HOLY LAND BOOK - Draft

JUDAISM 101
Judaism
Judaism is a lively and diverse monotheistic world religion that shares
characteristics with both Christianity and Islam. Its creative contribution to
cultural history is immense. Jewish Holy Scripture, the Torah, is fundamental
for the organization of Jewish life across the whole world. Various Jewish
communities can today be found in all parts of the world. The Jewish
religion is closely linked with the history of all Israelites.
COOLFACTS
- Judaism is the oldest
monotheistic religion in the old.
- A common Jewish faith
first emerged in the Babylonian
exile.
- The Torah is the
primary holy book of Judaism,
making up the first five chapters
of both the Hebrew Bible and
Christianity`s Old Testament.
The Origin and Beginning of “God`s Chosen People”
According to ancient tradition, Judaism emerged between the Euphrates and
Tigris rivers. The nation of Israel in the Bible originates with Abraham of Ur,
who worshipped a unique God that permeates everything. Six generations
later, descendants of Abraham lived in Egypt as slaves. Moses rose up as a
leader among them, taking his people across the Red Sea and back toward the
“promised land”. During the Exodus, Moses received the Ten Commandments,
a set of laws central to the Jewish religion. These laws are considered by the
Jews as a gift of God and as the holy path.
Settled in the Promised Land, the 12 tribes of Israelites finally unite as a single
nation under Saul, who ruled from 884 to 882 B.C. After him, David, then
Solomon served as powerful leaders, building the temple of Jerusalem, considered
the most important altar of the God Jehovah and the spiritual center
of the Jewish religion. After the death of Solomon, the Israelite nation split
in two. Israel, the northern kingdom, was captured by the Assyrians while the
southern kingdom was taken over by the Babylonian king Nebuchadrezzar in
597 B.C. Ten years later, he destroyed the temple of Jerusalem and deported
large portions of the upper and middle classes to Mesopotamia. This period of
time, called the Exile, unified Jews in their belief in Jehovah and their return to
the Promised Land.
The Promised Land
After the Persians (538 B.C.) captured Babylon, many Jews returned to Israel
and reconstructed the temple in Jerusalem. The country was the tributary
province of the Persian kingdom and remained so even after the victory of
Alexander The Great over the Persians in 333 B.C. With this, the Hellenistic
culture reached Judaism. When the Seleucid king Antiochus IV banned the
temple culture in 168 B.C., a Jewish resistance movement arose. Four years
later, they, under the leadership of the Maccabees, drove out the occupying
forces and newly consecrated the temple. The Romans, called to settle a
dispute between the Maccabee brothers, captured Jerusalem in 63 B.C. Later,
Herod was made Judah`s vassal king, during whose rule Jesus of Nazareth was
born.
Holy Scriptures
The Jewish Bible or
“Tanakh” is the product
of more than 1,000
years of history.
During the rabbinic
period (ca 70 A.D. –sixth
century), the tripartite
canon (traditionally
counted as 24 books)
was created.
Those holy Hebrew
Scriptures are
considered inspired and
consistent, and include
the five books of Moses
(Torah), prophetic
writings (Nevi`im) and
hagiographies or writings,
(Ketuvim), which
include the Psalms.
The organization of the
books into chapters can
be traced back to the
Middle Ages; the numbering
of the verses to
the 16th century.
Above: Jewish scripts
often contain magnificent
artistic images.
- Devotion to God and a
lineage reaching back to Abraham
unite Jews all over the world.
- God`s covenant with
Israel made them His chosen people.
The promise was conveyed by
the agreement with Noah after the
flood, the promise of children to
Abraham, and the transmission of
the Torah to Moses.
- During the time of
the judges, many prophets like
Jeremiah arose to interpret God`s
Commandments.
- The diversity of
modern Judaism can be traced to
the different interpretations of
the Torah. Orthodox Jews adhere
strictly to the commandments;
meanwhile in the liberal Judaism
there are even female rabbis.
- There were pogroms
against the Jews during the
Crusades.
- The National Socialists
(Nazis) murdered over six
million Jews.
- Today, Anti-Semitism
is growing in the Arab world.
- The “Judensau” was
ridiculing propaganda against
the Jewish religion in the Middle
Ages.
- Since antiquity, Jews
have been living in Palestine.
- The ancient city of
Jerusalem is the holy city for
three world religions. In 1980,
it was made the lawful national
territory of Israel.
- Over 5 million Jews
live in Israel. It is the only country
in the world in which Jews
hold the majority.