A local
student recently contacted me about gaining information about Judaism from a
local rabbi for a college course she was taking. She interviewed me and asked some
well-thought questions. She came
equipped with many queries about the practices of Judaism. I share them below:
1. How
has religion shaped your life?
Judaism has
influenced my life in more ways than I can enumerate. It is the
filter through which I see and hear all things. I continually ask
myself in every situation, ‘Is this what Judaism demands?’ ‘Is this what
God wants?’ When I see a young man
playing a guitar on the sidewalk with his guitar case open, I ask myself, what
does my tradition demand of me? Or, when
I am insulted by unkind words or am the object of slander, what does the Torah
tell me to do? How do I react? As the Jewish faith has an opinion and
instruction about every facet of life it can always be asked, 'what is the
Jewish approach to this issue?'
As both Judaism and God care intimately about
how we interact with one another and the world there is nothing that is removed
from the gaze of Tradition. We
matter. Other people matter. The welfare of the world matters. For all these reasons we must act in accord
with Torah.
2. What
are the challenges, if any, to practicing this particular religion?
Judaism is a demanding religion. It is
not simply for the synagogue or religious events. It is breathing,
eating, talking, walking, business....all. If there is an Omniscient, caring God then He
does not only pay attention to us when we pray.
The eye of the Holy One is always peering at us and wants us to make the
correct choices. Ever since the exile
from the Garden of Eden we have been burdened with the responsibility of making
choices.
It is not always comfortable to be doing the
right thing....especially when society is going in the opposite
direction. Yet, Judaism teaches
through the many examples of the prophets that we are often called upon to make
a moral stand. We are called upon to
speak for those who have no voice or for those who have lost the power of their
voice. We are charged to speak,
sometimes yell, on their behalf.
And then there is bias, hatred,
anti-Semitism.... That is an
ever-present challenge. Still, hatred
must never stand in the way of doing the right thing.
3. What are the important holidays and
traditions of this religion?
This is a very long
answer. There are many holy days that dot the year. Look at a
Hebrew calendar and there are major holy days, minor remembrances and small
festivals that have through time blossomed into large, meaningful events.
Perhaps the most important of all the holy days is the
most frequent one: the Sabbath. It is God's day when He stopped the
Creation process. It is our day when we reconnect with the Maker and the
universe. Of course, Tabernacles (Sukkot), Pentacost (Shavuot) and
Passover (Pesah) are also highly important. Each of them contain
elements of historical events (the passage through the Sinai wilderness, the anniversary
of the Receiving of the Torah and Liberation from slavery) as well natural
events (fall harvest, spring harvest and planting season) in addition to holy
time of connection between the Jewish people and God. Then, in a separate category, comes the High
Holy Days of Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur. Each one is unique with its
many symbols of foods, shofar, study and prayer and vital to the lifeblood of
Judaism.
4.
What bible do the Jews
use? Does it go by another name?
Our Bible is the same as your Old
Testament. While the order may vary slightly it is the same text.
We have other names for it in Hebrew but we call it Bible in English.
In our understanding we divide the Bible up
into three sections. They are the Torah,
the Prophets (Neviim in Hebrew) and the Writings (Ketuvim). If you take the first consonant from each of
the three Hebrew words you have the Hebrew word for the Bible, Tanakh.
5.
What is the Torah? How
many books does it have?
Torah is the Hebrew word for Pentateuch
(penta as in pentagram, pentagon, five). Torah is the 5 books of Moses,
or the first five books of the Bible. The word Torah means Law or
Instruction.
Often times, the word Torah is used to convey
the idea of a God-given message. For
this reason Jewish people might say, “This is Torah” when they are referring a
Law.
- What is the Talmud?
“Talmud” means learning.
For this reason Jews use the term Talmud Torah to indicate the learning
of Torah. However, the Talmud itself is the
vast array of literature that is basically a long commentary and interpretation
of the Bible. The Talmud is what brings the Torah into sharp clarity and
is the backbone of our observance today.
Contained in the sixty books of the Talmud are discussions
and decisions of great Sages and scholars and saints through some six hundred
years. The discussions and decisions
cover every area imaginable of human life from the most mundane to the utterly
profound. That the ancient rabbis dared
to imagine all ideas from genetics and hygiene to unknown civilizations enabled
this incredible document to be relevant two thousand years later.
7. What
is the Pentateuch? See #5.
- Is Judaism the first known
organized religion?
Judaism is the first organized monotheistic religion.
Many religions or cults came before Judaism. Some are actually named in
the Torah. There was for example the
cult of Baal. What makes Judaism unique
in history was that this was the first in human history that acknowledged a
single God. It also established one law
for all people. This law was not at the
whim of a tyrant or ruler and its standard did not favor poor or rich,
privileges or penalties of birth.
9.
Where
did Judaism begin?
Judaism
began with a single person and a contact from God. The first call from
God came to Abram in a distant land called Ur.
What is fascinating is that the “call” to Abram consisted of a single
sentence to leave Ur and travel to the land of Canaan. That is why Judaism has its real roots in
Israel (Canaan) not Ur. You see, God did
not bless this patriarch until he reached Israel. Only then did God establish His covenant with
Abram and vow that this land would be his and belong to his descendants throughout time.
10. How did Abraham make his covenant with
God?
The first covenant happened early on in Genesis 15. As mentioned above, Abram was a partner in
the covenant only when he left his native land and was a resident in Israel.
11. Seeing that God chose the Hebrews
as his chosen people why are they always suffering?
Jews are chosen and sometimes that is precisely why they
suffer. While God promises to be ever with the Jewish people there are no
guarantees that other peoples and nations will not try to hurt or destroy
us. While they will ultimately be defeated
evil things still happen. Isn't that the
way that life usually is? If there is a person who stands for what is
right when evil is being done, the evil ones first want to get rid of their
conscience so they can carry out their evil. So they destroy those who
stand for good. That is why the holocaust happened. That is what is happening right now in
Burma...
God has demanded of all humanity that we act
as the guarantors for one another. Our
responsibility to be “our brother’s keeper.”
We must keep our part of the covenant too.
12. Seeing that Christians and Judaism use
the same bible, and Christians believe that Jesus was the son of God. Were
do Judaism stand on the point of Jesus being the Messiah?
God gave to His people the Law. That was God’s
ultimate gift to the world. It was to be our guide and touchstone of
morality. In the Bible there are
indications that some time in the future God would also dispatch a messenger- a
messiah- to bring to the world peace. No peace has yet arrived.
That is why while Jesus' teachings are moral, upright and good they did not
bring to the world universal peace that was promised. So we wait until
the day of great peace arrives.
13. If the Jewish people did not
believe that Jesus was Gods son and if he was would that not be like breaking
his covenant?
By our understanding God cannot have a son. God is
not mortal or flesh and blood and therefore the whole notion of a son of God is
not part of our understanding. As said in #12. the covenant is
fulfilled. God gave His Bible at Mt. Sinai 4,000 years ago. He did
not give anything else. There was no New Testament or Koran or Book of
Mormon; only the Bible. If we were to accept another Bible, that would be
breaking the holy covenant we have with God.
What He gave to us four thousand years ago had the mark of eternal life
to it. It would be sacrilege for us to
accept anything else.
14. What day is considered the Sabbath?
How do the Jewish celebrate it?
Our Sabbath is Saturday. It is the weekly
anniversary of God's rest after Creation. You remember that early on in
the book of Genesis God establishes the pattern of time in a precise
manner. He commences Creation on what
later became known as Sunday and progressed through the next six days. We imitate God by also refraining from
creating on the seventh day. That is why we do not work or produce
changes in the physical universe. In
addition, we seek God through prayer, study, song and food.
15. What is the difference between
Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews?
There are three major branches of Judaism; Reform,
Conservative and Orthodox. There are many differences between them but
the primary one is that they range from the most liberal in practice to the
most strict. Reform is the most liberal
while Orthodoxy is at the other end of the spectrum.
16. Most of the religions that I have been
reading about are very male oriented (meaning that the highest in
the church and the preachers are males). Is Judaism this way also or
is it evolving with the changes of time?
Another difference between the three Jewish sects (see #
15) is that Reform is completely egalitarian, Conservative is mostly
egalitarian and Orthodox is the least.
The same is true for the leaders or rabbis of each denomination. There are no female Orthodox rabbis. Yet, there are many women who are great
teachers of Torah in all three sects.
17, What are
the hats called the Jewish men wear? What is the significance of them?
They are called yarmulkes in Yiddish and they represent
our subservience to God. The origin of
the word yarmulke means ‘fear of God.’
That is, when Jews wear head-coverings they do so to show their awe and
love of the Almighty. Jewish people wear
the yarmulkes whenever they pray. Some
Jews, wanting to be conscious of God all the time, will never remove their
yarmulke.
In Orthodoxy, some
men show their deepest reverence by wearing larger yarmulkes or even hats when
they pray. Women also cover their heads
out of respect for God and as a sign of modesty.
18. What is the Kabbalah? Are
there any books related to this and if so how many?
Kabbalah is Jewish ancient mysticism. It is a way
of communicating with and understanding God. There are many varied books on
this subject. There is no one text.
Kabbalah is a pathway to God that requires great learning, skill and
devotion. It is for people who not only devote their inner lives to
finding God but live an upright life as well.
Only the learned and pious can travel through this gateway to God.
- What is Hasidism? Hasidism is a branch of Orthodoxy that believes in maintaining strict practices and dress. Separating and insulating themselves from the evils of society they tend to live in cloistered communities. They also follow a charismatic leader. They look to their leader for teaching and advice. They also follow his words as they believe he is close to God. Consulting him on issues of Jewish lore and law as well as when considering business decisions, their leader is revered and loved. They also like to celebrate God by telling stories, dancing and singing for the Almighty.
- Do the Jewish believe in Heaven
and Hell?
We do have a concept of heaven and hell although they are
very different from Christianity. There is no anti-god because we do not
believe that anything or anyone can contest God in power. We also do not
have Dante’s picture of hell as a place dominated by nightmarish ghouls and
filled with pitch and sulfur. Our image
of heaven likewise is significantly different.
And yet, we have faith that there is an after-life and accompanying
rewards and punishments for our deeds.
- If Jewish do believe in
Heaven and Hell. If a person who kills a bunch of people goes to jail and
then realizes that he was wrong and ask for God to come into his heart,
and another person who is a good person and thinks of everyone
else and has never done anything wrong does not ask for God
to come into his life. When these two people die will the person
who killed all these people and later asked for God to come into
his life go to Heaven?
There is Repentance or what Jews call
teshuvah. God knows the heart of a person and will know whether it is a
true return to Him or a false one. Then it is up to the Holy One alone to
decide whether the person can be forgiven for their crimes. We know that
God does forgive for sins committed but who is forgiven is not something that
we can know. No person knows the mind of
God to be sure whether God forgives them or not. We believe that if a person
knew what God was thinking that they would be God. As a result, all we
can do is admit our shortcomings and ignorance. We just do not know.
God
is so obscure, inscrutable, and beyond our comprehension that there may even be
times when our eyes perceive only a fraction of reality. As humans, we
may even confuse evil and good because our vision is so limited. We may
never know the whole story of any event.
That is why Judaism exhorts,
demands of us that we be very deliberate when making judgments. It is
very easy to make mistakes. Once we have made a judgment it has a
long-lasting and perhaps permanent effect upon the universe. If a court of law
determines a person to be guilty of a crime and later reverses its decision,
damage is done. The accused has been
scarred. The same is true of lesser
judgments that people make all the time.
When we decided someone is a liar and tell others we have hurt someone
in a way that cannot be reversed even by apologizing. It is therefore vital to maintain a just
world but to be sure to never become so haughty as to believe that we know the
heart of another human being. Only God
knows that. He will reward or punish as
He deems it.
22.
Most religions have a special way of
eating or diet, and I see that the Jewish person eats a Kosher meal. What
are Kosher meals? And why are foods
considered unclean?
The Bible demands a number of
things from every God-fearing person who accepts the authority of the Holy Book
as binding. One of them is that we are restricted from eating certain
kinds of animals (check Leviticus 11). It is not just the pig that is forbidden
to the Jew. Any animal that does not
chew its cud and have a cleft hoof is
not kosher. There are also two criteria
for fowl (not talons and no carrion) and fish (fins and scales) which make it
kosher. In addition, there are numerous
prohibitions about consuming the blood of creatures (see Deuteronomy 12).
For this reason, Jews are repulsed from consuming any amount of blood
whatsoever. Part of keeping the kosher laws mean removing all vestiges of
blood from an animal.
“Unclean” is a term that is
first used in Noah's time to refer to animals that must not be eaten.
Much later on God explains what these animals are to the Israelites in
Leviticus, chapter 11. We understand
them later as not kosher, instead of ‘unclean.’
23. The Holocaust was the most horrific thing that has happened to people to date. How has this shaped Judaism overall?
We believe that nothing is
meaningless. Every action no matter how small or large is without
consequence. If this is true, then
events such as the Holocaust become even more meaningful because of the scope
of their horror and power. People as nations -- as well as individuals --
are powerfully changed by what happens to them. Jews are assuredly
scarred by the events of more than sixty years ago. It is such a massive and painful event that
the utter ugliness, the absolute evil of the Holocaust casts a terrible shadow. The pain of past still haunts us.
24. How has the Holocaust affected the Jewish feelings toward God? There is no specific universal reaction to the horrors of the Holocaust. People responded to the enormity of the Holocaust in many varied ways. Some were brought closer to God by it; some were distanced. One thing is sure: no one remained unchanged or indifferent.
25.
Did you lose any family in the
Holocaust?
Yes. Every Jew lost
somebody even if they do not know their identity. Think of it this way: More
Jews were murdered in the Holocaust than are alive today in America.
26. Were you in anyway there during the Holocaust?
I was
born afterward.
27. Is Israel and the Palestine's still fighting over Jerusalem? Why can't this land be shared between the Jewish and Muslims seeing that both parties believe it is Holy land?
There is still fighting between
Jews and Palestinians over not just Jerusalem but over much, if not
all, of Israel. As you undoubtedly know, the present leader of Iran
has declared his intention to wipe Israel off the map. He desires to murder
every Jew living there. Just like Hitler.
Is it possible to make peace with someone who does not want to speak
with you but will only be satisfied when you are obliterated? That is not to say that Ahmadinejad is a
Palestinian but his regime continues to pay the families of suicide murderers
tens of thousands of dollars for each atrocity they commit.
Having said that, Israel would gladly live in peace with anyone that wanted to
live harmoniously with them. The problem is with the suicide murderers that
creep into civilian populations and ruthlessly cut down innocents.
Imagine if murderers went into the local Wendys in America and blew themselves
up along with dozens of other families.
It is hard to make peace with people who only wish to destroy you. When Jordan, a moderate Arab state, held
Jerusalem throughout all the 50's and most of the sixties, Jews were denied
access to the holy places. Some holy sites were even desecrated.
Now that Jerusalem is in Israeli hands Jews, Christians and Muslims can freely
visit any place they want.
28. Does Judaism require that there be a pilgrimage to the holy land?
In Biblical and Temple times it
was mandated that every Jew needed to make the pilgrimage several times each
year. Now, most Jews do visit the Holy Land to meet God but it is not
demanded by Jewish Law.
29.
Are there any sacred practices that Jewish
have to perform?
We have many sacred
practices. There are simply too many to list.
30. What types of racism
have Jewish endured in the United States?
There has been exclusion from
colleges, professions, slanderous assaults, epithets and even murder....It is
called anti-Semitism.
31. What is bar Mitzvah?
Bar/Bat Mitzvah: When a child graduates from childhood into adulthood they pass through their symbolic coming of age, Bar/Bat Mitzvah. It is when a child transitions from a young person to a semi-adult. For Jews, this time represents coming under the aegis of God. Until then they are children and are not fully responsible for their actions. Now, at Bar/Bat Mitzvah when they are coming into puberty we expect them to fulfill the commandments of God and not just fall under the shadow of their parents. At the same time, we afford them responsibilities and privileges in the Jewish community that only adults can do (like leading the congregation in prayer, for one example) as a way to treating them as almost grown-ups. Yet, still they are not full-fledged adults for another five years.
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