Download About Judaism - Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains

What Is Judaism?
Judaism is, first and foremost, a
religion. Jews have a belief in
God whose origin goes back to
the Biblical Abraham and Sarah,
who lived over 4,000 years ago.
Judaism is also a culture. There
are Jewish foods, Jewish music,
Jewish dances and a Jewish
language – Hebrew. Judaism is
also a “peoplehood,” a
connection, a sense of oneness
with Jews all over the world.
Judaism is a rich tapestry, woven
of religious beliefs, practices
and prayer, the ethics of the
Prophets and sages, the
folkways of our ancestors, a
shared historical experience, a
common language of prayer and
a way of life. Rabbi Mordecai
Kaplan defined Judaism as a
“civilization.”
Central to Judaism are the
concepts of God, Torah and Israel.
Judaism Teaches:
1. There is one God for all humanity
2. God is incorporeal, eternal, beyond nature,
holy, personal and good.
3. There is one moral code for all humanity and it
emanates from God
4. God’s primary concern is that people act
decently toward one another
5. The Jewish People were chosen as the
instrument of God to bring humanity the first
four beliefs, which together is known as ethical
monotheism
6. The Torah (the first five books of Moses) is
divine.
7. There is an afterlife, but God wishes us to
preoccupy ourselves with improving this life.
8. God rewards the good and punishes the bad –
here or in the afterlife
9. People are born with tendencies to both good
and evil.
10. All people are created in the image of God
11. God created the world and nature for the
benefit of humanity
12. There will be a messianic age, when hunger
and suffering will cease and the world will enjoy
genuine peace.
13. The teachings of Judaism are open to all and
can ennoble anyone.
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ABOUT
JUDAISM
Neshamah: Association
of Jewish Chaplains
Doing G!d’s Work With Our Own Hands
Key to Judaism is the idea of sanctifying
time. Judaism teaches that the entire world
exists in a state of potential holiness and the
human being is needed as God’s agent to
create holiness. Thus, all of the Jewish
holidays and lifecycle events are focused on
creating holiness through our deeds and
actions.
Shabbat: Every week, the Sabbath commemorates
God's day of rest on the seventh day of creation. No
work is done as the Sabbath is reserved for rest, prayer,
and cultural growth. Duration: Begins Friday evening at
sundown and ends Saturday after sundown.
Rosh Hashanah (Head of the Year): Marks the
anniversary of the birthday of the world and the
beginning of the High Holy Days (Yamim Noraim)
season. It is the day of judgment as individuals are
judged for their actions during the past year. Duration:
One or two days, beginning at sundown the evening
before.
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement): Yom Kippur is
the culmination of the Ten Days of Repentance. It alone
of all the Jewish Holidays is the equivalent of Shabbat
in sanctity. Yom Kippur is spent in prayer, meditation,
and fasting in order to begin the new year having made
amends for the mistakes of the past year. Duration: One
day beginning at sundown the evening before.
Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles): Named for the
booths (Sukkot) which are decorated with fruits and
vegetables to recall the temporary dwellings of the Jews
during the Exodus and during the fall harvest season.
Sukkot is the Biblical precursor to the holiday of
Thanksgiving. Duration: Seven or eight days. First two,
and last two days are considered full holidays.
Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah: Shemini Atzeret
(Eighth Day of Assembly) celebrates the final days of
the Fall harvest and immediately follows the celebration
of Sukkot. Simchat Torah (Rejoicing in the Torah)
celebrates the conclusion and the beginning of the
yearly Torah reading cycle. Duration: One or two days,
beginning at sundown the evening before.
Pesach (Passover): Commemorates the Exodus of
the Jews from Egypt. Pesach begins with a "seder" - a
ritual meal retelling the Exodus story on the first and
second nights. Dietary restrictions: No leavened bread
or food containing fermented grains. Duration: Seven or
eight days. First two and last two days are full holidays.
Shavuot (Feast of Weeks): Marks the end of the
early Spring grain harvest and commemorates Moses
having received the Torah and Ten commandments
from God on Mount Sinai. Duration: One or two days,
beginning at Sundown the evening before.
Hanukkah (Dedication): Celebration of the
rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem
following the Maccabee's victory over the Greek
Hellenists in their struggle for independence and
religious freedom in 164 BCE. Duration: 8 days.
Purim (Lottery): A day of Jewish merrymaking
marking the salvation of the Jewish community from
near destruction at the hands of the Persian tyrant
Haman in the 6th century BCE as told in the biblical
book of Esther. Duration: One day.
Tu b’Shvat (Fifteenth of Shevat): A Day
celebrating new fruits and the planting of trees in the
State of Israel. Duration: One day.
Tisha b’Av (Ninth day of Av): A day
commemorating the destruction of both the First and
Second Temples in Jerusalem (586 B.C.E. and 70 C.E.
respectively) and other Jewish tragedies. It is the climax
of a two-week period of mourning. Duration: One day.
Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day):
Memorializes the martyrdom of the six million Jews who
perished in the Nazi Holocaust. Duration: One day.
Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day): A day of
memorializing the Israeli soldiers who have been killed.
Durition: One day
Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day): A
day of celebration in honor of Israel's independence in
May of 1948. Duration: One day.
GOD, ‫ אלהים‬,‫ אל‬,‫יהוה‬
Judaism teaches that one God created the
universe and all that is in it. Furthermore,
Judaism teaches that the Creator/God has
expectations of humans. Namely, that we are
to conduct our lives in an ethical way, this is
called Ethical Monotheism. Judaism teaches
that humans were created to be God’s
partners in the process of creation.
TORAH, ‫תורה‬
Torah literally means “Teaching,” and refers to
the Five Books of Moses, (Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). Jewish
Scriptures is composed of The Torah, The
Prophets (in Hebrew called ‫ )נביאים‬and The
Writings (in Hebrew called ‫)כתובים‬. Jews
refer to their Bible as ‫ תנ״ך‬Tanakh, an
acronym of the three divisions (,‫ תורה‬,‫נביאים‬
‫)כתובים‬. The Tanakh is the foundation upon
which Jewish tradition is built through a rich
process of commentary that spans over 2,000
years.
ISRAEL, ‫ישראל‬
The word Israel has many meanings. It refers
to the modern State of Israel, founded in 1948
on the site of ancient Israel, a country that
existed for more than 2,000 years, from the
time of the Biblical King David to the Roman
conquest. Israel also refers to the Jewish
people, and thus connotes the peoplehood
aspect of Judaism. In the Tanakh, actually the
Torah, Jacob is re-named Israel and is told the
name means “one who wrestles with beings
divine and human.” Being Israel, means being
one who struggles – struggles for deeper
meaning, struggles to make the world better,
struggles in the process of becoming a better
human being.