Christianity in the World

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Unit 4 Christianity in the World

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Please answer the following question in a minimum of 250 words with at least 2 scholarly sources in APA format.

According to your text, justification in the Christianity is achieved through faith in Christ. Justification in Judaism is done through observation of the Law and the Jewish ethic (ceremonies, feasts, worship, food regulations, etc). First, define justification. Secondly, do you believe that the Christian is truly saved by faith in Christ alone or do you believe, as does Judaism that there is "work" to be done to secure salvation? Please explain your answer.

Complete:

Answer the following questions. Word count for the whole section is 1200 minimum word count and least 3 scholarly sources in APA format.

  • In appropriate depth and detail, and utilizing scholarly references, describe the basic characteristics of Judaism, including but not limited to: its history, its primary beliefs, its criticisms, its practices, and its organization.
  • In appropriate depth and detail, and utilizing scholarly references, describe the themes found in the teachings of Jesus Christ and the concept of the “Gospel” that the first Christians sought to spread.

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CHAPTER 10 Learning Outcomes After studying this chapter, you will be able to do the following: Encountering Judaism: The Way of God’s Chosen People LO1 Explain the meaning of Judaism and related terms. LO2 Summarize how the main periods of Judaism’s history have shaped its present. LO3 Outline the essential teachings of Judaism in your own words. LO4 Describe the main features of Jewish ethics. LO5 Summarize Jewish worship, the Sabbath and major festivals, life-cycle rituals, and the Kabbalah. LO6 Outline the main features of Judaism in North America today. © ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/MOTIMEIRI BONNIE VAN VOORST © CENGAGE LEARNING 224 CHAPTER 10 E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. I What Do YOU Think? Judaism is the best example in world religions of “ethical monotheism.” n your hotel the evening before you visit the Western Wall, your tour guide gives you instrucStrongly Disagree Strongly Agree tions for the next day’s events. “Everyone is wel1 2 3 4 5 6 7 come at the Wall,” she says. “But you must wear modest clothing—no one in shorts, sleeveless tops, or jeans is allowed. Men must wear a hat or other this, but the women do have access to the wall itself and head covering. Women must wear clothing that covcan place prayer notes in it. Second, when you ask an offiers their shoulders and knees; they can borrow shawls cial about what happens to your prayer, you learn someat the entrance. Proper behavior is a must—be respectthing surprising. More than a million notes are left in the ful of others.” All this is pretty standard stuff, you think, Wall each year, and you see that the cracks between the and applies to most important religious sites around the stones are jammed with papers. Twice a year the notes world. But there’s one item that’s unique to a visit to the are collected and buried on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives. Western Wall: People are allowed to put a paper note with Third, most surprising of all is how emotionally moved you a prayer written on it into a seam between the stones, are. The closer you get to the Wall, the more it towers over where (many Jews believe) God will pay special attention you. The prayerful piety of others at the site impresses you to one’s prayer. Most people write out their prayer before coming to the wall. Almost everyone in Israel calls this place simply “the Wall.” But your guide gives you a warning: Don’t call it “the Wailing Wall.” This term is often used today, but many residents of Jerusalem find it offensive. “Wailing” is supposed to refer to mourning for the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. There is typically no wailing here, so the term is indeed misleading. Despite the preparation you’ve done for visiting the Wall, some things still surprise you during your visit. First, long-established Jewish rules apply here, so women must go to their own section and not stand with the men and boys. Even in the women’s section, Jews praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem they may not read aloud from Jewish scriptures or wear Jewish prayer shawls. There’s some murmuring in your tour group over PHOTO COURTESY PHOTOS8.COM Your Visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem BONNIE VAN VOORST © CENGAGE LEARNING “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is One.” —The Shema < A Jewish man wearing a prayer shawl blows a ram’s horn to herald the Jewish New Year holy day. 225 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. and helps to explain why this is for most Jews the holiest place in the world. Judaism is a monotheistic religion that believes that the world was created by an all-knowing, all-powerful God and that all things in the world were designed to have meaning and purpose as part of a divine order. God called the Israelites to be a chosen, special people and follow God’s law, thus becoming the means by which divine blessing would flow to the world. God’s law guides humans in every area of life; it is a gift from God so that people might live according to God’s will. The main influence of Judaism stems directly from its strong devotion to God over more than 2,500 years. Some of the impact of Judaism has been lost in the modern world, and Judaism itself is more fragmented in the modern world than ever before. Its deep influence on everyday life and on patterns of Western culture is still clearly visible, however. The belief that there is only one God, now self-evident for believers in all Western religions, is the main gift of Judaism. The idea that the world is a real and mostly good (or at least redeemable) place has shaped Western religion and thought. Our seven-day week with its rest on the weekend originates in Judaism as well. The convictions that all people are equally human before God, each other, and the law; that the human race is one family; and that each individual can fully realize the meaning of life regardless of social or economic class have also come to the Western world from Judaism. Key teachings and values of Judaism have spread in Christianity and Islam to over half of all the people of the world. Christianity have often been rivals of Judaism as well. ● The world has had a mixed attitude to Judaism for more than two thousand years. The Jews’ strong, clear monotheism and morality have been influential, but Jews have drawn near-constant opposition as well. Prejudice against them, often leading to violent persecution, has sadly been a recurrent feature in Jewish life. ● Judaism is both geographically scattered and centered. Since about 300 B.C.E., most Jewish people haven’t lived in the traditional Jewish area now in modern Israel. Instead, they’ve lived in the wider Middle East, Europe, and North America. In fact, more Jews now live in the United States (about 5.2 million) than live in Israel (about 4.9 million). Still, Israel is an essential part of Judaism for most Jews today. The Name Judaism and Related Terms L01 Judaism is commonly and correctly defined as the historic religion of the Jewish people. This name comes from the ancient tribe of Judah, one of the original twelve tribes of Israel. When the leaders of the southern kingdom of Israel came back from exile in Babylon in the 530s B.C.E., the name of their larger tribe became the name of the political area (Judah) and the people who lived there became the Judahites (JOO-duh-ights), or Jews (jooz) for short. In time their religion became known as Judaism, a term derived from the ancient Greek language. For most of the history of the Jewish people, to be Jewish was to practice Judaism in some way. But around 1800 C.E., it became possible in Europe to give up Judaism and still call oneself Jewish. Jewishness then became for many Jews a matter of ethnic status and cultural identity, not of religion. Other Jews replied In your study of Judaism, you’ll encounter and study in some depth these unique features: For a relatively small religion, about fifteen million adherents today, it has had a big impact. The teachings and values of Judaism have spread in Christianity and Islam, which are closely related Judaism [JOO-deeto Judaism, to over half ihz-um] Historic religion the people of the world. of the Jewish people However, Islam and 226 CHAPTER 10 © ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/ FIREBRANDPHOTOGRAPHY ● E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. that only by keeping Judaism do Jews stay Jewish. Although these two positions cannot be completely separated, this chapter will focus on Judaism as a religion. Before 500 B.C.E., the ancestors of the Jews went by other names. The first was Hebrews (HEE-brewz), the name of the people during patriarchal times through the Exodus (1800–1200 B.C.E.). This name is from Habiru (ha-BEE-roo; also spelled “Hapiru”), a word for nomads that is found in many languages in the ancient Fertile Crescent and seems to have been attached to the descendants of Abraham while they lived in Egypt. When they settled in Palestine after the Exodus and became a nation there, they became known as Israelites (IS-ray-ehl-ights), a name derived from the ancient patriarch Israel (whose original name was Jacob). Historians speak generically of their religions during this period as “Hebrew religion”and “Israelite religion,” not as “Judaism.” A more recent twist adds some confusion to these names. The modern nation of Israel, founded in 1948, calls itself by the same name as that of ancient Israel, but the people of modern Israel (whether Jewish by religion or not) are called Israelis (ihz-RAIL-eez), not Israelites. Hebrews [HEE-brewz] Name of God’s people during patriarchal times through the Exodus Israelites [IS-ray-ehl-ights] Name for God’s people during the period of the Judges and during the First Temple Period Israelis [is-RAIL-eez] Name of people who live in the modern nation of Israel menorah [men-OHR-uh] Large candelabra in the Jerusalem temple, today a common symbol of Judaism A Closer Look: Symbols of Judaism Chai BONNIE VAN VOORST © CENGAGE LEARNING Chai (chigh, with a throatclearing initial sound), a symbol of modern origin, popular and fashionable in jewelry today, is the Hebrew word for “living.” Some say that it refers to God, who alone is perfectly alive; others think it comes from the common Jewish toast “Le chaim” (leh CHIGH-ihm), “To life!” More likely, it reflects Judaism’s general focus on the importance of life. It is a symbol of their Jewish faith for many people who wear it. The oldest symbol of the Jewish faith is the menorah, a large usually seven-branched candelabra. It was a prominent accessory in the Jerusalem temple, and one sees it today in many Jewish homes and houses of worship. It’s especially BONNIE VAN VOORST © CENGAGE LEARNING Menorah prominent during the celebration of Hanukkah, when a nine-branched menorah is used for the nine days of this festival. For many Jews, the menorah is a symbol of Israel’s mission to be “a light to the nations” (Isaiah 42:6). It is featured today on the coat of arms of the state of Israel. Star of David The six-pointed Star of David is the symbol most commonly associated with Judaism today, but it isn’t nearly as old as the menorah. A symbol of two overlaid equilateral triangles was a common symbol of good fortune in the ancient Near East and in North Africa. It appears occasionally in early Jewish artwork from as far back as the first century C.E., but not as a symbol of Judaism. In the 1600s it began to be used to mark as Jewish the exteriors of some Jewish houses of worship in Europe and then began to be associated with the ancient King David. The Star of David gained popularity as a symbol of Judaism when it was adopted in 1897 as the emblem of the Zionist movement to resettle Palestine. Today it is a well-recognized symbol of Judaism, particularly because it appears on the flag of the modern state of Israel. T H E N A M E J U D A I S M A N D R E L AT E D T E R M S BONNIE VAN VOORST © CENGAGE LEARNING Several symbols have served Judaism over time, and we will begin with the lesser-used ones. 227 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. The Jewish Present As Shaped by Its Past LO2 A n American college professor leads his class on European religious history through the Dachau (DAHK-ow) concentration camp outside Munich, Germany. They walk through the gate, and the professor explains the macabre meaning of its inscription, Arbeit macht frei (“Work makes [you] free”). He explains, as they walk by, the barracks for prisoners and the other buildings around the site. They see the gas chamber disguised as a shower room and then inspect the crematorium. This is all a somber experience, but the full horror of this site doesn’t really register on the students until they go into its museum, with exhibits of what went on here. A suspicion and hatred of “alien” groups, especially the long history of hatred of the Jewish people, reached a horrific outcome in dozens of camps such as this. Everyone in the class is in tears as they leave, including the professor, who has been here before and isn’t an emotional person. He brings his students here for this searing experience so that they’ll never forget the evil humans can do, and the courage it takes for persecuted groups to continue on in life. The Jewish people have a long, storied history that includes both tragedy and triumph. In Judaism today we can see important beliefs and practices from the entire fourthousand-year sweep of Jewish history. The periods of this history that we will consider here are: from the creation of the world to Abraham (ca. 2000 B.C.E.); the emergence patriarchs Hebrew of Israel (ca. 1200–950 founding family of the B.C.E.); the First Temple later Israelites and Jews: Period (950–586 B.C.E.); the Abraham and Sarah, their Second Temple Period (539 son Isaac and his wife B.C.E.–70 C.E.); revolts Rebekah, their son Jacob and rabbis (70 C.E.–ca. 650 (Israel) and his wives C.E.); Jews under Islamic Rachel and Leah, and and Christian rule (ca. 650– Jacob’s twelve sons who 1800 C.E.); emancipation founded the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel and change (1800–1932); and the Holocaust and its covenant Agreement aftermath (1932–present). God made with Abraham in which God promised to be with Abraham and be the God of his many descendants and Abraham promised to follow God circumcision Ritual of the covenant, removing the foreskin of the penis 228 CHAPTER 10 From the Creation to Abraham (ca. 2000 B.C.E.) Chapters one through eleven of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, span the creation of the universe to the time of Abraham, father of the Jewish people (ca. 2000 B.C.E.). It narrates and provides a religious perspective on the creation of the world, the rebellion of the first humans against God and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the wide dispersal of people, Noah and the flood, and other topics. These stories echo the earlier mythology of Mesopotamia and provide an Israelite alternative to them. The rest of Genesis (Chapters 12–50) covers just four generations of one family of the patriarchs and their wives: Abraham and Sarah, their son Isaac and his wife Rebekah, their son Jacob (Israel) and his wives Rachel and Leah, and Jacob’s twelve sons who founded the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. The Israelite and then the Jewish people emerged from these tribes. Scholars debate the meaning and historical accuracy of the early biblical story, but they don’t doubt the role that it played in shaping Judaism. Scholars debate the early biblical story, but not the role that it played in shaping Judaism. Genesis 12 begins by narrating the migration of Abraham from Ur in Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan, a journey commanded by God. God makes a covenant with Abraham in which God promises to be with Abraham, be the God of his many descendants, and bless the world through these descendants. In return, God demands that Abraham follow him faithfully. Abraham then carries out, on himself and all the males in his clan, the ritual of circumcision, cutting off the foreskin of the penis, which is the perpetual sign of the covenant. Abraham’s son Isaac marries Rebekah; she secures the line of succession for her younger son Jacob. Jacob’s simultaneous marriages to Leah and Rachel produce twelve sons, who are the origins of the twelve tribes. Genesis 37 to 50 tells the story of Joseph, the youngest of Jacob’s twelve sons. Joseph is betrayed by his jealous brothers, who sell him to slave traders on their way to Egypt, but Joseph rises to great power under a sympathetic pharaoh. All Abraham’s descendants then move to Egypt and prosper there until a later pharaoh enslaves the Israelites. E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Ark of the Covenant, An eight-day-old Jewish boy undergoes circumcision The Emergence of Israel (ca. 1200–950 B.C.E.) The book of Exodus contains the story of Israel’s enslavement in Egypt, God’s call to Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, Pharaoh’s stubborn resistance, and the Israelites’ escape through the parted waters of the Red Sea. Moses leads the Israelites to Sinai, a mountain in the wilderness where they enter into a covenant relationship with God. The Israelites agree to live by all the teachings and commandments, the Torah, conveyed to them by Moses. In keeping the Torah, they will live out their calling to be God’s chosen people. After a forty-year journey through the wilderness, a new generation of Israelites arrives at the Jordan River, where they prepare to cross over and occupy the land promised to them. The books of Joshua and Judges relate the story of the Israelites’ conquest of Palestine, its division among the tribes, and the first hundred years of settlement. The focal center of early Israelite religion during this period was the movable tent-shrine the Torah [TOHR-uh] Teachings and commandments conveyed by Moses, particularly in the first five books of the Bible a sacred box containing two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, Moses’ staff, Ark of the Covenant and a pot of manna, Sacred box in the with angels on the tabernacle and then top. This tent, called the Temple the tabernacle, is where the first formal First Temple Period worship of ancient Era of Israelite history from ca. 950 B.C.E. until the Israel took place, destruction of Jerusalem with sacrifice, prayer, in 586 and praise to God. Unlike the nations around it, Israel had no national government; the twelve tribes were bound together in a tribal confederacy under their covenant with God. When Israel’s enemies threatened, the tribes would act together under charismatic leaders, some of them women. Israel changed its form of government from a tribal confederacy to a monarchy. Saul was anointed king around 1025 B.C.E. Israel’s second monarch, David, consolidated the monarchy over all Israel. The Bible celebrates the reigns of David and his son Solomon as a golden age, but it doesn’t gloss over their considerable failings. The First Temple Period (950–586 B.C.E.) Solomon’s construction of a temple to God in Jerusalem (ca. 950) inaugurated the First Temple Period, which lasted until the temple was destroyed in 586. The royal © ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/JAMES STEIDL CHESDOVI housing Modern replica of the Ark of the Covenant, the holiest object in ancient Israel T H E J E W I S H P R E S E N T A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T 229 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. some women who spoke for God to ancient Israel to call them to greater obedience Judean captives from the town of Lachish on their way into exile in Assyria; a relief from the palace of King Sennacherib, Nineveh court became increasingly lavish as the power and size of the state increased. So did the tax burden on the lower classes. Many viewed the increasing social and economic divisions, with “the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer,” as a violation of God’s will. Over the next centuries, a line of prophets, mostly men and some women who spoke for God, denounced the leaders of Israel for their greed, exploitation of the poor, and other social injustices and immoralities. They also criticized the leaders’ faith in alliances with other nations and not in God’s power to protect the nation. Today, prophets are those who can see the future, but prophets in Israel were much more “forth-tellers” of God’s will than foretellers of the future. The importance of prophets to Israelite and Jewish religion is indicated by the fact that the books of the prophets are the largest section of the Bible. (We’ll consider the formation and use of the Bible below, at the beginning of “Essential Teachings of Judaism.”) As contemporary Jewish scholar Abraham Heschel wrote, the prophets portray the righteousness of God and God’s “pathos” (anguish) over Israel’s disobedience.1 The prophetic tradition that demands justice in God’s name for the poor and oppressed is one of the great gifts of Judaism to the world. Today prophets are said to see the future, but prophets in Israel were much more “forth-tellers” of God’s will than foretellers of the future. When Solomon died in 922 B.C.E., the people of God divided into two different nations—Israel, comprised of ten tribes in the north, and Judah, comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the south, each with its own king (see Map 10.1). Each 1 Abraham Heschel, The Prophets, study edition (Peabody, MA: Hendricksen, 2007). 230 CHAPTER 10 ERICH LESSING/ART RESOURCE, NY prophets Mostly men and nation claimed to be the true successor of the united kingdom of Saul, David and Solomon. Sometimes the two kingdoms warred with each other, and at other times they cooperated against common enemies. But two centuries later the northern kingdom of Israel was wiped out by the Assyrian Empire in 722. Its ten tribes would never appear again, becoming in Jewish lore the “ten lost tribes.” The southern kingdom of Judah was crippled at the same time by the Assyrians, who conquered several Judean cities and deported their citizens. Judah was finally conquered in 586 by the Babylonian Empire. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the population decimated by death and exile. The First Temple Period had ended with a disaster, and Israelite religion was poised to disappear into the mists of time like the religions of so many other conquered peoples. Exile and return provides “the structure of all Judaism.” —Jacob Neusner The exiles carried off to Babylon were mostly members of the Judean ruling class and skilled craftsmen. Although some exiles probably assimilated into Babylonian religion, others viewed recent events as confirmation rather than disproof of the sovereignty of Israel’s God. The warnings of the prophets, remembered in the exile, helped Israel interpret what had happened to them as God’s punishment for repeated violations of the covenant. In the ancient world, military defeat and E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. CYPRUS Byblos Sidon Mediterranean Sea SYRIA Damascus Tyre Samaria Jaffa Jordan R. Rabbat-Ammon Judaism. The pattern of exile and return would provide a historical and religious pattern that a leading scholar of Judaism, Jacob Neusner, calls “the structure of all Judaism.”2 Second Temple Period Era of Jewish history from ca. 539 B.C.E. to 70 C.E., when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple Diaspora [dee-ASSpohr-uh] Dispersion of Jews outside the ancient territory of Israel The Second Temple Period (539 B.C.E.–70 C.E.) In 539 B.C.E. the Babylonians were defeated by Cyrus (SIGH-rus) of Persia, a Zoroastrian Gaza Dead Sea whose empire covered almost the whole Near East (see Chapter 9). Cyrus authoLachish rized the rebuilding of the Jewish temple of Beersheba Jerusalem. The exiles would be allowed to return to Judea and live as a subject state in the Persian Empire. In Judea, the new leadPhilistines ers Ezra and Nehemiah zealously promoted Kingdom of Judah a renewed commitment to the Mosaic covenant. Increasingly, community life was Kingdom of Israel SINAI organized around the Torah, which was now Phoenicians in written form as the first five books of the Bible. The Second Temple was completed Mt. between 521 and 515, and the Second Sinai EGYPT Temple Period would extend until 70 C.E., 0 100 200 300 Kilometers when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple. During this time another permanent 0 100 200 Miles feature of Jewish life arose: the Diaspora, Red Sea or “dispersion,” of Jews outside the ancient territory of Israel. Many, perhaps most, of the Jews in Babylon stayed there when othMap 10.1 ers returned to Jerusalem in the 530s. Within The Monarchies of Israel and Judah, 924–722 B.C.E. The northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of a hundred years or so, there would be more Judah had expanded beyond the traditional areas of the twelve tribes, Jews living outside the territory of Israel than especially at times when neighboring kingdoms and empires were inside it. Large Jewish communities could be relatively weak. The kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian Empire in found in Alexandria, Egypt, and in Antioch, 722 to 721 B.C.E. Syria, and smaller ones in hundreds of cities in what would become the Roman Empire. This exile usually spelled the end of a particular ethnic group, Diaspora situation became peras it already had for the northern kingdom of Israel. manent in Judaism and endures Despite the disaster of 586 B.C.E. and even larger disaseven today. ters to come, Israelite religion survived and emerged 2 from the ancient world into the medieval and modern Jacob Neusner, “Judaism,” in Arvind Sharma, ed., Our Religions periods with a continuous religious identity now called (New York: HarperOne, 1994), 314. © CENGAGE LEARNING 2013 Jerusalem T H E J E W I S H P R E S E N T A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T 231 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. JAMES EMERY A modern model of the Second Temple in its Jerusalem setting In the 330s B.C.E., Alexander of Macedon (in northern Greece) began conquering and amassing the largest empire yet seen, taking Israel in his conquest. In Alexander’s time tens of thousands of Greeks migrated to all parts of his vast empire. Greek culture in Palestine extended until the rise of Islam in the 600s C.E., because many Jews in Palestine were significantly Hellenized in culture while keeping to Judaism. The two centuries after Alexander’s conquests saw the formation of Jewish movements with diverse understandings of Judaism. The Sadducees Pharisees [FAIR-uhwere a priestly movement seez] Lay movement of who accepted only the earTorah teachers who later liest books of the Bible as became religious leaders and developed the oral authoritative and coopertraditions of the Torah ated with the Romans. The Pharisees were a lay moveMaccabean Revolt ment of Torah teachers who Rebellion against later became religious leadHellenistic Greek rulers led ers and developed the oral by Judas Maccabeus and his sons traditions of the Torah. The Essenes (ESS-eenz) probHanukkah [HAHNably began the separatuh-kuh] Winter festival ist ultra-Torah-observant commemorating the community at Qumran rededication of the on the Dead Sea. Various Temple in 164 B.C.E. prophetic or messianic 232 CHAPTER 10 movements also arose within Judaism from time to time, including one led by Jesus of Nazareth (4 B.C.E.–30 C.E.) that would later become the Christian religion. Alexander’s successors had a significant impact on Judea and Judaism. After gaining control of Judea in 198 B.C.E., the Seleucid (sell-YOO-sid) dynasty of Greek rulers that controlled most of the Middle East rewarded the pro-Seleucid faction of Jews. But a struggle soon arose over the office of high priest. The Seleucid king suspected a revolt, captured the city, and plundered the Temple in 168 B.C.E. The Temple was rededicated to the Greek high god Zeus, and pagan sacrifices were made there. Many Jews were outraged, and when foundational Jewish observances such as circumcision and Sabbath observance were forbidden on pain of death, the Maccabean Revolt broke out. The revolt was led by Judas Maccabeus, of the Hasmonean clan, and his sons. The Seleucid armies were defeated, and the Temple was liberated and rededicated to God in December, 164 B.C.E., an event commemorated by Jews to this day in the winter festival of Hanukkah. Before and during the revolt, many devout Jews were tortured and killed, leading to the first written accounts of Jewish martyrs. Their example would echo strongly through Jewish history until now. In 142 B.C.E., independence from the Seleucids was secured, and the Hasmonean family ruled the small kingdom of Judea for several generations. The Hasmoneans ruled until the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 B.C.E. and took Judea into the Roman Empire. King Herod ruled Israel by Roman appointment from 37 to 4 B.C.E. He undertook extensive and ambitious building projects, including a complete rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, making it one of the most magnificent temples in the Roman Empire. However, he was hated by many Jews not only for cruelty and his loyalty to Rome, but also because many Jews doubted if he really was Jewish by birth. Relations between the Jews and their Roman overlords steadily deteriorated, and Rome appointed its own governors of the area after Herod died. Revolts and Rabbis (70 C.E.–ca. 650) In 66 C.E., a full-scale Jewish revolt broke out against Rome. Although it began well, with the Romans being chased out, it ended very differently than the Maccabean Revolt. Rome summoned all its military E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. PHOTO COURTESY PHOTOS8.COM When Christianity became the official faith of the Roman Empire around 400 C.E., Jews were allowed to survive but not thrive. From about 100 to 400 C.E., Christianity and Judaism had been in the process of separation, and mutual hostility was often strong. The Code of Justinian in 527 C.E. contained discriminatory legislation against the Jews and Judaism that was to influence European legal systems for centuries and contribute to anti-Semitism, Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum, showing prejudice and discrimination trophies from the Jewish temple against the Jewish people. Anti-Semitism isn’t Christian or even European in origin or expression. Its oldest forms can be traced to 500 B.C.E. in Egypt, and today the stronmight to crush the revolt, engaging in massive slaughter gest forms of it are found in the Muslim Middle East. of combatants and noncombatants alike. It destroyed Despite these hardships, or perhaps because of them, the Temple in 70 C.E., and a permanent transformamany Jews chose to form their communities around tion of Judaism resulted. The Temple had been the synagogues. The local synagogue became the chief orgaonly place that represented the whole nation to God nization of Jewish life in late antiquity and remained so and was the location of great religious events such until the modern period. as Jewish festivals and the Day of Atonement. It was The single most important Jewish community from also the only place where sacrifices could be offered to about 600 to 1500 C.E. was in Babylonia, outside the God. In addition, the Temple was a forum for Jewish sphere of Greek, Roman, and then Christian power. As teachers and the location of the high council of reliwe’ve seen, Israelites arrived in Babylonia during the gious leaders that governed Judaism. The destruction time of their exile in 586 B.C.E. In later periods there of the Temple was a disaster for Judaism, and the end was some immigration of the revolt against Rome from Palestine, but scholbrought the end of every ars didn’t made their way group in Judaism except the rabbis [RAB-ighz] to Babylonia and estabPharisees, who would evenTeachers of the law lish a home there until tually take over the religion’s and successors of the the persecutions after the leadership. Pharisees who eventually Bar Kochba revolt in the Jewish hopes for independence and Roman heavygained influence and 130s C.E. Over the next handed tactics continued in the ensuing decades, clijudicial authority over Judaism centuries the status of the maxing in a revolt in 130 led by messianic claimant Babylonian Jewish comSimon Bar Kochba. This revolt was also crushed by synagogue [SIN-uhmunity grew in prestige, Rome. The Jewish population had now been hit hard gawg] “Gathering” of local and immigration increased. by two wars of their own making in only sixty years. Jews in a congregation for Although the Babylonian Yet during this period a small and peripheral group worship and community Jewish community conconnected to pre-70 C.E. scribes and Pharisees prelife, a term later applied to a building fronted problems and served a Torah-centered, lay-led Judaism. It would be occasional persecution, its at least two centuries before these teachers, or rabanti-Semitism [SEHMfreedom from Christian bis, would begin to win broader influence and judiih-tihz-um] Prejudice and government and from the cial authority over Judaism. In the 300s and 400s, discrimination against the hardships that prevailed the rabbis gradually became spiritual leaders in local Jewish people in Palestine enabled it to Jewish communities, the synagogues. T H E J E W I S H P R E S E N T A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T 233 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. develop into a vibrant center of Jewish intellectual and cultural life. By 600, it had surpassed the Palestinian community in its leadership of world Judaism. All modern forms of Judaism are built on, or react to, the foundation of the Babylonian Talmud. The work of the rabbinic academy in Babylon centered first on the Mishnah, a collection of primarily legal traditions on all aspects of the Torah—what we today would call civil, criminal, and religious law— produced in Palestine and brought to Babylonia in the early third century C.E. Generations of Babylonian rabbis discussed the Mishnah and related teachings, adding to them and ultimately producing a huge legal work known as the Babylonian Talmud. Rabbinic Judaism is the Torah-centered way of life that finds expression in the vast sea of materials produced by Palestinian and Babylonian rabbis from 70 to 630 C.E., most prominently the Babylonian Talmud. The Talmud achieved a remarkable degree of power in Jewish communities worldwide, a power that withstood serious challenges well into the early modern period. Almost all forms of Judaism in the medieval and modern ages are built on, or react to, this foundation of the Talmud as interpreted by the rabbis. Babylonian Talmud [TALL-mood] Jewish law code, a compilation of the “oral Torah” Sephardic [seh-FAR-dik] Jews in medieval and modern times living in the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain Ashkenazi [ash-kuhNAHZ-ee] Jews in medieval and modern times living in Western, Central, and Eastern Europe 234 CHAPTER 10 Jews under Islamic and Christian Rule (ca. 650–1800) Jews in the medieval period lived under either Muslim or Christian rule. Muslims guaranteed religious toleration as long as the Jews recognized the supremacy of the Islamic rule. They had a second-class but protected status. On the whole, Jews adapted well to the Islamic regime and the political, economic, and social changes that it brought. They lived predominantly in major Arab cities; worked in commerce, banking, and the learned professions; and participated in cultural life, even adopting Arabic as their everyday language. Some rabbis from these Sephardic Jewish communities, which centered in the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain, were interested in the philosophical clarification of religious beliefs and the systematic presentation of their faith, just as Muslim and Christian theologians were doing. The most prominent medieval Jewish philosopher was Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (1135–1204), known as Maimonides (my-MAHN-uh-deez). He addressed his Guide for the Perplexed to a student whose education in philosophy left him confused about his religious faith—a common situation for many students from a religious background! Maimonides was a brilliant legal scholar whose fourteen-volume work on Jewish law became almost instantly authoritative. In modern editions of the Talmud, his views are often cited. Jews were outsiders in medieval Christian society in western, central, and eastern Europe where they called themselves Ashkenazi Jews, as distinguished from Sephardic. Rulers granted them permission to live in specified neighborhoods. In these neighborhoods, Jews ran their own affairs and maintained their own institutions, such as social-relief funds, schools, a synagogue led by a rabbi, a council and court for religious affairs, a bathhouse for ritual cleansing, kosher meat shops, and so on. They developed their own language, Yiddish, a combination of Hebrew and German that originated in Germany but spread to almost all European Jews. Most Jews in Western and Central Europe lived in cities. Many of those in Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia) lived in small villages centered on farming, the kind of society depicted in an 1894 collection of short stories by Sholem Aleichem (SHOH-luhm uh-LIGHKuhm), which became the basis of the Broadway musical and film Fiddler on the Roof. In the 1200s, decrees by the Roman Catholic Church after the Fourth Lateran Council altered the life of European Jews. Christians were now forbidden to lend money at interest, so Jews were free to move into banking, which they did with great success. Direct restrictions on Jews arose at this time: wearing distinctive clothing (especially hats) or a yellow badge alerting others to their presence; exclusion from most crafts and trades by guilds that controlled access to training and jobs; exclusion from the new universities being E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. PHOTO COURTESY PHOTOS8.COM the local rabbi, or dress and talk like Jews had in Europe for more than a thousand years. In less than a century, many Jews rose to become some of the leading figures in science, medicine, education, commerce, and banking. (This astonishing level of achievement continued in the twentieth century, when one-quarter of all Nobel Prize winners were Jewish.) Their emancipation prompted many nineteenth-century Jews to wonder why they should continue to be Jews when they could be citizens of European states. Many modern Jews chose to assimilate, which sometimes included Street scene in the medieval Jewish quarter conversion to Christianity. Some—for of Lublin, Poland example, Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx— even began systems of thought, science, and founded in Europe; restriction to Jewish neighborgovernment that rationalized God out of existence and hoods called ghettos; and special permission required opposed religion in general and particularly Judaism. to work outside the ghetto. The rising view of Jews as Many other Jews responded that Jewish identity was dangerous was fueled by envy, irrational suspicions, not primarily ethnic or national, but religious. One could and even hatred, which led to repeated expulsions and be a loyal citizen of a European nation, but still keep the massacres. Jews were expelled from France in 1182 Jewish religion. They urged not assimilation, but acculturand 1306 and from England in 1290. The most devasation, that is, taking on the culture of one’s nation while tating massacres were in Germany in 1298, wiping out retaining Jewish religious faith. Just as Christians could 140 Jewish communities, and in 1348 to 1349 when practice their religion as citizens of different nations, so the Black Plague was falsely attributed to Jews poisontoo should Jews. The German-Jewish intellectual Moses ing wells. In 1492 Spain expelled all Jews, estimated Mendelssohn (MEN-dul-sohn; 1729–1786) was an to be between 100,000 and 150,000. Many of them influential example of those who made embraced moderfled to temporary safety in Portugal, some of whom nity while staying Jewish. He urged Jews to participate eventually went to The Netherlands—one of the few in European culture and to continue in Judaism, what he relatively safe havens for Jews in Europe. One reaccalled the “double yoke” placed on them by God. tion of European Jews to this continued persecution was the development of Jewish mystical piety, particularly the Kabbalah (kah-BAHL-uh), which we will Many Jews questioned why they should consider below in the section “Jewish Worship and Ritual.” The Protestant Reformation in the 1500s was shoulder a “double yoke” of being both a mixed blessing to the Jews of northern Europe. In Jewish and European—why not just some places such as The Netherlands and England, Protestant reformers treated them with some tolerassimilate completely? ance. But in Germany, the Protestant reformer Martin Luther continued some aspects of anti-Jewish sentiment, in ways that would echo through later German However, many Jews in the early 1800s began to history. question why they should shoulder this “double yoke”— why not just assimilate completely? This questioning, and doubts about some elements Emancipation and Diversity of traditional Judaism that (1800–1932) looked increasingly odd to emancipation Jewish Around 1800, mostly under the influence of the many modern Jews, sparked freedom from Christian Enlightenment, many Western European nations began controversies among mostly and state control in to drop their restrictions on Jews. No longer did Jews German Jews in the midEurope after 1800 have to live in their own neighborhood, be subject to 1800s that eventually led T H E J E W I S H P R E S E N T A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T 235 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Jews to classical Judaism in a fresh and vigorous way. The Orthodox movement has several different internal groups, some of them now called (especially in Israel) the “ultra-Orthodox.” Because of their high birthrate and ability to keep their children in the faith, the Orthodox continue to grow in numbers in Europe and North America. A third main branch of Judaism, originally called “Positive-Historical” in Germany, came to be known in North America as Conservative Judaism. It was led by the German-Bohemian rabbi and scholar Zecharias Frankel (FRAHN-kul; 1801–1875). It claimed the middle ground between Reform and Orthodoxy. In that sense, “moderate Judaism” would be a better name for it than “Conservative Judaism,” but the latter name stuck. (In Israel and Europe today, this movement is known as Masorti [mah-SOHR-tee], “traditionalist.”) It opposed Reform’s sweeping changes by affirming the positive value of much of past Judaism in which the voice of God could be discerned. It opposed the Orthodox movement by asserting the historical evolution of the Judaic tradition, which Orthodoxy denied with its claim that the whole Law of God—the written form that became the Bible and the oral form that became the Talmud—was revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. Although many European Jews modernized rapidly in the 1800s and were optimistic about the future of Judaism, a wide outbreak of hostility toward the Jews in the 1870s and 1880s cast a dark shadow on their sunny optimism. For example, in France the Dreyfuss affair, in which a Jewish army officer was falsely accused of crimes, stirred up wide anti-Jewish feelings. In Russia, the czar’s secret police authored a vile book entitled the Protocols of the Elders of Zion that purported to relate how rich and powerful Jews were plotting to take over the world. Modern anti-Semitism was a backlash against Jewish success in Europe, a sign that Jews were still considered outsiders. In earlier times, anti-Semitism had a mostly religious basis, but in modern Europe it was mainly based on ethnicity. In the light of this revived anti-Semitism, and in a time of rising European nationalistic movements that formed new nations such as Germany and Italy, Jewish movements sprang up emphasizing newfound Jewish nationalism. Most important was Zionism, so called after an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem, which aimed for large Jewish emigration from Europe to Palestine. A modern Reform synagogue In 1897, Theodor Herzl (HURT-zuhl; to the three main branches of Judaism today: movement for large Reform, Orthodox, and Jewish immigration into Conservative. The Reform Palestine movement, led by Abraham Geiger (GIGH-gehr; 18201874), was the first new form of Judaism to arise. Geiger wanted to change Judaism into a modern religion with patterns of worship and devotion similar to German Protestant Christianity. Synagogues were renamed “temples,” and services were no longer conducted in Hebrew, but German. Sermons by the rabbi and music by trained choirs were introduced; candles were put at the front of remodeled synagogues that now resembled Christian churches; and the ethnic and national aspects of Judaism were no longer mentioned. Reform Judaism gave up kosher food regulations, Jewish dress and hair codes, the Yiddish language, and most other traditional aspects. It ended beliefs and practices it considered not a part of the spiritual essence of Judaism. Of course, this entailed an almost complete rejection of the Talmud. The Reform movement quickly spread through much of Europe and North America. Traditionalist Jews condemned these reforms as a betrayal of Judaism. They viewed their form of Judaism as the only legitimate continuation of Rabbinic Judaism and biblical Israel. The leader of modern Orthodoxy was Samson Raphael Hirsch (hersh; 1808–1888). Hirsch urged a combination of most traditional Jewish religious practices and selective appreciation of European civilization. He criticized the Reform movement for diminishing Judaism for the convenience and contentment of modern Jews. Instead, he urged the Orthodox movement to elevate © RON ZMIRI/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM Zionism Modern 236 CHAPTER 10 E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 1860–1904) organized the First Zionist Congress in repressive measures. Some of them pursued Nazi ideBasel, Switzerland, which called for an internationology to “purify” Germany in a series of anti-Semitic ally recognized Jewish national home in laws gradually introduced between 1933 Palestine. The Zionist movement was and 1938. Germans who had just one largely secular in orientation. With congrandparent who was Jewish by ethnictinued anti-Semitism in Europe, increasity—on a synagogue roll, for example, or a ing numbers of Jewish immigrants settled member of a secular Jewish organization— in Palestine and began to set up the social were deemed to be Jewish, whether or not infrastructure of a modern nation. The they thought of themselves as Jewish. quest for a Jewish nation free from the Jews had to wear a yellow star in pubthreats of anti-Semitism was well on lic for identification. Marriage and sexits way. In 1917 the British government ual relations between Jews and so-called Badge worn by all Jews issued the Balfour Declaration giving Aryan Germans were banned, and by in Nazi Germany. Jude British support for a national home for (pronounced YOO-deh) is 1938 all German Jews had been stripped the Jewish people in Palestine. German for Jew. of their citizenship, most civil rights, and some from their professional jobs. Some PHOTO COURTESY PHOTOS8.COM Jews fled as these laws were passed, but The Zionist slogan was “a land most stayed, hoping that each new law would be the last. without a people for a people without a land.” Jewish state after UN partition of Palestine, 1947 Israel after War of 1948–1949 SYR IA Haifa H if Port Said GOLAN HEIGHTS Sea of Galilee WEST Jordan R. Med i t erra n ea n Sea Tel Aviv BANK 32°E ISR AEL Amman Jerusalem Gaza Dead Sea J OR DA N Suez Canal EGY P T Suez 32°E SAU DI AR AB IA R ed Sea 28°E 36°E © CENGAGE LEARNING 2013 z Sharm el-Sheikh Elath o f A qa b a ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT SINAI PENINSULA G ulf Nile R . Cairo ue T H E J E W I S H P R E S E N T A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T Damascus fS Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party won office in the 1932 German national elections, and in 1933 Hitler quickly moved toward totalitarian power with a variety of LE LEBA N ON Be Beirut fo The Holocaust and Its Aftermath (1932–present) Israeli-occupied area after Yom Kippur War, 1973 G ul The Zionist slogan was “a land without a people for a people without a land,” but the Jewish settlers there found that Palestine wasn’t really a land without a people. Palestinian Arabs in the tens of thousands, both Muslims and Christians, had been living in that small territory for more than a thousand years. Moreover, Palestinians were among the most culturally advanced Arabs in the Middle East, and still are today. As the numbers of Jewish settlers increased, friction grew with the Arab population. Freedom for European Jews would come at the expense of a future conflict between Israeli Jews and Arabs, in which they would be locked in a long struggle for a land they both considered holy. Islam had been tolerant of Judaism for 1,300 years but now became mostly intolerant, largely because of Muslim resistance to non-Muslims taking their holy land. Several wars were fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors from 1948 through today, all of them won by Israel, sometimes at a high cost (see Map 10.2). A few peace treaties have been signed, but the conflict continues. Jewish settlement in Israel grew quickly after the events of World War II, especially after Germany’s extermination of most European Jews. We now turn to a brief examination of this horrific story. Area controlled by Israel after Six-Day War, 1967 Map 10.2 Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947–Present By Egyptian-Israeli agreements of 1975 and 1979, Israel withdrew from the Sinai in 1982. By 1981 Israel annexed the Golan Heights in Syria. Through negotiations between Israel and the PLO, Jericho and the Gaza Strip were placed under Palestinian self-rule, and Israeli troops were withdrawn in 1994. In 1994 Israel and Jordan signed an agreement opening their borders and normalizing their relations. 237 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. These hopes were in vain. When World War II began, Hitler ordered a “Final Solution” of the “Jewish Question.” The term Holocaust (literally, a “completely burned” sacrifice) came after the war, used to describe the Nazi genocide of Jews and other groups; the Hebrew term Shoah (SHOW-uh, “destruction”) is also used. When the war in the East broke out, “special assignment groups” of German troops held mass executions of hundreds of thousands of Jews who lived in villages and towns in newly conquered territory. But this soon proved “inefficient.” In 1942, the German government erected concentration camps in western Germany and occupied Poland, after the model of the first camp in Dachau. The purpose of these camps was not to “concentrate” Jews, but to kill them with all the efficiency of state-run mass murder. Jews from Germany and Poland were brought by train to be killed by poison gas or to work as slave laborers in adjoining factories. Then Jews from every other nation in Nazi-occupied Europe—especially Russia, Hungary, The Netherlands, and France—were hunted down and brought by train to the camps. The Nazi aim in the “Final Solution” was to make not only Germany, but all of Europe, “Jew-free.” Approximately six million Jews perished, almost threequarters of Europe’s Jewish population. Relatively few Germans dared—or cared—to risk almost certain death by opposing the actions of their government. Among the most famous examples of those that did are the Roman Catholic industrialist Oskar Schindler, who protected 1,200 Jewish workers from death, and the Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (BAHN-haw-fuhr), who spoke out against anti-Semitism and Nazi control of the German churches. He also participated in a failed plot to kill Hitler. Bonhoeffer was hanged by the Nazis shortly before the war ended; when Schindler died in 1974, he was buried with great honors in Jerusalem. Holocaust [HAUL-ohcaust] Nazi genocide of Jews and other groups in World War II 238 CHAPTER 10 Liam Neeson (center) as Oskar Schindler in Schindler’s List, walking through lines of his Jewish workers, whom he saved © UNIVERSAL/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION The Nazi aim in the “Final Solution” was to make not only Germany, but all of Europe, “Jew-free.” The Holocaust brought a crisis of faith to Judaism like no event before it. To adapt Jacob Neusner’s phrase, it was an “exile” from which “return” was extremely difficult. Orthodox Jews in general explained the Holocaust as punishment for recent Jewish sins, as a test of faith, or even as an opportunity to die for the faith. For many other Jews, it shook the foundations of Judaism. Some Jews, such as Richard Rubenstein, said that the only possible valid response to the Holocaust was the rejection of God. If God could allow the Holocaust, then there was no God. Many Jews agreed with this, and the abandonment of traditional beliefs and practices of Jewish religion begun in the Jewish emancipation accelerated. On the other hand, Emil Fackenheim and others insisted that the Holocaust did not show that God was dead. To reject Judaism’s God, Fackenheim said, was to aid Hitler in the accomplishment of his evil, even demonic goal to destroy Judaism. Whatever the best response to the Holocaust—not yet a settled question in Judaism—the field of religious studies has given it a large and important place in teaching and research. Holocaust museums have sprung up in several major North American cities. Popular literature and film have also dealt extensively with the Holocaust. The Diary of Anne Frank, authored by the Dutch Jewish teenager who wrote about her life in hiding, has become required reading in secondary schools all over the world. The works of Holocaust survivors such as Elie Wiesel (EHL-ee veeZEHL), particularly his moving novel Night, are widely read. Hollywood films on the Holocaust—Schindler’s List, Sophie’s Choice, Life Is Beautiful, and many others—have portrayed it in especially powerful ways. E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. “Most Israelis don’t belong to a synagogue, but the synagogue they don’t belong to is Orthodox.” —Israeli quip We should close this section with a consideration of Judaism in Israel today. The Orthodox movement is the only movement legally recognized in Israel. Until about 2000, only Orthodox Jews could serve on religious councils. Today, only Orthodox rabbis may perform marriage and conversion and grant divorce in Israel. Orthodox men are exempt from military service, and some of them receive lifelong stipends from the government in order to devote themselves to full-time Torah study. Some nonOrthodox Israelis bristle at this preferential treatment. Most Israelis today don’t formally identify with the three movements known in North America. Instead, they describe themselves in terms of their degree of observance. More than half of all Israelis call themselves “secular.” About 15 to 20 percent describe themselves as “Orthodox.” Most of the rest in the wide middle are “traditionally observant.” However, the secular and the traditionalists (Masorti) of Israel tend to be more observant than are their counterparts in Europe and North America. For example, many secularists in Israel observe some traditional practices, such as lighting Sabbath candles on Friday evening, limiting their activities on the Sabbath day of rest, having a full Passover home ritual, or keeping some Jewish dietary laws (avoiding pork, for example). These practices are almost nonexistent among American Jews who call themselves “secular.” An Israeli quip on this combination of secularism and observance runs, “Most Israelis don’t belong to a synagogue, but the synagogue they don’t belong to is Orthodox.” Essential Teachings of Judaism LO3 A Jewish woman enters her home in Los Angeles. Just before she goes through her front door, she looks at a small box fastened to the right frame of the door. It contains a small scroll with three short passages from the Hebrew Bible, especially the key words of Deuteronomy 6:4–9: “Take to heart these instructions. . . . Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. . . . Inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” She touches this box reverently as a reminder to remember God and keep God’s teachings within her home. This little ritual act displays a key characteristic of Judaism: that it is a religion of action more than a religion of reflection. Judaism as a whole has no official statement of its essential teachings. Unlike many other religions, it has rarely argued over doctrine to the point of division. The closest it came to a confession was the Thirteen Articles of Maimonides, but this was never widely accepted as a formal statement of Jewish teaching, in its time or later. Persons are Jewish whether they hold a system of traditional Jewish teachings, have simple beliefs associated with rituals such as the Passover meal, or even don’t hold to any traditional Jewish teachings at all. This situation arises largely because actions in accordance with the Torah, not beliefs, are the most important aspect of Jewish religious life. Today, Jewish describes a people and a culture as well as a religion, so some who call themselves Jewish have little interest in any Jewish religious practices and even less in the teachings of Judaism. Foundation of Jewish Teachings: The Tanak The foundation of Jewish teaching and ethics is the Jewish Bible, commonly called the Tanak. This name is an acronym formed from the first letters of the three divisions of the Bible: the Torah (instruction, law); the second division, called the Nevi’im (prophets); and the third, the Kethuvim (writings). The Jewish scriptures arose over a period of more than a thousand years, and the Tanak was finalized only at the beginning of the first century C.E. Around the second century B.C.E., a translation into Greek was made in Egypt for Jews who had lived so long in the Diaspora that they had lost their knowledge of the Hebrew language. In the Tanak [TAH-nahk] Name consolidation of Judaism for the Hebrew Bible, an that occurred after the acronym formed from Jewish revolt, the status the first letters of Torah of this Greek translation, (the law), Nevi’im (the called the Septuagint (sepprophets), and Kethuvim TOO-uh-jint), fell. Soon (the writings) only the Hebrew Bible ESSENTIAL TEACHINGS OF JUDAISM 239 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. One God Judaism is a monotheistic faith, meaning that Jews believe that only one God exists. Hebrew and Israelite religion acknowledged the possible existence of other gods, but only one God for Israel. This henotheism— the belief in one God while accepting that other gods may exist—seems to have been prevalent in ancient Israel. For example, Canaanite gods were worshiped at Israelite holy places shortly after Israelite settlement in their promised land, King David named some of his children after Canaanite gods, and Solomon built a shrine to a Canaanite fertility goddess outside Jerusalem. Full, formal monotheism seems to have come in the Babylonian Shema [sheh-MAH, exile in the 500s B.C.E. or shmah] Basic As we saw above, the return statement of faith from from Babylon featured a Deuteronomy 6 that strict enforcement of monobegins “Hear, O Israel, the theism, and Judaism has Lord our God is One” continued in it ever since. 240 CHAPTER 10 Israel’s God is eternal, holy, all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful. God is a divine being, not a principle or a force. God guides not only those who know him, but also the nations and human history. God is transcendent, far above the world and human ability to comprehend God; but God is immanent as well, present in the world and in each human being. Because God is holy and just, God punishes humans for their disobedience, particularly those who know the Torah; but because God is merciful, God forgives and renews relationships. How individual Jews choose to relate to God has varied in different times and places. Some have related to God by studying and keeping the Torah, by formal worship in the two Temples and in synagogues, with piety and emotion, even with mysticism such as the Kabbalah. An important part of Jewish piety relating to monotheism is the Shema, a basic statement of faith from Deuteronomy 6 that begins “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is One.” Some Jews today even relate to God by denying God’s existence, but ironically this too has become a Jewish option. Judaism’s names for God are an important aspect of its teaching about God. The most sacred name of God, as God revealed to Moses in the book of Exodus, is YHWH. This name seems to be built on the Hebrew verb to be and means either “I am” or “I will be.” YHWH is sometimes referred to as the tetragrammaton (TEH-trahGRAM-mah-tahn), from the Greek for “four lettered.” When vowels were added to Hebrew in the Middle Ages, this name was considered too holy to be changed, so we don’t know its original pronunciation. The common word Jehovah (jeh-HOH-vuh), however, is incorrect as a vocalization. A more grammatically correct spelling and pronunciation, one used by scholars, is Yahweh (YAHweh). Nevertheless, this discussion is irrelevant to most Jews, because they don’t pronounce God’s name. When Observant Jews wear kippahs out of reverence for God. PHOTO COURTESY PHOTOS8.COM was used in synagogues, even though many Jews could not understand it. Even more important than the particular documents of the Bible is the authority that most Jews have invested in the biblical canon. These documents are said to be the written revelation of God—they are God’s very words. The Bible is especially authoritative in expressing what God expects the Jewish people to do in response to the divine self-revelation. They express and shape the faith and action of Jews through all times. Jews have debated the meaning of the Bible, have often strongly disagreed about it, and in modern times have studied it with modern scholarly methods, but most Jews accept the Bible as their special book in some significant sense. The Jewish use of their scriptural canon has deeply influenced the formation, contents, and use of scripture in Christianity and Islam. Despite this lack of primary emphasis on teaching, the Bible and Talmud contain a great deal of teaching about God, humanity, and the meaning of life. Jewish history has seen significant theological and mystical inquiry into religious concepts. We’ll consider three main teachings: one God, the chosen people, and life after death. (We’ll consider other foundational teachings, the notions of obedience to God’s will in the Torah and the concept of ethical monotheism, below in the section “Essential Jewish Ethics.”) E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. NATHAN LEVECK from all the nations that are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 14:2). This choice is grounded in God’s love and faithfulness to the covenant promises made to Abraham, not on Israel’s own qualities: “The Lord did not set his love upon you or choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people. It was because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your ancestors” (Deuteronomy 7:7–8). The tetragrammaton, or name for God in Hebrew, YHWH (Hebrew reads from right to left) the Torah is read aloud, Adonai (ad-oh-NAI), meaning “Lord,” is read in place of YHWH. This practice is reflected in most English translations, including in the Christian Bible, in which YHWH is rendered as “Lord.” Many traditionalist Jews also refer to God as Hashem (hah-SHEHM), “the Name,” understanding that God, not just God’s name, is meant. The prohibition against pronouncing God’s name expresses a profound human reverence for God. Some modern Orthodox Jews carry this reverence for God’s name one step further. They refrain from writing the word God, replacing it instead with G-d. Other branches of modern Judaism do not follow them in this practice, saying that God is a generic noun, not a biblical name. Jews throughout history have found that being God’s chosen people is mostly a blessing, but sometimes a mixed blessing that brings trouble. The “flip side” of this chosen status is demanding, even ominous at times. Alongside the positive things said about being chosen, there is the necessity of obedience: “If you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people” (Exodus 19:5). The obligation, even The Jews As God’s Chosen People Jewish clothing, hair styles, and the hidden sign of circumcision have helped to define Jewish status as a chosen people. Here a young Orthodox Jew stands behind his father in Jerusalem. ESSENTIAL TEACHINGS OF JUDAISM © ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/LUOMAN Most religions that believe in gods have seen themselves as having a special relationship with their gods, a relationship that makes them “chosen” or otherwise special. The Jews believe that they are God’s “chosen people,” chosen to be in a covenant with God. They didn’t choose God; God chose them. The Jewish idea of being chosen is first found in the Torah and is elaborated in later books of the Tanak. This status carries both responsibilities and blessings, as described in the biblical accounts of the covenants with God. According to the Tanak, Israel’s character as the chosen people goes all the way back to Abraham and the eternal covenant God made with him: “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you” (Genesis 17:7). Being chosen as God’s people brings a call to be holy and a realization of how amazing this is: “For you are a holy people to YHWH your God, and God has chosen you to be his treasured people 241 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. threat, that this demand for obedience entails is emphasized by the prophet Amos: “You only have I singled out of all the families of the earth; therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities” (Amos 3:2). Despite their status as a part of the chosen people, the ten tribes of the chosen people were wiped away in 721 B.C.E. because they disobeyed God continually. Jews throughout history have found their belief in being God’s chosen people mostly a blessing, but sometimes a mixed blessing that brings troubles with both God and other people. One of the most wry expressions of this mixed blessing is in the musical Fiddler on the Roof, when Tevye, the main character beset by difficulties, prays, “I know we are the chosen people. But once in a while, can’t you choose someone else?” Throughout its history, Judaism has usually linked being the “chosen people” with a mission or purpose, such as being a “light to the nations,” a “blessing to the nations,” or a “kingdom of priests” between God and the world. This special duty derives from the covenant God made with Abraham and was renewed at the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. Through the long history of Judaism and Israelite religion before it, the idea of being God’s chosen people sustained many Jews throughout military defeat and exile, discrimination, persecution, even the Holocaust. In modern times, more secular Jews have understood it to mean that their human abilities should be put to use for the good of all humankind. Even among secularized Jews there is a continuing feeling for the special status in having a Jewish heritage. In sum, the British historian Paul Johnson once wrote that historians cannot deal well with the religious claim that God actually chose the Jews and guided their history, but it can be affirmed that “The Jews believed that they were a special people with such unanimity and passion, and over so long a span, that they became one.” 3 Life after Death? As the Hebrew Bible book of Job (johb) puts it, “If mortals die, will they live again?” (Job 14:14). Most religions of the world address this question, because clarity on the issues of life after death means a great deal to how they think about life before death. However, the Tanak has little to say about what happens after death, and Judaism as a whole today doesn’t dwell on it. This may seem surprising to non-Jews, because the sacred texts of Christianity and Islam, both of which 3 Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews (New York: Harper and Row, 1987), 587. 242 CHAPTER 10 have their foundations in Judaism, speak often about life after death. But with Judaism’s focus on actions more than beliefs, it is actually to be expected that it not speculate about the world to come. Because many religions, including Judaism’s sister faiths of Christianity and Islam, rely in part on fear of the fires of hell and the hope of heaven to motivate good conduct in their adherents, it is remarkable that Judaism, with its strong emphasis on morality, hasn’t usually done the same. An early common theme in the Bible is that death means joining one’s ancestors in the land of the dead— being “gathered to one’s people” (Genesis 25:8, 25:17, 35:29, 49:33; Deuteronomy 42:50). Another image emphasizes the reality of mortality. God made humans from the dust of the ground, and because of their sins they die and return to dust (Genesis 3:19). Most Jews take this literally—they regularly today use wooden coffins that over time allow the body to rejoin the ground. The most common biblical image of the afterlife is as a shadowy place called Sheol (SHEE-ohl), which is similar to the Greek conception of Hades. Sheol is a shadowy underworld, a place of darkness (Psalms 88:13; Job 10:21, 22) and silence (Psalms 115:17). Good and evil people alike go there, and God isn’t present there. These early biblical descriptions of death indicate a belief that the person continues to exist in some way after death, but not with a full or happy life. Much later in the biblical tradition the concept arises of the resurrection of the dead and a final judgment leading to either a blessed or a damned life. Daniel 12:2 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.” Fully developed concepts of the resurrection of the dead and eternal life came into much of Judaism around 200 B.C.E. When rabbinical Judaism—based largely on the earlier Pharisees—took over, belief in resurrection was near-universal in Judaism all the way to the Jewish Enlightenment in 1800. The resurrection of the dead is one of the Thirteen Articles by Maimonides, and a prayer said regularly in traditionalist synagogues from medieval times through today affirms the resurrection. One early rabbi, Hiyya ben Joseph, suggested that the dead will travel through the ground and rise up in Jerusalem; the unrighteous will arise naked and ashamed, and the righteous will rise up clothed and happy (Babylonian Talmud, Ketubot 111b). The hope of being raised in Jerusalem has led to large cemeteries there, especially on the Mount of Olives. Despite belief in a divine judgment that separates those whose deeds are on balance good from those whose deeds are not, some rabbis held that a middle group of people of more mixed accomplishments E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. the resurrection in the Thirteen Articles, Maimonides held that there is no material substance in heaven at all, only souls of the righteous without bodies (Mishneh Torah, Repentance 8). This purely spiritual view of heaven never became a mainstream Jewish teaching, because Judaism had long held that “soul” and “body” belong together. Both Islam and Christianity give much more importance to the teaching of resurrection and eternal life. ALAN KOTOK “I don’t believe in [an afterlife]. I believe this is it, and I believe it’s the best way to live.” —Natalie Portman Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives facing the former site of the Temple, now occupied by the Dome of the Rock mosque will go into hell for an eleven-month period of purification and then enter heaven (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 16b-17a, Eduyot 2.10). This belief is probably connected to the Jewish practice of eleven months of mourning deceased loved ones. Most Jews have believed that one need not be Jewish to enter heaven. Because God judges actions and not beliefs, those who do what God commands will be rewarded. Maimonides, for example, wrote that all good people of the world have a portion in the next world. Those who are “righteous among the Gentiles” (non-Jews) by virtue of their deeds, even if they belong to a different religion, will enter heaven. Heaven is typically called the “Garden of Eden,” a place of joy and peace that recaptures the original home of humanity on earth. The Babylonian Talmud’s imagery of heaven includes sitting at banquet tables (Taanit 25a), enjoying lavish banquets (Baba Batra 75a), and even enjoying heavenly sex with spouses (Berachot 57b). A few rabbis didn’t like this imagery and held that there will be no eating, drinking, or sex in heaven—or if there is, they won’t be so enjoyable. Instead, the blessed will enjoy heaven in a purely spiritual way (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 17a). For example, despite his affirmation of As stated above, this Talmudic teaching on the afterlife prevailed in virtually all of Judaism from about 400 to 1800 C.E. Today, Orthodox Jewish movements still teach the resurrection of the dead, judgment by God, and life in heaven or hell. Reform Judaism, on the other hand, rejected these doctrines as binding. Instead, its members are allowed to form their own opinions on life after death. The general view in Reform, drawn from Enlightenment ideas, is that even if there is a life after death, we can’t know much about it here, so it shouldn’t play a large role in how people live. Human immortality, Reform Jews hold, is mostly in one’s children and the spiritual legacy one leaves behind. As a result, many Reform Jews and secular Jews have no belief in life after death. For example, when the IsraeliAmerican actress Natalie Portman, who was raised “Jewish but not religious,” was asked about her concept of the afterlife, she said, “I don’t believe in that. I believe this [life] is it, and I believe it’s the best way to live.” The Conservative movement, between Orthodoxy and Reform on most teachings, holds to the continued importance of the main lines of traditional teachings on this topic, but notes its historical conditioning and interprets its more vivid imagery as symbolic. Essential Jewish Ethics LO4 I n Grand Rapids, Michigan, a short controversy breaks out in the press over the religious implications of a museum exhibit called “Bodies Revealed." This exhibit, which has played in several other North American cities, shows fourteen full human bodies and “hundreds of organs” in various states ESSENTIAL JEWISH ETHICS 243 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. of dissection. The museum’s website says it has anticipated the controversy that has followed this exhibit as it travels, so it has consulted ethical and religious experts on bringing the exhibit to town. Although it’s a popular exhibit with excellent ticket sales, some controversy does break out in the open. The most articulate examination is in a newspaper column by a local rabbi, David Krishef, leader of the local Conservative synagogue. Rabbi Krishev examines the good that can come from the exhibit but, he asks, at what cost? He raises the traditional Jewish moral command to honor the bodies of the dead, not to display them to the public for profit, entertainment, or even education. The moral life of the Jewish people, of all branches today, rests on biblical foundations. God created the world as a good place, to reflect God’s own glory and goodness. God created the world as a place for human culture in all its fullness. When human beings rebelled against God, God went in search of them, calling Abraham to live in covenant with God. But God not only searches and redeems humans; God also commands them to follow his way. For the rabbis of antiquity and the Middle Ages, and for Orthodox and most Conservatives today, the moral code of the Bible is composed of laws that demand obedience—they are indeed commandments, not general moral guidelines. In their understanding, God didn’t give the “Ten Suggestions.” God didn’t give the “Ten Suggestions.” Ethics in the Image of God Jewish morality and ethics rest on the foundation of ethical monotheism. Not only is God one and the only God, but God is perfectly right and righteous. Holiness is at the center of God’s nature; God is good, just, and compassionate. The good world that God made, especially the people in it, are created to live in conformity with God’s nature and will. The Torah given by God enables people to know more exactly what God’s will is, but a basic notion of God’s will is written in every human heart. In contrast with other religions of the ancient Near East, evil is not built into the structure of the universe but is the product of human choices. Humans are free moral agents. A fundamental Jewish teaching shared by almost all Jews today (except those who reject the existence of 244 CHAPTER 10 God, of course) is that human beings are created in the “image of God.” Israelites and Jews never took this to mean that humans somehow physically look like God, because God is a spirit and invisible to the human eye. Although the Bible doesn’t explain the “image of God” in detail, Jews have interpreted it to mean that humans can think rationally and have a moral sense to know what is right. Because humans are created in God’s image, humans have the ability to know and even act like God. The “image of God” is related to the human mind and spirit, but it means that humans are like God, not that a part of them is God. The good impulse and the evil impulse are like having an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, each urging a particular course of action. The early rabbis taught that God built two moral impulses into each human being: the “good impulse” called the yetzer hatov (YAY-tser ha-TOHV) and the “evil impulse,” the yetzer hara (YAY-tser ha-RAH). The good impulse is the moral conscience that reminds a person of God’s law and creates an urge to follow it. The evil impulse is the urge to satisfy one’s own needs and desires. Despite its name, there’s nothing intrinsically evil about the evil impulse, because it was created by God and is natural to humankind. The “evil” impulse, acting with the good impulse, drives us to eat, drink, procreate, and make a living—all necessary and good things. However, it can easily lead to sin when not held in check and balanced by the good impulse, and this is why it is called “evil.” Eating, drinking, procreating, and making a living can be taken to extremes and destroy human life. The good impulse and the evil impulse are like the modern image of a person who has an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, each urging a particular course of action. Some rabbis have been uncomfortable about talk of a created “evil” impulse and have preferred to speak of one impulse that can be used in two different ways. The Torah The Torah, the first five books of the Bible but in a wider sense the whole teaching and law of Judaism, is this religion’s most important text. It contains stories and E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. © ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/JAMES STEIDL The rest of the Torah’s legal matecommandments that teach about rial is based on these Ten life and death. The rabbis enuCommandments. The rabbis of merated 613 commandments the ancient world compiled (mitzvot): 248 positive comthe Mishnah and the Gemara, mandments (“You shalls”) and finally combining them into 365 negative commandments the Talmud, expanding on (“You shall nots”). Moreover, these commandments and all the commandments are held bringing them into every to be binding and more or less aspect of the life of the Jewish equal. Some Jews in the modern people. Judaism’s emphasis on age would make a distinction The Ten Commandments in Hebrew, in their justice and love in community, between the “moral law” and shorter form. Writing on stone suggests rather than on just the letter the “ceremonial” and “ritual the permanence and seriousness of the of the law, has enabled it to keep to law.” This isn’t found in the Bible commandments. its moral tradition while adapting and Talmud, but history seems to changing circumstances in life. to have ratified it, because some of the 613 commands cannot be fulfilled now that the Jewish temple is gone. All comGeneral Jewish Ethics mandments come from God, the ancient and medieval Beside these Torah-based commands that originate with rabbis said, so all are binding forever. Today, all Jews the Hebrew Bible, the biblical tradition also has broad consider the Ten Commandments to be the most imporlegal injunctions, wisdom narratives with moral lessons, tant commandments in the Torah, though not all Jews and prophetic teachings. These other teachings became adhere to the 613 mitzvot, forming one of the main difimportant in the first millennium B.C.E., although the ferences between the different branches of Judaism. Torah commands remain central and foundational. In The Ten Commandments run as follows, with short modern times, as the Torah commands became probexplanations in brackets: lematic for many Jews, the more-general ethical prin1. I am the Lord your God [not a commandment in ciples became paramount for them. grammatical form, but the basis of the people’s The biblical prophets exhorted their audiences to relationship with God]. lead a life that honored their covenant with God. They pointed primarily to obedience to the Torah, but they 2. You shall not recognize any as god beside Me also spoke of more-general moral duties: kindness to [the root of monotheism]. the needy, benevolence, faith, relief for the suffering, a 3. You shall not take the Name of the Lord your peace-loving disposition, and a humble spirit. Civic loyGod in vain [God’s name, symbolic of God’s alty and obedience, even to a foreign ruler, is urged as a essence, must be respected]. duty (Jeremiah 29:7). This was also important in later 4. Remember the day of Sabbath, to keep it holy times, as Jews lived under non-Jewish governments. [the Sabbath is a day of rest and rededication to What the prophets viewed as the end-time is uncertain, God]. but the moral vision was clear: the end-time will be one 5. Honor your father and your mother [parents are of peace and righteousness (Isaiah 2:2). to be respected as long as they live]. In early rabbinic Judaism, the oral Torah both interpreted the Bible and delved afresh into many other 6. You shall not murder [not all killing is murder, but ethical topics. Jewish morality, encompassing both comunlawful killing is]. mandments and general ethics, is known to Jews today as 7. You shall not commit adultery [breaking marriage halakhah, literally “walk” of life. God has a way for the vows breaks marriage]. chosen people to walk in. 8. You shall not steal [other people’s property is to The best-loved and most influential rabbinic text be respected]. on ethics is the Mishnah 9. Do not give false testimony against your neighbor tractate of Pirke Avot halakhah [hah-luh-KAH] [lying in legal settings undermines justice]. (PEER-kay ah-VOHT), the “Walk” of life, the way of “Sayings of the Fathers,” 10. You shall not covet the possessions of others moral obedience to God often translated as “Ethics [desiring to have things that others have]. ESSENTIAL JEWISH ETHICS 245 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. PHOTO COURTESY PHOTOS8.COM Reading glasses on the Torah suggest the importance of knowing the scriptures as a basis of Jewish morality. of the Fathers.” The Pirke Avot traces the transmission of the oral Torah from Moses to the second century C.E., when the Mishnah was compiled. Throughout this work, the word Torah refers especially to the oral Torah, a “fence around the [written] law,” the body of legal opinions developed by the rabbis and codified in the Mishnah. The idea behind this “fence” is that by keeping it one would also be keeping the written Torah that it protects. Modern Jewish Ethics In the modern period, Jewish ethics sprouted many offshoots, due to developments in modern secular ethics and to the formation of Jewish branches, each needing clarity on ethical teachings. The nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Reform movement promoted the idea of Judaism as pure ethical monotheism. Since about 1900, liberal Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis have fostered novel approaches to Jewish ethics—in the work of Eugene Borowitz, for example. Also in these centuries, Orthodox rabbis have often engaged in applied ethics by interpreting the Talmud for bioethics: end-of-life issues, in vitro fertilization, genetic therapy, and other topics. Perhaps the most influential work of Jewish social ethics is I and Thou by Martin Buber (BOO-buhr; 1878–1965). In this profound work, which is reputed to have changed the lives of many of its readers, Buber uses two pairs of words to describe two fundamentally different types of relationship between one’s self and the world: “I-It” and “I-Thou.” For I-It relationships, the “It” refers to other people as objects. It objectifies and devalues them. In other words, the “I” looks upon others as “Its,” not as people like oneself. Buber held that most human problems are caused by I-It attitudes. By contrast, the “I” in an I-Thou relationship doesn’t objectify 246 CHAPTER 10 any “It” but has a living, mature relationship with others. It recognizes that the “Thou” is a whole world of experience within one person, just as one’s “I” is. Buber taught that God is the “eternal Thou” known by direct encounter with God and indirect encounter with God as one develops I-Thou relationships with other people. Jewish Worship and Ritual LO5 I n London, a prominent Jewish rabbi criticizes pop singer Madonna’s practice of Jewish mysticism known as the Kabbalah. Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet of London’s Mill Hill Synagogue strongly objects to Madonna’s use of the Kabbalah, arguing that it tarnishes Judaism when people who don’t observe Jewish law engage in Jewish mysticism. Rabbi Schochet and many other traditional, observant Jews are particularly upset by the tattoo on Madonna’s right shoulder of the ancient Hebrew name for God, which most Jews regard as so holy that they don’t use it. (They forbid permanent tattoos as well, so this is a double fault.) Madonna’s interest in the Kabbalah began with her 1998 Ray of Light album, was strengthened by her 2007 visit to the Kabbalah center in Jerusalem, and continues today. Public fascination with her use of the Kabbalah also remains strong, and she has become the leading celebrity voice of the Kabbalah. Because Judaism is a religion of practice, it has a full set of rituals for synagogue worship, home practices, and community-based religious festivals. We’ll begin with synagogue worship, then consider the Sabbath and the main festivals; the major life-cycle rituals of circumcision, bar/bat mitzvah, and funerals; and finally the Kabbalah. Worship in the Synagogue The main synagogue service takes place on either Friday evening or Saturday morning, both of which fall on the Sabbath day. In Orthodox synagogues, males and females sit separately; in Conservative and Reform, they may sit together. A minyan (MIHN-yahn), or minimum number of men to have a service (usually ten), is necessary. We’ve E N C O U N T E R I N G J U D A I S M : T H E WAY O F G O D ’ S C H O S E N P E O P L E Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. When a scroll is removed from the ark during the service, everyone in the synagogue stands and a special song is often sung. ● The scroll is placed on a reading desk. ● The readers use a special pointer, often made of solid silver, to keep track of their place in the text and avoid touching it with their hands. © ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/GEORGE CORBIN ● Reading the Torah scroll in a synagogue ● When the reading is complete, the scroll is rolled up, its covers are put back on, and it is returned to the ark with great solemnity. Then the rabbi sometimes preaches a short sermon based on the texts that were read, especially the Torah reading. The Sabbath One of the Ten Commandments orders that the “Sabbath” (seventh) day of the week be kept holy. This day begins at sunset on Friday and concludes on sunset on Saturday. Sabbath usually begins at home, with a festive meal for which the whole family is present. The meal leads off with the lighting of the Sabbath candles. At least eighteen minutes before sundown on Friday, the mother and daughters light candles, usually on the dining table, to welcome the Sabbath. In many modern Jewish households the candle blessing is performed together as a family. After the candles are lit, this blessing is rec...
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Running head: CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM

Christianity and Judaism
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CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM

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The textbook notes that justification in Christianity is achieved through faith in Christ. By
definition, justification is the process through which one is seen as righteous in the sight of God.
Unlike Judaism where justification is attained through observing the Law, Jewish Ethics, and
ceremonies, Christianity holds that one is justified by receiving Christ as His righteousness is
imputed to the accounts of those who receive Him. Kleinhans (2013) note from while the view of
justification is addressed through the whole of New Testament, it is best described in Romans 3:
21-24 (New International Version) which state that “But now a righteousness from God, apart
from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the prophets testify. This righteousness
from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” From this verse, it is evident that justification from a
Christianity point of view is God-given, and comes through having faith in Jesus (Peters, 2014).
Despite the Biblical evidence in the Book of Romans that justification in Christianity
comes through faith in Christ, I hold a different opinion. Like Judaism, I believe that Christianity
is a religion founded on actions; and it is only through demonstrating one’s faith through action
that one gains justification. For one to be justified in the eyes of God, they must demonstrate
faith in Him through their actions. James 2:14-26 holds that faith without action is dead.
Specifically, James 2:14-17 (New International Version) states that “What good is it, my
brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a
brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in
peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is
that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM

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In his teachings using, Jesus taught that those who served the needy and helped the sick
would be considered righteous and will inherit the Kingdom of God. Mathew 25:34-36 (The
New King James Version) states that “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you
who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the
creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you
gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you
clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” These
are some of the few Biblical teachings which support ...


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