WOW: From Evangelical Christian To Hasidic Jew

I was raised evangelical Christian and I had a lot of problems with it and then I made a sort of loose step to transition into Orthodox Judaism and had it like a really good foundation with Chabad and inclusiveness and such and I talked about it with some other people about how I had a very Christian centric view of Judaism and it wasn't until I met a kabocha who did a lot of seeking activity that I really started understanding Judaism at all so what did you what did you come to understand what is what is a Christianized Judaism or what is not a Christianized Judaism is more along the lines of really of kind of giving up on Torah mitzvahs and it was just a lot of replacing that with with somebody else who took care of all of those things and a a big problem I had in Christianity was if we claim that Christianity comes from Judaism why is it that we're so far removed from it why is it we do nothing like the Jews why is it we claim to have all the answers that they didn't have so and I had no answers to that question until I met I it was the first rabbi ever met who was able to answer some of the questions so what what clicked for you what did you hear that convinced you so there was a Christian understanding is that their Messiah they like the jesus' they call him that he that he was god I had a huge problem with that and that he was the Messiah and I didn't understand them to be the same thing and it didn't make sense to me that that was the case and it wasn't until I had a good introduction to Judaism that that was clarified and then that truly it was it seems it was groundbreaking for me that the Messiah isn't supposed to be God and that that really threw me for a loop and so that was kind of a really clarifying moment there and then based on that very simple understanding all of the other understandings that go along with it came also to interesting considerations about Christianity the first thing is how did it get started it started with Jews how do you come to people who are keeping 613 commandments and convinced them not to and he did that and it caught on pretty quickly the way they did it was very simple you set up a false premise and then you shoot it down so you come to a Jew and you say you know how you need 613 mitzvot to get to heaven well not anymore what a deal but it's a false premise who said you need 613 mitzvot to get to heaven it was never about getting to heaven 613 mitzvot that serve God's purpose how can that change God changed so if you were to come to a Jew and say you know how you do 613 things that God really expects from you well he doesn't expect it anymore oh that's not good news that would never catch on so if the Mitzvah is what God needs and we're serving him don't tell me I can't serve him anymore that's not good news so they set up a false premise the only reason you're doing these mitzvahs is to get to heaven oh I can get you in for free that's irresistible so that's number one that the way Christianity starts is by first saying this is not for God this is for you well I can get you a better deal second thing is which is really amazing everything they say about him is absolutely true he is God's child he is not born of sin he is born of God he is the Messiah he is the suffering servant it's all true it's also true of every other Jew in the world why they pick on him Fido nope so you see the reason it lasted as long as it has is because of that kernel of truth without a little kernel of truth a falsity doesn't work so what is true what's true is the Jews are God's suffering servant the Jews are God's child born of God little peace of God that is the Jewish soul we are the Messiah we're the light to the nation's so it's rude so actually everything you've taught have you every everything they taught you and everything yeah pretty good just apply it properly yeah when Mel Gibson made his movie of good suffering ah he suffered so much give me a break he suffered for one day Jews have suffered for 2,000 years so if anybody is God's suffering servant so it's not all wrong it's just applied in a protein out of proportion or whatever so Messiah is not God and God is not mushiya what is mushiya in your new vision in my new vision mushiya it's kind of the it's the it is mushiya is the deliverance from Kula or it is it is the the bringing out of of the Diaspora and of bringing home everyone and reconnecting truly hashem with the world in that final sort of stage we work so hard to do the mitzvahs to bring more light into the world to make a living place for God in this world and mushiya is when that job is I don't want to say it like completely it is more on the accomplished sort of things where things finally come together and everything finally is a peace and world is finally whole again so we can't just wait for mushiya we have to make it so it's really not even correct to say my shia will come it's not gonna come if you don't do anything mushiya is coming because we're doing what we need to do so the right way to say it is mushiya is coming that he will come it's not a prediction it's a it's a project a long-standing project so how can we be sure that Messiah will come we're not predicting the future we're sure that he's coming cuz we're preparing the way on the other hand if we prepare the way what do we need him for I was if we can fix the world so that he can come was too coming for so I think you were you were being careful about you know we're doing all the work because then then it sounds like we don't need him yeah so we're doing some of the work and he'll finish it the finishing touch or the final whatever it doesn't have to be that way we can make the world completely perfectly godly and we still need him and then we will really need him because how do you function in a godly world we don't know we know how to function in a world that needs fixing what happens when it gets fixed we're gonna need somebody to teach us a whole new way to live to get excited and wake up in the morning and there's nothing to fix how's that gonna feel how's that gonna work so we need a new teacher a great new teacher who will introduce a whole new way of serving God a whole new way of doing mitzvahs because it's gonna be a different world so it's not enough to say it's an error something will happen in in the world something will happen to mankind and it'll all be good so what do you need a individual mushiya so really the primary role of Messiah is a teacher not a savior because really we should save ourselves that would be much better but if we do save ourselves we're not gonna know how to function after that it's like once I get over my psychosis how do you be normal I don't know how to fight psychosis I don't have to be normal so I'm gonna need a whole new teacher a whole new way of life and that's what mushiya is brilliant and that's what the new revelation is about it's not a new testament the new revelation is if the job gets done and now we have a perfect condition in the world what will serving god mean then same mitzvahs but different challenge different inspiration so what's going to make it exciting if we're not fight fighting and trying to overcome our evil inclination because it won't be one so what's gonna be exciting about doing business that's what my sheriff has to teach us so god we have all the time his mitzvahs we have all the time mushiya has something different in addition chia is the inspiration behind mitzvahs when the world is perfect because some people are really worried about it what do you mean the world is gonna be perfect what are we gonna do we're so boring that's like people who date constantly dating so why don't they get married what do you mean get married and then what never date again that's scary they're good at dating they know how to be married and the more you date the worse it gets because you get better at dating and then get married what's happened to the dating I'll be over that doesn't sound so good so now we have to have a whole new education how to be married because it's not the same as dating so until my chef comes we're dating we're working on a relationship and it's exciting challenging frustrating but then we'll arrive I want to do then just be married sounds really flat so that's why we need mushiya so to say he suffered he he'll get you into heaven come on what are you talking about we don't need that that's not what the mushiya is about it's kind of a feminine development because women are much better at celebrating what is rather than celebrating what can be men love what can be you know you want a challenge you want to change something prove something fight a battle overcome in other words we like getting there more than we like being there women like being there so mushy if is more like a feminine world where we're gonna have to learn how to get excited about things that are already good so what's the excitement oh it's good yeah but it's already good yeah so the masculine mind finds it a little hard to that's why the feminine will be more prominent than the masculine as long as there are dragons to slay and Giants to kill the male is dominant prominent once that's over we're gonna need Michelle to teach us how to get excited about things that are already just perfect so you're going back to yeshiva thinking pretty strongly about it when I went to visit NYU as I said just didn't feel right didn't feel like it was where I should be and the time I spent in yeshiva when I was in Israel was just amazing it felt I felt connected for the first time in a very long time so seems like a good good route she'll have a lot of success you need to go to NYU to have a handle on how to live you need to go to yeshiva to figure out why why you should live and why you should have a good life and why you should have a handle on how to live because without the yeshiva the rest is not justified so it's a good move it's not for God to be vulnerable doesn't really make sense necessarily for the Christian mind it has to do more I mean he's all powerful and really the move for a Christian is to get yourself like in in that mind of salvation and really working towards towards getting yourself to where you need to be and it has less to do with with God's actions I mean the requirement is that he would have mercy on you and so that you would be able to make it to to where he is so I mean it's really not it's really nothing to do with him being vulnerable or him really needing much from you which is another really big part of especially Judaism you'd like I heard it once that not only a Jewish man not the feeling but God grabs the filling in reference to us you're not from the Jewish man in that there's really it's very it's so much more I think like a space of like Co there's both both on both ends there's more happening Christianity it's really all about you trying to get yourself out of harm's way and he truly he's there to get you out of harm's way but beyond that it doesn't really feel like there's much more that he's responsible for as far as that goes that sounds right and her sure plenty of Christians would disagree with me but I'm sitting here and they're not there's there's the movement from higher to lower and there's the movement from lower to higher God created the world obviously the direction is from above down religion kind of introduces the opposite we got to get ourselves up so God wants heaven on earth we want earth on heaven in heaven we want rewards in heaven what kind of rewards human things just ridiculous so religion is trying to elevate the world back to God which is a good thing but Judaism is helping God get comfortable in the world or making the world comfortable for him so we're bringing him down not raising ourselves up and that way we stay away from narcissism and the self righteous and innocent it's not about me the reason I do the mitzvahs is because God is trying to get here got a welcome so it's more god-centered than religion religion a self-centered what can I get from God what can he do for me and why isn't he doing more he's never doing enough so it becomes really self-centered and so focused and also it becomes a a it leaves you with a bad taste about Earth Earth is not the place to be gotta get to heaven that's not good for these religious school I forget which denomination st. Catharines made me here is so two students would be given a project to interview people in the community who are doing something to improve the world now fighting cancer environmentalists whatever whoever everyone was trying to improve the world she came to combat house to students very official Larry clipboards and they're asking questions huh I said how many institutions or movements have you already interviewed they said nine I said nine nine groups nine institutions fixing the world so is the world any better they are they they cracked up family I said how come if all these people are working at making the world better why isn't it getting better so one of them said see that's why it's so good to know that there's a better world waiting I said isn't that wide this one is not getting better if you're convinced that there's a better world waiting how hard are you gonna work on this one it's bad news so religion has kind of parted ways with God's purpose God is trying to come down religion is trying to go up they're not always compatible so that's why I said this more than anything else emphasizes God's pursuit what is God after not what we're after which makes God vulnerable puts him in the vulnerable position will his vast eternal plan be realized so you stopped a guy in the street and you say can you put onto him for a minute what are you trying to accomplish he's not gonna get to heaven for putting on - and once he's not gonna be among the Saints when they come out you know so what is the purpose the main purposes for that moment God is getting what he needs is that not infinitely valuable so pick the right you co2 which is got any issue

Channel: Chassidus with Rabbi Manis Friedman

Views: 30,119

Rating: 4.6579924 out of 5

Keywords: Rabbi Manis Friedman, Manis Friedman, 11213.org, 11213org, Chabad Chassidus, Chabad, Chassidus, Tanya, Kabbalah, Torah, Daily Study, Judaism, Jewish Thought, Jewish, Evangelical Christian, Hasidic Jew, JewishBrooklyn.nyc

Id: g6PEOR3LFzk

Length: 23min 40sec (1420 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 28 2018