Do Jewish Catholics need to follow the Torah (Written and Oral)

[Illmatic15]

Do Catholics of Jewish descent have to keep Jewish law? The reason I ask this is because of this scriptural passage:

Acts 15:19-21 (NAB)
19 It is my judgment, therefore, that we ought to stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God,
20 but tell them by letter to avoid pollution from idols, unlawful marriage, the meat of strangled animals, and blood.j
21 For Moses, for generations now, has had those who proclaim him in every town, as he has been read in the synagogues every sabbath.”

Obviously, this is a case of binding rules on Gentiles in order to heal the division of the Judaizers and the Gentiles, which is no longer binding today. However, what about the Jewish Catholics? It seems to me that the Apostles (including Paul) were all Torah-observant Jews, but should this be the case for all Jewish Catholics? I’m pretty sure it’s not, since that my general view is that Christ came to liberate ALL of us from the Written Law, and that He fulfilled it with Love. However, I would like to hear the Church’s position of whether Jewish converts are obligated to still keep the Law of Moses.

I also mentioned the Oral Law in the topic of this thread. My reasoning for this is another scriptural passage:

Matthew 23: 1-3 (NAB)
1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
2 saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
3 Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.

It seems clear that Christ is telling the Jews that they have to obey the Oral Law and that the Pharisees, despite His disagreements with them, are legitimate teachers of Jewish law and have the right to bind and loose. Today, the Oral Torah has been written down in the Mishnah and Pharisaic Judaism has become modern Rabbinical Judaism. One poster had posted an awesome thread on this topic:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=593408
However, do Jewish Catholics today have to follow the Mishnah, wherever it doesn’t conflict with Christ? I am very proud of how the Catholic Church sticks to its Jewish roots, but do Jewish Catholics have to follow the Written and Oral Torah?

Pax Christi

 

[DavidFilmer]

However, do Jewish Catholics today have to follow the Mishnah, wherever it doesn’t conflict with Christ? I am very proud of how the Catholic Church sticks to its Jewish roots, but do Jewish Catholics have to follow the Written and Oral Torah?

There is some confusion here, because “Jewish” is both a race and a religion. To Jews, you cannot be truly Jewish unless your parents were Jews. A gentile can embrace the Law of Moses, but he can never actually be a Jew (he is, at most, a proselyte). A Jew can renounce the Jewish faith, but he remains a Jew (because his parents were Jews).

As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, a Jew who renounces Judaism and converts to Catholicism is under no more obligation than any other Catholic. The Church does not expect Catholic Jews to observe anything that other Catholics are not expected to observe.

Jewish rabbis might not agree. They may say that the Law of Moses is binding upon all Jews, and no Jew can escape its obligations.

A Jewish Catholic has accepted the more perfect Law of Christ. The Catholic Church is the fulfillment of the Jewish faith. Had all the Jews accepted their Savior, there would be no such thing as the Jewish faith today - only the Catholic Church.

 

[Johann_du_Toit]

No.

The issue was argued strongly by St Paul.

newadvent.org/cathen/08537a.htm

 

[captainrick]

I believe that according to Jewish law, if one is born a Jew, or converted to Judaism, they are always Jewish, even if they convert to another religion.

 

[DelsonJacobs]

I just asked one of my best friends who is a Catholic of Jewish ancestry, often referred to as a Hebrew Catholic. To quote:

"No Catholic, Gentile or Jew, is obliged to observe the prescriptions of the Mosaic Law because accepting Christ and living as a Catholic is viewed as fulfilling the Law, at least from the Catholic viewpoint.

This does not mean that Jewish Catholics must stop living according to their ethnic customs. The Church does not require any person of any ethnicity to reject their culture and replace it with another upon becoming Catholic. As such Hebrew Catholics can continue to live a Torah-observant life in the light of Christ, and craddle Catholics of Jewish background may live similarly.The first Jewish Christians did this too.–Acts 21.15-26.

Because Jews do not believe in Original Sin, they also do not believe that they can be justified by observance of the Mosaic Law. This was Paul’s argument in Romans, that Jews believe we cannot be made right with God via works of the Law, but only by having the faith of Abraham. (Romans 4) Since living by the Law is not viewed as a means to salvation by Jews, a Hebrew Catholic does not violate Catholic principles if he or she wishes to keep her or his ethnic customs alive. The only customs we Hebrews have come from the Law and the Bible, so as long as we don’t attribute salvation to them, there is no conflict.

However Hebrew Catholics always have their Catholicism take precedence, and they choose to live their lives in modesty, careful not to cause confusion or scandal. Because Jews don’t wear yarmulke at Mass, Hebrew Catholic males have no issues to raise here, but they may wear it in other circumstances where confusion will not arise. They can continue to eat kosher, but are free to leave this behind. And they may observe Jewish holidays as long as they don’t attempt to insult Jews by Christianizing the rituals.

Catholics of all ethnicities should take pride in their diversity and how this can enrich the Church. No people, Gentile or Jew, is obligated to dismiss their ethnic customs as long as these do not violate Christian principles or break Church laws.".

 

[TimothyH]

The four rules which the Gentile Christians were to follow (avoid pollution from idols, unlawful marriage, the meat of strangled animals, and consuming blood) where the same four rules from Leviticus which Gentiles had to follow in order to be allowed to live among Jews in Israel.

This declaration by the Apostles was brilliant. It satisfied the “judaizers” who insisted that the law had to be followed because it mirrored exactly the requirements in Leviticus for Gentiles to be permitted to live among Jews. It delighted the Gentiles who did not want to be circumcised.

Everyone was happy and the argument stopped.

-Tim-

 

[meltzerboy]

There is some confusion here, because “Jewish” is both a race and a religion. To Jews, you cannot be truly Jewish unless your parents were Jews. A gentile can embrace the Law of Moses, but he can never actually be a Jew (he is, at most, a proselyte). A Jew can renounce the Jewish faith, but he remains a Jew (because his parents were Jews).

As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, a Jew who renounces Judaism and converts to Catholicism is under no more obligation than any other Catholic. The Church does not expect Catholic Jews to observe anything that other Catholics are not expected to observe.

Jewish rabbis might not agree. They may say that the Law of Moses is binding upon all Jews, and no Jew can escape its obligations.

A Jewish Catholic has accepted the more perfect Law of Christ. The Catholic Church is the fulfillment of the Jewish faith. Had all the Jews accepted their Savior, there would be no such thing as the Jewish faith today - only the Catholic Church.

If a Gentile converts to Judaism, they are considered to be just as Jewish as a Jew who is born to a Jewish mother. In the latter case, Jewish identity depends on ONLY the mother according to both Orthodox and Conservative Jewish interpretation of the law, whereas, according to Reform Jewish teaching, identity as a Jew depends on EITHER the mother or the father’s being Jewish.

A rabbi, of whatever movement within Judaism, would consider the fact that a Jew has converted to Catholicism as the more significant issue compared to that of whether or not the Jew who has converted follows Torah. IOW, from the Jewish perspective, the person who converts is an apostate. This reminds me of a question I, as a child, once asked my rabbi: “Is it all right to eat a ham sandwich with milk?” He patiently responded that as long as the meat is already not kosher, it would not make much of a difference that you are mixing meat and milk.

Judaism regards its members as belonging to a religion, a culture, a nation, and a family, but NOT a race, since it is not required that a Jew have common genetic ancestry.