DO YOU
FULFILL ALL THE 613 LAWS?
By Hugh Fogelman
Christians do not understand. Over and over again, I have been asked, do you or
anyone fulfill all of God’s laws outlined in the Torah? I say, no, because they
all do not apply to me. You can not, nor are you required to, fulfill any law
that does not apply to you.
For
example, many laws have to do with farming and therefore, if you are not a
farmer, you are not required to fulfill the laws relevant to farmers. The Torah's Commandments about these laws do
not apply to you. Neither have you violated the Torah by not being a farmer.
There are many laws that only have to do with the Kohen’s (a member of the
Priestly family of the Tribe of Levi). Therefore, if you are not a Kohen these
Laws about the Priesthood will not apply to you. There
are many Laws that can
only be fulfilled when the 3rd
There
are many laws that only pertain to judges in Jewish Courts. Unless you are a
judge, these laws do not apply to you.
The
rest of God’s Laws the average Jew follows willingly if they apply. i.e., the
laws on women would not apply to men and the laws on war would only apply to
the military, etc.
·
The
laws of Borrowing and of Creditors
·
The
laws on Character
·
The
laws on incest and sexual relations
·
The
laws of Estimated money values for property and damages
·
The
laws of Fasting and feasting
·
The
laws of Forbidden Foods
·
The
laws of Gifts to the Poor
·
The
laws of Hiring
·
The
laws of Idolatry and Paganism
·
The
laws of Marriage and of divorce
·
The
laws of Mixing Species
·
The
laws of Mourning
·
The
laws of Prayer and Blessings and Repentance
·
The
laws of Purity
·
The
laws of Oaths and Vows
·
The
laws of Sales
·
The
laws of the Sabbath (Shabbat)
·
The
laws of Slaves
·
The
laws of Slaughtering animals
·
The
laws on Torah Study and reading the Shema
·
The
laws of Wearing special clothing
·
The
laws of weights and measures
There
are nevertheless a few ways in which you can share in the fulfillment of those
laws. To fully understand participation in those laws, one has to study them.
For example, it is true that I cannot personally fulfill the Commandment (laws)
of building a
And
there are other ways to participate in the Laws we cannot actually do. The
Torah tells each of us to write a Torah Scroll (Deuteronomy 31:19). Most of us
cannot do that, and most cannot afford to hire a Scribe to write one for us. So
we buy holy Books of the Torah, the Talmud and the Rabbinical Writings. We
bring these into our homes and we study them. And when we get the chance, we
participate in someone else's writing of a Torah Scroll. We might pay a few
dollars to be included in the writing. Few of us can afford to build a
Synagogue or Jewish school. So we donate money to have one built or maintained.
Supporting someone so that he can continue to study Torah in Yeshivah (school
of higher learning) is one of the biggest Mitzvos (commandment) and when we do
that we have a share in the fulfillment of the law.
Everyone has heard of the "Ten Commandments," but nowhere in the
Torah is the phrase "ten commandments" used at all. When referring to
these ten, the Torah always calls them the Aseres Had'vorim, the "Ten
Statements," or the "Ten Words." The Hebrew words for "Ten
Commandments" would be "Aseres Hamitzvos." But no such term exists anywhere in the Torah or in Rabbinical
Writings.
However,
in Exodus 34:28, the King James' Bible uses the term "ten
commandments" to translate the phrase, which is absolutely INCORRECT.
Books and movies have been written and made so that the general public has
accepted that erroneous title, The Ten Commandments. The original Hebrew,
however, doesn't say that. The Hebrew says "Ten Statements." The same
is true in Deuteronomy 4:13 and
Then Paul came along on a mission to convert pagans who only had a brief
knowledge of what God told Moses. Paul knew that two obstacles stood in the way
of these pagans converting to his new religion, the Laws and Circumcision―so he eliminated them, telling them they
didn’t have to obey God’s laws or even be circumcised. Paul told his new
converts that circumcision of the heart replaces circumcision of the skin
(Romans
·
Paul
says that the Law is the knowledge of sin (Romans
·
Paul
says you become dead to the Law by the body of Christ (Romans 7:4-6)
·
Paul
says Christ is the end of the Law (Romans 10:4)
·
Paul
says Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law (Galatians
·
Paul
says that every man that is circumcised is a debtor to do the whole Law, AND Paul
(paraphrasing) taught that if a man is circumcised, “Christ will be of no use
to him” (Galatians 5:2-3
and 6). BUT, did Paul forget that Jesus was circumcised??
I find
it strange that the man Jesus, whom the new converts worshipped was circumcised
and was preaching the laws of the Jews, the same laws that he himself was
raised to obey. The same laws that Paul said were no longer needed. Why didn’t
Jesus know that?
Now, who do you believe: the word of God Himself―Torah the Source Document―or Paul?
By the
way, Peter, John and James, who were disciples of Jesus, objected to Paul’s new
religion, but Paul, who was not Jesus’ disciple, won out. Do you think the
ex-pagan leaders in the Council of Nicaea, led by the ex-pagan