Download The Basics of the Jewish Religion

The Basics of the Jewish Religion
The Jewish religion is the one of the oldest organized religions in the world, and places
monotheism - or the belief in one God - at the center of its belief system. In addition to
monotheism, the Judaism focuses on the history of God's covenant relationship with the
Hebrew and/or Jewish people. The famous "ten commandments" are but the very first part
of an extensive law code that sets out the moral and legal dimensions of life for the Jewish
people as they live in covenant with God.
Notions of monotheism, covenant, obeying commandments, and a promised land are central
to the Jewish religion. These concepts are root ideas in Judaism and are expressed in the
Exodus narrative of the Hebrew Bible in which the Hebrew people are delivered from slavery
under the Egyptians and are led by Moses into the desert to find land promised to them by
God. During these years in the desert, God communicates through Moses the many
commandments that comprise the covenant relationship. Several of the early sections of the
Hebrew Bible tell stories of the conquest of the land by the ancient Hebrews and the
establishment of the kingdom of Israel.
Judaism, like any religion its age, has a complex history and contains many different groups
within it. Only slightly more than 20 million Jews live today - most of them in the United
States - since many of them were killed during the Holocaust of the mid-20th century.
Despite their relatively small numbers, Jewish people have made enormous contributions in
nearly all areas of human achievement throughout history.
Orthodox Jews - And Reform, Conservative & Secular Jews
Orthodox Jews, Reform Jews, Conservative Jews and secular Jews are the most influential
and important groups within Judaism in the modern period.
Orthodox Jews are those who maintain the most traditional beliefs and practices of the
religion. They strictly observe the dietary laws (called "kosher" or "kashrut") and the
practices of the sabbath, and are often marked by their ways of dress and appearance. Men
undergo the ritual of circumcision when infants. As adults they wear black suits and hats,
and sometimes allow their hair in front of their ears to grow into long curls. Women
sometimes wear hats or other head coverings, and dress modestly. Orthodox synagogues
are gender segregated.
Reform Judaism began in the 19th century as a movement designed to bring Judaism into
line with the ideas of the western European enlightenment. Reform Jews reject outright
what they see as the dogmatic, outdated practices of Orthodox Jews and focus on the
ethical dimensions of the faith instead of the traditional rituals, commandments and
practices. Reform Jews moved the Sabbath from Saturday to Sundays, often read scriptures
in the vernacular language instead of Hebrew, set aside the kosher dietary codes and the
distinctive ways of dress, and often discarded circumcision as well. The guiding sensibility
here is that in order for the religion to be relevant and authentic, it must be reformed and
reinvigorated from time to time, which sometimes means changing the fundamental ways in
which the religion is practiced. Reform Judaism is the largest form of Judaism in the United
States.
Conservative Judaism also began in the 19th century in reaction to what it perceived as
the radical nature of Reform Judaism. The latter, according to Conservative Jews, threw out
http://www.world-religions-professor.com/jewish-religion.html
too much of what is vital to the Jewish religion. So, Conservative Judaism is a sort of middle
position between Orthodox and Reform groups - many traditions and practices are retained,
but some reforms are instituted as well. Conservative Judaism is the second largest form of
Judaism in the United States.
Secular Jews are those who identify as Jewish culturally, but not religiously. Unlike most
other religions, Judaism is passed down through matrilineal bloodlines. That is, a person is a
Jew if his/her mother is Jewish. So, many Jews identify as Jews and have Jewishness as a
core part of their identity, but they don't believe in God or practice the Jewish faith. They
are secular people whose Jewish identity is cultural, not religious.
Kabbalah & Hasidism
Kabbalah is a term that refers to Jewish mysticism. Judaism has produced many different
forms of mysticism that range from deep theoretical speculation to purely emotional
experience, or from esoteric secrecy to folk piety. All forms of Jewish mysticism,
consistently appeal to scriptural authority, yet no mystical movement ever strayed further
from theological orthodoxy that some forms of kabbalah.
One of the early forms of Jewish mysticism is called creation mysticism, which focused on
the mysterious methods God used to create the world. It describes the creation of the world
through the arrangement of particular letters and numbers. A key text in creation mysticism
is Sefer Yetzirah "The Book of Creation" from the 2nd cent CE. A key word here is sefirot,
which means "enumeration" and refers to the 10 attributes/emanations of God arranged in
a distinct schema that demonstrate the mechanism through which God revealed and
continues to reveal itself via creation as well as in the metaphysical realm.
This concept of the sefirot becomes prominent in Kaballah, which is the most famous form
of Jewish mysticism. It flowered in 13th century Spain with the writing of a text called the
Zohar (meaning "Radiance" or "Splendor") which is a commentary on the Torah. God is
known as Ein Sof and cannot be comprehended by humans but can be known and
approached and revealed in the 10 attributes or sefirot. Key figures in the early history and
development of the most common branch of kabbalah are Moses de Leon and Moses
Cardoveros.
Another branch of centers around Abraham Abulafia (13th cent), and combines Aristotelian
philosophy via Maimonides with mystical speculation of the divine names. It involves
meditation on the Hebrew letters of names as abstract forms, which gives access to an
experience of primal unity. Through this meditation, the soul unties the knots that keep it in
the world and multiplicity.
Finally, another form is from 16th century advanced by Isaac Luria and is an intricate
creation theology whereby creation originates via a process of self-emptying. In this
creation process, God withdraws or contracts from a mystical space within himself to "make
room" for creation or establish a possibility for a reality other than his own omniscient
being. When God extends again from the contraction, there is a shattering of vessels and a
scattering of divine sparks everywhere. Throughout the creation, then, are sparks of divine
life.
Hasidism arises in the 18th cent in Poland as a revivalist folk movement. It is more
emotional than intellectual, honors charismatic leaders more than rabbis, and emphasizes a
joyful spirit and moral living. Hasidism centers around the claim that all people can have an
http://www.world-religions-professor.com/jewish-religion.html
experiential connection with God and can involve themselves with tikkun ha-olam "repairing
the world" or recovering the sparks. Hasidism is sometimes called "kaballah for the people"
not just the elite.
New Age religion has absorbed certain aspects of kabbalah and even produced its own
versions of this form of Jewish mysticism. Indeed, many forms of kabbalah exist today in
the West. More truly "Jewish" versions are pitched as a renewal movement within the faith,
targeted to non-traditional Jews. The mystical notion of tikkun ha-olam permeates
contemporary Judaism, and many see mystical versions of the faith as the best way to keep
vitality and energy in the religion.
Other versions of new age kabbalah are controversial because of their syncretism
(incorporation of magic, tarot cards, aromatherapy, etc.). They move beyond Judaism into
the mishmash of appropriated traditions in "new age" religion.
Jewish Holidays
Jewish holidays occur throughout the calendar year, but are marked on the lunar calendar not the solar calendar - therefore, the exact dates of the holidays change from year to year.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are two of the most important so-called "high holidays"
in Judaism. They are about 10 days apart from each other and occur in early fall, in late
September and early October. Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year
and begins a period of self-examination and repentance that culminates in Yom Kippur, the
Day of Atonement which is marked also by repentance, prayer and fasting. This is holiest of
the holidays in Judaism.
Passover, or Pesach, commemorates the deliverance of the ancient Hebrews from the
Egyptians as it is recorded in the Exodus narrative of the Hebrew Bible. The holiday is
usually celebrates over a few days and involves the Passover meal (called the seder) of
special foods that hearken back to the suffering of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. This holiday
happens in late winter or early spring.
Hanukkah historically is not one of the Jewish "high holidays" but has become more
prominent in recent decades because of its proximity on the calendar to the Christian
holiday of Christmas. The holiday celebrates the victory of a group of Jews - called the
Maccabees - over their Syrian Greek rulers. The story of the victory involves the miracle of a
lamp that burned for 8 days seemingly without oil. A special candlestick called a menora
(seen in the image above) symbolizes this holiday.
Torah and Talmud
Judaism is a religion deeply rooted in sacred texts and textuality. Therefore, the texts of the
Torah and the written interpretations of them are very important.
The term "Torah" refers most basically to the Jewish law that is found in the Hebrew Bible.
However, the term can be used very narrowly or very broadly, depending on the context
and who is speaking.
http://www.world-religions-professor.com/jewish-religion.html
Sometimes the term refers only to the Pentateuch, which is comprised of the first five
books of the Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Inside
these books is contained the summary of the Jewish law, called the Ten Commandments, as
well as the full listing of the 613 commandments that most Jews list as making up the heart
of Jewish law.
The term also can be used to refer to the entire written Hebrew Bible, or the "Tanakh". The
term "Tanakh" comes from the three main consonants that make up the word - T, N and
K. T stands for Torah, N stands for Nevi'im (meaning "prophets"), and K stands for Ketuvim
(meaning "writings'). These three - Torah, prophets and writings - make up the major
divisions of the Hebrew Bible: the Pentateuch, the books written by prophets (like Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekial, etc.) and the writings (like Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon and
others).
Finally, the term can also be used to refer to the entire Hebrew Bible as well as to the
Talmud, which is made up of a few centuries of rabbinic commentary on the Torah. Those
using the term in this way sometimes divide Torah into 2 sections: the written law (the
entire Hebrew Bible) and the oral law (the Talmud).
So, the Torah is a central part of the Jewish religion, and it means different things to
different groups within it. Some of the main differences between Orthodox, Reform and
Conservative Judaism come from their diverging views of it and its meaning.
The Holocaust & Israel
The Holocaust, or shoah, that occurred in Nazi Germany during the years of World War II is
a watershed event for Jews and Judaism in general. Approximately 6 million Jews - along
with hundreds of thousands of others including homosexuals, gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses,
and political dissidents - were rounded up and murdered in extermination camps. The shoah
is arguably the worst act of antisemitism in the history of the Jewish religion, and one of the
worst human atrocities in the history of the world.
The horrors of this event completed the efforts of zionism to establish a permanent
homeland for the Jews in their biblical land called Israel. Zionism - literally, a call or desire
for Zion (which is another name for the biblical homeland) - began earnestly in the 19th
century after Russian Jews endured pogroms and had to flee for their lives. Many began
immigrating to the area now known as Israel, but which was then under Ottoman rule.
After the Holocaust, members of the international community that had been central the
ending of World War II exerted the political will to establish a Jewish homeland. Thus, the
modern state of Israel was established in 1948. Although Israel's founding included
provisions for the founding of a state for native Palestinians in the region, such a state has
yet to be established. Moreover, many Palestinians and other nations in the region rejected
the establishment of the state of Israel for various reasons.
Therefore - and quite ironically - the state of Israel, which was founded to once and for all
provide a safe place for Jews, has been a contested and sometimes besieged state since its
founding.
http://www.world-religions-professor.com/jewish-religion.html