INTRODUCTION

TO JUDAISM
The learner demonstrates
understanding of the elements of
Judaism:
a. Founders: Abraham (2000 B.C.) and/or
Moses (1391-1271 B.C.)
b. Sacred texts: Torah, Poetry, Prophets,
Talmud, Mishnah
c. Doctrines: Ten Commandments, 618
Rules
d. God: Yahweh/Jehovah
e. Sects: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform
JUDAISM
 INTRODUCTION

Judaism is the religion of

the Jewish people. It is an
ancient, monotheistic, Abrahamic
religion with the Torah as its
foundational text. It encompasses
the religion, philosophy,
and culture of the Jewish
people. Judaism is considered by
religious Jews to be the
 HISTORY
The history of Judaism spans more than
3,000 years.Judaism has its roots as
an organized religion in the Middle East
during the Bronze Age.Judaism is
considered one of the oldest monotheistic
religions.[The Hebrews and Israelites were
already referred to as "Jews" in later books
of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther ,
with the term Jews replacing the title
"Children of Israel". Judaism's texts,
traditions and values strongly influenced
 HISTORY
Many aspects of Judaism have also
directly or indirectly
influenced secular Western ethics and
 civil law. Hebraism was just as
important a factor in the ancient era
development of Western
civilization as Hellenism, and
Judaism, as the background
of Christianity, has considerably
shaped Western ideals and morality
 JEW

According to Jacob Neusner,

a prominent Jewish scholar,
the use of the word Jew
means two things:
An ethnic group
Religious people
 FOUNDER

Video clip
Abraham
Moses
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
For centuries, the Torah
appeared only as a written text
transmitted in parallel with the
oral tradition. Fearing that the
oral teachings might be
forgotten, Rabbi Judah ha
Nasi undertook the mission of
consolidating the various
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
The Torah consists of the
following books:
 Genesis
 Exodus
 Leviticus
 Numbers
 deuteronomy
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
 Genesis
 tells about the creation story,
origin of sin, the account of adam
and eve, and the story of the
patriarchs ABRAHAM, ISAAC,
JACOB AND JOSEPH.
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
 Exodus
 Tells the dramatic story of
the Israelites’ deliverance
from slavery in Egypt, the
calling of Moses as the
liberator and messenger of
God’s covenant and the
detailed account of the
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
 Leviticus
 Contains the detailed laws
and commandment of God
as implied by the 10
Commandments. Most of
the narratives are about
rules for sacrifice, feast and
priesthood and obligations
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
 Numbers
 Further accounts the rules
for and obligations of the
twelve tribes . It also tells
the story of Israelites
journey in the desert.
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
 Deuteronomy
 Composed of Moses’
reflective speeches, which
summarized the meaning of
the events in Exodus and
the journey in the desert. It
also affirms the value of the
covenant law as a guide for
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
The Mishnah consists of 63
tractates codifying Jewish law,
which are the basis of
the Talmud. According
to Abraham ben David,
the Mishnah was compiled by
Rabbi Judah haNasi after the
destruction of Jerusalem, in anno
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
The Mishnah contains two
important documents:
• HALAKHAH- deals with
judicial matters
• AGGADAH- contains stories,
moral teachings and
theological discussions
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
Over the next four centuries, the
Mishnah underwent discussion and
debate in both of the world's major
Jewish communities (in Israel
and Babylonia). The commentaries
from each of these communities were
eventually compiled into the
two Talmuds, the Jerusalem
Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi) and the
Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli).
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
The TALMUD is a collection of
rabbinic teachings that provide deep
insights into the life of Jewish people
following the Torah.

Neusner defined Talmud as a

“sustained, systematic amplification
and analysis of the passage of the
Mishnah and other teachings
alongside the Mishnah”
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
The PROPHETIC BOOKS feature
stories and narrative s on the plight,
sufferings exploitation and other
encounters of the Jews under the
hands of their conquerors. The book
contains the teachings and preaching
of prophets such as Amos, Joshua,
Isiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Jonah,
Habakuk and Micah.
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
MIDRASH refers to the rabbis’
interpretation of the teachings of the
Torah. Ancient rabbis used this to
draw meanings from the Torah and
apply them in real life situations. The
collection of interpretation or
investigation are called Midrashim.
This source contains many stories
used for sermons in the synagogues.
 JEWISH RELIGIOUS
TEXTS
Example
A king wrote his wife a beautiful ketubah
(marriage contract), promising her a wonderful
living space and plenty of gold and jewels. The
King then left her and went to a distant land for
many years.
The wife’s neighbors taunted her, saying that
she had been deserted and should remarry.
Though she was sad, she consoled herself by
reading the ketubah. After many years, the king
returned and said that he was amazed that she
had waited for him all this years. She replied ”If it
had not been for your wonderful ketubah, the
 BASIC TEACHINGS AND
DOCTRINES
The basic dogmas of Judaism are
summarize by the Jewish philosopher
Moses Maimonides, These are:

1. The belief in God’s existence

2. The belief in His unity
3. The belief in His incorporeality
4. The belief in His timelessness
 BASIC TEACHINGS AND
DOCTRINES
The basic dogmas of Judaism are
summarize by the Jewish philosopher
Moses Maimonides, These are:

5. The belief that He is approachable

through prayer.
6. The belief in prophecy
7. The belief in the superiority of
Moses to all other prophets
 BASIC TEACHINGS AND
DOCTRINES
The basic dogmas of Judaism are
summarize by the Jewish philosopher
Moses Maimonides, These are:

8. The belief in the revelation of the

Law and that the law as contained in
the Pentateuch(the first five books of
Jewish and Christian scriptures) is
that revealed by Moses
9. The belief in the immutability(not
 BASIC TEACHINGS AND
DOCTRINES
The basic dogmas of Judaism are
summarize by the Jewish philosopher
Moses Maimonides, These are:

10. The belief in divine providence

11. The belief in divine justice
12. The belief in the coming of the
Messiah
13. The belief in the resurrection and
human immortality
 SECTS
RABBINIC JUDAISM
RABBINIC JUDAISM (or in some
Christian traditions, Rabbinism) (Hebrew:
"Yahadut Rabanit" – ‫ )יהדות רבנית‬has been
the mainstream form of Judaism since the
6th century CE, after the codification of
the Talmud. It is characterised by the
belief that the Written Torah (Written Law)
cannot be correctly interpreted without
reference to the Oral Torah and the
voluminous literature specifying what
 SECTS
The Jewish Enlightenment of the late
18th century resulted in the division
of Ashkenazi (Western) Jewry into
religious movements or
denominations, especially in North
America and Anglophone countries.
The main denominations today
outside Israel (where the situation is
rather different) are Orthodox,
 SECTS

1. 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. Orthodox Jews generally consider
commentaries on the Shulchan Aruch (a
condensed codification of halakha that largely
favored Sephardic traditions) to be the definitive
codification of Jewish law. Orthodoxy places a
high importance on Maimonides' 13 principles
 as a definition of Jewish faith.
 SECTS

2. Conservative Judaism is
characterized by a commitment to
traditional Jewish laws and customs,
including observance of Shabbat and 
kashrut, a deliberately non-
fundamentalist teaching of Jewish
principles of faith, a positive attitude
toward modern culture, and an
acceptance of both traditional
 SECTS

Conservative Judaism teaches that

Jewish law is not static, but has always
developed in response to changing
conditions. It holds that the Torah is a
divine document written by prophets
inspired by God and reflecting his will,
but rejects the Orthodox position that
it was dictated by God to Moses
 SECTS

3. Reform Judaism, called Liberal or

Progressive Judaism in many countries, defines
Judaism in relatively universalist terms, rejects
most of the ritual and ceremonial laws of the 
Torah while observing moral laws, and
emphasizes the ethical call of the Prophets.
Reform Judaism has developed an egalitarian
prayer service in the vernacular (along with 
Hebrew in many cases) and emphasizes
personal connection to Jewish tradition.
 JEWISH HOLIDAYS

Jewish holidays are special days

in the Jewish calendar, which
celebrate moments in Jewish
history, as well as central themes
in the relationship between God
and the world, such as creation, 
revelation, and redemption.
 SHABBAT

-the weekly day of rest lasting from

shortly before sundown on Friday
night to nightfall on Saturday night,
commemorates God's day of rest
after six days of creation. It plays a
Two braided pivotal role in Jewish practice and is
Shabbat  governed by a large corpus of
challahs religious law. At sundown on Friday,
 placed under the woman of the house welcomes
an the Shabbat by lighting two or more
embroidered  candles and reciting a blessing. The
challah cover evening meal begins with the
 at the start Kiddush, a blessing recited aloud
over a cup of wine, and the Mohtzi, a
 SHABBAT

During Shabbat, Jews are

forbidden to engage in any
activity that falls under 
39 categories of melakhah,
translated literally as "work". In
Two braided fact the activities banned on the
Shabbat  Sabbath are not "work" in the
challahs
usual sense: They include such
 placed under
actions as lighting a fire, writing,
an
embroidered  using money and carrying in the
challah cover public domain. The prohibition of
 at the start lighting a fire has been extended
 THREE PILGRIMAGE
FESTIVALS

JEWISH HOLY DAYS (CHAGGIM), celebrate

landmark events in Jewish history, such as the
Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah,
and sometimes mark the change of seasons and
transitions in the agricultural cycle. The three
major festivals, Sukkot, Passover and Shavuot,
are called "regalim" (derived from the Hebrew
word "regel", or foot). On the three regalim, it was
customary for the Israelites to make pilgrimages
to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices in the Temple.
 THREE PILGRIMAGE
FESTIVALS

PASSOVER (PESACH)
- is a week-long holiday beginning on the
evening of the 14th day of Nisan (the
first month in the Hebrew calendar), that
commemorates the Exodus from Egypt.
Outside Israel, Passover is celebrated for
eight days. In ancient times, it coincided
with the barley harvest.
 THREE PILGRIMAGE
FESTIVALS

SUKKOT
 ("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 Some sukkot in Jerusalem
celebrated through the
construction of temporary
booths called sukkot (sing. 
sukkah) that represent the
 HIGH HOLY DAYS

The High Holidays

(Yamim Noraim or
"Days of Awe") revolve
around judgment and
forgiveness.

Yom Kippur by Maurycy Gottlieb(1878)

 HIGH HOLY DAYS

ROSH HASHANAH, (also Yom Ha-Zikkaron or

"Day of Remembrance", and Yom Teruah, or "Day
of the Sounding of the Shofar").

- Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year (literally,

"head of the year"), although it falls on the first
day of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar
, Tishri. Rosh Hashanah 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. Holiday customs include blowing the shofar,
 HIGH HOLY DAYS

YOM KIPPUR, ("DAY OF ATONEMENT")

-is the holiest day of the Jewish year. It is a day
of communal fasting and praying for forgiveness
for one's sins. Observant Jews spend the entire
day in the synagogue, sometimes with a short
break in the afternoon, reciting prayers from a
special holiday prayerbook called a "Machzor".
Many non-religious Jews make a point of
attending synagogue services and fasting on Yom
Kippur. On the eve of Yom Kippur, before candles
are lit, a prefast meal, the "seuda mafseket", is
eaten.
 HIGH HOLY DAYS

YOM KIPPUR, ("DAY OF ATONEMENT")

- Synagogue services on the eve of Yom Kippur
begin with the Kol Nidre prayer. It is customary to
wear white on Yom Kippur, especially for Kol
Nidre, and leather shoes are not worn. The
following day, prayers are held from morning to
evening. The final prayer service, called "Ne'ilah",
ends with a long blast of the shofar.
 ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Antisemitism arose during the Middle Ages, in the form of

persecutions, pogroms, forced conversions, expulsions, social
restrictions and ghettoization.
This was different in quality from the repressions of Jews which
had occurred in ancient times. Ancient repressions were
politically motivated and Jews were treated the same as members
of other ethnic groups. With the rise of the Churches, the main
motive for attacks on Jews changed from politics to religion and
the religious motive for such attacks was specifically derived
from Christian views about Jews and Judaism. During the 
Middle Ages, Jewish people who lived under Muslim rule
generally experienced tolerance and integration, but there were
occasional outbreaks of violence like Almohad's persecutions.
 JUDAISM AND OTHER RELIGIONS

Christianity and Judaism

Christianity was originally a sect of 

Second Temple Judaism, but the two
religions diverged in the first century. The
differences between Christianity and
Judaism originally centered on whether
Jesus was the Jewish Messiah but
eventually became irreconcilable. Major
differences between the two faiths include
the nature of the Messiah, of atonement
 JUDAISM AND OTHER RELIGIONS

CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM

Due to these differences, Judaism

traditionally regards Christianity as Shituf
 or worship of the God of Israel which is
not monotheistic. Christianity has
traditionally regarded Judaism as obsolete
with the invention of Christianity and Jews
as a people replaced by the Church,
though a Christian belief in 
dual-covenant theology emerged as a
 JUDAISM AND OTHER RELIGIONS

ISLAM AND JUDAISM

Both Judaism and Islam arose from the
patriarch Abraham, and they are therefore
considered Abrahamic religions. In both
Jewish and Muslim tradition, the Jewish
and Arab peoples are descended from the
two sons of Abraham—Isaac and Ishmael,
respectively. While both religions are 
monotheistic and share many
commonalities, they differ based on the
fact that Jews do not consider Jesus or 
 JUDAISM AND OTHER
RELIGIONS

ISLAM AND JUDAISM

The religions' adherents have interacted with each other

since the 7th century when Islam originated and spread
in the Arabian peninsula. Indeed, the years 712 to 1066
CE under the Ummayad and the Abbasid rulers have
been called the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain .
Non-Muslim monotheists living in these countries,
including Jews, were known as dhimmis. Dhimmis were
allowed to practice their own religions and administer
their own internal affairs, but they were subject to
certain restrictions that were not imposed on Muslims
 REFLECT ON THIS

1. Justify: “The core teaching of Judaism

is the covenant of one God with a chosen
people vs. other people with many gods.”
2. Identify a story from the Old Testament
that demonstrates the Jewish belief in
one God (e.g. Story of Samson)
 ASSIGNMENT
1. In A Clean A4 Size Paper Create A Comparative Analysis
Template Of Judaism, Christianity And Islam Using The
Following Table Below:
RELIGION JUDAISM CHRISTIANITY ISLAM
Founder
Sacred Texts
Doctrines
God
Origin Of The Universe And
Humankind
Morality
Purpose
Destiny
Views on Women
Issues and Challenges