BASIC ELEMENTS OF JUDAISM
A: History and Identity: major elements for consideration
1. TENAK (Torah {Pentateuch}, Nevi’im {Prophets}, Ketuvim {Writings}), Talmud (Mishnah and Gemara), Election and the Land.
2. The historical development of Judaism within the biblical period: Pre-exilic and Post exilic [The Babylonian Exile 587-537 BCE]: the Torah, the Shabbat, the Synagogue, the teaching of separation (Gen 1:1-2:4a – badal – to divide); Gen 18 – circumcision; Lev 11 – kashrut; Lev: priesthood and sacrifices, Feasts and fasts, the Law of Holiness; Ezra-Nehemiah: Torah and non-intermarriage). The proclamation of monotheism as opposed to monolatry (e.g. Ex 20:1-2; Is 45:7-13)
3. The Inter-Testamental period: divisions within Judaism and Jewish practices – the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes, the Essenes, the Zealots etc. The witness of the New Testament (cf. Luke 4:16-22 – the oldest account of a synagogue service). Qumran and its collections.
4. The destruction of the Temple (70 CE), with the gradual canonization of the Scriptures and the development of the rabbinical authority.
5. The Mishnah (c. 200 CE) and Gemara (3rd-5th Century CE): the Talmud (Babli and Yerushalmi); the Halakhah (Hb: halakh – to walk) and the Haggadah (Hb: higgid – to relate); Masorah (Hb: to hedge round).
6. The Kabbalah (12th Century CE). The witness of the texts of the Cairo Geniza.
7. The Shulchan Aruch (1565 CE).
8. Ashkenazi and Sephardi. The development of the Hasidic
movements in the 18th and 19th centuries.
9. Categories of Ultra-Orthodox, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and
Progressive. There are divisions also within these categories.
10. The Shoah and post-Shoah debates.
11. The creation of the State of Israel (1948) and the huge subsequent
developments.
B: Living Judaism today: major elements
1. The ‘branch’ of Judaism espoused colours the whole approach to the whole of life. The amount of halakhah followed demonstrates the branch to which one belongs (cf. Christianity where it is dogma that divides).
2. Feasts and celebrations: The High Holy Days (Rosh ha Shanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkoth, Simchat Torah) [Lev 23:23-36], Pesah [Ex 12:1-51, Shavuoth [Lev 23:15-22], Purim [Esther], Hannukah [I Macc 4:52-61].
3. Synagogue/Shabbat liturgy.
The Catholic Church and Judaism
1. Nostra Aetate (1965). The fifteen short Latin sentences of section 4 contain six major affirmations:
(i) The special bond that links the Church with the Jewish people
(ii) The special position of the Jewish people after Christ
(iii) A joint looking forward to the last days
(iv) The encouragement of mutual understanding and respect
(v) The Jews are not collectively culpable for the death of Christ
(vi) Anti-Semitism is condemned.
2. Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate 4 (1974). This is divided into four sections: (i) Dialogue; (ii) Liturgy; (iii) Teaching and Education; (iv) Joint Social Action.
3. Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church (1985).
This is the first Vatican document to acknowledge the issues connected with typology and more systematically examine promise-fulfilment categories. It is also the first Document to mention explicitly the State of Israel. The Document is divided into six sections: (i) Religious teaching on Judaism; (ii) Relations between the Old and New Testaments; (iii) Jewish roots of Christianity; (iv) The Jew in the New Testament; (v) The Liturgy; (vi) Judaism and Christianity in History. “The singular character and difficulty of Christian teaching about Jews and Judaism lies in this, that it needs to balance a number of pairs of ideas which express the two economies of the Old and New Testament:
Promise and fulfilment
Continuity and newness
Singularity and universality
Uniqueness and exemplary nature.
This means that the theologian and the catechist who deal with the subject need to show in their practice of teaching that:
Promise and fulfilment throw light upon each other
Newness lies in a metamorphosis of what was there before
The singularity of the people of the Old Testament is not exclusive and is open, in the divine vision, to a universal extension
The uniqueness of the Jewish people is meant to have the force of example.
4. We Remember (1998). This is specifically on The Shoah.
5. The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible (2001). This has four major sections: (i) The Sacred Scriptures of the Jewish People are a fundamental part of the Christian Bible; (ii) Fundamental Themes in the Jewish Scriptures and their Reception into Faith in Christ; (iii) The Jews and the New Testament; (iv) Conclusions. There is an encouragement to acknowledge and respect the Jewish hermeneutic of the Hebrew Scriptures, to avoid all traces of substitution and supersessionism and to explore the continuity, recognise the discontinuity and note the progression rather than the rupture between the Testaments.
6. The role of St. John Paul II (1978-2005). He substantially and consistently advanced the dialogue and the relationship: ‘The Old Covenant never revoked’ (Mainz 17/11/1980); ‘Beloved elder brothers’ (Roman Tempio Maggiore 13/4/1986); ‘Anti-Semitism is sinful’ (Sydney 26/11/1986); the Fundamental Agreement (30/12/1993); the Day of Pardon (12/3/2000); the Kotel (26/5/2000).
7. Pope Benedict XVI continued the approach of John Paul II.
8. Pope Francis: ‘As Christians, we cannot consider Judaism as a foreign religion…God continues to work among the people of the Old Covenant and to bring forth treasures of wisdom which flow from the encounter with his word. For this reason, the Church is also enriched when she receives the values of Judaism.’ (EN 247-249).
9. A Reflection on Theological Questions pertaining to Catholic-Jewish Relations (2015). “It is easy to understand that the so-called ‘mission to the Jews’ is a very delicate and sensitive matter for the Jews…This question also proves to be awkward for Christians. The Church is therefore obliged to view evangelization to the Jews, who believe in the One God, in a different manner from that to people of other religions and world views. In concrete terms this means that the Catholic church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews.” (par. 40).
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bemporad, J and Shevack, M. Our Age: The Historic New Era of Christian-Jewish Understanding. New York: New York City Press, 1996.
Bloch, Abraham P. The Biblical and Historical Background of the Jewish Holy Days. New York: Ktav Publishing Inc., 1978.
Boys, Mary and Lee, Sara Christians and Jews in Dialogue. Woodstock (VT): SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2006.
Cohn-Sherbok, Dan The Crucified Jew. Twenty Centuries of Christian Anti-Semitism. London: Harper Collins, 1992.
Fredericksen, Paula and Reinhartz (eds.), Jesus, Judaism and Christian Anti-Judaism. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.
Kessler, Edward; Pawlikowski, John; Banki, Judith (eds.), Jews and Christians in Conversation. Cambridge: Orchard Academic, 2002.
Korn, E & Pawlikowski, John (eds.) Two Faiths, One Covenant? Jewish and Christian Identity in the Presence of the Other. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.
Lux, Richard, The Jewish People, the Holy Land and the State of Israel. A Catholic View. New York/Mahwah (NJ): Paulist Press, 2010.
Sacks, Jonathan Faith in the Future. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1995.
Schama, Simon The Story of the Jews. Finding the Words 1000 BCE – 1492 CE London: The Bodley Head
Sweeney, Marvin A., Reading the Hebrew Bible after the Shoah. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2008.
GOD (G-D)
A: There is no ‘theology’ as we understand it in Orthodox Judaism. G-d is not disputed: He exists, he is One, the Creator of everything, he is incorporeal, neither male nor female, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, just and merciful, holy, perfect – as portrayed e.g. in the First Creation account (Gen 1:1-2:4a). He is the One who gives his Torah (Law, way of life) to Israel (especially in the Decalogue – Ex 20:1- 20). He is the Judge of all and full of love. The Book of Deuteronomy time and time again reminds the people of God’s love for them and the way they are called to love others (Dt 7:7-16). The Prophets alternate oracles of condemnation (e.g. Amos 1-2, Hosea 1-3; Isaiah 29) with oracles of salvation (Amos 11; Hos 11; Is 11). The Psalms too are full of expressions of God’s judgement but also his mercy and love to Israel and indeed to all. The word hesed (God’s merciful love) occurs 151 times in the Psalms.
Christians need to avoid stereotypical approaches that are Marcionite and ultimately supersessionist – that the God of the Old Testament is one of Law and judgement only and that the God of the New Testament is one of love.
B: Within Judaism the divine Tetragrammaton (YHWH) is never pronounced or written. G-d is written without the ‘o’ to show respect. The normal way of talking about G-d is HaShem (the Name), HaQadosh (the Holy One) and HaMaqqom (the Place) often followed by barukh hu (blessed be He). Within prayer, HaShem is often addressed as Melek-ha-Olam (King of the Universe) or Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father and King), Adonai (Lord).
C: 13 principles of Maimonedes (Rambam). These are recited by Orthodox and some other Jews daily.
Belief in:
1. The existence of the Creator, who is perfect in every manner of existence and is the primary cause of all that exists.
2. In God’s absolute and unparalleled unity.
3. In God’s non-corporeality, nor is he affected by any physical occurrences such as movement, rest or dwelling.
4. He is eternal.
5. The imperative to worship God exclusively and no false gods.
6. God communicates to man through prophecy.
7. The primacy of the prophecy of Moses our teacher.
8. Divine origin of the Torah.
9. The immutability of the Torah.
10. God’s omniscience and providence.
11. Divine reward and retribution.
12. Arrival of the Messiah and Messianic era.
13. Resurrection from the dead.
The world was created for the sake of the Torah and human beings so that they can fulfil its mitzvoth. Through these we can break through the chasm between God and humanity.
Not all Jews – at the time of Maimonedes or now – hold to the 13 principles or have the same interpretation of them. Reform and Progressive (Liberal) Jews can follow Higher Biblical Critical approaches and do accept that the Torah was composed over centuries. They also accept a development in Israel’s understanding of God – from a more primitive (as e.g. in the Second Creation account - Gen 2:4a onwards) notion that is similar in parts to ANE expressions of the deity (ies) to more particular Israelite notions during and after the Exile. They can accept, for example, that the doctrine of monotheism develops from monolatry (e.g. Ex 20:1-2 and Is 45:1-13).
They also question the actual meaning of the coming of the Meshiach and would tend to talk of a Messianic Age.
The Shema [Dt 6:4-6] (recited morning and night, on other occasions and at the moment of death) proclaims both that there is One God and that also He is One – a unity.
Shema Yisrael: Shema Yisrael Adonai elohenu Adonai ehad. Vaahavta ethAdonai eloheka vkol levavka uvkolnephsheka uvekolmodeka. Va haya hdevarim haeleh asher anoki mtsascha hayom al levaveka. Vshinamtam lavaneka vidabartam bshivteka bveiteka uvlechtecha vaderech uveshawchbcha uvkumecha. Ukshartam leot al yadecha, vhayu letotafot bein einecha. Uchtavtam al mzuzot beiteka uvesharecha.
Hear O Israel the Lord our God, the Lord is One. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. And these are the words which I order today for your heart. And you shall repeat them to your children and say them to them at rest in your house, when you are walking in the way, when you lie down and when you rise. And you shall bind them on your hand as a sign and as a circlet on your forehead. And you shall write them on your doorposts of your house and on your gates.
This text is taken literally as the biblical injunction for mezuzahs (written inside of which are the Hebrew texts of Dt 6:4-9 and Dt 11:13-21) and phylacteries [tefillin] (with the texts of Dt 6:4-9, Dt 11:13-21 and Ex 13:1-16). Theses are worn for prayer along with the tallit with tzizit (knots/threads) [cf. Num 15:38].
MITZVOTH
The mitzvoth all come from the Divine Will, given in their entirety through Moses on Sinai. This is the Covenant. Orthodox Jews are completely fundamentalists about this.
Rabbis divide the 613 commandments between bein adam la-makom (between God and man) and bein adam lal-havero (between man and man). The latter are just as binding as the former. 365 are negative and 248 are positive.
Mitzvoth between man and God include:
Positive:
Love God
Know God
Study Torah
Remember the Sabbath (4th commandment)
Negative:
Do not profane God’s name
Do not worship idols
Mitzvoth between man and man include:
Positive:
Tzedekah.. Justice and giving 10 per cent of salary to works of justice
Honour father and mother
Bikkur cholim – visiting the sick
Gemilut Hassidim – acts of loving kindness
Chessed – kindness to others
Pekuach Nefesh – to save a life
Negative:
Do not commit adultery
Do not envy
Do not steal
Do not kill
Do not deal harshly with widows and orphans
Do not hold back a hired man’s wages.
They are the bridge between God and man. Rambam: their rationale is for the benefit and improvement of man. The mitzvoth are desgined to curb the violence in human nature through incessant exercise of moral discipline and to harness both the good and evil inclinations towards service to man and God. Many verses in the Torah express this teleology of the mitzvoth.
Rabbinic tradition accepts three kinds of mitzvoth: commandments, statutes and ordinances ‘all designed for your good.’ Dt 4:1; 10:13
Underlying these is an ethical imperative, pronounced in Ex 34:6.
There is a gradation of sin indicated by the severity of the form of punishment – death, whipping etc. Rabbinic tradition knows of 3 cardinal sins which a Jew should be prepared to give up his life rather than commit: murder, idol-worship, incest. For sins committed against one’s fellowman, in contrast to those committed against God, the only atonement is to earn forgiveness from the injured person.