Preliminary Studies Of Religion - Judaism

Origins
Glossary
Circumcision- The removal of the fore skin of the penis
Covenant- In general, an agreement between two parties. Each having rights and
responsibilities. In the bible it is an agreement between God and his people.
Patriarchs- The forefathers of the Jews- Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob.
Midrash- A form of ancient biblical commentary and interpretations, mostly written
between the second and the eight centuries.
Mitzvah (plural, mitzvot)- Hebrew word meaning ‘commandment. There are 613 mitzvot
in the Torah.
Zionism- Is the name given to the movement that began life seeking the established of a
modern Jewish state.
• Outline the life of Abraham
- Abram (as Abraham is known in the biblical account) and his half-sister and wife
Sarai, later to be known as Sarah, emerged with their tribe out of ancient
Mesopotamia.
- Abraham led a nomadic.
- Famine led him to the fertile lands of the Nile delta in Egypt.
- Abraham and his tribe later journeyed back north settling in Canaan.
- Genesis 22, Abraham took his young son Isaac and in response to God’s call he
prepared to sacrifices him. However, a messenger of the lord called to Abraham not
to kill his son and put a ram in his place
- It was from this that Abrahams covenant with God was established.

• Describe the Covenant with the Patriarchs, including the promises of a People
and a Land
- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are all known collectively as the patriarchs.
- The patriarchs are seen as the forefathers of modern Judaism.
- It was with Abraham that the first covenant with the unseen God was made.
- It is the covenants, the special relationship with God, that is at the heart of Jewish
belief and practice even to this day.
- First mentioned as a promise by god to Noah and is confirmed through God’s eternal
promise to Abraham to make him the ‘ancestor of a multitude of nations’
- The key to the covenant was that every male be circumcised, this is the mark of
every Jewish male to this day.
- The steadfast love that Abraham showed for God by his wiliness to sacrifices his son,
is the model for the steadfast love that Jews are expected to hold for their god

• Outline the story of the Exodus and the giving of the Law at Sinai, including the
Ten Commandments
- Moses was called by God to lead his people out of slavery.
The Exodus
- The book of Exodus tells the story of a Hebrew baby being plucked from the river by
the daughter of the Pharaoh. This child grew up in the royal court and is known as
Moses
- After Moses discovered his Hebrew past, he became a powerful spiritual and
political force amongst his people.
- He lead the Hebrew’s dramatic escape from slavery in Egypt which is known as the
Exodus.
- He received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and established the covenant
relationship between God and the Israelites.
- The laws of the Torah are formulated in his name.
 Preliminary Studies Of Religion - Judaism

- Considered by the Jews as the first and greatest prophet, God having spoken to
him face to face.
- During the Exodus, Moses received the Torah and the Ten Commandments. It
became the defining moment in the history of Israelites, making Moses the greatest
teacher and intermediary in the Jewish religion
- The Israelites built a portable structure, know as, the Ark of Covenant, to house the
stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments have been given to Moses
- The Ten Commandments come to been seen as the emblematic of all the 613
mitzvot that Jews must follow to be faithful to the covenant .
- This influences the way a Jews eats, dresses and prays. In the strictest sense it
dictates the entire pattern of life.
- The promise of a homeland to Abraham, reaffirmed in the promise to Moses in the
desert to deliver the Israelites to the a land “flowing with milk and honey” and is also
the origin of the Jewish affinity with the Holy Spirit.
• Outline the unique features of:
Conservative Judaism, Orthodox Judaism, Progressive Judaism
Orthodox Conservative Reformed (liberal)

 Term applies the traditional
movement within modern
Judaism, based upon the
strict adherence to the letter
of the law.
 Rituals are conducted in
Hebrew.
 Segregation between the
sexes during worship.
 Stress the importance of the
Torah as coming from God
and therefore binding.
 Seek ways to fulfil the torah in
modern circumstances.
 High moral and ethical
concerns for the worlds
wellbeing
 Observer strictly the Jewish
Sabbath.
 Strict dietary rules.
 (there are many varieties of
orthodoxy)
 Referred to as the middle
ground between orthodox
and reformed.
 Mixture of orthodox and
reformed beliefs and
practices
 Accepts the rabbinical belief
framework.
 Men and women sit to
together during worship.
 Women are allowed to read
from the Torah.
 Worship is conducted in
Hebrew and English.
 Look upon god as a cosmic
process rather than
transcendent individual
 Has sought some traditiona
orthodox religious practice
and adapt it too
contemporary life and thoug
 Concentrate on the ethical
teachings of the biblical
prophets rather than the
teachings handed down by
Moses
 Humans are seen as God
partners.
 Challenges rabbinical
Judaism in every way
 Synagogues are called
temples
 Women can be ordained as
rabbis or cantors.
 Retain the spiritual and
idealistic core of traditional
Jewish teaching but
dispense with many Jewish
rituals
 Preliminary Studies Of Religion - Judaism

Principal Beliefs
Glossary
Anthropomorphic- expressed in terms of human thought, action and being.
Iconography- The symbolic representation of a tradition through art, especially paintings
and other symbolic representations
Immanent- An indwelling, constant reality, an intrinsic part of the world.
Incorporeal- Without bodily or material form.
Transcendent- Ultimate reality that exists beyond our world and our experience.

• Discuss the belief in the one God and the attributes of God
The 13 Articles of Faith
1. God is creator
2. God is one
3. God is incorporeal
4. God is eternal
5. God alone is to be worshiped
6. God has spoken through the prophets
7. Moses was the greatest of the prophets
8. The whole of the Torah was revealed to Moses
9. The Torah is the unalterable word of God
10. God has knowledge of and concern for all the deeds of human beings
11. God rewards those who keep the mitzvoth a d punishes those who transgress them
12. The messiah will come
13. The dead will be resurrected.
- God has neither parents nor children.
- Within Jewish belief , God is transcendent, immanent and anthropomorphic
(expressed in terms of human thought, action and being).
- The incorporeal nature( without body or material form) of God s central to Jewish
belief.
- There are never and images of God found in synagogues or as part of Jewish
iconography generally, because he has no form.
- Jewish beliefs holds that while God is separate from the world, he continues o be
involved in the world and with people.

• Outline the concept of a divinely inspired moral law

- It is the Jewish belief that the Torah contains the divinely inspired moral law that
binds Jews to their god
- Within the Torah are the 613 mitzvot: 248 positive mitzvoth and 365 mitzvot.
- They cover all aspects of life and worship. The negative detail those things from
which Jews must restrain, and are all largely consistent with the secular law in
modern Western societies.
- Women are exempted from some of the positive mitzvot, while others refer
specifically to them
- This highlights the distinctive roles of men and women in home, in the synagogue
and in society that give character and uniqueness to the Jewish way of life.
- Overall, the positive mitzvoth describe the rituals by which a jew can express
faithfulness to the covenant.

• Identify the importance of the Covenant for the Jewish people

- The covenant is important because it affirms a unique relationship between God and
the Jewish people cemented in the encounter between God and Moses on Mount
Sinai
 Preliminary Studies Of Religion - Judaism

- It is further developed in the Hebrew Scriptures as God worked through the lives of
the kings and the prophets.
- The whole Torah in fact is an expression of the covenant, the requirements of the
covenant are known as the halachah.
- The legal tradition of the halachah is grounded in the 613 mitzvot contained within the
written Torah, the first five books of the Bible.
- In return for God’s steadfast love, the Jew is bound by observance of the halachah.
- In all forms of Judaism, the covenantal relationship is expressed in the form of a deep
affection for and concern with the State of Israel

Sacred Texts and Writings

Aggadah- the non-legal tradition in Jewish religious writing
Amoraim- interpreters; Aramaic for ‘speakers’, the title given to the sages of the Talmud.
Baraita- the teaching of the Tannaim that were not included in the Mishnah. Best known
among them are Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Cannon- writings accepted as sacred scripture within a religious tradition.
Mishnah- the Oral Law established in written form. Developed among the teachers of the
Second Temple period as the interpretation and development of the Torah.
Respnsa- the formulations of questions and the rabbinical responses concerning the dual
Torah- Oral and Written.
Second Temple period- the age extending from the return from the Babylonian Exile
(536BCE, down to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Romans (70 CE).
Tannaim- Aramaic for ‘teachers’. Literally, the term means “repeaters”- the Tannaim were
originally those who memorized the Oral Law.
Yavneh- the town from which modern rabbinical Judaism was founded
Zion- the hill on which the city of King David first stood and around which the city of
Jerusalem grew.

• Identify the importance of the:

– The Hebrew Bible and The Talmud
- Jewish belief and practices is based on the teachings derived from many writings and
teachers.
- The source of all these teachings is the Tenach, the 24 books that make up the
Hebrew Scriptures .
- At the core of the Hebrew Scriptures is the first five books of the Bible or the Torah.
( the Law Of Moses)
- The overriding theme throughout all the Hebrew Scriptures is the people of Israel had
a special relationship and the land.
- If the people fulfilled God’s commandments that are contained in the Torah, the God
would bless the people.
- The core of Jewish sacred writing- indeed, the core of Judaism- is the Torah.
- It is the source and inspiration for all Jewish teaching.
- The Talmud is the most authoritative work of the Oral Torah.
• Examine extracts from the Hebrew Scriptures, which demonstrate the principal
beliefs of Judaism
 Preliminary Studies Of Religion - Judaism

Core Ethical Teachings

Glossary
Ethics- is explicit, philosophical and/or religious reflection on beliefs and practices to
clarify what is right and wrong and what human beings should freely do or refrain from
doing.
Kashrut- the laws of the Torah regarding permitted foods, commonly known as kosher.
Mezuzah- a miniature scroll placed in a cylindrical case affixed to the door posts of
Jewish homes.

• Outline the principal ethical teachings of Judaism:

– The Commandments of the Torah
– The Prophetic Vision, including social justice and Tikkun Olam - the repair of
the world
– The Book of Proverbs – wisdom, righteousness, purity and generosity of spirit
- The standard ethical behavior in Judaism are derived from the thoughts and writings
of Jewish sages, as the writings of the sages in turn all derive from the text that is at
the core of the Talmud- the Torah.
- The everyday importance of the Torah is evident in the customary placement of the
mezuzah ( a miniature scroll placed in a case that is attached to the door post of
every Jewish home, on which several small verses of the Torah are written.
- Among the greatest of all the mitzvot is the commandments to study the Torah.
People who study common thoughts with a common purpose will grow in unity and
love.
- Typically, a Jew will live by the Torah by what he or she eats, by the rhythm of their
home life, with Friday nights given to the celebration of Shabbat and Saturdays to
public worship in the synagogue and by how they ‘love their neighbor’.
- The Torah in both its narrower and broader sense helps make sense of life for Jews.
- The Torah prohibits graven images. The religious ethic that emerges is tat humans
are the nearest thing to the divine. As such one should always be treated with
respect and generosity and one should always act with humility.
- In order to love one’s neighbor, as the Torah teaches, one must know the others
pain.
- The ethical system within Judaism is represented by codes of positive and negative
commandments that have been produced in Judaism .
- Under this system of ethics, one acts a certain way because that is the halachah and
the halachah is Gods will.
- The fundamental values that underpin the ethical and moral teachings of Judaism
can be found in the lived experience of the halachah, and are core values
associated with the rituals of the Jewish holy days.
- Jewish ethics make demands on Jews to act in a certain ways on a wide range of
social, environmental, economic and personal issue.
- Ultimately the halachah is concerned with guiding believers in right relationships
with God and right relationships with one’s family and neighbors
- In Jewish thinking, to live by the Torah is to live as a religious Jew.
- Halachah is the fleshing out if the essence of ethical living, so that its can be
understood and lived by the follower.
- At its core it symbolizes the very ethical principles upon which Judaism is based.
The prophetic vision tikkun olam
- Through the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Minor Prophets, their words,
seeking social justice for their people, transpose themselves through time as call to
tikkun olam, ‘repair the world’.
- It is the Jewish principle of a commitment to social justice and social order.
 Preliminary Studies Of Religion - Judaism

- It is partnership with God in a divine purpose established with the bringing of social
order on the Giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
- Today it takes the form of volunteering time and energy for the good of the
community, or through giving tzedakah (this requires giving away a material
possession).
- It is a traditional responsibility of Judaism to visit the sick and assist the elderly, the
disadvantaged and the poor.
Proverbs
- Proverbs exults the quality of wisdom as a necessary value for a virtuous life.
- “Wisdom stems from knowledge and knowledge is dear of the Lord” (Prov 1:7) thus
the wisdom of the Proverbs connects with the heart of Torah.
- The theme throughout is a universal one: the wise shall be rewarded with happiness
and contentment and the foolish will reap the bitter reward f their shortsightedness.
- For the Jew, the wise phrase of Proverbs directs one to a life of righteousness,
purity and generosity of spirit.

Observance
Glossary
Birkat ha-mazon- the grace after meals. It contains four blessings praising God for food,
for the land, for Jerusalem and for God’s goodness
Challot- the two uncut plaited loaves of bread prepared for , then eaten on the evening of
Shabbat and holy days.
Havdalah- the prayer of separation said at the end of Shabbat.
Kiddush- the prayers and blessings said over a cup of wine, ushering in Shabbat and holy
days.
Pesach- or Passover is a Jewish festival that commemorates the ‘passing over’ of the
houses of the Israelites as God seized the first born of the Egyptians.
• Describe the importance of Shabbat
- The torah commands that the seventh day, known as Shabbat, or Sabbath in
English, belongs to God. As such no work is to be done, no one may cook, write,
drive a car, turn lights on and off and other such weekend activities.
- It lasts from sunset on Friday evening, until the third star appears in the sky on
Saturday at nightfall.
- It is harder within secular societies such as Australia, but universally in Judaism it is
seen as the day of the week set aside for one’s family, for the community, for God
and the study of the Torah.
- Family is a significant focus of Shabbat and the preparation for it starts well before
the actually Shabbat.
- The synagogue also plays a significant role in Shabbat religious observances in each
Jewish community. Saturday morning involves the main synagogue service of the
Shabbat at which the torah is read.
- Songs and blessings accompany lunch.
- After the meal people may rest , study Torah, or visit family or friends. There is a final
afternoon service, followed but the last of the Shabbat meals.
- After nightfall, the havdalah is recited, the prayer that closes Shabbat.