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 This is a question that younger children often ask. From the “Biblical” point of view, the dinosaurs must have been alive at the time of Adam and Eve, because God made the animals before making people and the Bible suggests that all the animals lived with Adam and Eve. From the scientific point of view, to the best of our knowledge, the dinosaurs predated human beings. However, this does not necessarily mean that there was no “Adam and Eve”; it just suggests that the dinosaurs became extinct before Adam and Eve were created. In Judaism, we believe that the six days of creation may have described a different type of measured time. Without “disbelieving” the Torah, we can accept the idea that each of the six days of creation may not have been days of twenty-four hours each, but possibly “days” of a million or more years.
Can you please give tell me nine reasons for the existence of God
Nine of the reasons for believing in God, in my opinion, are:
Jewish law teaches us that even the poorest person must give tzedaka. There are many different traditions regarding the giving of tzedaka. One of the most enduring is that a person should put some money into a special box (a “tzedaka box”) every Friday before the beginning of the Sabbath. When this box is filled, the money is given to one or many charities. Many Jews today remember the light blue metal boxes that hung in their mother’s or grandmother’s kitchen. These were distributed by the Jewish National Fund, an organization that is dedicated to planting trees in Israel. If you go to Israel today, you can see how a hundred years of pennies, nickles and dimes have made the desert flourish. The making of beautiful tzedaka boxes is a traditional Jewish craft. However, a tzedaka box need not be “fancy” to fulfill its important function in a household. Here is a very easy way to make a tzedaka box. Take a coffee can with a plastic lid or a plastic take-out container with a lid. Cut a hole in the lid and write the name of the selected charity on a piece of paper. Tape the paper onto the container. Instant tzedaka box!
Converts who enter the Jewish community by following their own spiritual path are accepted and welcomed. According to Jewish law, a person who converts to Judaism may not be reminded that he or she once professed a different faith. Actively seeking converts to Judaism, however, is a very different matter and is not permitted within the Jewish community. Here are some reasons why.For all these reasons, actively seeking converts is not part of the activity of the Jewish community.
The terms “Reform,” “Conservative,” and “Orthodox,” however, do not define different theologies of Judaism. Rather, they describe variations in religious practice that typify what are called movements within Judaism (e.g., the Reform Movement). A person who converts to Judaism is simply Jewish; not “Reform Jewish” or “Conservative Jewish.” On a practical level, however, each of the movements has its own approach to conversion. In the United States, conversions performed according to Jewish law are accepted across all movements.
Some things make a normally kosher animal not kosher. For example, a kosher animal must be slaughtered according to Jewish law. A kosher animal that is found dead is not kosher. Another category of kashruth is based on the three commandments in the Torah that say, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Exodus 23:19; 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21). Based on this prohibition, traditional Jews do not eat meat and dairy products mixed together or even served at the same meal. Cheeseburgers are not kosher. From about the Second Century B.C.E. onward, the rabbis expanded the laws of kashruth to cover “processed” foods. If products like wine or cookies are intended to be eaten by people who observe the laws of kashruth, these foods must have a label that clearly shows that they are kosher. Vegetables and fish are considered neutral. They can be eaten with any other type of food. Which brings us back to marijuana. There are no unkosher or kosher plants. Therefore, marijuana cannot be classified in this way, and the issue of whether or not one may eat or smoke it is not a kashruth issue. This is not to say that it is okay to use marijuana, according to Jewish law. One of the problems about marijuana is that it is an illegal substance in the United States. Since Jewish law teaches that Jews must follow the civil law of the land, a Jew who uses marijuana as a recreational drug is violating both secular law and Jewish law. The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is a different issue. Jewish law puts the preservation of life above all other laws. If using marijuana would preserve a person’s life, technically the civil law banning the use of marijuana could be violated according to Jewish law. A person wishing to use marijuana in this way, however, could not just decide to do so. He or she would have to get a ruling from a rabbi about whether or not using this drug would be permitted in his or her specific case. Most rabbis would look for alternatives that would not break the law.
This reminds us that we are in partnership with God. Prayer and love of God is important in helping us to feel supported and safe. Our own actions are important because we are humans living in a human world. This gives us special power to change things in our life and in the world around us.
Prior to the early 1800s, the world Jewish community was relatively united in its understanding of Jewish law. Although there were some different traditions for Jews who lived in Eastern Europe (called Ashkenazic Jews) and Jews living in Spanish speaking countries and in Arab countries (called Sephardic Jews), these differences were seen as relatively minor, matters more of local custom than of fundamental differences over issues of legal interpretation. All that changed in the early 1800s when a segment of the German Jewish community created a congregation that abolished many traditional Jewish practices. The goal of this congregation was to “reform” Judaism so that Jews could retain their Jewish identity while living in the modern world. From this early effort, the Reform Movement was born. Reform Judaism was brought to the United States during the latter part of the 19th century, a time during which there was a major immigration of Germans into America. The other three movements in American Judaism � Modern Orthodox, Conservative, and Reconstructionist � developed, in large part, in reaction to the success of American Reform Judaism. Each of the movements has its own understanding of the way in which Jewish law is to be applied to Jewish life. Here is a quick look at how the movements differ:1. Modern Orthodox Movement. Modern Orthodox Jews believe that Jewish law is binding on the individual because the laws were given to us by God. Jewish law cannot be changed; however, interpretation of the law can be expanded under the supervision of the foremost rabbinic legal authorities when circumstances warrant it. An example, Jews may not make an electrical connection on the Sabbath. However, if one lives in a high rise apartment building, must one climb 15 flights of stairs on the Sabbath rather than take the elevator? (Pressing the button to indicate your floor creates an electrical connection.) The answer? The creation of “Shabbat elevators.” These are preset prior to the Sabbath to stop at every floor until after the Sabbath is over. In this way, an Orthodox Jew may ride in the elevator without breaking the law prohibiting the creation of an electrical connection. 2. Conservative Movement. Conservative Jews believe that Jewish law is binding. Jewish law can be changed, however, when the needs of modern society make such changes necessary. However, these changes must be made with care, and are undertaken only after sufficient study and discussion on the part of appropriate rabbinic authorities. An example: After considerable study of traditional legal texts, the Conservative Movement’s Law Committee agreed that the ordination of women as rabbis was within the parameters of Jewish law. The first female Conservative rabbi was ordained in 1985, thirteen years after the ordination of the first female rabbi by the Reform Movement. 3. Reconstructionist Movement. This is an offshoot of the Conservative Movement. The founder of the Reconstructionist Movement, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, believed that traditional Jewish ritual practices and customs are binding, not because they were commanded by a deity but because they have been the heritage of the Jewish people for millennia. The Reconstructionist Movement teaches that Jewish law is a guide, but that new laws and new interpretations of existing law can evolve under appropriate rabbinic supervision when modern life suggests the necessity for such changes. An example: The Reconstructionist Movement has been very supportive of openly gay and lesbian candidates for rabbinical ordination. This is in direct contrast to the policies of the Orthodox and Conservative Movements, which bar people who are openly gay or lesbian from rabbinic ordination. 4. Reform Movement. Reform Judaism teaches that Jewish law is a guide rather than a binding force on the individual. Reform Jews are challenged, through a teaching known as informed choice, to study Judaism and to chose those rituals and observances that seem most suited to their own needs. The Reform Movement regularly issues position statements on important Jewish practices and rituals. However, these positions are not binding. An example: Some years ago, the Reform Movement decided that it would accept as Jewish any person who had either a Jewish mother or a Jewish father, as long as this person had a Jewish education, appropriate coming of age religious celebrations, and was willing to identify himself/herself exclusively with the Jewish people. The term for this policy is “patrilineal descent.” This was a major break with the other movements, which only accept as Jewish the child of a Jewish mother � “matrilineal descent.” The question of what makes a person Jewish hinges on this issue of matrilineal and patrilineal descent. For the majority of the Jewish community, someone who is the child of a Jewish mother is Jewish. For Reform Jews, and for some Reconstructionist Jews, patrilineal descent, with some conditions, may also be used to establish Jewish identity. From a Jewish “legal” point of view, one need not practice Judaism in order to be considered Jewish.
The non-Jewish world generally refers to these Biblical writings as “The Old Testament.” There is an understanding in the Christian world that the “New Testament” replaced the laws of the Old Testament, although many religious groups still regard Old Testament writings as holy. Because Jews do not believe that the New Testament replaced the laws of the Tanach, Jews do not refer to these writings as the Old Testament, but instead use the term “Tanach” or “Hebrew Bible.” The Tanach is composed of 39 individual books divided into the three segments mentioned above. The Torah is considered to be the most sacred of the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible. According to tradition, there are 613 separate laws, “commandments,” in the Torah that God gave to the Jewish people. All of Jewish law begins with these commandments. The five books of the Torah describe many things: the creation of the world, the creation of human beings, the creation of the Jewish people, and the experiences of the Jewish people up to the point at which they are about to enter the “Promised Land” of Canaan to settle it as a homeland. In historical terms, this brings us to about the year 1,000 B.C.E. (before the Common Era). The second section of the Tanach, Nevi’im (Prophets), is composed of two different types of writings. Part One, often called The Former Prophets, contains historical narratives. These tell the story of Joshua’s leadership of the Israelites in Canaan, the rise of the Judges of Israel, the development of Kingship in Israel, the building of the First Temple in Jerusalem, the destruction of the First Temple and the reign of the Kings of Israel until 561 B.C.E. The second part of Nevi’im is called Latter Prophets. This is a collection of literary writings ascribed to individuals who were recognized as having prophetic gifts. The Latter Prophets itself is divided into two segments: the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel) and the Minor Prophets. There are twelve different authors in the Minor Prophets, including Amos, Hosea, and Micah. The terms “major” and “minor” refer to the amount of literary output rather than to the importance of the authors. Part Three of the Tanach, Chetuvim (Writings), is a compilation of literary works and late historical chronicles of the Jewish people ending about 400 B.C.E. The literary works comprise a wide selection of different types of material, including love poetry, Song of Songs; religious poetry, Psalms; philosophical writings, Job and Ecclesiastes; wisdom literature, Proverbs; and even comedy, The Book of Esther. Unlike Christian editions of the Old Testament, the Tanach does not contain the books of Tobit, Judith, Maccabees, or Sirach. Although these books have Jewish themes, because they were not included in the Tanach, Jewish scholars rarely, if ever, studied these works. Even Maccabees, which deals with the historical events of Chanukkah, was not considered a holy book by Jews. For this reason, our understanding of the holiday of Chanukkah is based on accounts in the Talmud, an anthology of Jewish law and lore based on the Tanach and developed between 200 and 500 C.E. rather than on the historical accounts in Maccabees. The term “People of the Book” is a name given by others to the Jewish people. The phrase refers to the centrality of the Torah to Jewish life. The Torah is understood by Jews to be the main guide for understanding how to live a life of blessing and goodness. For this reason, a favorite hymn based on Psalm 3:18 says of the Torah, “It is a tree of life to those who hold fast to it, for holding fast to the Torah will give them peace.” The Torah is read four times a week in the synagogue according to a specific calendar of readings that are followed by all Jewish communities throughout the world. In addition, traditional Jewish teaching encourages each individual to study the week’s Torah portion three times during each week, twice in Hebrew, the original language of the Torah, and once in translation.
A Torah may be the actual Torah scroll itself. The technical term for this scroll is “sefer Torah,” which means a book of Torah. In English, the term used when referring to a sefer Torah is “Torah scroll.” A Torah scroll is written by hand and contains the entire text of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. A Torah scroll has no vowels and no punctuation. In ancient times, the words themselves were not separated. A Torah can also be a printed book containing the first five books of the Bible. Such a book can be printed in any language, or in several different languages � in Hebrew and English, for example. A printed Torah usually includes all the vowels and necessary punctuation for a correct reading of the text. Very often, such a book also contains explanations about the Biblical passages. Such a book is called a Torah Commentary. The word “Torah” can also be used as a general term when referring to Jewish study. When a Jewish person says, “Let’s learn some Torah,” the subject matter may or may not actually be the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. In previous article, we discussed why the Jewish people are called “The People of the Book”. In ancient times, the only type of Torah was a sefer Torah. Most books produced at that time were produced in scroll form. Scrolls were made up of a series of pages sewn together. These were then rolled so that they could be easily stored. Long documents were usually attached to one or two wooden rollers to make the work of rolling and unrolling them easier. Over time, some books began to be produced in the form of pages that could be bound into what we today call “book form.” In 1436, Johannes Gutenberg, working in Mainz, Germany, began building a printing press that used movable metal type. In 1455, after two years of work, Gutenberg produced the first printed Bible, which had 42 lines of printing on each page. Gutenberg’s invention revolutionized the world of printing and book making. The printing press was the computer of its day. There was a very good reason why the Gutenberg Bible had 42 lines of printing on each page. The reason has to do with the way in which a sefer Torah is written. A person who writes Torah scrolls as a profession is called a sofer. We translate this word in English as “scribe.” There are many laws and traditions that scribes follow when writing a sefer Torah for use in the synagogue. These laws and traditions may vary somewhat depending on the individual scribe’s country of origin. Between the 8th and the 10th century C.E., Biblical scholars called masoretes developed a standardized Torah text for both the sefer Torah and the printed Torah text. The word “masorete” comes from a Hebrew word that means tradition, or that which has been transmitted. Much of the work of the masoretes focussed on details of the sefer Torah and the printed Torah text. The masoretes established guidelines for the number of lines that should be in each column of a sefer Torah, which vowels should be used in a printed text, and the division of the text into sentences, sections, and chapters. While there are a number of different traditions about the actual number of lines a sefer Torah can have in each column, 42 lines became the preferred standard and continues to be so today. The tradition of having a 42 line column comes from the Biblical book of Numbers. Chapter 33 describes the 42 separate stops that were made by the Israelites in their journey from Mt. Sinai, where they received the Torah, to the Plains of Moab on the banks of the Jordan River. A 42-line column also allows letters to be created that are large enough to read easily. By the time of the printing of the Gutenberg Bible, the tradition of a 42-line column in the Torah was well established as “authentic.” All forms of the Torah are sacred to Jews. However, the sefer Torah is considered to be especially holy because of the extreme care that must be taken in its creation. A sefer Torah must be written by hand by a sofer (scribe) on the skin of a kosher animal. Most of the time, calfskin or sheepskin is used. However, an animal may not be killed for the purpose of using its skin to write a sefer Torah. Rather, the skin is taken only from an animal that has died or that has been slaughtered for food or for other uses. The sofer uses a goose quill or turkey quill to write the letters. The ink is made of natural vegetable and mineral products. The individual sheets of writing are sewn together with a thread made of animal sinew. When unrolled, a sefer Torah measures about half the length of a football field. There are 304,805 letters in a Torah scroll. Each letter of the Torah must be read aloud or chanted before it is written. In addition, before beginning writing each day, the sofer must visit a ritual bath to enter a state of ritual purity before writing the holy words. A sefer Torah takes about a year to create. Traditionally, only men were professional scribes. However, today in the non-Orthodox Jewish community some women are beginning to enter the field.
The Ten Commandments are stated clearly in two different books of the Torah with minor variations: Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. The major difference in the two statements is in the commandment relating to Sabbath observance. In Exodus, the Hebrew word used to refer to Sabbath observance is “zachor,” which means remember. In Deuteronomy, the Hebrew word used is “shamor,” which means guard. Because of this difference, Jews always light a minimum of two candles for Shabbat: one for zachor and one for shamor. Most Christians and Jews assume that they know what the Ten Commandments are, which commandment is # 1, which is # 2, and so on. However, a closer investigation reveals several different ways of numbering the Ten Commandments. For Jews, the First Commandment is “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage.” Much has been written about why this verse is understood as a commandment on its own. (Exploring this is an article in itself.) The most important idea relating to this commandment is the establishment of God’s identity � that the Lord who is identified in this statement is the One who was the maker of the miracles of the Exodus. Christians, however, understand the First Commandment differently. In Catholic and Lutheran Bibles, for example, the First Commandment reads, “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the Lord your God am a jealous God … ” (Translation: The New American Bible, Saint Joseph Edition.)Here is a quick look at the Jewish and Christian variations of our shared Ten Commandments:
Even within Judaism itself, it was not always clear how the Ten Commandments were to be divided. Some scholars have suggested that there is another set of Ten Commandments in Exodus 34:14�26. And most of the Ten Commandments are restated, along with some other commandments, in Leviticus 19! Clearly, numbers and counting were a creative exercise for Rabbinic commentators of the Torah.
The definition of the Hebrew “mitzvah” is “Commandment.” Because many of the commandments require a Jewish person to perform ethical acts � e.g., feeding the poor, providing shelter for the homeless, taking care of widows and orphans � the word “mitzvah” is often popularly translated as “good deed, ” although this is not the meaning of the word “mitzvah” in Hebrew. All Jews over the age of twelve (women) or thirteen (men) are responsible for the performance of all 613 commandments. The good news is that several hundred of these commandments relate to offerings that are to be made in the Temple in Jerusalem. Since that Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. by the Romans, a Jewish person’s obligation for the performance of the Temple commandments is “on hold” until such time as the Temple is rebuilt. Since, at the present time, there is a mosque on the site where the ancient Temple stood, it’s unlikely that the Temple offerings will be re-established any time soon. Some commandments can only be performed once a year. For example, Commandment 298 tells us not to do any work on the first day of Passover ( Leviticus 23:7). Some commandments are “words to live by.” For example, Commandment 240 tells us not to cause anyone embarrassment (Leviticus 19:17). There are even commandments that are meant to be performed only once in a lifetime. The 613th commandment instructs us to write our own Torah. Most of us perform this by providing financial assistance to enable a Torah to be written.
While the 613 commandments are central to Jewish life, the Ten Commandments also have their own special place within Judaism.
What would a “visitor” from a different culture think about $9.99 and $10.00? For someone who does not share modern American cultural attitudes towards numbers and money, creating a difference between $9.99 and $10.00 would probably seem very strange. How much more puzzling are the numbers in the Bible to us! Numbers are part of all human experiences. They measure our life span, the number of people in a group, the number of days in a holiday, length of a monarch’s rule. There are hundreds of numbers in the Bible. What do they mean? In many societies throughout time, numbers have meanings beyond their plain numerical value. For example, in Jewish mysticism, the numbers three and seven are understood to have strong spiritual power. Mystics believe that proper manipulation of numbers is a vital part of worship and connection to the Divine. In the Hebrew Bible, there are two numbers that are mentioned very frequently: 40 and 70. Most scholars believe that Biblical numbers are symbolic rather than actual. In other words, these numbers 40 and 70 represent concepts which were understood in Biblical times, just as we understand the difference between $9.99 and $10.00. “And the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.” (Genesis 7:12). “ � and Moses remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.” (Exodus 24:18). “And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.” (Numbers 13:25). Much has been written about what the number forty symbolizes. Looking at these verses, we might speculate that forty is a number that represents an appropriate length of time for certain sacred actions to take place, in this instance, “judgement.” Judgement in the Bible comes in different forms. Judgement can mean punishment, as in the incident of the flood. Judgement can refer to a “change of plans” by God. Originally, all Israelites were going to go to Canaan. However, after the incident of the Golden Calf, the time in the desert was increased to forty years so that all the people who were adults in Egypt would die before the Israelites entered Canaan. Judgement can also mean "“to make a determination using all the available facts.” The spies were asked to judge whether or not the land of Canaan was a suitable home for the Israelites. The number 70, on the other hand, is used to suggest a different idea. “The total number of persons that were of Jacob’s issue came to seventy.” (Exodus: 1:5). “Gather for Me seventy of Israel’s elders�” (Numbers 11:16). “It shall come to pass..that Tyre shall be forgotten for seventy years�” (Isaiah 23:15). Seventy in the Bible seems to be a number that symbolizes completeness and totality. When the Torah says that Jacob had seventy children, it seems to be saying that he was extremely prolific! The “seventy elders,” is a theme which is repeated many times in the Torah. It seems to stand for the gathering of all the wisest people. The suffering of Tyre for seventy years is followed by its complete redemption; as the suffering is total, so will the redemption be total. When Jews study the Bible, we understand that we can read God’s words on many different levels. On the simple level of the written word, numbers are just numbers. However, we are also free to look at numbers as symbols for specific ideas, like “judgement” and “totality.” When we do this, it adds to our understanding and appreciation of the Holy words.
Nothing written here is meant to judge the truth of any particular religious understanding of the Garden of Eden story or any other holy text or religious teaching. As a modern Jew, I do not judge the validity of the teachings of any other faith. Rather, I see the religious world as a glorious tapestry of faith given to us all by the Holy One. In such a tapestry, there can be no concept of “right” or “wrong,” for each thread is precious to the Creator. Gerald Ostroot of Holiday Island, Arkansas writes: “The Genesis account of Adam and Eve is viewed by almost all Christians through the Augustinian interpretation of original sin … a perfect nature was perverted to one of sin and disobedience. How does Judaism view these events?” A close reading of the text in Genesis 2:25�3:24 is very revealing. Nowhere in the text does God mention the concept of sin. Rather, God’s attitude toward Adam and Eve is that of a parent who discovers that a child has done something that he or she was told not to do. Disobeying a parent is not a sin, although doing so may incur punishment. Like a good parent, God rebukes the three parties involved in the transgression: the snake, the woman, and the man, and punishes them appropriately. However, after punishing Adam and Eve, the Torah tells us that God took care of them, making garments for them and clothing them. This is an act of a compassionate parent, not a vengeful God. The banishment from Eden is a story that explains why human beings suffer and die — one of humankind’s eternal questions. However, with our banishment and the mortality that accompanies it, we are also given an extraordinary gift — that of bringing life into the world. Despite her transgression, Eve becomes the mother of all life. Her Hebrew name “Chavah” means life. Although Eden is painted in commentaries as a perfect world, Eden posed certain problems for the man and the woman. In Eden, neither Adam nor Eve had any ability to affect their surroundings. There was no way for them to improve their environment or to make their lives better, because, by definition, their lives were perfect. In modern terms, we would say that they had no meaningful work to do. The “good life” was too good. The traditional rabbinic commentators, in seeking to explain the story of Eden, looked for the meaning behind the behavior of Adam, Eve, and the serpent. A typical example of this approach is the story that Rabbi Judah taught in the name of Rabbi Levi. Rabbi Judah relates that the serpent told Eve that eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil enabled God to create the world. According to the serpent, God didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree because God didn’t want them to be able to create new worlds and go into “competition” with God! A very interesting aspect of the story of Adam and Eve is that Adam and Eve’s reaction to God’s punishment is not recorded. What was Eve’s response to God’s specific punishment for her? Most of the stories in the Torah are seen through a male perspective. Therefore, Eve’s punishment — to have a sexual attraction to her husband, to suffer in the childbirth that will result from this attraction, and to be subservient to her husband — is portrayed as the “worst possible” punishment a woman could receive — a curse. For many women, however, the sweetness of holding one’s newly born child is ample compensation for the pain of childbirth. Even Eve, when she first holds Cain in her arms, says, “I have gained a male child with the help of the Lord.” Her words suggest that the birth of her child is a blessing, rather than a curse. In Judaism, having satisfying sex within marriage is part of a woman’s marital rights, guaranteed by her marriage contract. Love and sexuality are considered blessings. Women are not the slaves of their husbands, completely subject to their husband’s will, and may not be abused by them. Children are viewed as a gift and a joy. Because of this, for Jews, Eve’s punishment is not viewed as a tragedy, but rather as a gift that enhances our joy. As Jews, we do not believe that we bear hereditary responsibility or a special “taint” because of Adam and Eve’s actions. Our understanding is that only the person who breaks God’s laws is to be punished. This idea is clearly detailed in the Torah. The Israelites who worshipped the Golden Calf were doomed to travel through the desert until they died because they could not adjust to freedom. Their children, however, were permitted to enter the Promised Land. The Torah’s point of view is clarified even further by the verse in Deuteronomy 24:16 that states, “Parents shall not be put to death for children, nor children be put to death for parents.” Even in the statement of the second of the Ten Commandments, which seems to suggest that punishment for serving gods other than the Lord can go beyond the individual, such punishment is limited to the third or fourth generation, while the reward for faithful service extends to the thousandth generation. For all these reasons, the Christian concept of “original sin” is not part of Jewish theology.
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