JUDAISM

Lecture Notes #3
Overview

 Judaism is one of the world’s oldest religions, originating

around 3,500 years ago (1812 BCE) in Israel

 Despite its relatively small population (with respect to

other religions), it has greatly influenced Western
civilization

 The 2 biggest monotheistic religions, Christianity and

Islam, affirm the Torah of Judaism as God’s revelation, and
therefore as good news for everybody
 Jews believe that there is a single God who did not only
create the universe, but whom every Jew can have an
individual and personal relationship with.

 It is symbolized by the Magen David (Shield of David),

which is also known as the Star of David.
 Origin and
Development
 Much of the Jewish history is recorded in the Hebrew Bible
(Old Testament), but we need to emphasize that these
texts were written by the Jews themselves in the
‘Promised Land’

 Hence, although much of the accounts are historically

accurate, they were still written from the perspective of a
people.
 The early history of Judaism is specifically written in the
Torah, including the law and teaching “handed down” to
Moses by Yahweh or God Himself.

 The historical accounts written in the Torah were attempts

by the Jews to trace their roots to one person whom they
believe was personally appointed by God to be their father
and that was Abraham.
Genesis: The Beginning

– GENESIS (origin): the first book of the Torah

which tells us the mythical origin of the entire
world.

-the first 11 chapters of Genesis are particularly

mythical and must never be accepted nor
understood literally.
 PART I: The Creation- God created the world in 6 days and
rested on the 7th (Sabbath Day); He created human beings in
His image and likeness
 PART II: Fall of Man- Adam and Eve, the first human beings,
were tempted by the serpent to disobey God, and as
punishment for their disobedience, God banished the human
beings from the Garden of Eden.
 PART III: The Great Flood: It is when God only saved Noah
and his Family, as well as two of each living animal, because
of the infidelity/unfaithfulness of people
 The Jews view the legendary figures of Adam, Eve, and
Noah as symbolic figures for their history. Even so, some of
the central Jewish beliefs were based on these first books.

 (1) they believe that since human beings were created in the
image and likeness of God, they have the special
responsibility to the rest of the creation. They agree that they
have a unique place in the world.

 (2) the veneration of Sabbath Day (the 7th Day) because this
is the day when God rested after creating the world.
Everyone, even slaves and animals, rested on this day so
there is no work on Sabbath.
 The rest of Genesis tells us the story of the Patriarchs and
Matriarchs, ancestors of the Jews- from ABRAHAM to
JACOB to the 12 sons of Jacob, whose descendants would
become the 12 tribes of Israel.
 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad,
Asher, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin

 The last part of the book focuses on JOSEPH (the

Dreamer-he can interpret dreams), one of the sons of
Jacob who was sold by his brothers to Egypt as a slave.
 His gift of interpreting dreams gained him the trust of the
Pharaoh . His brothers in Israel came to Egypt during a
famine to get food, where he treated them with compassion.
He told his brothers to settle in Egypt permanently, that is
how the Jews started to populate Egypt.
The Exodus
 This book begins with the Egyptians being threatened by
the growing population of the Hebrews in their land. They
began treating Jews as slaves, and the Pharaoh also
ordered that Jewish boys must be killed at birth.

 The baby Moses survived because his mother left him in a

basket along the Nile River. He was found by the Pharaoh’s
daughter, and there in Egypt he was called by God through
the burning bush. God introduced Himself to Moses as
YHWH.

 God commanded Moses to liberate the Hebrews from

the Egyptians, and send them in the land He promised to
Abraham-Canaan, the Promised Land overflowing with
milk and honey.
 Because of the Pharaoh’s refusal to send the Israelites free,
despite Moses’ bidding, God sent 10 plagues to the
Egyptians, but He spared the Jews since they offered the
blood of a sacrificial land on their doors.

 This signifies one of the greatest feasts of the Jews-the

Passover.

 After the Pharaoh allowed the Israelites to leave, Moses led

them to a 40-year journey through the desert to Canaan.
This story continues until the end of the Torah. The specific
laws about the Passover and rituals were given throughout
the last three books of Torah (Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy)
 However, the most important passing of the law happened
in Mt. Sinai where Moses met God at the top of the
mountain and God gave him two tablets containing the
Ten Commandments (the rules for the Jewish life)
 The first tablet contains the people’s duties towards God; the
second tablet contains the people’s duties towards one
another

 There, God made a covenant with His people: He will care

for them but the Jews must obey the laws He gave.

 This is the reason why Jews are very diligent in observing

their traditional laws, even until today.
 After the return of the Israelites to Canaan, Israel slowly
developed into a nation. They were led by a judge, whose
charisma persuaded people to follow him.

 This is the beginning of the “Period of Judges”. The most

famous judges were Othniel, Ehud, Gideon, Deborah,
Jepthah, and Samson. This period in their history was
mostly recorded in the book of Judges (2nd book of
Nevi’im).
 The period of Judges precedes the period of Kings. With
the growing population and territory, the Israelites
decided that they would need a king to rule them.

 The first king was Saul, who eventually disobeyed Yahweh

in some situations.

 Yahweh then askes Samuel to anoint David as the King. He

was one of the most legendary figures in the Jewish
history; he ruled during what might be called the Golden
Age of their development as a monarchy and as a nation.
 It was during his reign that God’s promise to Abraham and his
descendants that He will give him all the land of Canaan was
fulfilled.
 Together with the period of Kings was the emergence of
prophets.
 A prophet is the one who was called by God to communicate
His word to the king and to the people
 Solomon, son of David, succeeded his father as King of
Israel. He was known for his wise decisions and with
Yahweh’s help, the Kingdom of Israel was firmly
established during his reign. He built the First Temple in
Jerusalem.
 When King Solomon dies around 920 BCE, northern tribes
revolt, and the land of the Hebrews splits into two
kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel in the north, and the
Kingdom of Judah in the south. They remain separate for
over two hundred years, and the Hebrews begin to
splinter into smaller groups.
The Babylonian Exile

 The Babylonian Exile was the second major change in the

history of Israel, after the Exodus.
 The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar defeated Jerusalem
in 587 BCE, and five years later, he exiled the Jews to
Babylon.
 With the loss of political leaders, Yahweh sent some
prophets to keep the people’s faith in His promise.
The Return
 Their return from the exile can be found in the books of
Ezra and Nehemiah.
 When the Persians conquered Babylon in 537 BCE, it was
ordered that people who are capable of governing
themselves may be permitted to establish a nation
themselves. So, the exiled Israelites were allowed to return
to Judah.
 When they returned, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the
enemies were all over the land.
 The Israelites focused on rebuilding the Temple (Second
Temple), and it was finished about 20 years later.
 The Jewish history told in the Hebrew Bible ends after the
building of the Second Temple, when the Hebrews
returned to Israel after the Babylonian Exile

 With the Diaspora, the Jews were not only uprooted from
Israel and transferred to eastern Europe. They also
migrated to central and western Europe and to America.
 Diaspora: the dispersion of Jews outside Israel

 Because of the Diaspora, the traditional Jewish lifestyle

was slowly influenced by that of the Western, modern
world.
 Hence, the traditional beliefs and unity of Judaism was
compromised.
 Before the Romans destroyed the Second Temple of
Jerusalem in 70 CE, Judaism was a centralized, temple-
based religion.
 With the destruction of their temple and the dispersion of
their people, a new form of Judaism emerged, that which
can be practiced anywhere in the world, in their homes
and in synagogues.
 SACRED BOOKS OF
JUDAISM
 Bible comes from the Greek word biblia, which means
“books”.

 Hence, the Hebrew Bible or the Tanakh is not just a single

book but a collection of individual books.

 These individual books were originally transmitted orally,

then written in scrolls around 900 BCE, and was developed
into its final form in 200 BCE.
 The Tanakh is divided into three sections: the Torah (Law
or Teaching), Nevi’im (the Prophets), and Ketuvim (The
Writings).

 The Torah is composed of the first five books of the Bible,

which is why it is also called the Pentateuch, which is a
Greek term meaning “five scrolls”

 The Nevi’im contains the writings of God’s messengers,

who spoke His word to the Hebrews

 The Ketuvim consists of stories, proverbs, psalms, and

poetries
Books of Torah

TORAH
Genesis (Bereshit)
Exodus (Shemot)
Leviticus (Vayiqra)
Numbers (Bemidbar)
Deuteronomy (Devarim)
Books of Nevi’im

NEVI’IM
Joshua (Yehoshua)
Judges (Shofetim)
Samuel (Shemuel)
Kings (Melakhim)
Isaiah (Yeshayabu)
Jeremiah (Yirmeyahu)
Ezekiel (Yehezaqel)
Book of the Twelve (Trei Assar): Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah,
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Books of Ketuvim
KETUVIM
Psalms (Tehilim)
Proverbs (Mishlei)
Job (Iyov)
Song of Songs (Shir Hashirim)
Ruth (Rus)
Lamentations (Eicha)
Ecclesiastes (Koheles)
Esther (Ester)
Daniel (Doniel)
Ezra-Nehemiah (Ezra-Nehemyah)
Chronicles (Divrei Hayamim)