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Shalom and Peace:
Did you ever notice that Jews and Rabbis rarely if ever proselytize? Aside from Islam and Christianity forbidding us from doing so when we lived under their thumbs, Judaism has no need to do so. Judaism is more than tolerant of other religions. We are pluralistic.
Talmud Sanhedrin 105a teaches ''the righteous of all nations, i.e. religions, have a share in the world to come.'' This meant that a Roman pagan who was ethical, went to the same heaven as an ultra-religious Jew and was equally beloved by God. The Sages taught that while Moses had the Divine path for Hebrews/Jews, God gives equal Divine paths to Prophets in all religions no matter how they worship God, or what they call God. For example, the rabbis of Babylon and Judea who had discourse with Indian Jews, ruled that while Hinduism may appear to the uninformed to be idolatry, it was not idol worship , but a co-equal path to the Divine.
We read in Talmud Derek Eretz: ''Nine entered the Garden of Eden when they were still alive: Enoch, Elijah, Eliezer ,King Hirom , Ebed-melech , Jabetz, Bothiah , Serech and R'Joshua b'Levi.''
Of these 9, which expands to 13 in the Midrash, six of them were not Hebrew/Jewish. One was an African Eunuch, and two were women. Five were Hebrews. Two were Jews. Two were converts. Three were servants. Three were sinners who returned to a Godly life. They were Asians and Africans. Note also that the Talmud teaches that many times the term Eunuch is a euphemism for homosexual.
What each person did to be accorded such a reward is not in the scope of this short article. (SEE BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION). They were Hebrews and Jews and non-Hebrews and non-Jews. They were men and women. They were of high stature in society and of low stature. They were rich and they were poor. They were Asian and they were African. Some were converts.
Allow me to use Rabbi Joshua as an example. What was his merit to deserve being allowed to see Paradise while alive? His rulings always had to do with ahavath-chesed, loving- kindness. At a time when many rabbis wanted to curse Jews who belonged to the sect of Rabbi Yeshua ben Yosef, (now called Christians), he taught of getting along with them. His comment of Jewish pluralism, of the righteous of all religions having a share in the world to come, contrasted with other religions' ''admission process'' to heaven, was pure love.
What they all had in common is righteousness, helping others come to spirituality, peace-making, protecting others, loyalty, making amends when wrong, humility, living beyond the letter of the law, and having extreme ahavath-chesed, loving-kindness.
This is the lesson in Talmud Derek Eretz, a book that teaches us how to live day by day, with our fellow humans on this spinning blue marble we call Earth.
READ MORE AT: Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Nine entered the Garden of Eden when they were still alive #1 OR http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2010/08/rabbi-arthur-segalnine-entered-garden.html
Rabbi Arthur Segal is an international lecturer, author, and teacher. Visit him at www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org. Follow him on FaceBook at 'Arthur L Segal', on Twitter at RabbiASegal, or his blog at http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com . Email at RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
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