ICJudaism: A Teacher’s Guide to Judaism

      Hosted by ICTeachers                                                                Formerly: Mike’s Rough Guide to Judaism

Disclaimer:

The contents of these pages represent the author’s personal views, experience and understanding.
There are bound to be some things here that some Jews would disagree with.

 

Some Basic Ideas (3)

Jews do not consider it necessary to be ascetic in order to be holy. We believe that we should live IN the world and that in doing so our lives should be fulfilled. We also believe that we have a responsibility to contribute to the good in the world rather than to simply use it for our own benefit. Jews often refer to this responsibility for positive social action as Tikkun Olam, which means "repairing the world".

Good Deeds

Jewish practice centres on the concept of Mitzvot. A Mitzvah is a commandment, a rule laid down in the Torah. It is often said that there are 613 mitzvot but this figure is a traditional number rather than an accurate count of the number of rules in Torah. By extension, any good deed is considered to be a mitzvah. Mitzvot can be positive (DO it) or negative (DON’T do it). (There are said to be 365 DON'Ts and 248 DOs in the Torah - another pair of traditional numbers!). The implication is that Jewish observance is an all day - every day thing. Much Jewish ritual and practice takes place in the home.

An important mitzvah is that of Tzedakah (charity) The word tzedakah actually means righteousness (ie doing the right thing) - there is no word in Hebrew which actually means ‘charity’. (Charity is a choice; tzedakah is an obligation)

Good and Evil

Judaism has a rather different take on these two qualities. The basic idea, which we learn from the story of Creation as told in Genesis, is that the world is God's creation and therefore everything in it is essentially good. Indeed after each act of creation God looks at what He has made and sees “that it is good”... Until he creates human beings. The Torah does not tell us whether God saw that we were good. Humans are the only part of creation that has free will - we can choose how good we will be.

The Jewish view is that each person has two impulses - the impulse to good (the Yetzer Tov) and the impulse to evil (the Yetzer Ra). The Yetzer Tov might be called the conscience. It is what guides you when you decide to fulfil a mitzvah or not to break one. The Yetzer Ra is not so much a desire to commit evil as the impulse to satisfy personal needs without thought of wider consequences. The Yetzer Ra is not seen as inherently bad (without it, for example, we would not build our homes, earn our livings, or marry and raise families). What is important is how we manage it and how we balance it with the Yetzer Tov.

Judaism understands that these impulses are within us, and not the result of some external agency, such as the Devil, acting on us. We each have free will to act in ways that we choose.

Judaism does not subscribe to the concept of original sin. According to Judaism, children are born free from sin. In our daily prayers are the words "Oh God, the soul which you gave me is pure. You created it, you fashioned it, you breathed it into me."

Sin and Repentance

Judaism’s ideas about sin are based, not on doing evil, but on the idea of missing the point or of falling short of expectations and not getting to where we know we should be.

Ideas about repentance centre on self-examination and consideration of how we can get back onto the right, more productive path. The Hebrew term for repentance is T’shuvah which actually means to return (ie to the right path). The accepted code of Jewish religious law is called Halachah  (meaning - The Way or  The Path).

Kashrut

Kashrut refers to the laws concerning foods and other materials that are considered fit for use. The Hebrew word kosher means "fit" or "correct". The most obvious manifestation of kashrut is the dietary laws. Some of these laws derive directly from Torah. Others are based on rabbinic interpretations of Torah. Foods which are forbidden by the laws of kashrut are referred to as traife (pronounced trayfa). More details about kashrut.

Blessings

In general, Jews do not bless people or things (in the sense of saying a prayer over them in order to confer benefit on them or making them more holy - only God can bestow blessings). What Jews call blessings are short prayers called b’rachot (blessings) which acknowledge God’s importance and majesty. B’rachot always begin with the formula Baruch utah Adonai Elohenu melech ha’olam.. “Blessed are You, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe “ and then goes on to specify the subject of the blessing

There are actually three kinds of b’rachot. Some acknowledge God as the creator of all things and are requests, asking His permission to use them eg.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Sovereign of the universe :

...who creates the fruit of the vine (before drinking wine)

...who brings forth food out of the earth (before eating bread)

A second kind of b’rachah simply praises God’s creativity eg.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Sovereign of the universe :

...whose strength and power fill the world (after hearing thunder)

...who made the great sea (on seeing the sea)

The third kind of b’rachah, acknowledging that we are bidden to follow the commandments, is said before fulfilling a commandment, such as lighting Shabbat candles or fixing up a mezuzah and has an extra phrase eg.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Sovereign of the universe who makes us holy through doing his commands,  :

...and commands us to light the sabbath lights.

...and commands us to affix a mezuzah.

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