Respond to any of my notes, the textbook or the videos in the “Chapter

Respond to any of my notes, the textbook or the videos in the
“Chapter 7–Judaism” section under Assignments. Or you can address one
or more of the following questions:

Were you surprised to find such a major emphasis on following commandments—on “doing” things in Judaism?

Which areas in which Jews find meaning in life (detailed in the textbook) seem most important to you?

Professor’s Notes: Judaism is the first of the western, or Abrahamic faiths, that we
will study. These religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are
cousins who all claim to have inherited the covenant promises made to
Abraham–a major character in the book of Genesis.
* Jews descend from Abraham’s son Isaac, while descendants of Abraham’s first son Ishmael later gave rise to the Islamic faith.

* Judaism is a religion and also a people group…as a people, Jews
are descendants of the characters in the Bible, beginning with Abraham.

* The Jewish book of scripture is what is commonly known as the Old
Testament to Christians. (Jews do not believe in or follow the New
Testament)

* Judaism is often regarded as the first of the major monotheistic religious traditions.

* Be sure to read Chapter 7 of the textbook for details on the 8
areas where Jews find meaning in the world–I touch on some of these
below.

* Meaning in Morality….Judaism is a religion of doing, as opposed
to a religion of faith. God gave commandments to the people of Israel in
the first five books of the Bible, and Judaism centers on trying to
follow these commandments (having to do with eating, worship, dress,
marriage, legal codes….basically all areas of life). While the 10
Commandments are quite well known, Jewish scholars find a total of 613
commandments in scripture.

* Meaning in Suffering….to be Jewish is to have experienced
suffering throughout the history of the people. Be it slavery in Egypt,
being conquered by other powers later in the Old Testament, living under
Roman occupation at the time of Jesus, centuries of anti-Jewish hatred
since the birth of Christianity, the Holocaust….the Jews have been
targeted time and again by those who have tried to eradicate them as a
people group.

* Meaning in Messianism…..Jews believe that the Old Testament
predicts the coming of a Messiah one day. The word messiah is from the
Hebrew for “anointed one.” (In Greek, Messiah is translated as Christos,
or Christ in English). In ancient Israel, a new king would be anointed
with oil. Jews still await the coming of the Messiah, who in their
understanding will be a human being (and not divine), and someone who
will bring world peace once they come to earth. The Old Testament does
not speak of a “Second Coming,” so Jews expect the Messiah to accomplish
his mission all at once.
It is important to note that Jesus was a
Jew, as were most of his early followers. After his death, once most
Jews continued to await the coming of the Messiah, the followers of
Jesus developed what came to be Christianity. From a theological
perspective, Christians believe Jesus was human as well as divine, which
traditional Judaism does not believe possible. For Jews, monotheism
means God is separate from created beings such as humans.

Learn more about Judaism by watching the videos below…. (Jewish Commandments)

What is a Mitzvah? Intro to the Jewish Commandments (Links to an external site.)

(the holiday of Yom Kippur)
What is Yom Kippur? The Jewish High Holiday (Links to an external site.)