Judaism: Judaism Beliefs Flashcards
What is the Concept and Nature of Judaism?
- Judaism is a montheistic religion
- Jews believe that God is one, he is the lawgiver, judge, sustainer and creator
Do Jews said God or G-d?
- Many jews prefer not to say the word “God” out loud and prefer not to write it, so they use “G-d”
- Jewish God is also known as YHWH (Yaweh)
What does “God as One” mean?
- Only God should be praised and worshiped, God is infinite and eternal, God is beyond human understanding, God is single whole and indivisible, God created and sustains everything in the universe, all values and beliefs come from God.
What is The Shema?
- A prayer that affirms belief in the One God, it is found in the Torah
- The opening line is recited twice a day and reminds Jess of their montheistic beleif
- “Hear, O Israel, the lord our God, the lord is one.”
- It also implies that God requires total loyalty
Explain God as Lawgiver.
- God gives laws on how people should behave
- God gave the Jews 613 Mitzvot to follow and they are accepted as the code of conduct for Jewish Life, the first 10 mitzvot are the 10 commandments.
- By following the mitzvot it is impossible to disobey God
Explain God as Judge.
- God judges the Jews on how well they follow his laws
- God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent
- His Judgements are fair and merciful, all good actions bring Jews closer to God and ensure favourable Judgement.
- Jews are judged once a year at Rosh Hashannah and once they die
Explain Shekhinah.
- The Divine Presence
- Jews believe that God can focus his presence in certain places, this is the Shekinah
- The shekinah does not mean God is physically present or split into certain parts
- The word “Shekinah” does not appear anywhere in the Tenakh but is referred to.
- The Tenakh describes how the Jews were lead by a pillar of cloud at day and a cloud with fire at night, these are acts of the Shekinah.
What is Free Will and Jewish views on it?
- It is the ability to make our own choices
- Jews believe that God must have created evil. However God gave humans free will
- The choice to do good rather than bad makes the act more significant to God. However, people sometimes choose to misuse their free will - therefore evil has to exist
What are the commandments between man and God?
1) Worship no God but me
2) Do not worship idols
3) Do not use my name for evil purposes
4) Keep the Sabbath holy
What are the commandments between man and man?
5) Respect your Father and Mother
6) Do not murder
7) Do not commit adultery
8) Do not steal
9) Do not lie
10) Do not be jealous
What are Orthodox Jews views on Creation?
They believe the Creation Story exactly and reject evolution and the Big Bang theory.
What are reform Jews views on creation?
They believe God created the world using the big bang theory and created humans through evolution.
Explain the Sustainer [Jewish]?
- God sustains the universe - sustains everything needed for life
- However as a result of free will humans have distributed resources unequally - therefore people in the world have less than they need
- Jews who choose to help those in need are helping fulfill God’s plan for creation
What are Jewish views on Heaven?
Those who are good will enter heaven (Gan Eden)
- It is believed heaven will be with God, however it is unkown if is a state of contiousness or an actual physical or spiritual place
What is Sheol?
- If you do not go to heaven you go to Sheol
- Sheol is a place of waiting, in sheol your soul is cleaned for heaven