Judaism

Judaism

1. 1. Beliefs and sources of authority

   • 1.1 Tenakh
     • Tenakh: The 24 books of the Jewish scriptures
     • Torah: The 5books of Moses and first section of the Tenakh -The Law
     • Nevi'im: The second section of the Tenakh - The Prophets
     • Ketuvim: The third section of the Tenakh - The Writings
   • 1.2 Talmud
     • Mishnah: The first written version of the oral tradition: the authoritive document was put together in 200CE
     • Gemara: A commentary on the Mishna, which is part of the Talmud
     • Talmud: A commentary by the rabbis on the Torah - Mishnah and Gemara together in one collection
   • 1.3 Halakhah
     • Halakhah: The code of conduct for Jewish life
     • Responsa: The correspondence of rabbis concerning religious descisions
     • Beth Din: Religious court, made up of rabbis
     • Yeshivah: A college where the Torah and Talmud are studied
   • 1.4 The concept of God
     • Shema: Jewish prayer affirming belief in one God, found in the Torah
       • 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One' Deuteronomy
         • All your heart
         • All your soul
         • All your strength
         • Impress them on your children
   • 1.5 God the creator and sustainer
     • Creator: The belief that God created everything
     • Sustainer: The belief that God provides food and natural resources for the world
     • Omnipotent: God is all powerfull
       • Omniscience: God is all knowing
         • Omnipresent: God is everywhere
   • 1.6 God the law giver and judge, redeemer and sanctifier
     • 10 Commandments:
       • 1. I am the lord your God who brought you out of slavery in Egypt.
         • 2. You shall have no other gods but me.
           • 3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
             • 4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
               • 5. Honour your father and mother
                 • 6. You shall not murder.
                   • 7. You shall not commit adultery.
                     • 8. You shall not steal.
                       • 9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.
                         • 10. You shall not commit adultry
   • 1.7 Covenants
     • The covenent: God's agreement to look after the Jews as his chosen people, subject to Israel's obedience
     • Israel: The ancient for the Jewish people
   • 1.8 The covenant with Abraham
     • God - Take the Jews to Israel
     • Abraham - Circumscision
   • 1.10 The Messianic Age
     • Messianic Age: When God's Anointed One will come and lead the Jews
   • 1.9 The Torah and the Covenents
     • 'We will do everything the Torah tells us' exodus

2. 2. The synagogue and worship

   • 2.1 Worship in Judaism
     • Worship: A specific act of religious devotion
     • Reform: Believe that the Torah can be interpreted
     • Orthodox: Beleive that the Torah is the direct word of God
   • 2.2 Tallit and Tefillin
     • Tallit: A prayer shawl
     • Tefillin: Small leather boxes containing extracts from the Torah, strapped to the believer's arms and forehead for morning prayers
   • 2.3 Minyan
     • Minyan: A quorum of 10 men (or adults in Reform Judaism) required for a service
       • 10 people because of the 10 commandments, 10 plagues, 10 unloyal spies that went to Israel
   • 2.4 Synagogue
     • Synagogue: Building for Jewish public prayer, study and gathering
   • 2.5 Features on the exterior of the synagogue
     • Menorah: A seven branched candlestick
     • The Star of David: A symbol of Judaism said to represent the shield of King David who ruled Israel in the 10th centuary BCE (Magen David)
     • Stained glass: Decorating the synagogue
   • 2.6 Features on the interior of the synagogue
     • Bimah: A platform in a synagogue from which the Torah is read
     • Aron Hakodesh: The Ark - part of the synagogue containing Torah scrolls
     • Ner tamid: A light kept burning in the synagogue - continual light
   • 2.7 Orthadox and Reform synagogues
     • Orthadox
       • Bimah in the centre
         • Men and woman seating is separate
     • Reform
       • Organ
         • Bimah at the front
           • Men and women sit together
   • 2.8 Shabbat service
     • Starts off with daily prayers
       • Amidah
         • Shema
           • Torah reading
             • Sermon
               • Aleinu
                 • Adon Olam
   • 2.9 Daily prayers
     • Morning: Shacharit
       • Afternoon: Mincha
         • Evening: Ma'ariv
   • 2.10 The role of the rabbi and the chazzan
     • Rabbi: A religious leader and teacher
     • Chazzan (cantor): A person who leads ar chants prayers in the synagogue

3. 3. Festivals and pilgrimage

   • 3.1 Festivals
     • Festival: A religious celbration or commemoration
   • 3.2 Shabbat
     • Shabbat: Holy day of the week; day of spiritual renewal beginning at sunset on Friday and continuing at nightfall on Saturday
     • Exodus: ASKS us to REMEMBER. Because God celebrated and rested on Shabbat
     • Deutoronomy: COMMANDS us to OBSERVE. Because God took us out if Israel
   • 3.3 Shabbat celebrations
     • Friday night: Candles lit, father blesses family, meal
       • Saturday morning: (see 2.8)
         • Havdalah: 4 blessings, wine, spices, candle, havdalah blessing
   • 3.4 Rosh hashanah
     • Rosh hashanah: Head of the year.
       • The shofar is blown to announce the coming of the festival and also on the festival itself
         • Apple and honey is eaten to represent a sweet new year
           • Head of the fish to represent the head of the year
   • 3.5 Yom kippur
     • Yom kippur: Day of Judgement
       • God puts you in the book of good or bad
         • People don't eat, drink, wash or wear leather clothes
           • Jews stay in synagogue all day
   • 3.6 3.7 Pesach
     • Pesach: Festival in remembrance of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt. Celebrated in spring
       • Jews eat matzah to remember because of food Jews ate when they escaped from Egypt
     • Seder meal
       • 4 cups of wine are drunk
       • 4 questions/sons
       • Seder plate
         • Karpas: (often parsley) symbolises new life
         • Saltwater: represents Jews tears
         • Maror: Bitter herbs represent bitterness of slavery
         • Charoset: Apple sauce that looks like cement to represent the mortar used by Jewish slaves
         • Burnt egg: Represents sacrifice's Jews used to offer to the temple
         • Shank bone: Represents sacrifice's Jews used to offer to the temple
     • 10 plagues: Blood, frogs, lice, flies, diseased livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death of the first born
   • 3.8 Pilgrimage
     • Pilgrimage: A journey to a holy site. Pilgrimage is itself an act of worship and devotion
   • 3.9 Jerusalem - The Western Wal
     • Western wall: The last remaining wall of the Great temple.
     • Jews come to pray and put messages into the wall, in hopes that it would be read by God
   • 3.10 Yad Vashem
     • Yad Vashem: A memorial to the the Holocaust victims in Jerusalem - means 'a memorial and a name

4. 4. Personal lifestyle

   • 4.1 Lifestyle choices
     • Many Jews chose to live life according to the Torah
   • 4.2 Kosher and Trefah
     • Kosher: Food that meets Jewish laws
     • Trefah: Forbidden food - means 'torn'
   • 4.3 4.4 Deitry laws and the Jewish kitchen
     • Meat: must have split hooves and chew the cud
     • Fish: must have both fins and scales
     • Insects: jointed legs
     • Shochet: the kosher slaughterer
     • Shechita: the kosher slaughter laws
     • 'Do not cook a goat in its mother's milk' - Exodus 23:19
   • 4.5 Shabbat observance
     • You cannot cook bread, build a house, making clothes
   • 4.6 The kippah
     • Kippah: Skull cap
     • Tradition, not specified in the Torah
     • 'Cover your head in order that the fear of heaven may be upon you' Talmud
   • 4.7 Orthodox dress
     • 'Women must not wear man's clothing, nor a man wear woman's clothing , for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this' Deuteronomy 22:5
     • 'Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard' Leviticus 19:27
     • 'Do not wear of clothes of wool and linen together' Deuteronomy 22:12
   • 4.8 Mezuzah
     • Mezuzah: A scroll, containing the Shema
       • Placed on a door post as a sign of a Jewish family
         • Says in the shema 'Put them on your door posts'
   • 4.9 Bet Din
     • Bet Din: Religious court, made up of Rabbis
     • Decide on Divorces, Conversion to Judaism, Civil Disputes, Religious Disputes, Kosher Certification, Medical ethics

5. 5. Family life

   • 5.1 The importance of family life
     • Fifth commandment: 'Honour your father and mother' Exodus 20:12
     • Mother
       • Ensure the home is kosher. Prepare for Shabbat. Teach daughters how to be a mother. Have babies
       • 'Be fruitful and multiply' Genesis 1:28
     • Father
       • Provide financial and religious support. Study the Torah and ensure that his sons and daughters do so as well
   • 5.2 synagogue in family
     • Inclusive activities at the synagogue
   • 5.3 5.4 Birth and Circumcision
     • Girls
       • Naming ceremony
     • Boys
       • Circumcision at 8 days old
         • Brit Milah: Circumcision; the removal of the foreskin for religious reasons
       • Redemption of first born son (Pidyon Ha-Ben) 'Buying the child from the temple'
   • 5.5 Bar Mitzvah
     • Bar Mitzvah: Celebration of a boy coming of age at 13. Literally 'son of the commandment'
   • 5.6 Bat Mitzvah and Bat Chayil
     • Bat Mitzvah: Celebration of a girl coming of age at 12. Literally 'Daughter of the commandment'
     • Bat Chayil: Literally 'Daughter of valour'. It is la further development of the Bat Mitzvah celebration
   • 5.7 5.8 Marriage
     • Marriage: A legal union between a man and a woman
     • Betrothal: An engagement, traditionally 12 months before a Jewish wedding
   • 5.9 5.10 Death
     • Mourning: A period of time spent remembering a person who has died
       • 30 day Shiva house. Mirrors are covered up and prayers are said
     • Buried, not cremated

6. 6. Justice and Equality

   • 6.1 The role and status of women in Judaism
     • Role: The actions a person performs; what they do
     • Status: How important a person's role makes them in other people's estimation
     • 'Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it' Genesis 1:28
   • 6.2 Attitudes to women
     • Orthodox: Should look after children and not do 'men's jobs'
     • Reform: Women should be allowed to work etc
   • 6.3 Prejudice and Discrimination
     • Prejudice: Unfairly judging someone before the facts are known
     • Discrimination: To act against someone on the bass of sex, race, religion, etc. This is usually a negative action
     • Jews were prejudiced against because: King Antiochus, Crusaders, Black death - Jews were blamed, Pogroms in Russia
   • 6.7 6.8 Attitudes to suffering
     • Adam and Eve
       • 'I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing, with pain you will give birth to children' Genesis
       • 'Curses is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the day of your life' Genesis
     • Job spilled the semen and was punished
     • Talmud attitudes to suffering
       • Cleansing people from sin
       • Encourages people to reflect on what they have done wrong
       • Helps people to realise the need for repentance to bring them back to God
       • God testing his righteousness
       • Sins of the generation
   • 6.9 6.10 Holocaust