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Introduction to Judaism.
(Brumbaugh Notes)
The Historical Religions are different from the mystical religions of India, China, and the
rest of the Eastern part of the world.
To understand the religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it is necessary to study
their histories. This is because these religions all claim that God – through the prophets –
has forged a covenant relationship with the people, and has revealed God’s self to the
people through the giving of the law, the words of the prophets (Judaism), through the
coming of the Son (Christianity), and the giving of the Qur’an (Islam). These events
introduce something new into history, and indicate the value of the world, which God has
chosen to reveal God’s self to.
Introduction
Authoritative Books in Judaism.
 Tanakh -- Torah (first 5 books, the Law of Moses), Nevi’im (the Prophets),
Kethuvim (the Writings)
 Talmud – Rabbinic commentary on the Law (Torah). There are two versions,
the Jerusalem Talmud (circa 400), and the Babylonian Talmud (circa 500 C.E.).
Of these, the 5 books of Torah – the Law of Moses, are the most authoritative.
Abraham & Sarah – Isaac & Rebecca – Jacob/Israel & Rachel & Leah – 12 sons + Dinah
& Hagar – Ishmael
Esau
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Moses – 10 Commandments, the covenant, the Exodus
Migration into Promised Land (Books of Joshua & Judges).
After some time, the people ask for a king. First Saul, then David (I, II Samuel)
David. First King of a completely united Israel (i.e., all 12 tribes) around 1000
B.C.E.
Temple Built by King Solomon, David’s son. The temple houses the arc of the
covenant, and has an altar for sacrificial offerings.
The country governed by David and Solomon is eventually divided into two
countries. Israel in the North, and Judah in the South. The Northern Kingdom is
destroyed by the Assyrians in 722/1 B.C.E. The Northern kingdom is never built
again, and the 10 tribes represented there are completely destroyed (the lost
tribes).
The southern kingdom – Judah – remains. It represents the tribes of Judah and
Benjamin.
In 586 B.C.E. the temple in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Babylonians. The
leading members of the country of Judah are taken into exile to Babylon.
Around 538, Cyrus allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem. Many returned
(and many stayed in Babylon, where life had been pretty good to them)
New Temple consecrated in 515
After returning from exile, the Jews lived under foreign rule (Persian, Greek, Parthian,
Roman) until the Maccabean rebellion (the Maccabees revolted because the Syrian ruler,
seeking to impose Greek culture in Palestine, was preventing Torah from being kept, and
built a altar to Zeus in the temple, thereby desecrating it). The Jews won a degree of
independence in 164 B.C.E. They relit the temple candles (Hanukkah) in 165. They had
a limited degree of soverignty until an internal fight in the ruling family was decided by
the Roman general Pompey in 63 B.C.E. That was the last time, until 1948 that Israel
was politically independent.
Roman Rule prevailed from 64 B.C.E. until 66 C.E. when an armed rebellion by the
Zealots rose up agains the Romans. The Romans crushed the rebellion in 70 C.E. and
destroyed the temple utterly. It has never been rebuilt. It’s foundation stones, remain,
and the western “Wailing Wall” has been a place of pilgrimage for almost 2000 years.
Soon after the destruction of the temple, the canonical form of the Tanakh (Hebrew
Scriptures) was fixed (in about 90 C.E.).
A second rebellion in 132-135 reduced Jerusalem to ruins along with most Judean towns.
Forbidden to read the Torah, observe Sabbath or circumcise sons. Forbidden from
entering Jerusalem except on the anniversary of the destruction.
“The last major stronghold in Judea fell against overwhelming Roman forces. Simon bar
Kochba (bar Kosiba) the leader of the revolt was killed. An estimated half a million Jews
perished in this revolt which left over 985 villages and 50 fortresses in ruins. So great were
the Roman losses that the emperor in his annual report to the Senate left out the customary: "I
and my army are well." 1
Following this second revolt, the Jewish people are now completely in Diaspora
(Scattered, spread out). Prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, there were already Jews
living all over the Roman empire – in North Africa, Southern Europe, in the East in
Babylon and in the Persian Empire. These Jews had already been living beyond the life
organized by worship in the Temple in Jerusalem. In the diaspora, all Jews had live –
and keep their communities intact, without the Temple. The form that this took we call
Rabbinic Judaism – and it is the Judaism that we know in the world today.
Already beginning with the return from exile after the destruction of the 1st (Solomon’s)
temple in the 6th century B.C.E., the centrality of the (rebuilt) temple was diminished, and
what would become Rabbinic Judiasm begins. For Rabbinic Judaism the emphasis is on
Torah, not temple, as the center of Jewish life.
Rabbis, the inheritors of the Pharisee tradition, were learned men who could teach and
study. They became the leaders of the people when the 2nd temple was destroyed and
they helped guide the transition from a religion based around animal sacrifice to one
concerned primarily with ethics (Law) and prayer, and centered on study and living out
of Torah.
1
31, 2005,
The History of the Jewish People <http://www.jewishhistory.org.il/69.htm>. Viewed March
Post Temple/Diaspora life is marked by
 Worship in synagogues (houses of prayer).
 Leadership by Rabbis
 Intensive study of Torah for the men. A very high level of literacy always
persisted among the Jews, wherever they lived.
 Observance of Torah in all aspects of life: food, work, marriage and family life,
prayer, etc.
 Various degrees of integration with the peoples among whom they lived. But the
Jews were always set apart (which is the meaning of “Holy”) by Torah
observance. This status of being set apart often led to the persecution of Jews.
Around 200 C.E. scholars edited the various commentaries and the Oral Torah into the
Mishnah. The Mishnah, with the Torah, were studied and commented upon in Judea and
Babylonia and eventually organized into the Talmud – or rather the Jerusalem Talmud
(circa 400) and the Babylonian Talmud (circa 500).
With the rise of the Muslim empire in the 8th century C.E., Jews continued to flourish in
the countries of Muslim occupation, where the were respected for being “people of the
book”. It was often better for them under Muslim rule than in Christian Europe.
It was never completely safe to be a Jew, however, anywhere. Among the notable
examples: Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain throughout of Spain all the Jews and
remaining Muslims in 1492. Persecution of Jews increased in Modern Europe.
At the time of the Holocaust, Europe had two main cultural groups of Jews:
 Ashkenazi (word means German) Jews from Northern & Eastern Europe .
 The Sephardim (Sepharic) Hebrew for Spain (so it refers originally to Jews from
the Iberian peninsula – sometimes called Portuguese Jews. Many Sephardic Jews
ended up in the Netherlands after their expulsion from Spain) – The Sephardim
are now associated with Jews also from N. Africa, the Middle East, etc.
6 million Jews killed during the Nazi final solution during WWII.
The state of Israel was founded in the territory of Palestine in 1948.
Huston Smith on Judaism:
o Meaning in God: Must account for the “Other” who is God…(not prosaic,
chaotic, immoral or hostile). Rather, extraordinarily personal, supreme, nature –
transcending will.
o Meaning in Creation: (contra the idea of Maya in Buddhism, etc.). The problems
with the world are in us, not in from the Good Creation. The opportunity to
respond creatively is never over.
o *Meaning in Human Existence
o *Meaning in History
o Meaning in Morality The morality of God – as opposed to that of neighboring
God, and not hostile, needing to be appeased with human sacrifices
o Meaning in Justice
o *Meaning in Suffering
o Meaning in Messianism
The Hallowing of Life