SECTION 1 JUDAISM- TOPIC 2.1.4 THE COVENANT AT SINAI

Question 1

The nature and history of the covenant at Sinai

Answer 1

Moses then spent 40 years wandering in the Sinai wilderness preparing the people to enter and possess the promised

during this time that God appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai to make the covenant.

Question 2

Mosaic Covenant

Answer 2

The Mosaic Covenant was an agreement between
God and the Jewish people given to Moses.

God gave Moses his laws on two tablets of stone. These were to be kept in the Ark of the Covenant, which had to be kept in the tabernacle.

Question 3

The agreement was that if the people kept
God’s laws, then…..?

Answer 3

“out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession”

Question 4

The importance of the Mosaic Covenant for Jews today

Answer 4

The Mosaic Covenant has become the very basis of Judaism. Moses was given 613 mitzvot by God in the Torah which provide the way of life for Jewish people and which separate them from Gentiles

laws given to Moses are so important for modern Jews that the divisions into Reform and Orthodox, Hasidic and Ultra-Orthodox and so on are all based on interpretations of how Jewish people should obey the Mosaic Covenant.

Jewish people have a duty to keep the mitzvot as part of their side of the covenant to make them God’s people.

Question 5

The role of Moses in the covenant

Answer 5

-Moses was crucial to the covenant.
-Met the shekhinah on Mount Sinai and received the laws directly from God
-Moses delivered it to the Jewish people,

Question 6

The Ten Commandments

Answer 6

The first commandment is important because Jewish people:

-Touch the mezuzah when they go in and out to remind themselves of the shema, which tells them they worship one God only.

-Say grace to the one God before and after food.

-second commandment is important because Jewish people prohibit having any form of statue in the synagogue or their home.
-They would allow paintings as long as they were somehow incomplete much debate about what art is permitted in Judaism, showing how
seriously the second commandment is taken.

The third commandment is important because Jewish people would not use God’s name in any form of swearing
-most Jewish people say, ‘the Almighty’ g-d L-RD

The fourth commandment is very important in modern Jewish
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