[Avodah] When did Judaism begin?

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

I was going to respond to this thread with several paragraphs and examples, pointing out that until one defines "Jewish", the question is meaningless and unanswerable.

But R' Zev Sero did a much better job than I. He wrote:

> In the same sense, a Ben Noach today who accepts the truth of
> the Torah and keeps the 7 mitzvos because Hashem told Moshe
> that he has to, and also keeps additional mitzvos of his
> choosing, is clearly a follower of the Jewish religion, and
> thus in English he is a "Jew" in the same sense that a Xian
> is a Xian or a Moslem is a Moslem.  What he isn't is a Ben
> Yisrael, which is what *we* mean by a "Jew".  (This is the
> issue that lies at the heart of the recent UK court case.)

As bizarre as this sounds, he has hit the nail squarely on the head. None of us is obligated in all Taryag mitzvos. If one wanted to, he could easily argue that a Kohen Gadol and a Yisroel Mamzer are following different religions. But one could also say that we are Jewish because we are trying to do whatever it is that the Torah is telling us to do -- and that applies to a Ben Noach as well!

Akiva Miller

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