Does it pay to be follow the torah since plenty of people who don't follow the Torah

life than people who follow the Torah.

For some reason God often helps people who don't follow the Torah more than God helps people who trouble themselves to follow his Torah.

Two possibilities:

1. Other people's interpretation of the Torah is more consistent with Hashem's ways.
2. Followers of Torah should focus on the World to Come rather than the broken world.

that is just what is seems like to you. you know, that is a very famous concept that has been discussed throughout the ages. the "why do bad things happen to good people and vice verse?" question.
you can take it or leave it, but this is pretty much what religious Jews think: G-d gives us good if we do good deeds, and punishment if we do wrong, correct? but that reward or punishment is waiting for us in heaven, the garden of Eden. we don't find out exactly what that is until we get there
so the people who do not follow the Torah have good in this world- everything they could ever want. but once they pass from this world- whoops! others who follow the Torah have bad in this world, kind of a "get it over with" type of thing because the good we will get in the World to Come will be much greater than anything we could ever imagine here in this world.
we have a saying in chapters of the fathers that even a whiff of the World to Come is better than anything in this world combined.
if you don't believe in the "after life," i would be more than willing to buy yours off of you. name your price and i will buy your portion in the world to come. are you willing to take that chance?

Considering the Torah also allows genocide, selling your daughter into slavery and punishment by death for a variety of things as minor as collecting wood on the Sabbath- the man WASN'T even ISRAELI (Numbers 15:32-36) Also apparently killing every single man, and woman who had lain with a man is good, showing mercy bad- but keeping little virgin girls is acceptable. In fact showing mercy to women was so abhorrent that God sent a plague to punish the offending Israeli soldiers. Unless of course they were virgin little girls- Numbers 31:18 "But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. " Wonder what they kept them for?
So NO I don't think it is a good idea to follow the Torah.
@roan are you SURE you would like to link following the Torah versus the Qur'an in regards to financial success? Perhaps you should look at the GDP of Bahrain and the UAE first. I don't believe it has any bearing- but you brought it up.

Of course, those who follow the Koran are a total success, both economically, scientifically, technologically and especially, militarily.
And judging by the fact that the GDP per ca pita of Israel is $29,000 and the GDP per ca pita of , for example, Egypt is $6,000...
Hope all is clear?

I ENJOY THE QURAN TO


http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtN91XnldQ49yePPK3Gc6Ovsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid =20100516105642AAKpMsl

How do you define success ?

Since becoming more religious, I've found my life has become consistently better.

That is an opinion, not a fact. That is the way you look at it. I see exactly the opposite. The Torah and my religion makes me a better person. I feel that God has been with me this entire hard year and has helped me every step of the way. Everything that happens, happens for a reason. Have a great day!! <3

BTW, misheard the man who cut wood on Shabbas WAS Israeli. His daughters got property in Israel later on just like the other tribes. They are known as The Tzlofhad daughters. There were four or five of them.
And about the selling daughter thing, what do you think people did in the olden days? Let me just explain that matter though: first, the father can only sell her if he can't support her financially, second he can only sell her once she turns 12, third, the person who buys her has to marry her to his son, third the owner must provide her with three things: clothes, food and a relationship. Which in other words means- treating her like a human being and not just some slave.