Download Judaism - ReligiousSocialEducation

Jews have been stereotyped in
literature and used as scapegoats
throughout history.
► Fagin,
the greedy, twisted Jew in Dicken’s
“Oliver Twist”.
Shylock from The Merchant of Venice
After The Trial, the vengeful, money lender runs away
from a group of sneering children.
("The Merchant of Venice."
by William Shakespeare 1600.)
British Oswald Mosley and the fascist
Blackshirts.
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Who do they remind you of?
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In 1932, Oswald Mosley (a politician)
started the British Union of Fascists.
They were a group of people who
were anti-Semitic, and who made
all sorts of wild claims about the Jews
trying to take over the world.
His followers dressed in black
uniforms, like the fascists in Italy led
by Mussolini (and like those later led
by Hitler in Germany). They would
hold demonstrations in which they
encourage what we would now call
racial hatred – blaming the Jews for
the rise in unemployment, accusing
them of being dirty and spreading
disease, and claiming that they
should go back to the countries they
came from.
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On 4th October 1936 Mosley
and his Blackshirts planned to
march through the Jewish areas
of the East End.
Some of the leaders of the
communists and supporters of
the Labour Party felt that it was
immoral to demonstrate against
fascism in Spain, but to allow it
in London.
So the communist
demonstration was cancelled as
everyone tried to stop Mosley’s
march.
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This commemorative red plaque
is above 3-5 Dock St, just off
Cable Street, London.
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A lorry was overturned, and a
barricade built using all sorts of
items including furniture. People
– everyone from shop keepers,
householders, and Dockers who
joined the barricades -threw
objects at the police including
eggs, rotten fruit and the
contents of chamber pots.
Despite repeated attempts to
clear the road, eventually the
Metropolitan Police
Commissioner, Sir Philip Game,
ordered Mosley to abandon the
march, and 3000 Blackshirts had
to turn round and march back
into the deserted City of London.
Yehudi Menhuin
(Yehudi is Hebrew for
Jew.) When his parents
applied for an apartment
to rent, they were told
that no Jews were
tolerated there. The
Landlady did not realise
that they were Jews.
Yehudi’s mother wanted
to give her son a name to
be proud of at his birth,
so she called him Yehudi.
Listen to Yehudi playing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV0IcFyXUWs
Some facts about Jews
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Before the Holocaust, Europe was the center of the world‘s
Jewish population, with relatively large populations also spread
throughout North America, North Africa, and the Middle East,
with 16.6 million Jews.
6 million were put to death in the Holocaust. (Holocaust means
burnt offering so it is offensive to Jews. They call it ShoahCalamity.)
Today, the United States and Israel together comprise about
75% of the total world‘s Jewish population.
(5.8million live in USA, 4.9 million live in Israel)
There are approximately 14 million Jews worldwide.
So what does it mean
to be Jewish?
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Is it a race?
A religion?
A culture?
Clearly, there is a religion called
Judaism but more than half of
all Jews in Israel today call
themselves "secular," and don't
believe in God or any of the
religious beliefs of Judaism. Half
of all Jews in the United States
don't belong to any synagogue.
They may practice some of the
rituals of Judaism and celebrate
some of the holidays, but they
don't think of these actions as
religious activities.
► Race
is a genetic distinction, and refers to
people with shared ancestry and shared
genetic traits. So clearly, Judeism is not a
race.
► There are certainly cultural traits and
behaviors that are shared by many Jews,
so is it a culture? Although food (eg.
bagels), dreidels, Yiddish language and
Hannukah are associated with Jews in
USA, in Arab countries they are more
likely to eat bourekas made of phyllo
pastry and wouldn’t have a clue what a
dreidel is!
Are Jews a nation?
► Jews
are often falsely
accused of being disloyal to
their own country in favor
of their loyalty to the
Jewish "nation," of being
more loyal to Israel than to
their home country.
►The
Jewish people are more of a
family. Like a family, they don't always
agree with each other but when
members of their "family" suffer or are
persecuted, they all feel their pain.
History of the Jews -2000 -500 BC
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God promises Abraham will be father of
a great nation. Circumcision is
introduced as a sign of this covenant
Exodus – Moses leads the Jews out of
slavery in Egypt. (1200 BC). The
Passover commemorates this event and
is still celebrated today.
The Torah is given to Moses at Mt Sinai
God promises David’s throne will be
eternal –the foundation of belief in the
Messiah
1st temple built in Jerusalem (900BC) –a
place of atonement and the praise of
Israel’s God
After a long period of disobedience,
Israel is invaded by Babylonians and
destroyed (586BC)
2nd Temple built 512BC
► Sadducees – aristocrats
and high priests. Essenes
– holy men. Zealots –
patriots who fight the
Romans and followers of
Yeshua (false Messiah)
► 2nd temple destroyed by
the Romans AD70
► Pharisees rise to
prominence and govern
the Jews
► AD200 Rabbinic teachings
collected and compiled in
the Mishnah
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What are these people doing?
Where are they?
What is the
point of praying?
What is a Metzuzah?
What are tefillin?
Jerusalem's Temple Mount & Western Wailing Wall, all that is
left of Herod's magnificent Temple
Some research for you…
► What is the name of the Jewish sacred
► Name some of the Jewish festivals and
book?
celebrations. What happens on Shabbat?
► What historical events are behind the rituals and
traditions?
► What is Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mizvah?
► What does the Shema mean to Jews?
► How does the behaviour of a modern reform Jew
compare with that of an Orthodox Jew?
► How are Jewish beliefs similar or different to other
religions?
► 6th
largest ‘religion’
worldwide
► Found in 134
countries
► Jews were involved in
establishing Warner
Bros, MGM,
TwentiethCentury Fox
► Famous Jews: Woody
Allen, Sigmund Freud,
Albert Einstein, Henry
Kissinger
Judeism
"There are only two ways to live your
life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a
miracle."
Albert Einstein