Showing posts with label idolatry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label idolatry. Show all posts

Monday, September 02, 2013

JewishIsrael and Thais

In one of the comments on my post protesting the misinformation regarding claims made in connection with HaYovel and a supposed Jewish-Christian center in Samaria (what JewishIsrael considers part of "a wanton and reckless [relationship] which is currently being pursued by Shomron leadership), as well as a poster campaign against their volunteering efforts in the Samarian vineyards, Elllen Horowitz of JewishIsrael writes


We interviewed several farmers and posted a number of other alternatives...Thai workers have an excellent reputation here [on the Golan].

Wait, Thais?

From Thailand?

Aren't they Buddhists?

Are Buddhists less or more idolators than Christian?


Many of the Buddhist practices and world-concepts are in direct opposition to the Torah concept of singular Divine providence...Even if the intellectual Buddhist conceives of these notions in a highly abstract fashion, they are still the notions of idolatry against which our father Abraham struggled. For a Jew to burn incense in front of a statue is horrifying, no matter what he will say are his inner intents. Similarly, the proclamation, "In Buddha I find refuge" is a catastrophe for the Jewish soul.

On the other hand, the mental rigor and personal discipline of these practices have proven of great benefit to many in their praying and meditation (both of which are organic to Judaism)...As for those who were born into Buddhist culture, I believe that they will find a particular path within the framework of the Noahide guidelines that leads them to the truth within their own heritage..

and this

For traditionally religious Jews, engaging in Buddhist practices is a violation of the prohibition against avodah zarah, idol worship, and Jews who become Buddhists are apostates. Jewish groups--ranging from Jews for Judaism to Chabad-Lubavitch and Hillel--spend considerable time and energy trying to convince Jews attracted to Buddhism (and other non-Jewish paths) that whatever they are seeking can be found within Judaism. 

There is this viewpoint:

...Buddhism is -- in its essence and purpose -- the diametric opposite of Judaism...The goal of Buddhism is to escape the wheel of birth and death...the only effective way to escape this world is by attaining nirvana, a transcendental state of consciousness which serves as an exit pass from the wheel of birth and death...Judaism, by contrast, is a path of total engagement with this world....

...Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism all mandate celibacy as the highest path, because indulging in sex means giving in to the lower self. All the serious Bhu-Jews living in Dharamsala have renounced sex.   Torah, by contrast, takes sexuality and examines it, regulates it, prohibits it in certain relationships, and ultimately sanctifies it in marriage as the most potent way to unite with God in this world...I should note here that Indian (both Hindu and Buddhist) Tantric tradition utilizes the energy of sexual union as a spiritual tool, but Tantric sexuality is not supposed to be practiced with one’s wife. Preferably, it should be practiced with a stranger....

...Another salient difference between Buddhism and Judaism is that Buddhism is a non-theistic religion. Although later Mahayana Buddhism virtually made the Buddha himself into a god, the historical Gautama Buddha (who lived in the fifth century BCE) never mentioned God. Thus, the existence of God and even the existence of an immortal soul are either denied or irrelevant in Buddhism.

Judaism, on the contrary, centers totally on God....According to Buddhism and Hinduism, this world is ultimately purposeless.

So, from a halachic and theological position, who is better for the vines, Ellen, Thais or Christians?

^