Jewish Flashcards
What is the approximate worldwide Jewish population today?
14 Million
What does the word “rabbi” mean in Judaism?
Teacher
What are the three sections of the Hebrew Bible? (Tanakh)
- The Law
- The Prophets
- The Writings
What is the Pentateuch?
The 5 Books of Moses
What word refers to rabbinic commentary on or interpretation of Jewish Biblical text?
Midrash
Where can we find the earliest reference to the people of Israel outside the Bible?
The victory stela of Egyptian pharaoh
The word Jew originally referred to those belonging to what?
A particular territory
What do traditional Jews believe about the origins of the Torah?
It was divinely revealed to Moses
According to the Documentary Hypothesis, what do textual inconsistencies in the Hebrew Bible reveal?
Indicators of different sources of the text
What was the earliest Jewish material to have been written down?
The Torah
What does the Jewish festival of Passover commemorate?
The liberation of Israelites from slavery in Egypt
What is the specific term used to describe the relationship between the Israelites and their God?
Covenant
Most scholars now understand the Israelite acquisition of Canaan, as described in the book of Joshua, to have been accomplished through which of the following?
Settlement rather than military conquest
Following the death of King Solomon, when Israel split in two, what name did the southern kingdom use?
Judah
The Babylonian Exile marks the beginning of which of the following?
The Jewish Diaspora
What term refers to the period of Jewish history that followed the Babylonian Exile?
Second Temple Period
Why is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible known as the Septuagint?
It was translated by 70 Jewish sages who, according to legend, independently produced the same text.
What does the word Sabbath mean in Judaism?
Seventh Day
The kings of the Hasmonean dynasty in ancient Israel were descendants of whom?
The Maccabees
What does the Jewish festival of Hanukkah commemorate?
The rededication of the temple bu the Maccabees
Who were the two major first century Jewish groups?
The Sadducees and the Pharisees
When did the Romans destroy the Second Temple?
70 CE
According to rabbinic tradition, the Oral Torah originated with whom?
Moses
What is the Hebrew word for commandment?
Mitzvah
What was the result of the Bar Kochba revolt in 132-135 CE?
It failed miserably
How did rabbinic Halakah treat the status of women?
As subordinate to men
The Jewish Talmud is composed primarily of what?
Mishnah and Gemrah
In rabbinic literature, what is Aggadab
Narrative material
After the Bar Kochba revolt, where were Judaism’s two main rabbinic centres?
Palestine and Babylonia
Sephardim is a designation for descendants of Jews from where?
Spain and Portugal
The Ashkenazic Jewish community uses the what language?
Yiddish
What did Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides emphasize?
Rational Philosophy
In Kabbalah, what term refers to the ten aspects or emanations of God’s power?
Sefirot
Who was the founder of Hasidic Judaism?
The Baal Shem Tov
What did the eighteenth century Haskalah movement in Judaism seek to do?
Help jews integrate into European society
In the eighteenth century, what did Moses Mendelssohn urge German Jews to do?
Be a jew at home, and a German on the Street
Which of the following is NOT a modern branch of Judaism?
Pharisaic
Which of the following is true of Reform Jews?
They do not generally keep kosher dietary laws
What do the Jewish dietary laws stipulate?
The foods that are acceptable, how they are to be cooked, and the types that may be eaten together in the same meal
The Reconstructionist movement in in Judaism developed primarily out of which other modern Jewish movement?
Conservative movement
In modern snyagogues, the Holy Ark where the Torah scrolls are kept, symbolizes what?
The place that stored the tablets given to Moses at Mount Sinai
What term refers to a group of ten adult males who make up a quorum for Jewish public prayer?
Minyan
What is the name of the celebration of the Jewish New Year?
Rosh Hashanah
What is the Hebrew term used to refer to the Holocaust?
Shoah
What act on September 15, 1935 resulted in the revoking of Jews’ German citizenship and the deprival of their legal and economic rights?
The passage of the Nuremberg Laws
When did the state of Israel come into being?
May 14, 1948
In Judaism, what prayer is recited by the children of the deceased after his or her burial?
The Kaddish
What ritual happens at the conclusion of Jewish wedding?
The breaking of the glass
In Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, when is a child considered Jewish?
If either parent is Jewish, as long as the child is raised as a Jew and adopts a Jewish identity
