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Discussion » Questions » Religion and Spirituality » Catholics have lots of saints. Why don't Jews have any?
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Catholics have lots of saints. Why don't Jews have any?

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Posted - December 22, 2019
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  • 7280
    https://www.jwire.com.au/why-dont-jews-have-saints-ask-the-rabbi/
      December 22, 2019 6:53 PM MST
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  • 44652
    I gotta security warning about the website.
      December 22, 2019 6:56 PM MST
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  • 7280
    I have Norton.  I occasionally get a similar warning, but today I only got the "not secure" in the URL bar.

    Here's what he said:  Q. Why don’t Jews have saints like the Catholics?

    JEWISH SAINTS


    Rabbi Raymond Apple

    A. Jews do not have saints in the Catholic sense of being a person who has performed a miracle.

    What Judaism reveres are giants of the spirit whose lives have been devoted to living for God and His Torah.

    No-one needs to make official application to have such people canonised. It is the people as a whole, and history, which grants them their status.

    There are also people who have sacrificed their lives for God and Judaism. We do not allocate the term “saint” to such individuals though we call them “k’doshim” and speak of their “Kiddush HaShem”.

    I still had the original site open, but when I clicked on the link in my answer above, it warned me that the site was dangerous. This post was edited by tom jackson at December 23, 2019 7:31 AM MST
      December 22, 2019 7:00 PM MST
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  • 44652
    Thanks. I really didn't think I would get an answer.
      December 22, 2019 7:03 PM MST
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  • 7280
    I "liked" the question---it definitely deserved an answer.
      December 22, 2019 7:09 PM MST
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  • 5391

    Sainthood is not a tenet of Jewish beliefs. Jews do not pray to mortals, nor canonize dead men to quasi-divinity, nor do other faiths outside of Christianity. Maybe a more pertinent question is why certain Christians do. 

    (Is it really up to mere mortals to decide who is favored by their God? Given that men invented god, how big a leap is it for men to presume to designate His “favorites” as well. Just saying) 

    This post was edited by Don Barzini at December 23, 2019 7:40 AM MST
      December 22, 2019 7:52 PM MST
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  • 16838
    Please don't tar all Christians with the same brush. Only the Roman Catholic church venerates the saints.
      December 22, 2019 8:17 PM MST
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  • 5391

    For so many centuries, Christianity WAS Catholicism, but Protestants of course have shed much of that dogma over time. 

    (Personally, I have no qualms about tarring the factions of theist religions, but out of respect for your valid point, I revised my answer)

      December 22, 2019 8:36 PM MST
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  • 7795
    I don't think that's their shtick. Saints I mean.
      December 22, 2019 8:41 PM MST
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  • 7280
    As Slartibartfast commented, Catholics do venerate the saints---and venerate means to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference.  Catholics believe that everyone in Heaven (and therefore in perfect union with God) are saints---even if their names are unknown to us---and we think every human being is automatically eligible to wind up a saint. 

    Those who are "certified" (declared) to be saints undergo many steps to be named a saint in the Church and the canonization process is lengthy and detailed.

    This process ensures that the role models held up as witnesses to Christ and the Gospel as worthy of our emulation.

    https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/saints/     This post was edited by tom jackson at December 23, 2019 3:04 PM MST
      December 22, 2019 8:53 PM MST
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  • 4624
    There have always been outstandingly good people within the Jewish faith, (as there are within any cultural group.)
    The Baal Shem Tov comes instantly to mind.
    Judaism teaches the value of kindness and how to be kind in practical ways.
    Hebrew and yiddish are full of words like mitzvah and mensch which show the depth to which kindness is appreciated, the honour in which it is held.

    But Judaism is different in numerous ways from Christianity.
    It has no idea of heaven or hell in the afterlife.
    It has a few miracles performed by God for Noah, Lot, Abraham and Moses -
    but none performed directly by a prophet.
    And its religious patriarchy is organised in a very different way. 
    A devout Jew's relationship with God is direct; it does not need saints to relay prayers or penances as Catholics do.



    This post was edited by inky at December 23, 2019 4:16 PM MST
      December 23, 2019 7:31 AM MST
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