Lots of Christians are puzzled by Jews. I hear it from them in many ways.
"What's your solution to sin?" a young woman asked my wife at a social gathering.
"Don't you want to go to heaven?" a child asked me when we were both in elementary school.
More recently, and at more length, I see Christians online propounding the proposition that Jews are trying to do something impossible: to live a perfect life. As they understand it, Jews are "under the Law" (their term for Torah, which actually means "Teaching" instead).
To be "saved," they theorize, Jews have to live up to all 613 commandments in the Torah, all the time. Since no one can do that, they argue, we are playing a mug's game. We should accept Jesus and be saved by faith alone. This approach is summarized in the popular slogan, "Christians aren't perfect--just forgiven."
Aside from the fact that Judaism isn't about salvation from sin, or heaven and hell, all these formulations miss something very basic:
It is not at all impossible to live the way God wants us to live, according to Judaism. In fact, it's easy, if you try.
Learning from Psalm 15
I was reminded of this basic Jewish belief just this morning, when, as part of a worldwide program of Hebrew Bible study, I read Psalm 15. At first glance, the psalm seems to set an extremely high standard.
1. A psalm of David. LORD, who may sojourn in Your tent, who may dwell on Your holy mountain?
2. He who lives without blame, who does what is right, and in his heart acknowledges the truth;
3. whose tongue is not given to evil; who has never done harm to his fellow, or borne reproach for [his acts toward] his neighbor;
4. for whom a contemptible man is abhorrent, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who stands by his oath even to his hurt;
5.who has never lent money at interest, or accepted a bribe against the innocent. The man who acts thus shall never be shaken.
In fact, as Rabbi Yaakov Bieler points out, at least one rabbi around the time of Jesus looked upon these works, so mighty, and despaired. But another one cheered him up.
When R. Gamliel would read this text, he
would be reduced to tears. He said: Who is capable of doing all these
things? However, when R. Akiva read these verses, he would laugh.
Gamliel asked him: Why are you laughing?
He said to him: See what the Torah says concerning “swarming things:” (Leviticus 11:43) “You shall not draw abomination upon yourselves through everything that
swarms, you shall not make yourselves ritually impure therewith....”
One might think that one doesn’t become ritually impure until he is
contaminated by all
of the various types of swarming things. Yet if an individual comes
into contact with a single bean-size swarming thing, he is deemed
ritually impure.
God’s desire to do good is 500
times greater than his inclination to punish. If touching a single
bean-size swarming thing is considered equivalent to having had contact
with all of them, doesn’t it logically follow that if a person does a
single aspect of one of the commandments listed in Psalm 15, he will be considered as if he has carried them all out? (Yalkut Shimoni, #665)
Gamliel said to R. Akiva: You have comforted me. You have comforted me.
So I say to all my Christian friends who are worried about the state of my soul, because I am "under the Law" which is supposedly so hard to fulfill: cheer up! Even if I believed in the kind of vengeful God who would send me to hell forever for doing the wrong things--the New Testament God--it is very easy to do enough of the right things to win God's forgiveness.
Jews aren't perfect, and we don't have to be.
(Psst: we don't think you need to be, either. With or without Jesus. We can disagree about this, but realize that if we actually believed the same things as you about God, we would be Christians. The differences are real.)
