Jewish Beliefs

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Jewish Beliefs Texts
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Belief in One God

• Judaism is one of the oldest monotheist religions
  (belief of one god)
• The Hebrew name of God is YHWH, which is never
  pronounced by Jews because it is considered too
  holy a word.
• In ancient times most people worshipped several
  gods, so Judaism separated themselves from other
  religions.
• The Jews believed they were Gods chosen people.

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Belief in Education

• Education and study is extremely important in
  Judaism.
• In ancient times, boys were taught about their
  religion by teachers.
• Today, all Jewish children are taught about their
  beliefs and the history of Judaism.

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Belief in Justice Righteousness

• Justice
• Kindness and fairness to everyone
• Give aid to those who need it
• Be fair in business dealings
• Righteousness - doing what is right, even if no
  one else is

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Belief in Obedience Law

• Moral and religious laws
• The Ten Commandments
• The Mosaic Laws (named after Moses)
• Do not eat shellfish or pork (considered unclean)
• Eat meat in which the animal hasnt suffered when
  slaughtered (Kosher)
• Do not eat milk and meat together, and do not eat
  fish and meat together
• Not work on the Sabbath
• Belief that God created the world in 6 days and
  rested on the seventh (Saturday for Judaism)

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Torah

• The most sacred text of Judaism
• Includes laws and the history of the Jews until
  the death of Moses.
• The Torah is the central part of religious
  services at the synagogue (Jewish place of
  worship)
• Readers of the Torah do not touch it to show
  respect of text. They use pointers to keep their
  spot.

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The Hebrew Bible

• There are three parts of the Hebrew Bible
  (Tanach)
• 1st- The Torah
• 2nd- Hebrew prophets. Prophets are people who are
  said to receive messages from god to be taught to
  others.
• 3rd- Eleven books of poetry, song, stories,
  lessons, and history.
• 4th- Proverbs, short expression of Hebrew wisdom.
  

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Commentaries

• Many of the commentaries are found in Talmud.
• Talmud is a set of commentaries, stories, and
  folklore.
• Talmud was produced between 200 and 600AD.

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Dead Sea Scrolls

• Dead sea scrolls, writing by Jews who lived about
  2,000 year ago.
• No one knew about the scrolls until 1947.
• Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls were written between
  100BC and 50AD.
• The scrolls included prayers, commentaries,
  letters, and passages from the Hebrew bible.

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Judaism Other Cultures

• Jewish ideas have greatly influenced other
  cultures, especially Europe and America.
• The ideas of Judaism helped shape Christianity
  also influenced another major religions including
  Islam.
• Many people still look to the Ten Commandments as
  a guide on how they should live.