Judaism

Question 1

Around the first century CE there were several small Jewish sects

Answer 1

o Pharisees / believed in resurrection, studied the Law
o Sadducees / did not believe in resurrection
o Zealots
o Essenes

Question 2

After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE

Answer 2

sects vanished
• Christianity survived, but by breaking with Judaism and becoming a separate religion; the Pharisees survived but in the form of Rabbinic Judaism (today, known simply as “Judaism”).

Question 3

Jews were now confronted with difficult and far-reaching questions

Answer 3

o How to achieve atonement without the Temple?
o How to explain the disastrous outcome of the rebellion?
o How to live in the post-Temple, Romanized world?
o How to connect present and past traditions?

Question 4

Often called the

Answer 4

“People of the Book” because it of age-old intellectual tradition of text-based Torah study

Question 5

Over time Jews developed into distinct ethnic groups

Answer 5

Ashkenazi Jews (of central and Eastern Europe, Germany/Poland), the Sephardi Jews (of Spain, Portugal, and North Africa)

Question 6

Judaism split is

Answer 6

cultural, not based on any doctrinal duspute, although there are minor differences

Question 7

Antisemitism

Answer 7

arose during the Middle Ages, in the form of persecutions, pogroms, forced conversion, expulsions, social restrictions and ghettoization

Question 8

This was different in quality to any repressions of Jews in ancient times

Answer 8

Ancient repression was politically motivated and Jews were treated no differently than any other ethnic group would have been.
With the rise of the Churches, attacks on Jews became motivated instead by theological considerations specifically deriving from Christian views about Jews and Judaism.

Question 9

Hasidic Judaism

Answer 9

originated in a time of persecution of the Jewish people, when European Jews had turned inward to Talmud study;
many felt that most expressions of Jewish life had become too “academic”, and that they no longer had any emphasis on spirituality or joy

Question 10

Hasidic Judaism is rooted in

Hasidic Jews accept the

Answer 10

the Kabbalah

Kabbalah as sacred scripture.

Question 11

Distinguished both by a variety of special customs and practices including

Answer 11

reliance on a Rebbe or supreme religious leader, and a special dress code particular to each Hasidic group

Question 12

Some of the reasons for the rejection of Hasidic Judaism were

Answer 12

overwhelming exuberance of Hasidic worship,
its untraditional ascriptions of infallibility and alleged miracle-working to their leaders, the concern that it might become a messianic sect.

Question 13

the Enlightenment

Answer 13

In late 18th century CE Europe was swept by a group of intellectual, social and political movements

Question 14

enlightenment led to

Answer 14

reductions in the European laws that prohibited Jews to interact with the wider secular world, thus allowing Jews access to secular education and experience

Question 15

Enlightenment Emphasis on

Answer 15

integration with secular society and a pursuit of non-religious knowledge. Eventually led to formation of a number of different branches of Judaism

Question 16

Reform

Answer 16

Originally formed in Germany.
Its defining characteristic is belief individual Jews should exercise an informed autonomy about what to observe.
Emphasized the ethical call of the Prophets.
Developed an egalitarian prayer service in the vernacular (along with Hebrew in many cases

Question 17

Orthodox/traditionalists

Answer 17

o Orthodox Judaism holds that both the Written and Oral Torah were divinely revealed to Moses, and that the laws within it are binding and unchanging.
o It emphasizes strict observance of religious laws and commandments.

Question 18

Conservative/middle ground

Answer 18

Developed in Europe and the United States in the 1800s as Jews reacted to the changes brought about by the Enlightenment and Jewish emancipation.
Characterized by a commitment to following traditional Jewish laws and customs, a positive attitude toward modern culture, and an acceptance of both traditional rabbinic modes of study along with modern scholarship and critical text study when considering Jewish religious texts.

Question 19

Conservative Judaism teaches that Jewish law

Answer 19

is not static, but has always developed in response to changing conditions.

Question 20

It holds that the Torah is

Answer 20

is a divine document written by prophets inspired by God,
but rejects the Orthodox position that it was dictated by God to Moses.
Conservative Judaism holds that both the Written and Oral Law may be interpreted by the rabbis to reflect modern sensibilities and suit modern conditions, although great caution should be exercised in doing so

Question 21

The Holocaust

Answer 21

state-led systematic persecution and genocide of six million Jews under Nazi Germany in World War II
Persecution and genocide accomplished in stages.
Legislation to remove the Jews from civil society was enacted years before the outbreak of World War II.
Concentration camps were established in which inmates were used as slave labor until they died of exhaustion or disease. Where the Third Reich conquered new territory in Eastern Europe murdered Jews and political opponents in mass shootings.
Jews and Roma were crammed into ghettos before being transported hundreds of miles by freight train to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were killed in gas chambers.

Question 22

What makes a person Jewish

Answer 22

a Jew is anyone born of a Jewish mother or converted to Judaism in accord with Jewish Law.
American Reform Judaism accepts the child of one Jewish parent (father or mother) as Jewish if the parents raise the child with a Jewish identity.
All mainstream forms of Judaism today are open to sincere converts. The conversion process is evaluated by an authority, and the convert is examined on his sincerity and knowledge.

Question 23

Prayers

Answer 23

• Traditionally, Jews recite prayers three times daily, with a fourth prayer added on Shabbat and holidays.
• A key prayer in many services is the declaration of faith, the Shema, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God! The Lord is One!”
• Most of the prayers in a traditional Jewish service can be said in solitary prayer, although communal prayer is preferred.
• Communal prayer requires a quorum of ten adult Jews, called a minyan. In nearly all Orthodox and a few Conservative circles, only male Jews are counted toward a minyan; most Conservative Jews and members of other Jewish denominations count female Jews as well.

Question 24

Shabbat

Answer 24

the weekly day of rest lasting from shortly before sundown on Friday night to shortly after sundown Saturday night, commemorates God’s day of rest after six days of creation.
During Shabbat Jews are forbidden to engage in any activity that falls under 39 categories of “work.” They include such actions as lighting a fire, writing, using money and carrying in the public domain. The prohibition of lighting a fire has been extended in the modern era to driving a car, which involves burning fuel, and using electricity.

Question 25

Passover

Answer 25

a week-long holiday that commemorates the Exodus from Egypt

Question 26

Sukkot

Answer 26

(“Tabernacles” or “The Festival of Booths”) commemorates the Israelites’ forty years of wandering through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. It is celebrated through the construction of temporary booths called sukkot that represent the temporary shelters of the Israelites during their wandering.

Question 27

High Holy Days

Answer 27

The High Holidays revolve around judgment and forgiveness.

Question 28

Rosh Hashanah, (“Day of Remembrance”)

Answer 28

the Jewish New Year.
marks the beginning of the 10-day period of atonement leading up to Yom Kippur, during which Jews are commanded to search their souls and make amends for sins committed, intentionally or not, throughout the year

Question 29

Yom Kippur, (“Day of Atonement”)

Answer 29

”) is the most solemn day of the Jewish year. It is a day of communal fasting and praying for forgiveness for one’s sins.

Question 30

Hanukkah

Answer 30

also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight day Jewish holiday that is observed in Jewish homes by the kindling of lights on each of the festival’s eight nights, one on the first night, two on the second night and so on.

Question 31

Hanukkah means

Answer 31

“dedication” because it marks the re-dedication of the Temple after its desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

Question 32

Spiritually, Hanukkah commemorates the “Miracle of the Oil”

Answer 32

According to the Talmud, at the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem following the victory of the Maccabees, there was only enough consecrated oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days - which was the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate new oil.

Question 33

Judaism today

Answer 33

• In most industrialized nations with modern economies, such as the United States, Israel, Canada, United Kingdom, Argentina and South Africa, a wide variety of Jewish practices exist, along with a growing plurality of secular and non-practicing Jews.
• Only 48% belonged to a synagogue - a crisis situation, grave concern over intermarriage and assimilation
• Birth rate for American Jews has dropped from over 2.0 to 1.7 (the replacement rate is 2.1).
• Intermarriage rates range from 40-50% in the US, and only about a third of children of intermarried couples are raised as Jews.
• Jewish population in the US shrank from 5.5 million in 1990 to 5.1 million in 2001.