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Why is Judaism comprised of so many precise stringencies in comparison to other religions?

Why is conversion to Judaism so strict and difficult?

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    For the first part of this question, see also judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/5978/….
    – Alex
    Feb 16, 2012 at 15:34
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    people changes completely my question by editing it so many times..it very bad experience.
    – Tofeeq
    Feb 17, 2012 at 4:18
  • @TofeeqAhmad, please take a look at this part of our FAQ.
    – Isaac Moses
    Jun 13, 2012 at 22:41
  • @TofeeqAhmad - Strict and difficult are two completely different things. Look at my answer. Jun 14, 2012 at 2:56
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    "Why is Judaism comprised of so many precise stringencies in comparison to other religions?" In comparison to which other religions? Can you actually demonstrate that Judaism is stricter than, for example, Jainism? Or Orthodox Islam? Or many and various other religions?
    – TRiG
    Dec 18, 2012 at 14:02

3 Answers 3

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An intriguing question, but I think you need to split this question into multiple questions. So I'm just going to focus on the first part of the question.

"Why is Judaism comprised of so many precise stringencies in comparison to other religions?"

I can not provide any sources for my answer, because I believe it is a "new answer", however it is one that resonates with me, and I hope will resonate with others.

When a person wants to build a bridge, there are different ways of doing it. In the old days, one might find a tree, cut it down, throw it across the chasm, and hope and pray that the tree is big enough and strong enough to get the people across. As people learned more about bridges and gravity, people started to learn formulas that would predict if a bridge would be strong enough or not. Sometimes, people would make mistakes, and a very large bridge would be built, and then fall to the ground when a wind came. Today, we have many many details about how to build a bridge, and our bridges last longer than they did in the past and they are larger. However they are also harder to build, and the slightest error will get the project canceled.

GD created the world, and He created the rules that allow bridges to be built, in which there can be no deviation. Rav Solevetchik called this the halachot of Din, and strict justice. This is how Gd decided to build his world, where the smallest detail can cause a large bridge to come tumbling down.

So too, Gd gave us laws and halachot in Rachamim, and Mercy. These are laws that can be followed or not followed based on a person's free will. These are the halachot of the Jewish religion, all the laws and minor details, from which the world is built.

Many other people wish to worship Gd in the way that the old bridge builders would worship Gd. They throw some general idea out to the world, and hope and pray that it will lead them on a good path and towards a good life. However they get consumed by this one idea, or 10 or 13, or 5, however many a person can hold in their mind at once, and when a Strong wind comes, their "bridge" gets knocked down, and bad things grow and fester in society. This problem can happen to Jewish people as well, when we try to take the "easy route" or don't pay attention to all the details of how each law affects the other. When we forget that every stringency is a leniency in another issue.

This is why we have so many laws and mitzvot with so many details, so that we can build proper Bridges to Gd.

As for anti-semitism.. It's a completely different question, But just read this section of the Torah.

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  • Are you suggesting that when we are "anti-semitic," Hashem becomes "anti-semitic" against us? Jun 14, 2012 at 2:11
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Are you asking why Judaism has so much legal stringency compared to other religions? If so, I think your impression of "orthodox" Islam is mistaken. As for the other, that whole "breaking away from the law" thing was largely the point...

Conversion is a separate question, but it is precisely because of Judaism's many laws that it is not taken lightly, but considered as a serious and permanent undertaking.

As it is in its entirety G-d's revealed Truth, it is not in need of justification.

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  • May be i have wrong impression of orthodox Islam. But if you know about many christian and Islamic emperor, they both hate Jews.e.g Hitlar did mass murdered for Jews.
    – Tofeeq
    Feb 16, 2012 at 9:04
  • @TofeeqAhmad although I'm not sure of the relevance, I am certainly aware of the tendency of people to hate Jews. I don't know that antisemitism comes from our stringency with conversion per se, but I suppose one might say it comes from our possession of the Torah - and its legal stringencies - in general.
    – yoel
    Feb 16, 2012 at 9:05
  • i want to know why this tendency is present?
    – Tofeeq
    Feb 16, 2012 at 9:06
  • @TofeeqAhmad in my opinion you should ask your Creator, but I'm sure there are better sourced answers than "i say".
    – yoel
    Feb 16, 2012 at 9:08
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    I didn't say I have no idea. I'm saying G-d created the Torah - Jewish Law - and while there may be extents to which we understand the purpose and mechanisms of that Law, its true function exceeds our limited understandings.
    – yoel
    Feb 16, 2012 at 9:22
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Torah-true Judaism is neither easy nor difficult to adhere to. It is not chamur, but machmir; it is not kal, but meikel. Meaning that one must not be more stringent than the halakha requires, nor more lenient than the halakha mandates. This is because Hashem wants us to build absolute self-control like Abraham (R. Ammi b. Abba - Nedarim 32b).

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  • This doesn't seem to answer the question.
    – Double AA
    Jun 14, 2012 at 2:04
  • @DoubleAA - Why not? Jun 14, 2012 at 2:10
  • It asked for why Judaism is "comprised of so many precise stringencies in comparison to other religions". I'm not sure you answered why it is so; you just explained that it is so.
    – Double AA
    Jun 14, 2012 at 2:11
  • No. That is not what I am saying. I am saying that it is strict, but I am not saying that it is difficult. Why is it so strict? Because Hashem wants to build absolute self-control like Abraham (R. Ammi b. Abba - Nedarim 32b). Jun 14, 2012 at 2:55

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