re: #416 Hhar

Whoa there. Orthodox Judaism does have a complete alternate legal structure. You have no idea. Also, there is Orthodoxy, and then there is Orthodoxy: “orthodox” ranges from modern Orthodox to the Satmar haredim. Military doctrine, well, Judaism puts limits on that. Political structure? That’s a bit tricky, but in its traditional form in the MidEast diaspora, yes, Jews set up semi-autonomous societies regulated by custom and law. Halakha and tradition are as encompassing as anything Islam puts out. They got that bit from us, in my opinion.

I agree completely. And the military part was once also an integral part but the main body of the interpretive halacha (i.e., the Talmud) developed after that aspect was no longer a tenable part of the culture and so it atrophied. You can read the last four books of the Torah as, in part, a guide to successful military conquest (and defense), but for Jews that was considered ancient history until about 61 years ago. The lessons, nevertheless, were not lost.