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I ask because I have a snippets of dialog from a Jewish character in a story, and I want to know if I have him saying something that doesn't sound right.
A response to a question "why are you helping me?"
quote:"'The Lord delights in mercy,'" Ira said. "It's one of the most important themes in the Torah and the Prophets -- at least, I think so."
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YOU TOO? geez, I thought I was the only one. GO MORMONS! anywho, about the Jewish thing, unless you completely and totally insult the Jews, I dont see how anyone could get offended. (for those mormons out their, stay away from the Rolling Stone. one of the stars in it that said the BoM is a lie and anyone who believes in it is a fool.) then again, you always get those radicals who will not tolerate anything that has to do incorectly with their religion. when I sent my book, Deltron Experiment, to a publishing front I encountered that kind of person in the editor. He was a Humanist, meaning He thought we where the rulers of the universe and He said that He would not publish such a story. (deltron experiment has the Human race driven to near extinction.) be careful, but remember that you cant please everyone whith a single book.
Posts: 240 | Registered: Oct 2005
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So I guess nobody's Jewish here. Will, I have a friend I can put you in touch with, if you'd like.
Posts: 1750 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I'm Jewish, but I believe I already gave my recommendations about that line. I forget if it was here or LH.
Posts: 1041 | Registered: Aug 2004
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And unless you are asking who is LDS (Mormon) for the same reason wbriggs is asking who is Jewish (ie, to get a way of saying something correct in your writing), I don't think it's a good idea to discuss what religion you practice in this topic.
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I learned that the hard way. Unfortunately, while things might appear all peachy on the surface, it’s amazing how quickly intolerance rears its ugly head.
Posts: 1275 | Registered: Mar 2004
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That's weird that you would mention that, Jamie. Just yesterday a friend told me about Matisyahu. Now I'm really curious to hear his music.
Posts: 184 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
From my point of view (though I'm not Jewish), the line seems fine, especially since he says, "I think so." If your character isn't a rabbi who knows everything about the scriptures, then I don't think it's crucial for him to be speaking exact doctrine. I guess it's an issue of characterization. If he's just a good man who's been in a synagouge now and again, or whose mother read him some verses when he was little, I don't see anything wrong with it. If he were a rabbi, or had studied the scriptures intensely, I'd expect him to be more knowledgeable and have a concrete opinion founded in Jewish doctrine.
Posts: 189 | Registered: Jul 2005
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wb, from what I remember of your character and his situation, he's being asked to justify why he's saving someone's life. If that's indeed the case, it's my opinion that he'd be much more likely to quote from the Talmud than from the Torah. Specifically, he'd probably bring up the idea that to save a life is to redeem the universe. You might want to look up the actual wording if you decide to use it...
It's a little risky to say that anything is really "one of the most important themes" in Judaism, because there are just so many branches of the religion and all of them believe things to different extents. And even within each branch, beliefs tend to be very individualized and personal. You might want to figure out what flavor of Judaism Ira practices, and how observant he is...and then find someone with similar beliefs and talk to him or her about how accurate your portrayal is.
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South Park did a very amusing episode on Mormonism...not sure if it was amusing if you were Mormon.
I did like that in the end, though they very obviously had issues with the foundations of the Mormon faith, they still portrayed Mormons as happy and tightly knit as opposed to the fractious and dissatisfied rest of us :-)
I'm actually curious if Mormons that saw the episode found is as offensive as it appeared to be.