hey good faith question- do you mind elaborating on judaism’s belief of g-d not being the ‘one true g-d’ and just the ‘g-d of the hebrews?
sure, but keep in mind that I wasn’t raised in a religious house, so I’m not an expert and this could be inaccurate, you could wait to see if other people would elaborate in reblogs or replies.
a lot of religions have the belief that they worship the true g-d(s) and everyone else is wrong and are worshipping (a) false g-d(s). I believe Christianity works like that.
in the Tanach, there is no claim that other religions’ g-ds don’t exist, in fact, there are instances were miracles from other g-ds happen, but the jewish g-d is described as unique and stronger than others.
for example, in the story of The Exodus (is that how יציאת מצרים is called in english), when Moses comes to the Pharaoh for the first time to ask to release the Hebrews, he showcases Hashem’s (the Jewish g-d) strength by turning his staff into a snake, the Pharaoh’s magicians(?) then proceed to also turn their staffs into snakes, but Moses’s snake eats theirs. the story doesn’t show their g-ds as non-existent, they gave the magicians the same powers as Hashem, but the power of Hashem was stronger and thus Moses’s snake won over the other snakes.
foreign worship is banned in Judaism, not because the foreign g-ds are false, but because they’re not Hashem, I don’t know how to explain it but that’s how it works.
This is, I think, my understanding as well I’m also not an expert, so grain of salt.
I’ve studied some Torah portions recently and, yeah, other gods exist, but Hashem is uniquely “powerful” and the Jews are His chosen people.
The Egyptian gods are described as existing in Exodus, but as small or petty.
Genesis describes the “sons of god” and Nephilim having relations with “daughters of man.” Whether these are children of other gods or children of Seth or fallen angels is up to debate, but they could be a reference to “other” gods.
Essentially we have a contract with Him and it has an exclusivity clause.
Also in the Maggid it says that he passed judgement upon their gods, implying that 1) they are real, and 2) He has the power to Do That
Early Judaism was monolatrous and not monotheist, even today many Jews lean toward monolatry.
Also, non-Jews aren’t called to follow the mitzvot, those laws only apply to Jews; the people who have been chosen to take on the covenant.
Okay, this is a memey answer, but for “let’s give you an idea and then we can start This Discussion 101” purposes, it’ll work:
This is our G-d. There are many like Him, but this One is ours.
This is our G-d.
There are many like Him, but
this One is ours.
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.