Transcript Slide 1

Chapter 4.1
The Story of Judaism
History
(pages 98-107)
Judaism in Canada
• Canada has the fourth-largest Jewish population in the world,
after the United States, Israel, and France.
• Approximately 330 000 Canadian Jews today trace their origins
The top
Jewish
populations
in the
(2001):
backtwelve
to Russian
and Eastern
European Jews
whoworld
emigrated
to
1. USA during the6,500,000
escape persecution
late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Israel from the
4,950,000
• Others are2.descended
40 000 Holocaust survivors who
3. France
came to Canada
in 1945, after600,000
WWII.
4. another
Canada wave of364,000
• In the 1950s,
Jewish immigrants came from
5. Britain
275,000
French colonies
in North Africa.
6. in
Russia
275,000
• Most settled
large cities such
as Montréal and Toronto.
7. first
Argentina
197,000
• Many of the
Jewish Canadians
were fur traders or members
8. Army
Ukraine
112,000
of the British
stationed in
the province of Québec.
Germany
98,000
• Today, the9.largest
number of Jews
in Canada live in Toronto and
97,500
Montréal.10. Brazil
South Winnipeg,
Africa
88,000
• Vancouver,11.Ottawa,
and Calgary also have large Jewish
12. Hungary
55,000
communities.
The top twelve Jewish populations in the world
(2001):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
USA
Israel
France
Canada
Britain
Russia
Argentina
Ukraine
Germany
Brazil
South Africa
Hungary
6,500,000
4,950,000
600,000
364,000
275,000
275,000
197,000
112,000
98,000
97,500
88,000
55,000
Rabbi Ammos Chorny
Temple Israel
of London, Ontario, Canada
605 Windermere Road
London, Ontario
Canada
N5X 2P1
Phone: (519)858-4400
FAX: (519)858-2070
Office: [email protected]
Rabbi Debra Dressler
[email protected]
The History of Judaism
Origins of Judaism
• Judaism traces its origins back 3800
years to Abraham and Sarah, patriarch
and matriarch of Hebrews or Israelites.
• The story of Abraham, Sarah, and their
descendants is told in Jewish scriptures.
• It is the story of a covenant (promise)
made between God and Abraham.
Links to the Past
• The area we now know as Israel was
once divided into two kingdoms: the
kingdom of Israel in the north and the
kingdom of Judah in the south.
• The religion is called Judaism because
the Jewish people trace their heritage
to the Hebrew people who lived in the
kingdom of Judah.
• Throughout its sacred texts, Judaism
has maintained continuity with its
distant past.
• Even though Judaism’s roots date back
to ancient times, over the centuries it
has evolved and changed from the
practices of early Hebrews.
The Birth of Modern Judaism
• The Judaism of King David and King Solomon was different from
the Judaism of today.
• The destruction of the Temple in the 1st century of the
Common Era had an enormous impact on Judaism because it
had been the centre of all Jewish worship and sacrifice.
• In 66 CE, Judea was under the Roman Empire.
• Zealots (Jewish revolutionaries) rebelled, and the Romans laid
siege to Jerusalem, destroying the city and the Temple.
• 3000 people perished when the Temple fell.
• Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism survived, but were changed
by the events.
Christianity
• The destruction of the Temple forever changed a Jewish movement
that had begun with Jesus of Nazareth about 40 years earlier.
• The movement included Jews and non-Jews who had accepted
Jesus as the Jewish Messiah or Christ.
• Conflict developed between Christian Jews and Rabbinic Jews
(Pharisees).
• The two groups parted ways at the end of the 1st century.
Rabbinic Judaism
• It was begun by Pharisees.
• It found a new focus in sacred writings.
• It encouraged people to gather in synagogues or study houses
to study the Torah.
• Torah is the “teaching” or guidance of God.
• Studying and interpreting the Torah became an important way
of helping Jewish people follow the laws of the covenant,
wherever they lived.
• Interpreters were known as scribes or rabbis, thus the name
Rabbinic Judaism.
Jews in the Diaspora
• In 135 CE, the Romans expelled the Jews from Judea,
forcing them to take refuge in other countries.
• Diaspora means “dispersion” or “scattering.”
• This scattering among nations and the constant desire to
return to Israel and Jerusalem is a key aspect of the history
of Jews and their faith.
Jews in Christian Europe
• In the Diaspora, Jews became divided into two major groups:
the Ashkenazim in northern, central, and eastern Europe,
and the Sephardim around the Mediterranean.
• Both groups had an immeasurable influence on the
intellectual, economic, cultural, and spiritual life of every
country they lived in.
• Jews were considered “the other” and were set apart in
many cases.
• In Christian countries of Europe, they were often unjustly
accused of being the killers of Jesus the Messiah and were
treated as unbelievers.
The Kabbalah and Hasidism
• Several Jewish mystical movements became
popular in the Middle Ages.
• Mystics search for God through a life of prayer,
meditation, and reflection.
• The main Jewish mystical teachings are Kabbalah
(12th century), and Hasidism (18th century).
Kabbalah
• Kabbalah’s teachings are found in
many texts, including the Zohar.
• According to Kabbalah, the true
nature of God is indescribable.
• It is known as Ein Sof, meaning
“without end.”
• God has no boundaries in time or
space.
Hasidism
• Founder was Israel ben Eliezer (1698–1759), also
known as Ba’al Shem Tov
• He taught that communion with God happened
through prayer, good deeds, humility, and joy.
• He is best known for his humorous stories of people
encountering God while doing simple chores.
Chapter 4.2
The Story of Judaism
Shoah
(pages 108-116)
The Enlightenment, the Holocaust
(Shoah), and Modern-Day Israel
• Three events have shaped Judaism in the past three
centuries: the Enlightenment, the Holocaust (Shoah), and
the founding of the State of Israel.
The Enlightenment
• In the 17th century, a new way of knowing began to dominate
Western Europe: reason.
• Before that, mysticism and religion were ways of knowing and
understanding life.
• The Enlightenment emphasized intellectual freedom.
• Only what could be known by reason was acceptable; everything
else was superstition.
• People became skeptical of traditional political, social, and
religious beliefs.
• Less emphasis was placed on religion, and Jews in some parts of
Europe became more accepted.
• The Enlightenment also caused divisions within Judaism.
• Ashkenazi Jews split into three traditions: Reform, Conservative,
and Orthodox.
Reform Judaism
• This branch attracted Jews who had mixed more frequently with the rest of the
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population
They wanted to enjoy freedoms like everyone else, participate in intellectual life,
and work with non-Jews.
They began to interpret scripture with more modern methods.
They became less concerned with traditional purity laws, kosher laws, and the
desire to return to the homeland.
Today, Reform Jews use a combination of Hebrew and English for religious
services.
Men and women sit together in the synagogue.
Women are ordained as rabbis.
Many, but not all, believe as long as one parent is Jewish, the children are Jewish.
Individualism is encouraged: each person must decide what beliefs and practices
are key to his or her spiritual life.
They often accept secular moral values (the values of society in general), but live
by traditional values as well.
They stress tikkun olam—repairing the world through social action.
Conservative Judaism
• The Conservative movement arose as a reaction to Reform
Judaism.
• It follows many, but not all, of the 613 commandments of the
Torah, and old traditions such as the order of prayers, the use of
Hebrew, and some dietary laws.
• It is open to modern historical methods of study, but considers
Reform Judaism too loose in its interpretation of the scripture.
• The needs of the community and its Jewish identity always come
before individual wants and needs.
• Active participation in synagogue is very important.
• Like Reform Jews, Conservatives stress tikkun olam.
• Men and women sit together in the synagogue.
• Women are sometimes ordained as rabbis.
• It is the largest branch of Judaism in Canada.
Orthodox Judaism
• Orthodox Jews continue to observe all the ancient rules and
practices.
• They want to avoid “watering down” the Jewish faith.
• They believe God gave the whole Torah—oral and written—to
Moses at Mount Sinai.
• Some Orthodox Jews accept some secular moral values, but being
Orthodox means following the commandments of the Torah,
strictly observing the Sabbath and other Jewish holy days, using
Hebrew in the synagogue, dressing modestly, and following
dietary laws.
• Men and women sit separately in the synagogue.
• Judaism can only be passed down to children by the mother.
The Holocaust (Shoah)
• During WWII, between 16 and 20 million people were killed in
concentration and labour camps by German Nazis and their
allies.
• About 6 million of these victims were Jews.
• Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany in 1933.
• Even though German Jews were well integrated into European
society, Hitler considered them an “inferior race” and declared
them enemies of the state.
• He blamed Jews for Germany’s loss in WWI (1914–1918) and
Germany’s economic problems during the Great Depression of
the 1930s.
• Many Jews were alarmed by Hitler’s actions and tried to leave
Germany.
• But many countries limited the number of immigrants they
would allow in during the Great Depression.
• Anti-Semitism was widespread, even in Canada, which
contributed to other countries’ not wanting to take them in.
• The Nazis deliberately set out to exterminate all Jews in
Europe; this is known as the Holocaust.
• Jews were imprisoned, starved, forced to do heavy manual
labour, medically experimented on, tortured, and killed.
• The Jewish population of Europe was reduced from 9.5 million
to 1.6 million in just 12 years.
Effects of the Holocaust on the Jewish Community
• After the horrors of the war, the faith of many Jews was
shaken.
• They wondered if God was punishing them for their lack of
faithfulness.
• This is a question still faced by many modern Jews.
• The fact that Judaism lives on is a testimony that came from
this struggle to understand.
• For others, the traditional Jewish belief that God is with us in
good times and bad remains strong.
• They believe goodness and love will prevail and God’s reign
will triumph at the end of history.
• The central message of the Torah is “What is hateful to you, do
not do to others.”
• This is the rallying cry for many Jews of all denominations in
response to the Holocaust.
• Greater emphasis on the tikkun olam has been a Jewish
response to the cruelty of WWII.
• The Mishnah (oral Torah) teaches that Adam was created single
to teach people that the destruction of any person’s life is the
same as destroying a whole world, and the preservation of a
single life is the same as preserving a whole world.
• Life is sacred because it is from God; for many Jews, preserving
life is a key response to the Holocaust.
Zionism and the State of Israel
Zionism
• The persecution Jews experienced in Europe fuelled a desire to
return to the land God had promised them.
• By the late 1800s, many Jews supported Zionism, a movement
to establish a national Jewish state in Palestine.
• Some Zionists began to emigrate to Palestine.
• Arabs who lived there objected to the Jews coming to what they
saw as their homeland and fighting broke out several times.
• After WWII, many Western countries began to support Jewish
struggles for a homeland in Palestine.
Zionism (cont’d)
• Britain, which controlled the region, submitted the issue to the United
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Nations.
In 1947 the UN voted to divide Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state
with Jerusalem under international control.
Arabs felt betrayed by the Western countries, whom they had supported
during the war.
Palestinian Arabs felt particularly betrayed by the British who, in 1915, had
promised them independence in Palestine.
On May 14, 1948, Jews proclaimed the independent State of Israel.
The next day, Israel’s neighbouring Arab nations invaded in attempt to
destroy the new Jewish state.
When the war ended about eight months later, Israel controlled its part and
about half of the land the UN had planned for the new Arab state.
The rest was annexed by Arab neighbours.
Almost a million Palestine Arabs left the country or were expelled by the
Israelis.
Most became refugees living in the Arab-controlled part of Palestine.
Chapter 4.3
The Story of Judaism
Rituals
(pages 117-122)
Rituals
JEWISH CALENDAR
MAJOR HOLY DAYS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Rosh Hashanah / Jewish New Year
Yom Kippur / Day of Atonement
Sukkot / Feast of Tabernacles/Booths
Pesach / Passover
Shavu'ot / Feast of Weeks/Pentecost
Hanukkah / Feast of Lights
Purim / Feast of Lots
Simchat Torah / Rejoicing in the Torah
Tisha B’Av / Destruction of Two Temples
HAPPY
HANUKKAH
TIME OF YEAR
Year
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Hanukkah starts at sundown on... Hanukkah ends on
December 11
December 19
December 1
December 9
December 20
December 28
December 8
December 16
November 27
December 5
December 16
December 24
December 6
December 14
HISTORICAL EVENT
• A Greek King (2200 years ago) was in control
of Judah and he forbade the Jewish people
from praying to their God, practicing their
customs, and studying their Torah.
• Antiochus forced the Jews to worship the
Greek gods. It is said that he placed an idol of
the Greek God Zeus on the alter in the Holy
Temple of Jerusalem.
Zeus ~ god of the sky and thunder
Image of Antiochus on coin
• In response to this
persecution, Judah
Maccabee and his four
brothers organized a group
of resistance fighters known
as the Maccabees.
• The Maccabees
reclaimed the Holy
Temple in Jerusalem.
They cleaned the
Temple, removing the
Greek symbols and
statues. When Judah
and his followers
finished cleaning the
temple, they
rededicated it.
• According to tradition, when the
Maccabees entered the Holy Temple,
they discovered that their was only
enough one days worth of oil for the
temple lamp.
• Miraculously, the Maccabees lit the
menorah and it burned for not one, but
eight days.
• This is why the Hanukkah Menorah has
eight candles and why Jews celebrate
Hanukkah for eight days.
SPECIAL FOODS
• Many traditional Hanukkah foods are cooked
in oil, in remembrance of the oil that burned
in the temple.
• Latkes, or potato pancakes are a favorite food
at Hanukkah.
KEY RITUALS
• The Lighting of the Menorah
• Blessing of the Candles
• Singing and playing Dreidle
• Eating Foods Cooked in Oil
THEMES
•Courage
•Hope
•Light
•Freedom
KEY SYMBOL
Hanukkah
Menorah
PEZ
MENORAH
LEGO
MENORAH
NATURAL
MENORAH
Remember:
HANUKKAH IS NOT THE “JEWISH CHRISTMAS”
DREIDLE
•The dreidel is a foursided spinning top.
•Each side is engraved
with a different Hebrew
letter.
•The letters mean Nes
Gadol Haya Sham—"A
great miracle happened
there"
HAPPY PURIM
TIME OF YEAR
February/March
HISTORICAL EVENT
• Remembers the defeat
of a plot to exterminate
the Jewish people in
Persia (Babylon).
• The story of Purim is
told in the Book of
Esther.
KEY CHARACTERS
•Becomes Queen of
Persia after being
chosen by the King
•She saved the Jewish
people from Haman.
•Very beautiful and
brave
•Esther’s Cousin
•Leader of the Jews in
Persia
•He took care of Esther
after she became an
orphan
•Powerful Prime
Minister in Persia
•He declares that the
Jews in Persia must
bow down to him
•He plots to annihilate
the Jews because they
refuse to bow down to
him
•King of Persia
•Divorced his wife
and was searching
for a new Queen
•He chose Esther
(an Israelite) and
she became his
Queen.
King
Xerxes
AKA
Ahasuerus
SPECIAL FOODS
HAMANTACHEN
• Triangle shapped pastries filled with Jam
(tradition states that Haman wore a triangular
shapped hat)
SYMBOLS
• Rattles
• Masks
• Hamentashen
Rituals
• On Purim, all Jews are required
to fulfill the Purim mitzvot:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Reading of the Story of Esther
Festive meal (Drink Wine)
Gifts of food
Act of Charity
• Some dress up as the Purim
characters and put on plays!
Marking Time
Shabbat (the Sabbath)
• Shabbat is the day the Lord rested and is the most sacred day
for Jews.
• Shabbat begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sundown on
Saturday.
• It is celebrated in the synagogue.
• It focuses on the family.
• It celebrates the heavens and Earth and everything on Earth as
gifts from God.
Pesach (Passover)
• Passover is one of the most
important feasts of Jewish year.
• It is celebrated in the first month of
the year, on the 15th day of Nisan.
• Like Easter, it happens around the
first full moon after spring equinox.
• It celebrates the freedom won by
Jewish slaves when they escaped
from the Egyptian Pharaoh over
3000 years ago.
• The most important part of the
festival is the Passover Seder, a
ritual meal during which Jews recall
the story of the Exodus from Egypt.
From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur: The Days of Awe
• Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new year.
• It is celebrated in the synagogue.
• People declare God king again for the coming year and pray for
God’s protection and blessing.
• One of the most exciting rituals is the sounding of the shofar,
or ram’s horn, to herald the start of the new year.
• The 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called
the Days of Awe.
• During this time, Jews turn inward and remember God will be
their judge at the end of time.
• Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement.
• It is a solemn day of fasting, when Jews seek reconciliation with
God.
• They atone for their sins by asking forgiveness from God and
anyone they have sinned against over the previous year.
Life-Cycle Rituals
Brit Milah or Bris
• The Brit Milah, or Bris, is the rite of circumcision.
• It is performed when a baby boy is 8 days old.
• The circumcision is a sign on the body of God’s covenant with
Abraham.
• It is also the time when a baby is given his Hebrew name.
• Parents of a baby girl can have a Simchat Bat–a ceremony in the
synagogue where the baby receives her Hebrew name.
Betrothal and Marriage
• Judaism strongly encourages people to
marry.
• Before a wedding, a marriage contract is
prepared to ensure that the husband will
treat his wife respectfully and fulfill his
obligations to her.
• The couple exchange rings under a canopy,
which symbolizes the home they will make
together.
• The ceremony ends with the recitation of
seven blessings for the marriage.
Death
• When a parent dies, a son or
daughter recites a special prayer
of sanctification called the
kaddish every morning and
evening for 11 months after the
death.
• For seven days after a burial,
mourners gather at one home
and receive visitors, who often
bring food so the grieving family
does not have to worry about
ordinary activities like cooking.
Chapter 4.4
The Story of Judaism
Community & Beliefs
(pages 123-133)
The Jewish Community
• When the Temple was destroyed, Jews no longer had a
centre of worship or a role for the high priest.
• There is no one person who can give a final interpretation
of the Jewish tradition.
• Most Jews choose a rabbi or join a more structured
community to help them observe their religion.
The Synagogue
• After being exiled to Babylon, the Jews were dispersed among other
nations.
• They set up synagogues so they would not be dependent on the Temple in
Jerusalem.
• When the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, more synagogues were built.
• Synagogues have two purposes:
– they are places were Torah is taught
– they are places of worship outside Jerusalem
The Synagogue
• The synagogue contains an ark, or cabinet, where the Torah scrolls are
kept.
• The ark is usually on the eastern wall so the congregation face Jerusalem
when they face the ark.
• The Torah is read from a raised platform, and the rabbi speaks from a
pulpit to explain the Torah.
• A lamp is kept burning at all times to remind people that God is present.
Central Beliefs
• The Shema, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is
our God, the Lord is one,” is the most
important confession of faith in
Judaism.
• Jewish morning and evening prayers
are built around this prayer.
• It sums up the Jewish scriptures, or
Tanakh.
• The Tanakh has three parts: Torah (or
Teaching), Neviim (or Prophets),
Ketuvim (or Writings).
The Torah
• The Torah presents the teachings
of Judaism in the form of a story.
• Genesis, the first book of the
Torah, contains the two stories of
creation.
• In the first story, God creates the
world in 6 days, creates humans
on the 6th day, and rests on the 7th
day, making that day holy.
• In the second story, God creates
Adam and Eve, then banishes
them from the garden of Eden
when they eat the fruit of the
forbidden tree.
The Story of Abraham
• Genesis also tells the story of Abraham
and his wife Sarah.
• God asks Abraham (then called Abram)
to leave his home and go to a new land,
where God will make him the father of
a new people.
• Abram’s faith in God is tested many
times, but never wavers.
• The rest of Genesis tells the story of
God’s faithfulness to his covenant with
Abraham.
The Story of Moses
• The second book of the Torah is Exodus.
• The story picks up when Abraham’s descendants, the children of
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Israel, had become slaves to the Egyptians.
Moses was called by God, through the burning bush, to lead God’s
people out of slavery.
Moses showed Pharaoh the power of the Lord through the 10
plagues, then Pharaoh agreed to let people of Israel go.
When Pharaoh sent his chariots after them, the Red Sea parted to
let the Israelites through, but drowned Pharaoh’s men.
At Mount Sinai, God made a covenant with Moses and gave him
the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law.
The Ten Commandments contain the most important instruction
on how to live the covenant.
The Story of David
• The story of David is in the book of
Kings.
• David was Israel’s second king and
he united all the tribes into one
kingdom.
• David’s son Solomon built the
Temple in Jerusalem.
The Talmud
• The Talmud is the second most important Jewish sacred writing.
• It is a huge book of civil and religious laws and ethical teachings.
• It contains layer upon layer of interpretations of the Torah made by
rabbis between the 1st and 5th centuries.
• It is a written record of the oral Torah (the Halakhah).
• The Halakhah contains prescribed ways to apply the
commandments in the Torah to daily life.
• It includes laws about ritual purity, such as what foods cannot be
eaten, and other impure things to avoid.
• These laws were first kept by priests in the Temple in
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Jerusalem.
Later, the Pharisees also kept them, and these ritual laws of
purity became part of Jewish life.
After the second defeat by the Romans in 135 CE, the rabbis
began to write down and interpret the oral Torah, and this
written material became the Talmud.
This process happened in two different places by different
rabbis, so there are two versions of the Talmud.
The more extensive, most commonly used version is called
the Babylonian Talmud.
Chapter 4.5
The Story of Judaism
Morality/Family Life
(pages 134-140)
Morality
The Ten Commandments
• Jewish moral life is a response to God’s covenant with the Jewish
people at Mount Sinai.
• Keeping the covenant means following God’s mitzvot, or guidance.
• The Ten Commandments are at the heart of this guidance.
• Religious Jews also try to follow as many of the other mitzvot as they
can, from the Torah, oral law, Talmud, and Rabbinic law.
Sin
• Sinning is a failure to follow the
mitzvot.
• It is a breaking of the covenant.
• In the days of the Temple, rituals
and sacrifices were carried out to
repair the covenant relationship.
• Today, Jews atone and repent for
sin on Yom Kippur.
Sexuality
• All forms of Judaism see sexuality as a blessing from God.
• The Halakhah states that sexuality is to be celebrated and
enjoyed only in marriage.
• The Talmud permits abortion only when the mother’s life is
in danger.
• Reform Jews usually share some of the sexual values of the
culture they live in.
Family Life
Shabbat in the Home
• The Shabbat meal and prayers take place in the home at sunset on
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Friday.
The mother lights two Shabbat candles and says a silent prayer for the
well-being of her husband and children.
Before the meal, a parent holds a special cup of wine and recites the
kiddush, a prayer that welcomes and sanctifies Shabbat.
At the end of Shabbat on Saturday night, a blessing is recited thanking
God for the division between Shabbat and the rest of the week.
There are many rules to be followed on Shabbat, such as: no work is to
be done, and no lights or electrical devices are to be switched on or
used.
Orthodox Jews strictly observe these rules, while Conservative Jews
interpret them more loosely and Reform Jews may not feel bound to
observe them.
Keeping Kosher
• There are many rules about how to
keep a kosher diet.
• They include not eating pork or
shellfish, and not eating dairy products
and meat in the same meal, among
others.
• Some homes that keep kosher have
separate sets of dishes, pots, and
utensils for dairy and meat.
• Kosher laws are complex but are
second nature to Jews who have grown
up with them.
The Jewish Family and Community:
Welcome and Outreach
• Hospitality is a key feature of Judaism.
• For Jews, it is an honour to welcome guests into the home.
• Jews also practise hospitality by helping others in the
community and being active in causes that benefit all
people.
• Judaism emphasizes the concept of tikkun olam (repairing
the world).
Interreligious Dialogue:
Judaism and the Catholic Church
• Christianity understands itself as coming out of Judaism.
• Christianity has many common links with Judaism, such as
through scripture, rituals, and values.
• Judaism must be Christianity’s first partner in dialogue.
• Christianity has found joy in rediscovering Judaism, its older
relative.
Shalom