Transcript Judaism - White Plains Public Schools

Global I Honors: Spiconardi
 Abraham & The Migration (1850 BCE)
 Abraham is the patriarch of the Hebrews
 He had rejected the deities of Mesopotamia
 He migrates from Ur and moves to what becomes known
as Palestine
 After a drought the nomadic Hebrews migrate to Egypt
 Covenant  an agreement
or contract with God
 In Egypt, God makes several
covenants with Abraham
 Since Abraham recognized
God as the true God:
 Abraham would be blessed
with numerous descendants
 He would be the “father of a
host of nations”
 The Hebrew people would
be given the “promise land”
(modern day Israel)
 The covenant was sealed
with a circumcision
 According to Jewish scripture, Hebrews were enslaved
while in Egypt
 Moses
 First of the prophets
 The Moses Story
 Birth Raised in the house of Pharaoh The Killing of the
slave master Meeting God Plagues Exodus Splitting
of the Red Sea Covenant  No Promised Land
 Mosaic Covenant
 In exchange for obeying the Decalogue (Ten Commandments),
the Children of Israel would be God’s chosen people & special
possession
 After years of wandering in the desert, the Hebrews
finally reach the Promised Land in 1130 BCE
 The Kingdom of Israel
 Established the Kingdom of Israel under King Saul in
1020 BCE after years of resisting centralized government
 Ruled by tribe previously fearing that having a king
would be disrespectful to God the true king
King Saul
 King Solomon
 Under his reign, the Hebrew people experienced their
most prosperous period
 Solomon’s Judgment
 Solomon’s Temple
After Solomon’s death, tribal tensions led
to the division of the Kingdom of Israel
The Kingdom of Israel
The Kingdom of Judah
 Resided in the North
 Resided in the South
 Invaded by the Assyrians
 Hebrews in Judah
became known as Jews
 Invaded by the
Chaldeans, Babylonians,
and Persians
 Babylonian Captivity
(586 BCE)
 Many Jews were forced
to live in Babylon
 Jews not allowed to
resided in the holy city
of Jerusalem
 Monotheism belief one God
 There is only one God (Yahweh)
 He is not only the God of the Jews, but all peoples
 He created the entire world
 Omniscient and Omnipotent
 All knowing and all powerful
 Sacred Texts
 The Torah
 First 5 books of the Bible (Pentateuch)
 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Numbers
 Establishes law and morality
 The Ten Commandments  code of behavior, moral guidelines
 Explains why the world is the way it is
 Adam & Eve, Tower of Babel, Noah’s Ark
 Sacred Texts
 The Talmud
 Series of rabbinical commentaries developed during the
Babylonian Captivity to preserve the Hebrew identity
 Explains customs such as bar/bat mitzvahs, dietary law, wedding
rituals, burial ceremonies, etc.
 Deemed more important in Orthodox and Conservative
Jewish sects than in Reform Judaism
 The Prophets Messengers from God
 Preached God’s word on ethics, standards of behavior,
morality
 Warned the Hebrews that if they failed to keep God’s
commandments, they would be punished
 Called for social justice & condemned rich for oppressing the
poor
 Diaspora  a scattering of people
 Babylonians displace Jews; many flee to Europe
 Romans expel Jews from Palestine in 135 CE
 For next 2000 years Jews were “guests” in other people’s lands
 Often faced discrimination and made scapegoats (Black Death,
Crusades, Dreyfus Affair, Failure of the Weimar Republic’s
Economy)
 1n 1948, the U.N. establishes a Jewish homeland and
creates the nation of Israel.
 Influenced the development of Christianity & Islam
 First to suggests people could communicate directly
with God
 Didn’t need priests to communicate on your behalf
 14 million Jews in the world
 .22% of the world’s population
 More Jews live in USA than in Israel