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Of course not. One has to wonder if these supposed religious people ever bother to read the Hebrew bible! The Hebrew verb for "to pray", לְהִתְפַּלֵּל (l'hitpalel), appears in the T'nach (Jewish bible) 80 times, and the Hebrew noun for "a prayer", תְּפִלָּה (t'filah), appears in the T'nach 77 times. If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. [Divrei Hayamim Beit / 2 Chronicles 7:14] But if from there you seek the Eternal your G-d, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. [D'varim / Deuteronomy 4:29] "He prays to G-d and finds favor with him, he sees G-d's face and shouts for joy; he is restored by G-d to his righteous state." [Iyov / Job 33:26] The primary role of a Rabbi is that of a teacher and a judge, by right of education and a simcha. A Rabbi (unlike a priest or minister) does not have any special authority in leading religious services beyond any Jewish male with enough knowledge to lead one. Jewish men pray in a "Minyan." A Minyan, this is a formal group for prayer where at least ten men must be present (with rare exceptions). The requirement for group prayer is found in the Jewish bible, (Vayikra / Leviticus 22:32 for example). The Men of the Great Assembly codified the formal Jewish prayer book with its familiar format circa 450 BCE. What was the Great Assembly? It was a great Sanhedrin. Most Sanhedrins (a combination of court and congress – justice and government) consisted of 70 elders (going back to the time of Moses), but this Sanhedrin was nearly twice the size with 120 members. The Great Assembly included Mordechai (from the Book of Esther) and the last of the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi and others including Dani’yel / Daniel, Y'hoshua (a high priest), Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Nehemiah b. Hachaliah (chief architect of rebuilding Jerusalem), Shimon HaTzaddik (also a High Priest), and Zerubabel ben Shaaltiel. Yes -- the entire Hebrew Bible excluding the Torah (Five Books of Moses) was selected and closed by the same men who formalized Jewish prayer service -- and many members were prophets with books of their prophecy found in the T'nach (bible). The men who selected, were the subject of (often) and wrote or edited the books of Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings) of the Hebrew Bible also codified the formal prayer service. What about sacrifices? The Rabbis did not "do away" with sacrifices (qorban). The Torah tells us we can only bring sacrifices in the place designated by G-d. The last place G-d signified was the Temple in Jerusalem. Without the Temple we are forbidden from bringing sacrifices. The Rabbis, far from CHANGING the rules are abiding by them. Missionaries will quote Vayikra / Leviticus 17:11 (mistranslated) as "proof" that you need blood -- read the King James translation for instance: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." First of all, the word in Vayikra / Leviticus 17:11 is not "soul." This is a mistranslation. Some more modern Christian translations are correcting this mistranslation. The NIV has "it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life" -- which is more accurate. Not immortal soul, but rather the "life force." What is the life force? It is the blood coursing through your veins, carrying oxygen to your body -- it is the "stuff" that keeps your body alive -- in Hebrew this is the נפש / nefesh. נפש / Nefesh translates to life force, not immortal soul. Yet most missionaries think that Leviticus (Vayikra) is speaking of the immortal “soul” since many of their translations do translate נפש / nefesh as "soul." This misleads innocent Christians into thinking that the atonement spoken of in Vayikra / Leviticus 17:11 is for the immortal soul, when in reality it is for your life-force. The Christian bible and missionary point supported by the mistranslation (and taking out of context) of the verse in Vayikra / Leviticus 17:11 being that your immortal soul cannot be forgiven without blood (see Romans 9:22) -- even though the T'nach tells us time and again that the sin sacrifice ( חַטָאת קָרבָּן chatat qorban), teshuva (repenting of your sins and returning to G-d) and tzedakah (doing good for other people, aka "charity") atone for sins. Vayikra / Leviticus 17:11 does say that the life of the flesh is in blood. This simply means that it is blood (oxygenated, flowing through our veins) that keeps us alive. Vayikra / Leviticus 17:11 should not be read by itself – it is part of a passage which says that Jews are not to eat (drink) the blood of kosher animals (the only animals Jews may eat). Vayikra / Leviticus 17:10-11 "If any person, whether of the family of Israel or a proselyte who joins them, eats any blood, I will direct My anger against the person who eats blood and cut him off [spiritually] from among his people. This is because the life-force of the flesh is in the blood; and I therefore gave it to you to be [placed] on the altar to atone for your lives. 17:11 It is the blood that atones for a life. . . We are forbidden from eating blood – and this message from Vayikra / Leviticus 17 is repeated in many other passages. Eating blood is disgusting to G-d. Eating blood, spiritually (as in Christian communion) or literally (e.g. eating a rare steak) is a sin. Vayikra / Leviticus 3:17 " 'This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.' " Vayikra / Leviticus 7:26 And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal. Vayikra / Leviticus 7:27 If anyone eats blood, that person must be cut off from his people.' " The Torah also tells us that the חַטָאת קָרבָּן (sin sacrifice) only atoned for mistakes (a "missing of the mark" -- you tried to do the right thing and "missed." Intentional sins could be forgiven with acts of charity and repenting -- but not with blood (sin) sacrifices). The only other type of blood sacrifice which atoned for wrongdoing was the אָשָׁם / asham (guilt / trespass) sacrifice. A third sacrifice people think had to do with sin (but it did not) was the עֹלָ֖ה / olah. This is usually translated as "burnt offering" -- but it really means an elevation offer -- it was the smell that was the offer, floating up into the sky. An עֹלָ֖ה / olah was not a טָּאת / sin sacrifice or a אָשָׁם / guilt sacrifice. An עֹלָ֖ה / olah, translated as "burnt sacrifice," was a voluntary sacrifice generally brought to G-d as a donation to G-d or to seal a vow. . . but sometimes brought for impure thoughts, not deeds). The חַטָּאת / cḥattat (accidental sins) and אָשָׁם / asham sacrifices were PRIVATE offerings brought by INDIVIDUALS, not “atonement” offerings on behalf of the entire nation. Also, no individual sacrifice could be brought for someone else or in advance. Prayer ALWAYS has been a way of atonement -- of repenting of your wrong doings. In B'reshit / Genesis 20:7 G-d tells Abimelekh "He [Abraham] will pray for you, and you will live." G-d is instructing him to have Abraham pray! Not bring a sacrifice. B'reshit / Genesis 20:17 "Abraham prayed to G-d, and G-d healed Abimelekh" (G-d had punished him for taking Sarah, Abraham's wife -- but he listened to Abraham's prayer... B'reshit / Genesis 24:12 and 42 and many more verses again speak of prayer... Abraham prayed. Isaac prayed. Jacob prayed. No, prayer is NOT an invention of the rabbis! And no you do not "need" blood to atone -- blood atoned for fairly minor individual wrong doings -- more serious ones always required prayer, charity, kindness and more... The Christian bible, and by extension its missionaries, lie about this as it lies about so many things.
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