The History of Judaism - Assignment Example

Judaism Introduction Judaism history traces back to more than two thousand years ago. One fundamental featureof Judaism is the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in 70 C.E by the Romans. Judaism was founded by Moses, but has its history back to Abraham (Atkinson 30). Judaism is associated with Land of Israel and the Hebrew Bible. Judaism also believe that God is the creator and judge, he gave the law to Moses and belief that Messiah will be send back to the World one day by God. Judaism is based on beliefs in prophets and belief of resurrection of the good. The religion also includes a practice of meditation especially the letters that make the word God (YHWH). The history of Judaism religious texts is the Torah and Jews worship in Synagogues. Jewish relationship with God is a covenant and Jews must keep God’s laws. Some holy days according to Judaism include Hanukkah, Purim, Sukkot, Passover, Shavuot and Sabbath (Atkinson 56). Men’s circumcision is central to Judaism beliefs. Some Judaism rites include the child birth rites whereby male child is given a name after circumcision while wedding ceremonies entail the breaking of a plate in symbolism of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. In addition, Judaism requires the Jews to pray three times a day (Wood 67). The rise of Synagogue system was precipitated by the destruction of the original worship center that was the Temple in Jerusalem. King Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem as an Ark of the Covenant. In 586 BC, it was destroyed by Babylonians, but later built on smaller scale by Herod in the 1st century. Subsequently, Herod’s temple was destroyed in 70 AD by Romans. The remains of the Herod’s Temple are the western retaining wall that acts as important place for prayer, gathering and pilgrimage (Wood 78). The rise of Synagogue system started during the 6th Century BC during Babylonian exile since Jews could assemble in quorums of about ten men and pray. Several Synagogues were set in Jerusalem in order to cater for ex-slaves and freedmen and Apostle Paul used Synagogues to teach Christianity to the Jews. Synagogues were built on a raised place near the neighboring houses and acted as both social institutions and religious institutions during Jesus time. In this regard, Synagogues act as place of prayers and study of Jewish teachings (Wood 113). Conservative orthodox and reformed Jewish traditions have certain clear distinctions. Conservative Jewish tradition is also referred as Masorti Judaism and conserves the traditional elements of Judaism while allowing for rabbinical development. According to its origin, the European movements seemed too radical thus there was a need to protect ancient Jewish traditions while appreciating modern change (Atkinson 45). It traces it origins in Germany, but it spread highly in the United States. It regards Israel as the only birthplace of Jewish people and their final destiny and asserts that Hebrew is irreplaceable language of Jewish people. Accordingly, Conservative Jewish traditions are devoted to Klal Yisrael that aims at worldwide Jewish unity and study of Torah. In addition, Conservative Judaism views Jewish life as governed by Halakhah (Jewish Law) since it is the expression of the will of God. It provides participation of both Men and Women in Synagogue prayers and all aspects of Jewish life. Though its accepts change such a cessation of Temple sacrifices, it entails a careful study before acceptance of the change (Wood 98). On the other hand, Orthodox Jewish traditions entails the traditional Jewish practices and beliefs. Orthodox Jewish ignored the Reform movements by retaining the traditional Jewish practices. For instance, Orthodox Synagogues have separate sitting places for men and women (Wise 20). A quorum of ten is necessary before commencement of service and all services are conducted only by male rabbis and in Hebrew language. Orthodox households maintain the traditional laws on diet and rules strictly prohibit any manual labour on Sabbath including cooking or dialing telephones. Accordingly, only males can celebrate bar mitzvah (coming-of-age ceremony) and married women cover their heads as a sign of modesty. In addition, men leave the beard hair located in front of ears uncut as a response to Torah command and heads covered with prayer shawl as reminder God is above (Wood 167). Finally, Reformed Judaism traditions started due to a desire of Jews to integrate in the mainstream European culture in Germany (Wise 49). The idea was that Judaism could be integrated with civic culture and ideals of liberty, democracy, and individual liberty. The Enlightenment ideals radically changed the traditional Jewish traditions. Reformed Judaism promotes inclusion and both men and women sit together in the Synagogue. Reformed Judaism utilizes both Hebrew and English language in worship and use of talit by men is made optional. Accordingly, girls are allowed to participate in the coming-of-age ceremony (bat mitzvah). Women are capable of presiding prayers in the Synagogue as rabbis and gays are allowed to participate in the Synagogue life (Atkinson 100). Hebrew scriptures entails the Hebrew Bible which is the collection of writings that were assembled and preserved as sacred book of Jews. Hebrew scriptures entails Torah, the Prophets and the Writings. The Torah consists of five books that were written by Moses and refers to God’s law or instructions to Jews. The Torah provides a narrative of God’s creation, the covenant at Sinai and death of Moses before entry in to Canaan. The boos were selected due to Roman-Jewish War that scattered Jews in Palestine and ultimately led to destruction of Temple of Jerusalem. Another component of Hebrew Scriptures is the prophets (Nevi’im) that ascribed certain books to authorship of prophets. The prophets include both former and latter prophets. These books trace the Monarchies of Saul and David including the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The prophetic books follow a logical sequence of events including the Babylonian exile, the activities of the prophets. The third component of scriptures is the writings (ketuvim) that include liturgical poetry such as psalms, wisdom literature such as proverbs and apocrypha books that were used in Synagogues for spiritual guidance. From the Holocaust website, the term is defined as a state-sponsored murder and persecution of 6 million Jews by Nazi regime (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 1). According to the website, the Nazi regime of 1933 believed that Jews were inferior to the Germans. Since most Jews lived in countries that Nazi Germany controlled, the regime killed about two-thirds of the entire Jewish population of nine million individuals. The Nazi Germany regime had a policy of eliminating Jews from Europe (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 2). Accordingly, more than 200,000 physically disabled patients were murdered under a state-sponsored Euthanasia program and Soviet prisoners were left to die of disease, starvation, neglect and ill treatment. The Nazi government deported millions of Soviet civilians and Polish civilians who worked under harsh conditions. In addition, Nazi Germany targeted religious leaders, political opponents such as trade unionists and Communists who opposed Nazi rule (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 3). The Nazi authorities established concentration camps for Jews, forced labor camps and torture camps before the final deportation of the Jews. During the Second World War, Nazi authorities organized forced marches or moved prisoners by trains in order to prevent their liberation by the Allied forces (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 5). After the ultimate surrender of Nazi forces to Allied Western forces in May 1945, most of the Jews were living in concentration camps or had die of torture. The Jewish population emigrated to Israel were some Jews who had been deported were living (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 7). The Holocaust devastated the entire Jewish community thus leading to Jewish identity and identification with Israel. Jews migrated from eastern Europe and settled permanently in Israel. This article highlights why the Jewish Community always commemorate the Holocaust and their identity with Israel (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 8). Works cited: Atkinson, Kenneth. Judaism. New York: Infobase Publications. 2004. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “historical overview: the holocaust’. www.ushmm.org/. (Web) http://www.ushmm.org/remembrance/dor/organize/pdf/holocaust.pdf. Wise, Isaac. Judaism. New York: Applewood Books. 2009. Wood, Cavan. Judaism. Oxford: Heinemann. 2002. Read More