Judaism

Overview and origins

According to Jewish tradition, Judaism began with the Covenant (promise) between God and Abraham (ca. 2000 BCE), who is the patriarch (father) of the Jewish nation. Through the ages, Judaism has chosen to follow a number of religious principles, the most important being the belief in a single, all-knowing (omniscient), all-powerful (omnipotent) God, who created the universe and still continues to govern it.

God revealed his laws and commandments unto Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and the Oral Torah. Judaism has traditionally valued Torah study and the observance of all the commandments recorded in the Torah.

Religious Jews can be Orthodox (people who follow the laws of the Torah very strictly) and Progressive (people who have adapted the Torah teachings to modern life).

There are four important stages in Jewish life: birth, becoming an adult, marriage and death.

Bar mitzvah is a Jewish coming of age ritual for boys.

Bat mitzvah is a Jewish coming of age ritual for girls.

According to Jewish law, when a Jewish boy is 13 years old, he becomes accountable for his actions and becomes a bar mitzvah. A girl becomes a bat mitzvah at the age of 12 or 13. Before the child reaches bar mitzvah age, parents hold the responsibility for their child's actions. After this age, the boys and girls bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics, and are able to participate in all areas of Jewish community life.

Every week religious Jews observe the Sabbath (called Shabbat by Jews), the Jewish holy day. The Sabbath begins at nightfall on Friday and lasts until nightfall on Saturday. During this time they rest from their work.

Shabbat is a time with no television, no rushing to the demands of the telephone or a busy work schedule. People don't think about work or other stressful things. It's an oasis of calm, a time of stillness in life.

Why do Jews observe the Sabbath?

• It is the fourth of the Ten Commandments.

• The idea of a day of rest comes from the Bible story of the Creation: God rested from creating the universe on the seventh day of that first week, so Jews rest from work on the Sabbath.

• It is a time when Jewish people remind themselves of their covenant with God.

• It is seen as a gift from God - a day when they take time out from everyday things to feel special.

• It’s a family time. Shabbat is very much a time when families come together in the presence of God in their own home. Singles, or others with no family around may form a group to celebrate Shabbat together.

Sabbath customs

• In order to avoid work and to ensure that the Sabbath is special, all chores like shopping, cleaning, and cooking for the Sabbath must be finished before sunset on Friday.

• People dress up for Shabbat and go to considerable trouble to ensure that everything is organised to obey the commandment to make the Sabbath a delight.

• Sabbath candles are lit at sunset on a Friday. The women of the house usually performs this ritual. It is an integral part of Jewish custom and ceremony.

• The candles are placed in candlesticks. They mark the beginning of each Sabbath and represent the two commandments Zachor (to remember the Sabbath) and Shamor (to observe the Sabbath).

• After the candles are lit, Jewish families will drink wine. Sabbath wine is sweet and is usually drunk from a special goblet known as the Kiddush Cup. The drinking of wine on the Sabbath symbolises joy and celebration.

• It is also traditional to eat challah, a soft rich eggy bread in the shape of a braid. Challah is eaten on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays except for the Passover when leavened bread is not permitted.

• Under Jewish law, every Jew must eat three meals on the Sabbath. One of the meals must include bread. Observant Jews will usually eat challah at the beginning of a Sabbath meal.

The Synagogue is a building where Jews go to worship God. The word synagogue means ‘meeting place’ in Greek.

A Teacher of the Jewish faith are called a Rabbi. They lead worship in the synagogue, conduct marriage and funeral ceremonies and give people advice on religious matters.

The Hebrew/Jewish Bible is called the Tanakh. Its name comes from the first letters of the 3 traditional subdivisions of the Hebrew Bible:

1. Torah - Teaching; also known as the Five Books of Moses. (The first 5 books of the Bible).

2. Nevi’im - Prophets

3. Ketuvim - Writings

The Torah is the most holy Jewish text, given to the Jews by Moses around 1250 B.C.

The Hebrew Bible is known by Christians as the Old Testament. However, Jews do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah (the ‘chosen one’), so do not have the New Testament as part of their scriptures.

Shema

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[a] 5} Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Mezuzah

Tefillin are a pair of black leather boxes containing Hebrew parchment scrolls. A set includes two—one for the head and one for the arm. Each consists of three main components: the scrolls, the box and the strap.

Passover

Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) is celebrated to commemorate the liberation of the children of Israel who were led out of Egypt by Moses.

It is a major eight day festival. A highlight is the Seder meal held in each family's home at the beginning of the festival, when the story of their deliverance is recounted as narrated in the Haggadah (the Telling; the Story). Matzah (unleavened bread) is eaten throughout the festival, as are other foods that contain no leaven. There is a great spring cleaning in the home before the festival to ensure that no trace of leaven is left in the home during Pesach.

Rosh Hashanah - Jewish New Year

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year festival and commemorates the creation of the world.

This festival marks the Jewish New Year and begins with ten days of repentance and self examination, during which time God sits in judgement on every person. The festival is also known as the Day of Judgement, the Day of the Sounding of the Shofar, and the Day of Remembrance.

Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur, the most sacred and solemn day of the Jewish year, brings the Days of Repentance to a close.

As well as fasting for 25 hours, Jews spend the day in prayer, asking for forgiveness and resolving to behave better in the future.

Sukkot / Sukkoth

Sukkot commemorates the years that the Jews spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land. Some lived in tents whilst others built huts out of leaves and branches. These huts were called sukkah.

During the festival, some Jews build their own sukkah in the garden or at the synagogue. Jews eat their meals in the sukkah for the eight or nine days of the festival. There is also a special Sukkot service in the synagogue. Everyone holds branches from three trees in their hands and a citron fruit in their right. They walk around the synagogue seven times, waving the branches.

Hanukkah

Hanukkah or Chanukah is the Jewish Festival of Lights. It dates back to two centuries before the beginning of Christianity. It is an eight day holiday starting on the 25th night of the Jewish month of Kislev.

Hanukkah celebrates the miraculous victory over religious persecution in the Holy Land and also commemorates the re-dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of the burning oil. This is where the oil of the menorah (the candelabrum in the temple) miraculously burned for eight days, even though there was only enough oil for one day.