Transcript Introduction to Judaism - Progressive Judaism Victoria

Living a Jewish Life
Key Jewish Concepts.
Unit 7, Session 1a
Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black
Leo Baeck Centre - East Kew - 2009/5770
Revised 2013/5774 for Introduction to Judaism Course
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The root of the word is K D SH
K D SH is ‘Special’ or ‘Separate’
KiDuSH – for Shabbat & Festivals
KeDuSHa – prayer in the Amidah
(eg Prayer Book page 248)
KaDiSH – Reader’s Kaddish
prayer, Mourner’s Kaddish prayer
Special behaviour – being holy.
Being holy ‘as God is holy’
Trying to act ‘as God would act’
 In
government circles and with things
like grant applications, ‘Partnership’ is
a common and important word and
concept – working together with
others.
 In Judaism, it goes back a long way.
We believe that humans and God need
to work in Shutafut – in partnership, to
heal the world.
 At
the end of every service, we read
the Aleynu, which contains the phrase
‘l’takeyn olam b’malchut Shadai’ – to
perfect the world under God’s rule’.
 This is ‘The Meaning of Life’. We are
here for a purpose – to work WITH
GOD to make the world better for all
its inhabitants, both today and into the
future.
 Our
task is to ‘work with God’ to ‘heal the
world’.
 These units ask: how do we work out how
best to ‘heal the world’?
 What should we do in practical terms
 Let’s start with a practical example: Nothing
But Nets. Great progress has been made
over the past few years in combating
malaria – we have been a part of that real
improvement in our world.
The
Union for Progressive Judaism
partnered with the UN Nothing But
Nets campaign to combat the
spread of malaria. They had a goal
to supply 5,000 insecticidetreated bed nets to families in
sub-Saharan Africa, saving one
family at a time, one net at a time.
Visit www.nothingbutnets.net to
find out more.
 The
pillars of Judaism are three-fold:
commitment to Torah (lifelong Jewish
learning), Avodah (worship of God
through prayer and observance) and
G’milut Hasadim (the pursuit of justice,
peace and deeds of loving kindness).
This third pillar is expressed by
participating in social action efforts.
 This is why the UPJ partnered with
Nothing But Nets to combat the spread
of malaria. This is a practical way to
help.
 Our
tradition
teaches us that
God dictated the
written law to
Moses... but also...
 God gave Moses
the oral law at the
same time.
 We don't take
either of these
claims literally.
The tradition tells us there are 613
commandments in the Torah
 [sometimes called the ‘TaRYaG’ (alphabetical
way to say 613) mitzvot]
 Best known are the ‘Ten Commandments’
 In Hebrew they are called Aseret HaDibrot
 More accurately this translates as ‘The Ten
Statements’ – as the first, ‘Love your Eternal
God’, is not a command (though the Christian
version is ‘Have no other gods’).

• Is the left hand set a Jewish set of commandments?
The left hand set were Christian (they did not
start with ‘I am the Eternal God’).
 Actually, the rounded top is a shape from later,
Classical architecture. The two tablets of stone
would probably have been rectangular.
 Also the Hebrew we are now familiar with is a
more recent, Aramaic script. The letters Moses
would have known were ‘proto-Canaanitic’.
 So, if the Ten Statements were written on stone in
Moses’ time, they would have looked more like
the next set:

 1.
I am your Eternal God, who brought
you out of the land of Egypt
 2. You shall have no other Gods but Me
 3. You shall not use God’s name casually
 4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy
 5. Honour your father and your mother
(the ‘bridge’ to the second five –
honouring parents is said to be like
honouring God).
 6. You shall not murder
 7. You shall not commit adultery
 8. You shall not steal
 9. You shall not bear false witness
 10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s
wife, nor their ox nor their ass, nor
anything that is your neighbours.
 (this last is a warning against
materialism – ‘wanting things’ – and
hence very relevant to modern society
today!).
 Perhaps
God literally, physically gave
some of Torah to Moses at the top of
Mount Sinai.
 Who knows? What would this look like?
 We believe that Moses, and/or others,
perhaps 'inspired', recorded over many
years what they felt 'God wanted from
human beings'.
 This document, Torah, has gained sanctity
because of this noble task, and the
messages, the history and the age-old
experiences it contains.
• The Rabbis developed the important tradition
that when Moses was given the written law, he
was also given the verbal explanations about
what it meant - and how to apply it.
• So the tradition says that as well as the ‘written
Torah’ passed down through the generations,
there was also an ‘oral Torah’ – just as important,
and necessary to understand the written law.
• The tradition said the oral law should never be
written down. And one couldn’t be Jewish
without the traditions and combination of both
parts of the Torah, written and oral.
 If
a tradition is conveyed orally, it can be
applied slightly differently as situations,
times and needs change.
 But it can also be lost, especially as it
inevitably grows bigger and bigger.
Thus it was eventually decided to record
the ‘Oral Law’ in writing (Mishna).
 It was divided into six sections or
'Orders‘. The flexibility started to be lost.
• The Mishna is the first collection of
the Oral Law, written down about 220 of
the Common Era by Judah HaNasi.
• It was very useful.
• It became restrictive.
• It became too rigid.
Once the Mishna was
published, it was widely
studied and debated.
 The discussions,
arguments and debates
were written around it.
 This was called
'G’MaRah' – completion
(from root G’M’R: finish).
 The combination –
Mishna and its many
commentaries, is called
'Talmud' – ‘studies’.

Amongst other things, the Talmud has much
detailed discussion about the commandments.
 A commandment is a ‘miTZ-VaH’ (root TZ’V’H)
 The plural is ‘miTZ-Vot’
 Ethical mitzvot demand high standards of
behaviour.
 Being very honest, being sensitive, feeding the
hungry, looking after the sick, not stealing, not
exploiting or taking advantage...
 Ritual mitzvot govern ceremonies and rites of
Jewish life such as food, festivals, prayers...

 Ethics
– Judaism demands we try to live
up to high standards of behaviour –
acting ‘as God would act’ (or trying to be
perfect).
 Perhaps this is why many Jews seem to
tend to be ‘perfectionists’?
 We base our ethical standards on a belief
in some unique power, far greater than
any individual human, which we call
‘God’, and then we ask ‘What does God
require of us’.
 For most Progressive Jews, Torah is the
record of this human quest for guidance.
 Having
a developed, adult understanding
of an ethical life and goals may be enough.
 In practice it probably isn’t, and is
supported and encouraged through ritual
acts (for example, considering animals
through checking what you buy and eat)
 However children especially need a ritual
framework in which they slowly learn that
they are part of a ‘special’ people
(KaDoSH). More of this in the next units.
 Thank
you for completing this
presentation. We hope it has been useful
and informative.
 We welcome any feedback, corrections
or questions, both for yourself and to
improve the presentation for other
students. Please pass them to your tutor.