JUDAISM
These slides are prepared by Julie Arliss of Richard Huish
College, Taunton, England to assist teachers in to introduce
Judaism to young people. They are not to be regarded as
comprehensive and should be supplemented by appropriate reading.
Seeing Judaism ‘correctly’
• It is important to avoid seeing Judaism through
Christian eyes.. This is particularly the case
with the Scriptures. The Christian ’Old
Testament’ - now generally referred to as the
‘Hebrew Scriptures’ – is regarded differently by
Jews, and seen as revelation of a living
Testament, not an ‘Old’ Testament.
• Equally the Pentateuch (the first five books of
the Bible) are by far the most important and it
is these that form the TORAH which is so
central to Judaism. The Prophets are used and
so are stories such as the book of Esther,
associated with the feast of PURIM, but they
are much less significant.
Seeing Judaism through Jewish Eyes
• A rabbi tells the story of his childhood when he
attended a Christian school. The teacher was teaching a
class on Judaism. “YAHWEH”, said the teacher, “IS
THE NAME JEWS GIVE TO GOD”.
• ‘Please Miss’, said the future Rabbi, ‘It isn’t’. However
he was told to keep quiet and went home and asked his
father. His father had never heard of Yahweh, nor had
his mother.
• When they were next in the synagogue they asked the
Rabbi if he had heard of YAHWEH. He laughed:
• “Oh yes!” He said, “Yahweh is the name
Christians say Jews give to God.”
• It is important to try to see Judaism as far as
possible from a Jewish perspective. To do
otherwise ‘does violence’ as Levinas would say
RABBINIC
REFLECTION
• Rabbis over the centuries have
• reflected on The Torah and
sought to gain inspiration and
guidance from it – but they have
always realised the central importance of interpretation.
• They consider that God has given the Torah not just to
be obeyed but also to be interpreted in the light of new
situations – and this interpretation is a human activity
which takes into account previous interpretations and
uses reason to grapple with new situations.
Jews do not expect to agree on interpretations!
• The Torah is considered so holy that it is not touched –
instead a pointer is used called a ‘Yad’
TORAH
• The Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy) is central to Judaism.
• It contains much legal material. 613 laws of which 248
are positive injunctions and 365 are prohibitions.
According to tradition they were given by Moses.
• It also traces the story of the Jewish people beginning
with the creation of the whole world, and then focusing
on God’s election of Abraham who became the father of
the Jewish people by covenant promise. The descendents
of Abraham are traced, but the next major figure is
Moses, considered the author of the Pentateuch. Moses
formed the people into a nation through the experience
of the Exodus, and the Sinai covenant. He then led the
people to the threshold of the Promised Land, where he
died.
HISTORY OF THE
PEOPLE OF ISRAEL
Salvation History
• The Hebrew scriptures do not offer a simple historical
account of the History of Israel. They offer an
interpretation of what the events mean to the people of
Israel. Through the events God is seen to be acting to
save Israel.
• The Torah begins with the stories of creation in Genesis.
In this account of pre-history God is presented as the
God of the whole world, and has dealings with the whole
world. This is given in Chapters 1-11 of Genesis and
according to the Hebrew Scriptures is a disaster.
Mankind fails to obey the creator and fails to
understand the nature of obedience and faith.
• The election of Abraham in Genesis 12 is a new start.
Abram was called by God to go from his home in the
town of Ur to become a wandering nomad. He obeyed
this call.Obedience is central to the notion of leading a
good Jewish life. He became separate from others:
HOLY. Israel is called to be like God; a Holy people.
Abraham and key aspects of Judaism
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God made a one sided covenant with Abraham in which
He promised that Abraham would have many descendants
who would be given the land of Israel to live in. The
concept of Israel being a chosen people is crucial to
their self-understanding.
Abram and his wife were infertile. Both Abraham and
Sara lacked faith. Abraham had a child (ISHMAEL) with
Sara’s slave, HAGAR.Abraham was 100 years old and
Sara 90 when the time for fulfilment came.
The son of Abraham and Sarah was ISAAC. The
greatest test of Abraham’s faith was the command to
sacrifice Isaac, in Genesis 21. He obeyed, only to find
that it was a test. The outcome of the test:
‘All nations of the world will be blessed by your
descendants because you listened to my voice’ Gen 22:18
Israel believes she, as a people, is chosen for a purpose.
In Hebrew the same verb means ‘to listen’ and ‘to obey’
Abraham an archetypal Jew
When God shared with Abraham his intention to destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham asked, ‘Shall not the
judge of all the earth do right?’ Gen 18:25. Abraham
recognised the righteousness of God and challenged Him
to live up to this aspect of His nature.
• Israel is commanded to pursue righteousness as a people
(Deut 16:20) a word which can be a synonym of justice.
• Righteousness goes beyond that which is purely just, and
includes concern for those who have no particular claim
to justice.
• He is a symbol for what it is to be a good Jew: to be
chosen by God, to be Holy, to live in faith and obedience
to the word of God.
• Abraham was not perfect: he became a wandering
nomad, and this is a symbol of the journey of faith that
he and all Jews have to make.
Abraham a spiritual father
• Abraham is considered to be the genetic father
and spiritual father of the Jewish people.
• According to Genesis 17 the sign of the covenant
with Abraham was circumcision. This is a
tradition still practised.
• He is a key figure for Jews in understanding
their identity.They are the chosen people of God
and the descendants of Abraham.
• Three world religions claim Abraham as their
spiritual ancestor, Islam, Christianity and
Judaism. The accounts of his dealings with God
are fundamental to understanding the
requirement of faith and trust in God demanded
by these three world faiths.
The Descendents of Abraham
• Abraham and his descendents are not presented as
perfect people! They are the chosen people by the grace
of God, not by merit. In the Hebrew Scriptures God
chooses who He wills and His ways are a mystery to
mankind. A major theme of the stories in the Pentatuech
is that God is Lord of history, and His choice of Israel
has a divine purpose that will have a universal impact.
• Jews in the early Hebrew Scriptures are Monotheists;
having faith in a single God. This, in itself, marked them
out from all the tribes of the surrounding area who
believed in many gods.
• This exclusive relationship with one God led to a total
rejection of idol worship and to a strong sense of the
unique identity of the people of Israel.
From Abraham to Moses
• The book of Genesis traces the movement of the
Jewish people from Abraham to the appearance
of the Hebrews in Egypt:
• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• This ends the book of Genesis. The second book
of the Torah, Exodus, opens with the story of
Moses.
• Yahweh reveals himself throughout the Moses
narratives as a saviour, epitomised in the epic
story of deliverance from Egypt.
The formation of Israel
• On Mt Sinai a two sided covenant is sealed. This is a
unique moment and crucial for understanding Jewish
attitude to the Laws in the Torah.
• Exodus 19:5,’IF YOU WILL OBEY MY VOICE AND KEEP
MY COVENANT, YOU SHALL BE MY OWN
POSSESSION AMONG ALL PEOPLES; FOR ALL THE
WORLD IS MINE, AND YOU SHALL BE TO ME A
KINGDOM OF PRIESTS AND A HOLY NATION’
• Israel agrees to this and becomes Yahweh's people. But
the covenant is understood as conditional on obedience to
the laws of the covenant.
• Abraham was obedient to the word of God, but now the
word of God is written down and fixed, for all
generations.
• These events made the Jews into a people with a unique
identity, bound to each other, to God and to Torah.
The Law and a right Relationship with God
• Much of the legal material in the Hebrew scriptures
concerns how to follow the rules given in the Decalogue,
how to be a Holy people, how to be righteous.
• The laws in Exodus and Leviticus are all encompassing
and instruct on how to behave both towards God, other
people, animals and the land.There are both Casuistic
and Apodictic laws.
• Throughout, the emphasis is on the nature of God as a
jealous God, demanding exclusive allegiance.
• The consequence of failure to honour the laws and to
follow one God is made clear in the farewell speech of
Moses in Deuteronomy. He outlines a series of curses for
failure and blessings for obedience.Failure to obey will
result in disaster, punishment, loss of the promises of
the covenant. In short, God with withdraw his favour.
He is just and takes vengeance upon the wicked, and
shows mercy to the good.
Choose Life
• Deuteronomy 30:19-20
• ‘I call heaven and earth to witness against
you this day, that I have set before you life
and death, blessing and curse: therefore
choose life, that you and your descendants
may live, loving the Lord your God. Obeying
his voice, and cleaving to him: for that
means life to you and length of days, that you
may dwell in the land which the Lord swore
to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to
Jacob.’
Conquest and Kingship
• Moses lead the newly formed people to the promised
land, but did not enter with them. The land was by no
means vacant. The Canaanites lived there and the
Philistines were soon to establish themselves along the
coastline. It had to be fought for over a period of some
years.
• The conquest was lead by Joshua, and began with the
fall of Jericho.
• Once in the land Israel was ruled, according to the
texts, by Judges. Judges were not an established
institution. They usually appeared in a period of crisis,
brought on by the disobedience of the people, to save
the people from their enemies. Stories include those of
Deborah, Samson, Gideon.They were charismatic leaders
believed to have been sent by God.
From Conquest to Kingship
• Theologically these events are important because they
show that;
• 1. God keeps his promises. He promised Abraham that
he would be the father of a great nation and that he
would give them the land of Israel to live in.
• 2. Failure to obey the laws of the covenant result in the
people being threatened by their enemies.
• 3. When the people turned to God, he acted to SAVE
them, by sending a judge. History is understood in simple
terms of cause and effect.
• 4. The identity of Israel becomes bound up not only with
descent from Abraham, a common commitment to God
and obedience to the Torah, but also to the LAND.
• Possession of the land is a sign that they are in a right
relationship with God, because this was a covenant
promise.
The Monarchy
• Whilst Saul was the first king of Israel, David is far
more significant.
• The decision to elect a king signposts the end of the
period of the judges and the end of the period of
charismatic leadership. It is clear from the texts that
there was division among the people about the decision.
For some it revealed lack of faith in God to save them
from their enemies, and too much of a desire to be like
their neighbours.
• These objections are based in the demands of the
covenant to have complete faith in God’s power to save,
and the command to be a holy people, not conforming to
the standards of other people but to the standards of
God.
• It is, however, clear from the text that the promonarchy party won the argument and both Saul and
David are blessed with a special gift of the Spirit.
The Monarchy and the Messiah
• The appointment of a king was not viewed at a secular
act. The first two kings were chosen by the
prophet/judge/priest, Samuel.
• The election of a king was sealed with the act of
anointing. Messiah means ‘The anointed one.’ (In Greek
this is Christ). It was accompanied with a special gift of
the spirit which signposted that God had chosen this
person.
• The King became the protector and saviour of the people
in God’s stead.
• In a coronation Psalm the king is called, ‘My begotten
son.’ the king was an adopted son of God.
• The monarchy of David was sealed by a covenant (2 Sam
7:26), ‘THE HOUSE OF MY SERVANT DAVID SHALL BE
ESTABLISHED FOR EVER’
The Monarchy
• The lineage of David did not last for ever. The hope for
a Messiah, a king like David, in fulfilment of the Davidic
covenant endures.
• David established a very large kingdom and the extent of
the Davidic kingdom is the geographical area claimed as
‘Israel’.
• The identity of Israel as a people became bound up with
the idea of monarchy. The king was a symbol of divine
grace and favour.
• Political independence also became a part of what
defined Israel as a people during the period of the
monarchy.
• During this period (1000 BCE – 597 BCE) the great
Israelite prophets came on to the scene to act very
often as the conscience of the king and people. The
greatest of these was Elijah.
Solomon’s Temple
• David bought the site for the Temple to be built on but
it was his son, Solomon who built it.
• It is evident that there were dissenting voices to the
building of a Temple on a fixed site. The Tabernacle,
which had contained the ark of the covenant, was a
tent-like structure which could be moved around.
• The central room, the Holy of Holies was a room for the
ark, but otherwise empty.
• When Solomon, acting as a priest, dedicated the Temple
it is evident that God approved of the Temple as, ’A
CLOUD FILLED THE HOUSE OF THE LORD…FOR THE
GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE HOUSE OF THE
LORD’ 1 Kings 8:11.
• The Temple became a symbol of the gracious presence of
God in the midst of the people. A sign of His grace.
What makes the people of God?
1. Being a descendant of Abraham. Circumcision.
2. Being the recipient of divine covenants, Abraham, Moses
and David.
The Abraham covenant included the promise of the land of
Canaan and descendants.
The Mosaic covenant meant acceptance of the Law. The
call to be HOLY and RIGHTEOUS.
The Davidic covenant was the promise of an everlasting
king.
OUTWARD SIGNS THAT THESE CLAIMS ARE TRUE:
1. Living in the Land of promise.
2. The Temple. This was a sign that God dwelt in their
midst and found their worship acceptable.
3. Having a Davidic king, and political independence.
4. Circumcision and the possession of the Law.
The Divided kingdoms
• After the death of Solomon David’s kingdom split into
two, the Northern kingdom, Ephraim, and the southern
Kingdom, Judah.
• In 721 BCE the Northern Kingdom was destroyed and
captured by Assyria.
• In 597-596 BCE the Southern kingdom was destroyed by
Babylon. Jerusalem was in the southern kingdom.Her
destruction meant the destruction of the Temple, (the
end of sacrificial worship), and the end of the Davidic
monarchy.
• The leading inhabitants of the country were carried off
into exile where they were allowed to trade and live
freely.
BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY
‘By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept…’
• The exile of Babylon was central to the consciousness of
the people of Israel. Exile from the ‘promised land’ was
almost impossible to tolerate and they made sense of this
by seeing it as a punishment sent by God and, indeed,
prophesied by God through the prophet JEREMIAH
• The modern pop
song ‘By the
waters of Babylon
we sat down and
wept’ is based on
songs sung at this
time.
Exile
• Theologically this was a very productive time. The
prophet Ezekiel had a number of visions.In one of them
(Ezekiel 1) he had a vision of creatures with wheels and
wings and eyes who went wherever the spirit moved
them. This was followed with a vision of God.
• This persuaded Ezekiel that God was not limited in his
activity to the land of Israel. He was with them in exile.
God had tremendous power of movement and could see all
things.Such revelations lead to pure monotheism, the
belief that there IS only one God.
• It also lead to a belief that the covenant promises were
not tied up necessarily with land Temple and king, but
with the spiritual life of the people. Obedience to the
Law and righteousness was what God required.
• In practical terms the Jewish people responded by
developing synagogue worship, and writing many of the
scriptures in the form in which they are now found.
Exile
• Many outward signs of the covenant disappeared. But
the Jewish people lived in hope that they would be
replaced. The exile was a period of hope.
• The hope for a new king, like David, who would be a
saviour of the people and deal with them justly and
righteously.
• The hope for a return to Jerusalem.
• The hope for a new covenant.
• The hope for redemption, and restoration of the outward
signs that they were the chosen people, (to be sign
posted to the world by their glorious return to
Jerusalem.)
• The hope for political independence. This never
disappeared, although their survival as a people with a
clear identity was secured in the exile without this.
A CONQUERED LAND – But a
fiercely independent people
• Eventually the exiles in Israel were given permission to
return. Many stayed behind, having established a good
life for themselves in Babylon. Those who returned to
Jerusalem began rebuilding the walls of the city and the
Temple.
They did not have the power to be independent. They
were continually occupied by
foreign powers but their
beliefs had been refined
in the period of exile
and this was
not such a problem.
Post exilic Judaism
• Between 536-520 BCE was the return from exile
• Israel was under Persian rule.
• Zerubbabel, Nehemiah and Ezra acted as leaders, and
co-operated with Persian authorities. No Jewish king.
• Israel enjoyed a great deal of religious and civic
freedom.
• 516 BCE the building of the second Temple completed
under Zerubbabel. Jewish priesthood resumed offerings.
• 444 BCE Nehemiah returned from Persia with permission
to re-build the walls of Jerusalem.
• Nehemiah enforced Sabbath observation, and forbade
mixed marriage.
• Ezra confirmed Nehemiah’s rulings, and made men
dismiss their foreign wives. (Ezra 10.)
• Religious purity, observation of laws became the focus of
what it meant to be a true Jew.
The Maccabees
• 331 BCE Alexander the Great conquered the Persians.
• The pressure of Greek culture under the rule of the
Seleucids encouraged some Jews to abandon some
aspects of their religious life.
• A Greek Gymnasium was built in Jerusalem with the
permission of the High Priest, Jason.Without a king the
High Priests became political activists, and the ruling
classes.
• Problems over the election of the High Priest led
Antiochus Epiphanes to enforce Greek culture upon
Jerusalem in 168 BCE.
• He forbade all practices which made the Jews
distinctive; observation of festivals, sacrifices,(an altar
to Zeus was put up in the Temple), circumcision, reading
of the law.
Antiochus Epiphanes
• Copies of the Law were destroyed.
• Anyone who refused to worship at the altar to Zeus and
to eat pigs flesh were put to death.(2 Macc 6:18)
• Women circumcising their baby boys were put to death.
• Judas Maccabee lead a rebellion against this tyranny.
• 164 BCE the Temple was recovered and re-dedicated.
This is celebrated at the festival of Hanukkah. Some
called for political independence. A treaty with Rome was
made to secure independence from the Seleucids.
• The book of Daniel was written during this period by
someone who disagreed with an antagonistic approach to
foreign masters. Obedience to the law and obedience to
foreign powers were not incompatible. God would bring
salvation and establish his Kingdom in his own good time.
What was required of the people to bring this about was
obedience to the law and holiness in a spiritual sense,
rather than political independence.
Divisions within Judaism
• This period high lights the propensity of Judaism for
divisions.
• The return from exile saw a division between those who
had been through the process of exile and those left on
the land. Some thought those left behind no longer
qualified as Jews because they had not been through the
experience.
• Some returned because the ‘homeland’ was part of who
they were, others no longer considered it important.
• Some looked for political independence, others thought
as a people they were a spiritual community, not a
political state.
• Some thought there was no contradiction accommodating
Greek culture within Judaism, others thought it wrong.
• Some hoped for another King of the line of David,
others thought the kingdom of God would come with a
superhuman ‘son of man’ pictured in apocalyptic language.
Divisions
• Some had come to believe in life after death, and
believed that obedience to the letter of the law would
be rewarded in the afterlife. Others did not believe in
life after death.
• Some believed that the mission of Judaism meant living
with gentiles and in that way bringing them to believe in
the one true God. Others believed that the call to be
HOLY meant withdrawing from society to focus on
obedience to the laws. Such a community was at Qumran
where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
• Some believed that the Temple and sacrifice were at the
heart of Judaism and a sign of God’s blessing: others
experienced God without the need for sacrifice, in the
Synagogue.
• The belief that they were a people with a mission from
God, called to be HOLY and RIGHTEOUS and to live in
OBEDIENCE to the law not questioned, but what this
First century Palestine
• In the first century CE the Romans occupied Palestine.
They tolerated Jewish religious practices,and worked
hard to compromise with the Jewish people throughout
the empire to maintain peace. They even allowed the
Jews to have a king… although he was a puppet king.
Such was king Herod.
• Herod was in many ways a remarkable king. Many of his
building projects still exist. The expansion and rebuilding
of the Temple in Jerusalem was one of his most
impressive achievements. Rome insisted on having a
fortress at one corner. He was however a violent man
and killed all whom he perceived as a threat.
• On his death Rome split the rule of Israel into local
provinces and sent a Roman procurator or governor to
control Jerusalem. Roman soldiers patrolled the streets.
• Many Jews found the presence of the Romans totally
unacceptable and the ZEALOTS were dedicated to
throwing out the Romans and making Israel independent
once more – as in the great days under King David.
When Florus, the Roman procurator and successor to
Pontius Pilate, took money from the Temple, this
provoked a riot. The people of Jersualem, always proud,
attacked Roman soldiers and gained control of the
Temple Mount.
• The Romans initially retained control of the Antonia
fortress but soon lost this to the Israelites. Other
Hebrews, seeing the success of those in Jerusalem,
attacked Roman garrisons and drove them out.
• Rome could not accept this and an army of 60000 under
Vespasian march into Galilee and conquered most of it.
JERUSALEM AND MASADA
• Vespasian returned to Rome to become Emperor and his
son, Titus, took charge of a five month siege of
Jerusalem. Eventually the Romans broke through and in
CE 70 raised the whole city to the ground. All that was
left was the western wall.
• The Jews still held two fortresses – Machaerus and
Masada (on the East and West of the Dead sea).
Masada, built as a fortress by Herod the Great was a
formidable mountain stronghold and the Jews held out
there for three years. Eventually the Roman tenth legion
built a ramp to gain access and when they did so they
found that the 960 defenders – men, woman and children
– had all killed themselves rather than be taken by
Rome.
• This marked the end, until recent times, of the Jewish
occupation of Israel, of Temple, priests and king.
DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE
• The Temple was seen by many as the heart of Jewish
worship. Its destruction many would have thought a
mortal blow to Judaism. However there were many Jews
for whom Jerusalem was not crucial to being a Jew.
There were Jews all over the Roman world, who might
have visited Jerusalem once in a lifetime, if at all. For
these Jews Judaism rested on synagogue worship and
obedience to the Law.
• After CE 70 Jerusalem, Israel, a King and Temple as
part of Jewish identity went out of focus. As in the
Babylonian exile obedience to scriptures became
paramount.
• Those who viewed Righteousness, obedience to the Law
and Holiness as central to Jewish life survived. Such
were the Pharisees.
JERUSALEM OR TORAH
• During the siege of Jerusalem, Rabbi Yohanan ben
Zakkai is held to have had himself smuggled out without
detection by the Jewish Zealot guards by hiding in a
coffin. He went to Vespasian and obtain permission to
move the Sanhedrin, the ruling Jewish body, to the
village of Yavneh.
• At Yavneh, the Jewish scriptures were established,
commentaries on Torah recorded and a Jewish calendar
laid down so that wherever Jews scattered to, they
could still celebrate the sacred festivals at the same
time.
• There is a story that Rabbi Yohanan said that if
Vespasian had given him the choice of preserving
Jerusalem or Yavneh, he would have chosen Yavneh. This
is important as it illustrates that the Torah and teaching
of the Jews was more important than the city of
Jerusalem.
Different periods
• Nina Rosenstand points out that Judaism
has gone through four eras:
–
Nina Rosenstand ‘The Moral of the Story’ - an introduction to Ethics p. 417
• The Biblical period,
• The Talmudic period (from the
Talmud, the body of Jewish civil
and religious law)
• The medieval period, and
• The modern period
JEWISH RELIGIOUS TEXTS
• The Hebrew Scriptures are central to Judaism. Some
parts of Hebrew scripture are more authoritative for
some Jews than others. The TORAH – the first five
books, which came into their final form during the
Babylonian captivity stands as the most authoritative.
Since the rise of critical Biblical study in the nineteenth
century the Bible is no longer read by many Jews as a
sufficient or reliable guide to ancient history or as an
infallible account of God. The authority of the Bible has
been fatally undermined, although some suppose that it
is the scholars that are in error.This debate between
propositional and non-propositional attitudes to the Bible
provides grounds for division within Judaism today.
• The reading of Biblical books is inseparable from their
interpretation. This tradition of interpretation is
embodied in a large mass of writings going back to
antiquity.
Interpretative Texts
• TARGUM is the name given to translations of Hebrew
scripture into Aramaic. All are both a translation and an
interpretation and at points include mini-sermons to help
the public understand the Hebrew words.
• MIDRASH – a collection of commentaries on Torah, by
rabbis, compiled between the third and eleventh
centuries. In the sixteenth century the Midrash-rabbah
was published, presenting midrashic compilations on each
of the books of Torah, and five other scrolls of
scriptures. These have acquired an almost canonical
status for many Jews, although they have no explicit
religious authority.
• TALMUD is the foundation text of rabbinic Judaism. It
is a huge document written in a mixture of Aramaic and
Hebrew, making it very difficult to read for most Jews.
It has a great deal of authority for many Jews,
although this is not unchallenged.
Talmud
• The reform movement does not consider many of the
laws and regulations binding, although it is still studied in
Reform rabbinical colleges.
• The Talmud consists of two intertwined texts, the
Mishnah and the Gemara.
• The Mishnah is a relatively short work composed in
Hebrew in Israel. The Gemara is a longer work composed
in Aramaic. It consists largely of detailed discussion on
the meaning and validity of laws and rules in the Mishnah
and the Bible.
• Talmud and the Bible are Jewish sources of HALAKHAH
– Jewish practice. However they cannot be applied today
without the subsequent traditions that have refined them
and adjusted then to changing conditions. Much of this
tradition was produced in the middle ages. The Shulhan
Arukh, first published in 1565 is the most authoritative
interpretations of the Talmud, used by all main branches
THE TALMUD
• The Talmud says that Jews are required to care for
Gentiles just as much as other Jews because “the tender
mercies of God are over all his world”. In ‘Great
Traditions of Religion’, Cecil Roth speculates that a
Jewish man in the Middle ages might write something on
the following lines to his son as representing the ethical
rules of life: Psalm 145. 9
• “My son! Make a point of visiting a sick man, for thus his
suffering is eased. But do not fatigue him by staying too
long, for his illness is enough for him to bear.... Be
considerate for the feelings of a poor man, by giving him
alms in secret, and on no account before others. For
this reason, give him also food and drink in your own
house - but do not watch him while he is eating. Do not
overwhelm a poor many with words, for God will fight his
cause.”
The Zohar
• The Zohar (radiance) is the classical text of the
mystical tradition within Judaism, the Kabbalah. It was
probably written by Moses de Leon (1250-1305).
• In Judaism esoteric knowledge is found through the
Kabbalah tradition. Behind the world we experience is a
hidden world of forces representing a higher form of
uncorrupted being. The goal of the Kabbalist is mystical
union with God, achieved through secret rituals.
• The Zohar was written in late thirteenth century Spain
in an artificial Aramaic. It has the form of a
commentary on the Torah, and outwardly resembles the
Midrash. In fact it is a vehicle for communicating the
main ideas of kabbalah.
• It is regarded by many as a sacred book. It is
influential among the Hasidic movement, that arose in
Poland in the eighteenth century. It is said that the
founder of the movement, BAAL SHEM TOV always
• MOSES BEN MAIMON
• (MAIMONIDES)
Moses Maimonides
• Moses ben Maimon (1135 - 1204), the great
• Jewish philosopher, lived at a time when Islam
was spreading into Spain and Northern
Africa - the areas where he spent most of his
life. He was a Jewish Aristotelian whose book
‘The Guide to the Perplexed’ is regarded as the
masterpiece of medieval Jewish Religious thought,
recognised by Muslims and Christians. Its aim is to
reconcile Jewish beliefs with the rational arguments
about physics and metaphysics of Aristotle and his
followers.
• Moses ben Maimon was condemned by Rabbis at the time
for his use of Aristotle’s ethics but his influence has
been profound.
• The Yigdal, the 13 articles of Jewish faith, came from
Maimonides – and have become an unofficial Jewish
creed found in the prayer book.
YIGDAL (13 articles of Jewish faith)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“We praise the living God,
For ever praise His name,
Who was and is and is to be
For e’er the same;
The One eternal God
Before our world appears,
And there can be no end of
time
Beyond His years.
Without a form is He
Nor can we comprehend
The measure of his love for
us –
Without an end.
For he is Lord of all,
Creation speaks his praise.
• The human race and all that
grows
• His will obeys.
• He knows our every thought,
• Our birth and death ordains;
• He understand sour fervent
dreams,
• Our hopes and our pains.
• Eternal life has He
• Implanted in our soul,
• We dedicate our life to Him –
• His way, our goal!”
ETHICAL MONOTHEISM
• Ethical Monotheism has four components:
• 1) God’s laws are binding on everyone in society, no
matter what their station in life,
• 2) God’s laws protect the underprivileged in society
• 3) The moral standards apply to everyone, including God
• 4) Human freedom and personal integrity are of the
highest importance.
• Moses ben Maimon wrote out of this context. Virtue is
not of value in itself - it is a means towards becoming a
complete person and, for ben Maimon, this meant a
person capable of understanding religious truths.
• Wisdom, he considered, is part of morality but there is
more to morality than wisdom alone - it is, after all,
possible to be wise in the ways a person sets about doing
evil.
Maimonides - personal growth
• Moses Ben Maimon considered there were four
ways of achieving personal growth:
• 1) The first level of perfection is when human
beings have learnt to understand what everyday
life consists of. Every day life consists of
possessions - people owning and possessing
things. This level of perfection has no inner
bearing on a person’s life. Human beings are
merely externally related to their possessions.
• 2) The second level of perfection consist of
being physically fit - however if we are
merely physically fit we are no different
from animals and although this affects us
as persons, it is only at a superficial level.
Personal Growth contd.
• 3) The third level of perfection has to do with
the individual’s self becoming morally virtuous.
Aristotle was a major influence on Moses Ben
Maimon here. Ben Maimon did not consider
moral virtues to be an end in themselves rather they are concerned with human interaction. For Aristotle, extreme humility or total
avoidance of anger were to be avoided - Ben
Maimon also regarded the middle path as being
virtuous. BUT whereas for Aristotle the path of
virtue was the highest path, for Moses Ben
Maimon there was a higher one....
Personal Growth contd.
• 4) The fourth level involves involves perfecting the
rational virtues. It is through these virtues that an
individual becomes truly human and an individual. This
level of perfection can only be reached by knowing and
understanding God. This is true wisdom.
• True wisdom will come about only by cultivating acts of
love, compassion, judgement and righteousness. Within
Jewish tradition, these acts of loving kindness were
considered to be of utmost importance. Charity is vitally
important and one central rule of such charity is that
good deeds are rendered of little account or value if the
person doing the good deed lets their actions be known they must be done in secret.
• Jesus, as a Jew, recognised this when he said that when
giving to charity one’s left hand should not know what
one’s right hand is doing. Nina Rosenstand ‘The Moral of the Story’ p. 418
Modern Jewish thought
• The modern era of Jewish religious thought was
inaugurated by Baruch Spinoza (1632-77),
expelled from his community for his radical
thoughts. He influenced more orthodox Jewish
thinkers such as Moses Mendelssohn (1729- 96).
Spinoza saw God and the world as one – but seen
under different aspects.
• In the nineteenth and twentieth century
important works were written mainly by German
Jews: Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig and
Martin Buber.
• English is now the main language of Jewish
thought.
MARTIN BUBER
• Martin Buber (1878 - 1965), the great Jewish
philosopher, devoted his life to the study of Hasidism.
He held that the world can be brought to holiness by a
few holy men (the Zaddik).
• God is personal and is the ultimate THOU and is
addressed as ‘Thou’ in prayer. Only by an ‘I-THOU’
relationship to God people become fully human. Human
beings must approach each other as ‘Thou’ – in other
words as a person valued in their own right. They must
never be an ‘it; - ‘I-It’ relationships tend to
dehumanise.
• For Buber, the relationship to the personal God is central. This
preoccupied him throughout his life as the following makes clear. In
1932, Buber was staying on a great German estate and early in the
morning he met a ‘noble old thinker’ as Buber describes him. Buber
read, at his request, the proof of his new book out loud. The old
man replied with great vehemence…
The old man’s challenge to Buber..
• “How can you bring yourself to say ‘God’ time after
time? How can you expect your readers will take the
word in the sense that you wish it to be taken? What you
mean by the name God is something beyond all human
grasp and comprehension, but in speaking about it you
have lowered it to human conceptualisation. What word
of all human speech is so misused, so defiled, so
desecrated as this! All the innocent blood that it has
been used to cover has effaced its features. When I hear
‘God’ it sometimes seems blasphemous.”
• Buber says he sat silently. Then he says he felt as if a
power from on high came into him and he says he
replied something on the following lines:
• “Yes, it is the most heavy-laden of • I do indeed mean Him whom the hellall human words. None has become
tormented and heaven storming
so soiled, so mutilated. Just for this
generations of men means. Certainly
reason I may not abandon it.
the draw caricatures and write ‘God’
Generations of men have laid the
underneath; they murder one another
burden of their anxious lives on this
and say in ‘God’s’ name. But when all
world and weighed it to the ground:
madness and delusion fall to dust,
it lies in the dust and bears their
when they stand over against Him in
whole burden. The races of men
the loneliest darkness and no longer
with their religious factions have
say ‘He, He’ but rather sigh ‘Thou’,
torn the word to pieces; they have
shout ‘Thou’, all of them with one
killed for it and died for it, and it
word, and they they then add ‘God’ is
bears their finger marks and their
it not the real God whom they implore,
blood. Where might I find a word
the One living God, the God of the
like it to describe the highest? If I
children of man? Is it not he who hears
took the purest, most sparkling
them? And just for this reason, is not
concept from the treasure chambers
the word ‘God’ the word of appeal, a
of the philosophers, I could only
word which has become a name,
capture thereby an unbinding
consecrated in all tongues for all
product of thought. I could not
times?.. We cannot cleanse the word
capture the presence of Him whom
God and we cannot make it whole; but,
the generations of men honoured
defiled and mutilated as it is, we can
and degraded with their awesome
raise it from the ground and set it over
living and dying.
an hour of great care.” (cf Peter Vardy’s ‘God of our
Fathers’ DLT 1987, p. 1 & 2)
Relationship
• Martin Buber is a good example of a
modern Jewish writer who emphasises the
importance of relationships based on an
‘I-Thou’ model - we must always relate to
others at a personal rather than an
impersonal level. Every human being must
be treated as someone worthy of concern
and respect.
• However for Buber this is a product of
the ‘I-Thou’ relationship with God.
LEVINAS
• Emmanuel Levinas is also in this
tradition, although he would go further
than Buber - when we encounter the
‘Other’ in another human being, we need to
recognise the Other’s needs as more important
than our own.
• We should also not seek to judge ‘The Other’ on
our own terms as by doing this we do violence to
them as we do not see them as they are but as
we want to see them.
• For Levinas, the willingness to put the interests
of The Other before our own is the ultimate act
of religious faith.
MODERN
BRANCHES OF
JUDAISM
MODERN BRANCHES OF JUDAISM
• All major world religions have various branches. Tensions
between these branches can be greater than between
one world religion and another – just as rows within a
family are sometimes fiercer than rows between
comparative strangers.
• Still there is a recognition that within a family, all are
bound together by something that transcends the rows
and disagreements – the same applies in all the great
world religions and certainly this is the case in Judaism.
• There may be great mutual suspicion between different
branches of Jews, but all recognise the other as being
Jews. This is particularly the case in Judaism where
being a Jew is as much a matter of descent (traced
through the female line) as of religious practice. A Jew
who is an atheist, is still very much a Jew. The
differences focus on dress, forms of worship, the role
of women and the status of the Torah and Talmud.
Non-religious Jews
According to Scriptures Abraham, the father of the
Jewish nation, was chosen. His response to this was
faith in the God who had so graciously chosen him. The
Hebrew people under Moses were chosen and saved from
the bondage of slavery. The response to this call was
obedience to the Laws given on Mount Sinai and faith in
God their saviour.
• In Modern day Judaism national identity as a chosen
people and religious belief do not always go together.
According to the Mishnah an individual is counted among
the Jewish people if their mother is Jewish.Jewish
belief and observance is not important for Jewish
identity. There are many who inter-marry, do not belong
to synagogue and make little effort to educate their
children as Jews. Even in the state of Israel many
citizens are non-religious. BIRTH is what makes a Jew a
Jew in the modern world.
Non-Religious Jews
• This is not, however, a specifically modern trend. In the
period of Antiochus Epiphanes many were happy to cast
off their traditional practises and take on Greek culture.
• Secular Jews today have chosen to abandon belief in
God, but do not reject their Jewish identity. They are
to be found among the strongest supporters of Jewish
causes.The majority of the Jewish settlers in Palestine
before the Second World War were atheists.Some of
the prominent ideologists of Zionism, such as Ahad
Ha’am, reject Jewish religion as outmoded and call for a
spiritual revival, which incorporates European culture.
Many secular Jews are to be found in the former Russian
Empire, and it is these Jews who comprise the
significant majority of immigrants to Israel.
• Secular Jews find it hard to define their ideology, they
tend to see themselves in terms of what they are not.
ORTHODOX JUDAISM
• Among religious Jews the great divide is between the
Orthodox and the non-orthodox.
• The Orthodox have a propositional view of scripture, and
maintain that the torah is the absolute word of God.
• The Orthodox define themselves as those who remain
true to the doctrine that the Torah is from Heaven. In
practical terms this means that they follow the Torah to
the letter, and also the details of the Talmud. They
must walk to synagogue, woman and men do not sit
together in the synagogue. Men will wear prayer shawls
and hats. The service is in Hebrew.
• Hostility to Zionism was deeply rooted in all Jewish
Orthodoxy, but they now play a prominent part in Israeli
politics.
• Birth control is frowned upon and men and women have
clearly demarcated roles. Children attend Jewish
schools, where boys and girls are educated separately.
Orthodox Judaism
• The Orthodox were not initially in favour of Zionism (the
establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine) but
since this was formed in 1948 they have supported it.
• In Israel, Orthodox Judaism has influence far beyond
their numerical strength, because they have control of
the religious establishment in the State of Israel. Their
views are uncompromising.
• Among the Orthodox are the Strictly Orthodox, the
Neo-Orthodox, and the Hasidim. The Neo-Orthodox,
under the leadership of Samson Raphael Hirsch (180888) believe that it is possible to remain an orthodox Jew
while being fully conversant with modern culture. They
wear western clothes, and children are educated
together. Girls may have a career and control the
number of children they have.
HASIDIC JUDAISM
• The Hasidim,( ‘pious ones’) first emerged as a group in
the post exilic period. Those at Qumran may have been
part of this group. In common with all ORTHODOX
groups thy are committed to live pure and HOLY lives in
accordance with Torah. They seek to maintain Judaism in
the most ancient form. Purity, the Hasidim consider,
brings joy.
• The founder of Hasidic Judaism was Israel ben Eliezer,
known as the BAAL SHEM TOV,’The Master of the Good
Name’ (1700 – 1760).
• The Baal Shem stressed personal piety and mystical
worship. In Europe it centered around the courts of
various spiritual leaders, the tsaddikim, who were
believed to have extraordinary powers. When a tsaddik
died he was succeeded by his most prominent disciple,
although it soon became a hereditary post.
Hasidic Judaism
• The Hasidim are immediately recognizable. The men are
bearded and wear side curls which are twisted and
tucked behind the ears. They usually wear black with a
large black hat worn over the small skull cap. Their
shirts are usually white, buttoned to the neck but worn
with no tie. From the waistband of the trousers are
ritual fringes attached to their undergarments. Females
dress discreetly and wear wigs. According to the law
once a woman is married she must conceal her hair so
that she is no longer a temptation to men. It is
traditional for woman to cut off their hair before
marriage and to cover the head with a wig.
• There has been a great deal of tension between Hasidic
Judaism and more traditional Orthodox Judaism. Today
they are united in their abhorrence of more liberal
interpretations of Judaism.
CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM
• Conservative Judaism originated in the United States and
is the largest influence in the USA. It arose in reaction
to the Reform movement. It stands mid way between the
certainties of Orthodoxy and the liberties of Reform and
aims to preserve traditional practice while embracing the
liberalism and pluralism of the Reform movement.
• They accept the results of modern scholarship, they
regard the Torah as non- propositional: inspired by God,
but not dictated by God to Moses. The Halakhah is
important but needs to respond to changing times and
changing needs.
• The founders of Conservative Judaism recognised that
Judaism had changed, even during the Biblical period and
that therefore the ultimate source of authority must be
the Jewish people themselves. Some aspects of the
tradition are permanent, but others change.
Conservative Judaism
• On many aspects of practice conservative and orthodox
will agree. However Conservative are more open to
change, having a different view of revelation. One
significant way in which they are visibly different is in
their attitude to women in worship; they have mixed
seating, women can read from Torah, and count among
the number needed to make up a congregation for public
worship. In the 1980’s women were accepted for rabbinic
al training.
• ZIONISM (the movement to establish the state of
Israel as a Jewish homeland) has always been important.
• Kosher food is important, worship will be in Hebrew, men
wear head coverings (kippot or yarmulkes) and Sabbat is
strictly observed as well as Jewish holidays.
REFORM JUDAISM
• In terms of religious beliefs and practise the most
radical reforms began in Germany under the influence of
the Enlightenment. In the early nineteenth century the
early issues were prayers in the vernacular, introduction
of sermons and music to services, and the shortening of
services.
• The first Reform congregation was set up in Hamburg in
1817. The reforms included choral and organ music
prayers and a sermon in German. The liturgy was
abbreviated.
• There was much debate about how far the reforms
should go. Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-88) was
conservative in his ideas, but others, such as Abraham
Geiger (1810-74 were extremely liberal. Hirsch accepted
the authority and inspiration of scripture, whilst Geiger
did not.
• Today it is a movement particularly associated with the
Reform Judaism
• In America there was no assumption in favour of
tradition, and many European Jews were emigrating
there, with no rabbinic authority, and with the feeling
that the past had to be left behind.
• Under the influence Isaac Meyer Wise and David Einhorn
a conference of rabbis in Pittsburgh formally adopted a
kind of creed. In the ‘Pittsburg platform’ (1855) the
Rabbis said that the Torah was only binding in its moral
teachings. Rabbinic teachings on diet, ceremonial purity
and dress were not considered binding in the modern
world. Any hope of a return to Palestine was also
abandoned although reform Judaism has supported the
state of Israel since its formation.
• Reform services are in English, males are not required to
wear hats, women are not separated and women can
become rabbis, as can gays and lesbians. Jewish identity
is considered to be by maternal or paternal line.
•JEWISH FESTIVALS
Calendar of Jewish Festivals
New Year
TISHRI end of the summer.
Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement TISHRI
Feast of Tabernacles- SUKKOT
TISHRI
Hanukkah
KISLEV + TEVET
Purim
ADAR
Passover - PESAH
NISAN spring festival.
Holocaust remembrance day
NISAN
Israeli Independence day
IYYAR
Pentecost - SHAVUOT
SIVAN
Jewish festivals - Sabbath
• The Jewish day begins at sunset, and all festivals and
Sabbaths are marked by the lighting of candles or oil
lamps in the home a little before sunset.
• Each week is marked by the celebration of the
Sabbath.This is celebrated in remembrance of the
creation of the world, but is also an act of obedience –
Exodus 20:9-10 commands Sabbath day observance.It is
essentially a day of rest.
• Friday is a day of preparation for the Sabbath. The
home is cleaned and tidied, Sabbath meals are prepared
the table is laid for the evening meal and set with a
clean white table cloth and the best tableware,
candlesticks and a wine goblet. Sabbath begins at sunset
on Friday and lasts until Sunset on Saturday.
• The arrival of Sabbath is greeted with joy, not just
because it marks the end to work, but because the
Sabbath is a gift from God and to observe it is a
pleasure and a mark of obedience.
Sabbath
• For those who observe the rules stringently the Sabbath
is a time when the following are not done; writing,
handling money, switching on electric lights or electrical
appliances, driving or riding in a motor vehicle.
• Conservative Jews will switch on lights and drive to the
synagogue.
• Reform Jews are more permissive still.
• The aim of Sabbath is to make the whole day HOLY.
The kabbalists imagine that in welcoming the Sabbath
they are welcoming the shekhinah, the presence of God.
• The Hasidim take the Sabbath particularly seriously and
purify themselves before the day with ritual washing and
have special cloths.
• The end of the Sabbath, when three stars appear in the
sky is marked by lighting of candles and drinking of wine
and singing.
Passover
• The Passover is an ancient Jewish festival which has its
roots in the events of the Exodus under Moses.
• Instructions for its observation are found in the Torah,
Ex 12 and 13. No leaven is to be left in the home. The
house is cleaned thoroughly, and especially the kitchen.
• Traditionally all members of the family should prepare
themselves by having their hair cut and washing.
Technically the first born sons should fast on the day
before the Passover in remembrance of the deliverance
of all Hebrew first born sons.
• The evening of the Passover marks what is possibly the
largest feast of the year. Symbolic foods adorn the
table: three pieces of unleaven bread; bitter herbs; a
lamb shank bone; a roasted egg;green leaves; salt water
and a reddish brown paste.
• Each person is to drink four glasses of wine and an extra
goblet is placed on the table for Elijah.
Passover
• The Haggadah contains the words of scripture and the
prayers to be said at the meal.
• It begins with questions asked by the youngest child;
• Why is this night different from all other nights?
• On all other nights we ea t either leavened or unleavened
bread: why tonight do we only eat unleavened bread?
• On all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs: why
tonight do we eat bitter herbs?
• On all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once;
why tonight do we dip them twice?
• On all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining; why
tonight do we all recline?
• This is followed with a lengthy reply including details of
the exodus from the torah. The evening ends with songs
and games.
Pentecost
• Seven weeks after Passover is the festival
of Pentecost. This is a festival which
celebrates the giving of the law on Mount
Sinai.
• There are no specific rituals in the home,
but it is customary for some to decorate
the home with greenery and flowers and to
serve dairy products such as cheese cake
or cheese pancakes.
• All work is forbidden.
• The book of Ruth is read.
New Year and Yom Kippur
• The New Year festival is 9 days before Yom
Kippur.These are the most solemn days of the year.It is
a time for serious reflection. Penitential prayers are said
and families visit the graves of the deceased.It is
recommended to seek forgiveness from all those one may
have wronged during the year just elapsed to be able to
concentrate all ones efforts on atoning for sins against
God.
• This is the last opportunity to make amends for acts of
omission or sins of commission before Yom Kippur; The
Day of Atonement. What ever is not repented of by this
day will be answered for on the day of judgement.
• Yom Kippur is a very ancient holy day now observed
exclusively in the synagogue. It is a 25 hour fast day.
Eating and drinking, washing, the use of ungents, wearing
leather shoes and sexual relations are forbidden.
The Festival of Tabernacles
• Five days after Yom Kippur the festival of tabernacles
begins.
• This festival has its roots in the Exodus events where
the people lived in impermanent dwellings during the
years of wilderness wandering. Its observance is
commanded in Leviticus 23:42-5.
• Sukkah, a simple structure, roofed with thin greenery, is
built out of doors.
• Technically all meals are to be eaten in the Sukkah and
it should be slept in for the seven nights of the festival.
• Traditionally guests are invited, especially Holy guests
such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses.
• The festival ends with a rejoicing in the Torah at the
synagogue where the scrolls are kept. Ecclesiastes is
read on the Sabbath of the week.
Hanukkah
• An eight day festival in mid winter.
• It commemorates the rededication of the Temple by the
Maccabees after it had been desecrated by Antiochus
Epiphanes, the Seleucid king.
• The Maccabees cleansed the Temple, before performing
a rededication (`hanukka) on 25th Kislev 165 BCE, three
years to the day from its defilement.
• The Talmud records that there was only one small cruse
of holy oil to light the Temple with, but it lasted eight
days and this was seen as a sign from heaven.The main
way Hanukkah is observed is by lighting oil lamps or
candles, one on the first evening, two on the second until
eight lights are lit. Special lamps or candle holders,
Menorah’s are used and placed in a window to shine out
into the darkness.
• It is a minor festival, there is no feasting and work
continues.
Purim
• This festival takes place in February or March,
the month of Adar.It is always a month before
Passover.
• It is a minor festival celebrating deliverance
from persecution.
• Traditionally there is a fast the day before the
festival, a feast on the day of the festival,
charitable acts and taking food to friends or
relatives.
• Jews are encouraged to drink, wear masks and
create a carnival atmosphere.Children act out
the story of Queen Esther and the book of
Esther will be read aloud in the synagogue from
the actual scroll.
JEWISH PERSECUTION
JEWS, MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS
• Since CE330 Jews have lived in countries controlled by
Muslims and Christians.
• Christians believe that Jesus fulfils all Jewish hopes.
Jesus is the Messiah, of the line of David, and in
himself is the Shekinah of God. There is therefore no
need for temple or cult.His death brought a New
Covenant in which believers are justified by faith, as
was Abraham, and not by obedience to the Law.
According to the Gospel narratives the Jews were
responsible for the death of Jesus, and in their
rejection of him are no longer the People of God.
Instead all who believe in Jesus are the People of God.
Christian persecution of Jews was common.
• Generally Muslims tolerated Jews more readily than
Christians. Muhammed (590-632 CE) had hoped to
convert the Jews to Islam, but the Jews were not
prepared to recognise Muhammed as a
prophet.Muhammed expelled the Jews from Medina.
Jewish Persecution
1144 The Jews of Norwich were accused of using the blood of
Christian children in the Passover.
1290 All Jews were expelled from Britain.
1292-4 All Jews were expelled from crown lands in France.
1298 In Germany 150 Jewish settlements were destroyed.
1492 Ferdinand and Isabella exiled the Jewish community
from Spain
1818-1904 Wilhelm Marr, a German journalist. The first to
publish anti-semitic literature. For the first time this was not
persecution on religious grounds, but hatred of an ethnic
group. However assimilated, however Christianized the Jew
was still regarded as a foreigner, a cancer of the nation. This
In the face of the
obscenity of the
holocaust
part of a
It is –impossible
in the 20th century
long to
catalogue
of Jewish
ignore
the fact of the holocaust
persecutionon
overthe
the Jewish psyche.
centuries – the concern
The attempt at the total
of Jews for the state of
extermination
Israel
and security is of the whole Jewish
people in the Nazi ‘FINAL
understandable.
SOLUTION’ is so horrendous that it
effects all Jews. It is a part of
understanding Judaism today.
The State of Israel
• The United Nations gave the land comprising the State
of Israel to the Jewish nation in 1948. However Arabs
were already living there and these were, effectively,
drive out – to their understandable resentment.
• The Arabs, when all attempts at negotiation failed, tried
using armed force to drive out the State of Israel whose
existence they did not accept.
• However The Israelite forces were very effective and in a
number of wars they conquered the West Bank, The
Sinai and the whole of Jerusalem which did not form
part of the state of Israel. The Sinai was handed back to
Egypt, but the state of Israel continues to occupy the
West Bank and the whole of Jerusalem against U.N.
resolutions.