Download What is Judaism?

What is Judaism?
Who is Jewish?
• Anti-Semitic individuals (people who hate Jews) influenced the
definition of who is Jewish be including people who do not practice
the faith.
• For example, the Nazis determined if a person was Jewish based upon their
parents and/ or grandparents.
• For our purposes this year, we will refer to people who practice
Judaism as being Jewish- regardless of their relatives.
A RELIGION FOR A PEOPLE
• Judaism is the faith of the Jewish people.
• Even though Jews live all over the world, a strong sense of kinship (connection)
with each other.
• There are 13-14 million Jewish people in the world today.
• Judaism teaches that God made a covenant (an agreement) with the Jewish
people.
• Jews refer to themselves as God’s “chosen” people to mean that they accepted God’s
covenant.
Community
• Judaism is a living religion that functions in terms of 3 relationships:
• God and the Jewish people
• God and each individual Jew
• Among all humans
• Judaism is a religion of the community because prayer takes place in
groups of ten or more and holidays are celebrated with family and
friends.
THE CANONS OF JUDAISM
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There is no creed or accepted definition for Judaism.
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The closest we get to a creed are the Thirteen Principles of Faith:
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God exists.
God is one and unique.
God is incorporeal (bodiless).
God is eternal.
Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other.
The words of the prophets are true.
Moses was the greatest of the prophets: his prophecies are true.
Moses received the Written Torah and the oral Torah.
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.
The dead will be resurrected.
THE NATURE OF GOD
• The Jews relationship to God is fundamental to Judaism.
• The Shema is a prayer.
• It states a person’s belief in one God and God’s unity.
• http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Torah/The_Shema/Shema1/shema1.ht
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• Jews believe that comprehending God is beyond their ability.
GOD IS THE CREATOR
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The most important belief in Judaism is that God is one.
God is considered to be the creator of everything.
God is also responsible for the creation of humans.
The Talmud (a Jewish holy text) teaches that parents provide the
physical form of every human being, but God supplies the soul.
NOT A BEARDED OLD MAN IN THE SKY
• Jews believe that descriptions of God as being human-like are not to
be taken literally, but the are used to help humans understand God’s
actions.
• Jews believe God is neither male nor female.
• Since God has no real shape or form, Jews are forbidden to represent
God in a physical way (drawings, sculpture, etc).
• Many Jews write G-d for the word God because they do not want to
risk erasing or defacing it.
GOD IS ETERNAL
• Judaism holds that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and fills
all places at all times.
• Ok, so if that’s true then why do Jews believe God sometimes
doesn’t take an active role in the way events take place?
IT’S A WAY OF LIFE
• Jews cannot excuse themselves from taking action by claiming that
one person cannot possibly make a difference in the world.
• This is because Judaism emphasizes the significance of the individual.
• Elie Wiesel said “A Jew is defined by his actions more than his
intentions.”
ABIDING BY THE LAWS
• Instructions for ethical behavior for Jews
• The many, many commandments in the holy texts.
• There are 613 commandments (called mitzvot)
WAITING FOR THE MESSIAH
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Jews believe that God has promised perfect days lie ahead when the Messiah arrives.
• When he comes, Jews believe that:
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The Messiah will become king.
He will get independence for the Jewish people.
He will be an ideal king.
The dead will be resurrected.
Peace, justice, and brotherhood will be established for all.
Jews believe that following 2,000 years of rule by the Messiah, all humans will be resurrected and
live forever in the “world to come” where the good people will be rewarded and the bad people
punished.
KNOWLEDGE THROUGH STUDY
• The Torah (Jewish holy text) is the keystone of Judaism.
• Even though many Jews spend much of their life studying Jewish
scripture, many Jews point to the simplicity of their religion.
• How did the great Jewish thinker Hillel sum up the essence of Judaism?