Judaism Beliefs And Teachings-revision Guide Flashcards
(17 cards)
The nature of God: God as one
The belief in one God forms the foundation of Judaism.
-This belief influences that way that Jews view the world
-Jews believes that God is always present in people’s lives. In addition, everything they see and experience is considered to be a meeting with God.
God as one means…
-God is a single,whole,indivisible being
-God is the only being who should be praised and worshipped
-God is the source of all Jewish morality, beliefs and values
-Everything in the universe has been created and is sustained by this one God
The Shema
Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord
alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all
your might’
-showing belief that Jews should total loyalty, love and dedication towards God
-Confirms that belief there is only one God
The nature as creator and sustainer
-Jews believe God is the creator and sustainer. God created the universe out of nothing, exactly as he wanted it to be, and sustains the world so all species are able to live on it.
Jewish Bible is called the Tenakh and first section of Tenakh is called Torah. Genesis, which is first book in Torah, tells how God took 6 days to create the universe and everything on it.
God took 4 days to make the universe fit to support life—>Good took 2 days to create all living creatures—>God then rested and made the 7th day holy. When Jews celebrate Shabbat on this day, they are reminded of God’s importance and role as creator
•Orthodox: God literally made the world in six
days - they reject the Big Bang and evolution
•Reform: God created the world using the Big
Bang and evolution
Evil and free will
Omnipotent-all powerful
Omniscient-all knowing
omnipresent-everywhere at all times
The belief that God created everything also means that God must have created evil. The existence of evil is considered to be necessary consequence of free will:
God gave people free will because he wants people to be able to choose to do good. This makes the act of doing good more significant—> But in order to exercise free will, there must be a choice between good and bad—> This means that evil has to exist
-the existence of free will explains why the world’s resources are distributed evenly. Jews who exercise free will to help to improve the balance of resources, giving those less fortunate, are helping to fulfil God’s plan for his creation
“i am the lord and there is no one else, i form light and create darkness, i make weal and creat woe-I the lord do all these things” Isiah
God as lawgiver and judge
-To help Jews use their free will correctly, God has given them many laws which he expects them to obey. This is why jews view there God as a lawgiver
-Also viewed as a judge as he judges how well people follow his laws and rewards or punished them as a result
-There are 613 laws in the Torah which teach people how they should behave. These are called the mitzvoth. They form the basis of the Halakah, which is the accepted code of conduct for Jewish life
-The first 10 mitzvot are 10 commandments. These are 10 laws that God gave to Moses after he rescued Jewish slaves from Egypt. These are important and form foundation for all other Mitzvoth.
Jews believe God judges them for how well they follow these laws, based on their actions, behaviour and beliefs. God’s judgement are considered to be fair and tempered by his loving, merciful nature.
-During the festival of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish new year). This is when God judges people for their actions over past year and decides what the coming year will bring them
-Many Jews believe they will be judged after death, when God determines how they will spend their afterlife
The divine presence (Shekhinah)
The Shekhinah is the presence of God on earth. Jewish writings tell how the divine presence of God was experienced by early Jews:
Tabernacle = portable structure used while Jews were wandering in the desert
after escaping Egypt but before arriving in the ‘promised land’ (see picture)
• The Tabernacle was believed to house the Shekhinah
• While in the desert, Jews were led by a ‘pillar of fire’ or a ‘cloud’ –
thought to be the Shekhinah
• When they reached the ‘promised land’, the Temple in Jerusalem
became home to the Shekhinah
• Several prophets support this belief. For example:
•
‘I beheld my Lord seated on a high and lofty throne’ (Isaiah 6:1)
• Some believe the Shekhinah is the feminine presence of God
(because in Hebrew it is a feminine word)
• Today, Jews believe the Shekhinah is brought to a place by doing
good work…eg. Justice, kindness, healing the world (supporting
charities etc).
Life after death,judgement and resurrection
-Jews are not concerned about the afterlife as think it is important to focus on present and to live in a wat that is pleasing to God
Heaven and shoel:
-Many Jews believe that if they follow their faith correctly, they will go to heaven or paradise (Gan Eden) when they die
-There is no clear teaching about what heaven is like. It is considered to be where people are with God, but it is known if this state of consciousness, or a physical or spiritual place
-Some Jews believe that people who do not enter heaven go to Sheol, a place of waiting where souls are cleansed. Jews do not believe in eternal punishment
Judgement and resurrection:
-Some Jews believe they will be judged by God as soon as they die and others believe God will judge everyone on the day of judgement,after coming of Messiah (Rosh hashanah)
-Some Jews believe in the idea of physical or spiritual resurrection, but many do not
The nature and role lf Messiah
Orthodox beliefs
• In every generation a descendent of King David is born
with the potential to be the Messiah (a person).
• Will bring about world peace,kindness and justice
• This is called the Messianic age
• He will be the ultimate teacher of the Torah (law).
• He will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem
• These beliefs are outlined in the Torah
• The Messiah will not be a person….
• Instead, there will be a ‘messianic age’
• … a time of global peace and harmony
• Everyone has a duty to work together to
achieve this
• Including by observing religious duties…
The promise land covenant with Abraham
-Abraham was born in the city of Ur,probably in the twentieth or nineteenth century
-At what time people worshipped idols of many different Gods
-From an early age, Abraham became convinced there was only one God who had created everything, and that worshipping idols was wrong
-Abraham tried to convince the people in Ur to stop worshipping idols, but had little success
-Abraham and some of his family decided to leave Ur to travel to Canaan
-Before they reached Canaan, they settled on the way to Haran in Northern Mesopotamia
-Many years later, God told Abraham to continue with his journey to Canaan,promising to make a great nation through him
-&The LoRD said to Abram (Abraham),
‘Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you…))
Genesis 12:1-2
Once Abraham and Sarah reached Canaan, God told Abraham, 1 give all the land that you see to you and your offspring forever (Genesis 13:15). This became known as the Promised Land
The covenant with Abraham
What did god promise:
-Make Abraham father of all nations
What was required to Abraham:
-To agree to “Walk in My god’s ways and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1)
How was the covenant sealed?
-Through the action of circumcision
-Abraham proved his acceptance of the covenant by being circumcised himself and by circumcising all males in his household
How did God keep his side lf the covenant?
-To make Abraham the father of many nations, God made it for possible for Abraham’s wife Sarah to conceive,despite fact she was very old
-Sarah gave birth to son called Isaac. His birth is seen by some as a gift from God to mark the start of the covenant between Abraham and God
The ten commandments
Ten Commandments form the foundation of Jewish law. They gives jews important guidance on how to have a gold relationship with God (first 4 commandments), and how to have good relationships with each other to create a peaceful society (last 6 commandments)
The Ten Commandments from the basis of the covenant of Sinai. This is a covenant between God and the Jews, which was agreed at Mount Sinai under following terms:
-God would protect the Jews from harm and be their God
-In return, Jews would have to obey his laws
This is main reason why Jews believe they are chosen people of God
Key moral principles of Judaism
Justice:
• Justice refers to bringing about what is right and fair, according to the law, or making up for a wrong that has been committed.
• Pursuing justice is a sacred duty for Jews. For example, in the Torah, the prophet Micah states that God requires people’to do justice and to love goodness’ (Micah 6:8).
• The laws in the Torah give guidance to Jews on how to treat the poor and vulnerable, to help achieve justice.
• Jews believe the Torah and the prophets were sent by God to help people understand how to bring about justice in a way that demonstrates mercy.
Healing the world:
Healing the world is an important concept in Judaism, which involves taking actions
•
to help God’s work in sustaining the world.
Many Jews help to heal the world by contributing to social justice or helping to protect the environment. For example, they might volunteer for a charity such as World Jewish Relief, which helps those living in poverty.
• Some Jews believe healing the world involves more than just doing charity work or similar actions. They believe it should also include obeying the mitzvot and trying to become closer to God.
Kindness to others:
• Jews aim to show kindness to others by showing positive, caring actions towards all living things.
• Many of the laws in the Torah give guidance to Jews on how to be kind to others.
The Torah teaches that Jews should love others as they love themselves.
This instruction is given twice in Leviticus 19:
& You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself J
Leviticus 19:18
GG The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt J5
Leviticus 19:34
Sanctity of life
Stems from creation story in Genesis:
-Genesis 2 tells how God breathed life into Adam and whole of creation
-life is therefore valuable and sacred because it is given by God
-Because God gave life to humans, only God has the right ti take it away
-Means Jews have the duty to preserve life
For jews beliefs in sanctity of life means they should not do anything to quicken a person’s natural death such as euthanasia and murder are wrong
Jewish law states a duty to preserve life, there are different opinions about what this means in practice. E.g some Jews think a sick patient should be kept alive at all costs
Pikuach nefesh
The Jewish obligation (duty) to save a life even if it
means breaking Jewish laws (e.g. Shabbat)…..
This rule overrides all other rules/laws…it shows the
importance of life
Because of this belief many Jews give blood and/or
donate their organs on death
‘He who destroys one soul of a human is considered as if
he has destroyed a whole world’. (The Talmud)
God’s covenant with Abraham
Covenant: Solemn promise or agreement between two people or groups of people
God’s covenant
• To protect and favour the Israelites (Jews/Hebrews)
• To give Abraham and his descendants a special land (country) in which to live - the promised land.
‘The Lord chose you to be his treasured people’
‘I give this land to you and your offspring forever’ (Gen 13:15)
Jews covenant- to live a life dedicated to God
Free will and Mitzvot
Jews believe God has given them the free will to make their own choices.
But this does not mean people can do what they like without any consequences: they are judged favourably by him.
Good actions lead to a life of fulfilment. They bring levs closer to God and ensure
• Bad actions will not bring people closer to God, in life or after death. in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve use their free will to disobey God and eat from the tree. They were banished from the garden of Eden as a result. This story shows God has given humans the choice ofhow to live their lives, but using free will to go against God has serious consequences.
Mitzvot between man and God
These are mitzvot that tell Jews how they can improve their relationship with God They cover areas such as worship, sacrifice, and the observance of festivals . The most important are the first four of the Ten Commandments
• For example, the first commandment tells Jews to worship no other gods, and the fourth
commandment tells Jews to remember
God every Shabbat
Mitzvot between man and man
These are mitzvot that tell Jews how to improve their relationship with other people
This is important because the Torah teaches that Jews should show love towards other people and by doing this, Jews are showing their love for God
• They cover areas such as the treatment of workers and how to settle disputes
• They help Jews to live as members of their faith and community in a way that pleases God
Beliefs about God…
• God has no body (scripture speaks of God’s body,
hand, wings, God walking… but these are figures of
speech to make God more understandable
• God is neither male nor female - follows from
the belief God has no physical form
• Jews refer to G-d using masculine terms (he)
for convenience
• Jews are forbidden from representing God in a
physical form – it is considered idolatry.
