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JUDAISM
What is Judaism?
Judaism is the religion,
philosophy, and way of life of
the Jewish people
Who are the Jews?
There are several terms that
are often used to describe
the followers of Judaism.
And for the most part, the
terms Hebrew, Israelite and
Jew can all be considered
synonyms since they merely
describe groups of people
from different times in the
history of Judaism.
Today the term Jew is used more
broadly to refer to a member of a
religious or cultural group…
Someone who practices the
religion of Judaism is a Jew.
Someone who comes from a
Jewish background and shares in
Jewish culture is also a Jew.
According to traditional Jewish
law, a Jew is either a person
whose mother is Jewish or who
has converted to the faith under
the supervision of a rabbi.
Judaism is one of the world’s
oldest and most influential
religious traditions
Though Judaism has always
had a relatively small number
of adherents, the tradition
has played an extremely
important role in the
development of Western and
Near Eastern civilizations.
The two largest religious
traditions (Christianity and
Islam) are both rooted in and
founded upon Judaism
The origin and development of
Judaism
Two major eras in the origin and
development of Judaism
Biblical Judaism -­‐ Judaism before the destruc4on of the Second Temple in 70 C.E.
Rabbinical Judaism -­‐ Judaism that developed a@er the destruc4on of the Second Temple in 70 C.E.
The destruc4on of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. marked an important turning point in the development of Judaism in the sense that it forced a primarily priestly, ritualis4c, temple based religion to evolve into a decentralized tradi4on focussed on the interpreta4on and applica4on of scripture. The heart of Judaism is really
the story of a family of people
and their dealings with God
It’s a cyclical story of
promises, faith,
devotion, wandering,
disbelief, struggle and
persecution
The Hebrew scriptures provide a
redemptive history of the Jewish
people and their dealings with God
The people of Judaism are a
“people of the book”
An overview of the Hebrew
scriptures
The Law (Torah)
Genesis
Exodus
Levi4cus Numbers
Deuteronomy
The Prophets (Nebiyim)
The Wri6ngs (Ketubiyim)
According to the biblical account early
Judaism is a story of promises, faith,
devotion, persecution, struggles, and
wandering. God’s early promises to the
Jews formed the lasting core of their
religion. Faith in God’s plan for them
and devotion to his Law held the Jews
together through times of peace, war,
slavery, and suffering.
A few major moments in the
history of Biblical Judaism
The calling of father
Abraham and God’s
promise to build a
great people
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
I will make you into a great naCon and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
The book of Genesis – Chapter 12
According to the Bible the first
patriarch, or father, of the Hebrews was
Abraham. God made a covenant with
Abraham, promising that a great nation
with its home in Canaan would descend
from him.
“I shall keep my covenant between me
and you and your descendants after
you through their generations as a
perpetual Covenant, to be God to you
and your descendants after you. I shall
give you and your descendants after
you the land where you are an alien,
the whole land of Canaan, as a
perpetual possession: I shall be God to
them...” Genesis 17
Moses and the Exodus
of the Israelites
Slavery and suffering
of the Israelites in the
land of Egypt
God’s commandments
and the establishment
of a conditional
covenant
“You have seen what I did to the
Egyptians, and how I bore you on
eagles’ wings, and broght you to
myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey
my voice and keep my covenant, then
you shall be my own possession
among all peoples; for all the earth is
mine, and you shall be a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation...” (Exodus 19)
“You have declared this day that the
LORD is your God and that you will
walk in his ways, that you will keep his
decrees, commands and laws, and that
you will obey him. And the LORD has
declared this day that you are his
people, his treasured possession as he
promised, and that you are to keep all
his commands. He has declared that he
will set you in praise, fame and honor
high above all the nations he has made
and that you will be a people holy to the
LORD your God, as he promised”
What are the primary teachings
of Biblical Judaism?
The Torah introduces the
ideas of promise, choice,
covenant and law that run
through the entire Hebrew
Bible and are the
foundations of Judaism
God gave (or revealed) 613
commandments to Moses
on Mt. Sinai that are
traditionally understood as
being universal and binding
for all time...
The “ten” commandments
set out the basic
requirements for both the
divine-human relationship
as well as the various
human-human relationships
The so-called ten commandments
of Biblical Judaism...
(1) You shall have no other gods before (or besides) me.
(2) You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. you shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the thirds and fourth genera4on of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand genera4ons of those who love me and keep my commandments.
The so-called ten commandments
of Biblical Judaism...
(3) You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
(4) Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
The so-called ten commandments
of Biblical Judaism...
(5) Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land 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 give false tes4mony against your neighbor.
(10)You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Ten commandments or ten
categories of commandments?
The two tablets: duties to
God and duties to people
Judaism teaches that the first tablet, containing the first five declara4ons, iden4fies du6es regarding our rela6onship with God, while the second tablet, containing the last five declara4ons, iden4fies du6es regarding our rela6onship with other people.
Although there is a kind of logical ordering, the two tablets are for the most part parallel and equal: du4es to God are not more important than du4es to people, nor are du4es to people more important than du4es to God.
The two tablets: duties to
God and duties to people
(1) Belief in God
(2) Prohibi4on of Improper Worship
(3) Prohibi4on of False Oaths
(4) Observance of Sacred Times
(5) Respect for Parents and Teachers
(6) Prohibi4on of Physically Harming a Person
(7) Prohibi4on of Sexual Immorality
(8) Prohibi4on on the@
(9) Prohibi4on of Harming a Person through Speech
(10)Prohibi4on of Cove4ng
God’s commandments are
the written expression of his
will for his people and
provides a framework for
the continued corporate
covenant relationship
between God and his people
The overarching goal of all
the commandments is the
recognition of God’s
presence among his
people and the
sanctification of human life
Ultimately, what does God
require of his people?
“To act justly, to
love mercy and to
walk humbly
before your
God...” (Mic. 6:8)
Living with God
dwelling among his
people
The Israelites enter the
promised land of
Canaan
Israel establishes a
king and becomes a
kingdom of nations
God’s permanent
dwelling among his
people
A few important practices of
Biblical Judaism
Sacrifice, atonement,
prayer and repentance
in God’s presence
Sarcifice, atonement, prayer and
repentance in God’s presence
About one hundred of the 613 commandments of the Torah concern animal sacrifices
To offer all sacrifices in the Temple (Deuteronomy 12:11)
Carry out the procedure of the burnt offering as prescribed in the Torah (Levi4cus 1:3)
To offer only unblemished animals (Levi4cus 22:21)
Every person must bring a sin offering for his transgression (Levi4cus 4:27)
Worship was centered around
the temple and its practice of
animal sacrifice
How exactly are animal
sacrifices supposed to
play a role in
atonement and
forgiveness of sin?
Sarcifice, atonement, prayer and
repentance in God’s presence
Many books of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible, such as the Book of Isaiah and Book of Jeremiah, spoke out against those Israelites who brought forth sacrifices but did not act in accord with the precepts of the Torah
The Prophets disparaged sacrifices that were offered without genuine repentance and a regenera4on of the heart-­‐-­‐ that is, a determined turning from sin and returning to God by striving a@er righteousness
Return, Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer our lips as sacrifices of bulls.
The book of Hosea – Chapter 14
With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
The book of Micah – Chapter 6
The destruction of the
second temple of
Jerusalem by the
Romans in AD 70
The Roman Empire assumed direct poli4cal control of much of Israel in 6 CE and ruled it with severity.
A major revolt broke out in 66 CE, but Roman legions crushed it brutally in 70 CE, when they destroyed the temple and much of Jerusalem.
The end of the Second Temple was a turning point for the Jewish faith, producing two major effects
It ended the power of the priesthood, whose sacrificial rituals were no longer possible.
It also forced the religion to develop in a new direc4on away from temple ritual, moving Judaism toward a central focus on scripture and scriptural interpreta4on.
Judaistic worship could no longer revolve
round the Temple services and sacrifices.
The destruction of the Temple led to a
development of Judaism in the direction of
text study, prayer, and personal observance.
The development of
rabbinical Judaism
A new focus and a few new
interpretations
The cannon of and interpreta6on of sacred scripture
Once the temple-­‐based worship had ben destroyed, it was necessary to clearly define which religious books cons4tuted sacraed canon
Once the Hebrew scriptures were declared complete, the next logical development was their protec4on and explana4on
Interpreta4on, called “midrash” (‘seeking out’) became a central focus of Rabbinic Judaism
Besides the Hebrew
Bible, the Talmudic
commentary is the
second most
important piece of
Jewish literature
Maimonides’ rational
interpretation of the
sacrificial system
An important interpretation
about need for sacrifice
Maimonides, a medieval Jewish scholar, drew on the early cri4ques of the need for sacrifice, taking the view that God always held sacrifice inferior to prayer and philosophical medita5on.
God understood that the Israelites were used to the animal sacrifices that the surrounding pagan tribes used as the primary way to commune with their gods. As such, in Maimonides' view, it was only natural that Israelites would believe that sacrifice would be a necessary part of the rela4onship between God and man.
Maimonides concludes that God's decision to allow sacrifices was a concession to human psychological limita4ons. It would have been too much to have expected the Israelites to leap from pagan worship to prayer and medita4on in one step. “But the custom which was in those days general among men, and the general mode of worship in which the Israelites were brought up consisted in sacrificing animals... It was in accordance with the wisdom and plan of God...that God did not command us to give up and to disconCnue all these manners of service. For to obey such a commandment would have been contrary to the nature of man, who generally cleaves to that to which he is used; it would in those days have made the same impression as a prophet would make at present [the 12th Century] if he called us to the service of God and told us in His name, that we should not pray to God nor fast, nor seek His help in Cme of trouble; that we should serve Him in thought, and not by any acCon.”
Maimonides – The Guide for the Perplexed
“For I desire mercy, not
sacrifice, and [I desire]
acknowledgment of God
rather than burnt
offerings” (Hosea 6:6)
A few interpretative trends
of rabbinical Judaism
The conserva6ve trend
One interpre4ve trend understood the scriptures fairly strictly, using them primarily as a guide for ethical living. (e.g. the Talmudic tradi4on)
The specula6ve trend
Another trend interpreted the scriptures more specula4vely and mys4cally, understanding them as a way to learn more about the nature of God and the universe. (e.g. the Kabbalis4c tradi4on)
The persecution, suffering, and
national redemption of the Jews
Throughout history,
the Jews were
persecuted regularly
Hitler and the
holocaust (‘complete
burning’) of the Jews
Hitler and the holocaust of
the Jews
Once World War II was declared, Hitler began plans to exterminate all European Jews.
Jews in countries under Nazi control were officially iden4fied, made to wear yellow stars in public, and eventually deported via train to concentra4on camps.
Upon arrival at the camps, Jews were o@en divided into two groups: (1) those who were strong enough to work and (2) the rest—mostly women, children, the sick, and the elderly—who were to be killed immediately.
The holocaust has left a
shadow on civilization and a
great scar on Judaism. About
a third of the world’s Jews
were killed during the
Holocaust. Their deaths,
under such painful
circumstances, raised
haunting questions about the
faith and future of Judaism.
Creation of the State
of Israel in 1948
There is no official creed of
rabbinical Judaism, but there
are a set of central beliefs first
formulated by Maimonides.
The central tenets of
rabbinic Judaism
Belief in God. God is one, formless, all-­‐
knowing, and eternal. God is master of the universe as its creator and judge. God is both loving and just.
Belief in the words of the prophets.
Belief that God gave the law to Moses.
Belief that the Messiah, the savior to be sent by God, will come someday.
Belief that there will be a resurrec4on of the good “in the world to come.”