What is the ultimate aim of Judaism?

[Honza]

Is it reunion with God? Complete merger with God? Or what?

There are a lot of aims to religion in general, but which is closest to Judaic teaching and practice?

To live up to God's will and commandments that were given to his chosen people; and follow them through love and obedience to Him.

Lol, I hope I've gotten it right. As I said on the other thread, I only have a basic knowledge of Judaism. I'm sure Yamah or RabbiO can give better answers.

That's actually a very complicated question, Honza, and one that cannot be easily answered. If all you're looking for is the big picture then Animus' concise answer is sufficient... but if you will indulge a few details then please read on.

To start with we must first ask 'what is Judaism?' to understand that we must ask 'what is an -ism?' and 'what is a Jew?'

An -'ism' is a set of dogmatic beliefs organized into a practical structure which can be applied in an individual in order to make that individual part of a collective. It can be a religion (ie. Christianism), a philosophy (ie. Taoism) or an economic paradigm (ie. Communism). 'Judaism' is actually a misnomer as it was not naturally structured as a belief system. It only became so after the second temple's destruction and the Jewish people were exiled.

The word 'Jew' is a short form of 'Judah'. Judah was the name of one of the tribes of Israel which was the ruling presence in Israel. Judah (and the tribe of Benjamin) split of from the rest of the tribes of Israel in a large conflict and eventually the rest of the tribes were overrun by romans and killed or scattered, leaving Judah as the only remaining presence of Israelites. Eventually, Judah was also conquered, enslaved and exiled - but the Jews remained a single people (mostly) and adapted their practices for the exile in order to remember them.

Thus 'Judaism' can be explained as 'the practices of the people of Judah after the exile in order to keep alive the tradition which existed before the exile'. Judaism is thus all about learning and remembering, following tradition, putting into practice whatever we can and basically trying to keep a dying flame from blowing out.

We should then ask: What came before Judaism, and what will come after?

The answer to both is: The Kingdom of Israel. If you read through the Torah you will see that there are many laws which don't make sense for a religion. For example, 'when you plow your fields, leave the corners of the fields so that poor people and passerby's may eat of them'. This is not a religious law, it is the law of a nation. 'your king shall not have too many wives or horses'. What religion has a king?

The Torah was meant to be a constitution for a kingdom. Specifically, a divine constitutional monarchy. All the laws were meant to be national laws.

So now, what is the purpose of the nation of Israel?

It is twofold: (1) to bear witness to God's existance and (2) be a light unto the nations. These are both achieved by our very existence. The fact that the Jewish people exist at all, despite everything that has happened to us, is in and of itself proof of a divine hand at work. By acknowledging God's existence and witnessing His Majesty we are his heralds in this world. The latter is also passive... it isn't that we should go out and prostelytize, but that we should live our lives righteously and 'lead by example' so to speak. By living righteous lives in the love of God the other nations will come to us and ask 'how are you so rich, how are you so powerful, how are you so... happy'. And we will answer 'we serve God'. Of course, for that to happen we need to become the rich, powerful, moral and happy nation in service of God that we were meant to become. And this goal hinges on us living in Israel and become a 100% righteous and 'religious' nation here, with a third holy temple and a 'religious' king/president, with the Torah as the basis for our constitution.

After all that happens (please God in our lifetimes), then the world will be on its way to an age of peace and prosperity when the lion lays with the lambs and swords will be molten down into plowshares and all that good stuff.

Developing a personal connection to God is also important, but this 'selfish' goal is not seen as the ultimate or even the penultimate. I am only one person and my achieving of enlightenment will only benefit myself. I must learn in order to teach and show others what it means to learn to be righteous.

"Rabbi Yishmael...used to say: He who learns in order to teach will be enabled both to learn and to teach. But he who learns in order to practice will be enabled to learn, to teach, to observe, and to practice." (Pirkei Avot 4:6)

So to recap: the goal of Judaism is to reach a state of World Peace and Global Enlightenment by "liv[ing] up to God's will and commandments that were given to his chosen people; and follow[ing] them through love and obedience to Him. "

[psychoslice]

His chosen people, mmmm, what about other religions, are they god's chosen people also ?.

[Honza]

Thanks Yamah.

What about heaven? What about the afterlife? What about at the end of creation?

How does it all end? What happens to all the Jewish SOULS?

Judaism places significantly less emphasis on the afterlife than Christianity or Islam do. If you will notice, it isn't mentioned anywhere in the Original Testament.

We believe that when you die you are sent to the 'Resevoir of Souls'. From there a soul can choose to (1) remain at the level it has achieved through its previous incarnation, (2) choose to reincarnate to achieve a higher state, or (3) go through 'Gehenom' (commonly translated as 'hell', though it is more like 'purgatory') where the soul can be purified through suffering to achieve a higher state.

After this world has reached a state of ultimate perfection, which is well beyond our years, the universe will exist in an altered state of supreme goodness and wonder and all the souls will be reborn into an eternal paradise. The extent of joy you receive in The Next World will be proportional to the spiritual station you have reached through This World.

Regarding the details of The Next World it is impossible to know... for it is like blind men speaking about colour.

Jews and Non-Jews will all be reincarnated in The Next World, but since the reward is proportional to the responsibilities and the Jewish people have more responsibilities, the potential reward in The Next World for a Jew is greater.

[psychoslice]

Yamah: Jews and Non-Jews will all be reincarnated in The Next World, but since the reward is proportional to the responsibilities and the Jewish people have more responsibilities, the potential reward in The Next World for a Jew is greater.

Why do the Jews have more responsibilities, it just doesn't make sense to me, with all due respect, I think that statement sounds very arrogant.

A lot of people view that statement as being arrogant but it isn't said with any arrogance whatsoever.

There are two responsibilities in this world: (1) Don't destroy the world, (2) Attempt to elevate the world.

Everyone is responsible for the first. Only Jews are responsible for the second. Non-Jews can, of course, contribute to global elevation, and they will be rewarded accordingly should they choose to do so, but they are not RESPONSIBLE for it.

If you want to get into specifics, as a Jew I must: (1) spending at least 2 hours each day in prayer, (2) spend 1 to 14 additional hours each day studying the Torah, (3) devote one full day every week to God, (4) devote an additional 16 days every year to God, (5) spend at least 79 days every year in a solemn state, (6) spend an additional 5+ days every year fasting and mourning, (7) spend the remaining 0-13 waking hours of the remaining ~200 days every year upholding a strict code of righteousness which restricts what I can eat, what i can learn, who I can talk to, etc... all while still performing the basic requirements of life such as eating, sleeping and working. Furthermore, the whole while I must be aware that 2 billion christians and 1.6 billion muslims would all love to see me dead and the majority of the remaining 3 billion people don't care for me all that much either... and somehow understand that all the responsibilities I have undertaken in this life is to help all of them. Furthermore I must do all of these things out of genuine joy and love for God, otherwise they don't count and I'm just wasting my time.

Originally Posted by Yamah

...
There are two responsibilities in this world: (1) Don't destroy the world, (2) Attempt to elevate the world.

Everyone is responsible for the first. Only Jews are responsible for the second. Non-Jews can, of course, contribute to global elevation, and they will be rewarded accordingly should they choose to do so, but they are not RESPONSIBLE for it.
...

Very narrow view of who is responsible.

[psychoslice]

Originally Posted by Yamah

A lot of people view that statement as being arrogant but it isn't said with any arrogance whatsoever.

There are two responsibilities in this world: (1) Don't destroy the world, (2) Attempt to elevate the world.

Everyone is responsible for the first. Only Jews are responsible for the second. Non-Jews can, of course, contribute to global elevation, and they will be rewarded accordingly should they choose to do so, but they are not RESPONSIBLE for it.

If you want to get into specifics, as a Jew I must: (1) spending at least 2 hours each day in prayer, (2) spend 1 to 14 additional hours each day studying the Torah, (3) devote one full day every week to God, (4) devote an additional 16 days every year to God, (5) spend at least 79 days every year in a solemn state, (6) spend an additional 5+ days every year fasting and mourning, (7) spend the remaining 0-13 waking hours of the remaining ~200 days every year upholding a strict code of righteousness which restricts what I can eat, what i can learn, who I can talk to, etc... all while still performing the basic requirements of life such as eating, sleeping and working. Furthermore, the whole while I must be aware that 2 billion christians and 1.6 billion muslims would all love to see me dead and the majority of the remaining 3 billion people don't care for me all that much either... and somehow understand that all the responsibilities I have undertaken in this life is to help all of them. Furthermore I must do all of these things out of genuine joy and love for God, otherwise they don't count and I'm just wasting my time.

Sorry but it all sounds pointless to me, it doesn't sound like a very loving religion to me, but if your happy that's what counts, but never put yourself above others because of your belief system, you may be surprised one day who truly belongs to god.