body is watched until it is placed in the earth so that no harm will come to it.  Burial is done within 24 hours (or as quickly as humanly possible) and is to be conducted with simplicity. 
 We never were to find out where Moses was buried, and that's the way he wanted it.   
You will find Jewish people involved in what's happening now with people who are living, and not with what happens to us after we die.  That's the unknown to us, and we have faith in G-d enough not to worry about it.  More so, we worry about doing the right things while living, for afterwards we are in G-d's hands.  L'Chaim!  

The world we live in is viewed as a corridor that leads to still another world.  The belief in an afterlife, in a world to come (Olam Haba) where man is judged and where his soul continues to flourish is imbedded in Jewish thought.  "All Israel have a share in the world to come."  But the worthier the individual, the greater is his loss to the living.  The more he meant to those about him;  family, friends, community, the deeper the grief and sharper the anguish.  Observances surrounding death and mourning address themselves to maintain the dignity of the deceased and to comforting the pain of the mourners.  

To accompany the dead to their final resting place is considered a high religious obligation.  Kindness performed for the dead must in the nature of the case be sincere.  The dead cannot reciprocate.  In the rabbinic view, respect for the dead is incumbent upon the living for the same reason that the rich are obliged to help the poor.  There is none so helpless as a dead man.  "He that mocketh the poor blasphemeth his Maker."  Judaism does not approve of expensive funerals.  Many a Rabbi has argued that if a family has money to spare, a better way of honoring the dead is to donate a sum of money in the name of the departed to some worthy cause.  

1. Bury within 24 hours.
2. No burial on Saturday (Shabbat).
3. Tear a place on a piece of your clothing to express grief
4. Sit (Shiva) 7 day period for father, mother, wife, husband, children, siblings; time period of no shaving or cosmetics, sex
5. Shloshim period (30 days period) no parties, marriage, shaving or haircuts, ; ends mourning for all but mother or father. 
6. Avelut (12 month period) no joyous events.  Kaddish is said daily by sons for 11 months)  
7.  If a Kohen male, under different rules:  no physical contact with dead or being in same room with corpse, of 6 feet from grave with exception for close relatives; parents, children, siblings.  
                                              

From Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur, our holiest of holidays that come in Autumn, we are aware that our names will go down in the Book of Life, life for another year.  We hope ours will be there, so we will try harder this coming year to be very good.   
Reincarnation was adopted by the Karaites in the 8th century possibly under the influence of Islamic mysticism.  The earliest in Judaism appeared in Saadiah Gaon's Emunot ve-Deot.  He refuted others' proofs.  Then along came the Kabbalists who did believe in the transmigration of souls.  The Zohar refers to the doctrine, and so does Nahmanides.  The later Kabbalah is full of the belief in the transmigration of souls.  Various sins are punished by transmigration, ie the soul  of the proud man entering the body of a bee until atonement is attained.  The heroes of the Bible and later Jewish history heroes are said to be the reincarnation of earlier heroes.  

Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
To Be a Jew-a guide to Jewish observance in Contemporary Life by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheol
What Does Judaism Say About...?  Louis Jacobs
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-resurrection-of-the-dead/

Where is Love in the Jewish Religion?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                     

There are people who think that Jews do not emphasize love in their religion.  They've known and expressed love perhaps in a way that others have not understood, but it's been there, and is loud and strong.

Jews do many things to remind themselves of the presence of the Lord.  They use these reminders to remember His commandments that keep us ethical and loving, and of our duties to Him in return.  Some people feel this intuitively, but many of us need the help.  It doesn't hurt.  That's the first to receive of our love.

Doing these acts of reminders are called mitzvot, which is the plural form of a mitzva.  To do a mitzva is to do a good deed.  We try to do some form of mitzvot daily.  The highest level of a mitzvah is to save a life.

The first call we have been given is to love G-d.  It's like our command to obey Him.  We repeat an affirmation of G-d's unity or oneness 2 times a day by saying: Hear O Israel, the lord is our G-d, the Lord is One.  This is the start of the Shema (to hear).  We say this when we are dying, as well.
                                                                          

The reminder that follows is: And you shall love the Lord your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.  For these words which I have commanded you this day upon your hearts, to love your G-d, must be diligently taught to the children.  It must help to mold one's thought and action when arising and when going to bed, and when walking on the street and going about one's affairs.  Bind them as a sign upon your arm and let them be ornaments between your eyes.  And write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.  

Shema Yisrael Adonoi, Elohenu, Adonoi echad.  

We need reminders, so they must be placed where we can see these reminders and so we have them around us.  They are on one's hand and head, and upon the gates and doorposts of one's home.

 They are in the shape of tefillin, phylacteries, which are a 2 little black leather boxes fastened to leather straps that sits on a man's forehead when he prays in the morning and afternoon that contains 4 portions of part of the 5 Books of Moses:  Exod. 13:1-16;  Deut. 6:4-9;  and 11:13-21. They are in the shape of the wrapping  the straps on the forearm while doing their morning prayers which is the other piece of tefillin.

They are in the shape of the mezuzah that we hang on the right side of the doorpost that contains the Deut.6:4-9 and 11:13-21 which we kiss before entering the house.

 Below you see a man praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem which was a part of the remnant of the Herod's Temple.  The original Holy of Holies, where Aaron would have been in, is at the West end of the Temple so this wall is considered sacred to Jews.  Jews could not come here again from 1948 until after 1967's war as Jordan would not allow it.
                                                                     

They are in the shape of the tzitzit a man wears under his clothing, a set of fringes made of threads that are intertwined with blue cord, as males were commanded to wear this on the corner of our clothing.  Therefore, men wear an arba kanphot (4 corners) or tallit katan (little Tallit) and a large Tallit during morning prayers.  A Tallit is a prayer shawl, traditionally used by men, though some women are starting to use it, also.  It is a 4 cornered rectangle cloth that a man puts over his head.  It's like a miniature tent that gives him privacy to pray to his G-d.  The corners have the Tzitzit that have been knotted into the fabric.  In Israel, a prayer shawl is huge.  I had the privilege of being above the men's prayer service in a balcony in Safed, and looked down to see a sea of tents.  Inside each one was a man, of course, praying, which usually is done in a singing melody in a minor key that reaches every heart.  It was so different from the men in the USA at the synagogues I had attended who in a mixed male female group, wore a very small prayer shawl about their shoulders.  It was still a reminder of what it was all about, however.

The moral lesson here is that all man's material possessions are a gift of Heaven.  This is love.  This is commitment.  We have loved long and hard, ever since being taught by Abraham that there was but one G-d back in the 2nd millennium BCE and then in their advanced lessons from Moses in about 1271 BCE.  It's been an never-ending love affair.

Hillel, a great Rabbi, was asked by a stranger what Judaism was all about, but told to tell it quickly while standing on one foot.  He answered, "What thou dost not like when done to thyself, do not unto others."  It is right in Leviticus, 19, verse 18.  "You shall love your fellow as yourself."  

This shows that if we love G-d, that love is a learned reaction and we will love;  animals, plants, the earth, mankind as well, for how can you love G-d without appreciating where we are as living creatures and what is around us?

This is a deep form of love.  It's different from sexual love, in the sense that that acts as an attraction to get 2 people together.  After the honeymoon wears off you're facing a person, not necessarily a love object standing on a pedestal.  .  Then comes another type of love, a little more like the deeper kind of appreciation as found for our G-d.

Yes, we have always had love in our religion.  You could say that our religion is all about love.  It's what we love that counts.  What we learn here is that this love must be in our heart for starters.  The reminders are just that, reminders to love and appreciate our world and our G-d who created it.  This is something that cannot be taken for granted, but taught to our children.  Once in a blue moon you will meet someone who has been born with such love in his heart, and he or she is a diamond in a box of unpolished rocks, a very special man.

Resource: To Be a Jew by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin, page 142, Chapter 8, signs of the covenant:  Love and Reverence
The Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Tanach,  The Stone Edition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shema_Yisrael