Sharing Faith & Friendship in St. Charles County, Missouri
בני תורה
Sharing Faith & Friendship In St. Charles County
1701 St. Peters-Howell Road
St. Peters, Missouri 63376
Ph: (636) 279-6524
בני תורה
WHAT WE TEACH OUR B'NAI TORAH STUDENTS ABOUT JUDAISM
First G-d wrote the Torah, and then He created everything, using the Torah as His blueprint.
Judaism believes that people need laws. Judaism is a religion of laws. The Torah is a book of laws.
G-d chose the Jewish People to live according to the laws of the Torah, and to bring the belief in One G-d to the world. He brought them out of slavery to give them the Torah.
Jews not only believe in One G-d. We believe that He wants each of us to communicate directly with Him.
Good actions lead to good intentions. Good intentions may not lead to good actions. Judaism is a religion that believes G-d judges us on our deeds, not our creeds.
G-d is an invisible Spirit. There are no images of G-d or pictures of G-d in any synagogue. A billion people believe that Jesus is their G-d. While Jews don't believe this, we respect their belief.
Jews believe that you don't have to be Jewish to be blessed by G-d.
We believe that G-d will bless all those who follow the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule.
Jews believe that it is okay to question G-d and to struggle with G-d, as the first Jew Abraham did, and as many Patriarchs of Judaism did (and as Tevye did in Fiddler on the Roof).
Some one that minds their own business and doesn't hurt anyone is not a "good person." To be a good person one must actively perform good deeds and fight injustice.
Our Bible, the Torah, is not the "Old Testament." Labeling our Hebrew Bible as the Old Testament infers that it is obsolete and has been replaced. The Hebrew Bible is the only Bible written by G-d.
Jews believe that the saying, "Sticks and stones ---" is not true. Words can hurt, and create hurts that last forever. Jews are taught not to gossip, and not to hurt anyone with their words.
Jews believe that only the victim can forgive the person who committed a crime against him. A victim cannot forgive his murderer, and the family of a victim does not have the right to speak on behalf of the victim.
We teach our students that the Torah states that G-d created the universe and life. We teach that everything created by G-d is a miracle, and that if there was a "Big Bang" it was one that was caused by G-d. We teach our students that some people believe that everything happened by chance.
We teach our students that if life were discovered on another planet, or in another galaxy, the commandment to "love your neighbor" would still apply.
We teach our students that Jews believe that a Messiah will come, or that a Messianic Age will come. We teach that the Torah does not teach that this Messiah will come twice, as many Christians believe. We teach that when the Messiah comes there will be no more war, killing, or sickness.
We teach that Jesus was a human being. That he was a Jew, and not the Messiah. We teach that his parents were Jewish, as were his brothers and sisters. We teach that if Jesus were to come back, he would go to a synagogue since churches did not exist when he lived, and there was no Christian religion until 100 years after he died.
We teach that it is important to use a Hebrew Bible (translated into English if necessary) because many bibles written for other religions have made changes such as spelling "spirit" with a capital S "Spirit" in Genesis 1: 2 to give the word a different meaning in order to infer that Christ was by G-d's side during the creation. Another example we use is that in Isaiah 7:14 where the Hebrew bible reads, "a young woman shall conceive" while bibles written for other religions state, "a virgin shall conceive. "
We teach about "Free Will" with the story that G-d is not everywhere, He is only present where we allow Him to enter.
