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Judaism
Origins
What is a Jew?
• Hard to define in terms of religious beliefs
– Multiple beliefs and schisms within religion
– Hasidic to Reform to Atheist
– Hitler defined as race
– But, European Jews, African Jews, South American Jews, Oriental
Jews
• Linguistic and Ethnic Terms
– But, many spoken and written languages
• Therefore, many differences among Jews;
however, generally, unifying feature is belief in
one God, who, through historical events, has
chosen the Jewish people as his agents
Biblical Patriarchs
• After a series of disastrous encounters with
mankind (Adam & Eve, Flood, Cain & Abel,
Tower of Babel) God chose to only
communicate with one nation; descendants of
Abraham
Abraham
• According to Genesis, Abraham was promised
he would become the father of a great nation,
possess a land and become a blessing to all
people if he were faithful to his part of a
covenant with God
– Circumcision
– Land of Israel
– Others to come later
• Read story of Abraham
Isaac
• Son of Abraham
– Test of Abraham’s faith; sacrifice on altar
• Read story of Isaac
Jacob (Israel)
• Son of Isaac
• Had 12 sons; Joseph and his coat of many
colors
• Read story of Jacob
Is it True?
• Historians doubt the historical accuracy of the
biblical patriarchs however, their names, and
ways of life fit in with history of the beginning
of the second millennium BCE
• Bible does not reflect a systematic
presentation of religious beliefs and practices
of patriarchs, but reveals a great deal about
their theology…
Worship of One God
• Guider of destinies
• “El” in ancient times and still used in prayer
• El Shaddai-God of mountains
• El Elyon-God most high
• El Olam-God everlasting
Jews use different names for G-d to identify
different characteristics.
• YHWH
• Adonai
• Hashem
Moses
• Endangered as infant by forces of evil and is
miraculously delivered to Pharaoh’s palace;
rescued and reared by Pharaoh’s daughter.
• Named Moses; Egyptian (historical accuracy)
• After recognizing his Hebrew heritage and
killing an Egyptian in defense of a slave, Moses
was exiled to the Sinai Desert where he lived
for forty years as a shepherd
Moses Continued…
• Burning bush, but not consumed
• God declared he was God and Moses was to lead
the Israelites out of bondage
• Return to Egypt
• Series of Plagues-frogs, vermin, blood, death of
the first born, etc..
• “Let My People Go”
• Able to gain release of slaves; Story of Passover,
matzah and bitter herbs
• Red Sea; death of Egyptians
Exodus
• Arguably the most important event in Judaism
• Covenant: God promised Abraham a great nation from
his seed and they would have a homeland Canaan.
The entire world would be blessed by this nation.
• Genesis closes with a great nation springing up from
the descendants of Abraham, but they were not in
Canaan
– Egypt; bound as slaves
• Therefore, the Exodus from Egypt and slavery, the
journey to Canaan and the conquest of the land had to
be accomplished before God’s promise to Abraham
could be fulfilled
The Passover Story
• Events and characters from the Exodus
became the heart and soul of Judaism. God
acted to save his chosen people, the Israelites,
miraculously delivered them from slavery,
revealed to the leaders the divine name and
brought them to Canaan
The Land of Israel
• The Israelites originally lived in a tribal society.
• In times of crisis, the Hebrew Bible states that
God provided great men and women, called
judges to lead the tribes.
• Eventually, the religious leader Samuel was
appointed as the first king, Saul.
The Kings of Israel
• The second king, David, expanded the
Kingdom of Israel and established a dynasty.
Jerusalem was made the capitol around 1000
BCE.
• David’s son, Solomon, built the first temple in
Jerusalem, the most sacred place in Judaism
and the center of Jewish religious life
throughout existence.
Conquering Kings
• Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians
in 586 B.C.
• The Babylonians destroyed the center of the
Jewish faith – the first temple and the Jewish
people were exiled.
• Then the Persians allowed the Jews to return
and rebuild – only to be destroyed again
around 70 CE by the Romans.
Rooting in a Homeland
• Jewish people did not exile this time, instead
they stayed put and adapted their ancient
traditions.
• Temple rituals were replaced by prayer
services in synagogues.
• Although the temple was destroyed, Jews still
consider it’s location as the holiest place on
earth and Jews turn towards it for their prayer
services.