Judaism

1. Judaism THE MOST WONDROUS STUDENTS IN GREAT OAK HIGH SCHOOL’S HONORABLE HISTORY: Bejamin, Caitlin, Hayden, Preston

2. Essential Questions – Ben • What is the Human Condition? • -God created humans in his image and endowed them with free will, which leads to a constant choice between bad inclinations and good inclinations. • Where are we going? • -Judaism emphasizes observance in this life rather than elaborating on the afterlife. However, there is the expectation of a Messianic age of peace and justice for humankind in this world and a belief in Olam Ha-Ba, the world to come. • How do we get there? • -We accomplish this through living a life in accordance with God’s will and in readiness for the coming of the Messianic Age. This will be achieved by being of the House of Israel or Chosen People, obeying all the mitzvot (commandments) of the Covenant that God has revealed in the Torah, and living according to the Shema (daily prayer)

3. Rituals / Holidays - Ben • Birth and Naming Ceremonies • -On the first Sabbath after a Jewish child is born, the infant's father is called forward at the synagogue to recite the aliyah, the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel, and ask blessings for the health of mother and child. If the child is a girl, she is named at this time. Boys will be named on the eighth day after birth, as part of the rite of circumcision. • Bar and Bat Mitzvah • - Under Jewish law, children are not required to observe the commandments, though they are certainly encouraged and taught to do so. But upon turning 13, a boy is considered an adult under the law and is expected to obey all the commandments from then on. He has become a Bar Mitzvah, or "Son of the Commandments." Similarly, a girl becomes a Bat Mitzvah, "daughter of the commandment," upon turning 12. • Marriage • - Marriage is highly revered and strongly encouraged in Judaism. The celibate life has never been considered more holy than the married life, and one must be married in order to become a rabbi. Judaism's high view of marriage is a direct result of its view of the home and family as the center of religious life.

4. Sabbath • - Jewish Shabbat is a weekly day of rest, observed from sundown on Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. Thirty-nine activities prohibited on Shabbat are listed in Talmud, which are mostly related to working. • Passover • -Jewish Pesach commemorates the exodus from Egypt under Moses when angel of death passed over Jewish homes and killed Egyptians (first born sons), and is celebrated with the Seder feast in March-April • Yom Kippur  • -Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jewish people traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services, and abstain from work, food, and drink.

5. Sacred Texts - Hayden • The Torah- First book of the Tanakh, the entirety of the Jewish holy text- The author is widely believed to be Moses, who recorded his messages from god into the Torah.- Contains 5 books: •    - Genesis, history of creation. •    - Exodus, revelation and journey out of Jerusalem. •    - Leviticus, covenant and laws. •    - Numbers, the story of the journey to the promised land. •    - Deuteronomy, arrival in the promised land and many speeches from Moses.- Written between 600 BC, the start of the Babylonian Exile, and 400 BC, with the settling of the promised land.

6. The Nevi'im- Second book of the Tanakh- Begins with the death of Moses- Contains 8 books: •    - The first 7 books detail the lives and teachings of the 7 major prophets, Joshua, The 5 great judges, Samuel, Solomon, Isiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel •    - The last book contains stories of the 12 lesser prophets.

7. The Ketuvim- Third book of the Tanakh- The Ketuvim is not put in any chronological order and contains books written from many different periods of Jewish history.- Contains 11 books: •    - The first three books include a collection of poems about the faith •    - The next five books are known as the Five Megillot. They include scripture that is related to songs, festivities, and holidays. •    - Finally, it contains the book of Daniel, book of Ezra, and the book of Chronicals, which retells the Jewish history starting with the creation of the world, a story of the Jewish kingdoms, and the settling of the promised land.

8. Doctrines / Beliefs - Caitlin • The doctrines and beliefs of Judaism vary throughout over one’s lifetime. It seems that there is always something making a person closer to God (spiritually) and often it becomes more and more intense as you grow older. • It also really depends on the type of Judaism you practice. There are three main type of Judaism: conservative, orthodox and reform.

9. Orthodox is the branch which is viewed as the strictest. They separate men and women from the services, follow strict kosher dietary, or food, laws- no pork or crawling seafood, and no mixing of milk and meat products.

10. Reform is the branch that is most liberal. Reform Judaism seeks to make traditional ways into modern times. They focus mainly on making traditions more modernized in our current day and age. They have either abandoned or changed traditional practices which is what makes their branch so unique. • What makes Reform Judaism different from the rest of the branches is that instead of believing that a personal leader will come, they focus on when God will rule in time. • Also, Reform Judaism continues to break with traditional Jewish religious observance and theology by allowing the ordination of women, interfaith marriages, and full participation of gay and lesbian members

11. Conservative is seen as the middle between Reform and Orthodox. It has been said that the Conservative Jews stay away from the more extreme sects of Judaism. The Conservative Jews wish to keep all of the traditional ways with modernization only if needed.

12. Thesimilarities between all Jewish sects is recognizing a single, indivisible God as the creator of the world. Also, all recognize the Torah as central to Judaism. All of these three sects’ origins are in Europe which all believes in one God and all follow the same sacred text, the Torah. These sects all have the same basic principles, but the small details are where they become different.

13. Religious Experience - Hayden • Jewish Conversion- Unlike many other religions, conversion to Judaism is a lengthy and somewhat complicated process. There are requirements and proceedings that must be met in order to be considered a Jew.- Requirements •    - Males must be circumcised •    - The prospective convert must be baptized •    - The convert must provide an offering to the temple or synagogue.- Once the requirements have been met, the convert must visit a three rabbi-judge court. Once they pass a test of faith, they can be formally accepted.- This process can be avoided in the case of child conversion, and only applies to people 12 years or older.

14. Prayer • - Jews are required to pray thrice daily. Once during the morning, a second during the afternoon, and a third as the last thing one does before going to sleep. • - More conservative branches practice a special prayer for each holiday. • - All branches of Judaism pray the Ne'ilah, an atonement prayer, on Yom Kippur.

15. Gender differences • - Judaism teaches that men and women are very equal. • - This first comes from the book of Genesis with the creation of the world and the first human being, Adam. The Torah refers to Adam as "them", implying that Adam was created as an androgynous, being equal parts male and female. Adam was split in to two parts, the second being Eve so that Adam would not feel a sense of self-sufficiency without Yahweh. • - Because of this, women are typically as equal in Jewish society. • - An exception to this would be in the case of ordaining rabbis. In the more orthodox branches, only men are allowed to be ordained as rabbis.

16. Religious Experience Interviews - Caitlin Interview 1: • What sect of Judaism are you? Reform • How would you say the religious experience differs from a Conservative or Orthodox Jew? • It’s different because it is much more focused on culture identity and it focuses solely on who you are and who you are collectively, but not in a demanding way. Also it is much more ritual based and it makes you become closer to ethnic ties without feeling forced.

17. Interview 2 • What sect of Judaism? Conservative Judiasism • How would you say the religious experience differs from a Reform or Orthodox Jew? I went to Sunday school when I was little and learned Hebrew, how to read it and write it and speak it. When I was like 11 I started going to a Tuesday Hebrew class to learn how to read from the Torah and to be able to lead Friday night and Saturday morning services by myself. I've gotten to experience all of the holidays. Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish new year. I get to miss a day of school for this holiday and eat a lot of apples and honey and challah and honey. Then there's Yom Kippur which is a week after Rosh Hashanah. We have to fast all day and go to services all day the night before and the whole day during Yom Kippur. We start fasting the night before and can't stop until the sun sets the next day. I believe it is one of the hardest days because everyone is usually in a bad mood, but the point is to ask forgiveness for your sins. Also, everyone thinks that Hanukah is super big like Christmas, but it's really not. Passover or Yom Kippur are viewed as more important holy days. In Passover we don't eat leavened foods for 8 days representing the 8 days the Jews were fleeing Egypt.

18. Ethics and Moral Conduct – Preston • Case study: Gilad Shalit • Israeli government decided to release 1,027 Palestinians from prison in return for the release of Shalit, a young Israeli soldier. • “Judaism places ultimate value on human life. Therefore in the Jewish tradition, in Jewish law, redeeming captives trumps just about everything else. It takes priority over anything else you can possibly do.” Rabbi ArikAscherman

19. “Jews across the world have been pining for [his] release for over five years. We have prayed for his release.” William Daroff • Many Jews had left an empty chair in honor of him at Passover meals. • Some were not sure that the Jewish laws concerning the “redemption of captives” applied to this case but ultimately agreed that the value of human life was most important.