RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD---IN RHYME---Part 2-- JUDAISM

Judaism

There is only one God

and He has chosen the Jews

As His special people, to proclaim His views.

God and the Jews have made a deal;

To them His laws He will reveal:

What He expects in human behavior,

And if they obey He will be their savior.

If they stray, then He will punish

Or send prophets to teach and admonish.

For all our evil we eventually pay;

Justice will come on Judgement Day.

God wants the Jews to enlighten the world,

To give humanity a priceless pearl:

The truth of His oneness, His will and intent,

And it’s all written down in the Old Testament.

And God gave them land to serve as a base;

Palestine, as home for the Jewish race.

He will send a Messiah in the fullness of time

Who will rid the world of fear and crime.

The ruler the earth has long been needin,’

He will make the world a peaceful Eden.

RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES:  This too is nonsense---and no respectable mind on earth believes this. The notion of being God's chosen people has brought enormous persecution down on their heads for centuries.
That being said---there is an aspect of Judaism that the whole world should pay attention to,  They are smarter and more successful than other cultures---and they have contributed to humanity far out of proportion to their numbers.  21% of Nobel Laureats have been Jewish-- despite the fact that they constitute only two tenths of one percent of world population.  THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT.  I decided to find out what that is.

Turns out the work has been done for me in this book. If you don't have time to read it, I will tell you the conclusion:  In AD70 Jewish survivors of the Roman destruction made a decision that set in motion a CULTURAL IMPERATIVE that every Jew should be taught to read the Torah--so that they would not forget their heritage.  This one thing---this leg up-- being able to read-- created a FEEDBACK LOOP that is operative to this day.  (a feedback loop is an action that results in more of that action--the accellerated squalk of a microprone in front of a speaker is a feedback loop)
How this "leg up" has worked its way through history is an interesting read.

So what has been learned:
1. Jewish success is not genetic--it is cultural.
2. Only some Jews take the above story seriously,  If you're curious what modern Jews believe click here
3. And while we're appreciating disproportionately contributing cultures--consider the Scots and the debt civilization owes them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Scots_Invented_the_Modern_World

Next up:  Islam