MENTAL HEALTH
One of the things that helped with my (Andrew) mental health was understanding the Torah and how it ranked the laws and how the Jews of the 1st Century lived by them. I've sought to recreate that below for you in the hopes of bringing you peace, understanding, and my experience.
The Laws and How to Think About Them
The biggest on is exactly what Yeshua said: Love the LORD with all your heart (mind), soul, and strength. And to love your neighbor as yourself. But here is the problem- how your neighbor wants to be loved and how you want to love your neighbor can be two WILDLY different things. So lets look below for a common social contract disciples in Yeshua should have according to the Torah.
Preservation of Life
The preservation of life is paramount. It stands above all others. As disciples we should ALWAYS seek to preserve the lives of others if we are possible.
Alleviate Human Suffering
Alleviating human suffering is the second most important law. Yeshua even held this command above the command of keeping the Sabbath. But it also applies to alleviating animal suffering in a lesser sense.
Light to Heavy
This ISN'T a law- but it is how to understand how the Law was used. The sages of Judaism taught that there are heavier laws and lighter laws. Keeping the heavier laws is more important than the lighter ones. Additionally they taught in the case of a positive and negative law conflicting- the positive law trumps the negative law.
This initially broke my brain- not all biblical laws or commands are equal. And you are permitted to break a lesser law to keep a greater law: ie lie about hiding people in your home to keep them from being killed or tortured. While this may seem like common sense, many in the Christian community struggle with the guilt of breaking laws and I found this concept immensely stress and anxiety releving.