The document provides an overview of Judaism, including its origins in West Asia as one of the oldest monotheistic religions. It discusses important figures in Judaism's history like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. Moses in particular played a pivotal role by demanding the Israelites' release from slavery in Egypt and leading them to Mount Sinai, where God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses to govern the lives of the Jewish people, marking the beginning of Judaism as an organized religion.
The document provides an overview of Judaism, including its origins in West Asia as one of the oldest monotheistic religions. It discusses important figures in Judaism's history like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. Moses in particular played a pivotal role by demanding the Israelites' release from slavery in Egypt and leading them to Mount Sinai, where God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses to govern the lives of the Jewish people, marking the beginning of Judaism as an organized religion.
The document provides an overview of Judaism, including its origins in West Asia as one of the oldest monotheistic religions. It discusses important figures in Judaism's history like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. Moses in particular played a pivotal role by demanding the Israelites' release from slavery in Egypt and leading them to Mount Sinai, where God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses to govern the lives of the Jewish people, marking the beginning of Judaism as an organized religion.
The document provides an overview of Judaism, including its origins in West Asia as one of the oldest monotheistic religions. It discusses important figures in Judaism's history like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. Moses in particular played a pivotal role by demanding the Israelites' release from slavery in Egypt and leading them to Mount Sinai, where God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses to govern the lives of the Jewish people, marking the beginning of Judaism as an organized religion.
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JUDAISM
Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic
religions in the world which originated in West Asia.
Judaism is a monotheistic religion along with
other two Abrahamic religions namely Christianity and Islam.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The ancestors of the Jews were groups of Semites called Hebrews whose origin can be traced in the deserts of Arabia (Brown,1975).
Pentateuch- the First Five Books of the
Hebrew Bible where the origin of the Jewish people and the beginning of Judaism are recorded. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND Three notable founding figures 1. Abraham - Judaism is anchored upon God’s revelation to Abraham that He is the creator and ruler of the universe, and that He loves His creatures and demands righteousness from them (Losch, 2001). -God choses Abraham and his family from all people living on earth as recorded in Genesis 12. - After a series of tragic events involving humankind, God entered into a covenant with Abraham promising him that he would become the father of great nation and would possess vast tracks of land. -Abraham’s original name was “Abram” who was born in the city of Ur of the Chaldeasaround1800 B.C.E. - Initially, Abraham and his wife Sarai were childless. - Ishmael was the son of Abraham from Sarai’s Egyptian handmaid Hagar. However, Ishmael was not the heir to the God’s promise. -God changed Sarai’s name to “Sarah”, meaning “princess” or “noblewoman.” Abram’s name was changed to “Abraham” or the father of many. - Later in their old life, they had their own son who became the heir to God’s covenant and ancestor of the Jewish people. He was named Isaac. 2. Isaac - During his childhood, God commanded Abraham to sacrifice him at an altar in Mount Moriah. His father obeyed God’s most difficult trial. However, as God proves Abraham’s obedience, an angel stopped him from sacrificing his son. A ram was instead sacrificed in place of Isaac. - Isaac was married to Rebecca and they got twin sons namely Jacob and Esau. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3. Jacob -He is always in constant strife with his twin, Esau. - He bought Esau’s birthright and tricked his father Isaac into giving him Esau’s blessing as the eldest son (Bowker, 1997). - He fled to his uncle’s house to escape Esau’s fury. Later on, Jacob returned home and reconciled with Esau. -A close encounter with an angel merited him a change of name from Jacob to “Israel” which means “the one who wrestled with God”. -The Jewish people are referred to as the “children of Israel.” -Among four different women, Jacob fathered twelve sons and one daughter. The twelve sons who became the ancestors of the tribes in Israel were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin. Who is Moses and what is his important role in Judaism?
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
➢ The Book of Exodus begins with Abraham’s descendants crying out for deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Hopfe, 1983). ➢ In this period, Moses played a significant part to the lives of Jewish people. ➢ Moses was a son of a woman from Levi’s tribe named Jochebed who secretly placed him in a woven basket and sent him down the Nile River. The pharaoh’s daughter, Bithia, found the him, rescued him and reared him as her own. ➢ Jochebed volunteered to nurse the child, now named Moses, who was raised within the Egyptian royal family. ➢ At the age of forty, Moses killed an Egyptian in defense of a slave and fled to the Sinai desert where he spent the next forty days as a shepherd (Hopf,1983). ➢ On Mount Horeb, Abraham’s God revealed himself to Moses as he spoke through a burning bush that was not consumed. ➢Revealing God’s name as “Yahweh,” he commanded Moses to return to Egypt and demand the release of Israelites from slavery. ➢ After his initial refusal, the Egyptian pharaoh conceded after the ten miraculous and horrific plagues were inflicted by God upon Egypt and its people, most especially the plague on the firstborn. ➢ The Israelites were banished from Egypt with Moses leading them across the Red Sea. When the pharaoh changed his mind and began to pursue the fleeing Israelites, Moses parted the Red Sea that allowed them to cross the water and reach the dry lands of Sinai. Meanwhile, the pursuing Egyptian chariots were drowned after the waters receded. This event called This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC Exodus became part of Jewish history that manifested Yahweh’s intervention to deliver his chosen people (Hopfe, 1983). ➢ Another significant event in Jewish history was the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. These supreme laws, which are basic to the Jewish people, were communicated to the Israelites through Moses during their time in the wilderness. ➢ The Ten Commandments are a set of absolute laws given by God to Moses at the biblical Mount Sinai that shall govern the life of every Israelite. Most of the scholars consider this period as the official beginning of Judaism as an organized and structured belief system. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN EXODUS 20:2-17 1. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. 2. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. 4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it 5. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days maybe long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you. 6. “You shall not murder. 7. “You shall not commit adultery. 8. “You shall not steal. 9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” “As a student and a member of the community, how important is it to follow certain commandments just like how Jews follow their Ten Commandments?” SACRED SCRIPTURES + Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Mikra)- the written Torah, authority, guide and inspiration of the many forms of Judaism. + Hebrew Bible is divided into three principle sections namely, TORAH, NEVI’IM, and Ketuvim + Torah (Teaching)- foundational text and composed of five books; GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY, + Pentateuch- five books of Moses + Nevi’im (Prophets)- is subdivided into earlier prophets and later prophets. They served as spokepersons who criticize the hypocritical practices of Jewish people + Ketuvim (Writings)- contains works on poetry, temple ritual, private prayer, + Talmud (Oral Torah)- is an authoritative collection of rabbinic interpretations of sacred scriptures + Mishna (restatement of the law by respected opinion + Gemara –includes legends, folklores and sayings Beliefs and Doctrines + In Judaism, actions are more significant than beliefs + It focuses on the worship of one God, practice of good deeds and love of learning + There is one everlasting god who created the universe in its entirely and remains the master of it WORSHIP AND OBSERVANCES
+ Sabbath- most important day . It begins a few
minutes before sunset on Friday and runs until an hour after sunset on Saturday or almost 25 hours. WORSHIP AND OBSERVANCES