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Judaism
The Beginnings
 Established 3500 years ago in Middle East
 Founders:
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Abraham – covenant with God and a promised land
Moses – leads Jewish people back to Israel
 Received Ten Commandments from God at Mt. Sinai
Three generations of Kings
o 1020 – 950 BCE
o King Saul, King Solomon, and King David
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Extravagance of Solomon and warfare over succession leads to divisions of Canaan
o Judea and Israel
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Emersion of prophets
Exile and Conquest
 Israelites exiled by Assyrians
o 721 BCE
o Writing down fundamental laws and oral traditions begins
o King Josiah: Deuteronomy
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Judeans exiled to Babylon
o 586 BCE
o Reconstruction of religion
 Private prayers and Rabbis
Roman empire Conquest
o 63 BCE
o Jews turn to Rabbis again as Priests ally with rulers
o Rabbinic Judaism
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Driven out of empire in 135 CE and banned from Jerusalem
o All but a few Jews removed from political homeland until 20th century
o Diaspora – Jews living away from homeland
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 To prevent the Jews from disappearing
Christianity causes split in Jewish faith
Urgency to write down the teachings of Rabbis so that Judaism can continue following expulsion from
Jerusalem
o 200-700 CE
o Talmud: all encompassing guide to life based on Rabbi teachings
Principles of Faith
 Monotheistic religion
o God of Jacob, Isaac, and Jacob
o G-d, YHWH
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 People were afraid of disvaluing His name
Holy Books
o Tanakh
 Torah (The Law)
 Nevi’im (The Prophets)
 Kethuvium (The Writings)
o 613 Mitzvot
 Commandments
 365 restrictions and 268 positive commands
o Origin Dispute
 Revealed to Moses at Mt. Sinai
 Blueprint for Creation
Principles of Judaism
 Major Denotations
o Orthodox
o Conservative
o Reform
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Main Principles
o G-d exists
o G-d is one and unique
o G-d is incorporeal
o G-d is eternal
o Prayer is to be directed to G-d alone and to no other
o The words of the prophets are true
o Moses’ prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets
o The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the
Talmud and other writings) were given to Moeses
o There will be no other Torah
o G-d knows the thoughts and deeds of men
o G-d will reward the good and punish the wicket
o The Messiah will come
 Difference between Christianity and Judaism
o The dead will be resurrected
Dietary Practices
o Kosher: permitted
 Ritually slaughtered meat with no flaws or diseases
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Meat eaten separately from dairy
Wine or grape juice made under Jewish supervision
o Trayf: forbidden
 Pork, camel, rabbit, rodents, reptiles, and any animal that died of natural causes
 Meat with dairy
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Any other wine and grape juice
Most hard cheese
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Clothing
o Kippah, Tefillin, Tallit
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Calendar
o 12.4 lunar months per solar year
o Extra month is occasionally added to balance natural drift
Major Holidays
o Rosh Hashana (New Year)
o Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
o Hannukah (Feast of Dedication)
o Pesach (Passover)
Judaism Today
o 13,421,000 Jewish population in the world
o 6,489,000 (2.2%) of U.S. population