Download Jewish Beliefs & Texts

Jewish Beliefs & Texts
Belief in One God

Judaism is one of the oldest monotheist
religions (belief of one god)
 The Hebrew name of God is YHWH, which
is never pronounced by Jews because it is
considered too holy a word.
 In ancient times most people worshipped
several gods, so Judaism separated
themselves from other religions.
 The Jews believed they were God’s chosen
people.
Belief in Education
Education and study is
extremely important in
Judaism.
 In ancient times, boys
were taught about their
religion by teachers.
 Today, all Jewish
children are taught
about their beliefs and
the history of Judaism.

Justice:
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Belief in Justice
& Righteousness
Kindness and fairness to everyone
Give aid to those who need it
Be fair in business dealings
Righteousness - doing what is right, even if
no one else is
Belief in Obedience & Law
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Moral and religious laws
The Ten Commandments
The Mosaic Laws (named after
Moses)
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Do not eat shellfish or pork
(considered unclean)
Eat meat in which the animal
hasn’t suffered when slaughtered
(Kosher)
Do not eat milk and meat together,
and do not eat fish and meat
together
Not work on the Sabbath

Belief that God created the world in 6
days and rested on the seventh
(Saturday for Judaism)
Torah

The most sacred text of
Judaism
 Includes laws and the
history of the Jews until
the death of Moses.
 The Torah is the central
part of religious services
at the synagogue (Jewish
place of worship)
 Readers of the Torah do
not touch it to show
respect of text. They use
pointers to keep their
spot.
The Hebrew Bible

There are three parts of the Hebrew Bible
(Tanach)
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1st- The Torah
2nd- Hebrew prophets. Prophets are people who
are said to receive messages from god to be
taught to others.
3rd- Eleven books of poetry, song, stories,
lessons, and history.
4th- Proverbs, short expression of Hebrew
wisdom.
Commentaries
Many of the commentaries are found in
Talmud.
 Talmud is a set of commentaries,
stories, and folklore.
 Talmud was produced between 200
and 600AD.
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Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead sea scrolls, writing by Jews who
lived about 2,000 year ago.
 No one knew about the scrolls until
1947.
 Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls were
written between 100BC and 50AD.
 The scrolls included prayers,
commentaries, letters, and passages
from the Hebrew bible.

Judaism & Other Cultures

Jewish ideas have greatly influenced other
cultures, especially Europe and America.
 The ideas of Judaism helped shape
Christianity also influenced another major
religions including Islam.
 Many people still look to the Ten
Commandments as a guide on how they
should live.