Judaism
Judaism
Maria Berry
Axia College
HUM130 Religions of the World
Christina Gruca, MDiv., DMin.
June 24, 2007
Judaism brings to mind several things such as; biblical times, rabbis, Bar Mitzvah, and the Holocaust. Tenacious - no other word could better describe a religion or people who for centuries have been dispersed, oppressed and persecuted but still keep their practices and beliefs.
No single founder or central leader or group, Jews were a band of nomads whose idea of ethical monotheism allowed them to survive when more powerful empires vanished (Robinson, 2000). Today Jews are a scattered people, living in many different countries, belonging to many different ethnic groups and many different cultural backgrounds (De Lange, 2000).
Jews follow the Hebrew Bible or as referred to in Judaism the Tanakh. The Tanakh consists of the Torah, Nev’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (The Writings).
The Torah is considered the cornerstone upon which Judaism was built (Robinson, 2000). The Torah is a continuous narrative of the first five books of the Bible, or what Judaism considers the Five Books of Moses, beginning with creation and continuing to the death of Moses. Having remained unchanged for thousands of years, writing a Torah Scroll requires copying a letter perfect standard not from memory (Parry, 2004).
The Talmud has many different parts: religious laws, wise sayings, stories plus ancient teachings and beliefs (Parry, 2004). Beyond a doubt one of the most unusual written works, the Talmud was compiled centuries ago as a way to preserve oral traditions and laws of the Jewish faith. Traditionally Talmud study was the training ground for rabbis. Today more men and women are studying the Torah and Talmud than any time since the exile of Jewish people in 70 C.E. (Parry, 2004).
Jewish people believe they have a special covenant with God in which both they and God are accountable to each other (Fisher, 2005). Turned into...
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