Why Traditions and Remembrance are So Important in Judaism - Essay Example

Why traditions and remembrance is so important in Judaism? Judaism is one of the most ancient religious and theological disciplines in the world history. Available historical documents on this religious suggest that Judaism was developed almost the same time as that of the Christian religion and bears the prosperity almost equal to the Christianity. One of the greatest scholars of this religion Israel Abrahams is of opinion that the Graeco-Jewish literature is perhaps the first socio-historical document that bears the term Judaism during 100 B.C. He also has found that the reference of Judaism as the religion for Jews can be found in the Book II of Maccabees. This religion also exists in sharp contrast with that of the Hellenism or the Greek religious discipline. Use of the word in New Testament (Gal. i. 13) indicates the Pharisaic system and also indicates a complete opposition with the Gentile Christianity (Abrahams 1). The Judaist theology does not include within its scope any established “Articles of Faith”; however, “there is a complete consensus of opinion that Monotheism is the basis of religion. The Unity of God was more than a doctrine” (Abrahams 26). It becomes clear from the observation that followers of the religion understand and assert their feelings on God different to other religious disciplines, mainly Christianity. One of the basic features of Judaism is that followers of the religion are free to interpret the ways of God and such beliefs do not follow any strict rule of conduct, “Judaism never attempted to define God at all …. Judaism wavers between the two opposite conceptions: absolute transcendentalism and absolute pantheism” (Abrahams 26). One of the main reasons for evolve of such free approach is traditions and remembrances of this religious-philosophic discipline. The absence of any strict method to follow the ways of God in Judaism has been suggested by Abrahams as absence of the “Articles of Faith”. In this context the basic foundation of Judaism is dependent on the aspects of traditions and remembrances. A deeper analysis will show that philosophical base of the religion is completely dependent on the issues of traditions and remembrances that followers of the religion have been pursuing from one generation to the other. In this context one remarkable example can be cited through the tale of Rabbi Meier, laid down in the Book of Job. Once, as the Sabbath was almost to an end and Rabbi was worried as he did not receive any information of his two sons. Rabbi’s wife asked him “If any one … has deposited something with you, are you bound to return it to him without any complaint?” While replying Rabbi asserted that doing such thing would be most obvious and it does not require any instruction to carry out such a decision making. However, in the next moment Rabbi’s wife showed him lifeless bodies of their sons and when Rabbi was about to deviate from his clam to grief, she reminded her “Did you not tell me but a few minutes ago that it is our duty to return anything that had been deposited with us? It is our duty not to utter a word of complaint, but to say, “The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken; blessed be the name of the Lord”” (Job 1). According to Judaist way of life, as there is no strict rule for following way of God, thus, the lessons derived from traditions and remembrances play a major role in preparation of theological perspective of the discipline. Rabbi was forgetting these lessons of remembrances and traditions during a moment of deep sadness but his wife helped him to remember and helped him to follow the ways of life according to the will of God. Reflections of the lessons of remembrance and traditions can very frequently be found in the whole Judaist religious discipline, “Judaism is a profoundly traditional religion, the sense that each generation instinctively looks for guidance to the past, and is reluctant to overthrow received values and patters of behavior. It is also a religion in which the idea of tradition has always played a vitally important part. At each moment of challenge or crisis the debate has centered on the role to be ascribed to tradition” (Lange 23). During the scope of discussing the importance of tradition and remembrance in Judaism, one question needs to be encountered essentially: what do we mean by tradition? The term “tradition” is a quite broad and it holds within its range several socio-cultural approaches towards life. Thus, “tradition” has been explained from different socio-cultural and religious viewpoints in different manner and none of these interpretations have been able to provide a complete definition; rather it can be said summing up of all these attempts to define tradition actually serves the purpose. However, depending on common realization it can be said that “the essential idea of tradition is passing something on” and the Hebrew word “masoref” bears the meaning. Tradition can also be defined in terms of reception and carrying forward of the received traditional elements. Another Hebrew word “kabbalah” explains this issue within its scope. “Torah” is the word, which is most widely used in Jewish religious traditions. The word actually means ‘instruction’ or ‘teaching’. However, meaning of the word finds a broader suggestion as it is used in the religious context to elaborate divine or authoritative teaching (Lange 24). The book, Saying of the Fathers has specifically laid down, “Moses received Torah from Sinai and handed it over to Joshua, Joshua to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets handed it over to the members of the Great assembly” (Sayings of the Fathers; Lange 23). This reference clearly points out the fact that principles of tradition and remembrances are most important in the religious context of Judaism. The Torah or lessons from God, which was received by Moses was delivered by him to his followers and gradually philosophy of the religious discipline was spread among all human beings through members of the Great Assembly. Previously, it has been mentioned that richness of the Judaism lies in the fact that each generation depends on their predecessors for guidance or teaching on the religious principles. Circulation of the Torah from Moses to his successors is a symbolic of this observation. However, as there is no strict “Articles of Faith” in the Judaism, on several occasions, regarding the lessons of Torah, there has been conflict among scholars. However, it seems that issues of such conflict stand in the core of Jewish theology and debate regarding actual meaning of the Torah continues even in the modern context, whenever question is raised regarding acceptability of Jewish theology. The progress of time and different perspectives on acceptance of religious disciplines has given birth to separate Jewish communities. Conflict between the Pharisees and the Sadducees is one such example, “One of the most celebrated divisions among Jews in ancient time, that between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, was apparently concerned almost exclusively with the question of the nature and authority of traditions” (Lange 25). According to the Pharisees’ interpretation, their theological approach is similar to that of the ‘tradition of the fathers’ or ‘tradition of the elders’. They have followed the Mosaic rule of observation and at the same time also dealt with certain norms of conduct that were not also included in the Mosaic system. Conflict of the Pharisees started with the Sadducees as latter have argued that only written religious norms can be considered authentic or authoritative; consequently, they also have rejected the ‘tradition of the fathers’ as claimed by the Pharisees. Lange observes in this context, “From this time on the word “tradition” enters the Jewish theological discipline, and becomes something of a touchstone of belief and practice” (26). Historical references from the Talmudic period clearly show that rabbis were greatly influenced through religious beliefs of the Pharisees. The revelations of Sinai develop the core of rabbinic theological observation. Theological observations also show that God’s revelations at Mount Sinai were not only Torah but those also act as guidelines in case of explaining different angles of Jewish life and principles. Circulation of these guidelines has happened mainly through oral traditions. Thus, it is understood from such observation that in Jewish tradition Torah is of extreme importance. It not only provides a Jewish individual certain directives about leading his/her life but it also assimilates different elements that develop important parts of social and cultural point of view, “Written law, oral tradition, long established custom, rational argument, and even decisions taken by majority vote are all elements in a complex of formulate and equations, which collectively were labeled as Torah and derived from revelations at Sinai. And the rabbis themselves became the custodians of the rich and ever-growing traditions” (Lange 26). The approach of mysticism, which has been followed by the rabbis, is also a reflection of the profound Jewish tradition. The Jewish mysticism is integrally associated with the creative process of the universe. The rabbis are of opinion that the Book of Genesis is actually a figurative manner of explaining the process of creation; thus, in the Book of Creation or the “Sefer Yetzirab” is has been said that the Universe was created through thirty two paths, which comprises ten “srfirot” or God’s emanations and twenty two Hebrew alphabets. Thus, in order to understand the traditional approach towards creation of the Universe, “A whole system was devised for understanding the meaning of the alphabet …. The three mother letters, namely, alef, mem and shin, stand respectively for three elements, air, water and fire. In the microcosm of the human form they represent the chest (air), the belly (water) and the head (fire)…. Within the system human beings are seen as a reflection of the whole universe of space and time and everything within that universe derives from the activities of the Hebrew letters” (Cohn-Sherbock “Early Rabbinic Mysticism”). Analysis of the theological reflections of Judaism, thus, provides clear evidence to the fact that traditions and lessons of remembrance make up the principle foundation of the religious discipline. However, there is no rejection of the fact that revelations of God or Torah has actually played the key role. It is the lessons of Torah or divine or authoritative teaching that actually builds the entire cosmos of Judaism and also helps to a considerable extent in orienting attitude of Jews towards life. Despite the fact that there is no explicit presence of strict religious rules in Judaism or any determined set of principles to interpret the ways of God, Judaism has progressed entirely by depending on the lessons of remembrance and traditions. Works Cited Abrahams, Israel. Judaism. Forgotten Books. 2006 Cohn-Sherbock, Dan and Lavinia. A Short History of Judaism. Massachusetts: Oneworld Publications. 1994 Lange, Nicholas de. Judaism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1991 Read More