Judaism | L.D. Russell

The Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life offers a series of short classes this spring designed to teach participants about the origins, beliefs and practices of various faith traditions.

LD Russell, in the Department of Religious Studies, leads this weekly Monday program to teach the concepts, ideas and practices of several of the world's biggest religions.

[jawalmangal]

Dear Sir...Thank you for your thorough presentation on Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism. I look forward to listen to Taoism, Islam and Christianity. I have learned so much about Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism

A thorough, well researched and award winning presentation.

Your presentation has been holistic, worldly, GODLY and earthly.

In the Judaism presentation in 52 minutes, a female participant had suggested something, which I could nor grasp clearly. But the way you responded to her by saying "you leading the in such a humble and emphatic voice that encourages the student or participant to get involve with the discussion.

A learning curve for me in presentation.

Thank you Sir
Jawal Taito Mangal
Suva, Fiji Islands

[sapnapathak.]

The way of teaching is very interesting and informative.
Respect to Sir.

[OlgasBritishFells]

Love listening to this guy. You obviously need the prior knowledge to be able to fully appreciate his lectures. I love it how he expands on standard thinking in digs deeper.

[MrTeenStyle]

someone email him and tell him to make a youtube channel

[isrealsaba]

One serious thing in need of correction(26:55): the famous q & A regarding God's name doesn't take place on Mt. Sinai while receiving the Torah (after leaving Egypt) but way before, when Moses *first* talked to God, through the burning bush and attempted to negotiate, reluctantly, the issue of his vocation - to return to Egypt and address both the Israelites and the Pharaoh. Moses asks for some credentials that would prove the authenticity of his massage as coming from that specific divinity. The knowledge of God's esoteric as well as folk name would prove the authority of this stranger in the eyes of the people, at the time when the earliest Wikipedia was restricted to the inner walls of Kings tombs. All that happens in Exodus 3:11-16
The other great private session with God, on Mt. Sinai, takes place later, in Exodus 33-34

[cuiperindy]

I honestly think that the only interesting and fascinating thing about religions (all of them) is the way they spread and became popular.

[justintindall]

No mention of Zoroastrianism when discussing monotheism???

[sonofblessed]

I have to make an amendment to my previous response two days ago that Mr. Russell starts off this video truly explaining the Jewish view of the Jewish religion (consistent with his other videos), but gradually begins to give his own understanding, or a scholarly historical view, of it. I'm only saying this because many people watching this might think that the entirety of his presentation is the Jewish view.

For example, what he says at 26:22 is only partially correct from a textual perspective because Moses does not ask God who to tell the Jews sent him as he descends Mount Sinai, but rather after his first meeting with God at the burning bush. The episode at Mount Sinai occurs once the Jews have already left Egypt after all of the plagues and crossing the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea) probably about a year later.

29:50 - There's some of that Christianity slipping into this presentation. God's awesome righteousness in Judaism does not invoke a sense of guilt among the believers, but rather a sense of great awe and inspiration. Guilt is born (and is expected to be) of sin, not of contemplating God's Greatness. This is an important difference between Judaism and Christianity.

30:30 - Judaism believes in reincarnation as well, known as *gilgul, * which is translated from Hebrew as something like *cycle* or *repetition.* However, we don't typically see it as an opportunity to rectify the mistakes of our previous life, but rather as an indication that we have failed in rectifying ourselves during our previous life on earth.
In that sense it may be seen as an opportunity, but it is less than ideal.

30:59 - The Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments, are only the first ten in a set of 613 commandments. In some capacity it may be said that the first ten also represent *categories* of the remaining 603, but the Covenant between God and the Jews is not represented by only these first ten.

32:00 - That is true regarding the Messiah and before that by making this world a fitting place for "God's Presence, " but Judaism certainly posits the existence of an Afterlife and discusses elements of it in many sources. An example is Chapter 4:16 of Pirkei Avot (in the Talmud) which says, "Rabbi Yaakov says: 'This world is like a hallway before the world to come. Fix yourself in the hallway so you may enter the drawing room.'"

32:36 - When the Messiah comes Jews believe that the entire world will recognize and declare His greatness, i.e., that it in this sense "the Kingdom of God" won't be just in Israel. "And the Lord shall become King over all the earth; on that day shall the Lord be one, and His name one (Zechariah 14:9)."

34:27 - Imhotep's understanding of monotheism was the process of selecting one god (Aten) from the existing Egyptian pantheon. The Jewish understanding of the existence of the One True God is *very* different than simply the selection of one god from a pantheon, but may be beyond the scope of this forum. It was the declaration that God was one in quantity *and* quality and no others in fact exist. What theological explanation did Imhotep give his people for his reform, and why did the Jews succeed while Imhotep failed?

36:06 - It is a statement of monotheism because the Torah understands that the nations of the world *believed* in the existence of other gods, but perceives them as the product of human error.

36:29 - He almost said "Jesus" instead of "Yahweh." Freudian slip...

42:06 - To say that they felt that their God had been defeated doesn't seem to be accurate. The ones who were faithful already remained steadfast and resistant in exile, and let's not forget the prophets who tried to assuage the exiled communities, such as Jeremiah.

Very good video!

[aatmaDipoBhava]

I am a Hindu, and I love Isreal. Long live Indo-Isreal friendship. Bane Isreal were the only Isrealites who weren't exploited, they lived in India.
2. I am also by each passing lecture somewhere from deep of my heart have growing respect for Professor LD Russell. Although, he is a recovering Baptist 😂 but Still I wanna more from him in his Hinduism lecture where he failed to link Moksh as a journey of Atman to ultimately submerge into Brahman. I like his way of teaching....Gandalf.

[Brunofromaraguari]

Great class! Just an observation: it is important to say that Akhenaten'reform in ancient Egypt was not a monotheistic one, it was more a reform toward monolatry.

[sarangabharathi]

Brilliant lecture as usual. The Egyptian king Dr Russel is referring to who believed in the existence of one God and insisted on the worship of him alone among the pantheon of Gods in Egypt was Sun as a disk or Aten. The name of the King was Akhenaten not Imhotep.

[gezimdibra]

If you're here for the FMCC Comparative Religions class, do yourself a favor and watch this video on 1.25x speed.

[sonofblessed]

This is very interesting, but as an Orthodox Jew it seems to me that despite his effort that he's presenting Judaism from an outsider's perspective/from a standpoint of theory and conjecture, such as his explanation of the Golden Calf. Occasionally he dips into "Jewish mode" and presents some information from the Jewish perspective, but only here and there.

[avnerperl]

what is the profs name? did he write any books?

[Vandemataram-]

Sir, Hinduism (snatan) is not a religion like Cristinity, Islam.. It is a way of life and is called snatan dharma. It is a large ocean of scientific culture. No can understand it without following it. It belongs to Nature totally.

[islandbuoy]

correction ~ you have 1 minute to cover every 50 years...otherwise great stuff 

[ivanc.]

is ignoring the needy the downfall of a great nation? No the downfall of a great nation is just part of the game. You cant stay at the top forever. And that's not the purpose of competition. Winning is temporary, growth itself is the long game. Or as we could say is the infinite game.
48:00

[abcnews]

He just give touch of religions not but clear concepts.also when the romans left after 66 cc why the Jews not created there own State?

[anandu]

I learnt a lot from this series.

But unfortunately the philosophy of Hinduism you taught is not complete. I mean not a glimpse. May be you should have covered in 2-3 classes.

However, you describing the universe is just *hologram* in Shiva meditation is fascinating. It never comes in mind in that way.

[NoOne-xdgw]

Jew can not let go their god even after badly defeated unlike Egypt, Roman, Persian etc