King Judah and Muslim v Westerner fatalistic attitudes

Submitted by JoeRu (United States), Oct 1, 2015 at 18:09

To Uncle Vladdi: Judah was never technically a king, though the midrash (rabbinic commentaries contemporaneous to and often in the Talmud) has the other brothers of Jacob refer to him as such in that they prophetically knew that the Davidic line was to come from him. (Judah would have been a king of "seventy souls" - a large family, certainly, but hardly a kingdom.)

To address Michael's idea - that Westerners are the same as Muslims: he says that "Jews kvetch" as a parallel. But historically that is all they could do! Due to discrimination, not many outlets were allowed for Jews except for venting (...into comedy, often).

And yeah, the whole free-will vs Omniscience is discussed thoroughly in Judaism as well, and the upshot is always to do what you can, see what comes of it, and THEN say it was G-d's will. Jews may say "Im Yirtzeh Hashem" or "Be'Ezras Hashem" ("if God wants" and "with God's help") before setting out and doing something, but there lies the key: it is in DOING something. To not do anything and simply fall back on "God's Will" is different.

[Note I am not arguing for or against Mr. Pipes' point as I have not the scholarship to do so. I am arguing Michael S's point.]

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