Modern Judaism

1
Modern Judaism

• Religion of Obedience to the Righteous God

2
Historical Development

• Gods Election of Israel Revealed
• God in the world, Gen. 1-11
• God to all people
• All people answerable to God
• Gods election of Abraham for a chosen people
• A people through whom all peoples would be
  blessed
• Abraham (2100 B. C.)
• Joseph in Egypt (1900 B. C.)
• Two Commonwealths
• Law given to fall of southern kingdom (1446 B. C.
  587 B. C.)
• Fall of southern kingdom to destruction of
  Jerusalem (586 B. C. A. D. 70)

3
Historical Development

• First Commonwealth (1446 587 B. C.)
• Exodus and the Law (1446 1406 B. C.)
• Period of Judges (1406 1050 B. C.)
• United Kingdom (1050 931 B. C.)
• Fall of Northern Kingdom, Israel (722 B. C.)
• Features of First Commonwealth
• Identity as a nation
• Legal code
• Worship sacrificial system

4
Historical Development

• Second Commonwealth (586 B. C. A. D. 73)
• Fall of Southern Kingdom, Judah (586 B. C.)
• End of Exile (537 B. C.)
• Last Biblical Prophet, Malachi (440 B. C.)
• Conquest of Alexander the Great (332 B. C.)
• Maccabean revolt (166 B. C.)
• Herod the Great, Hasmonean Kingdom (37 B. C. to
  A. D. 4)
• Destruction of Jerusalem (A. D. 70) Masada (A.
  D. 73)
• Features of Second Commonwealth
• Ethnic Identity
• Legal Code Keeping the Law
• Devotion to God
• Party Division Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians,
  etc.
• Messianic expectation

5
Historical Development

• Rabbinic Judaism
• Developed after fall of Masada from Pharisees as
  the source of Rabbis
• Emphasized obedience to the law
• Today Judaism emphasizes obedience to the law,
  not a personal belief
• Collected the Mishnah
• A. D. 136 Bar Kochba rebellion put down and
  Jerusalem razed
• Jews dispersed to various parts of the world
• Jews prospered in Persia
• When Shiite Islam came to Persia in 7th cent.
  Judaism moved to Iberian Peninsula
• Further movement to Europe

6
Historical Development

• Talmudic Tradition to Middle Ages
• Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac)
• Literal interpretation
• Rambam (Rabbi Moses Maimonides)
• Know for his intellectual defense of Judaism
• Quoted by Thomas Aquinas
• Time of the Crusades
• Began in the 11th century

7
Historical Development

• 1492 - Messianic Hope but Persecution
• Kabalic scholars had predicted 1492 as a
  redemptive year
• Ferdinand and Isabella unified Spain under
  Catholic rule and expelled Jews
• Many Jews settled in Southeastern Europe under
  Turkish rule and lived fairly peaceful lives
• Two main Jewish groups by language
• Sephardic Jews Spanish roots, Turkish Arab
  influence, Ladino language, Spanish dialect,
  Hebrew script
• Ashkenazic Jews north northeastern European
  roots. Separate from Gentile Europeans. Yiddish
  German with Hebrew script.

8
Historical Development

• 17th Century Renewal of Messianic Expectation
• Sabbatai Zevi
• Jews from Europe, Middle East, and North Africa
  thought him to be the Messiah
• Publicly proclaim by Nathan of Gaza as the
  Messiah
• Sabbatai went to convert the Turkish Sultan but
  was converted to Islam and became a Muslim
• General despair among Jew over messianic hope

9
Historical Development

• New Movements and Reinterpretation of Judaism
• Hasidism
• Eastern Europeans
• Central figure Israel ben Eliezer
• Know as Baal Shem (master of the good name or
  good master of the name)
• Also know as Besht
• Born 1700
• Miracle worker in Eastern Europe

10
Historical Development

• New Movements and Reinterpretation of Judaism
• Hasidism
• God is found not in study or obeying the law but
  found inside the person and manifested in singing
  and dancing.
• Joyful expression of God in their midst.
• New cultural forms from the 18th century culture
  (like Amish)
• No antinomianists
• Followed Talmudic tradition
• After Beshts death, villages setup centered
  around rebbe or Zeddik who was believed to have
  healing powers
• Rebbe was given absolute obedience
• Persecution drove them to the U. S.
• European Jews were most exterminated by Nazis
• Some objected to new state of Israel with no
  Messiah but changed

11
Historical Development

• New Movements and Reinterpretation of Judaism
• Reformed Judaism
• Arose in 18th century
• Accepted European culture and intellectual
  climate
• Central figure Moses Mendelssohn
• Studied in University of Berlin
• Abandoned outward Jewish forms
• Jews were free to adopt the culture in which they
  lived
• Main Characteristics
• Traditional forms not authoritative
• Talmud not considered authoritative
• Following orthodox practices not wrong but not
  binding
• Religious practice is in a state of continues
  development
• Not seek a Messiah if a Messiah exists, it is
  people working

12
Historical Development

• New Movements and Reinterpretation of Judaism
• Reformed Judaism
• Main Characteristics
• Traditional forms not authoritative
• Talmud not considered authoritative
• Following orthodox practices not wrong but not
  binding
• Religious practice is in a state of continues
  development
• Not seek a Messiah if a Messiah exists, it is
  people working to make a better world.
• Initially opposed a separate homeland for Jews
  but in the wake of the Holocaust they supported
  the state of Israel
• Meeting place called a temple
• Similar concerns as mainline Protestants

13
Historical Development

• New Movements and Reinterpretation of Judaism
• Conservative Judaism
• Arose in 19th century
• Central figure Zecharias Frankel in Germany
• Characterized by adhering to the law and adapting
  to the contemporary culture
• Reconstructionist Judaism
• 1934
• Central figure Mordecai Kaplan
• Small movement attempting to integrate religious
  Judaism into all aspects of Jewish religion

14
Historical Development

• Third Commonwealth (Proposed by Some)
• Migration to Palestine in the 19th century
• English took over Palestine from Turkey in 1917
• Both Arabs and Jews migrated
• Holocaust moved international opinion in favor of
  Jews
• Creation of state of Israel 1948
• Recapture of Jerusalem in 1967

15
Founder of Judaism

• Often associated with Moses and receiving the law
• Biblically starts with Abraham

16
Sacred Writings of Judaism

• Biblical canon agreed on in A. D. 90 at Jamnia,
  lead by Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai
• Torah (Genesis Deuteronomy)
• Prophets
• Early prophets Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2
  Kings
• Later prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and
  twelve minor prophets (Hosea to Malachi)
• Writings (Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of
  Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther,
  Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1-2 Chronicles

17
Sacred Writings of Judaism

• The Mishnah collection of interpretations of
  the law by Rabbis
• Collected over decades by Rabbis who met at
  Tiberius
• Rabbi Meier and Rabbi Akiba lead the process
• Came to a halt temporarily in A. D. 136 with the
  second conflict with Rome under Bar Kochba
• Rabbi akiba and bar Kochba executed
• Jerusalem razed and Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem
• Jerusalem dedicated to Jupiter, Aeolia Capitolina

18
Sacred Writings of Judaism

• The Mishnah
• Mishnah completed by Rabbi Judah the Prince in A.
  D. 200.
• Six categories
• Seeds agriculture and prayer
• Feasts holy days and writing of scrolls
• Women marriage and other vows
• Damages criminal and civil laws, idolatry
• Holy Matters sacrifices and laws
• Purities ritual cleanliness and purification
• Halakah application of the law

19
Sacred Writings of Judaism

• The Talmud the books containing both the
  Mishnah and Gemara
• Mishnah (Halakah) Gemara (Haggadah) Talmud
• Gamara less formal traditions, stories
  illustrating the application of the law
• Two versions of the Talmud
• Palestinian completed in the 4th century
• Babylonian completed in the 5th century
• Seventeen dense volumes
• Conservatives inspired
• Liberals historical value
• Others - authoritative

20
Divisions of Judaism

• Hasidism
• Reformed
• Conservative
• Orthodox primary religious Judaism
• Secular Judaism
• No belief in God
• Jewish by birth and culture
• Not religious

21
Divisions of Judaism

• Kabala Jewish mysticism
• Mysticism attaining an unmediated link to the
  divine
• Kabala means tradition
• Jewish mysticism is called merkavah mysticism
  fro the word for chariot (Elijah)
• Could have started as early as 2nd commonwealth
• Schools of kabala developed in Middle Ages
• Moses de Leon most famous book called Zohar
  (Book of Splendor or Book of Lights)
• Isaac de Luria fled Christian persecution in
  Spain, setup school in Safed, Galilee

22
Divisions of Judaism

• Other Isolated Groups
• Yemenite Jews transported from Arabian
  peninsula to Israel in 1940
• Karaite Jews Accept Torah only and live in
  Jewish quarter of Old Jerusalem
• Falasha Jews from Ethiopia from 2nd
  commonwealth but moved to Israel to avoid fanines
  in the 1980s

23
Orthodox Judaism Worldview
God Spiritual Realm
Law/Repentance
Material Realm
24
Orthodox Judaism Worldview

• Spiritual Realm
• Ultimate Reality
• One supreme holy God
• Covenant maker with His people
• Spiritual Beings
• Angels
• Satan
• Type of Spiritual Existence
• Resurrection
• Heaven Gehenna (temporary for most)
• Relationship to Humanity
• Covenant relationship

25
Orthodox Judaism Worldview

• Physical Realm
• Belief system
• Worship of one God
• Obedience to God
• Prayer
• Community
• Keeping Kosher
• Keeping the Sabbath
• Source of revelation or enlightenment
• Torah and Talmud

26
Orthodox Judaism Worldview

• Physical Realm
• Relation to spiritual realm
• Belief in God
• Keeping the law
• Ultimate goal of religion
• Live as Gods chosen people according to law
• Resurrection
• Hope of Messiah
• Welfare of other people

27
Orthodox Judaism Worldview

• Physical Realm
• Rituals
• Orthodox dress
• Mezuzah in home on doorposts containing Shema
• Dietary laws
• Prayer
• Life cycle
• Birth circumcision for boys, naming for boys
  girls
• Boys bar mizvah at thirteen now accountable
  for keeping the law (conservative and reformed
  have for girls)
• Marriage
• Death short wait between death and funeral

28
Orthodox Judaism Worldview

• Physical Realm - Significant days
• Sabbath
• Rosh Hashanah Jewish New Year
• Yom Kippur Day of Atonement
• Sukkoth Feast of Booths
• Simchat Torah final day of reading entire Torah
• Hanukkah commemorating purification of Temple
• Purim rescue of Jews by Esther
• Passover Deliverance of Jews from Egypt
• Shivuot - Pentecost or Feast of Weeks

29
Orthodox Judaism Worldview

• Physical Realm Worship
• Synagogues
• Orthodox have separate place for women
• Ark, Bema, Menorah
• Ark
• Bema
• Menorah
• Leaders
• Cantor song leader
• Rabbis preachers
• Conservative and Reformed have women cantors and
  Rabbis