.
I was also curious about why people of the Jewish faith do not believe Jesus is the Son of God. The primary reason that Jews do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah, I was told, is that after his arrival and death the world was not redeemed. This person believes there is at least as much suffering, pain, and tragedy in the world as there was before Jesus "and probably much more.
Judaism focuses on relationships: the relationship between God and mankind, between God and the Jewish nation, between the Jewish nation and the land of Israel, and between human beings. The Jewish scriptures tell the story of the development of these relationships, from the time of creation, to the creation of the relationship between God and the Jewish people, and forward.
I was also curious about holidays within the Jewish faith. I was told that all Jewish holidays begin the evening before the date specified. This is because a Jewish "day" begins and ends at sunset, rather than at midnight. If you read the story of creation in Genesis chapter 1, you will notice that it says, "And there was evening, and there was morning, one day." From this, they infer that a day begins with evening, that is, sunset.
One Jewish holiday that especially interested me was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. I had heard some unusual things about what was done on this day but I had no idea what the reasons behind these actions were. I found "Yom Kippur- literally meant "today you die."" It seems no one declares that horrible sentence on Yom Kippur, but it is true. Yom Kippur reenacts death. Jews wear white, like the garments they will one day be buried in. They do not eat, wash, or procreate; they are like corpses. Jews recite the U'netaneh tokef prayer, filled with graphic, even gruesome images about their death. .
Remarkably, it seems Yom Kippur is also a day filled with images of love. On this day, they learn to love. They believe God will care for us, gather us up, listen to us, and love us.
