Review on Previous Lesson

•Enumerate the positive and negative

effects of religion
Summary of learning content
• At the end of this module, you will be able to:
1. identify a Jewish custom or tradition;
2. justify: the core teaching of Judaism is the covenant
of one god with a chosen people vs. other people
with many gods; and
3. identify a story from the old testament that
demonstrates the Jewish belief in one god.
Motivation:
• Directions: Read the prayer below and
reflect on the meaning of the light of the
Menorah
UNIT 2: MONOTHEISTIC
RELIGIONS
LESSON 5: JUDAISM
Background, Founders
• Judaism is the oldest of the monotheistic
religions, whose origins date back to the
mid- second millennium or around 1500
BCE. Jewish tradition traces its
development to the ancient patriarch
Abraham, and his descendants Isaac and
Jacob.
Followers • The adherents of Judaism
are called Jews. Though
Judaism has always had a
relatively small following,
it still had a significant role
in the advancement of
Near Eastern and Western
Civilizations. Judaism had a
great influence on
Christianity and Islam, two
other great monotheistic
faith traditions.
Sacred Texts or Holy • The Torah is the main
Writings sacred text of Judaism,
which corresponds to the
five books of Moses or
the Pentateuch. The
Torah contains the
written teachings,
commandments, and
history of the ancient
Jewish people, and is the
very center and lifeblood
of the Jewish community.
The Torah-the Jewish Written
Law

•For the Jews, the Torah is the first

revealed law given to Moses and
recorded in the Hebrew Sacred texts.
In Greek, the Torah is called the
Pentateuch, meaning five scrolls.
The Torah-the Jewish
Written Law • The Torah
includes
1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy
 •The Nevi’im is sub-divided into
major and minor prophetic books
along with the historical
accounts. The Major prophetic
Books are those of Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The minor
The Torah- prophetic books comprise Hosea,
the Jewish Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah,
Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Written Law Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and
Malachi. The historical books, on
the other hand, are those of
Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and kings.
The Torah-the Jewish Written Law
• The last subsection is the Ketuvim. This
consists of the Psalms, the Proverbs, the Song
or Songs, Ecclesiastes, Jacob, Ruth, Esther,
Daniel, Lamentations of Jeremiah, the histories
in chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah.
The Talmud

• The Talmud is the

compendium of
learning that is the basic
source for Jewish law
and codes. It is another
form of scripture and is
the written version of
the Jewish oral law
which includes
commentaries.
SACRED TEXT OR HOLY WRITINGS
• The most important text of the Jewish people and
contains the “Five Books of Moses” and many sacred
texts.
• The Torah contains the written techniques,
commandments, and history of the ancient Jewish
people, and is the very center and lifeblood of the
Jewish community.
SACRED TEXT OR HOLY WRITINGS
• The Hebrew Bible is the Tanakh, which is a collection
of sacred writings.
• Its name is an acronym of the first letters of the
Hebrew word’s Torah (the Law), Nevi’em (Prophet)
and Ketuvim (Writings)
1. GENESIS •  the first book of
the Hebrew
Bible and the Old
Testament, is
Judaism's account of
the creation of the
world and the
origins of the Jewish
people.
2. EXODUS
•  The second book of
the Torah and of
the Bible, tells
the founding myth of
the Israelites deliveran
ce from slavery in
Egypt through the
hand of Yahweh their
god.
3. LEVITICUS • The purpose of
Leviticus is to
establish a
relationship
between the
priests and the
common
people.
4. NUMBERS
• It begins with a
census of the
Israelites and
the tribe of
Levi.
 • Hebrew Devarim,
5. DEUTERONOMY (“Words”), fifth
book of the Old
Testament, written
in the form of a
farewell address by
Moses to the
Israelites before
they entered the
Promised Land of
Canaan.
 NEVI’IM (PROPHETS)
•Prophets served as spokespersons who
criticize the hypocritical practices of Jewish
rituals. They were specifically chosen by God to
preach his message to the people. Consists of
the books written by the prophets: It is
subdivided into Earlier Prophets, Major Prophets
and Twelve Minor Prophets.
 Earlier Later Prophets Twelve Minor Prophets
Prophets
Joshua Isaiah 1.Hosea 8. Habakkuk
Judges Jeremiah 2.Joel 9. Zephaniah
Samuel Ezekiel 3.Amos 10. Haggai
Kings   4.Obadiah 11. Zechariah
    5.Jonah 12. Malachi
    6.Micah  
    7.Nahum  
 KETUVIM (“WRITINGS”)
• The third section of the Tanakh contains
works on poetry, temple rituals, private
prayer, and philosophical explorations.
 BELIEFS AND DOCTRINES
•In Judaism, actions are more significant than
beliefs. However, while Judaism has no dogma,
there is definitely a place for belief with the
religion since it focuses on the worship of one
God, the practice of good deeds, and the love
learning (Brasswell 1994)
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
1. I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides
me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of
anything in the sky above or on earth below or in the waters
beneath the earth;
2. You shall not bow before them or worship them. For I, the Lord
your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers’
wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the
third and fourth generation; but bestowing mercy down to the
thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and
keep my commandments.
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord
will not leave unpunished him who takes His name in vain.

4. Remember to keep holy Sabbath day. Six days you must labor and do
all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God.
No work may be done then earlier by you, or your son or daughter, or
your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with
you. In six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all
that is in them; but on the seventh day He rested. That is why the Lord
has blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
5. Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life
in the Lord which the Lord, your God, is giving you.
6. You shall not kill.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall
not covet your neighbor’s house.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet
your neighbor’s ox or ass, or anything else that belongs to him
• Apart from the Ten Commandments that
form the theological basis of other
commandments, there are also 613
mitzuot or laws found in within the Torah.
 WORSHIP AND OBSERVANCES
• Jewish holidays are special days observed to
commemorate key events in Jewish history and
other events that depict the special connections
which the world, such as creation, revelation, and
redemption.
 Sabbath
• The most important day in the Jewish calendar
is the Sabbath (or Shabbat) which
commemorates God’s completion of the
creation of the universe and his rest after the
six-day toil. This the fourth law within the 10
commandments.
 THE DAYS OF AWE
 Tishri is the seventh month in the
ecclesiastical year of the Jewish
calendar.
 The first ten days of Tishri are called the
“Days of Awe” wherein the first two
days comprise the New Year.
 THE DAYS OF AWE
 All Jews must undergo self-reflection
and make amends for all the sins they
have committed.
 A day of fasting and praying for
absolution of one’s sins.
PILGRIMAGE FESTIVALS
• The Torah commanded the ancient
Israelites to go to Jerusalem on three
pilgrimage festivals and participate in the
worship at the temple.
 THREE PILGRIMAGE FESTIVALS
1. Pesach (Passover)
2. Shavuot (weeks or Pentecost)
3. Sukkot (Tabernacles)
Pesach (Passover)  Is an eight-day
festival that
originally marked
the beginning of
the barley harvest .
 Commemorate
and recreate the
Exodus of the
Jews from Egypt
SHAVUOT
 Is a two-day festival
that was originally a
celebration of the
wheat harvest.

 held to commemorate
the revelation of the
Torah to Moses at
Mount Sinai.
 SUKKOT
• Is a nine-day festival commemorating the
autumn harvest and the forty years of
Israelites’ stay in the desert wilderness
subsisting solely on the bounty of God.
SUKKOT • Temporary
booths or
structure are built
in homes with a
roof through
which one can
see the stars in
the sky.
 HALAKHA
• Translated as “the path that one walks”, these
are Jewish religious laws derived from the
“Written Torah” and “Oral Torah” including the
613 mitzuot.
• Instructs Jew what to do as they wake up in
the morning, what foods to eat, what clothes
to wear, who to marry, and how to observe
Sabbath and holy days.
 SYNAGOGUES
• Jewish temple of worship,
instruction and community
fellowship that contain
separate rooms designed
for specific activities such
as praying and studying.
 SYNAGOGUES
 Orthodox Judaism, men and women sit
separately
 Reform Judaism, they sit altogether in
temples.
 MAIN DIVISIONS
• Being one of the oldest religions in the
world, Judaism has undergone various
changes in response to changing times
and cultures brought about by key
historical events upheavals.
 THREE PRESENT DAY MOVEMENT OF
JUDAISM
 Reform Judaism
 Orthodox Judaism
 Conservative Judaism
 ORTHODOX JUDAISM
• Believes Moses received both the written
and oral law at Mount Sinai and
conscientiously follows these law. Also,
Orthodox Judaism believes that the
Messiah is still to come and to bring Israel
to a golden age.
 REFORM JUDAISM
(Liberal or Progressive Judaism)
•Does not believe that the Torah was
divinely revealed the truth and that the
Jewish laws on diet, purity and dress
are obsolete.
 REFORM JUDAISM
• Is said to have begun in the 19th century
and based on the ideas of Moses
Mendelssohn. He believed that there
should be an assimilation of the Jewish to
the Western Culture.
 CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM
• An offshoot of Reform Judaism and does
not accept that the oral law was received
by Moses from God but holds that the
rabbis (teacher of Torah), who sought to
adapt Judaism to a new era, invented the
oral Torah.
 CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM

•Uses Hebrew and English in their

liturgy, maintain strict dietary laws and
during worship, men and women are
allowed to sit together.