Judaism

1. Judaism January 2012

2. Judaism • Judaism is a religious tradition associated with the Jewish people • Jewish identity has both ethnic and religious elements; Jews trace their lineage to the ancient Israelite people, upon whose traditions contemporary Judaism is based • Judaism as a religious tradition is diverse, with no central leadership, and having undergone many changes over several millennia • Traditionally, a Jew is any person whose mother is Jewish, or who has converted to Judaism (which is relatively infrequent as Jews generally do not proselytize)

3. Judaism: Demographics • There are approximately 13 million Jews worldwide • The majority of Jews live in the state of Israel and the United States • Approximately 375,000 Jews live in Canada – the fourth-largest Jewish community in the world, after the United States, Israel, and France

4. Timeline of Judaism c. 1900-1700 BCE: According to tradition, the life of Abraham c. 1300-1200: According to tradition, Moses leads Israelites from Egypt c. 1010-970: Reign of David, king of Judah and Israel 961-931: First Temple of Jerusalem built by Solomon 722: Assyrians conquer northern kingdom of Israel 586: Babylonians conquer southern kingdom of Judah, destroy temple, exile aristocracy c.535: Persians conquer Babylon, allow Jews to return to Jerusalem 515: Second Temple of Jerusalem built 330: Judea conquered by Alexander of Macedon 167: Maccabean Revolt establishes independent Jewish kingdom 63: Judea conquered by Roman Empire 70 CE: Jewish revolt; Romans destroy Jerusalem and Second Temple

5. Jewish Timeline c. 90 CE: Canon of Hebrew Bible set 200: Mishnah compiled 500: Talmud compiled 1095: Massacres of European Jews during Crusades 1135-1204: Life of Maimonides 1478: Spanish Inquisition leads to expulsion of Jews from Spain 1881: Mass migration of Jews to North America 1933-1945: The Holocaust 1947: Dead Sea Scrolls discovered 1948: Israel declares independence 1972: First female rabbi ordained 1990-present: Israeli-Palestinian conflict

6. Jewish Scripture: The Tanakh • The Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, is the central Jewish scripture • The word “Tanakh” is an acronym for the three parts of the Hebrew Bible: • Torah: the Books of Moses – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy • Nevi’im: the Prophets – Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets – Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi • Kethuvim: the Writings –Psalms, Proverbs, Job, The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and I and II Chronicles

7. The Torah • The five books of the Torah, the most ancient and sacred part of the Tanakh, provide an account of the creation of the world, a history of the Israelite people and their relationship with God, and a collection of commandments • It is likely that the Torah is compiled from several different sources, and assumed its final form around the 5th century BCE • The Torah begins with two accounts of God’s creation of the world, and the expulsion of Adam and Eve, the first humans, from the Garden of Eden

8. Covenant • The relationship between the Jewish people and God is understood in Jewish theology as a covenant, which is an agreement or contract • This covenant first appears in Genesis in the story of Noah, in which God regrets having created humans due to their wickedness, and resolves to destroy humanity with a massive flood • God then establishes a covenant with Noah, warning him of a flood and giving instructions to build an ark to save his family and two of each animal species • Noah is saved, and God vows never again to destroy all life, expressing His covenant with the rainbow • The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh also describes a catastrophic flood from which only one human family survives

9. Covenant • Later in Genesis, God approaches the Patriarch Abraham and enters into a covenant with him • According to this covenant, God will bring blessings to Abraham and his descendents (the Jewish people), and Abraham and his descendents will obey God and His commandments • As a sign of his obedience to God, Abraham underwent circumcision – a practice still undertaken by Jews and Muslims • Genesis contains accounts of the Patriarchs – the mythical forefathers of the various ethnic groups of the ancient Near East • According to tradition, Abraham’s son Isaac became the ancestor of the Israelites, and his other son Ishmael became the ancestor of Arabs • Jews trace their ancestry to Isaac through his son Jacob • Jacob is said to have wrestled with an angel of God, and thus was also called Israel (“one who wrestles with God”)

10. Exodus • According to Genesis, the sons of Jacob and their families migrated from Canaan to Egypt to escape a famine • The book of Exodus opens four centuries later, at which time the Israelites have been enslaved in Egypt • God appears to Moses, an Israelite raised by an Egyptian princess, in the form of a burning bush • God identifies Himself to Moses as YHWH, the same god who appeared to Abraham, and commands Moses to lead his people to Canaan

12. Monotheism • Judaism is one of the first monotheistic religions in the world • Numerous other religions, including Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and Baha’i, all claim to believe in the same god as the god of Judaism • However, the earliest forms of Judaism may not have been strictly monotheistic, as evidenced by some passages in the Hebrew Bible: • “For Yahweh is a great God, a greater King than all other gods” (Psalms 95.3) • “Who among the gods is your like, Yahweh?” (Exodus 15.11) • “God stands in the divine assembly,/among the gods he dispenses justice.” (Psalms 82.1) • By the sixth century BCE, Judaism was fully monotheistic

13. Names of God • God is known by several names in the Hebrew Bible: • Elohim: the most commonly-used name for God in the Hebrew Bible. Elohim is a generic plural word meaning “gods” or “divine beings,” but is used as a singular name when referring to the God of Israel • El: the singular version of Elohim. El was the chief god of the Canaanite region, worshipped by Israelites and non-Israelites • God is sometimes given names that describe His attributes, such as El Shaddai (God Almighty or God of the Mountain), El Elyon (God Most High) or El Olam (Everlasting God) • This generic name is also used in Islam (al-Lāh [the God], often transliterated as Allah)

14. Names of God • YHWH: a proper name for God, which is sometimes rendered in English as “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” • Comes from an ancient Hebrew word indicating “being” or “becoming” • This name of God is considered too sacred to be uttered by Jews and some Christians • Jews traditionally read YHWH as “Adonai” (“my lords”) in liturgy, and refer to God as “haShem” (“the Name”) colloquially • Some English translations of the Bible render YHWH as “LORD”

15. Yahweh Identifies Himself To Moses And God said to Moses: “I Am who I Am. This,” he added, “is what you must say to the sons of Israel: ‘I Am has sent me to you.’” And God also said to Moses, “You are to say to the sons of Israel: ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name for all time; by this name I shall be invoked for all generations to come.” (Exodus 3.14-15) God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am Yahweh. To Abraham and Isaac and Jacob I appeared as El Shaddai; I did not make myself known to them by my name Yahweh.” (Exodus 6.2)

16. Characteristics of God in the Hebrew Bible • God is described as having various characteristics throughout the Hebrew Bible • Anthropomorphism: God is often described in anthropomorphic terms, and has masculine qualities (no gender-neutral pronouns existed in the ancient Hebrew language) • Warrior: God is sometimes called Yahweh Sabaoth (Lord of Hosts), indicating His status as military protector of Israel; some scholars believe that such passages may be among the oldest in the Torah • King: God is sometimes portrayed as leader of a council of divine beings, and dispenses justice to His community; the Davidic kings were seen as sons of Yahweh • Judge: God demands obedience to His laws and does not tolerate injustice. He has absolute freedom to punish violators, transcending human standards of morality • Holy Being: God is sometimes described as being wholly transcendent; ritual purity was required to enter into the Temple, God’s sanctum • Loving Partner: God is also described as being infinitely loving and merciful – God loves Israel, and Israel is to love God unconditionally in return, as expressed in the important Jewish prayer, the Shema

17. The Shema Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one Yahweh. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6.4)

18. Torah • After a series of plagues and miracles, Moses leads the Israelites through the Egyptian desert to Mount Sinai, where God gives Moses the Torah, and inscribes the Ten Commandments on stone tablets • The Ten Commandments and the Torah form the basis of the ethical obligations required of the Jewish people by covenant • Much of the Torah is dedicated to exhaustive legal codes given by God, and detailed instructions for the Tabernacle, a portable shrine which contained the Ark of the Covenant (containing the Ten Commandments and other Mosaic relics) until the construction of the Jerusalem Temple

19. The Decalogue Then God spoke all these words. He said, “I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no gods except me. “You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God and I punish the father’s fault in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons of those who hate me; but I show kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not utter the name of Yahweh your God to misuse it, for Yahweh will not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it. “Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath for Yahweh your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals nor the stranger who lives with you. For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that these hold, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why Yahweh has blessed the sabbath day and made it sacred. “Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that Yahweh your God has given to you. “You shall not kill. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.” (Exodus 20.1-21)

20. Kashrut • Contemporary Jewish dietary laws, called kashrut, or kosher in English, are derived from restrictions found in the Torah, in which Yahweh provides instructions to the Israelites on what animals they may eat: • “You may eat any animal that has a cloven hoof, divided into two parts, and that is a ruminant [chews cud].” (Exodus 11.3) • “Of all that lives in water, these you may eat: Anything that has fins and scales, and lives in the water, whether in sea or river, you may eat.” (Exodus 11.9) • “Among the birds here are those you must hold detestable; they may not be eaten, they are detestable: The tawny vulture, the griffon, the osprey, the kite, the several kinds of buzzard, all kinds of raven, the ostrich, the screech owl, the seagull, the several kinds of hawk, horned owl, night owl, cormorant, barn owl, ibis, pelican, white vulture, stork, the several kinds of heron, hoopoe and bat.” (Exodus 11.13-19) • “Of all these winged insects you may eat only the following: those that have legs above their feet so that they can leap over the ground.” (Exodus 11.21) • “You may slaughter any of your herd or flock that Yahweh has given you in the way that I have laid down for you… Only take care not to consume the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the life with the flesh. You must not consume it but pour it out like water on the ground.” (Deuteronomy 12.21-24) • “You must not eat any animal that has died a natural death. You may give it for food to the alien who lives in your towns, or sell it to a foreigner. You are not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Deuteronomy 14.21) • These rules are expanded in the Mishnah.

21. Deuteronomistic History • The Torah, especially the book of Deuteronomy, and several of the books of the Nevi’im express a theological view of history called “Deuteronomistic History” • According to this philosophy of history, the nation of Israel experiences prosperity when adhering to God’s laws, and disaster when violating these laws • The Deuteronomistic theory of history is prevalent throughout Deuteronomy and Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings, which describe the history of the Israelites to the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BCE • All national disasters, including foreign invasions, are attributed to the Israelites’ breaking of the divine covenant

22. Prophets • The Hebrew word for prophet, navi, means “one who is called.” • For the ancient Israelites, a prophet was an individual (male or female) who spoke for God. • Prophets delivered oracles, which were pronouncements revealing God’s will • Throughout the ancient history of Israel and Judah up until the Babylonian exile, there were various prophets who played different roles in society, sometimes advising rulers, settling disputes, or delivering terrifying warnings of God’s wrath • While prophets sometimes described future events, their primary role was not to foretell the future • Some of the best-known prophets include Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, and Moses • Several of the books of the Nevi’im (plural for navi) are the words of prophets as recorded by their disciples (followers) in the form of poetry

23. Captivity and Return • The kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE • The Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed during this invasion, and the literate classes were taken to Babylon • The Jewish diaspora (dispersal) began at this time, with Jews settling in many different locations in the ancient world • In 538, Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylon and allowed Israelites to return to Jerusalem • Persian Zoroastrian influences may have led to the adoption of new beliefs in Judaism, including Satan, angels, reward and punishment in the afterlife, and the Day of Judgment

24. Postexilic Society • Jews enjoyed a brief period of autonomy in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, constructing a new Temple in Jerusalem • This society was ruled by the priesthood (kohen) • The upper class of Judean society, which included priests and other wealthy people, came to be called the Sadducees • Another sect, the Pharisees, was composed of a variety of Jews of all classes, including the literate scribes who studied the Torah • Pharisee sages later came to be called rabbis (“my master” or “my teacher”) • They maintained that an “oral Torah” was passed on by God through Moses alongside the written Torah • A third sect of Judaism was the Essenes, who rejected the priesthood and sought ritual purity • A fourth sect, appearing during Roman rule, were the Zealots • The Zealots advocated armed rebellion against the Romans

25. The Dead Sea Scrolls • Discovered by accident by a Bedouin boy in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls are the oldest surviving copies of Hebrew biblical texts in existence • The scrolls contain books from the canonical Tanakh, as well as apocryphal works, and works particular to the Qumran community • They were found in caves at Qumran, near the Dead Sea • They are thought to date from between 150 BCE and 70 CE • They are the library of a Jewish community that lived at Qumran • Various theories exist as to the identity of the Qumran community, with a majority of scholars arguing that they were Essenes or a group inspired by them

26. Greeks and Romans • In the mid-4th century BCE, Alexander’s Greek armies conquered much of the ancient world, including Israel • During this time period, many Jews adopted Greek culture and language, becoming “Hellenized” • Led by the Maccabees (“Hammers”), Israel rebelled against Greek rule and established an independent state in 164 BCE • The state was conquered by the Roman general Pompey in 63 BCE, becoming the Roman province of Judea • A rebellion against the Romans broke out in 66 CE • In 70 CE, Roman armies destroyed the Jerusalem Temple • Another revolt in 132 CE led to the razing of Jerusalem and all other Jewish towns in the area, the massacre of perhaps half a million Jews, and a Roman ban on Jews practicing their religion in the region

27. Messiah • Under the oppressive rule of the Seleucid Greeks, apocalyptic literature became popular in Jewish society • The word “apocalypse” means “lifting of the veil” or “revelation” • In Jewish apocalyptic literature, the world is portrayed starkly in terms of good and evil • Many apocalypses describe the final intervention of God in history, in which He destroys the enemies of Israel and establishes a divine kingdom on Earth • Apocalyptic literature led to the belief among some Jews in a coming Messiah (“Anointed One”), a warrior-king who would lead Jews to victory over their enemies and re-establish the Davidic kingship • During the tumultuous years of Greek and Roman occupation, various revolutionaries claimed to be the Messiah in order to legitimize their activities

28. Diaspora • With the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, the priesthood, having no centre of worship, ceased to exist • Two main groups remained that preserved the study of the Torah and elements of Judaism • One was the rabbis, successors of the Pharisees • The other was the messianic sect centred on Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish reformer executed by Roman authorities • This sect eventually abandoned many of the traditional practices associated with Judaism and incorporated a large non-Jewish population

29. Rabbinic Judaism • Modern Judaism is based upon the Rabbinic tradition, which was developed by rabbis in response to the destruction of the Jewish homeland • As Jewish ritual had previously been centred upon animal sacrifice in the Temple, new forms of worship needed to be developed • Prayer and ethical behaviour became the primary mode of Jewish observance • Jewish religious gatherings occurred in synagogues (“meeting-places”) • Torah study was required for all Jewish men

30. Midrash • The canon of the Tanakh in its final form was fixed by rabbis in 90 CE • However, later rabbis sought to interpret the Tanakh, as parts of it were unclear and/or needed to be updated to post-Temple life • This process of Torah study is called Midrash • Midrash can be subdivided into two types: • Midrash halakhah (“proper conduct”): legal decisions for proper observance of Jewish law • Midrash haggadah: non-legal teachings that included folklore, theology, mysticism, and a variety of other topics

31. Mishnah and Talmud • The rabbis, under the leadership of Rabbi Akiva (c.50-135 CE), sought to commit the so-called oral Torah, teachings which had been passed down orally throughout Jewish history, to writing • The Mishnah, a code of legal teachings based upon the oral Torah, was compiled around 200 CE • Its terse nature necessitated further commentary, which is documented in the Talmud • Two distinct Talmuds exist, one compiled by the Jewish community in Jerusalem (Roman authorities eventually recognized Judaism again and granted Roman citizenship), and another, which is better-preserved today, compiled by the Jewish community in Babylonia (which became the intellectual centre of Judaism until the 10th century CE) • The Talmud is a vast record of debates among rabbis concerning passages from the Mishnah, often with no resolution

32. Medieval Judaism • In the 4th century CE, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, which would collapse in Western Europe within the next century • After the destruction of Jerusalem, many Jews settled in Europe, where many lived in towns as merchants • Jews suffered from periodic waves of intolerance and oppression in Christian Europe • Beginning in the 7th century CE, much of the Holy Land came under Muslim rule • Muslim custom allowed Jews to practice their religion as “People of the Book,” provided they paid a special tax to Muslim rulers • The 7th-12th centuries marked a golden age for Jewish intellectual and artistic life, particularly in the city of Baghdad, capital of the Muslim Abbasid Empire • Nevertheless, they periodically suffered from persecution

33. Sephardim • Sephardic Jews trace their ancestry to Spain, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East • Medieval Judaism’s greatest philosopher, Maimonides, was a Sephardic Jew who lived in Spain until he was expelled by authorities • Medieval Spain was inhabited by Christians, Muslims, and Jews • Jews often acted as intermediaries between Christians and Muslims • However, in the 15th century, war broke out between the two cultures, and Christian armies drove the Muslims from Spain • At this time, both Christian and Muslim rulers instituted harsh policies against Jews, who were expelled from the peninsula in 1492 • Some Jews converted to Christianity to avoid deportation; however, they were terrorized by the Spanish Inquisition

34. 13 Principles of Faith • The Medieval Jewish philosopher Moshe ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides and Rambam, outlined thirteen principles of Judaism that come the closest to a comprehensive statement of faith in Judaism • God is the Creator of the Universe • God is One • God has no body, form, or likeness • God is eternal • One must pray only to God • God revealed himself to the prophets • Moses is the greatest of the prophets • The Torah was given by God to Moses • The Torah is eternal; God will not change it, nor allow it to be superseded • God knows all the thoughts and all the deeds of people • God rewards those who keep God’s laws and punishes those who disobey them • God will send the Messiah to usher in a new and better world • God will revive the dead

35. Ashkenazim • Ashkenazi Jews trace their ancestry to central and eastern Europe, including Poland, Germany, and Russia • From the 9th to 11th centuries, Ashkenazi Jews lived in relative peace with their neighbours • However, the First Crusade, beginning in 1096, led to massacres of Jews in the Rhineland (modern Germany) by Christian mobs • Periodic expulsions of Jews from different areas of Europe occurred, leading many Jews to settle in Poland • In some cities in Europe, Jews were confined to certain quarters of cities called ghettos • In the eighteenth century, some Jews turned to Hasidism, an ecstatic form of Jewish mysticism promulgated by Rabbi Baal Shem Tov • Hasidic Jews focus less on proper observance of halakhah in favour of singing, meditation, and prayer as a means to escape the world and unite with God

36. Kabbalah • Kabbalah is a form of Jewish mysticism that focuses upon an esoteric interpretation of the Torah • Its central text is the Zohar, which is a line-by-line commentary of the Torah, presenting it as a code for understand the nature of God • According to Kabbalah, God is the Ein Sof – beyond comprehension and understanding • Kabbalah also emphasizes that God has both masculine and feminine qualities

37. Tikkun Olam • According to esoteric Kabbalah teachings, God reveals Godself through ten attributes, called Sephirot • According to the Kabbalah philosopher Isaac Luria (1534-1572), the ten emanations of God cannot be contained by the material world, and it is the responsibility of humanity to repair a broken world (tikkun olam)

38. The Modern Era • The egalitarian ideals of European Enlightenment and the French Revolution (1789) started a series of changes that led to increased integration of Jews into European society • Jews contributed heavily to Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment thought, with some of the most influential being Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786), and Karl Marx (1818-1883) • Spinoza and Marx were both atheists; many Enlightenment Jews questioned the basic presuppositions of their religion just as their Christian counterparts did • Reform Judaism formed out of these changes, and Orthodox Judaism developed in response to them

39. Anti-Semitism • The 20th century saw a sharp deterioration of conditions for European Jews • Old European anti-Jewish prejudice took on new forms with the rise of nationalism and fascism, as religious hatred gave way to theories of “racial purity” • In Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pogroms (purges) by imperial Russian forces and by counterrevolutionaries in the Russian civil war led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Jews • Many Jews escaped Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries to North and South America, particularly the United States • Although they still experienced discrimination, their rights were constitutionally guaranteed in the United States • Some Jews, including Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) believed Jews would never be safe as minorities in any country, and must form a nation of their own, preferably in the Holy Land • This movement was called Zionism

40. The Holocaust • In 1933, the fascist Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler, came to power in Germany • The Nazis espoused racial theories about the inferiority of Jews, and passed laws restricting their participation in society • With the onset of the Second World War, the Nazis sought to implement the “final solution” to the “Jewish question” by genocide – the attempted extermination of an entire ethnic group • Jews were first attacked by armed death squads, then transported en masse to concentration camps, where they were starved, cremated alive, worked to death, tortured, subjected to medical experiments, or gassed • Other groups sent in large numbers to concentration camps included Roma (Gypsies), Russians, Poles, people with disabilities, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and communists • Six million Jews died in the Shoah, or Holocaust, out of a total of nine million European Jews

41. The State of Israel • The state of Israel was created from the British Mandate of Palestine, a Muslim-majority region encompassing the traditional territory of Israel • In 1947, the United Nations decreed that the area should be partitioned into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, with Jerusalem as an international zone • The state of Israel was proclaimed in 1948, while Palestinian Arabs and the surrounding Arab states rejected the plan, resulting in a series of wars being fought between Israel and its neighbours • While most parties agree to the necessity of a two-state solution, its implementation has been unsuccessful due to several outstanding issues, including the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees displaced by the 1948-1949 war

43. Reform Judaism • Reform Judaism developed in the early 19th century • Reform Jews believe that the Torah was written by humans under divine inspiration, and requires re-interpretation throughout history with the aid of reason • Ritual and purity are considered secondary in Reform Judaism to ethical living • Men and women are seen as religiously equal in Reform Judaism; however, it was not until 1972 that the first female rabbi was ordained

44. Orthodox Judaism • Orthodox Judaism developed in response to Reform Judaism, and strives to maintain continuity with traditional Rabbinical Judaism • Orthodox Jews strive to maintain traditional values and halakhah in spite of social change, and believe that the Torah was given by God to Moses • In Orthodox Judaism, women are barred from positions of religious leadership • Orthodox Jews aim to live traditionally while participating in modern culture • Haredi Judaism, sometimes called Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, observes a stricter form of halakhah and restricts contact with the modern world

45. Conservative Judaism • Conservative Judaism, or Masorti (Traditional) Judaism, split from Reform Judaism in 1845 • While Conservative Judaism accepts many of the tenets of Reform Judaism, such as the application of historical criticism to the Torah and egalitarianism, but retains some of the traditions of Orthodox Judaism, such as Hebrew-language prayer and kosher laws • In the mid-twentieth century, Reconstructionist Judaism developed as an offshoot of Conservative Judaism • Reconstructionist Judaism sees halakhah as a “folkway” that is valuable but not binding • Many Reconstructionist Jews reject the idea of a personal God

46. Sacred Practices in Judaism • Prayer, ethics, and halakhah are central to Jewish observance • Halakhah is often translated as Jewish law • Law is used here not in the sense of criminal law but as a set of rules and practices governing all aspects of behaviour • It is based on 613 mitzvot (commandments) derived from the Torah • Traditional Jews are expected to study the Torah and pray every day, in Hebrew or vernacular languages • Prayer may take place at waking and at bedtime, and any time of day, in any location; however, certain prayer services may take place in the synagogue in the morning, afternoon, or night, provided there is a minyan, or ten adults (men in Orthodoxy), present • Traditional Jews wear prayer shawls, or tallit, and phylacteries, or tefillin, when praying

47. Tallit Tefillin

48. Ritual Purity • Many of the Torah’s commandments deal with ritual purity – the condition of holiness needed to enter the Temple • With the destruction of the Temple, some of these have fallen into disuse; however, traditional purity laws regarding women’s menstruation have persisted in some Jewish denominations • Traditionally, a woman is considered impure during her menstrual cycle and for the following seven days, and may not engage in sexual contact with her husband during this time • Many Jews observe dietary restrictions, or kashrut (kosher) • Among the prohibited foods are any pig product, shellfish, the consumption of meat and dairy in the same meal, and any animal that has not been slaughtered according to Jewish law

49. Shabbat • Shabbat, or Sabbath, begins on Friday at sunset and continues until Saturday at sunset • During this time, traditional Jews do not work or handle money • Many families have special Shabbat dinners, and gather at the synagogue for Torah reading and prayer services • The most traditional Jews do not use electricity or drive cars on Saturdays

50. The Life Cycle • Many rituals accompany the Jewish life cycle • Jewish boys undergo a circumcision ritual at the age of eight days; some Jews have a naming ceremony for baby girls • At the age of thirteen, a Jewish boy celebrates his Bar Mitzvah, or coming of age ceremony, at which point he is considered a man according to Jewish tradition • Non-Orthodox congregations celebrate a Bat Mitzvah ceremony for girls • Marriage is a very joyous occasion in Jewish life • Jewish funeral rituals involve the Kaddish, or prayers for the dead, and sombre mourning for seven days • Traditionally, Jews are buried as soon as possible and are not cremated, based on the possibility of future bodily resurrection