The Jewish faith has a completely different view of the concept of sin from that of Christianity. These differences were made especially clear for me in the book "Judaism and Christianity: The Differences" By Trude Weiss-Rosmarin.

She dedicates chapter three to the subject and titles it Free Will Vs. Original Sin. Her central theme to the chapter is that human beings are given free will, also known as"ethical freedom". Which means humans as individuals are responsible for their behavior and face God as individuals rather than the belief that mankind was born into sin, thus evil.

Weiss-Rosmarin thoughts reside safely within the intellectual culture of Jewish thought as it has grown with the wisdom of our Sages, Rabbis and intellectual life as a religion. She reminds Jews that we can choose our path, not that of a predestination of a collective but as individuals: "I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; choose life that thou mayest live". Deuteronomy 30:15.

She expands on the individuals responsibility to choose his path with a passage from the Talmud: "everything is in the hands of God--except the fear of God" (Berachoth 33b).

Which tells me that there is the active choice to fear God and show respect to him through the choices one makes in life. "Man is led along the road which he wants to follow" (Makkoth 10b).

The great Jewish sage Maimonides summarized fee will with this "Free will is granted to every man. If he wants to accustom himself to righteousness as Moses our teacher or as wicked as Jeroboam; he can be wise or stupid, kind or cruel, miserly or liberal... There is no compelling, forcing, or pulling him in either direction, but he himself, of his own accord and mind, follows the path he prefers... And this is a cardinal principle of our faith, a pillar of the Torah, and the commandments."

So Judaism states doing good or evil rests with the individual, not on a doctrine like "original sin" which "implies the belief in ethical predestination" as Weiss-Rosmarin states on page 45. Judaism doesn't require a special act of forgiveness like Christianity does with the requirement of the sacrificial death of Jesus. For you see, "And thus where as Christianity teaches that sin rules man, Judaism declares that man rules sin".

Because it goes back to our free will. Judaism is empathic that each person must face God on his or her own. Herein lies the power of the individual.

This subject might require and additional article in the future. Thank you for reading.

"A poem is never finished, only abandoned." ~Paul Valery