Judaism vs Christianity - Research Paper Example

Running head: Judaism Judaism Introduction Jews and Judaism often catches the headlines of the media because of the controversies associated with it.During the Hitler regime, Jews caught the headlines because of the massacres up on them by the Hitler led Nazi fascist administration. At present the same Jews are again on the headlines of the media, but unfortunately, this time it is the Jews who are accused of engaged in violent behaviour against the Palestine. It was the Jews at the receiving end during the Nazi regime, but at present, they are responsible for the non-humanitarian activities exercised upon the Palestine people. This paper analyses Judaism and its comparison with Christianity. Moreover, Holidays concerning Judaism, Traditions of Judaism, How Judaism shapes ones life, How people become associated with Judaism, How Jew practices different in the world compared to United States, Star of David’s origin etc also briefly explained in this paper. Comparison of Judaism and Christianity Most of the beliefs and traditions of Christians and Jews are one and the same. In fact both of them accept the existence of same God and believe in prophets up to Moses. Judaism is based on the teachings of Moses whereas Christianity is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jews believe that the Messiah has not come yet and Jesus Christ was only an ordinary person; not the Messiah offered by the God. Christians and Jews have more common elements in their beliefs and customs, but they strongly disagree on the issue of accepting Jesus Christ as the son of God or Messiah. Christians believe that Jesus was the son of God, the Messiah promised by the God and human can attain salvation only through the belief in Jesus Christ. But Jews believe that the Messiah is yet to come and Jesus Christ was not the one offered by the God. The main difference between the beliefs of Jews and Christians lie on the issue of Jesus Christ. As per the Jews beliefs, Messiah should have certain peculiarities other than ordinary people. Jews don’t have any beliefs in the miracles performed by Jesus Christ. They believed that the miracles performed by Jesus were with the help of magical powers rather than any godly power. They argue that the offered Messiah will come as a natural person using the natural means of birth. Moreover Jews thought that the coming Messiah will do something to bring back all the Jews back to the offered land ‘Canaan’. Jews thought that the coming Messiah will definitely build one more temple where as the Jesus has not even attempt to make any temple. (The Good News Bible, Ezekiel 37:26-28) “Biblical verses "referring" to Jesus are mistranslations and Jewish belief is based on national revelation” (Rabbi Simmons) Jews, not even consider Jesus as a prophet and they believe that he has taken birth on earth after the prophecy was ended. In fact, Jews had assumed certain qualities and features to the coming Messiah which the Jesus Christ failed to fulfill. Jesus Christ has not only done nothing to bring the dispersed Jews back, but he has criticized all the superstitions and customs of the Jews community which provoked the Jews. Moreover, he has sent out all the people who engaged in commercial activities in Jerusalem church which created a large displeasure among the Jews community against the Jesus Christ. The conservative Jews were reluctant to accept the doctrines of Jesus since most of the doctrines of Jesus were against the traditional Jews’ belief. As per the Jews’ belief, the 10 commandments given to Moses by the God were the basic principles for attaining the salvation. But Jesus taught them that the strict observance of 10 commandments alone may not help a person to attain salvation. He argued that the rich have a moral responsibility of helping the poor and asked the Jews to sell all their property and give all the money to poor people. The rich Jews were reluctant to accept this advice and assembled against the doctrines of Jesus. Customs and traditions alone may not bring salvation to a person as per the Christian beliefs. Jews’ considered the “Shabbat” day as a sacred one while Jesus has used even the Sabbath day to perform a miracle which was not acceptable to the Jews. “Christianity came to regard Jesus as in some sense Gods presence in human form. This was unacceptable to most Jews. Judaism is defined by a covenant made between God and the Jewish people” (What are Major Christian Beliefs?) Jews believe in the collective salvation principles rather than the individual salvation principles. They believe that the whole Jews in the world are privileged people as per the God’s offer and they all have the privilege of attaining salvation. Christians on the other hand, questioned the above belief. They argue that traditions may not bring salvation, but the actions, good actions alone supported by belief bring salvation. Unlike Jews, being a member of the Christian community alone, never grant any licence to Heaven as per the Christian belief. Christians believe that the salvation for the human kind is only through Jesus alone. Those who believe in Jesus and do things as per the doctrines of Jesus Christ will get salvation, as per the Christian doctrines. “The Creed has an overall form based on the Trinity. It deals first with the Father, then the Son, and finally the Holy Spirit” (What are Major Christian Beliefs?) Holidays concerning Judaism All Jewish holidays begin the evening before the date specified on most calendars. This is because a Jewish "day" begins and ends at sunset, rather than at midnight. Work is not permitted on Rosh Hashanah, on Yom Kippur, on the first and second days of Sukkot, on Shemini Atzeret, on Simchat Torah, on Shavuot, and the first, second, seventh and eighth days of Passover. The "work" prohibited on those holidays is the same as that prohibited on Shabbat, except that cooking, baking, transferring fire and carrying, all of which are forbidden on Shabbat, are permitted on holidays. When a holiday occurs on Shabbat, the full Shabbat restrictions are observed. (Rich) Traditions of Judaism As per the traditions in Jews community, Abraham has been considered as the father of all believers in God. All the male Jewish babies should be circumcised because of the covenant between the God and the Jews which was started from the Abraham era onwards. “At the age of 13 Jewish boys have a Barmitzvah which is a ceremony in which the boy becomes a full member of the community. To remind Jews of the importance of the Torah, Jewish homes have on their doorframes (normally the front door) a Mezuzah – a parchment scroll in a small box which contains the first paragraphs of the Shema (basic prayer of Jewish belief)” (Judaism). Moreover Jews were very strict in selecting their food items. They will never eat the meats of animals like pigs which are considered as non- holy animals. How Judaism shapes ones life? Judaism is established on the following beliefs; God exists, God is one and unique, God is incorporeal, God is eternal, Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other, The words of the prophets are true, Moses prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets, The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses, There will be no other Torah, God knows the thoughts and deeds of men, God will reward the good and punish the wicked, The Messiah will come, The dead will be resurrected (What Do Jews Believe?) Those who believe in the above principles will get salvation as per the Jews’ belief. People and their association with Judaism Jews community is believed to be consisting of some of the wisest and courageous parsons in the world. Lots of genius people from Jews community have contributed heavily to the scientific world and Albert Einstein was one of them. Israel, the Jews homeland, is believed to be one of the strongest nations in the when we consider a nations’ abilities to face crisis situations. Nobody can forget the incident in which the Israeli commandos saved the lives of innocent people who have been put on custody by the terrorists in Entebbe air port in Uganda after hijacking a French plane. “Within THREE minutes of landing, four of the seven terrorists had been killed by the Israeli commandos and they rescued the whole people from the hijacked plane” (Operation Jonathan -the Israeli rescue operation at Entebbe) How Jew practices different in the world compared to United States “Reform Judaism is the biggest sect in North America boasting over 900 congregations and 1.5 million people” (Lantry) In United States, the call for reformation in Jews community is increasing day by day as the scholars in Jews community has realised that their beliefs and traditions need some changes as per the needs of the changing world. Adamant conservative beliefs have no longer value in the current world and the Jews must be ready to modify their beliefs and approaches to others. “Reform Judaism does not believe the Torah was written directly by God. Rather they accept the theory of biblical authorship, which states there were multiple sources, who’s stories and information were conjoined together to write the Torah. Thus reformed Jews don’t strictly follow all commandments” (Lantry) Men and women have given equal rights in both personal and spiritual life by the reformed Jews in America. Star of David’s origin The Star of David is a six-pointed star made up of two triangles superimposed over each other. In Judaism it is often called the Magen David, which means the "shield of David" in Hebrew. It doesn’t have any religious significance in Judaism but it is one of the symbols most commonly associated with the Jewish people. Many Jews wear jewelry with the Star of David as part of the design and the flag of Israel has a blue Star of David in the center. In many ways it has come to be a symbol of unity. (Pelaia) As per the Jews’ belief there are six directions; north, south, east and west. The six points in the Star of David represents the God’s rule of the world from all the possible six directions in the world. Moreover, they believe that the dual triangles in the star represent the good and evil in the world. The overlapping nature of the triangle is a clear indication of the close relationship between the God and the human as per Jews’ belief. “The star that points up symbolizes God and the star that points down represents us here on earth. Yet others have noticed that there are twelve sides on the triangle, perhaps representing the Twelve Tribes” (Pelaia) Conclusions Judaism is definitely a religion which has lot of similarities with Christianity. The major obstacle in unifying Christian and Jews belief is the about the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Messiah. Jews believe that the Messiah has not come yet where as the Christians believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah offered by God and the Jews failed to recognize him because of their false assumptions about the coming Messiah. Jews and Christians have lot of differences in their customs and traditions like circumcising and the observance of Shabbat day. Most of the Jews in America believe that the Jews religious principle and beliefs need to be revised as per the demands of the changing world. A six pointed star made of two triangles superimposed (Star of David) is believed as a fortunate symbol by the Jews as they think that it represents the close association between the God and the human. References 1. Good News Bible. Today’s English Version.2003. Published by The Bible Society of India. Bangalore. 2. Judaism, Retrieved on 7 August 2009 from http://www.world-faiths.com/Judaism/JUDAISM.HTM 3. Lantry Devon, 2009, Retrieved on 7 August 2009 from http://jewish-beliefs.suite101.com/article.cfm/basics_of_reform_judaism 4. Operation Jonathan -the Israeli rescue operation at Entebbe, Retrieved on 7 August 2009 from http://www.specwarnet.net/miscinfo/entebbe.htm 5. Pelaia Ariela,2009, Does the Star of David Have Religious Significance in Judaism?, Retrieved on 7 August 2009 from http://judaism.about.com/od/judaismbasics/a/starofdavid.htm 6. Rabbi Simmons, Shraga, For 2,000 years Jews have rejected the Christian idea of Jesus as messiah. Why? Retrieved on 7 August 2009 from http://www.aish.com/jw/s/48892792.html 7. Rich Tracey R, 2007, Jewish Holidays, Retrieved on 7 August 2009 from http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday0.htm 8. What are Major Christian Beliefs?, Retrieved on 7 August 2009 from http://geneva.rutgers.edu/src/christianity/major.html 9. What Do Jews Believe?, Retrieved on 7 August 2009 from http://www.jewfaq.org/beliefs.htm Read More