What is the Jewish view of sin and salvation and how that relates to the moral nature of man?

Answer 1

Answer 1

The Jewish view of sin is very similar to other religions' views of sin, in that they believe that it's man's choice. This is because they believe God gave all people free will.

Answer 2

Judaism's view of sin is in marked contrast to Christianity's view of sin. There is no concept of original sin in Judaism and Adam's sin affects Adam alone. According to Judaism, all persons are born with the capacity for both good and evil. Each person through the commission of sinful acts acquires sin and each person through prayer, sacrifices (during the Temple period) and seeking forgiveness, can atone for sin and remove it from the count. Repentance and the promise of atonement are expectations during the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The ten Days of Repentance between these two observances are known as Aseret Yemei Teshuvah.

Since there is no original sin in Judaism, there is also no "moral stain" on humanity. Judaism holds that all people are born neutral (not good or evil) and that they have a natural proclivity (however slight) for self-interest, which usually manifests as sinful activity. However, since this motivation is slight and weak, a person has the ability to manipulate their proclivity by making the right choices and pursuing righteous conduct as opposed to sin. In so doing, man makes himself moral by following the dictates of God.

It is also important to clarify the difference between the Jewish understanding of the word "salvation" and the Christian concept of "salvation". As concerns salvation, in Christianity, salvation is about the purification of the heart/soul and atonement for sin. Christianity puts strong stock in this notion because, in Christianity, a person must be pure to go to the "good place", i.e. Heaven. The idea of having a person's soul cleansed and his sins atoned for in Judaism is typically called redemption (geula - גאולה). Judaism does hold that God redeems the Jewish people who pray in repentance to him and will redeem the Jewish people as a whole in the Messianic Age.

As concerns actual salvation in Judaism (yeshua - ישועה), the act of salvation is the bringing of the Messianic Age and will only occur at a certain time and a certain place of God's choosing in the future. It is important to note that many Christians believe that the name Jesus from this same root which is how he came to be called the savior, in connection to this event of Messianic salvation. Of course, as Jews do not believe that salvation has come yet, Jesus is not considered a savior nor the bringer of salvation.