Judaism as a Communal Behaviour - Essay Example

Judaism by The of the The of the School The and where it is located The Judaism If one takes a close look at the human civilization, one will be able to point out a lot of aspects that differ it from the rest of the groups which are formed by the living creatures. Indeed, while some might put emphasis on the existence of some features that are considered to be characteristic to our kind, such as generating verbal interaction, it is beyond any doubt that they can hardly reflect the peculiarity of the mankind on a deep level. Thus, the highly developed spiritual world is what really makes human beings unique. That is why a careful study of religions is able to provide the researchers with a valuable insight into the human nature. This paper will examine Judaism and argue that it may be largely defined as a communal behaviour that is rooted in knowledge of the reality. To begin with, one should note that just like Islam Judaism also has a legal dimension to it. In other worlds, there is a legal system that is based on the sacred text of Judaism, namely Torah (Solomon 1996, 56). Indeed, this means that the latter should not be considered to be merely a spiritual text, but a set of rules and regulations that might be used to resolve different issues. What is more important is that the very name might be interpreted as teaching which implies the practical application of knowledge that is stored in it. That is why it is not surprising that the Jews also applied the text that contained the religious dogma to daily affairs. One should also note that this application is recognized on the state level. For example, according to the tradition of Judaism, on the seventh day of the week, which is Saturday, the Jews should not do any work, but only rest. While this might seem as a peculiar religious tradition; nevertheless, on every Saturday trains do not run in Israel, planes do not fly and the majority of the stores are closed. All this shows how religious principles are able to modify communal behaviour. Moreover, while some rules might have some theological support, they still impose severe restriction that other people, regardless of their involvement into the spiritual practice have to face. The next point that should be noted while considering the nature of Judaism and its communal dimension is the way the above mentioned sacred text is regarded. Thus, there is no doubt in the fact that Torah is the corner stone of this religious tradition (Harvey 2005, p. 74). However, it must be noted that Judaism recognizes two kinds of Torah – Written one and Oral one. As a result, what people tend to mostly refer to is Written Torah, while the latter kind is of equal importance. This leads to the fact that personal interpretations of rabbis are significant as well, as they provide material for the further generations to refer to, since some of the interpretations are thought to be correct and adopted as models. That is why there is no wonder in the fact that discussion of the complex matter of both theological and daily significance is an essential part of the Jewish religion. This means that one might understand the true meaning of this experience only through interaction with other people unlike other religions who might put emphasis on solitary spiritual quest. What is more important is that the communal behaviour within the framework of Judaism is an essential prerequisite for many religions activities as well. For example, in order to conduct a service, there should be a sufficient number of adult male Jews; even if there is a lack of one person, the service will not be conducted. This shows that Judaism pays particular attention towards collective experience. One should also note that unlike many other religions, the one in question features provisions that are extremely detailed. A good example is the celebration of Shabbat. Thus, the concept of refraining from different activities in order to reinforce one’s relationship with God is not peculiar to Judaism, but only Judaism features an exhaustive set of activities that a Jew is not allowed to perform during Shabbat. This may be considered to be a rather peculiar phenomenon as it shows that the Jewish religion had practical application from the very dawn of it. In addition to that, it would not be an exaggeration to point out that all the Jew find particular pleasure in the fact that the sacred text has such clear provisions and does not make a person to face any ambiguities. One should also note that since the creation of Torah a considerable amount of time has passed and the world has changed a lot. Nevertheless, the Jewish scholars have been working hard on adopting their laws to the new reality. Thus, the original provisions of Torah, for example, in case of the set of prohibited activities, were revaluated. There is a prohibition to kindle fire on Shabbat which largely had one meaning in the ancient time. However, at the present moment the scope of meaning of this particular prohibition was also expanded to prohibition of driving a car as this process also requires kindling a fire. As a result, this provision is able to affect the communal experience in a different way, yet the effect that it has is similar to the previous times. Considering the issue in question, one should also spare some words about one of the core points of Judaism, namely the very definition of a Jew. Since this religion is largely focused on the ethnicity of a person, there should be a way to define it. In case of Judaism, it is suggested that the ethnicity of mother is always transmitted to the child (Atkinson 2004, p. 6). On the other hand, the relation to father largely determines belonging to a certain tribe of Israel. As one can easily see, there is a complex two dimensional system that defined the place of a person, based on the lineage. However, at the present moment, the Jewish religion has been a subject to a number of reforms and several movements have evolved. The latter most of which have adopted a liberal approach towards the necessity to be an ethnic Jew argue that one should be a sincere believer in order to follow the tradition of Judaism. Nevertheless, such approach is largely rejected by the majority of the Jews who pay particular attention towards the cultural background of a person. Therefore, it would not be a mistake to point out that belonging to a particular ethnos determined whether a person was able to integrate into the community and become a part of it. After all, there are numerous ways in which Judaism promotes unity among members of one nation. Finally, one should also point out the fact that a considerable number of different provisions that constitute the Jewish religion and modify the communal behaviour actually make sense from a broad point of view. For example, Judaism does not allow the Jews to eat pig meat. Some people might see it as unnecessary limitation of one’s freedom, but as a matter of fact breeding pigs in the Middle East is a rather dangerous activity, as these animals often develop different diseases and people who consume their meat may also become ill. One should keep in mind that this limitation was extremely suitable in the times when Torah was created as people did not know a lot about hygiene. Speaking of the latter, Judaism also pays a lot of attention to washing hands. At the present moment people are good used to this action and everyone is doing it. However, many centuries ago only Jewish were performing it on a daily basis and only as a part of their rituals. It is beyond any doubt that hand washing has a positive impact on one’s heath; so, Judaism was also trying to make life of its followers safer from the point of view of hygiene. As for other examples how the above mentioned religion is able to modify the communal behaviour based on the knowledge of underlying realities is the prohibition of Jews to participate in activities which are hosted by gentiles. There is no doubt that this was largely designed as an effective tool that prevented assimilation and made sure that the Jews keep to their traditions even if they are surrounded by representatives of other religions. As one can easily see, Judaism is a peculiar religion that should not be regarded as merely a collection of different theological dogmas, but rather a communal behaviour that is deeply rooted in the knowledge of reality that is shared between the people who belong to the same cultural background. Indeed, the examples which were brought up in the paragraphs above show that the Jewish faith puts a great emphasis on the collective experiences and promotes the spirit of unity among the people of the common lineage. In addition to that it contains some detailed provisions that guide day to day activities of these people. References Atkinson, K 2004, Judaism, Chelsea House, Philadelphia. Harvey, G 2005, Judaism: Study guide, Open University, Milton Keynes. Solomon, N 1996, Judaism a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Read More