Judaism

JUDAISM

King David told the prophet Nathan that he would like to build a permanent temple. However, God told David, through Nathan, that he had been involved in many wars, making it inappropriate for him to build a temple representing peace). God promised David that he would allow his son to build the temple and the throne would never depart from his children. As a result, it was David's son Solomon who built the first permanent temple according to God's will, in Jerusalem, as described in the Books of Kings.

After Solomon's death, the kingdom was split into two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. After several hundred years, the people of the northern kingdom of Israel were worshipping idols, which was strictly forbidden by Hebrew law. God allowed Assyria to conquer Israel and exile its people. The southern Kingdom of Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem, home of the Temple, remained under the rule of the House of David. However, as in the north, idolatry increased to the point that God allowed Babylonia to conquer the Kingdom, destroy the Temple which had stood for 410 years, and exile its people to Babylonia, with the promise that they would be redeemed after seventy years.

Seventy years later, according to the Bible, the Jews were allowed to go back to Israel under the leadership of Ezra, and the Temple was rebuilt. The Second Temple stood for 420 years, after which it was destroyed by the Roman general (later emperor) Titus. The Jewish temple is to remain in ruins until a descendant of David arises to restore the glory of Israel and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Torah given on Mount Sinai was summarized in the five books of Moses. Together with the books of the prophets it is called the Written Torah. The details and interpretation of the law, which are called the Oral Torah or oral law were originally unwritten. However as the persecutions of the Jews increased and the details were in danger of being forgotten, rabbinic tradition holds that these oral laws were recorded in the Mishnah, and the Talmud, as well as other holy books.

Principles of Faith

The Jewish faith has no strong central control. There is no creed or code to delineate the doctrine of the faith. It is, therefore, difficult to make general statements about the belief system no set of orthodox beliefs, or fully-binding "catechism," is recognized, and that makes generalizations about Jewish theology somewhat difficult. While individual rabbis, congregations, or movements have at times agreed upon a firm dogma, generally other rabbis and groups have disagreed. Without central religious authority, no specific formulation of Jewish principles of faith could take precedence over any other. In attempting to define who is a Jew, the ancient historian Josephus emphasized practices and traditions rather than religious beliefs, associating apostasy with a failure to observe traditional customs, and suggesting the requirements for conversion to Judaism included circumcision and adherence to traditional customs. In Orthodox Judaism some principles of faith (e.g., the Divine origin of the Torah) are considered important enough that public rejection of them can put one in the category of heretic.

With time, a number of clear formulations of Jewish principles of faith have appeared, many with common elements, and though they differ with respect to certain details, they demonstrate a wide variety of tolerance for varying theological perspectives. Of these, the one most widely considered authoritative is Maimonides' thirteen principles of faith:

1. God is one - strict monotheism, in which the eternal creator of the universe is the source of morality.
2. God is all-powerful (omnipotent), as well as all knowing (omniscient), and the different names of God are ways to express different aspects of God's presence in the world.
3. God is non-physical, non-corporeal, and eternal. All statements in the Hebrew Bible and in rabbinic literature, which use anthropomorphism, are held to be linguistic conceits or metaphors, as it would otherwise be impossible to talk about God.
4. One may offer prayer to God alone any belief in an intermediary between man and God, either necessary or optional, has traditionally been considered heretical.
5. The Hebrew Bible, and much of the beliefs described in the Mishnah and Talmud, are held to be the product of divine revelation. How revelation works, and what precisely one means when one says that a book is "divine", has always been a matter of some dispute. Different understandings of this subject exist among Jews.
6. The words of the prophets are true.
7. Moses was the chief of all prophets.
8. The Torah (five books of Moses) is the primary text of Judaism.
9. God will reward those who observe His commandments, and punish those who violate them.
10. God chose the Jewish people to be in a unique covenant with Him
11. There will be a moshiach (Jewish Messiah), or perhaps a messianic era.

12. The soul is pure at birth, and human beings have free will, with an innate yetzer ha'tov (a tendency to do good), and a yetzer ha'ra (a tendency to do bad).
13. People can atone for sins through words and deeds, without intermediaries, through prayer, repentance, and tzedakah (dutiful giving of charity), if accompanied by a sincere decision to cease unacceptable actions and if appropriate amends to others are honestly undertaken, always providing a "way back" to God.

Jewish Law and interpretation

The basis of Jewish law and tradition is the Torah (the five books of Moses). According to rabbinic tradition there are 613 commandments in the Torah. Some of these laws are directed only to men or to women, some only to the ancient priestly groups, and some only to those who practice farming within the land of Israel. Many laws were only applicable when the Temple in Jerusalem existed, and fewer than 300 of these commandments are still applicable today.

What makes a person Jewish?

According to Jewish law, someone is considered to be a Jew if he or she was born of a Jewish mother or converted in accord with Jewish Law. Recently, the American Reform and Reconstructionist movements have included those born of Jewish fathers and gentile mothers, if the children are raised practicing Judaism only. All mainstream forms of Judaism today are open to sincere converts.

Donna Joseph

May 2, 2006