Had not thought much about the aspect of counting. Thank you for the lesson, Rabbi Brackman.

imaginary being and then casting oneself in servitude, under barrage of rules how to live life "properly" does seem (to me) pretty much the same. Call it cult, call it religion. Granted, Judaism is extremely sophisticated and intelligent con- job.

Nice article for the people who are not in your cave of your reality. What you describe is not Torah Judaism today. 'young yeshiva students, are encouraged to have their own opinions and to create and write their own novel interpretations on the Torah' - this may be happening in your little cave, but MOST youth feel they cannot ask questions (see statistics put out in the past year) outside the set walls of Judaism. Nice story but not reality.

no matter what its origins or purpose automatically becomes a cult the moment it uses, symbols, trappings, rituals and assorted accoutrements in order to carry its message and entrap new followers. The human mind is a very feeble entitiy, I do not mean by that that people are stupid, I mean that the eye perceives these symbols and conveys a message to the brain that,"there may be something here". It is similar to advertising, one can easily fall for an article that he really does not need simply because of color and presentation. A cult has followers, a cult has leaders. The followers are sheep and the leaders are manipulating deceivers who exploit the human weakness of craving for a leader, this exploitation is done through words and symbols. Scientology is the "mother of all cults", but it is basically not different from all the other "isms" invented by Man. All are deleterious to the brain and detrimental to Mankind. Judaism has paucity, in comparison to Catholicism, when it comes to regalia, but nevertheless it is still a cult in the full sense and understanding of the word. The Torah is one of the greatest works of literature ever written, if not the greatest, it can be electrifying at times, there are passages, in Hebrew of course, that are capable of cutting deep into one's psyche, that was the purpose of the authors, and in that respect they did a good job. Will the writings and ramblings of Hubbard still be influencing folk in two thousand years time, I doubt it. Will the Torah, I am sure it will for the reasons stated, the human need for direction and the gravity of the message conveyed. Certain things will endure forever, certain things will become defunct, but both are cults.

Interesting. I wrote my # 5 without having read your # 3. Your comment, "Judaism is a sophisticated con job", is exactly my feelings and is exactly what I was thinking while writing my # 5. You were very succinct, I just tried to say it in a more polite way, albeit convoluted, but polite.

This is the eternal safe guard. To the majority of Jews, ultra orthodox, not modern orthodox are a fringe group given way to much veto power. Even they splinter up,. Only in Israel can some of them play fast and loose with Halacha and have it imposed on others who are not their followers. This is what need to be corrected. If some Yeshiva students seem to choose Yeshiva's with mindless indoctrination, well to each his or her own. Doesn't every religion have these droids who read but refuse to think for themselves? There will always be fringe cults in every religion. Jesus formed one and was rejected by his own because he went the way of a cult. 2 Jews, 3 opinions; the eternal safeguard.

that what is happening today in the Galilee, and the similar event in Uman Ukraine each year, is not a manifestation of a cult.

noble attempt to give meaning and substance(beyond sex&humous) to our existence. At lest that's how I would like to think, the founding fathers were aiming at. Of course reigning in human violent streak is also playing a paramount role. But unfortunately and inevitably politics followed closely by and that mix is unpalatable. In today's world we do have much more valid (in my opinion) sets of secular values that provide freedom for EVERYBODY to spend their life according to their inner convictions, without imposing a "truth". That's why I think religions are the most dangerous of philosophies that human kind invented. Makes sense(?!)

Some things humans do are not rational. For example, procreation. We justify it by "animal instinct". But is instinct rational? So, why do we, as a whole humanity, continue on, on as irrational bases as animal instinct? I mean, this question is somewhat wrong to ask. As wrong as asking "would it be rational not to have children". Because the answer is yes, and yet we know that this answer is wrong, because continuing human kind is more important than our rationalizing about it. In other words, it has no value in finding answer, except to give the person asking some way to attack or justify things that are unrelated to logic or study of subject. Or in plain words, an ideology based question. That has nothing to do with study or understanding, but an indoctrination. And frankly, I don't think that public indoctrination is a respectfull business. However well meaning the intentions behind it.

Why the world is governed by a constitution and not by the Torah, mainly Israel?

On one hand I agree that in Judaism individuality is respected and preserved as for example Rav Yehuda Aschlag describes in his article "The Freedom". On the other hand we also learn that the basic conditions of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai was becoming "One man with one heart". In fact Judaism teaches us a paradox of gaining freedom, becoming unique by being merged, united into the nation. It is similar to a cell or organ of a healthy body, that achieves, fulfills its freedom and uniqueness by fully contributing to the well-being, optimal development of the whole body, as without its contribution, which contribution only that particular cell or organ can perform, the body would suffer, even die. This is the true specialty of the historic Israeli nation, the perfect mutual guarantee, adhesion of highly individualistic, unique people, and this is what provided their survival through thousands of years.

Not a cult where individuality and individual freedom are allowed.

You say Judaism is not a cult because it allows individuality. Where I am from the individuality is allowed within the tight confines of what is proscribed to be okay. If you do not want to be orthodox you face tremendous social consequences. Not sure how this is different from other cults that penalize you for individuality. I think Scientology would allow for individuality within the confines of that religion, which in my mind makes it similar to Orthodox Judaism, which only allows individuality within a box. The prevalence of different sects within orthodoxy does not make it less of a box it only shows that orthodoxy is around longer and has had time to develop smaller boxes within the larger box of orthodoxy, yet it is still a box.

The truth is there is God but said he gave Israel wrong law so why still practice that which is wrong?

In a cult there is a man at the top that knows it's a scam. In a religion that man is dead

comment makes as much sense as a screen door in a submarine.

and survivors? Have we sinned? This is distressing.

"Judaism has paucity, in comparison to Catholicism, when it comes to regalia". I take it you have never seen a streimel.

are certainly cult-like. When haredi rabbis prohibit victims of child sexual abuse and their families from reporting the crime to police (allowing the abuser to continue to abuse other children) and if they do, they are vilified, threatened and shunned by their community, this is the behavior of a cult. When haredi rabbis proclaim that the Internet is not to be accessed, and when their followers do they can face sanctions by their community, this is the behavior of a cult. When women are attacked by self-appointed modesty squads because they do not meet some subjective standard of modesty, this is the behavior of a cult. When education in secular subjects is denied haredi children to keep them "in the fold" and make it extremely difficult for them to leave the haredi community, this it the behavior of a cult. I could go on and on.......