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Judaism
God’s Chosen People
Basic Information
• What is a Jew?
▫ Racial
▫ Religious
▫ Political
• What is the Torah?
▫ Jewish Law
▫ Pentateuch
▫ “Word”
Basic Data
Christianity
Judaism
Adherents
2 billion (32%)
13.75 million (.2%)
Leading Person
Jesus
Abraham
Holy Book
Bible
Tanakh
Clergy
Bishops, Priests
Rabbis
House of Worship Church
Synagogue
Theology
Monotheistic-Trinitarian
Monotheistic
Soteriology
Passion of Christ; Baptism
Keeping the Decalogue
Holidays
Easter
Christmas
Pentecost
Yom Kippur
Passover
Sukkot
Basic Information
• What is the difference between “Temple” and
“Synagogue”?
▫ Temple is a place of sacrifice
▫ Synagogue is a place of prayer and study
 NOTE: Some synagogues have the word “temple” in
their name (e.g., Temple Beth El)
• Does Judaism have “denominations”?
▫ Ultra-Orthodox, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform,
Hasidic, Kabbalah
History
of
Judaism
Time Chart BCE
1900-1700
Abraham, the first patriarch
1200
Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt
1010-970
David, King of Judah & Israel
960-930
Solomon builds the First Temple
586
First Temple is destroyed; Exile to Babylon
515
Second Temple is built; Exiles return
430
Ezra reads the Torah to the public; rededication
330
Alexander the Great conquers Israel
250
Septuagint translation of Torah; rise of Sadducees
165-160
Maccabean revolt
63
Rome conquers Israel
Before Abraham
• Stories in the Pentateuch record the etiologies
▫ Etiology = historical or mythical explanation of
origins or the reason for something
• Monotheism clearly stated
▫ Elohim = plural name for singular God
▫ God described in His names
Name
Meaning
Name
Meaning
Adonai
Master; Lord
El Shaddai
Almighty
Elohim
God
Elyon
Most High
Yahweh
I AM; LORD
Avinu
Father
Abraham
• Foundational: Covenant with Abraham
▫ Promised Land
▫ Great Nation
▫ Many Kings (promise of Messiah)
• “Chosen People”
• Passed on to Isaac, not Ishmael
• Abraham the Sojourner
▫ Establishes the first mindset of Judaism
Moses
• A persecuted people
▫ Establishes the second mindset of Judaism
• Hero of Judaism
▫ Releases Israelites from bondage
• Restores the covenant (Promised Land)
• The three major feasts come from this event
Moses: The Major Feasts
• Passover – the first major festival in Judaism
▫ Pesach – escape from Egypt
• Pentecost – second major festival
▫ Shavuot – when God gave the Torah
▫ 7 days (8 diaspora), 50 days after Pesach
• Feast of Booths – third major festival
▫ Sukkot – recalls wandering in wilderness
▫ Late September to early October
• All three are pilgrimage festivals”
King David
• Unites warring tribes, forming the Nation or
Kingdom of Israel
• Expands borders to the greatest extent
• Covenant
▫ Your kingdom shall have no end
▫ Promise of the Temple
King Solomon
• Ushers in “golden age” of Judaism
▫ Wealth
▫ Prestige
▫ Wisdom Literature
• Builds the First Temple
▫ Built of finest materials
▫ Takes decades to complete
▫ Dedicated by King Solomon
The First Temple
The First Temple
Divided Kingdom
• Kingdom divided after Solomon’s death
▫ North: Israel
▫ South: Judah
 Retains the Davidic line
• Israel
▫ Establishes its own religious tradition
▫ Destroyed by Assyrians
▫ Samaritans are remnants of the remaining tribes
 Over 1 million during Christ’s time
 Now only 751 people
Divided Kingdom
• Judah conquered by Babylon
▫ Solomon’s temple is destroyed
▫ Leading citizens exiled
 Stories of Daniel occur in Babylon
▫ Babylon conquered by Persia
▫ The word “Jew” first appears
• Exiles permitted to return home
• Jerusalem rebuilt
• Second Temple built
Second Temple
Second Temple
Occupation & Rebellion
• Greeks conquer Israel & Middle East
▫ Alexander the Great
• Reign of Antiochus Epiphanes
▫ Temple defiled
 Antiochus orders an altar to Zeus erected in the
Temple (167)
 Antiochus forbids the practice of Judaism
• Maccabean Revolt (167-160)
▫ Hanukkah – commemorates rededication of
temple
Occupation & Revolt
• Romans occupy Israel & Middle East in 63 BC
• Herod(s) installed as Kings
▫ Not from Davidic line, but from Edomic (Esau) line
• Jerusalem & Temple destroyed in 70 AD
▫ Masada is last hold out; destroyed 73 AD
▫ Seen as a sign that God has withdrawn from His
people
Time Chart AD
70
Jerusalem & Temple destroyed
90-200
Rabbinic Judaism (“Judaism”) forms
200
Mishnah compiled
600
Talmud completed
135
Jews disperse (diaspora); especially to Europe & Russia
1100
Crusaders massacre Jews in Europe
1500
Expulsion of Jews from Spain
1555
Ghettos of Jews in Italy and Germany
1850-1900
Jewish pogroms in Russia & Eastern Europe
1881
Jews emigrate to North America
Modern Judaism
Early History
• Known as “Rabbinic Judaism”
• Two events lead to emergence of Modern
Judaism
▫ Destruction of Temple (70 AD)
▫ Loss of autonomy (132-135 AD)
• Most significant was destruction of Temple
▫ Main ritual changes
▫ Temple sacrifices stop
▫ Worship transferred to synagogues (prayers)
Key Changes: Leadership
• Leader was High Priest
▫ Destruction of temple signals the end of priests
▫ Priests are needed for sacrifice
• Rabbis become main leaders
▫ Teacher & Expert in Torah
▫ Preach, lead prayers
▫ Help govern the life of ordinary Jews
Key Changes: Synagogues
• Synagogues
▫ Begun in Babylon as a replacement for the Temple
▫ Place of learning
▫ Place of prayer
• Kept alive the Jewish faith for those who could
not go to temple
• Become primary as Jews await the building of
the Third Temple
Key Changes: Messiah
• Originally
▫
▫
▫
▫
Son of David
Innocent “Son of God”
Sacrifice himself to redeem, reconcile and restore
For all nations (light to the Gentiles)
• In Rabbinic Judaism
▫ “Son of David” – metaphorical
▫ No longer savior for all; now one who frees Jews
from occupation
Key Changes: Messiah
• “The mashiach will bring about the political
and spiritual redemption of the Jewish
people”
▫ Return to Israel
▫ Restore Jerusalem
▫ Establish a government in Israel
 Center of all world government
 For Jews and gentiles
Key Changes: Messiah
▫ Rebuild the Temple
 Third Temple
 Re-establish sacrifices
▫ Restore the religious court system of Israel
 Establish Jewish law as the law of the land
Key Changes: Messiah
• Shimeon ben Kosiba (Bar Kokhba)
▫ Fought a war against the Roman Empire
▫ Established a provisional government and began
to issue coins in its name.
 This is what the Jewish people were looking for in a
mashiach
▫ The Roman Empire crushed the revolt and killed
Bar Kokhba (135 AD)
▫ After his death, all acknowledged that he was not
the mashiach.
Key Changes: Messiah
• Latest: Menachem Mendel Schneerson
▫ Born in Russia 1902
▫ Died in Manhattan June 12, 1994
▫ Hassidic Rabbi
Key Changes: Ghetto
• Two key mindsets/themes/viewpoints harden
▫ We are a wandering/traveling people
▫ We are a persecuted people
• Begin to insulate themselves in their own
neighborhoods
▫ For protection
▫ Due to anti-Semitism
▫ To keep faith pure
Key Changes: Ghetto
• Laws of Kosher
▫ To follow Torah
▫ To keep faith and tradition alive
• Include separation from Goyim
• Includes rules about intermarriage
Key Changes: What is a Jew?
• A Jew is any person whose mother was a Jew
• “A Jew has nothing to do with what you believe
or what you do.”
• A person born to non-Jewish parents who has
not undergone the formal process of conversion
but who believes everything that Orthodox Jews
believe and observes every law and custom of
Judaism is still a non-Jew
Key Changes: What is a Jew?
• A person born to a Jewish mother who is an
atheist and never practices the Jewish religion is
still a Jew, even in the eyes of the ultraOrthodox.
• Judaism is more like a nationality than like
other religions, and being Jewish is like a
citizenship.
Diaspora: Middle Ages
• Jews forced to emigrate
• Settle in Europe & Russia
• Tolerated or persecuted
▫ Varies from century to century
▫ Varies from place to place
Holocaust / Shoah
• Holocaust
▫ Sacrifice by fire
• Shoah
▫ Catastrophe
• Result
▫ Many Jews reject God, saying he has abandoned
them
▫ Some still keep Jewish customs as “cultural”
Movements
in Judaism
Origins
• Movements within Judaism begin forming in the
1700s.
▫ “Movement” is the term that Jews prefer instead
of “denomination”
• These movements react to:
▫ Ghetto conditions
▫ Enlightenment changes (theology, philosophy)
▫ Emigration to US and elsewhere
• These movements are found mostly in US
Hassidic
• Hassidic Judaism
▫ Forms 1700
▫ Emphasizes personal experience and mysticism
rather than education
▫ Revolves around a Rebbe (enlightened spiritual
leader)
▫ Insular – adherents live in same neighborhood(s)
▫ Seems to be influenced by Pietism
Reform
• The Reform Movement
▫ Forms in 18th century Europe
▫ A way to escape the ghetto
▫ Institutes “modern” changes to practices, liturgy
and doctrines
▫ Largest Jewish movement in US
Orthodox
• Orthodox Judaism
▫ Opposed Reform and Hassidic movements
▫ Keeps the older ways in liturgy, practice and
doctrine
▫ Considers itself the “traditional” Judaism
▫ Second largest Jewish movement in US
Coservative
• Conservative Judaism
▫
▫
▫
▫
Formed in US in 1913
Middle way between Reform and Orthodox
Keeps some traditional ways, modernizes others
Small and shrinking
Secular Jews
• Reconstructionist
• Humanist
Comparing Teachings
Issue
Orthodox
Conservative
Reform
Origin of
Torah
Given by God as is
Divine
Inspired by God, but
humans interpret
God’s meaning
Authority of
Torah
Absolute
Some are more
important than
others
Generally not
binding today
How Torah is
Lived
As perfectly as
possible
Rabbis follow
laws, but
laypeople do not
need to
The ethical laws are
followed closely but
in a modern sense
Jewish
Theology
Rabbinic Judaism
• Judaism changed from “Temple Judaism” to
“Rabbinic Judaism”
• Key Events
▫ Destruction of the Temple (70 AD)
▫ Loss of Autonomy (135 AD)
▫ Rise of Christianity (30-150 AD)
• Key Theological Changes
▫ Torah is de-personalized
▫ Trinitarian hints are de-emphasized
▫ Definition of “Messiah” changes
Thirteen Principles of Faith
• The 13 Principles of Faith are most accepted
summary of Jewish beliefs
▫ No set of formal mandatory beliefs
▫ Even these basic principles have been debated
• Formulated by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon
▫ Known to the secular world as Maimonides
▫ Great Jewish scholar and philosopher
• State the minimum requirements of belief
• Accepted by nearly all Jewish Movements
Thirteen Principles of Faith
I.
G-d exists
II.
G-d is one and unique
III.
G-d is incorporeal
IV.
G-d is eternal
V.
Prayer is to be directed to G-d alone and to
no other
Thirteen Principles of Faith
VI.
The words of the prophets are true
VII. Moses' prophecies are true, and Moses was
the greatest of the prophets
VIII. The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible)
and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in
the Talmud and other writings) were given to
Moses
IX.
There will be no other Torah
Thirteen Principles of Faith
X.
G-d knows the thoughts and deeds of men
XI.
G-d will reward the good and punish the
wicked
XII. The Messiah will come
XIII. The dead will be resurrected
Thirteen Principles of Faith
• Very basic and general principles.
• The necessity of believing each one of these has
been disputed at one time or another
• Liberal movements of Judaism dispute many of
these principles.
▫
▫
▫
▫
Reform
Reconstructionist
Humanist
Some Conservatives
Not Speculative
• No mandated, official, definitive belief on these
subjects:
▫
▫
▫
▫
The nature of G-d,
The nature of man
The nature of the universe
The nature of life and the afterlife
• Exception: Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism
▫ Hassidic
Focus: Relationships
• Judaism focuses on the relationships between
the Creator, mankind, and the land of Israel
▫
▫
▫
▫
the relationship between G-d and mankind
between G-d and the Jewish people
between the Jewish people and the land of Israel
between human beings.
• Focus: The stories in the Tanakh that describe
these relationships
Focus: Relationships
• Mutual obligations created by these
relationships are most important
▫ Various movements of Judaism disagree about the
nature of these obligations.
• Day to day, the focus in on family
• Sabbath is about being with family
▫ Everything is dropped (work, school, sports, etc)
in order to be with family
Actions More than Beliefs
• Judaism is concerned about actions more than
beliefs
• According to Orthodox Judaism, these actions
include 613 commandments given by God in the
Torah as well as laws instituted by the rabbis
and long-standing customs.
Important Deeds
• Worship one God
▫ Shema Israel
• Love for God
▫ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might. Take to
heart these instructions with which I charge you this
day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them
when you stay at home and when you are away, when
you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign
on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your
forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your
house and on your gates.
Important Deeds
• The sacredness of human life
• Suffering and Faith
Jewish
Practices
Sabbath
•
•
•
•
Saturday
Family Day
Begins Friday evening
Prayers in the home and synagogue
Sabbath
• In addition to, or instead of, going to a service
welcoming the Sabbath, observant families usually begin
the Sabbath eve with a special Friday night dinner. The
mother lights candles to bring in the Sabbath light; the
father recites a blessing over the wine. Special braided
bread, challah, is shared as a symbol of the double
portions of manna in the desert. The rituals help to set a
different tone for the day of rest, as do commandments
against working, handling money, traveling except by
foot, lighting a fire, cooking, and the like. The Sabbath
day is set aside for public prayer, study, thought,
friendship, and family closeness, with the hope that this
renewed life of the spirit will then carry through the
week to come.
Kosher
Daily Prayer Customs
• Phylacteries (t’fillin)
▫ On arm and forehead
• Talit
▫ Prayer shawl
• Yarmulke
▫ Head covering for men
• Prayers said every morning and evening
• Daily blessings
Bar Mitzvah
Jewish
Holidays
• The most important Jewish holy days are the
Sabbath, the three pilgrimage festivals
(Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot) and the two
High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur). It is forbidden to work on any of these
days.