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An Introduction to
Judaism
by
Rabbi Yeshaya Balog
Judaism: Life of Obligation
1) Learning
2) Life
3) Food
4) Dress
5) Business
6) Family and sexuality
7) Spirituality
8) Calendar
1) The Obligation of Torah
Study
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The Jews study the life of
the nation, in order to live
it.
The Jews live the life of
the nation, in order to
learn it.
Life and learning are one.
Judaism is a community
of learning.
What Do We Learn?
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Mitzvot: 248 Positive Commandments, 365
Prohibitions
2 parts of the Torah:
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Written: Pentateuch
Oral (written down 200-700 CE): Mishna,
Talmud
Trinty: Nation, Land and Teachings
2) The Most Important
Principle: Life
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The Torah is the
teaching of life
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„Never again“: will
the Jewish nation be
victim
Kosher animals
Kosher fish:
fins and scales
Slaughter
3) Food
No mixing milk and meat
No eating of blood
4) Dress
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If married: hair
covering
Kippa
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Tzitzit
Modest
5) Business
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Always with
honesty
Helping poor
people (Tzedaka)
Give money for just
causes
6) Marriage and Sexuality
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No physical contact
before marriage
In marriage: no
marital relations
during menstruation
Marrital intimacy: for
children and love
Divorce is allowed
7) Spirituality
Prayer: anywhere, in
minjan 10 Jewish
adult men
Blessings:
always
8) Calendar
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Shabbat: every
week one day of
festival
Friday evening:
Creation of the
universe
Friday Evening: Creation
„Thus the heaven and earth were finished,
and all array. By the seventh day God
completed His work which he had done,
and He abstained on the seventh day from
all His work which He had done. God
blessed the seventh day and sanctified it
because on it He abstained from all His
work which God created to make.“
(Genesis 2, 1-3)
Shabbat - Revelation
„Remember the Sabbath day to
sanctify it. Six days shall you work
and accomplish all your work; but
the seventh day is Sabbath to
HASHEM your God; you shall not
do any work – you, your son, your
daughter, your slave. Your
maidservant, your animal; and
your convert within your gates for in six days HASHEM made the
heavens and the earth, the sea
and all that is in them, and He
rested on the seventh day.
Therefore, HASHEM blessed the
Sabbath day and sanctified it.“
(Exodus 20, 8-11).
Shabbat Afternoon: Salvation
„May the
compassionate One
let us inherit that
day that shall be all
Sabbath and rest
for life everlasting“
(from Grace After
Meals)
Festivals
 Agricultural
 Historical
 Spiritual
The Three Agricultural
Festivals
Pessach
(Passover):
Creation
Sukkot (Tabernacles): Salvation
Shavuot (Pentecost):
Revelation
Four Historic Festivals
Purim (4. c. BCE)
9. Beav (70 CE)
Chanukka (2. c. BCE)
Independence Day (1948)
The Spiritual Festivals:
Rosh Hashana – New Year
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Day of History
Kingdom of God
The veil between
Creation and Nature
is torn off
Yom Kippur – Day of
Atonement
„Man stood alone ...,
with nothing to lean
on, without nation or
mankind ..., on the
day of atonement in
the gaping silence
and had to find his
way to God, to his
God ...“ (Isaac Breuer
The New Kuzari)