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JUDAISM

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Title: JUDAISM


1
JUDAISM
  • DEFINITION, HISTORY, BELIEFS, SACRED TEXTS,
    SECTS-DENOMINATIONS, RITES AND OBSERVANCES,
    GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION, VOCABULARY

2
DEFINITION
  • The word Judaism has two meanings. It can mean
    the civilization of the Jews, the culture of
    those who claim to be Jews or whom others call
    Jewish. And it can also mean the religion of the
    Jews.

3
HISTORY
  • IMPORTANCE, HISTORICAL CONTEXT, BIBLICAL JUDAISM,
    THE PATRIARCHS, MOSES AND SINAI, CANAAN AND THE
    JUDGES, UNITED MONARCHY, DIVIDED MONARCHY, THE
    HASMONEAN KINGDOM, THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE,
    RABBINICAL JUDAISM, FALL OF ROME, EARLY MIDDLE
    AGES, THE CRUSADES, EXPULSION, ENLIGHTENMENT,
    HOLOCAUST

4
IMPORTANCE
  • History is of great importance in Judaism. It is
    significant that whereas the sacred texts of most
    ancient religions focus on myths and
    philosophical concepts, the Jewish sacred text is
    centered around historical narrative.

5
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
  • Judaism traces its history back to the creation
    of mankind, but the explicitly Jewish historical
    origins begin with Abraham and the Hebrews.
  • According to the Torah, Abraham's home was the
    northern Mesopotamian town of Haran.

6
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
  • From there, he migrated to the region of Canaan,
    which is roughly equivalent to modern Israel and
    Lebanon.
  • For a time the Hebrews lived in servitude in
    Egypt, then returned to Canaan.

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BIBLICAL JUDAISM
  • The period of Jewish history designated by some
    historians as "Biblical Judaism" (as
    distinguished from Rabbinical Judaism).
  • Biblical Judaism represents the centuries covered
    by the narratives of the Tanakh (sacred
    scriptures), from the creation and primitive
    history of mankind to the last of the prophets in
    the 4th century BCE.

9
BIBLICAL JUDAISM
  • The Tanakh follows the Hebrew nation as it
    experiences cycles of favor and discipline by
    God.
  • God establishes successive covenants with
    humanity (Adam, Noah and Abraham) and issues an
    extensive set of laws (through Moses) by which
    the Hebrews are to be set apart as God's people.

10
BIBLICAL JUDAISM
  • When they stray, God sends prophets and invading
    armies to bring them back to himself.
  • "It is this particular claim-to have experienced
    God's presence in human events-and its subsequent
    development that is the differentiating factor in
    Jewish thought."

11
THE PATRIARCHS
  • The biblical book of Genesis (from the Greek,
    meaning beginning) begins with a single,
    all-powerful God creating the world out of chaos
    in six days, with human beings created on the
    sixth day.
  • Genesis goes on to chronicle an ancient history
    in which mankind repeatedly turns away from God
    and to immorality until God destroys the earth
    with a flood.

12
THE PATRIARCHS
  • God then makes a covenant with Noah, the one man
    saved from the flood (8 with wife, 3 sons, and
    their wives, that he will never destroy the earth
    again.

13
PATRIARCHS
  • The specifically Hebrew element of biblical
    history begins with Abraham (c. 2100 BCE), who is
    considered the founder of the Jewish religion.
  • However, he does not discover God but is rather
    called by the God who is already known into a
    covenant, in which God promises to many
    descendents and the land of Canaan.

14
HARAN
CANAAN
UR
Abraham's migration from Ur through Haran into
Canaan
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PATRIARCHS
  • The religion of the patriarchs was simple, and
    centered on the agreement (unilateral covenant)
    between Abraham and God.
  • Religious practice consisted of sacrifice and
    prayer.
  • Circumcision was the defining mark of the
    religious community.
  • Its eschatology (future things) was the promise
    of land and many descendents.

17
MOSES AND SINAI
  • According to biblical tradition, a famine caused
    the Hebrew tribes to migrate to Egypt, where they
    were enslaved.
  • God rescued them from bondage by afflicting the
    Egyptians with successive plagues then drowning
    the Egyptian army in the Red Sea to allow the
    Hebrews to escape.

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MOSES AND SINAI
  • At Mount Sinai, God established the nation of
    Israel (named for Abraham's grandson
    Jacob-Israel) as his own, and gave them the terms
    of his covenant with them.
  • He then sustains the Israelites through 40 years
    of journeying in the wilderness before leading
    them into Canaan, the land promised to Abraham.
  • Central to all these events is Moses who fulfills
    many leadership roles, including religious,
    political, legislative and military.

20
MOSES AND SINAI
  • Mosaic religion centers on the covenant
    (bilateral) between God and the people of Israel.
  • The covenant required exclusive loyalty to
    Yahweh, who rescued them from bondage in Egypt.
  • Worship of other gods, veneration of idols (even
    of Yahweh), and magical practices are prohibited.
  • Rituals and festivals are established to
    celebrate God's historical and continuing
    provision.

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23
CANAAN AND THE JUDGES
  • The conquest of Canaan is narrated in the
    biblical book of Joshua, with miraculous events
    (city walls fell at a shout, the sun stood still)
    rivaling those of the Exodus.
  • After the conquest of Canaan, Israel was led by
    leaders called "judges," during which time the
    Israelites are described as repeatedly falling
    into idolatry and apostasy.

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CANAAN AND THE JUDGES
  • At the same time, numerous altars to the God of
    Israel sprung up, and the Levites rose to the
    priesthood to conduct sacrifices at many of them.
  • The ark of the covenant was housed and carefully
    protected at the Shiloh sanctuary, which was
    staffed by priests of the family of Eli.

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UNITED MONARCHY
  • To maintain occupation of the Promised Land, it
    became necessary to have centralized authority
    and organized armies that could hold off external
    enemies.
  • Two diverging views of the prospect of a monarchy
    arose a rejection of God's kingship (1 Sam.
    8-12) or a God-given way to defend Israel (1 Sam.
    916).
  • The former view is represented by the
    prophet-judge Samuel, who reluctantly crowned the
    first king.

29
UNITED MONARCHY
  • Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin, was made king (in
    c. 1020 BCE) after defeating the Ammonites. He
    ruled from his hometown of Gibeah, a few miles
    north of Jerusalem.
  • Saul's reign was marred by conflicts with the
    prophet Samuel, who held ongoing authority over
    the kingship.

30
UNITED MONARCHY
  • King David, Saul's successor, solved these
    problems by combining religious and political
    authority in one person (David and his
    descendents) and in one place (the city of
    Jerusalem).
  • NBNathan (another prophet) was the instrument of
    divine justice when David disobeyed God.

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UNITED MONARCHY
  • David was succeeded by his son Solomon.
  • During Solomon's long reign of 40 years the
    Hebrew monarchy gained its highest splendor.
  • The first half of his reign was, however, by far
    the brighter and more prosperous the latter half
    was clouded by the idolatries into which he fell,
    mainly, according to the scribes, from his
    intermarriages.

33
SOLOMON'S TEMPLE
34
DIVIDED MONARCHY
  • After Solomon's reign the nation split into two
    kingdoms, Israel (in the north) and Judah (in the
    south).
  • Israel was conquered by the Assyrian ruler
    Shalmaneser V in the 8th century BCE.
  • The kingdom of Judah was conquered by a
    Babylonian army in the early 6th century BCE.

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DIVIDED MONARCHY
  • The elite of Judah were exiled to Babylon, but
    later at least a part of them returned to their
    homeland, led by prophets Ezra and Nehemiah,
    after the subsequent conquest of Babylonia by the
    Persians.
  • Already at this point the extreme fragmentation
    among the Israelites was apparent, with the
    formation of political-religious factions, the
    most important of which would later be called
    Sadducees and Pharisees.

37
THE HASMONEAN KINGDOM
  • After the Persians were defeated by Alexander the
    Great, his demise, and the division of
    Alexander's empire among his generals, the
    Seleucid Kingdom was formed.
  • A deterioration of relations between Hellenized
    Jews and religious Jews led the Seleucid king
    Antiochus IV Epiphanes to impose decrees banning
    certain Jewish religious rites and traditions.

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HASMONEAN KINGDOM
  • Consequently, the orthodox Jews revolted under
    the leadership of the Hasmonean family, (also
    known as the Maccabees).
  • This revolt eventually led to the formation of an
    independent Jewish kingdom, known as the
    Hasmonaean Dynasty, which lasted from 165 BC to
    63 BC.

40
HASMONEAN KINGDOM
  • The Hasmonean Dynasty eventually disintegrated as
    a result of civil war between the sons of Salome
    Alexandra, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II.
  • The people, who did not want to be governed by a
    king but by theocratic clergy, made appeals in
    this spirit to the Roman authorities.
  • A Roman campaign of conquest and annexation, led
    by Pompey, soon followed.

41
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE
  • Judea under Roman rule was at first an
    independent Jewish kingdom, but gradually the
    rule over Judea became less and less Jewish,
    until it became under the direct rule of Roman
    administration, which was often callous and
    brutal in its treatment of its Judean subjects.
  • In AD 66, Judeans began to revolt against the
    Roman rulers of Judea.

42
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE
  • The revolt was defeated by the Roman emperors
    Vesesapian and Titus Flavius.
  • The Romans destroyed much of the Temple in
    Jerusalem and, according to some accounts, stole
    artifacts from the temple, such as the Menorah.

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RABBINICAL JUDAISM
  • Rabbinical Judaism developed out of the Pharisaic
    movement and in response to the destruction of
    the Second Temple in 70 CE.
  • The rabbis sought to reinterpret Jewish concepts
    and practices in the absence of the Temple and
    for a people in exile.

47
RABBINICAL JUDAISM
  • Rabbinical Judaism was the dominant form of the
    Jewish religion for nearly 18 centuries.
  • It produced the Talmud, the Midrash, and the
    great figures of medieval Jewish philosophy.

48
THE FALL OF ROME
  • The Eastern Roman Empire, under assault from
    barbarian invasion, passed a number of laws in
    the early Middle Ages, including the legislation
    of Justinian which culminated in the principle of
    taking away civil rights from heretics and
    unbelievers and of making their existence as
    difficult as possible.
  • The public observance of their religion was
    forbidden the Jews. The loss of their civil
    rights was followed by disregard for their
    personal freedom.

49
THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES
  • The general condition of the Jews in Western
    lands depended on the changing political
    conditions in their respective countries.
  • Those Jews who still wished to remain true to the
    faith of their fathers were protected by the
    Church herself from compulsory conversion.

50
THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES
  • Charlemagne, moreover, was glad to use the Church
    for the purpose of welding together the loosely
    connected elements of his kingdom when he
    transformed the old Roman empire into a Christian
    one, and united under the imperial crown all the
    German races at that time firmly settled.

51
EARLY MIDDLE AGES
  • When, a few decades after his death, his world
    empire fell apart (843), the rulers of Italy,
    France, and Germany left the Church free scope in
    her dealings with the Jews, and under the
    influence of religious zeal hatred toward the
    unbelievers ripened into deeds of horror.

52
THE CRUSADES
  • The trials which the Jews endured from time to
    time in the different kingdoms of the Christian
    West were only indications of the catastrophe
    which broke over them at the time of the
    Crusades.
  • A wild, unrestrained throng, for which the
    crusade was only an excuse to indulge its
    rapacity, fell upon the peaceful Jews and
    sacrificed them to its fanaticism.

53
EXPLUSIONS
  • Jews were held responsible for numerous crimes
    imputed to them
  • a false charge was circulated that they wished to
    dishonor the host which was supposed to represent
    Jesus' body
  • being the cause of every calamity
  • the plundering raids of the Mongols
  • the Black Death

54
EXPULSIONS
  • The Jews, who were driven out of England in 1290,
    out of France in 1394, and out of Numerous
    districts of Germany, Italy, and the Balkan
    peninsula between 1350 and 1450, were scattered
    in all directions, and fled preferably to the new
    Slavic kingdoms, where for the time being other
    confessions were still tolerated.

55
ENLIGHTENMENT
  • During the period of the European Renaissance and
    Enlightenment, significant changes were happening
    within the Jewish community.
  • Jews began in the 1700s to campaign for
    emancipation from restrictive laws and
    integration into the wider European society.
  • Reform and Conservative movements and planted the
    seeds of Zionism while at the same time
    encouraging cultural assimilation into the
    countries in which Jews resided.

56
ENLIGHTENMENT
  • Hasidic Judaism began in the 1700s by Rabbi
    Israel Baal Shem Tov, and quickly gained a
    following with its more exuberant, mystical
    approach to religion.

57
HOLOCAUST
  • Anti-Semitism was common in Europe in the 1920s
    and 1930s.
  • Adolf Hitler's fanatical anti-Semitism was laid
    out in his 1925 book Mein Kampf.

58
HOLOCAUST
  • Mein Kampf (German for "My Struggle") is a book
    written by Adolf Hitler, combining elements of
    autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's
    political ideology of National Socialism.

59
HOLOCAUST
  • Mein Kampf makes clear Hitler's racist worldview,
    dividing humans up based on ancestry. Hitler
    stated that German "Aryans" with blond hair and
    blue eyes were at the top of the hierarchy
    (Hitler himself had brown hair and blue eyes),
    and assigned the bottom of the order to Jews and
    Gypsies. Hitler went on to say that dominated
    peoples benefit by learning from the superior
    Aryans.

60
HOLOCAUST
  • Hitler further claimed that the Jews were
    conspiring to keep this "master race" from
    rightfully ruling the world, by diluting its
    racial and cultural purity and by convincing the
    Aryan to believe in equality rather than
    superiority and inferiority. He described the
    struggle for world domination as an ongoing
    racial, cultural, and political battle between
    Aryans and Jews.

61
HOLOCAUST
  • On April 1, 1933 the recently elected Nazis
    organized a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned
    businesses in Germany.
  • This policy helped to usher-in a series of
    anti-Semitic acts that would eventually culminate
    in the Holocaust.
  • The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany
    were closed on July 6, 1939.

62
HOLOCAUST
  • In many cities throughout Europe, Jews had been
    living in concentrated areas.
  • During the first years of World War II, the Nazis
    formalized the borders of these areas and
    restricted movement, creating modern ghettos to
    which Jews were confined.

63
HOLOCAUST
  • The ghettos were, in effect, prisons in which
    many Jews died from hunger and disease others
    were executed by the Nazis and their
    collaborators.
  • Concentration camps for Jews existed in Germany
    itself.
  • During the invasion of the Soviet Union, over
    3,000 special killing units conducted mass
    killings of Communist officials and of the Jewish
    population that lived on Soviet territory.

64
HOLOCAUST
  • Entire communities were wiped out by being
    rounded up, robbed of their possessions and
    clothing, and shot at the edges of ditches.
  • In December 1941, Hitler finally decided to
    exterminate European Jews. In January 1942,
    during the Wannsee conference, several Nazi
    leaders discussed the details of the "Final
    Solution of the Jewish question."

65
HOLOCAUST
  • They began to systematically deport Jewish
    populations from the ghettos and all occupied
    territories to the seven camps designated as
    Vernichtungslager, or extermination camps
    Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Maly
    Trostenets, Sobibór and Treblinka II.

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THE STATE OF ISRAEL
  • The sudden rapid growth of Zionism and the
    post-Holocaust displacement resulted in the
    emigration of a great many Jews to what became
    the modern State of Israel on May 14, 1948.

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77
BELIEFS
  • INTRODUCTION, THE FOUNDATIONS OF JEWISH BELIEF,
    GOD, HUMAN NATURE, THE WORLD TO COME, THE MESSIAH

78
INTRODUCTION
  • Unlike Christianity and Islam, Judaism has no
    official creed or universal doctrinal
    requirements for membership.
  • In general, a person can be considered Jewish
    whether he adheres to a complete system of
    beliefs about God and the afterlife, holds only a
    few simple beliefs that give meaning to ritual,
    or even (at least in liberal Judaism) does not
    believe in God at all.

79
INTRODUCTION
  • This diversity in Jewish belief arises in part
    because actions (good deeds and the mitzvot), not
    beliefs, are the most important aspect of Jewish
    religious life.
  • This is in marked contrast to Christianity and
    Islam, in which belief in at least in a few basic
    doctrines is of primary importance.

80
INTRODUCTION
  • Nevertheless, the Torah and Talmud have a great
    deal to say about God, humanity, and the meaning
    of life, and Jewish history features significant
    theological and mystical inquiry into religious
    concepts.
  • And these beliefs are of great significance
    because of their strong influence on Christianity
    and Islam, the two largest world religions.

81
THE FOUNDATIONS OF JEWISH BELIEF
  • The Thirteen Foundations of the Ramba'm

82
The Thirteen Foundations of the Ramba'm
  • The thirteen foundations of Jewish belief were
    compiled by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, also known as
    Maimonides, generally referred to by the acronym
    RaMBaM.

83
The Thirteen Foundations
  • THE FIRST FOUNDATION is to believe in the
    existence of the Creator.
  • This means that there exists a Being that is
    complete in all ways and He is the cause of all
    else that exists. He is what sustains their
    existence and the existence of all that sustains
    them. He does not need the existence of anything
    else. All that exists apart from Him, the angels,
    the universe and all that is within it, all these
    things are dependent on Him for their existence.

84
The Thirteen Foundations
  • THE SECOND FOUNDATION is the unity of God, that
    this being, which is the cause of all, is one.
  • This does not mean one as in one object that is
    made up of many elements, but a unity unlike any
    other possible unity.
  • THE THIRD FOUNDATION is that He is not physical.
  • This means to believe that the One whom we have
    mentioned is not a body and His powers are not
    physical. In all places where the Holy Scriptures
    speak of Him in physical terms, as walking,
    standing, sitting, speaking and anything similar,
    it is always metaphorical.

85
The Thirteen Foundations
  • THE FOURTH FOUNDATION is that He is first.
  • This means to believe that the One was the
    absolute first and everything else in existence
    is not first relative to Him.
  • THE FIFTH FOUNDATION is that it is proper to
    serve Him, blessed be He, to ascribe to Him
    greatness, to make known His greatness, and to
    fulfill His commandments.
  • This fifth foundation is based in the prohibition
    against idolatry about which much of the Torah
    deals.

86
The Thirteen Foundations
  • THE SIXTH FOUNDATION is prophecy.
  • That is, that a person must know that there
    exists amongst mankind individuals who have very
    lofty qualities and great perfection whose souls
    are prepared until their minds receive perfect
    intellect.

87
The Thirteen Foundations
  • THE SEVENTH FOUNDATION is the prophecy of Moshe
    (Moses) our Teacher.
  • This means to believe that he is the father of
    all the prophets and that all of them were below
    his level. He was the chosen one from all of
    Mankind, for he attained a greater knowledge of
    the Blessed One, more than any other man ever
    attained or ever will attain. For he rose up from
    the level of man to the level of the angels and
    gained the exalted status of an angel. There did
    not remain any screen that he did not tear and
    penetrate nothing physical held him back. He was
    devoid of any flaw, big or small. His powers of
    imagination, the senses, and the perceptions were
    nullified the power of desire was separated from
    him leaving him with pure intellect.

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The Thirteen Foundations
  • THE EIGHTH FOUNDATION is that the Torah is from
    Heaven.
  • This means that we must believe that this entire
    Torah, which was given to us from Moshe Our
    Teacher, is entirely from the mouth of the
    Almighty. In other words, that it all was
    conveyed to him from God in the manner which is
    called, for lack of a better term, "dibur" -
    "speech". It is not known how it was conveyed to
    him, except to Moshe, to whom it was given, and
    he was like a scribe writing from dictation, and
    he wrote all the incidents, the stories, and the
    commandments.

89
The Thirteen Foundations
  1. THE NINTH FOUNDATION is the transcription,
    meaning that this Torah, and no other, was
    transcribed from the Creator and we may not add
    to it or remove from it, not in the Written Torah
    or in the Oral Torah.
  2. THE TENTH FOUNDATION is that God, blessed be He,
    knows the actions of mankind and does not turn
    His eyes from them.

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The Thirteen Foundations
  • The Eleventh Foundation is that God, blessed be
    He, gives reward to one who obeys the
    commandments of the Torah and punishes one who
    violates its prohibitions.
  • The Twelfth Foundation is the time of the
    Moshiach (literally, the anointed).
  • This means to believe and be certain that he will
    come, and not to think that he is late in coming.

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The Thirteen Foundations
  1. THE THIRTEENTH FOUNDATION is the resurrection of
    the dead. The resurrection is only for the
    righteous.

92
GOD
  • In Judaism, ultimate reality is a single,
    all-powerful God. It is this belief that made the
    Jews unique among other ancient Semitic peoples
    and that became the legacy Judaism has passed on
    to the entire Western world.
  • The sacred name of God, as revealed to Moses in
    the book of Exodus, is YHWH.

93
GOD
  • Since ancient Hebrew was written without vowels,
    we do not know the original pronunciation of this
    word.
  • The common pronunciation "Jehovah," however, is
    incorrect.
  • It is derived from combining the vowels for
    Adonai ("Lord") with the four consonants of YHWH.

94
HUMAN NATURE
  • A fundamental Jewish belief about human beings is
    that they are created in the image of God. This
    does not mean that we look like God, for God is
    incorporeal.
  • The general rabbinical interpretation of this
    concept is that humans have the ability to reason.

95
HUMAN NATURE
  • When Genesis 27 says "God formed man," it uses
    the Hebrew word vayyitzer ("formed").
  • The Talmud finds special meaning in the unique
    spelling of the word in this context, with two
    yods instead of one.
  • The two yods, the rabbis explain, stand for the
    two impulses found in humans the yetzer tov and
    the yetzer ra.

96
HUMAN NATURE
  • According to this view, the yetzer tov is the
    moral conscience that reminds a person of God's
    law when one considers a specific action or
    choice.
  • The yetzer ra is the impulse to satisfy one's own
    needs and desires.
  • There is nothing intrinsically evil about the
    yetzer ra, as it was created by God and is
    natural to humankind.

97
HUMAN NATURE
  • It is also what drives us to good things such as
    eating, drinking, having a family, and making a
    living.
  • However, it can easily lead to sin when not kept
    in check by the yetzer tov.
  • The idea of human free will is Fundamental to
    Judaism.
  • The concept of original sin is rejected, and
    every person has the ability to choose good or
    evil.

98
THE WORLD TO COME
  • Jewish sacred texts and literature have little to
    say about what happens after death. This may seem
    surprising to non-Jews, since the sacred texts of
    Christianity and Islam (both of which have their
    foundations in Judaism) elaborate rather fully
    about the afterlife.

99
THE WORLD TO COME
  • But we have already seen that Judaism is much
    more focused on actions than beliefs, so it is to
    be expected that its prophets and sages have not
    spent as much time on speculations about the
    world to come as elaborations on the mitzvot to
    be performed in this life.

100
THE WORLD TO COME
  • Despite the subject's general exclusion from the
    Jewish sacred texts, however, Judaism does
    incorporate views on the afterlife.
  • Yet unlike the other monotheistic religions, no
    one view has ever been officially agreed upon,
    and there is much room for speculation.

101
THE WORLD TO COME
  • The Hebrew word Olam Ha-Ba ("the world to come")
    is used for both the messianic age (see below)
    and the afterlife (see Gan Eden, below).
  • The world to come is important and something to
    look forward to. A Mishnah passage says, "This
    world is like a lobby before the Olam Ha-Ba.
    Prepare yourself in the lobby so that you may
    enter the banquet hall."

102
THE WORLD TO COME
  • For the most part, the Torah describes the
    afterlife in vague terms, many of which may
    simply be figurative ways of speaking about death
    as it is observed by the living.
  • An early common theme is that death means
    rejoining one's ancestors.
  • Another recurring biblical image of the afterlife
    is as a shadowy place called Sheol.

103
THE WORLD TO COME
  • Taken together, these early biblical descriptions
    of death seem to indicate that the soul continues
    to exist in some way after death, but not
    consciously.
  • Later in the Torah, the concept of conscious life
    after death begins to develop.
  • Daniel 122 declares, "And many of them that
    sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some
    to everlasting life and some to reproaches and
    everlasting abhorrence." Nehemiah 95

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THE WORLD TO COME
  • Today, most traditional Jewish movements accept
    the concept of the resurrection of the dead.
  • A notable exception is Reform Judaism, which
    official rejects the doctrine.
  • Traditional Judaism includes belief in both
    heaven and hell.

105
THE MESSIAH
  • Many of the world's Religions have hope in a
    future heroic figure who will rescue the
    righteous, judge the wicked, and restore peace to
    the world (Krishna in Hinduism, Maitreya in
    Buddhism and the Second Coming in Christianity).
  • In Judaism, this figure is the messiah.
    Christians believe the messiah has come in the
    form of Jesus of Nazareth Jews emphatically do
    not.

106
THE MESSIAH
  • Jews do not believe that the messiah will be
    divine.
  • A fundamental difference between Judaism and
    Christianity is the Jewish conviction that God is
    so essentially different from and beyond humanity
    that he could never become a human.
  • A wide variety of opinions have been given by
    Jewish scholars as to the circumstances that will
    prompt the messiah's arrival.

107
THE MESSIAH
  • Some say the messiah will come when the world is
    especially good others say when the world has
    become especially evil.
  • When the messiah does come, he will inaugurate
    the messianic age (sometimes called the Olam
    Ha-Ba, World to Come).
  • The Tanakh employs the following descriptions
    about this period

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THE MESSIAH
  1. Peace among all nations
  2. Perfect harmony and abundance in nature
  3. All Jews return from exile to Israel
  4. Universal acceptance of the Jewish God and Jewish
    religion
  5. No sin or evil all Israel will obey the
    commandments
  6. Reinstatement of the Temple

109
SACRED TEXTS
  • THE HEBREW BIBLE, ORAL TORAH AND RABBINICAL
    JUDAISM, TALMUD

110
THE HEBREW BIBLE
  • TORAH (PENTATEUCH) 5 books
  • PROPHETS FORMER AND LATTER
  • WRITINGS

111
Torah("Law"/Pentateuch/Books of Moses) Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers Deuteronomy
Kethuvim("Writings") Psalms Job Proverbs
Ruth Song of Solomon Ecclesiastes
Lamentations Esther Daniel Ezra Nehemiah 1
2 Chronicles
Nevi'im("Prophets") Former Prophets Joshua,
Judges, 1 2 Samuel, 1 2 Kings Latter
Prophets, Major Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel
Latter Prophets, Minor Amos, Hosea, Micah,
Zephaniah, Nahum Habakkuk, Obadiah, Haggai
Zechariah, Joel, Malachi Jonah
112
TANAKH
  • Tanakh ???? (also spelt Tanach or Tenach) is an
    acronym for the three parts of the Hebrew Bible,
    based upon the initial Hebrew letters of each
    part

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TANAKH
  1. Torah ???? ("The Law" also Teaching or
    Instruction), Chumash ???? ("The five", also
    Pentateuch or The five books of Moses)
  2. Nevi'im ?????? ("The Prophets")
  3. Ketuvim ?????? ("The Writings" or
    "Hagiographa")

115
TORAH
  • Gods instruction-revelation
  • Can have 3 meanings
  • (strictest) the first 5 books of the Bible
    Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
  • (broader) the whole Hebrew bible
  • (broadest) all teaching that comes from God
    the oral torah

116
TORAH
  • Torah
  • foundational stories
  • primeval history
  • the ancestors (Abraham-Sarah Isaac-Rebecca
    Jacob Israel-Leah Rachel the sons of Jacob)
  • Exodus the formative event for Israels
    identity
  • Slavery in Egypt freedom the hero, Moses
  • Wandering on the brink of possessing the land
  • Covenant and Law

117
PROPHETS
  • Prophets
  • Former Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings
  • the settlement of the land (Joshua), the rise
    (David), split (after Solomon), and fall of the
    nation (ends with Babylonian exile 586 BCE)
  • Latter Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Book of
    the Twelve
  • Israels conscience in living out Torah
    covenant faithfulness to God
  • 8th century through the 5th century BCE

118
WRITINGS
  • The Writings a diverse collection of later
    literature
  • Wisdom/worship Psalms, Job, Proverbs
  • 5 scrolls for 5 festivals Song of Songs
    (Passover), Ruth (Weeks), Lamentations (ninth of
    Av), Ecclesiastes (Booths), Esther (Purim)
  • An apocalyptic book Daniel (set in Babylon
    during exile, but dealing with Seleucid regime of
    2nd century)
  • History Books Ezra-Nehemiah 1-2 Chronicles

119
ORAL TORAH RABBINICAL JUDAISM
  • After 70 c.e. ? a religion of Scripture
  • Mishnah (ca. 200 c.e.) collation of biblical
    laws in 6 parts
  • Gemara additional comments on the Mishnah
  • Palestinian Talmud (ca. 400)
  • Babylonian Talmud (ca. 600)
  • Halakhah legal material/instructions
  • Haggadah stories and tales for teaching

120
TALMUD
  • The Talmud (?????) is considered an authoritative
    record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law,
    Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories.
  • It is a fundamental source of legislation,
    customs, case histories and moral exhortations.

121
TALMUD
  • The Talmud comprises two components, the Mishnah,
    and the Gemara, a discussion of the Mishnah
    (though the terms Talmud and Gemara are generally
    used interchangeably).

122
TALMUD
  • It expands on the earlier writings in the Torah
    in general and in the Mishnah in particular, and
    is the basis for all later codes of Jewish law,
    and much of Rabbinic literature.

123
SECTS-DENOMINATIONS
  • ANCIENT AND MODERN

124
ANCIENT SECTS
  • PHARISEES, SADDUCCEES, ESSENCES, ZEALOTS

125
PHARISEES
  • The Pharisees were a prominent sect of Jews in
    Christ's time. They opposed Jesus and His
    teachings. They plotted His death (Matt 1214).
    They were denounced by Him (Matt 23). Their
    characteristic teachings included belief in oral
    as well as written Law resurrection of the human
    body belief in the existence of a spirit world
    immortality of the soul predestination future
    rewards and punishments based upon works.

126
SADDUCEES
  • Sadducee beliefs included
  • acceptance only of the Law and rejection of oral
    tradition
  • denial of bodily resurrection
  • immortality of the soul existence of a spirit
    world
  • They supported the Maccabeans.

127
SADDUCEES
  • The Sadducees were a relatively small group, but
    they generally held the high priesthood.
  • They denounced John the Baptist (Matt 37-8) and
    Jesus (Matt 166,11,12).
  • They actively opposed Christ (Matt 2112ff Mark
    1115ff Luke 1947) and the apostolic Church
    (Acts 517,33).

128
ESSENES
  • The Essenes were a Jewish religious sect not
    actually mentioned in the Bible, but described by
    Josephus, Philo, and mentioned in the Dead Sea
    Scrolls.
  • Most members lived communal, celibate lives. They
    observed Jewish Law very strictly.
  • They practiced ceremonial baptisms.
  • Essenes were apocalyptic, and they opposed Temple
    priesthood.

129
QUMRAN COMMUNITY
  • Though there remains much disagreement among
    scholars, many now believe that the Dead Sea
    Scrolls were possibly written by the Essenes - a
    priestly Jewish sect who lived a very separate
    life, even keeping themselves apart from the
    Jewish religious officials in Jerusalem. They
    didn't want much to do with other people, and
    according to most accounts, most people didn't
    want much to do with them. What eventually
    happened to them is not known.

130
QUMRAN COMMUNITY
131
MODERN SECTS
  • ORTHODOX, REFORM, CONSERVATIVE AND HASSIDIC

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ORTHODOX JUDAISM
  • Orthodox Judaism is the most traditional
    expression of modern Judaism.
  • Orthodox Jews believe the entire Torah -
    including "Written," the Pentateuch, and "Oral,"
    the Talmud) was given to Moses by God at Sinai
    and remains authoritative for modern life in its
    entirety.
  • According to a 1990 nationwide survey, 7 percent
    of American Jews are Orthodox.

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REFORM JUDAISM
  • Reform Judaism is organized under the Union for
    Reform Judaism, whose mission is "to create and
    sustain vibrant Jewish congregations wherever
    Reform Jews live."
  • About 1.5 million Jews in 900 synagogues are
    members of the Union for Reform Judaism.
  • According to 1990 survey, 42 percent of American
    Jews regard themselves as Reform.

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CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM
  • Conservative Judaism may be said to be a moderate
    position between Orthodox and Reform Judaism.
  • It seeks to conserve the traditional elements of
    Judaism, while allowing for modernization to a
    less radical extent than Reform Judaism.

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HASIDIC JUDAISM
  • Hasidic (or Chasidic) Judaism arose in
    12th-century Germany as a mystical movement
    emphasizing asceticism and experience born out of
    love and humility before God.
  • The austere religious life of these early Hasids
    ("pious ones") is documented in the Sefer Hasidim
    ("Book of the Pious").
  • The modern Hasidic movement was founded in Poland
    in the 18th century by Israel ben Eliezer.

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RITES AND OBSERVANCES
  • MAJOR FESTIVALS AND IMPORTANT PRACTICES

143
Major Festivals of Judaism
  • SABBATH weekly (stop doing in order to enjoy
    being)
  • DAYS OF AWE (the High Holy Days)
  • ROSH HASHANA NEW YEAR autumn creation of the
    world
  • YOM KIPPURDAY OF ATONEMENT 10 days later
  • SUKKOT BOOTHS - Harvest festival autumn
  • HANUKKAHFeast of Dedication (second temple)
    winter festival of lights. Special nine-branch
    menorah recalls the story of the Maccabees taking
    back the temple after desecration in 165 b.c.e.

144
Major Festivals of Judaism
  • PURIM Story of Esther, a festival of joy and
    hope in late winter
  • PESACHPASSOVER Spring festival remembering
    Exodus.
  • Ritual meal of symbolic foods
  • Blessings
  • Haggadah telling our story
  • YOM HASHOAH memorial of the Holocaust
  • SHAVUOT Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (50 days
    after Passover)

145
Important Practices
  • Circumcision / naming ceremony
  • Bar / Bat mitvah
  • Prayer
  • Mezuzah,(literally, doorpost) containing the
    Shema and other scriptures, on the doorpost
  • Kashrut / Keeping Kosher (for some)

146
Shema
147
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION
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VOCABULARY
150
Abraham Considered to be the father of the Jewish people.
Monotheism The belief in one god, in opposition to polytheism or the belief in more than one god.
Canaan The original name of the land promised by God to the followers of Moses when they left Egypt in search of a new land.
Mount Sinai The mountain on which Moses received the complete code of ethics and laws, known as the Ten Commandments.
Torah The first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The word Torah comes from the Hebrew word for instruction.
Israelites The children of Israel and the name God gave to Jacob, the third patriarchal ancestor of the Jews.
Messiah The Expected One who will free and elevate the Jewish people to new levels of devotion in practicing Gods law.
Diaspora The Jews who live outside of Israel, originating during the time when Jews went from Palestine in exile into Bablonia.
151
Synagogue The central place for congregational worship and fellowship for Jewish communities and the place where customs, religious practice and faith are maintained.
Talmud One of the major texts of Judaism, it contains three million words that instruct on codes of behavior for both religious and secular life.
Rabbi The respected teacher and leader of worship usually associated with a particular congregation at a specific synagogue.
Minion A necessary quorum of at least ten men so that the rabbi can conduct full religious services.
Sabbath The weekly holiday (sundown Friday to sundown Saturday) reserved for worship and attention to family and community.
Kosher Very specific dietary laws regarding food restrictions as well as proper animal slaughter.
Bar Mitzvah Bat Mitzvah Respectively means son and daughter of the Commandment and are the religious rites of passage for 13-year-old boys and 12-year-old girls. After the ceremony they are fully responsible in the eyes of God and are seen as adult members of the congregation.
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