1. At the start of the article, the author says “in Judaism, faith is less a matter of affirming a set of beliefs that of trust in God and fidelity to his law” (423), and he introduces the important term Halakha. Keeping in mind these words, find an example from the DAILY section on the handout A Partial Listing of Jewish Ritual Obligations and explain how Halakha may deeply influence a religious Jew’s daily life.
2. Read the section of the article called “Central Doctrines” (pp. 430-431). Describe ONE of the central doctrines that is very DIFFERENT from Christianity. Describe ONE of the central doctrines that seems to be SHARED with Christianity.
3. The section of the Judaism article “Sacred Symbols” describes at least six central symbols of Judaism. Describe one of them, and explain just what it symbolizes.
4. REVIEW the Judaism article, pp. 433-434 on Sacred Symbols – this section will help you with Dani’s description of her father’s religious practices. What memories of her father’s religious rituals bring Dani comfort? Why?
5. Is there a connection between Dani’s anxieties and her ability to believe in God?
Judaism
F O U N D E D : c. eighteenth century
B.C.E.
R E L I G I O N A S A P E R C E N T A G E O F
W O R L D P O P U L A T I O N : 0.25
percent
OVERVIEW Judaism had its beginnings some 3,800 years ago in Mesopotamia, today part of Iraq, with Abraham, the founding patriarch of the tribes of Israel. Judaism is a monotheistic faith affirming that God is one, the creator of the world and everything in it. God is also a transcendent being above and beyond the world and is thus without material form, and yet he is present in the world. His will and presence are especially, but not exclusively, manifest in his relationship with Israel (the Jewish people), to whom he has given the Torah (teaching), stipulating the laws that are to govern their religious and moral life, by virtue of which they are to be “a light unto the nations” (Isa. 49:6). Accordingly, Jews understand themselves as a chosen people, bound by a covenant with God.
In Judaism faith is less a matter of affirming a set of beliefs than of trust in God and fidelity to his law. Faith is thus primarily expressed “by walking in all the ways of God” (Deut. 11:22). These ways are specified in God’s revealed law, which the rabbis, or teachers, ap- propriately called the Halakhah (walking). The com- mandments of the Halakhah embrace virtually every as- pect of life, from worship to the most mundane aspects of daily existence. The precise details of the Halakhah are but adumbrated in the Torah, and they require elab-
oration to determine their contemporary applicability. This process is ongoing, for the Torah must be continu- ally reinterpreted to meet new conditions, and the rabbis developed principles to allow this without violating its sanctity. The modern world has thus witnessed the emergence alongside traditional, or Orthodox, Judaism various movements—Reform, Conservative, and Re- constructionist—that have introduced new criteria for the interpretation of the Torah and for Jewish religious responsibility.
As early as 597 B.C.E.hasis>, with conquest by Babylonia, the Israelites were exiled from their home- land. Over the centuries the Jewish Diaspora came to include communities throughout the world but particu- larly in the Middle East, around the Mediterranean, and in Europe. In modern times Europe was the center of Jewish religious and cultural life until more than two- thirds of European Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. The center of Judaism then shifted to the United States and to the State of Israel, founded in 1948. Today there are smaller Jewish communities in Canada, Central and South America, and Australia, as well as several European countries.
HISTORY Judaism traces its origins to Abraham, who in the judgment of most scholars lived in the eighteenth century B.C.E. Jewish tradition regards Abraham as the first person to have believed that God is one. At the age of 75 Abraham was commanded by God to leave Meso- potamia and settle in the land of Canaan: “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you a great
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices 423
T H E M E N O R A H . The Menorah, a seven-
branched candelabrum, is the most enduring sym-
bol of Judaism. First constructed by Moses at Godís
instruction (Exodus 25:31–38), it was placed in the
portable sanctuary carried by the Israelites in the
wilderness and then to the Temple of Jerusalem.
When the temple was destroyed, the Menorah
became the emblem of Jewish survival and continu-
ity. The Star of David is a modern symbol of Jewish
identity, although it has no religious content or
scriptural basis. ( T H O M S O N G A L E )
nation” (Gen. 12:1–2). His descendants were to be called the Children of Israel, and the country they were promised the Land of Israel. Only much later, in the Hellenistic period (333–63 B.C.E.), were the Israelites called Jews.
According to the Bible, the history of the Israelites was determined by their relationship to God, which was sealed by two events. The first was the Exodus of the enslaved Israelites from Egypt, where they had settled after a famine had blighted the Promised Land. The de- liverance of the Children of Israel from servitude marked their birth as a nation. Previously they had been a loosely knit group of 12 tribes, descendants of Abra- ham. God’s intervention on their behalf was understood to be an act of love and undeserved grace, solely the ful- fillment of a promise he had made. Acknowledging that its existence was owed to God, Israel was henceforth be- holden to him. The Exodus story, which the Israelites were enjoined to remember through constant retelling, thus constituted Israel’s understanding of itself as a peo- ple destined to serve God in love and gratitude.
The second event shaping the spiritual history of Israel occurred some three months after the Exodus. Wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites stopped at the foot of Mount Sinai when their divinely appointed leader, Moses, ascended the mountain. He returned with a decree from God calling upon them to enter into a covenant (brit). The people agreed, after which they ex- perienced God’s presence in “thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn” (Exod. 19:16). Through Moses, God bestowed the Ten Commandments, proclaiming the people’s duties to him and to their fellow humans. Overwhelmed by the experience, the people beseeched Moses to serve as their mediator with God. He obliged them and ascended the mountain once again. What fol- lowed was an extensive body of divine decrees, which Moses recorded in the books called the Torah and sub- mitted to the people. With this act a covenant between Israel and God was established. The Mosaic Covenant is generally understood to be a renewal and elaboration of the original covenant between God and Abraham, confirmed by his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, but this time with the entire House of Israel.
Some 230 years after the Israelites returned from Egypt, they built the Temple in Jerusalem. This was the central site of Jewish prayer and pilgrimage and for the bringing of sacrifices as an expression of submission to God, as thanksgiving, and as atonement for sins. The Temple rites were conducted by a hereditary priesthood. In 587 B.C.E. the Temple was destroyed by the conquer- ing armies of Babylonia, which resulted in the exile of most of the Israelite nobility and leadership. It was ap- parently during the Babylonian Exile that the institution of the synagogue as a house of prayer began to emerge. In 586 the Persian king Cyrus, who had defeated the armies of Babylonia, gave the exiles permission to return. Many, however, remained in Babylonia, which, together with Egypt, where Jews had also voluntarily settled, be- came the first community of the Diaspora. Those who did return found not only the Temple in ruins but also a dispirited people, bereft of spiritual leadership, who had neglected the Torah and had mixed with the hea- then population and adopted their culture and religious practices.
The reconstruction of the Temple, which was re- dedicated in 516 B.C.E., failed to reassert the authority of the Torah. It was not until the return of two leaders that the process of assimilation was decisively reversed. The scribe and priest Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in 458,
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices424
J u
d a
is m
M o
re t
h a n 4
m ill
io n a
d h e re
n ts
B e tw
e e n 7
0 ,0
0 0 a
n d
6 5 0 ,0
0 0 a
d h e re
n ts
S lig
h t
p o
p u la
ti o
n s
to n
o a
d h e re
n ts
© 2 0 0 6 T
h o
m so
n G
a le
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices 425
Brit Milah, a traditional Jewish circumcision ceremony, is carried out by a rabbi in a synagogue. Brit Milah is an important rite of passage among Conservative Jews. © B O J A N B R E C E L J / C O R B I S .
and three years later the Persian overlords appointed Nehemiah governor of the province of Judea. Together Ezra and Nehemiah set out to uproot pagan influences and to reform the life of the Jewish community. Nehe- miah instituted civil regulations ensuring social justice and the rule of law. Ezra, who, according to the tradi- tional account, was authorized by the Persian king to impose the laws of the Torah on the community, an- nulled the marriages with heathen wives and introduced strict observance of the Sabbath, including a ban on business transactions. Perhaps most important was his codification of the Torah as the five books of Moses, which were read and expounded before the people at the Sabbath afternoon prayer and during the morning prayers on Mondays and Thursdays. Overseeing the people’s solemn rededication to the Torah and its study, Ezra was said to be a second Moses, and his comprehen- sive program of reform laid the foundation for what was to become known as rabbinical Judaism.
The destruction of the Second Temple by the Ro- mans in 70 C.E. found the Jews prepared to face the trag- edy. A body of teachers and expositors of the Torah— the rabbis—was solidly in place. The synagogue, estab- lished in virtually every community, replaced the Temple as the focus of ritual and prayer. Led by Joha-
nan ben Zakkai, the rabbis transferred many of the rites and ceremonies that had belonged to the Temple to the synagogue, where they were often recast as symbolic ges- tures. Sacrifices were replaced by acts of charity and re- pentance. The rabbis also recognized that, with the de- centralization of religious authority, it was urgent to fix the biblical canon. Hitherto, aside from the Torah, the corpus of sacred writings had been fluid, with several competing versions. By the end of the first century the biblical text was sealed, with 31 books organized ac- cording to three parts—Torah (Pentateuch), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Hagiographa), collectively known by the acronym Tanakh.
Sixty years after the destruction of the Temple, Simeon Bar Kokhba led the Jews in a revolt against their Roman overlords. After three years the tenacious and valiant forces of the revolt were put down, and Bar Kokhba himself was killed in the last decisive battle, in the summer of 135. (According to one account, he was taken captive and enslaved.) In the aftermath the Jews were banished from Jerusalem, and Jewish ritual prac- tices, including circumcision, study of the Torah, and observance of the Sabbath, were prohibited. The spiritu- al leadership was summarily executed, and most of the remaining Jewish population fled. The Romans quickly repopulated Judea with non-Jews, and the Land of Isra- el, aside from Galilee, ceased to be Jewish.
The fugitives from Judea scattered throughout the Mediterranean. Joined by scholars, these Jews spread to Asia Minor and westward to Spain, Gaul (France), and the Rhine valley, where they organized self-governing communities. Those Jews remaining in the Land of Isra- el also slowly reorganized themselves. The Sanhedrin (Greek for Council of the Elders), which formerly had its seat in Jerusalem, was reconstituted in Jabneh (Yav- neh) as the supreme representative body in religious and communal affairs. The institution continued until the early fifth century, when the Roman authorities abol- ished the office of the presidency of the Sanhedrin.
With the vast majority of the Jews living outside the Land of Israel, many in distant lands, the rabbis re- ferred to the emerging Diaspora as the Exile, as a tragic national and religious state of homelessness. While many answers were given to explain the indignity and spiritual dislocation wrought by the Exile, the rabbis were united in their faith that God would redeem the exiles and regather them. This redemption was associat- ed with the advent of God’s appointed deliverer, the Messiah, who would be chosen from among the descen-
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices426
dants of King David. A redeemed Jerusalem became the symbol of the hope for the coming of the Messiah, who would herald not only the liberation of the Jews from Exile but also the establishment of the universal king- dom of God upon earth. The messianic age would wit- ness the perfection of creation and of the human order. The rabbis also taught, however, that in Exile the Jews were not utterly bereft of God’s providential presence. Earlier God had told the Israelites, “Fear not to go down to Egypt, for I will go down with you into Egypt and surely bring you again” (Gen. 46:3–4), and he ac- companied the Jews in Exile. This teaching allowed the Jews to develop a creative spiritual and religious life while they mourned the desolation of Zion, or Israel, and new centers of Jewish life emerged throughout the Diaspora.
The Babylonian Diaspora, whose origins date to the destruction of the First Temple and the decision of most of the exiles not to return, was the oldest and larg- est settlement of Jews for at least the first thousand years of the Exile. By the second century C.E. the Jewish com- munity of Babylonia had reached between 800,000 and 1.2 million, constituting from 10 to 12 percent of the total population. Under the leadership of an exilarch (head of the Exile), a hereditary office occupied by de- scendants of King David, the Jews enjoyed religious freedom and communal autonomy. The exilarchs ruled according to the Torah and Halakhah and encouraged the establishment of rabbinical academies (yeshivas), which initially acknowledged the authority of the acade- my in Jabneh and elsewhere in the Land of Israel. But with the decline of Israel, the Babylonian academies be- came the center of Jewish learning and culture. They produced the commentary on the Mishnah (collection of oral teachings on the Torah) known as the Babylo- nian Talmud, a labor of seven generations and hundreds of scholars, who completed their task in approximately 500, and communities throughout the Diaspora turned to Babylonian rabbis for guidance. The preeminence of the Babylonian Jewish community lasted until the tenth century, when it was superseded by centers of Jewish learning in the West.
The establishment of Christianity as the official re- ligion of the Roman Empire by Constantine (ruled 306–37) marked a turning point in the life of Western Jewry. Christians had an ambivalent attitude toward Jews. On the one hand, Jews were the people from whose midst Jesus and the first apostles of the church came, and they were the living custodians of the Old
A Jewish man worships at the first functioning synagogue since World War II, in Lviv, Ukraine. Europe was the center of Jewish religious and cultural life until more than two-thirds of European Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. © P E T E R T U R N L E Y / C O R B I S .
Testament, which contained the prophecies of the ad- vent of Jesus as the Messiah. On the other hand, Jews were despised for rejecting Jesus. Despite the resulting history of antagonism, which often occasioned discrimi- nation and persecution, there was also a rich cultural ex- change. Early Christians adopted many Jewish beliefs and practices. The Gregorian chants of the Orthodox Church, for instance, are said to bear traces of the music of the Temple, and the structure of the Christian liturgy and many of its prayers are derived from Judaism, as is the practice of baptism. Medieval Jewish scholars took Greek philosophy, a knowledge of which they had ac- quired under the tutelage of Islamic sages, to Christian Europe. In turn, Christianity exercised an influence on popular Jewish religious practices, music, folklore, and thought, especially mysticism.
Within Christian Europe, Jews developed an intel- lectually and spirituality vibrant culture. Communities in southern Italy, where Jews had lived since the second century B.C.E., were particularly creative in composing liturgical poetry in Hebrew, and they thereby laid the foundations of what was to be called the Ashkenazi rite,
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices 427
Jews in Brooklyn, New York, observe the festival of Sukkoth by spending time in succahs, or temporary dwellings. Conservative Jews follow the traditional Jewish calendar in celebrating Sukkoth, one of three pilgrimage festivals. © D A V I D H . W E L L S / C O R B I S .
a term designating the Jews who lived in medieval Ger- many and neighboring countries. In northern France and on the eastern banks of the Rhine, important cen- ters of rabbinical scholarship crystallized in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The comprehensive commentary on the Bible and the Talmud by the French rabbi Rashi (1040–1105) continues to serve as the basic text of a traditional Jewish education. In the second half of the twelfth and in the thirteen centuries, these communities produced highly original mystical theologies, collective- ly known as Hasidei Ashkenaz. The Jewish communi- ties of Provence, in southern France, and of Christian Spain witnessed not only a flowering of philosophy, biblical exegesis, and Talmudic learning but also the un- folding of a mystical literature that culminated in the composition of the Zohar (“Book of Splendor”) in the thirteenth century.
In the wake of the Crusades of 1096, 1146–47, and 1189–90 and of the Black Death in 1348–49, however, the situation of the Jews in Europe steadily deteriorated. Whole communities were massacred, and others were
expelled. By 1500, except for isolated communities in France and Italy, western Europe was virtually empty of Jews. By then Jewish life was largely centered in the Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania, where a unique brand of Ashkenazi piety and learning developed, and in the Is- lamic world.
Under Muslim rule, which spread rapidly from the far corners of Persia to Spain, Jews on the whole enjoyed a less precarious lot than in Christian Europe. The very fact that some of the most important works of Jewish philosophy and even of Halakhah were written in Ara- bic, whereas in medieval Europe Jews wrote exclusively in Hebrew, illustrates the degree to which they were in- tegrated into Muslim culture. Islamic philosophers, who revived the dormant thought of the Greeks, recruited disciples among Jews, the best known being Maimoni- des (1135–1204). The efflorescence of Jewish culture reached its height in Muslim Spain in the tenth and elev- enth centuries, which was a golden age of Talmudic scholars, poets, philosophers, and mystics.
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices428
Glossary
Aggadah nonlegal, narrative portions of the Talmud and Mishna, which includes history, folklore, and other subjects
Ashkenazim Jews whose ancestors in the Middle Ages lived in Germany (Ashkenaz in Hebrew) and the surrounding countries
bar mitzvah (son of commandment) initiation ceremo- ny for boys at age 13, when they are held to be responsible for their actions and hence are obliged to observe all of the commandments of the Torah; bat mitzah, a similar ceremony for girls at age 12, is observed by some Jews
Brit Milah circumcision of a male infant or adult convert as a sign of acceptance of the covenant
Conservative Judaism largest denomination of American Judaism, with affiliated congregations in South America and Israel; advocating moderate modifications of Halakhah, it occupies a middle ground between Reform and Orthodox Judaism
Diaspora communities of Jews dispersed outside the Land of Israel, traditionally referred to as the Exile
Haggadah book used at the Passover seder, contain- ing the liturgical recitation of the Passover story and instructions on conducting the ceremonial meal
Halakhah legal portions of the Talmud as later elab- orated in rabbinic literature; in an extended sense it
denotes the ritual and legal prescriptions governing
the traditional Jewish way of life
Hasidism revivalist mystical movement that originat- ed in Poland in the eighteenth century
Kabbalah mystical reading of the Scriptures that arose in France and Spain during the twelfth centu-
ry, culminating with the composition in the late thir-
teenth century of the Zohar (“Book of Splendor”),
which, especially as interpreted by Isaac Luria
(1534–72), exercised a decisive influence on late
medieval and early modern Jewish spiritual life
kasruth rules and regulations for food and its prepa- ration, often known by the Yiddish “kosher”
Midrash commentary on the Scriptures, both Halakhic (legal) and Aggadic (narrative), originally in
the form of sermons or lectures
Mishnah collection of the Oral Torah, or commentary on the Torah, first compiled in the second and third
centuries C.E.
Orthodox Judaism traditional Judaism, characterized by strict observance of laws and rituals (the
Halakhah)
The Christian Reconquista (Reconquest) of Spain in the twelfth century led to the expulsion of the Jews at the end of the fifteenth century. Jews were allowed to remain in Spain only on the condition that they con- vert to Catholicism. Among the converts, however, were those who secretly maintained allegiance to their ances- tral faith and who, as a consequence, later became sub- ject to the Inquisition. Most of those who refused to convert sought refuge in Muslim countries, their descen- dants becoming known as Sephardic Jews, from the He- brew name for Spain. Beginning in the late sixteenth century there was a steady stream of Jews from Spain and Portugal, popularly known as Marranos, who set- tled in the Netherlands, where they returned to Judaism. Members of this community founded the first Jewish settlements in the New World.
Hence, on the threshold of the modern era the Di- aspora was in the midst of a radical reconfiguration. Se- phardic Jewry was establishing itself throughout the Ot- toman Empire and North Africa, where it became the dominant constituency in Jewish cultural life. A much smaller but dynamic Sephardic community was estab- lished in the Netherlands and its colonies in the Ameri- cas. Ashkenazic Jewry was overwhelmingly concentrated in eastern Europe, particularly in Poland and Lithuania. The remaining Jews of Germany slowly began to recov- er. This process was encouraged by the Protestant Ref- ormation, which in alliance with nascent capitalism adopted a more pragmatic and thus tolerant attitude to- ward Jews. In time democratic forces led to the political emancipation of the Jews and their integration into the social and cultural life of Europe.
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices 429
Passover (Pesach) festival marking the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage
Prophets (Nevi’im) second of the three part of the Tanakh, made up of the books of 7 major and 12
minor prophets
Reconstructionist Judaism movement founded in the United States in the early twentieth century by
Mordecai M. Kaplan (1881–1983) that holds
Judaism to be not only a religion but also a dynamic
“civilization” embracing art, music, literature, cul-
ture, and folkways
Reform Judaism movement originating in early nine- teenth-century Germany that adapted the rituals and
liturgy of Judaism to accommodate modern social,
political, and cultural developments; sometimes
called Liberal Judaism
Rosh Hashanah Jewish New Year; also known as the Day of Judgment, it is a time of penitence
Sanhedrin supreme religious body of ancient Judaism, disbanded by the Romans early in the fifth century C.E.
Sephardim Jews of Spain and Portugal and their descendants, most of whom, in the wake of expul-
sion in 1492, settled in the Ottoman Empire and in
North Africa; in the early seventeenth century small
groups of descendants of Jews who had remained on
the Iberian Peninsula and accepted Christianity set-
tled in the Netherlands, where they reaffirmed their
ancestral religion
Shabuoth (Feast of Weeks) originally a harvest festi- val, now observed in commemoration of the giving of
the Torah to the Israelites
Talmud also known as the Gemara, a running com- mentary on the Mishnah written by rabbis (called
amoraim, or “explainers”) from the third to the fifth
centuries C.E. in Palestine and Babylonia; the work
of the former is called the Jerusalem Talmud and
the latter the Babylonian Talmud, which is generally
regarded as the more authoritative of the two
Tanakh anagram for Jewish Scriptures, comprising the Torah, Prophets, and Writings
Torah (Pentatuch or Law) first division of the Tanakh, constituting the five books of Moses
Writings (Ketuvim or Hagiographa) third division of the Tanakh, including the Psalms and other works
said to have be written under holy guidance
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) end of 10 days of penitence that begin with Rosh Hashana; the most
holy of Jewish days
The effect on Judaism was far-reaching. The Jews’ embrace of the Enlightenment and of liberal culture gave birth to new expressions of self-understanding and of religious belief and practice. One of the tragic ironies of the integration of Jews into modern European culture and society, however, was the intensification of anti- Semitism. Virulent opposition to the civic and political parity of the Jews, which for the most part was based on secular and not religious grounds, culminated in the fanatic hatred of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazis) and in their efforts in the Holocaust (Shoah) to exterminate all Jews. More than two-thirds of the Jewish people of Europe, a third of Jews worldwide, were murdered in Auschwitz and other death camps. The survivors sought to rehabilitate themselves in the State of Israel, established in 1948,
or in Jewish communities unscathed by the Holocaust, particularly in North and South America.
CENTRAL DOCTRINES Principally a way of life, Juda- ism emphasizes religious practices rather than articles of faith. Upon his descent from Mount Sinai, Moses ex- plained to the Children of Israel, “And now, O Israel, what does God demand of you? Only this: to revere the Lord your God, to walk only in His paths, to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, keeping the Lord’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today . . .” (Deut. 10:12–13). Judaism thus began not with an affirmation of faith but with an acceptance of what the rabbis came to call “the yoke of the Torah.” Even the Ten Commandments stress basic duties rather than principles of faith. Implic-
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices430
it in the Torah and its teachings are, of course, funda- mental beliefs, for example, the belief in God as re- corded in the declaration “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One” (Deut. 6:4), which is incor- porated into the morning and evening prayers.
In Judaism heresy is thus defined as denial of the existence of God and of his oneness. Nonetheless, the rabbis did not formulate a binding statement of Juda- ism’s principles of faith. The philosopher Philo (c. 20 B.C.E.–50 C.E.) was the first to attempt the outline of such a statement. Focusing on the creation narrative in Genesis, he enumerated five essential articles of Jewish belief: the eternal existence and rule of God, the unity of God, the divine creation of the world, the unity of creation, and divine providence that extends over the whole world. Philo’s summary of the Jewish creed had virtually no resonance in subsequent theological dis- course, however.
From time to time other Jewish philosophers, like Philo prompted by the need to explain and defend Juda- ism in the face of rival faiths, sought to formulate a suc- cinct statement of essential beliefs. But it was only the philosopher and rabbinical scholar Maimonides who, in the twelfth century, succeeded in formulating a state- ment of Jewish doctrine that obtained an authoritative status. In his commentary on the Mishnah, he delineated the “Thirteen Principles of Faith”:
1. Belief in the existence of God
2. Belief in God’s unity
3. Belief in God’s incorporeality
4. Belief in God’s eternity
5. Belief that God alone is to be worshiped
6. Belief in prophecy
7. Belief that Moses was the greatest of the prophets
8. Belief that the Torah was given by God to Moses
9. Belief that the Torah is unchangeable
10. Belief that God knows the thoughts and deeds of each human being
11. Belief that God rewards and punishes
12. Belief in the coming of the Messiah
13. Belief in the resurrection of the dead
These principles were soon incorporated into the prayer book as the hymn “Yigdal” (“May He be magni- fied . . . “), which in 1517 was supplemented by a more elaborate prose explication in the form of a personal at- testation of belief (“I believe in perfect faith . . .”).
With their inclusion in the traditional liturgy, the “Thirteen Principles” thus gained the status of an offi- cial catechism. Maimonides even went so far as to claim that anyone not subscribing to all of the principles of faith, even if the person observes the laws of Moses, will not have a share in the world to come. To underscore the overarching significance he attached to the princi- ples, Maimonides held that an utter sinner, although he or she will be appropriately punished, will share in the world to come if the principles are affirmed. For Mai- monides, then, a Jew is defined by what he believes and not by what he does, which amounted to a radical revi- sion of Judaism. It is, therefore, not surprising that many rabbis and philosophers disputed the authority of the “Thirteen Principles,” contending that they were not as basic and essential as Maimonides contended. For instance, the Spanish philosopher Yosef Albo (c. 1380– 1444) argued that there are only three basic doctrines constitutive of Jewish belief: the existence of God, di- vine revelation, and divine reward and punishment. An- other Spanish philosopher and biblical scholar, Isaac Abravanel (1437–1508), questioned whether it was necessary at all to formulate articles of belief. To his mind the faith implicit in the observance of the Torah was sufficient. He concluded nonetheless that Maimon- ides’ “Thirteen Principles,” although not to be con- strued as dogma, might be helpful for those unable to comprehend on their own the theological presupposi- tions of the Torah and its commandments.
Although Maimonides’ “Thirteen Principles” as formulated in the liturgy are still affirmed by Orthodox and Conservative Jews, they are subject to interpreta- tion. Reform Jews have periodically formulated alterna- tive statements of the essential Jewish beliefs, but by and large they continue to endorse the first five, namely, the existence of God, that he is one, that he has no bodily form, that he is eternal, and that he alone is to be wor- shiped.
MORAL CODE OF CONDUCT Judaism does not distin- guish between duties toward fellow human being and duties toward God. The Hebrew Bible and the rabbis regard moral and religious duties as inseparable. The emphasis is on attaining holiness, on “walking in God’s ways” (Deut. 10:12–13), thus allowing his presence to dwell in one’s midst. Through Moses, God told the Children of Israel, “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2), which is recited today by observant Jews in their morning and evening prayers.
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices 431
This commandment is followed immediately by the in- junction to honor one’s parents and to observe the Sab- bath. The weave of moral and ritual duties is maintained in a long list of commandments, from measures to aid the poor and secure their dignity to proper worship at the Temple, from fairness in commerce to the avoidance of pagan rites, from respect for the stranger to the sanc- tity of the firstfruits (Lev. 19:3–37), the earliest prod- ucts of the harvest that are offered to God. A person attains holiness by observing the commandments and laws of God. As God is manifest only through his deeds, so a person is beckoned to imitate those deeds (Deut. 10:17–19).
The prophets, and the rabbis after them, typically warned that ritual piety unaccompanied by moral deeds is unacceptable to God. As the prophet Micah taught, “With what shall I approach the Lord, Do homage to God on high? Shall I approach Him with burnt offer- ings? . . . He has told you, O man, what is good / And what the Lord requires of you: Only to do justice / And to love goodness / And to walk humbly with your God . . .” (Mic. 6:6–8). But while upholding the primacy of morality over ritual, it was not the intention of Micah, or of any other prophet, to distinguish moral from reli- gious virtue. The biblical conception of social responsi- bility as the axis of the ethical life was incorporated by the rabbis into the Halakhah. The rabbis elaborated bib- lical injunctions, codifying in great detail alongside the Jew’s ritual duties the ethical principles of justice, equi- ty, charity, and respect for the feelings and needs of oth- ers.
When asked to identify the overarching principle of the Torah, the rabbis pointed to its moral dimension. Hence, according to a Midrash on Leviticus 19:18, “Rabbi Akiva [c. 50–c. 136] said of the command, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ that is ‘a great prin- ciple of Torah.’” Rabbi Hillel (c. 70 B.C.E.–c. 10 C.E.) formulated the same principle with psychological in- sight: “What is hateful unto yourself do not to your fel- low human being. This is the entire Torah, the rest is commentary. Go and study.” Implicit in these encapsu- lations of biblical morality is that the ethical life requires sensibilities that often must go, as the rabbis would put it, “beyond the letter of the law.” To love one’s neigh- bor or to avoid treating one’s neighbor in a manner that one would find repugnant—offensive, hurtful, humili- ating—when done to oneself, requires a sensitivity that cannot be legislated.
The religious significance of the moral teachings of the Torah was summarized by a sixteenth-century rab- binical scholar from Prague, Judah Loew, popularly known as the Maharal. Through adhering to the moral teachings of the Torah, the Maharal taught, a person imitates God’s ways and thus realizes his or her destiny as a being created in the image of God. Moral behavior, therefore, draws a person to God. Conversely, immoral conduct distances a person from God. The nineteenth- century German rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch observed that “the Torah teaches us justice towards our fellow human beings, justice towards the plants and animals and the earth, justice towards our own body and soul, and justice towards God who created us for love so that we may become a blessing for the world.”
SACRED BOOKS Judaism is a text-centered religion, the writings it regards as sacred constituting a vast library of thousands of volumes. Its foundational text is the Hebrew Bible, which is divided into three parts: the Torah, forming the five books of Moses (also called the Pentateuch); the Prophets (Nevi’im); and the Writings (Ketuvim or Hagiographa). Jewish tradition holds the Torah to be the direct, unmediated Word of God, whereas in the Prophets men said to be divinely inspired speak in their own voices, while the Writings are consid- ered to be formulations in the words of men guided by the Holy Spirit.
Alongside the Torah and the other books of the Bible there developed an elaborate commentary explicat- ing their teachings. This commentary was initially not written, but since it was regarded as divinely inspired, it was called the Oral Torah. Over the centuries the Oral Torah expanded to such a degree that it could no longer be contained by sheer memory. Hence, around the end of the second and the beginning of the third century C.E., Rabbi Judah the Prince (that is, the head of the su- preme rabbinical council) compiled a comprehensive di- gest of the Oral Torah. This work, known as the Mish- nah, assumed a canonical status. Written in Hebrew, the Mishnah is a multivolume work covering such subjects as the laws governing agriculture, Temple service, festi- vals and fast days, marriage and divorce, business trans- actions, ritual purity and purification, adjudication of torts, and general issues of jurisprudence. The Mishnah does not confine itself to Halakhic, or legal, matters. Under the rubric of Aggadah (narration), it contains re- flections on Jewish history, ethics, etiquette, philosophy, folklore, medicine, astronomy, and piety. Typical of
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices432
rabbinical discourse, the Aggadah and Halakhah are in- terwoven in the text of the Mishnah, complementing and amplifying each other.
Post-Mishnaic teachers and scholars in the Land of Israel and in Babylonia wrote running commentaries on the Mishnah. These commentaries, together with those on other, smaller works, were collected in two massive collections, one known as the Palestinian, or Jerusalem, Talmud and the other as the Babylonian Talmud. (An- other term for the Talmud is Gemara, from an Aramaic word for “teaching.”) These were completed around 400 and 500 C.E., respectively. The two Talmuds were written in Aramaic, a language related to Hebrew. Simi- lar to the Mishnah, the Talmuds contain Aggadah and Halakhah woven into a single skein. In the centuries that followed numerous commentaries were written on the Talmuds, particularly on the Babylonian, which became the preeminent text of Jewish sacred learning. In the age of printing the Talmuds were published with the princi- pal commentaries on them adorning the margins of each page.
From time to time collections of scriptural com- mentaries, originally in the form of sermons or lectures at rabbinical academies from the period of the Mishnah and Talmud, were made. They appear under the general name Midrash (inquiry, or investigation). The collec- tions are classified as Halakhic and Aggadic Midrash- him. The Halakhic Midrashim focus on explicating the laws of the Pentateuch, whereas the Aggadic Midrashim have a much larger range, employing the Bible to explore extralegal issues of religious and ethical meaning. The most widely studied Aggadic Midrashim are the Midrash Rabbah (“The Great Midrash”), compiled in the tenth century by Rabbi David ben Aaron of Yemen, and the Midrash of Rabbi Tanhuma in the fourth century. Ag- gadic Midrashim were written until the thirteenth cen- tury, when they yielded to two new genres of sacred writings, philosophy and mysticism (Kabbalah).
The most widely studied Jewish philosophical work is The Guide of the Perplexed, written by Maimonides at the end of the twelfth century, and the seminal work of the Kabbalah is the Zohar (“Book of Splendor”), from the late thirteenth century. Written in form of a mystical Midrash, the Zohar purports to present the revelations of the mysteries of the upper worlds granted to the sec- ond-century sage Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai and his cir- cle. It is a work of unbridled imagination and symbolism that exercised a profound impact on the spiritual land- scape of Judaism. The Zohar’s far-reaching influence was
registered in prayers and in such popular movements as Hasidism (the pious ones), which arose in eighteenth- century Poland and which produced hundreds of mysti- cal teachings and tales, all of which are considered to illuminate divine truths and hence are regarded as sa- cred.
SACRED SYMBOLS Judaism has a culture rich in reli- gious symbols, objects, and rituals that represent ab- stract concepts, particularly of God and his teachings and of his providential presence in Israel’s history. Thus, God commanded Moses to instruct the Israelites to wear fringes, or tassels, on the corners of their garments as a reminder “to observe all My commandments and to be holy to your God” (Num. 15:38–40). On the basis of this commandment there arose the practice of wearing a shawl (tallith) with tassels (zizith). This is ei- ther a tallith katan, a small four-cornered shawl generally worn under garments, or a larger tallith worn over clothes during prayer.
As a reminder of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, the Israelites were commanded to place a sign upon their heads and a symbol on their foreheads (Exod. 13:9, 16). Jewish tradition interpreted this com- mandment as an injunction to wear tefillin, or phylac- teries, small leather boxes fastened to the forehead and the upper left arm by straps; each cube-shaped box con- tains the Scriptural passages in which the command- ment appears (Exod. 13:1–10; Exod. 13:11–16; Deut. 6:4–7; Deut. 11:12–21). The tefillin are worn during the morning service except on the Sabbath and on holi- days, which are themselves symbols of God’s presence.
The Bible also enjoins Jews to fix a mezuzah to the doorposts of their dwellings (Deut. 6:9; 11:20). The mezuzah, from the Hebrew word for “doorpost,” con- sists of a small scroll of parchment, usually placed in a case or box and often ornately decorated, on which are inscribed two biblical passages (Deut. 6:4–9; 11:13– 21). The first includes the commandments to love God, study the Torah, read the Shema prayer (attesting to the unity of God), wear the tefillin, and affix the mezuzah. The second passage associates good fortune and well- being with the observance of God’s commandments.
The preeminent symbol of Judaism is Brit Milah, the covenant of circumcision performed on a male child when he is eight days old or on an adult male convert as a sign of his acceptance of the covenant. The removal of the foreskin is a “sign in the flesh” of the covenant
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices 433
God made with Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 17:9–13).
The kippah, known in Yiddish as the yarmulke, is the name of the skullcap, which may be any head covering, worn by males in prayer and by Orthodox Jews through- out the day. Covering the head is regarded as a sign of awe before the divine presence, especially during prayer and while studying sacred texts. The kippah was appar- ently introduced by the Talmudic rabbis, for there is no commandment in the Bible giving this instruction.
The menorah, a seven-branched candelabrum, is the most enduring symbol of Judaism. First constructed by Moses at God’s instruction (Exod. 25:31–38), it was placed in the portable sanctuary carried by the Israelites in the wilderness and then in the Temple of Jerusalem. When the Second Temple was destroyed, the menorah became the emblem of Jewish survival and continuity. In modern times the six-pointed Star of David was adopted as a symbol of Jewish identity, although it has no religious content or scriptural basis.
EARLY AND MODERN LEADERS Abraham was the founding patriarch of the Jewish people and the para- digm of the moral and spiritual virtues—humility, mag- nanimity, and steadfast faith in God—incumbent upon Jews to attain. He was born into a heathen family in Mesopotamia in the eighteenth century B.C.E., and his path from idolatry to an affirmation of the one God is related in Genesis (11:27–25:18). The Bible does not tell why he was singled out by God, who promised to make of him a great nation, with abundant blessings, nu- merous offspring, and a land of its own. Abraham’s se- lection is presented as an act of pure grace. The cove- nant God established with Abraham was symbolized by the rite of circumcision, which is reenacted by the cir- cumcision of all Jewish male children. But Abraham was not only the father of his physical descendants; he is also the spiritual father of all who convert to Judaism. The prototypical Jew, Abraham is emblematic of a faith that resists all temptation, as when, to test his trust in God, he was commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac.
The leadership of the Israelite nation passed to Abraham’s son Isaac and then to his grandson Jacob, the progenitor of the 12 tribes of Israel. (Jacob was renamed Israel by an angel with whom he wrestled [Gen. 32:25– 33].) Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph, persecuted by his en- vious brothers, found his way to Egypt, first as a slave to a high-ranking official and eventually as vice-regent of the country. When Joseph encountered his brothers,
he urged them to bring Jacob and their families to Egypt to avoid the famine blighting the Land of Israel. After Joseph’s death the Children of Israel were enslaved by the Egyptians.
Among the Hebrew slaves was the child Moses. He was raised by the pharaoh’s daughter, who found him as an infant among the reeds of the Nile, where his mother had hid him from the Egyptian soldiers ordered to kill every Israelite male infant. Brought up as an Egyptian prince, Moses nonetheless commiserated with his people. On one occasion, when he witnessed an Egyptian taskmaster about to kill a Hebrew slave, Moses intervened and slew the Egyptian. Obliged to flee, he found refuge in the desert. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and ordered him to return to the pharaoh to demand that the Children of Israel be set free. After God had unleashed 10 plagues upon the Egyptians, the pharaoh freed the Children of Israel under Moses’ leadership. As they were crossing the de- sert, however, the pharaoh had second thoughts, and he sent an army to recapture them. At the Red Sea, whose waters had miraculously parted to allow the Israelites to cross, the pursuing army drowned as the waters closed over them. When the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai, God gave them the Ten Commandments. Moses then ascended the mountain, where he stayed for 40 days and received further laws and instructions, called the Torah. For 40 years he led the people through the wilderness, until they came to the Promised Land. Before being able to enter the land with his people, Moses died at the age of 120.
The successor of Moses was Joshua (twelfth centu- ry B.C.E.), leader of the Israelite tribes in their conquest of the Promised Land. As depicted in the Bible, he was a composite of a prophet, judge, and military leader. Upon Joshua’s death the people were ruled by judges. Except for Deborah, they were not judges in the techni- cal sense but rather inspired leaders who, guided by the spirit of God, arose on the occasion of a crisis. As tem- porary leaders, they generally had limited influence, and thus the period was one of political and social instabili- ty.
Samuel (eleventh century B.C.E.) was the last of the judges and a prophet who led Israel during a transitional period. In the face of a growing threat from the neigh- boring Philistines, conflict among the tribes of Israel, and the weak and corrupt leadership of the judges, the people called upon Samuel to anoint a king over them. In accordance with God’s will, Samuel anointed Saul,
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices434
but only after warning the people of the disadvantages of a monarchy. Indeed, Samuel was profoundly disap- pointed with the king, and he secretly appointed David to replace Saul. Jewish tradition judges Samuel to be of equal importance with Moses.
Saul (c.1029–1005 B.C.E.) was a successful military leader, but his differences with Samuel and his melan- cholic disposition led to fits of depression, which were eased by music. A young harpist named David was often summoned to play for him. David’s increasing populari- ty, culminating in his slaying of the Philistine giant Go- liath, along with his marriage to Saul’s daughter Michal and his friendship with Saul’s son Jonathan, served only to deepen the king’s jealousy. His suspicion that David was bent on wresting the throne from him drove Saul mad with rage, and he tried to kill David, forcing him to flee. Saul met an inglorious end when a force of Phi- listines defeated the armies of Israel and the wounded Saul took his own life. The victorious Philistines dis- played his decapitated body on the wall of the Israelite city of Beth-Shan.
David was anointed king and reigned from c.1010 to 970 B.C.E. He led the remaining troops of Israel to swift victories over the Philistines and other enemies. He then captured Jerusalem, declared it the capital of his kingdom, and had the Ark of the Covenant, contain- ing the tablets of laws given by God to Moses, taken there. His plan to build a Temple was thwarted by the prophet Nathan, who claimed that God found David, a man of war, unsuitable for the sacred project. A war- rior and statesman, David united the tribes of Israel and greatly expanded the borders of the kingdom. Although his reign was not free of intrigue and ill fortune, Jewish tradition regarded him as the ideal ruler. Indeed, it was held that the redeemer of Israel, the Messiah, would be a scion of the House of David (Isa. 9:5–6; 11:10).
It was given to David’s son Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem. His 40-year reign was marked by peace, prosperity, and amiable ties with the surrounding countries. But Solomon taxed the people heavily to fi- nance the construction of the Temple and an opulent palace and to strengthen his army. His many political marriages with foreign wives were also suspect in the eyes of the people. The festering resentment surfaced after his death and led to the division of the kingdom.
Upon the death of Solomon in 928 B.C.E., the 10 northern tribes of Israel seceded to establish the King- dom of Israel. Solomon’s son Rehoboam thus ruled over the southern Kingdom of Judah, which included only
the tribes Judah and Benjamin and which was greatly di- minished in territory. For the next 350 years the King- dom of Israel was constantly beset by internal instability and external enemies. Although at times the rulers of the northern kingdom proved their mettle in battle, they failed to provide effective moral and religious leader- ship, and pagan practices spread. In response prophets arose in judgment of Israel’s sins. In the ninth century the prophet Elijah inveighed against the idolatrous prac- tices and decadent lives of the privileged classes. (Elijah was said not to have died but to have been taken to heaven in a chariot of fire, and later Jewish legend claimed that he would return to earth as the herald of the Messiah.)
In the eighth century B.C.E. the prophet Amos, who came from the Kingdom of Judah, fulminated against the oppression of the poor and disinherited members of society. Because of divine election, Amos taught, the Children of Israel, in both the north and the south, had a responsibility to pursue social justice. In contrast to Amos, who stressed justice, the contemporary prophet Hosea spoke of loving kindness. God loved his people, but they did not requite his love and “whored” with Baal, the pagan god of the Phoenicians. In a dream God commanded Hosea to marry a harlot to symbolize Isra- el’s immoral behavior, while at the same time highlight- ing God’s forgiveness and abiding love. The Kingdom of Israel came to an end in 722 when it was conquered by the Assyrians, who exiled the inhabitants. These 10 tribes of Israel were henceforth “lost” from history.
The kings of the Kingdom of Judah proved to be more resolute in fending off pagan influences, and they sought to strengthen knowledge of the Torah and its observance. Nonetheless, they were also subject to the wrath of the prophets. Active during the reign of four kings of Judah, the prophet Isaiah (eighth century B.C.E.) castigated the monarchs for forging alliances with for- eign powers, arguing that the Jews should place their trust in God alone. Isaiah lent support to King Hezekiah (727–698), who instituted comprehensive religious re- forms by uprooting all traces of pagan worship. The prophet Jeremiah (seventh–sixth centuries) denounced what he regarded as the rampant hypocrisy and conceit of the leadership of Judah. When the Babylonians reached the gates of Jerusalem, Jeremiah claimed that it would be futile to resist, and, accordingly, he urged the king to surrender and thus spare the city and its inhabi- tants from further suffering. His prophecy of doom earned for him the scorn of the leadership and masses
J U D A I S M
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices 435
alike. When the city fell in 597, he was not exiled to Babylonia with the rest of the political and spiritual elite. He eventually fled to Egypt, where he was last heard of fulminating against the idolatry of the Jews there.
In 538 B.C.E. the Persian emperor Cyrus, who had conquered Babylonia, allowed the exiled Jews to return to Judea (formerly Judah). At first only small groups were repatriated to their ancestral home, by then a prov- ince of the Persian Empire. The pace of the return gained momentum when Zerubbabel, a scion of King David, was appointed governor of Judea in about 521. Encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the governor led 44,000 exiles back to Judea. With the sup- port of the prophets, Zerubbabel was able to overcome many political and economic obstacles, as well as the public’s apathy toward the rebuilding of the Temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonians. The Tem- ple, henceforth known as the Second Temple, was re- dedicated in 516. Under the leadership of the priest Ezra, another group of exiles returned to Judea in 458. Ezra was soon joined by Nehemiah, whom the Persians appointed governor, and the two worked together to re- build Jerusalem and to reorganize and reform Jewish communal life. They pledged the people to renew the covenant and to rid themselves of foreign and pagan in- fluences.
For the next 300 years Judea was a vassal state ruled by a Jewish governor appointed by the Persian overlords and a religious leader in the person of a high priest. In the last third of the fourth century B.C.E., Judea fell under the power of the Hellenistic world. The Greeks concentrated temporal as well as religious power in the hands of the high priest. To ensure their control, the Greeks also established colonies throughout the land, and their culture gradually penetrated the upper classes of the Jewish population. Hellenization intensified when Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164), the Seleucid ruler of Syria, laid claim to Judea and appointed Jason, a Hellenized Jew, to the office of high priest. Jason transformed Jerusalem into a Greek polis (city-state) named Antiochia, in honor of the Seleucid king, and had a sports arena built to replace the Temple as the focus of the city’s social and cultural life. Dissatisfied with Jason, Antiochus replaced him with Menelaus, another Hellenized Jew, with whose conniving he plundered the Temple’s treasures. In the wake of a revolt by Jason, An- tiochus took further measures to obliterate the Jewish character of Jerusalem. He forbade Jews to practice their
religion and forced them to eat foods forbidden by the Torah and to participate in pagan rites. The Temple was desecrated and rendered a site for the worship of Zeus. These harsh actions led to an uprising led by the Hasmoneans, a priestly family headed by Mattathias.
Mattathias and his five sons proved able warriors and leaders. Through guerilla warfare they liberated the countryside from Seleucid control. After Mattathias’s death in 167 B.C.E., his son Judah Maccabees assumed leadership of the revolt. A brilliant strategist and tacti- cian, he further routed the Seleucid armies and eventual- ly dislodged them from Jerusalem. In 164 the Temple was ritually purified and rededicated, and to celebrate the event, the festival of Hanukkah was instituted. When Judas Maccabees fell in battle in 160, his broth- ers Jonathan and Simeon resumed guerilla warfare against the Seleucids. Through diplomatic and military efforts they prevailed and gained de facto independence of Judea. In 140 Simeon convened an assembly of priests and learned men who confirmed him, and his sons after him, as the high priest and commander in chief of the Jewish nation.
