SSE Group 3 Blog

INTRODUCTION TO JUDAISM

Judaism is one of the oldest existing religions in the world. It is a Monotheistic religion; in which God is The Creator and the source of all righteousness. The Hebrew Bible teaches that there is only one God. All Jews are said to be descendants of the sons of the Patriarch Jacob, known as The Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Over time Judaism retained its core belief in the nature, and the unity of God, and in the return to the land of Israel from which they were ejected by the romans two thousand years ago. For most of their modern history they have lived as a minority in a majority Christian or Muslim society, depending on the good will of the majority, to survive and thrive as a people. Often they were excluded form the political and economic mainstream because they were not allowed to own land or take up a craft or attend university. The Jewish were frequently persecuted for not accepting the majority religious beliefs of neighbours.

The Jewish community in canada today, consists of approximately three hundred -thousand people with the majority living in Toronto and Montreal.

The Rabbi and the Cantor are hired by the individual Synagogue or Temple and often stay in that community for their whole professional career. There is no strong, central, overriding authority in the Jewish community. In all Synagogues the conduct of the service is the responsibility of the whole congregation and every member may lead the service. The Cantor and Rabbi may be assigned to prominent portions of this task but rare is the service where some members do not come to the platform to assume ritual functions. Their presence symbolises the most important aspect of Jewish worship; it knows of no Ministers in the Christian sense, it is essentially worship by the congregation

Although the two names for place of worship for the Jewish, are often used interchangeably, the difference between Synagogues and Temples centres around the varying emphasis on the place of traditional ritual and practice in the daily life of the Jewish. There are four distinct approaches, or sects of Judaism :

1. Orthodox - most traditional

2. Conservative - modern traditional

3. Reform - stresses the prophetic call to moral action tradition

4. Reconstructionist - reinterprets Judaism as an evolving religious civilisation.

There are two main cultural and historical streams of Judaism as well. One is European or Ashkenazic Jewry. The other is Asian North African of Sephardic Jewry.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

The Ten Commandments are the basis of Judaism. They are the laws God gave to the Prophet Moses to give to his people. The sanctity of the laws is the core of the Jewish religion. God is the judge and any trespass against the law is punished. The Ten Commandments are written as follows :

1. I am the Lord, Thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the

house of bondage.

2. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. Thou shalt not make any graven image

or likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or

is in the water beneath the earth.

3. Show mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep my commandments.

4. Thou shalt not take the name of the lord, thy God, in vain.

5. Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it as the lord, thy God, hath commanded thee.

Six days thou shalt labour and do all the work. The seventh day is the Sabbath of

the Lord, thy God. (REST DAY FOR ALL)

6. Honour thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God has commanded thee so

that thy days may be prolonged.

7. Thou shalt not kill.

8. Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

9. Neither shalt thou steal.

10. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbours. Neither shalt thou

desire thy neighbour’s possessions.

SCRIPTURES & TEACHINGS OF JUDAISM

The Jewish people believe in :

1. The Advent of the Messiah or Saviour.

2. The idea of “Chosen People” entrusted to carry out the “Covenant with God”.

3. The Laws contained in the torah, which is Judaism’s Revealed Will of God.

4. The concept that all people are made in the “Image of God”.

Among the holy books of Judaism the Torah is sacred. It was compiled embodying the Jewish Laws and Disciplines. Later it was further enlarged in the book of Talmud.

Kosher Food

Keeping Kosher is another daily aspect of Judaism. People of the Judaism faith have been instructed in the Torah about which foods they are, and are not allowed to eat, and how to prepare them. The Jewish do not eat meat and milk together in one meal. They eat only certain kinds of meat that are ceremonially slaughtered and prepared a certain way. The only seafood they can eat, is fish with fins and scales. A meal that has meat as its main course will not include butter with the bread or milk with the coffee.

Kosher signifies primarily, “ceremonially cleaned” when applied to food. Meat is Kosher when it comes from a limited group of four legged animals. Birds and fish which may not exhibit certain blemishes, and which have to be prepared in a special way. Quadruped mammals are permitted if they chew the cud and have cleft hooves. This excludes rabbits; because they do not chew cud, or horse; which have single hooves. Camel flesh is prohibited, and so is the pig. Also the reptiles, amphibians, and sea creatures; like oysters, crabs and shrimp are prohibited. Birds are generally allowed, except for a specific biblical list of predators, and those that eat the flesh of dead animals. Most important of these is the prohibition about eating milk and meat products at the same meal. Tradition bases this on the thrice repeated biblical injunction : “Do not boil a kid in its mothers milk”, so there is no butter on the table when steak is served and no ice-cream for dessert unless the meal was all comprised of dairy products.

What is the purpose of keeping Kosher? Some hygienic advantages have long been apparent for instance the Jews abstinence form pork saved him from the ill effects of Trichinosis. The Jew observes Kosher because he takes it to be the Will of God, or because it forms an important religious discipline, and recall to him during the act of eating, that he is a spiritual being who must feed not only his body, but also his soul.

FESTIVALS OF JUDAISM

The Yomin Noraim also referred to as the Days of Awe, are the ten days of penance, when each person of the Jewish faith is called upon to reassess the values of life, and to consider how its quality may in improved. They begin with Rosh Hashanah or the Jewish New Year and close with the Day of Atonement.

On Rosh Hashanah the individual is judged, and on Yom Kippur the judgement is sealed. During the entire month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish New Year, there are Ticyhinto and Pizmonim performed. These are special repentant prayers of soul searching, and of seeking forgiveness from man and from God. The keynote of this period is its feeling of solemn redemption, yet it is mixed with a spirit of quiet confidence, in which man places his trust in God. At the end of the services of Yom Kippur, as soon as the fast is broken, the Orthodox Jew immediately sets out to construct his Sukah. A Sukah is a beautiful rectangular tent constructed in the back yard. It is adorned with leaves and fruit and the family partake their dinners inside the Sukah for nine days.

The Rosh Hashanah meal consist of a Chalah, which is bread in the form of a wheel; to symbolise the wheel of life, and sometimes in the form of a ladder; to represent men climbing and descending in life. A slice of Chalah is then dipped in honey as a hope for sweet year to come. Many people eat fish at the meal to symbolise that there good deeds for the year may be plenty as the fish in the sea.

Each week ends with the celebration of Sabbath which begins on Friday night and continues through to Saturday night. The Jewish organise their week around this holiday and prepare their best meals for the celebration. After synagogue services they invite friends home for company and relaxation.

The yearly “clock” of the Jewish community revolves around the Autumn celebration of the Jewish New Year and the spring celebration of Passover. These holidays are also times for the extended family to gather for meals and visits. The major rituals of most holidays take place at home. The Jewish mark the onset of holidays by lighting ritual candles at home in the evening because for Jews each day begins at sunset of the previous evening.

PRAYER AND JUDAISM

The traditional Saturday morning services at Synagogue lasts about three hours. Men dress in suits and ties and women wear dresses. Men are expected to cover their heads with a skull cap that is readily available outside the sanctuary. The holy ark is the focal point of every place of Jewish worship. A simple curtain or a lavish gate may guard the contents of the Holy Ark. Within rests the scrolls of the Torah, hand-written copies of the Five Books of Moses, lovingly penned by devoted scribes each copy like the rest to the last letter and the last space. And the near the Holy Ark will burn the Eternal Light, a symbol of man’s faithfulness and God’s watchful sign of the everlasting covenant in which the people of Israel believe themselves to be bound to the God of their fathers who is the “Father of All Men”. Some people sit quietly or leave during the service if necessary. In each Sabbath service, the prayers are written in Hebrew with translations provided. There is reading from the first five books of the Torah and another reading from the Book of Prophets of Kings.

PRAYER bEFORE mEAL tAKING

Blessed is the Lord our God, Ruler of the universe whose goodness sustains the world. The god of grace, love, and compassion, is the source of food for all who live for Gods love, is everlasting. Through Gods great goodness we do not lack and will not ever lack. God is in the goodness that sustains and nourishes all, providing food enough for every living being. Blessed is the Lord, Source of food for all who live.

MORNING pRAYER

Blessed is the Eternal our God, who has awakened me to the new day, made me a Jew, called me to be free, and formed me in the Divine Image. Blessed is the one who opens the eyes of the blind, who provides clothes for the naked, who brings freedom the captive, and whose power lifts up the fallen. Blessed is the Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, who removes sleep from the eyes, slumber from the eyelids. Help me Lord to be awake to Beauty and love, aware that all being is precious, that we walk on holy ground wherever we go.

EVENING pRAYER

Lord your touch unseen brings sleep upon my eyes, you make my lids grow heavy with the night. Grant that I may lie down in peace, and rise up to life renewed. Let your majesty and beauty be in my thoughts at the end of the day, and the moment of awakening. Lord Guardian of you neither slumber nor sleep. Blessed are you by day, and blessed by night, blessed when we lie down, blessed when we rise up. For in your hands are the souls of all the living, and spirits of all flesh. May angels wings caress me all through the night, let your good presence hover at my side. Lord spread the shelter of Your peace upon me, my dear ones and all Your children.

Life Cycle Events In JUDAISM

The celebration of life cycle events for Judaism is also built around the shared belief that they are part of the biblical Jewish community. A Jew is born to a Jewish mother or a person who converted to Judaism. When children reach the age of religious majority they are called to say the blessing and read from the Torah in Hebrew. A Bar Mitzvah is held only for thirteen year old boys and a Bat Mitzvah is held for twelve year old girls. The children read a segment of the Torah and there is usually a celebration after the service for family and friends.

The next event in the life cycle of the Jews is marriage. In a Jewish marriage the bride receives a contract which is her official record of the marriage and grooms obligations to her in the event of divorce.

In Judaism there are rituals and traditions around death, burial and mourning that are designed to honour the life of the deceased, and to comfort and support the bereaved. The Jewish try to bury the dead within twenty four hours of death. The family sits in mourning for seven days, in honour of the deceased. The Jewish do not send flowers but do prepare meals for the family in mourning. When this part of the mourning cycle is completed the family members attend regular morning and evening services at their Synagogue.