Download The Beginnings of Judaism

The Beginnings of Judaism
pp. 120-125
Vocabulary/People/Places
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Judaism
Torah
Monotheism
Ten Commandments
Sabbath
Diaspora
Abraham
Moses
Jerusalem
Read Aloud
• “’Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the
Lord alone.’ This short passage from the
Bible expresses the basis of Jewish
religious belief. In this lesson you will
read about the great meaning it would
have for the ancestors of the Jewish
people in the changing world of the Fertile
Crescent” ( Banks 120).
The Big Picture
• Because of expansion of trade and the
Babylonian empire at the leadership of
Hammurabi in the late 1700 BC, people from
Egypt and Mesopotamia crossed paths ( Banks
120).
• Source of information – The Bible
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Original language is Hebrew
Translated into every Modern language
Today 17 million Jews
Christians and Muslims hone the Hebrew Bible
Records the history and religion of Judaism
Abraham of Ur
• Abraham was married to Sarah.
• Both lived in Mesopotamia in the city-state of Ur
where the people worshipped the Sumerian
moon goddess.
• God spoke directly to Abraham:
“Go forth from your native land and from
your father’s house to the land that I will
show you. I will make for you a great
nation, and I will bless you…” [so] Abraham
took his wife, Sarah…and they set out for the
land of Canaan (Banks 121).
The Covenant
Special agreement between God and Abraham
and his descendents
– I am God Almighty. Walk in My ways and be
blameless. I will establish My covenant with you, an I
will make you exceedingly numerous…I assign the
land you sojourn [rest] in to you and your offspring to
come…I will be their God (Banks 121).
– The beginning of the history of Judaism
– Abraham traveled the distance from Ur to the land of
Canaan. See page 121.
– He was a stranger in a strange land
– Later they would be called the people of Israel or
Israelites after Abraham’s grandson Israel or as Jews.
Draw the map on page 121
• Color code it
• Draw the globe
• Distinguish between the route and
Abraham and the Route of Moses
• Identify the Fertile Crescent
• You can trace it if you need to do so.
Going to Egypt
• Abraham’s children and grandchildren
prospered in Canaan
• They migrated to Egypt in harsh times of
famine
• At first they were welcomed
• The people became slaves to the new
Pharaoh
Moses in Egypt
• Born to Israelite parents
• Adopted by pharaoh's daughter
• Raised in royal household with wealth and
power
• Be comes leader and teacher of the
Israelite slaves
Becoming a prophet
• According to the Bible, Moses killed and then hid the
dead body of an Egyptian beating an Israelite slave.
• Moses ran away to Midian, possibly in modern day Saudi
Arabia, where he stayed for many years.
• God spoke to him saying, “Come…I will send you to
Pharaoh and you shall free My people, the Israelites,
from Egypt” ( Banks 122).
• Moses at first refuses, but then yields to the will of God
to become a prophet, "a person who speaks for God”
(Banks 122).
• Moses pleads with the Pharaoh and eventually leads the
them back to Canaan.
• Passover is still celebrated “to remember their freedom
from slavery” (Banks 123). Let’s look at this.
The Torah
• Moses goes to Eastern Egypt’s wilderness for 40
years of wandering.
• Early on they traveled to Mount Sinai where God
gives Moses five books of laws and teachings or
the first books of the bible.
• Hebrew = The Torah= “to teach.”
• On Mt. Sinai, god also gave Moses The Ten
Commandments, the core of Jewish religion and
teachings.
Make a Venn Diagram
comparing/contrasting the Torah/Ten
Commandments with the Code of Hammurabi
• Turn to page 123, col 1 and p. 113.
• How were these two documents alike?
• How were they different? What is
monotheism?
• What is polytheism?
• In what language was each written?
The Kingdom of Israel
• After 40 years and before he died, Moses
arrived with the Israelites in Canaan.
• He gave them instructions and they
crossed the river Jordan in Canaan.
• They defeated several kings and set up
the nation called Israel.
• They had a nation, land and religion.
A Nation of Israel
• The Torah was the basis of the life of the people
of Israel.
• They honored the Sabbath, “the weekly day of
rest, prayer and study,” which is a Saturday.
(Banks, 124).
• The leader of Israel was King David who made
Jerusalem his capital about 1000 B.C.
• David’s son Solomon built a great temple there
which became the center of religious and
political decisions.
Exile to Babylonia
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928 B.C. – King Solomon dies.
Israel splits into two kingdoms
Assyrians in 721 BC conquer the North
The southern portion becomes known as Judah, from
which the word Jews was derived and which survived
until 586 BC.
• Babylon’s armies destroyed Jerusalem and the
temple of Solomon.
• Jews were exiled to Babylon from their homeland.
• Scattering of Jews to many parts of the world is call
he Diaspora
Why It Matters
• The Torah, though the people are
scattered, remains the object of faith that
unifies the Jews.
• They believe in the covenant that
promises then Canaan.
• In 1948, then Palestine was changed to
Israel and has been so until today.
MAIN IDEAS
• “Trade and movements of people in the 1700s
B.C. helped link major cities of the Fertile
Crescent and Egypt.
• The Bible says Moses led the Israelites out of
slavery in Egypt and passed on laws from God
regarding how they should live.
• Monotheism – the belief in one God-set the
Hebrews apart from other groups around them.
• Sacred writings, called the Torah, form the heart
of Judaism” (Banks 125).
Think About It
• “What role did Abraham play in the history of
Judaism?
• Why do Jews still celebrate Passover?
• How were Moses and the teachings of the Torah
important to the beginnings of Judaism?
• According to the Bible, what was the cause of
the Israelites’ move to Egypt?
• Be able to compare/contrast polytheism to
monotheism.
Jewish Holidays and Terms
• Shabbat – Sabbath
• Rosh Hashanah – “Rosh Hashanah is the day
on which G-d created Man, Adam, G-d’s final
and most precious creation. Each Rosh
HaShanah, the birthday of Mankind, we proclaim
G-d as our one and true King. We then reaffirm
our desire to serve him every moment of our
lives. At this same time, G-d reviews the status
of his creation and determines if he or she merits
another year in this world
http://www.ou.org/chagim/roshhashannah/defaul
t.htm
TZOM GEDALIAH
THE FAST OF GEDALIAH
• Tzom Gedaliah (Fast of Gedaliah) is an annual
fast day instituted by the Jewish Sages to
commemorate the assassination of Gedaliah
Ben Achikam, the Governor of Israel during the
days of Nebuchadnetzar King of Babylonia. As a
result of Gedaliah's death the final vestiges of
Judean autonomy after the Babylonian conquest
were destroyed, many thousands of Jews were
slain, and the remaining Jews were driven into
final exile.
Yom HaShoah
http://www.ou.org/yerushalayim/yomhashoah/
• The Holocaust was arguably among the most fearsome tragedies
that have befallen the Jewish People in its long history, in which six
million Jews, fully one third of World Jewry, including one and a half
million children, were murdered. And the murderers were not a
People who would normally be called "barbaric." On the contrary,
the majority of the officers of the so-called Concentration "Camps"
were medical doctors (!), or doctors of philosophy, or respected
professionals. A degree of evil was exhibited which perhaps has
never been exceeded in all of human history.
• It is not true that the murderers' evil was unopposed. Tremendous
bravery was exhibited by relatively small numbers of Jews and
Gentiles, such as at the Warsaw Ghetto, where the Jewish
Community acted in concert, and by hundreds of individuals whose
efforts resulted in the saving of tens, even hundreds of thousands of
lives.
• Although the saving of a single life is comparable to the saving of an
entire world, the dimensions of the tragedy vastly outweighed all
attempts to avert it, and the sweet taste of the good deeds was
indistinguishable against the bitterness of the evil.
YOM KIPPUR
• “Yom Kippur is a day designed to bring Jews
closer to G-d and encourages return to him
through the process of Teshuvah. Though the
Yom Kippur service was, during the times of the
Temple, focused around the Kohen Gadol, today
each individual focuses on himself and his
personal Avodah, service to G-d.”
• From
http://www.ou.org/chagim/yomkippur/ykoverview.
htm
Passover
• “Passover is an eight day Jewish holiday, of
Biblical origin, marking the birth of the Jews as a
people and their emergence as a unique nation
in history, devoted to G-d's will. It celebrates the
liberation of the children of Israel from slavery in
Egypt over 3000 years ago, under the
leadership of Moses.”
• Taken from
http://www.ou.org/chagim/pesach/pesachguide/ma
ze/basic1.htm
What is Chanukah?
• Although it contained only enough oil to
burn for one day, a miracle occurred, and
the oil burned for eight days. A year later
they (the Rabbis) designated these days
as Yamim Tovim (holidays) on which
praise and thanksgiving were to be said."
(Tractate Shabbat 21)