Judaism

Judaism

1. Types of Jews

   • Ashkenazi Jew
     • Ancestors from France, Germany and Eastern Europe
   • Orthodox Jew
     • Interpret biblical rules in a strict and traditional way
     • Take the Jewish scriptures literally
     • Dedicate themselves to keeping it strictly
   • Reform Jew
     • Belive biblical rules can be interpreted in a way that can be adapted in modern society
     • Only take the ethical/moral rules literally eg: 10 commandments
   • Sephardic Jew
     • Ancestors from Spain, Portugal and North Africa and Middle East
   • Secular Jew

2. Moses

   • Emancipate the Jews out of slavery from Egypt
   • Given God's power to perform miracles: 10 plagues, parting of the red sea, etc
   • Greatest prophet according to Maimonides
   • Wrote five books + scriptures of the Torah
   • Founded the Mosaic covenant - the basis for the Jewish religion
     • The sign of this covenant is sprinkled bull's blood on people
     • Moses climbed Mount Sinai and spend 40 days fasting and praying. When Moses came down, he brought the Ten commandments with him.
   • He understood all the 613 mitzvots

3. Abraham

   • He walked in faith for 25 years, believing God would fulfil his promises
   • Abraham left his home town to go to Canaan, the promised land, as God told him to. He wanted Abraham to be an example for others
   • He is the father of all nations, specifically in Judaism
   • Covenant
     • The sign of this covenant was for babies under eight days old to be circumcised
     • God promised that Abraham would have many descendants along with the promised land if he and his descendants stayed faithful and obedient to God

4. Beliefs about God

   • Creator
     • The Torah begins with Genesis, of how God created the world
       • Reform Jews believe that God is the reason why everything exists but Genesis is not a specific account
     • He created everything that exists and humans were created in his image
     • Rosh Hashanah specifically celebrates the creation of the world
   • lawgiver
     • God gave Jews rules and guidance on how to live through the mitzvots.
     • Some laws are moral laws and others are to show faithfulness by living in a particular way that pleases God
   • One
     • Judaism is a monotheistic religion
     • This belief is expressed through the shema prayer which emphasises the idea that God is one and singular
   • Judge
     • God hates sin and evil and punishes them
     • However, he's leinted based on the situation and redeems those who have sinned

5. The ten commandments

   • 1. Don't worship any other God
   • 2. Don't take the Lord's name in vain
   • 3. Keep the Sabbath day holy
   • 4. Honour and respect your family
   • 5. Don't kill
   • 6. Don't commit adultery
   • 7. Don't steal
   • 8. Don't bare false witness
   • 9. Don't covet your neighbour
   • 10. Don't covet your neighbour's goods
   • It is the basis for civilised and protects important values like truth and justice

6. Mitzvots

   • There are 613 mitzvots in the Torah that guide Jews on how to live a good life
   • The backbone for Judaism as it was founded upon the mosaic covenant which was sealed between God and the Jews
   • Some mitzvots are impossible to achieve because of how we've adapted to modern society
   • 248 of the mitzvot are positive and tell Jews what they should do.
   • 365 of the mitzvot are negative and tell Jews what they should not do.

7. Jewish scriptures

   • Torah
     • The first five books of Moses ..
   • Tanak
     • The holy book of Judaism
   • Mishnah
     • The oral Torah
   • Talmud
     • The Rabbinic explanations of Mishnah

8. Messiah

   • The "anointed one"
   • The Torah specifically states anything about a Messiah
   • Orthodox Jews believe and expect the coming of a Messiah
     • He will be a descendant of King David
     • He will be a political ruler - who will bring a Messianic age of peace
     • He may be supernatural or transcendent
     • Will judge humanity and bring the world to an end
     • Maimonides included the belief of the coming of the messiah as one of the 13 principles of the Jewish faith
   • Reform Jews are very skeptical about whether there will truly be a messiah
     • May only be an influential role model
     • Not supernatural in any degree
     • There has been too many false messiahs - It would be impractical and useless to focus on that.

9. Afterlife

   • Jews don't tend to focus too much on the afterlife, instead they try to live a good life in this life
   • Olam Ha-Ba
     • Means "the world to come" in hebrew
     • The afterlife for Jews
   • Jews believe that being in the afterlife is to be in the presence of God, those who prepared themselves well will enjoy it and those who didn't, won't
   • Ressurresction of the body and the immortality of the soul
     • Some orthodox Jews believe that the body will reunite with the soul
     • Orthodox Jews and some reform Jews believe that the soul will live eternally, resting under the wings of the shekinah
       • Shekinah - The presence of God
     • Reform Jews don't believe in reincarnation. They believe that only the memory of the good deeds someone has done lives on
   • Some Jews believe in Sheol. Where the dead sleep in rest

10. Pikuach Nefesh

    • The concept that saving someone's life is more important than any mitzvot
    • Life is a priority for Jews and they believe that it's important to live life to the fullest
    • For example: you might have to break the Sabbath in order to go to the hospital

11. Free Will

    • Jews believe in the inclination to do go or bad
      • Yetzer Ha-Ra is the inclination to do bad things or things that you desire but don't need
      • Yezer Ha-Tov is the inclination to do good things or things that help others to ultimately make the world a better place
    • Jews don't believe in original sin or that devil has any influence over our free will
    • Jews believe that we are "master of our own house" which is metaphorical for having control over everything our mind tells us to do
      • We can abstain from built in urges or impulses leads us to do bad things
    • God gives us the possibility to change our ways or our fate giving us a chance to reflect on our mistakes and correct them