Judaism: Because the OT is really YOUR book, is it common for Jews to take it literally?

Question

I've never gotten the impression that you do (except for maybe some of the ultra-orthodox) but I wouldn't doubt that practicality has helped Judaism be a more peaceful and humane religion than some of its counterparts.

Answer 1

What a wonderful wuestion with a very complex answer.

First, many Christians believe most Jews practice the Jewish faith. Unfortunately this isn't true anymore. Most Jews do not. Also, L'chaim answered a little incorrectly above. There are three "denominations" in Judaism. Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox. Reform is very liberal and do not believe officialy that the Torah was revealed to Moses ina m raculous way at Mount SInai.

Conservatives may believe that or may not, but do not believe our Oral Traditions about the Torah were really revealed to Moses at Mt. SInai.

Orthodox believe that the Torah was given to Moses in writing, and G-d revealed its exact meaning to him as part of an oral tradition of correct interpretation. THat Oral Tradition later was written into the Talmud, and is preserved in the Classical cOmmentaries and Midrashim. (THere is a group called Modern Orthodox, who basically have a COnservatice theology, more or less, but try to live like Orthodox, more or less. This is a very controversial and complicated matter.)


Okay, so I can only speak to Orthodoxy. In Orthodoxy we have Oral traditions for which parts of the book you call the Old Testament are literal and which aren't. Creation is literal, and there was just a massive fight over this in the Orthodox world because it had become popular to tell people that it was not, in hopes that they would become religious and not be scared away. Then once they had been religious for a while, tell them it is.

So 80 Gedolei Yisroel, (the leading Rabbis) put out a paper saying it was literal, and asking an Orthodox author who wrote extensively that it was not, to burn his books in public and repent.

The shock was that these were universally recognized rabbis that everyone respects. It wasn't the most fanatical people. They didn't seem to be aware anyone thought the Creation wasn't literal. It was the leading, mainstream Orthodox Rabbis.

Certain groups were really upset about this, particularly the Modern Orthodox, but couldn't be so upset because R' David Feinstein signed as well, and he is someone they respect because they folllow all of his father's rulings in theory, and he is the expert on his father's rulings.

As to other parts....

Parts where it says, "G-d's hand," "G-d's wings," G-d's eye," are not literal. They are speaking in our language, but G_d has no literal hand, wing, or eye. ALso, "The L-rd is a Rock," is obviously not literal.

The entire book of Chronicles is not literal. It contains massive differences with the book of Kings, which are ment to teach something. THe tradition says, "The book of chronicles was given only for homilitical interpretation."

And Song of Songs is not literal.

Basically it's very complicated which parts are and aren't, and much too long for one answer.

Answer 2

There are some parts we "take literally" and some we don't. The Tanakh is our Bible--loosely, but not really, the Xtian "OT."

For example, the creation story. Some "take it literally" in the sense that they believe G-d did everything exactly as it's listed in the story...but a day for G-d is a million years for us, or something...so 6 days would be 6 million years, and then the Torah actually favors evolution...Jews generally accept the theory of evolution but acknowledge that G-d started the process.

There are so many different opinions on this it's hard to give one answer. The prophecies (ex. Jeremiah) we take literally while the "stories" (ex. the creation story) we tend to take with a grain of salt.

They tend to vary from sect to sect and also from Jew to Jew.

Peace

Answer 3

You have a point, they really don't take it that literally. Even the ones who say they do, don't. Of course sometimes I wish they would take SOME things more literally. For example, if they limited the milk-with-meat prohibition to exactly what it says in the bible about not cooking a lamb in its mother's milk, then Jewish cuisine would be much better off. Can you see it? Beef Stroganoffstein!

What I do find funny is how non-Jews presume to tell Jews how to interpret their scriptures.

Answer 4

I don't think there is an answer to your question. The differences between our "denominations" are actions, not beliefs. I don't think anyone believes the creation story is literal, but many believe that Revelation at Sinai is literal. More than 600,000 Israelites witnessed Revelation at Sinai, but each understood it in his own way -- just as we do today. Interpretation of the Tanach (OT) varies from individual to individual and we frequently discuss interpretations of our most famous scholars from the last 2200 years or so.

There is only one "belief" required in Judaism -- God is One, but we have many obligations to God in complying with our part of our Covenant with Him. We may not love our neighbor, but we MUST treat our neighbor with love.

All of our traditions, rituals, etc. are reminders to ourselves of how God expects us to lead a moral and ethical life here on earth. We pray to God to ask for His guidance, but it's up to us to make the right choices and work toward our goals.
.

Answer 5

Can you believe that the Biblical book of fables is taken literally by some Christians?

Answer 6

we take literally the parts we believe were meant literally, and we don't take literally the parts we believe were not meant literally. since the bible is filled with allegory and metaphor, that leaves a lot up for interpretation.