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Judaism
World Religions
Chapter 12
God is of no importance unless
He is of supreme importance.
- Abraham Heschel
We are God’s stake in human history. We
are the dawn and the dusk, the challenge
and the test. How strange to be a Jew and
to go astray on God’s perilous errands.
We have been offered as a pattern of
worship and as a prey for scorn, but there is
more still in our destiny. We carry the gold
of God in our souls to forge the gate of the
kingdom.
The time for the kingdom may be far off, but the task
is plain: to retain our share in God in spite of peril
and contempt. There is a war to wage against the
vulgar, against the glorification of the absurd, a war
that is incessant, universal. Loyal to the presence
of the ultimate in the common, we may be able to
make it clear that man is more than man, that in
doing the finite he may perceive the infinite.
- Abraham Heschel
Judaism is a covenant
between God and the people.
The covenant is
an agreement
established long
ago between
God and the
ancient
Israelites.
God promised Moses that the
Israelites would be
God’s “treasured
possession,” and
a “kingdom of
priests and a
holy nation.”
(Exodus 19:5-6,
Tanakh)
The Covenant is between God
and the people
Not between God and an individual, and so for
Judaism the group identity is very important.
God’s revelation to the Chosen People is
recorded in the Hebrew Bible and in the
writings of the rabbis
This revelation is called the Torah.
Observant Jews honor God so deeply that
they avoid pronouncing the divine name.
The name is written in the Hebrew
letters YHWH.
When reading the Bible, observant Jews will
say “the Lord” instead of saying the divine
name.
God has a personal name,
And God is a personal
being.
Jews pray the Shema:
“ Hear, O Israel! The
LORD, our God, the
LORD is one.”
Deuteronomy 6:4
This basic affirmation of monotheism seems
commonplace today
But the ancient Israelites were
surrounded by polytheists, and
their declaration that God was
one, and that God was
interested in and committed to
the destiny of humans was
(and arguably still is) a
profoundly revolutionary
statement.
Why – what is revolutionary about believing
in one God who is active in history?
Judaism’s belief in God speaks a resounding no to the possibilities that
reality is prosaic, chaotic, amoral or hostile. (Huston Smith, 273 –
275)
While other deities were distinct forces of
nature
In Judaism, nature and creation were expressions of the will of the One
God.
Judaism personalizes God
Out of the conviction that “in the
final analysis ultimate reality is
more like a person than a
thing, more like a mind than a
machine.” (Smith, 273)
The ultimate reality of the
universe is purposeful,
meaningful, contains the best
of what it means to be human
and extends it.
In the midst of polytheism, where each
power of nature was a distinct and
sometimes opposing god
The insight of Judaism changes
the focus of human life.
Instead of dividing loyalties
Life is meant to be whole. God is One, and it is possible to bring all
of life together into a sacred wholeness, a sacred unity.
But is ultimate reality amoral, or even hostile
to humans?
While the Greek and Roman gods were off chasing
and seducing beautiful women, the God of Israel is
watching over widows and orphans.
While the other deities were aloof and
disinterested
The God of Israel
“speaks the name
of Abraham, listing
his people out of
slavery, and…
seeks out the
lonely, heartsick
Jewish exiles in
Babylon.” (Smith,
275)
So while Jews experience chaos and
suffering
They refuse to surrender meaning
to these things.
Judaism is a religion that believes all of life
is suffused with meaning.
History matters because history is where we meet God. It is in acting in
the world that we are able to keep our covenant with God.
Belief in a meaningful existence elicits a
creative response to the world and its
troubles.
If the universe is really meaningless, truly arbitrary, then why act? What
good is it to do good?
And so the Jewish perspective gives dignity
and importance to
Nature
The poor
Sexuality
The world – physical matter which
in other traditions is seen as
something to be freed from
(Greek philosophy, Hinduism)
It is in countries that have been impacted by
Jewish monotheism that the great social
movements have come
Even Karl Marx and Sigmund
Freud (both Jews, both
atheists) found the motives for
their thought in the history of
Israel.
The revelation to the Jewish people begins
with Abraham
God calls Abraham and promises him a land for him and his people.
The Israelites eventually end up as slaves in
Egypt
And God calls Moses to lead his
people out of slavery.
On Mount Sinai, God reveals to Moses
The Torah – the instructions,
God’s law for the people.
The Written Torah
The Hebrew Bible contains three
sections:
– Torah
– Prophets
– Writings
– This is sometimes referred to
as the Tanakh – from the first
letter of each of these in the
Hebrew.
The Torah contains the first five books of the
Bible
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Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
The Torah is forever the central code of
holiness in Judaism
Traditionally it contains 613
specific laws, the most famous
being the ten commandments.
The Ten Commandments
Exodus 20:2-20:17
1) I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of slavery;
2) you shall have no other gods before* me. You shall not
make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything
that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow
down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am
a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents,
to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject
me, 6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth
generation* of those who love me and keep my
commandments.
3) You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord
your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses
his name.
4) Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9For six days
you shall labour and do all your work. 10But the seventh
day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any
work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female
slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.
11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day;
therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated
it.
5) Honor your father and your mother, so that your
days may be long in the land that the Lord your
God is giving you.
6) You shall not murder.*
7) You shall not commit adultery.
8) You shall not steal.
9) You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor.
10) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you
shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or
female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that
belongs to your neighbor.
The Ten Commandments are
unique in ancient moral codes
Because they don’t
simply lay out a
case / law
situation, but
declare what
human beings
should be like.
They present what
it means to be
good.
The Prophets
The prophets comprise books
about the history of the
kingdoms of Israel and
Judah, and also record the
proclamations of the
prophets who spoke God’s
will to the leaders and the
people.
The prophets were called to speak for
God
And their voices for justice
and fidelity have never
been surpassed in history.
Some important prophets were:
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
“He will judge between the
nations
and will settle disputes for
many peoples.
They will beat their swords
into plowshares
and their spears into
pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up
sword against nation,
nor will they train for war
anymore.”
Isaiah 2:4
The Writings are the final
section of the Hebrew Bible
This is a diverse
collection of
wisdom sayings,
short historical
accounts, and
poetry.
The Psalms
Are a collection of
Hebrew prayers in
poetry. The Psalms
are the prayers of
real people, people
who are filled with
joy, with despair,
with fear, with
hate, with love,
with gratitude.
There is a further tradition of Torah
that is called the “Oral Torah”
This is the tradition
of teachings of the
rabbis that
commented and
interpreted the
Bible.
This has been gathered into
two collections:
The Mishnah
The Talmud
The Mishnah was written down
about 200 CE
And contains the
teachings of rabbis
handed down the
previous 400
years.
The Talmud
Is based on the
Mishnah, and is a
massive work of
interpretation of
God’s will,
spanning
thousands of
pages.
A Brief History of Judaism
The major Biblical periods:
1) The Patriarchs – (2000 – 1500 B.C.E.)
The era of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Exodus and Revelation
(1290 B.C.E.)
The time of the most
important events in
Israelite history – the
Exodus from Egypt
and the revelation on
Mt. Sinai
Monarchy of David and
Solomon
1004 to 928 B.C.E.
David led the Israelite monarchy
to the height of its power. The
kingship of David holds special
significance for Judaism. He
has always been regarded as
the prototype of the Messiah,
who will restore peace and
justice to the world.
His son, Solomon, builds the
first temple in Jerusalem.
Babylonian Exile
(587 – 538 B.C.E.)
At the end of
Solomon’s reign, the
kingdom is divided
into two – Judah in
the south and Israel
in the north.
Israel is conquered in 721, and Judah endures until 587,
when it is conquered by the Babylonians, who destroy the
Temple, and carry of many citizens to Babylon.
They are allowed to return in 538 to
Judea (as Judah had become known).
In 515, they rebuild the
Temple.
Greek Conquest of Palestine
(332 B.C.E)
Alexander the Great
conquers the region,
and spreads Hellenistic
culture and language
throughout the region.
Some Jews embrace this
new culture, and some
reject it.
Judaism develops differing
interpretations of how to live
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Sadducees
Essenes
Pharisees
Zealots
Destruction of the Second
Temple (70 C.E.)
In 66 C.E. there was a Jewish revolt against the
Roman rule in the region. Rome crushes it, and
destroys the temple.
The Classical Period of Judaism
The destruction of the temple is a catastrophe for Jews.
The Temple was the center of Jewish worship and ritual.
The Pharisees, who had
stressed study of the Torah
Rather than Temple worship,
became the major
influence that would shape
Judaism.
Worship would become Torah
focused because the
temple was gone, and in
135, a second revolt ended
with the destruction of
Jerusalem and Jews were
forbidden to live in their
ancestral lands.
Jews were now technically in
exile from their homeland.
They began to look
back at how their
ancestors had lived
during the exile in
Babylon, and this
instilled in them a
longing to return.
It also taught them how to
survive in exile without losing
their identity as Jews.
The Diaspora (or
Dispersion)
continued
throughout history,
and most Jews who
have lived since
the classical period
have lived in the
Diaspora.
Medieval Judaism
For the most part, Jews lived under Muslim rule in
Africa and Christian rule in Spain.
Jews tended to fair better under Muslim rule, and
built a large and successful middle class.
Christian rule varied greatly,
and Jews were
persecuted for
being “sons of the
crucifiers”. Mass
expulsions of Jews
occurred in France,
England, and
Spain.
To escape persecution, many
Jews moved east,
And especially in
Poland Jews made
remarkable
religious and
intellectual
achievements.
Moses Maimonides
(1135 – 1204)
Was the greatest
Jewish medieval
philosopher. Living
in Muslim Spain,
Maimonides
applied Plato and
Aristotle to the
Biblical tradition,
creating and
shaping a new
Jewish theology.
Maimonides articulated Thirteen Articles of
Jewish faith:
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Belief in the existence of the Creator, be He Blessed, who is perfect in
every manner of existence and is the Primary Cause of all that exists.
The belief in G-d's absolute and unparalleled unity.
The belief in G-d's noncorporeality, nor that He will be affected by any
physical occurrences, such as movement, or rest, or dwelling.
The belief in G-d's eternity.
The imperative to worship Him exclusively and no foreign false gods.
The belief that G-d communicates with man through prophecy.
The belief that the prophecy of Moses our teacher has priority.
The belief in the divine origin of the Torah.
The belief in the immutability of the Torah.
The belief in divine omniscience and providence.
The belief in divine reward and retribution.
The belief in the arrival of the Messiah and the messianic era.
The belief in the resurrection of the dead.
Modern Judaism
• Hasidism
From the Hebrew hasid meaning
pious, Hasidism was a tradition
that arose in the 18th century in
Eastern Europe. It focused on
sincere, intense, and joyful
prayer as a way to connect with
God.
It was founded by the Ba’al
Shem Tov, who taught that a
mystical connection to God
was possible for everyone.
Zionism
Originally referred to the
movement arising in
the late 19th century
for the reestablishment of a
Jewish homeland.
(Zionism now refers to
support for the state
of Israel.)
The Holocaust
An estimated 6 million Jews were killed by German
Nazis from 1933 to 1945.
Sometimes called the Shoah –
meaning the mass destruction –
This was an event of
which it is almost
impossible to make
religious sense.
How could God have
allowed almost 1/3 of
the Jewish people to
be murdered?
Jews have responded in different
ways,
Some see it as
punishment for
abandoning to
traditional ways of
Judaism.
Others see in it that God
has broken the
covenant.
Others have turned their grief and
anger into support for Israel.
After World War I, many Jews
begin to move to Palestine while it
is under British control.
During the Holocaust many more
flee there.
Arabs living in Palestine
begin to grow angry
about the growing
Jewish presence
there.
In 1947 the U.N. divides Palestine
into Jewish and Arab areas.
In 1948 the British
withdraw, and the
state of Israel
declares its
independence.
Egypt,
Jordan,
Syria, Iraq,
and Lebanon
attack Israel, but Israel
pushes them back
and takes more land.
Many Palestinians flee to Jordan,
Lebanon, and other Arab countries.
A series of wars are
fought from the
1950’s to the 1980’s.
A group called the PLO
The Palestinian Liberation Organization begins to
fight against Israel.
During the wars
Israel took over two
pieces of land called
the West Bank and
the Gaza strip.
These pieces of land have caused
much conflict in the region.
Jews and Palestinians alike both put
forth religious arguments for their right
to the land.
It is not easy to share a land charged with such sacred
significance.
Modern Institutional Divisions
There are three main
divisions in North
American Judaism
today.
1) Reform
2) Orthodox
3) Conservative
Reform Judaism
Holds that it is entirely possible to live a modern life and
be Jewish. Liturgy is mainly in English, and
observations of ritual law are fairly relaxed.
Orthodox Judaism
Maintains that life must
always conform to Torah.
This is a deeply
traditional way of life, and
Orthodox Jews often live
in separate communities
to be able to maintain
their traditional way of
life.
Conservative Judaism
Occupies a middle ground
between the two. It is
somewhat open to
change, but is strict in
observing traditional
Jewish practices. Prayer
is always in Hebrew, and
dietary laws are closely
followed.