THE MANY STORIES OF JUDAISM Sacred and Secular Overview ...
THE MANY STORIES OF JUDAISM Sacred and Secular Overview - Ultra-orthodox Jews close off the streets to traffic every Friday in strict observance of the Sabbath. - Jerusalem’s inhabitants consider themselves ethnic rather than religious Jews. o Disregard most religious rules and Sabbath - Orthodox synagogue – males and female worshippers segregated, rabi is male - Reform synagogue – man and women sit together, rabi is female - Great diversity in Judaism today - Smallest of the great world religions - Jews take as the highest reality the God of creation and history, who revealed himself to Moses at Mount Sinai. - The Christian concept of original sin does not exist in Judaism. o Each and every human being is free to choose good or evil because each of us stands before God in the same relationship that Adam and Eve did. - The dual Torah – the sacred teachings, both oral and written, concerning God’s revelation to his people. - In giving the people Israel the Torah, God established a covenant (a binding agreement) with them, making them a holy people and reminding them that God will guide and protect them and they will obey His commandments. Encounter with Modernity: Modern Judaisms and the Challenge of UltraOrthodoxy - Premodern Rabbinic Judaism was a world unto itself, embracing every aspect of life and offering safe haven from a gentile (non-Jewish) world that severely restricted the role of Jews in society. - For Reform Jews the centre of Judaism is its ethics; ritual practices and belief in supernatural phenomena are negotiable. - For Conservative Jews the rituals are not negotiable, but supernatural beliefs are. - For Orthodox Jews neither is negotiable, but it is still permissible for Jews to live some parts of life in the secular world. - Ultra-Orthodox Jews accept no such compromises with the secular world. o Seek to create a Jewish way of life, totally separate not only for the gentile world but from modernizing forms of Judaism Segregate themselves by creating Jewish communities where every aspect of life is governed by supernatural belief and traditional ritual. - Ultra-Orthodoxy rejects pluralism because they fear it leads to religious and ethical relativism. o One truth, one way of life, to which all Jews must return THE CONFLICT OVER PUBLIC LIFE: RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE STATE OF ISRAEL - Public life in Israel was shaped by secular Jews with a non-religious socialistZionist worldview.
Halalkhah – the commandments of God revealed in the Tanak and commented on in the Talmud; the word means to walk in the way of God by obeying his commands or laws. Ultra-Orthodox Minorities: The Gush Emunim and the Neturei Karta - The Neturei Karta, in their wide-brimmed hats and long black coats, emaluate a centuries-old way of life that comes out of the traditions of the eastern European Haredim, “those of true piety”. - Gush Emunin, while rigorously ultra-Orthodox in their observance of halakhah, have adopted a more modern style of dress that clearly distinguishes them from the Haredim and points to their identification with the secular Zionists who founded the state of Israel, whom they see as their counterparts. - Unlike Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Jews, the ultra-Orthodox Haredim will not live in communities with gentile neighbours and refuse to mix with modern Jews who do not share their views. Ultra-Orthodoxy as a Type of Fundamentalism - What all religious fundamentalist movements have in common is a desire to return to the foundations of belief and action that existed in their respective traditions prior to the coming of modernity. - Former secular Jews and modern religious Jews have chosen a form of Judaism that promises to bring order and meaning to the whole of life, not just a part of it, and that requires a full-time commitment, not just a part-time commitment. - The “fundamentalist” movements challenged modern forms of Judaism by refusing to reduce being Jewish to historical heritage, morality, and ethnicity. - Ultra-Orthodoxy rejects all forms of secular Judaism and the diversity found in Judaism today. - For them, total immersion in a premodern way of life represents a definitive break with the decadence of Western civilization. -
Premodern Judaism: The Formative Era THE BIBLICAL ROOTS OF JUDAISM - Judaism is shaped by the myth of history. - The story of God who made promises to Abraham and his descendants that were fulfilled centuries later when this God sent Moses to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt and lead them into the “land of promise”. - Analogies from nature are not absent from Judaism, but there is a clear shift of emphasis from nature to history. The Story Begins - Holy (Hebrew: qadosh) – to be holy is to be “set apart” - The first king over Israel was chosen by God. - Messiah – “anointed one” o Saul – weak o David – established Israel as a nation - David used his army to capture Jebus, later Jerusalem (“God’s peace”) - After David’s death his son Solomon succeeded him to the throne. - It was Solomon who built the first temple so that God could dwell in a splendour greater than that of any of the gods of the other nations.
- After the time of Solomon, Israel and Judah had different kings. The Story Continues with the Prophets - In the tribal days of the time of Moses, Israel’s commitment had been “henotheistic” o To one God above all others. - Israel began to think of God as the creator of all things and all peoples. - Shema: the fundamental creed of Judaism: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One”. - The prophets warned the people that if they did not return to the covenant, the God of Israel, Lord of all creation and history, would punish them. - Cyrus declared a messiah for returning Jews to their land. The Story Becomes One of Exile and Return - Ezra, a priest, and Nehemiah, led a second wave of exiles back to Israel postexilic Judaism appeared. - The Maccabean revolt (against the cruel Seleucid ruler) was successful in bringing about a status of semi-independence. THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF DIVERSITY - In the centuries after Alexander, there grew up considerable diversity within Judaism. - Tanak – the written Torah, or Hebrew Bible - The Pharisees were teachers associated with the synagogues found in every city and village; they accepted not only the books of Moses but the historical and wisdom writings and those of the prophets. - Jews who were dispersed in the Roman Empire were known as the Jews of the Diaspora. EXODUS AND EXILE: STORY, HISTORY, AND MODERNITY - “exile and return” shaped the imagination of all future generations. FROM TORAH TO TALMUD The Pharisaic Roots of Rabbinic Judaism - The Pharisees became the natural leaders by default everywhere in ancient Palestine. - Talmudic tradition shaped Jewish life from the sixth century until the emergence of Jewish modernizing movements in the nineteenth century. - The Pharisees asked Jews to love God above all and their neighbour as themselves. The Rabbis and the Formation of the Talmud - It was the disciples of Hillel and Shammai and their descendants who led the Jews into the Talmudic era. - Jacob was given the name “Israel” – one who has wrestled with God and men and prevailed. - Rabi was a charismatic figure, capable of drawing together a school of disciples for the purpose of studying Torah.
Premodern Judaism: The Classical Era THE PREMODERN RABBINIC WORLD: GOD, TORAH, AND ISRAEL - God and Isreal dwelled – in harmony and with each other THE MEDIEVAL JOURNEY OF JUDAISM Discrimination against Jews in the Early Middle Ages - The situation of the Jews deteriorated with the decline of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity. The Carolingian Era of Tolerance - The life of Jews in Europe improved under the Frankish king Charlemagne, who founded the Holy Roman Empire, and his successors. Centuries of Persecution and Pogrom - The announced reason for the Crusade was to free the Holy Land from the Muslims, who had taken control of Jerusalem – a holy city for Islam as well as Judaism and Christianity. From the Golden Age in Spain to the Spanish Inquisition - Allied against Muslims in the Christian reconquest of Spain. - Fear of “Jewish takeover” led to a new peiod of persecution, violence, and forced conversions, culminating in the Spanish Inquisition. KABBALAH – JEWISH MYSTICISM - Mysticism expresses itself in two dramatically different forms: o The mysticism of love and union (the divine – human marriage) o The mysticism of identity. - Most important Kabbalistic work – Zohar HASIDISM - Developed in eastern Europe. - A Hasid is a pious one, whose life is marked by great devotion. Reform Judaism - Reform Judaism is the true Judaism for the modern world and the logical successor, in the authentic unfolding of the historical tradition, to premodern Rabbinic Judaism. Orthodox Judaism - Orthodox and Reform – mirror image Conservative Judaism - Arose among Jews who were deeply committed to the Orthodox way of life, yet sympathetic to the “modern” intellectual worldview of Reform Judaism. - Focused on practice rather than belief.
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See Judaism as a historically unfolding religion Emphasize an organic continuity
Halalkhah – the commandments of God revealed in the Tanak and commented on in the Talmud; the word means to walk in the way of God by obeying his commands or laws. Ultra-Orthodox Minorities: The Gush Emunim and the Neturei Karta - The Neturei Karta, in their wide-brimmed hats and long black coats, emaluate a centuries-old way of life that comes out of the traditions of the eastern European Haredim, “those of true piety”. - Gush Emunin, while rigorously ultra-Orthodox in their observance of halakhah, have adopted a more modern style of dress that clearly distinguishes them from the Haredim and points to their identification with the secular Zionists who founded the state of Israel, whom they see as their counterparts. - Unlike Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Jews, the ultra-Orthodox Haredim will not live in communities with gentile neighbours and refuse to mix with modern Jews who do not share their views. Ultra-Orthodoxy as a Type of Fundamentalism - What all religious fundamentalist movements have in common is a desire to return to the foundations of belief and action that existed in their respective traditions prior to the coming of modernity. - Former secular Jews and modern religious Jews have chosen a form of Judaism that promises to bring order and meaning to the whole of life, not just a part of it, and that requires a full-time commitment, not just a part-time commitment. - The “fundamentalist” movements challenged modern forms of Judaism by refusing to reduce being Jewish to historical heritage, morality, and ethnicity. - Ultra-Orthodoxy rejects all forms of secular Judaism and the diversity found in Judaism today. - For them, total immersion in a premodern way of life represents a definitive break with the decadence of Western civilization. -
Premodern Judaism: The Formative Era THE BIBLICAL ROOTS OF JUDAISM - Judaism is shaped by the myth of history. - The story of God who made promises to Abraham and his descendants that were fulfilled centuries later when this God sent Moses to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt and lead them into the “land of promise”. - Analogies from nature are not absent from Judaism, but there is a clear shift of emphasis from nature to history. The Story Begins - Holy (Hebrew: qadosh) – to be holy is to be “set apart” - The first king over Israel was chosen by God. - Messiah – “anointed one” o Saul – weak o David – established Israel as a nation - David used his army to capture Jebus, later Jerusalem (“God’s peace”) - After David’s death his son Solomon succeeded him to the throne. - It was Solomon who built the first temple so that God could dwell in a splendour greater than that of any of the gods of the other nations.
- After the time of Solomon, Israel and Judah had different kings. The Story Continues with the Prophets - In the tribal days of the time of Moses, Israel’s commitment had been “henotheistic” o To one God above all others. - Israel began to think of God as the creator of all things and all peoples. - Shema: the fundamental creed of Judaism: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One”. - The prophets warned the people that if they did not return to the covenant, the God of Israel, Lord of all creation and history, would punish them. - Cyrus declared a messiah for returning Jews to their land. The Story Becomes One of Exile and Return - Ezra, a priest, and Nehemiah, led a second wave of exiles back to Israel postexilic Judaism appeared. - The Maccabean revolt (against the cruel Seleucid ruler) was successful in bringing about a status of semi-independence. THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF DIVERSITY - In the centuries after Alexander, there grew up considerable diversity within Judaism. - Tanak – the written Torah, or Hebrew Bible - The Pharisees were teachers associated with the synagogues found in every city and village; they accepted not only the books of Moses but the historical and wisdom writings and those of the prophets. - Jews who were dispersed in the Roman Empire were known as the Jews of the Diaspora. EXODUS AND EXILE: STORY, HISTORY, AND MODERNITY - “exile and return” shaped the imagination of all future generations. FROM TORAH TO TALMUD The Pharisaic Roots of Rabbinic Judaism - The Pharisees became the natural leaders by default everywhere in ancient Palestine. - Talmudic tradition shaped Jewish life from the sixth century until the emergence of Jewish modernizing movements in the nineteenth century. - The Pharisees asked Jews to love God above all and their neighbour as themselves. The Rabbis and the Formation of the Talmud - It was the disciples of Hillel and Shammai and their descendants who led the Jews into the Talmudic era. - Jacob was given the name “Israel” – one who has wrestled with God and men and prevailed. - Rabi was a charismatic figure, capable of drawing together a school of disciples for the purpose of studying Torah.
Premodern Judaism: The Classical Era THE PREMODERN RABBINIC WORLD: GOD, TORAH, AND ISRAEL - God and Isreal dwelled – in harmony and with each other THE MEDIEVAL JOURNEY OF JUDAISM Discrimination against Jews in the Early Middle Ages - The situation of the Jews deteriorated with the decline of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity. The Carolingian Era of Tolerance - The life of Jews in Europe improved under the Frankish king Charlemagne, who founded the Holy Roman Empire, and his successors. Centuries of Persecution and Pogrom - The announced reason for the Crusade was to free the Holy Land from the Muslims, who had taken control of Jerusalem – a holy city for Islam as well as Judaism and Christianity. From the Golden Age in Spain to the Spanish Inquisition - Allied against Muslims in the Christian reconquest of Spain. - Fear of “Jewish takeover” led to a new peiod of persecution, violence, and forced conversions, culminating in the Spanish Inquisition. KABBALAH – JEWISH MYSTICISM - Mysticism expresses itself in two dramatically different forms: o The mysticism of love and union (the divine – human marriage) o The mysticism of identity. - Most important Kabbalistic work – Zohar HASIDISM - Developed in eastern Europe. - A Hasid is a pious one, whose life is marked by great devotion. Reform Judaism - Reform Judaism is the true Judaism for the modern world and the logical successor, in the authentic unfolding of the historical tradition, to premodern Rabbinic Judaism. Orthodox Judaism - Orthodox and Reform – mirror image Conservative Judaism - Arose among Jews who were deeply committed to the Orthodox way of life, yet sympathetic to the “modern” intellectual worldview of Reform Judaism. - Focused on practice rather than belief.
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See Judaism as a historically unfolding religion Emphasize an organic continuity
