Introduction to World Religion and Belief Systems - Judaism PDF

Introduction to World Religion and Belief Systems LESSON 4.1: Judaism  You will examine the brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and related issues of Judaism. Specifically, this module will help you to:...

Introduction to World Religion and Belief Systems LESSON 4.1: Judaism  You will examine the brief history, core teachings, fundamental beliefs, practices, and related issues of Judaism. Specifically, this module will help you to:  Understand the history of Judaism and OBJECTIVE its founders S  Analyze sacred texts which ref lects the life and values Jewish culture  Ar t ic ulat e und e rst and ing of one’s relig ious b eliefs, and p rac t ic es by exploring their own origins  Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. The Hebrews maintained the monotheistic belief which originated in the Hebrew Bible also known as Tanakh and the other sacred writings such as Talmud, the BRIEF written version of Jewish oral law (Mishnah), and e xplanatio ns and inte rpre tatio ns o f INTRODUCTI Mishnah (Gemara) that were unique in the ON ancient world. Judaism as considered by its religious leaders and followers is the expression of the covenantal relationship God established with the children of Israel. HISTORY OF JEWS   The term Judaism derives from the Latin Iudaismus , which derived from the Greek HISTORICAL Ioudaïsmos. This ultimately came from the Hebrew Yehudah or ”Judah” BACKGROU  The f irst appearance of the term Judaism ND appears in the book of Second Maccabees, dated to the 2nd century BCE   Jud a i sm c l a i m s a hi st o ri c a l c o nt i nui t y spanning more than 3,000 years. HISTORICAL  Judaism has its roots as a structured religion BACKGROU in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. ND  Of the major world religions, Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions.   The Hebrews or Israelites were already referred to as “Jews” in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title “Children of Israel”. HISTORICAL  Judaism’s texts, traditions and values BACKGROU st ro ngl y i nf lu e nc e d l at e r A brahami c ND religions, including Christianity, Islam and the Baha’i Faith.  Many aspe c t s o f Jud ai sm hav e al so directly or indirectly inf lu enced secular Western ethics and civil law.  JEWISH GROUPINGS 1st Century SMALL JEWISH SECTS CE PHARISEES SADDUCEES ZEALOTS ESSENES CHRISTIANS   Christianity survived, but by CHRISTIANI breakin g with J u dais m an d TY becoming a separate religion.   The Pharisees survived but in the form of Rabbinic Judaism PHARISEES ( t o d a y, k n o w n s i m p l y a s “Judaism”).   The Sadducees rejected the divine inspiration of the Prophets and the Writings, relying only on the Torah as divinely inspired. Consequently, a SADDUCEES number of other core tenets of the Pharisees’ belief system (which becam e the basis for m odern Judaism), were also dismissed by the Sadducees   The Samaritans practiced a SAMARITAN similar religion, which is S traditionally considered separate from Judaism.  Like the Sadducees who relied only on the Torah, some Jews in the 8th and 9th centuries rejected the HISTORICAL authority and divine inspiration of the BACKGROU oral law as recorded in the Mishnah ND (and developed by later rabbis in the CONTINUATION two Talmuds), relying instead only upon the Tanakh  Over a long time, Jews formed distinct Many o f the se gro ups have ethnic groups in several different geographic developed differences in their areas: prayers, traditions and 1. Ashkenazi Jews (of central and Eastern HISTORICAL ac c e pt e d c ano ns; ho we v e r Europe) these distinctions are mainly BACKGROU the result of their being formed 2. Sephardi Jews (of Spain, Portugal, and normative ND at some cultural distance from (rabbinic) Judaism, North Africa) CONTINUATION rathe r than base d o n any 3. Beta Israel of Ethiopia doctrinal dispute. 4. Yemenite Jews from the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula FOUNDER OF JUDAISM   The origins of Jewish faith are explained throughout the Torah.  According to the text, God f irst revealed himself to a Hebrew man named Abraham, FOUNDER who became known as the founder of OF Judaism. JUDAISM  Jews believe that God made a special covenant with Abraham and that he and his descendants were chosen people who would create a great nation   Abraham’s son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob, also became central f ig ures in ancient Jewish history.  Jac o b to o k t he name I srae l , and hi s children and future generations became FOUNDER known as Israelites. OF  More than 1,000 years after Abraham, the prophet Moses led the Israelites out of JUDAISM Egypt after being enslaved for hundreds of ye ars. A c c o rd i ng to sc ri pt ure s, Go d rev e ale d his laws, kno wn as the Te n Commandments, to Moses at Mt. Sinai VARIETIES OF JUDAISM  In line with the diaspora of the Jews, contemporary Judaism is not a singular religion but a number of religions.  Given the richness of its history it is not surprising that there are cultural differences in Judaism.  There are certain culturally based groups, such as the Sephardic Jews , who came from west Israel and sometimes Spain; the Ashkemazic who came from central Europe; the Falashas who are in Ethiopia  Note: Beta Israel are known as Ethiopian Jews, and until recently by the derogatory name Falasha (meaning stranger or exile in Ge'ez) VARIETIES OF JUDAISM   They are typically known for their strict observance of traditional Jewish law and VARIETIES OF JUDAISM rituals.  Fo r e xample , mo st be lieve Shabbat ORTHODO sho uldn’t inv o lv e w o rking, driv ing o r handling money. X  It is also known for its diverse sect that JUDAISM includes several subgroups, including Hasidic Jews.  H a sidic J e w s e mph a siz e a myst ic a l experience with God that involves direct communion through prayer and worship VARIETIES OF JUDAISM  Considered a liberal category of the religion that values ethical traditions REFORM over strict observance of Jewish JUDAISM l aws. Fol l owe rs of thi s g roup p rom ote p rog ressiv e ideas and adaption. VARIETIES OF JUDAISM  Followers of this form of Judaism CONSERVATI somewhere between Orthodox and VE Reform Judaism while allowing for JUDAISM some modernization  VARIETIES OF JUDAISM  Thi s se c t be l i e v e t ha t Jud a i sm i s a religious civilization that is constantly RECONSTRUCTION evolving. IST  Reconstructionism dates back to 1992 JUDAISM w he n M o rd e c a i K a pl a n fo und e d t he Society for the Advancement of Judaism  VARIETIES OF JUDAISM F o l l o w e r s o f t h i s f o r m o f HUMANISTIC J u d ai s m c e l e b rate J e w i s h JUDAISM history and culture without an emphasis on God. NOTE: While there are various denominations of Judaism, many Jews do n’t i den t i f y w i t h a pa r t i c u l a r c l a s s i f ic a t i o n a n d s i m p l y r e f e r themselves as Jewish. THE SACRED WRITINGS OF JUDAISM  Oldest of the Abrahamic Religion JUDAISM Primary Text: TANAKH PENTATEUCH (Torah) Judaism is the o ldest o f the Abrahamic PROPHETS (Nevi'im) religion, and its primary text is the Tanakh, or the Jewish Bible, which is composed of the Pentateuch (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi'im) WRITINGS (Ketuvim) and the Writings (Ketuvim).  Tanakh is an acronym that stands for the three sections of the Hebrew Bible. Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) is an account of the Israelites’ relationship with God from their earliest history until the building of the Second Temple (c.535 BCE). Abraham is hailed as the f irst Hebrew and the father of the Jewish people. As a reward for his act of faith in one God, he was promised that Isaac, his second son, would inherit the Land of Israel (then called Canaan). Later, Jacob and his children were enslaved in Egypt, and God commanded Moses to lead the Exodus from Egypt  According Rabbi Menachem Posner, an editor staff at Chabad.org, the world’s largest Jewish informational website, “studying these texts is a sacred act in which one connects to God on the deepest level”. He enumerates the list of sacred book that can be found in a basic Jewish library: THE SACRED WRITINGS OF JUDAISM   Often referred to as the Torah  It is the very foundation of Judaism.  Until this very day, the text—which was written in Hebrew over The Sacred Writings Of Judaism 3,000 years ago has been carefully preserved by the Jewish people.  It is also known as the Chumash or Pentateuch (related to Five Books the respective Hebrew and Greek words for “five”). of Moses  The books were written by Moses, as dictated by God Himself. (Torah)  Jewish people view every letter and nuance as a sacred c o m m unic at io n f r o m G o d , lad e n w it h m e aning and significance.  They contain 613 mitzvahs—Divine commandments which shape the lives of Jewish people everywhere.   The Five Books of Moses are followed by The Sacred Writings Of Judaism 19 o t he r bo o k s w hi c h c o m pr i se t he Prophets (Neviim) and Writings (Ketuvim). - - Collectively the set is known as Tanach. Psalms  Each of these books is a treasured revelation of the Divine Wisdom, but one in particular has (Tehillim) found a special place in the Jewish heart: the Book of Psalms (Tehillim).  Its 150 cha pte rs—com pile d by King Dav id express the deep faith, yearning, and joy that are part and parcel of being a Jew.  A. Nevi’im  The term is the pluralized form of a Hebrew word that means prophet.  This section includes the historical books in the The Sacred Writings Of Judaism Hebrew Bible (e.g. Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings) along with the major prophetic books (e.g. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel) and minor prophetic books (e.g. Amos, Habakkuk, Joel, Obadiah, etc.). Psalms  It is about the stories and writings of the Jewish leaders which recount Jewish history and call for (Tehillim) repentance and obedience B. Kethuvi’in  The term is the pluralized form of a Hebrew word that means writing.  This section is more or less a catch all for various literary genres including petitionary literature (Psalms and Lamen tation s), wisdom Literature ( Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes), and one apocalyptic text (Daniel) The Sacred Writings Of Judaism  One of the last books added to the Biblical canon is the Book of Esther, also known as the Megillah (“Scroll”).  One of f ive megillahs included in the canon, Esther is the Megillah only one commonly read from a handwritten parchment scroll. It tells the dramatic Purim story, in which Queen (Book of Esther is the Divinely-placed heroine through whom the Esther) Jewish people who live in the sprawling Persian empire are saved from Haman’s evil scheme of annihilation.  The Megillah is read twice every Purim, once in the evening and again in the morning The Sacred Writings Of Judaism  Throughout the years, the sages developed a body of oral traditions to accompany the laws of the Torah. In t he t um ult uous years following t he destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, Mishnah Rabbi Judah the Prince compiled many of these rabbinic traditions into a wide-ranging text, known as the Mishnah (“repetition” or “learning”). Divided into six “orders” (volumes), the Mishnah is the foundational text of rabbinic law.   The central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) and Jewish The Sacred Writings Of Judaism theology.  The Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish cultural life a nd w a s founda t iona l to "a ll Je w ish t h ough t a nd aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Talmud Jews.  I t h a s t w o co m p o n e n t s; t h e M ish n a h , a w r it t e n compendium of Rabbinic Judaism's Oral Torah; and the Gemara, an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and e xpounds broadly on the He bre w Bible.   O ne o f t he pre e m i ne nt sa ge s o f t he The Sacred Writings Of Judaism Mishnah was Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai , who f lo urished in Israel during the era of Roman oppression.  He was also a master teacher of the Kabbalah, Zohar the “hidden” part of Jewish tradition.  Many of his teachings, especially those from right before he passed away, were collected into the Zohar, an Aramaic text that typically f il ls three volumes and has been arranged to correspond to the weekly Torah portions The Sacred Writings Of Judaism  Also called “Torah Review”  An organized encyclopedia of halachic (Jewish Law) rul i ngs c ul l e d fro m al l Mishneh rabbinic literature created by Rabbi Moses Torah Moimonides to provide layman who could not access to practical guidance for day-to -day living (halachah)   Known in Hebrew as Shulchan Aruch (“Set Table”), The Sacred Writings Of Judaism t he Code of Je wish Law provide s day- to- day instructions extracted from Maimonides’ code and other commentaries. Shulchan  It was written by Rabbi Yosef Caro (1488-1575), a Aruch (Code Sephardic sage who lived in the holy city of Safed in the north of Israel. of Jewish Law)  Shortly after it was published, Rabbi Moshe Isserles, an Ashkenazi rabbi in Krakow, Poland, added glosses in which he notes anytime Ashkenazic tradition differs from Rabbi Caro’s rulings   The Jewish prayers were composed by the The Sacred Writings Of Judaism Anshe Knesset Hagedolah,“Men of the Great Assembly”—a panel of 120 prophets a n d sa ge s c o m pr i si n g t h e u l t i m a t e Siddur religious authority at the onset of the Second Temple Era. (Prayerbook)  In addition to the Amidah (“Silent Prayer”) and o t he r c o mpo si t i o ns, t he Je wi sh prayers include sections of Scripture, notably the Shema a selection of Psalms The Sacred Writings Of Judaism  Provides a roadmap to the soul and invaluable advice for maintaining joy, The Tanya i nsp i rati o n, and c o nsi ste nc y throughout life’s challenges REMEMBER  Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions. Jews are an ethno-religious group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. The largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. Traditional Judaism maintains that a Jew, whether by birth or conversion, is a Jew forever. Thus a Jew who claims to be an atheist or converts to another religion is still considered by traditional Judaism to be Jewish Jewish ethnic groups in several different geographic locations the Ashkenazi Jews (of central and Eastern Europe), the Sephardi Jews (of Spain, Portugal, and North Africa), the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, and the Yemenite Jews from the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Different classif ic ation of Judaism based on their observances: Orthodox Judaism, Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism, Humanistic Judaism Judaism is the oldest of the Abrahamic religion, and its primary text is the Tanakh, or the Jewish Bible, which is composed of the Pentateuch (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi'im) and the Writings (Ketuvim). Tanakh is an acronym that stands for the three sections of the Hebrew Bible.