Download Judaism Notes

Judaism
Judaism-belief and race
 First
monotheistic religion – one God
 Oldest and smallest of 5 major world
religions

Only serves Jews
 Some Jews are secular – don’t believe in
God at all
 Community and Jewish Law important
 Jews
worship in temples or synagogues
 Rabbis – Jewish teachers and leaders,
 Torah – Holy Book of Judaism

Given to Moses during the Exodus
 Oral


and written
Old Testament + laws of Judaism
613 Commandments altogether in Torah
 halakhah
- Jewish Law
 Sabbath – sunset Friday to sunset
Saturday

Don’t work, drive, cook, etc.
Jesus was Jew
 Jews
do NOT believe Jesus was Messiah,
but a prophet
 Moses was MOST important prophet – got
Torah
 Christianity and Islam come from Judaism
 Jesus was a self-professed Jew - only
wanted to help Jews become closer to
God

Same God as Christianity and Islam
13 Principles of Faith













God exists
God is one and unique
G-d is incorporeal
God is eternal
Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other
The words of the prophets are true
Moses' prophecies are true, and Moses was the
greatest of the prophets
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
There will be no other Torah
G-d knows the thoughts and deeds of men
G-d will reward the good and punish the wicked
The Messiah will come
The dead will be resurrected
History
 Abraham
– Hebrew, wandered through
Israel
 The Covenant - God promised Abraham
land of Israel to his descendants, but he
had children
 When Abraham was 100 & Sarah 90, God
told them they would have a son



They didn’t believe God, use Sarah’s maid
Ishmael – first son of Abraham
Isaac – Sarah’s son
God’s Test
 Abraham
was supposed to sacrifice Isaac,
but God sent Angel to stop him
 Isaac married Rebekah and they had 2
sons



Jacob and Esau – fought, even before birth
Esau was hunter, Jacob was more spiritual
Jacob met an Angel, was blessed and
became Israel
 Fathered
12 sons – 12 tribes of Israel
Promised Land
 Land
of Israel – promised to Jews in
covenant
 Jews have lived there since 3200 B.C.
 Jews exiled by Romans in 135, gained
control again in 1948
 5 million Jews live in Israel today, many
live in other parts of the world
Jewish Holiday
 Rosh
Hashanah – Jewish New Year
 Hanukkah – Feast of Lights – 8 day
celebration symbolizing war for religious
freedom
 Pesa – Passover – 8 day festival
symbolizing Exodus
Kosher – law of Judaism
 Kosher
law


food – must meet criteria of Jewish
Leviticus 11:3 – says “..Jews eat all animals
with cloven hooves and chew their cud..”
Leviticus 11:4 – forbids consuming animals
that don’t have these characteristics as
“unclean to you”
 Six
animals unclean – camels, rabbits, pigs,
whales and dolphins, hyrax (prairie dog, etc.)
What is non-Kosher?
 Mixing
of meat and milk (can be eaten at
same time, but not on same plate, and
not mixed together)
 Cooking utensils that had touched nonKosher food
 Non-Kosher food as described in Bible
Famous Jewish Americans
 Leonard
Bernstein – composer
 Alan Greenspan – Federal Reserve
 Woody Allen – Director
 Actors/Actresses









Alicia Silverstone
Harrison Ford
William Shatner
Natalie Portman
Gwyneth Paltrow
Sarah Jessica Parker
Robert Downy, Jr.
Seinfeld Cast
Adam Sandler
Other Famous Jews
 Albert
Einstein - inventor
 Bob Dylan, Julio Iglesias – Singers
 Edward Teller – invented Hydrogen bomb
 Milton Hershey – Hershey chocolate
 Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Kenneth Cole
and Levi Strauss – fashion moguls
 Stephen Speilberg