Jews believe in original sin?

But I thought......

As far as I know, the concept of original sin is more of a Christian concept than a Jewish one. That is, when Eve and Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was a so intrinsicly, so serious that it affected every human since. That original sin required a savior in the form of Jesus, belief in whom will redeem that individual from that state of original sin. Christian friends, did I get that right?

Jews, on the other hand, believe that people were created with freedom of choice, and that what Eve and Adam did was exercising that choice, which had consequencs. The biggest consequence for eating that piece of fruit was to be exiled from Eden forever. It was less a “sin” and more of a “missing the mark”; an opportunity to do the right thing, but another choice was made, and next time that individual will make a different choice. And, had Eve and Adam not taken that bite, humanity would never have ensued; we would have stayed in the Garden forever, and that’s not the view God had for Creation.

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So, imagine how gobsmacked I was when I sat in my decades-long Torah study class, looking at the book of Judges, and learning about Gideon, realizing there was an “original sin” for Jews. But it was a communal one, not an individual one. As we move further along in the Exodus story in the weekly parashiot these days, it’s very clear the people needed to be redeemed, by God, through Moses, in order to emerge from slavery as a people, a nation, not just a collection of tribal connections. Genesis ended with the story of one family and their journey that led to slavery in Egypt. At that point, Exodus became a story of redemption, not of an individual or tribe, but the whole people. The rabbis tried hard to prove that the Isarelites didn’t leave their identity behind throughout slavery, but the text doesn’t say this. Yet, from Torah throughout the Psalms, Judges, and more, whenever the Israelites strayed from belief and faith in God, bad things happened, and the people needed to be redeemed, often by a military leader, so that peace would reign in the land for a while, until the people strayed again. That would be the Israelite original sin - a national move away from faith in God, and following other gods. Bad choices had consequences.

Today? Well, I don’t think God works in our history the same way. Yet, we do have communal concerns about Jews moving away from their own Jewish identity. We remember the redemption of our past, and take lessons from it, especially in the “P” holiday that’s coming up….but not so quickly! Let’s get through Purim first!!!