Dear, Rabbi Shalom. I am cathloic and wanting to convert over to being Jewish what is the difference between being Jewish than cathloic? And what are the steps that I have to take to convert over? Toda. Marijane

Dear Rabbi Lauffer, Thank you for responding to my question. But I was not talking about the claims of Jesus being the messiah or not. My question is simply "why does a jewish person cease being jewish if he believes the teachings of Jesus?" There are some fairly odd (from a non-jewish perspective) groups among jewish people through history from the spiritualists to those who are in all respects "agnostics". Yet they all remain acceptably jewish. But let a "jewish" man accept the teachings of Jesus, and somehow *poof* he is no longer a jewish man. If his family finds out, then he can be disowned and shunned, even if he still worships in the synagogue and follows all the religious duties. This is strange is it not? Have a great day! Brad Johnson

what can you tell me about lilith. i've heard it relating to adam , that it's 'another wife' of his, something relating to witches or demons. thank you. dg

Dear Rabbi, I am an observer of history and I look for patterns. As a gentile, something has bothered me in regards to the different ways jewish rabbis in history are viewed. A jewish person seems to be able to follow any jewish rabbi they want (or even none at all!) and still be considered "jewish". But when someone decides to follow the teachings of the Jewish rabbi Yeshua (Jesus), all of a sudden they cease being jewish! This does not make any sense at all to me. Why do modern jewish people seem to have such animosity for this one jewish rabbi? Why only him? There is something strange here that I cannot place my finger on and I wanted to get your opinion if you would be so kind. Thank you for your patience.

If a purson cursed another person, saying something like "I hope you die," do they have to undo those words through any proceedure?