World Religions

Introduction to World Religions Study Guide

©2018 Achieve Page 50 of 96 Chapter 6: Judaism Judaism is a monotheistic religion and originated in the Hebrew Bible. This Bible is known as the Tanakh. Later texts are known as the Talmud. There are several different practices within the Jewish faith: Orthodox Jews (Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism), Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. The major difference in these groups is how they approach Jewish Law. Orthodox Judaismmaintains that the Torah and Jewish Law are divine in origin. The laws are eternal, unalterable, and are to be strictly followed. The Conservative and Reform practices of Judaism are more liberal. Conservatives promote a more traditional interpretation of the requirements of the Judaism, while Reformed Judaism teaches that Jewish Law is more of a set of guidelines rather than a set of restrictions. Judaism had its own courts that enforced Jewish Law. While the courts still exist today, the compliance is more voluntary by practicing Jews. Rabbis and scholars use sacred texts to interpret the law rather than one person ruling all Jews. Judaism is a historical religion dating back over 3000 years, and is the oldest monotheistic religion. The Hebrews/Israelites were referred to as “Jews”. The Tanakh has a reference to Jews in the book of Esther. The term “Jews” replaced the title “Children of Israel”. The traditions have influenced many other religions, including those of the Abrahamic religions, such as Christianity, Islam, and Baha’i. The laws of the Jews have even influenced the laws in secular Western ethics and civil law. Jews are an ethnoreligious group; there are individuals who were born as Jews and then those who convert to Judaism. They comprise an estimated 13.4 million (2%) of the world’s population. Approximately 42% of the Jews of the world reside in Israel, while another 42% reside in the United States and Canada. The remaining Jews reside in Europe. 6.1 Defining Character in Judaism The Hebrew God is portrayed as a unitary and solitary God. There are no relationships with other gods. God created man “in his own image”. Jews do not believe that this means humans “look” like God, but God is incorporeal and that man has the ability to reason, like God. Genesis 2:7 states, “God formed man.” It uses the Hebrew world “vayyitzer”, meaning “formed”. There are two yods in the Talmud, or two impulses found in humans. The yetzer tov and the yetzer ra. The yetzer toy is the moral conscience and it reminds the person of God’s law when the person is considering what to do in a situation. The other is yetzer ra, which is the impulse one has to satisfy their own desires. While there is nothing intrinsically evil about the yetzer ra (since it was created by God), it is a natural part of mankind. The yetzer ra also drives man to do good things like eat, drink, have a family, and make a living. However, the yetzer ra can also lead the person to sin unless it is kept in check.