Jews and Original Sin

[BigTurkey]

Hey guys,

I was just curious: why is it that Jews do not believe in original Sin the way Christians do (see What Jews Believe on Original Sin )? Is it not taught clearly in the OT?

Also, they do not believe that physical death came through Adam’s sins. They point to Gen. 3:22-23 “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become lik one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also the tree of life and eat, and live forever-’ therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.” If God had to prevent them from becoming immortal, doesn’t that mean that they were mortal before the fall? Therefore, humanity’s mortality is not a consequence of our fall, but a design of our nature?

-Micah

 

[mikeledes]

So how do they explain the fact that God told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good an evil, they would die. Moreover, blocking Adam and Eve’s access to the tree of life happened AFTER they had eaten of the tree. Blocking access to the tree of life means that, by their sin, Adam and Eve have rejected the source of life (God) and are now subject to death.

God Bless

 

[LSK]

I am not sure I would rely only upon one website for guidance regarding Jewish belief. It may be absolutely orthodox, or it may not.

 

[BigTurkey]

So how do they explain the fact that God told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good an evil, they would die. Moreover, blocking Adam and Eve’s access to the tree of life happened AFTER they had eaten of the tree. Blocking access to the tree of life means that, by their sin, Adam and Eve have rejected the source of life (God) and are now subject to death.

God Bless

I’m not sure how they would answer that. I mean, I guess they could say that God was threatening to kill them early if they ate from the tree, but that the verse doesn’t imply that they were immortal.

 

[neophyte]

If you read the description of original sin given by the Catechism, you’ll see that site’s explanation is wrong.

Then, go find out what the Jewish term yetzer harah means. You’ll find that it exactly matches the Catholic understanding of original sin.

 

[Karin]

Here is another Jewish website and their take on Original Sin (my I also say that this is a website often quoted by one of the Jewish posters here ssv)
Judaism completely rejects the notion of original sin. According to Judaism, a child is born pure, completely free from sin. We pray daily “Oh G-d, the soul which you gave me is pure. You created it, you fashioned it, you breathed it into me.” (REFERENCE)

Also…
*In Genesis 2:7, the Bible states that G-d formed (vayyitzer) man. The spelling of this word is unusual: it uses two consecutive Yods instead of the one you would expect. The rabbis inferred that these Yods stand for the word “yetzer,” which means impulse, and the existence of two Yods here indicates that humanity was formed with two impulses: a good impulse (the yetzer tov) and an evil impulse (the yetzer ra). *

*The yetzer tov is the moral conscience, the inner voice that reminds you of G-d’s law when you consider doing something that is forbidden. According to some views, it does not enter a person until his 13th birthday, when he becomes responsible for following the commandments. See Bar Mitzvah. *

*The yetzer ra is more difficult to define, because there are many different ideas about it. It is not a desire to do evil in the way we normally think of it in Western society: a desire to cause senseless harm. Rather, it is usually conceived as the selfish nature, the desire to satisfy personal needs (food, shelter, sex, etc.) without regard for the moral consequences of fulfilling those desires. *

*The yetzer ra is not a bad thing. It was created by G-d, and all things created by G-d are good. The Talmud notes that without the yetzer ra (the desire to satisfy personal needs), man would not build a house, marry a wife, beget children or conduct business affairs. But the yetzer ra can lead to wrongdoing when it is not controlled by the yetzer tov. There is nothing inherently wrong with hunger, but it can lead you to steal food. There is nothing inherently wrong with sexual desire, but it can lead you to commit rape, adultery, incest or other sexual perversion. *

*The yetzer ra is generally seen as something internal to a person, not as an external force acting on a person. The idea that “the devil made me do it” is not in line with the majority of thought in Judaism. Although it has been said that Satan and the yetzer ra are one and the same, this is more often understood as meaning that Satan is merely a personification of our own selfish desires, rather than that our selfish desires are caused by some external force. **People have the ability to choose which impulse to follow: the yetzer tov or the yetzer ra. That is the heart of the Jewish understanding of free will. The Talmud notes that all people are descended from Adam, so no one can blame his own wickedness on his ancestry. On the contrary, we all have the ability to make our own choices, and we will all be held responsible for the choices we make. *(REFERENCE)

 

[kidrome]

I Can Find In The New Testament Numerous Quotes Where They To Still Say To Follow The 10 Commandments Not Some But All