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Transcript
1 Running head: Judaism Judaism: A Complex Culture Christian Schroeder University of Kentucky 2 Judaism Abstract There is a great deal of cultures throughout the entirety of world. The overall point of the essay is to address what makes up the Jewish culture. Now while there are a vast amount of features that make up the culture, the focus stays on the major topics. Things like holidays, celebrations, stereotypes, food, and religion. Deeper than that, when and why do they have the celebrations and holidays they do, what is the effects the stereotypes have on the people that make up the culture, what are the popular foods and why have they became attached to the culture, and what is the basis of the religion. All of this should create a general understanding and summary of what the make up of the religion is. 3 Judaism Judaism: A Complex Culture Jews are portrayed through public culture using various stereotypes. The typical Jew is hairy, with a big nose; whose also is good with money. Obviously these stereotypes do not make up the entirety of the Jewish culture. Unfortunately this was just about the extent of my knowledge about their culture as a whole. Coming from a Catholic family I had never had a need or desire to learn about their culture. The only celebrations I knew of were Hanukah and Bar/Bat mitzvahs: jealous from all the gifts people received. There are so many aspects that form the culture; at least, so many more than the than basic labels given to them. Through research, I have learned more about the Jewish culture and each major segment that makes it up. Holidays and Celebrations Like any religion there are holidays and celebrations, some being bigger than others. The two largest holidays of the Jewish culture are Rush Hashanah and Yom Kippur, respectively being the Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement and celebrated in order to begin the New Year in a clean state. One of the biggest celebrations of the Jewish community is when children have their Bar/Bat Mitzvah: which are them making the transition into adulthood. While these events are viewed as the most important and major, there are plenty of more minor holidays. Hanukkah is a minor holiday and yet is perhaps the most well known holiday by people outside of the Jewish community. Rush Hashanah Rush Hashanah as mentioned recognizes the Jewish New Year: and always takes place in the fall, “Some participate in a ceremony called tashlich whereby misdeeds of the past year (symbolized by bread crumbs) are symbolically thrown into a flowing body of water. It is also customary to exchange New Year cards.” (Peninsula Jewish Community Center [PJCC], 2012). Judaism 4 During this celebration many of the foods eaten are sweet and round like honey, apples, and pomegranates. Many Jews who don’t go to synagogue in general go for this holiday because of its’ importance. It is essential to start your new year off right. Yom Kippur The other major holiday is Yom Kippur, which is celebrated shortly after Rush Hashanah, it is known as the “Day of Atonement”. According to Peninsula Jewish Community Center, some of the activities that people regularly partake in are going to temple to pray, and unless you are under the age of 13, fasting from all food and drink for a day (to be exact 25 hours). Lexi Salberg who practices Judaism said it is a time, “where you think about what you’ve sinned from and how to make it better for the year coming”. The holiday typically ends with a meal to break the fasting that varies from family to family. In addition to not being aloud to eat, you also can’t wash yourself, engage in sexual relations, or wear leather shoes. With so many rules and things that your not allowed to do, one can point out that this is a serious holiday. Hanukkah While Hanukkah is a minor holiday, it is one of the most well known. Besides the Jewish star the most recognizable picture of the culture is the menorah, which varies between having 7 and 9 arms, each holding candles. The reasoning being, “Hanukkah is an 8-day holiday that commemorates the Jewish recapture and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE.” (Interfaith Family [IF], 2014). Relating this to the menorah, for each day of Hanukkah that passes you light another candle. So if it is the 4th day you light four candles. Also the lighting of candles typically takes place at sundown on each day. While the lighting of the menorah is a major part of the holiday, there are still loads of activities that go on. Since Hanukkah lasts eight days you have a lot of time to do things. One Judaism 5 tradition is the spinning of the dreidel, which is were a group of kids gathers with equal pieces of something (normal chocolate or money). Then spin the dreidel one by one, the dreidel has four sides which are labeled: “a) Nun means ‘nisht’ or ‘nothing’ [in Yiddish]. The player does nothing. b) Gimmel means ‘gantz’ or "everything" [in Yiddish]. The player gets everything in the pot. c) Hey means ‘halb’ or ‘half’ [in Yiddish]. The player gets half of the pot. (If there are an odd number of pieces in the pot, the player takes half of the total plus one). d) Shin (outside of Israel) means ‘shtel’ or ‘put in’ [in Yiddish]. Peh (in Israel) means ‘pay.’ The player adds a game piece to the pot” (Zion, n.d.). It is a fun game that only children tend to partake in. In addition to the ritual of playing dreidel, it is also customary that the children get a gift or gifts each night of Hanukkah. In many ways I make a connection between Hanukkah and Christmas, both the largest holidays in terms of celebrations, and both are similar in terms of the activities that you partake in. It makes it an easy way to remember the holiday by. Bar/Bat Mitzvah Everyone remembers in 6th and 7th grade getting excited because they got an invitation to a friends Bar/Bat Mitzvah. They got to dress up and go to a big extravagant party, and more importantly talk and dance with the opposing gender. But did anyone that wasn’t Jewish really understand what it was or why people were having it? It is more than just a social event for kids and family to go to, it is an age (12 for girls, 13 for boys) where you are now required to fulfill the commandments of the religion. It marks the day of these kids becoming adults. 6 Judaism Stereotypes Every culture has them, positive and negative. It’s our brains way of quickly analyzing a situation to make us feel more comfortable. Not all people know that stereotypes can actually really effect how we act towards others. The most famous showing of this is the Blue Eye/Brown Eye study conducted by Jane Elliot. A third grade teacher named Jane Elliot in wake of King’s assassination conducted the study with the students being the lab rats. She separated blue-eyed kids and brown-eyed kids saying, "The brown-eyed people are the better people in this room, they are cleaner and they are smarter." (Bloom, 2005). What ended up happening is the brown-eyed kids actually started working harder and thinking they were smarter, making remarks to the “lesser” blue-eyed kids. While this is a brief summary of the experiment, it shows the power that stereotypes have on the mind positive and negative. So when assumptions and stereotypes about Jewish people come up it actually can affect them. The basic stereotypes that surround the Jewish Culture are that Jewish people are hairy, big nosed, and are good with money. Now if a Jewish account hears that, they could end up being more productive because of this or it could make them feel self conscious about it and negatively affect their work. Regardless it will affect them, so when negative stereotypes get thrown around it can take a major hit on the person that hears, reads, or sees them. Food All groups of people have meals that are indicative of the culture, whether it’s for special holidays or if it is just a staple of their cuisine. The food originates from the area where the culture came from, as an example Irish; dishes tend to have potatoes in them. However just because a food or dish is associated with a culture does not mean that it is exclusively eaten by Judaism 7 one group of people, for instance, “Stuffed cabbage, a traditional Jewish dish, is common in Eastern Europe. Blintzes and knishes are familiar to all Germans, not just Jewish ones. Falafel and hummus, increasingly thought of as Israeli-Jewish foods, can be found in any Greek restaurant”( Rich, 2011). When it comes to the Jewish culture, “Jewish cooking shows the influence of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Spanish, German and Eastern European styles of cooking”(Rich, 2011). To expand, the culture shows a bond between their food and these areas due to the fact that at a certain point in time the culture has been prevalent in the area. Connecting to the idea that foods are not exclusive to one culture, a dish that is a staple of the Jewish culture, and is consumed regularly between many cultures is the bagel. According to Judaism 101 the bagel and culture have been connected for at least 400 years, with dates stemming back to 1610 in Poland. Along with the bagel another common Jewish food is matzah, which can be used in various dishes such as matzah ball soup and matzah kugel (both common Passover dishes). There is no bigger food in the Jewish Culture than matzah; the main reason for matzah being so important to the culture is it is required to be consumed on the holiday Passover. The Torah in Exodus 12:18 says that, "In the first month [i.e. Nissan] from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening” (Telushkin, 2008). Matzah is that unleavened bread, which is a type bread without any rising agents such as yeast. According to Jewish Virtual Library matzah has become so largely consumed that companies that produce it have brought in over one hundred million dollars in sales. It is understandable why the sales are so high: because of the fact matzah is so strongly connected to 8 Judaism the culture. History shows just how important matzah is in the culture, “A major shortage of matzah for the Jews of Russia occurred in 1917 with the collapse of czarist rule and the take-over by the Communists, and again beginning in 1929, with the collectivization of farms by Stalin. The crisis became so severe that world Jewry was called upon to help provide the Passover needs of the Jews of Russia. During the two world wars, the widespread mobilization of Jewish soldiers created an additional need for matzah distribution never before experienced in modern Jewish history.” (Telushkin, 2008). The need was so large that groups were even formed to help distribute the food to Jews in need. While these are two foods that are deeply connected with the culture, there are many more dishes that make up the long and diverse list of Jewish foods. Religion Religions are the most complex and most complicated things to understand about cultures. Each one has various types of smaller religions that branch off from it, different books of beliefs, different number of Gods, and different rituals and holidays. The most basic breakdown of Judaism is that its rules and laws are held in the Torah, which is the first five books of the bible, obviously the Torah serves the same purpose as the bible does to the Catholic religion. At its most basic level, “The most important teaching and tenet of Judaism is that there is one God, incorporeal and eternal, who wants all people to do what is just and merciful. All people are created in the image of God and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect” (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs [MFA], 2010). Although the religion is far more complex, this is a simple summary of the most important belief in the Culture. On top of the Torah and the basic principle of having one God, the place for prayer is known as a synagogue (temple). While any knowledgeable member of the congregation can lead the services that take place here, a cantor or rabbi generally does it (both are ordained religious Judaism 9 teachers). As a rabbi you have duties and “Among his professional duties, a rabbi is expected to conduct weekly or daily study sessions for members of the congregation. The rabbi can also be called upon to give informed decisions concerning application of Jewish religious law and tradition to daily life. This may include adjudication of personal disputes. More serious matters, such as religious divorce, are referred to a beit din, a local Jewish religious court” (MFA, 2010). Along with these duties a rabbi must instill principles of the religion to the congregation. The most recognized list of beliefs is “Rambam’s thirteen principles of faith” they are as follows: God exists, God is one and unique, God is incorporeal, God is eternal, prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other, the words of the prophets are true, Moses’ prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets, the Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses, there will be no other Torah, God knows the thoughts and deeds of men, God will reward the good and punish the wicked, the Messiah will come, and the dead will be resurrected” (Rich, 2011). These are very basic due to the fact that Judaism does not have a definite set of rules that everyone lives by. Since there are no assigned rules, it is up to the rabbi to discuss these concepts and let people form their own opinions. Israel The country of Israel means quite a great deal to the Jewish Culture, “The Land of Israel is central to the history, life, hopes and aspirations of the Jewish people. It is toward Jerusalem that observant Jews turn in prayer, and it is here, in the Land promised in the Bible, that Jewish custom and tradition, as well as the identity of the Jewish people, can be most fully realized” (MFA, 2010). This is the reason why so many Jewish civilians travel there at some point in their life. What is considered to be the holiest part of Israel is the western wall, “Built by Herod as Judaism 10 part of the structure that encloses Temple Mount. For centuries, under Muslim rule, the wall was the closest Jews could get to the site of the original Temple of Jerusalem and it therefore became sacred in its own right.” (Elias). Figure 1 The West Wall in Israel Adapted from Israel's Capital City, by Alex Bruni, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.etraveltrips.com/blog/israels-capital-city-jerusalem/#sthash.TwWbQm9y.dpbs As shown in figure one the West Wall is a popular destination for Jews all over the world, these types of monuments are the reasoning behind all of the fighting between the Israelis and Palestinians. The Muslims and Jews both refer to Israel as their homeland. That’s why it is unrealistic for people to believe that the fight between them will end, both have the make up of their religion rooted in the same place. It means too much to each of them to just give up. Holidays, celebrations, stereotypes, food, and religion; it is all of these pieces that make up the puzzle that is the Jewish culture. 11 Judaism References Rich, Tracey. R. (2011). 13 Principles of Faith. In Judaism 101: What do Jews Believe? Retrieved from http://www.jewfaq.org/beliefs.htm Rich, Tracey. R. (2011). Jewish Cooking. In Judaism 101: Retrieved from http://www.jewfaq.org/food.htm Elias, Natalia. (n.d.). The Five Most Famous Land Marks in Israel. Retrieved from http://traveltips.usatoday.com/five-famous-landmarks-israel-105379.html Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (January, 2010). About the Jewish Religion. Retrieved From http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/spotlight/pages/about%20the%20jewish%20religi on.aspx Telushkin, Joseph. (2008). Matzah. In Jewish Virutal Library: Passover. Retrieved from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/matzah.html Peninsula Jewish Community Center. (2012). Jewish Holidays. In High Holy Days (High Holidays). Retrieved from http://www.pjcc.org/jewishlife/holidays/jl-holidays-explainedhighholydays.html Foxman A. H. (2012). Jews & Money: The Story of a Stereotype. Macmillian. Retrieved from http://archive.adl.org/anti_semitism/jewsandmoney/ Bloom, S. G. (2005, September). Lesson of a Lifetime: Her bold experiment to teach Iowa third graders about racial prejudice divided townspeople and thrust her onto the national stage. Decades later, Jane Elliott's students say the ordeal changed them for good. Smithsonian. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lesson-of-a-lifetime72754306/?no-ist=&page=1 Judaism 12 InterfaithFamily. (August 2014). Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. In Jewish Holidays Cheat Sheet. Retrieved from http://www.interfaithfamily.com/holidays/other_holidays/Jewish_Holidays_Cheat_Sheet. shtml Rich, Tracey. R. (2011). Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah. In Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah and Conformation. Retrieved from http://www.jewfaq.org/barmitz.htm Zion, N. (n.d.) Rules for the popular Hanukkah Game. In How to Play Dreidel. Retrieved from http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Hanukkah/At_Home/Dreid el/How_To_Play.shtml?p=1 (Reprinted with permission from A Different Light: The Hanukkah Book of Celebration, published by the Shalom Hartman Institute and Devora Publishing.)