Judaism
KEY TERMS:
Torah; Pentateuch; Tanakh; Talmud; Messiah; minyan; Midrash; Kabbalah; Hasidism; Mitzvah (plural: mitzvoh); Zionism
Italicized page numbers refer to the 7th edition of Fisher, Living Religions. Non-italicized page numbers refer to 6th edition of Fisher, and italicized page numbers in parentheses refer to the 5th edition of Fisher, Living Religions.
I divide each page up into 30 lines and estimate approximately the line that the citation refers to. When you see something like 201.20, for example, this is my notation that the citation is approximately on line 20 of page 201.
Please use the following questions as you prepare for exams. You may find some questions especially helpful in distinguishing different branches of religious traditions. These questions along with the key terms listed above (the definitions are in the glossary, the text, or the end of each chapter) will be the basis for the exams in the course.
Regard the answers found below as a mere beginning. Please read further in the text for additional material on each question.
1. What are the basic myths or origin stories (cosmogony) associated with the religion?
238.22 229.10 (234.10) Seven-day framework of creation:
From my professor Roland Murphy: freedom is the theme.
(Evolutionism and creationism are addressing two different issues.)
239.25 229.15 (234.15) A second creation story with God as gardener: Yahwist
(Adam Adamah means “earth man of the earth”)
2. What virtues does the religion advocate?
compassion, generosity, wealth, charity, and humility
238.25 230.25 (231.10) Fidelity to God’s living covenant
246.26 251.20 faithfulness, charity, loving-kindness
3. Does the religion prescribe a way to enlightenment or salvation? If so, what does it call this state?
255.2 245.21 (250.21) “Studying the Torah is said to increase one’s holiness and spiritual power.”
An individual’s devotion, charity, and cooperation will win them salvation.
Salvation is union with God in an afterlife—although some groups view “afterlife” as a metaphor.
4. Does the religion hold that everyone or only
some people can attain enlightenment or salvation?
Professor
Schorr: The ideal is to be more spiritual than material.
262.4 253.10 (257.10) In Hasidism, everyone is capable of the highest enlightenment.
Hasidism: “Ecstatic Jewish piety, dating from eighteenth-century Poland.” (510 495)
5. Does the religion hold that clerics belong to a higher moral or spiritual order than lay people?
Professor Schorr: In the Kabbalah tradition, the clerics are higher theoretically. In the rabbinic tradition, the Levites are scholars while others are not significantly so.
POLITICAL:
7. What are the major political divisions of the religion? (In Christianity, for example, major divisions would be Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicanism and Protestantism.)
283-285 275-276 (277-279) Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist
Orthodox
Accepts the Hebrew Bible as the revealed word of God
And the Talmud as the legitimate oral law.
Attempts to convince Jews to return to their roots.
Reform
Began in eighteenth-century Germany: Enlightenment influence
Liturgy was translated into the vernacular (German).
Judaism regarded as an open-ended religion rather than one fixed forever by the revealed Torah.
Conservative
The largest Jewish movement in the United States
Dedicated to traditional rabbinical Judaism, but restates and restructures Judaism so that it is not perceived as a dead historical religion.
Reconstructionism
Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, an American thinker who died in 1983,
Branched off from Conservatism: Judaism an "evolving religious civilization"
Denied the exclusivist idea that the Jewish people were specially chosen by God; rather, they had chosen to become a people of God.
Women accepted fully into synagogue participation.
8. Does the religion have a central authority that determines orthodox beliefs?
284.12 275.10 (278.3) No central authority figure or governing body in Orthodox Judaism.
9. Has the religion at any point in its history accepted the status of an official state religion?
284.16 257.18 (261.15) Zionism: “dedicated to the establishment of a politically viable, internationally recognized Jewish state in the biblical land of Israel.”
10. Does the religion accept a just war or does
it advocate non-violence?
Separates being
invaded from going out to invade and capture.
Maimonides Code: Laws of Kings
11. Does the religion accept spiritual leaders--such as ordained clergy, shamans, and the like?
249.26 241.7 (245.20) Sadducees “in Roman-ruled Judea, wealthy and priestly Jews”
249.27 241.8 (245.21) Pharisees “in Roman-ruled Judea, liberals who tried to practice Torah in their lives”
252.21 243.14 (248.9) Rabbis were the inheritors of the Pharisee tradition.
12. Does the religion take a position on class division in society?
Professor Schorr: Scholars are viewed as higher and priestly families receive tithes. These may be viewed as “perks and exemptions” rather than setting people apart.
13. What is the role of women in the religion? Has the role changed over the years?
288.1-290.4 277.20-279.20 (280.15-282.15)
280.7 270.22 (273.5) Bat Mitzvah “This custom of welcoming the boy to adult responsibilities has been extended to girls in non-Orthodox congregations in the Bat Mitzvah.”
285.20 276.14 (279.5) Conservatives are accepting women as candidates for ordination as rabbis.
286.3 276.22 (280.4) Reconstructionists are removing from the prayer book material that is offensive to women (and Gentiles).
14. Does the religion permit a married clergy?
Yes.
15. Has the religion increased or decreased in numbers during the past century?
279.25 282.20 “conversions to Judaism seem to be increasing”
280.17 283.21 Increased: “There are numerous small “havurot,” or communities of Jews, who are not affiliated with any formal group but get together on a regular basis to worship and celebrate the traditions.”
16. Does the religion advocate social engagement or personal salvation—or both? If both, which is given greater emphasis?
Professor Schorr: Responsibility for each other is the goal. Also, personal acts contribute to salvation.
284.22 275.12
(278.5) Some Hasidic groups advocate withdrawal from the secular
world and the rest of the Jewish communities, while others are devoted to
extending their message to as many Jews as possible.
285.8 275.29 (278.20) “Reform congregations are numerous in North America where they are continually engaged in a ‘creative confrontation with modernity.’”
METAPHYSICAL
17. Does the religion accept a belief in a soul, spirit, or the like?
233 224 (246) Accepts from Zoroastrianism a belief in the resurrection of the body after death
18. Does the religion hold there is one God (monotheism), many gods (polytheism), or no god (nontheism)?
271 262 (264) Monotheism: the one God
19. What evidence or proof is offered in support of the existence of God?
20. Does the religion hold that God is something to strive for?
273.3 263.15 (265.25) The sacredness of human life: Humans are created in the image of God.
21. Is faith or reason given greater emphasis in the religion?
22. What position does the religion take on the question of belief in an afterlife or immortality--such as heaven, hell, and reincarnation?
233 224 (246) Accepts from Zoroastrianism a belief in heaven and hell.
23. Does the religion accept that the ultimate
reality is (or could be) female?
256.4 246.25
(251.20)
Shekhinah, a feminine noun, which
represents the nurturing aspect of God; God’s presence in the world, in a
relationship with the people.
256.5 246.26 (251.22) “According to midrash, the Shekhinah came to the earth at creation but as a result of human wickedness she withdrew to the heavens, to be brought down by human acts of faithfulness, charity, and loving-kindness.”
INSTITUTIONAL
24. Does the religion regard a particular locale (land, city, and so forth) as holy or sacred?
Abraham Covenant in Book of Genesis 15:18-15:21
15:18 “In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
25. Does the religion have special places or locations for worship?
253.1 243.22 (248.15) Synagogues (“meeting places”)
26. What are the religion's major holy days or festivals?
280-283 270-274 (273-277)
Rosh Hashanah Jewish New Year, celebrated on the first two days of the seventh month (around the fall equinox)
Yom Kippur ten days after Rosh Hashanah. “It honors and renews the sacred covenant of the Jewish people with God, but does so in the spirit of atonement.” (p. 261)
Sukkot a fall harvest festival “a simple outdoor booth (a sukkah) is built and decorated as a dwelling place of sorts for seven days: reconnects persons with nature
Simhat Torah (“Joy in the Torah”) last day of Sukkot, ending the yearly cycle of Torah readings, from Creation to the death of Moses, and beginning again.
Hanukkah near the winter solstice, the “Feast of Dedication,” each night for eight nights another candle is lit on a special candle holder; a celebration of the victory of the Maccabean Rebellion against the attempt to Antiochus to force non-Jewish practices on the Jewish people.
Tu B'shvat as the winter rainy season begins to diminish, celebrates the reawakening of nature; in Israel, planting of trees to help restore life to the desert.
Purim on the full moon of the month before spring. Theoretically commemorates the legend of Esther, queen of Persia,and Mordecai, who saved their fellow Jews from destruction by the evil viceroy Haman. It has been linked to Mesopotamisn mythology about the goddess Ishtar, whose spring return brings joy and fertility. “…a bawdy time of dressing in costumes and mocking life’s seriousness, and the jokes frequently poke fun at sacred Jewish practices.”
Pesach (Passover) celebrates the liberation from bondage in Egypt and the spring-time advent of new life.
Seder beginning of Pesach, a“ceremonial Jewish meal in remembrance of the Passover”
Yom Hashoah new holiday in the period that follows Pesach—Holocaust Memorial Day.
Yom Haatzma-ut celebrates Israel independence day, May 14, 1948, when Israel was affirmed as a sovereign state.
Shavuot early summer, traditionally identified with the giving of the Torah to Moses at Mount Sinai and the people’s hearing of the voice of God.
Tisha Be-Av three weeks of mourning for the Temples, both of which were destroyed on the ninth day of the month of Av (july or August). Time of fasting and avoidance of joyous activities.
27. What are the basic doctrines of the religion?
271-275 261-266 (264-268) The one God, Love for God, The sacredness of human life, Law, Suffering and faith.
272.17 263.4 (265.15) The basic commandment is to love God.
273.22 264.5 (266.15) Law
274.4 264.15 (266.23) mitzvot (613)
28. What are some of the major symbols associated with the religion?
29. What are the major texts or sacred documents?
236.3 226.24 (231.24) Tanakh, the Jewish scriptures
271.15-20 226.10 (231. 12) Torah, written (five books of Moses) and oral (a larger set of teachings which was memorized and passed down through the generations all the way to the early rabbis.
236.10 227.20 (231.30) Talmud: great compendium of Jewish law and lore (also 245.20 250.15; 245.25 250.23)
254.8 244.26 (249.20) Mishnah: a terse edition of legal teachings of the oral Torah; completed by Judah the Prince about 200 CE.
30. What attitude does the religion advocate toward other religions? Is it exclusivist or universalist?
285.9 275.30 (278.23) “Rather than exclusivism, Reform rabbis cultivate a sense of the universalism of Jewish values.”
285.30-286.1 276.20 (280.1) “…[Rabbi Mordecai] Kaplan [the founder of Reconstructionism] denied that the Jewish people were specially chosen by God, an exclusivist idea.”
31. What is the nature of the service, ceremonies, or worship (format, participation of congregation)?
275-280 266-270 (268-273)
32. Who is regarded as the founder of the religion?
No single founder or central leader or group making theological decisions (226.1 231.1)
Moses a major figure—and, by tradition, the author of the Torah—led the Israelites out of Egypt.
Professor Schorr: Abraham was the first Jew.
33. Does the religion actively seek converts
through missionary activity?
No.
EXPERIENTIAL:
34. What is the religion’s position on prayer, meditation, exorcism, chants and dance?
275-280 266-270 (268-273)
35. What are some individual practices—such as confession?
275-280 266-270 (268-273)
276.8 266.15; 232.8 (237.10) Circumcision (268.25)
36. What are the religion’s attitudes toward healing and health—such as laying on of hands, “faith healing,” and the like?
37. What is the place of prophecy and oracles in the religion?
38. Is the religion critical of lack of religion—of secularism, for example?
39. What is the role of sacrifice in the religion?