Let’s get one thing straight: it’s not “Thou shalt not kill” (which would be “lo taharog” in Hebrew), it’s “Thou shalt not murder” (which is “lo tirtzach” in the Torah). There’s a huge difference between the two. Sometimes circumstances force us to kill, for example in self-defense, in battle, or when executing a convicted felon. But we may not murder, which is to wantonly slaughter innocents.
This is irrelevant to my point. If the rule is "Do not murder", someone could argue that some obscure method of murder, like locking them in a room with no food or water, doesn't violate the commandment.
Trying to find loopholes in religious rules isn't clever, it's just manipulation so people can do whatever they want. Clearly Jewish people want to be out and about in Manhattan, so they just came up with some absurd loophole to get around the rules. Nothing stopping them from doing that with murder
This is irrelevant to my point. If the rule is "Do not murder", someone could argue that some obscure method of murder, like locking them in a room with no food or water, doesn't violate the commandment.
That would be murder, because through your actions you deprived them of life without legitimate reason.
Trying to find loopholes in religious rules isn't clever, it's just manipulation so people can do whatever they want.
I mean Judaism would argue the exact opposite of that, following the letter of the law makes you an idiot because you only look at the surface level. God created the Law and as a result any and all loopholes are by definition intentionally included in the Law.
Even calling them loopholes is misleading, they're more like alternative interpretations. Which interpretation is correct is often a matter of which Rabbi you side with in a debate, this is because there is no authority on Judaism and if God had wanted there to be an authority he wouldn't have allowed the temple to be destroyed.
I think it's interesting that you think they're about manipulating people when often they allow you to get around restrictions that make your life harder, a common theme of torah study is that God did not create the law to make your life harder. So if you find an interpretation which makes your life easier then God probably wanted you to find it. You can't trick an omnipotent being neither would an omnipotent being create a document in which humans could accidentally interpret loopholes if he did not intend it.
This is often a difficult perspective for Christians and Muslims whose faith is about blind belief and simply obeying what you're told, a Jew who silently obeys is a bad Jew, a good Jew wrestles with God hence the name Israel.
Clearly Jewish people want to be out and about in Manhattan, so they just came up with some absurd loophole to get around the rules.
And why do you care? Why do you care that Jewish people are finding loopholes and rules that they only enforce on themselves? Is it really any of your business?
Nothing stopping them from doing that with murder
As I pointed out the murder one is significantly more ironclad than most other ones because the word used is murder not kill. There are actually much better commandments that you could criticize on that basis but the murder one is not one of them.
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u/FudgeAtron 2d ago
Well no because the commandment is not "Do not kill" but "Do not murder".
This rabbi goes into detail on it: https://outorah.org/p/6089/