IS THE LAW A "BURDEN" TO JEWS ALSO?

From: Stephen Ballard [stephen.r.ballard@gmail.com]
To: 'Shlomoh Sherman' [kingsolnew@yahoo.com]; 'Dietz Ziechmann' [dietz.ziechmann@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, May 7, 2021, 08:34:28 AM EDT
Subject: the Law a "burden" to Jews also?

Interesting that Jews also see the Law as a burden. I guess "burden" was a common term among the Jews even in the first century. I thought only the Gentiles referred to the Law as a "burden".
 
https://www.alephbeta.org/playlist/why-do-we-celebrate-shavuot-laws
So... why should we be excited about Shavuot? About the day when we celebrate the giving of the Torah? A super pious person might say: "We're rejoicing in the obligations that God placed upon us!", and while that sounds really nice and religious, let's get real: those obligations are burdensome. So why are we pretending that they're so great?
 
Mat_11:30  For my [Paul's Jesus] yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Mat_20:12  Saying, These last [the Gentiles] have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us [the Jewish Nazarenes], which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
 
Mat 23:2-7  Saying, The scribes [from James] and the [hypocritical] Pharisees [like Peter and Barnabas] sit in Moses' seat:  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works [of the Law]: for they say, and do not.  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.   But all their works [of the Law] they do for to be seen of men [James and the Jerusalem Church]: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,  And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,  And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
 
Act_15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
Rev_2:24  But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.

From: Shlomoh Sherman [mailto:kingsolnew@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2021 9:11 AM
To: Judy Pelletti; Dietz Ziechmann; Todd Rosenberg; Stephen Ballard
Subject: Fw: the Law a "burden" to Jews also?

Yoke - Jewish Virtual Library https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org › yoke
The "yoke of the Torah" here presumably refers to the duty of devoting oneself to study but "yoke" is used in a more specific and restricted sense.

We usually refer to it as Yoke. As the ox leads the plough, TORAH leads us

From: Stephen Ballard [mailto:stephen.r.ballard@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2021 9:27 AM
To: 'Shlomoh Sherman'; 'Judy Pelletti'; 'Dietz Ziechmann'; 'Todd Rosenberg'
Subject: RE: the Law a "burden" to Jews also?

Thanks, Shlomoh. The link is really eye opening. I wonder if the Rabbis, after the Jewish Roman wars, decided to adopt a more pacifist view and rejected the "[worldly] yoke of the kingdom of man", and instead accepted only "the [spiritual] yoke of the kingdom of heaven" ?  Then again, maybe "the yoke of the kingdom of man" is also be a reference to all worldly kingdoms, including the Romans. But it does remind me of the Gospel saying of the pacifist Pauline Jesus: "My kingdom is not of this world."  But of course the Zealots were intent on establishing God's kingdom here on earth in Judea, if not the whole world. And the Gentile Christians went about that (at least their own Pauline version of the kingdom) in their own pacifist way.
  
In rabbinic theology the yoke is a metaphor of great importance. It is the symbol of service and servitude, and in accordance with the principle that the Jew should be free from servitude to man in order to devote himself to the service of God, the "yoke of the kingdom of man" is contrasted with "the yoke of the kingdom of heaven." The doctrine is fully enacted in the statement of *Ne?unya b. ha-Kanah : "Whoever takes upon himself the yoke of the Torah, they remove from him the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly concerns, and whoever breaks off the yoke of the Torah, they place on him the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly concerns" (Avot 3:5). The "yoke of the Torah" here presumably refers to the duty of devoting oneself to study but "yoke" is used in a more specific and restricted sense. The proclamation of the unity of God by reading the *Shema is called "accepting upon oneself the yoke of the kingdom of heaven," while the acceptance of the fulfillment of the Commandments as a whole, referred to in the second paragraph of the Shema. is called "accepting the yoke of the Commandments," and it is this which determines the order of the paragraphs. In Avot 6:6 the phrase "bearing the yoke with one's fellow" means "sharing his burdens."

On Friday, May 7, 2021, 10:36:18 AM EDT, Stephen Ballard [stephen.r.ballard@gmail.com] wrote:

But I may be reading too much into that Rabbinic point of view. Maybe the Rabbis still wished and hoped for God's kingdom here on earth, a Davidic kingdom. The "kingdom of Heaven" for the Jews may still refer to the eventual establishment of Gods kingdom here on earth at the End of Days. And indeed, Revelation, a primarily Jewish point of view, has that same objective in mind.
 
Of course it stands to reason, for a monkey, that a heavenly kingdom can only be a subterfuge for an earthly kingdom. After all, a monkey is always bound to this earth and this world. There is no such thing as a spiritual monkey, even though the monkeys might like to think so.
 
Sorry about the monkey thing. But I always have to bring things back down to earth and the jungle.  
 
Shlomoh Sherman [kingsolnew@yahoo.com]
To: 'Judy Pelletti','Dietz Ziechmann','Todd Rosenberg',
Stephen Ballard
Fri, May 7 at 11:49 AM

One difference between Judaism and Christianity is the emphasis on messianism.
After the defeat of BarKochbar whom Rabbi Akiba declared to be the messiah and after the debacle of Shabtai Zvi in the 17th century, Jews moved on from messianic expectation to devotion to fail life and how to best live it.

The rabbis in the TALMUD had said, "if you are planting a tree and your friend tells you that the messiah has arrived, finish planting the tree first and only then go see if the Messiah has truly come.  In Christianity, there is the religion OF THE MESSIAH and WHO HE IS. In Judaism, we are not concerned about who he is but moreso what he does. That's why we don't worship the messiah when he comes.  We are thankful to him for making our lives bearable but he is not God; he is only a human being, a superhero, that's all. We are not even required to believe he is who he says he is. Our belief or nonbelief doesn't alter what he is doing if he is who he says he is or who others say he is. He will be a great guy in some respects and a pain in the ass in others.

I truly think that when Jews pray for MESHIACH to come and when Christians pray for Jesus to come, we both don't really mean it. I'm happy with my life as it is right now and so is most of America. Even Israel is doing pretty good without him.

So? The Kingdom Of Heaven? Yeah, APRES MOI LE DELUGE - after I'm gone, he can come and tell everyone else how to live We don't need him to tell us how to live. Moses already gave us the handbook for that.