The Torah

Torah means "teaching" and refers to the five books of Moses - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

A Torah scroll is made from sheets of parchment, which is made from the skin of a kosher animal.

It is written by hand in Hebrew by a professional scribe, called a sofer. 

Hebrew is read right to left.

The sofer takes at least one year to write out the Torah.
He is not allowed to write from memory. He must copy from a book of the Torah, and keep checking for mistakes. Letters must not be smudged or touch another letter.

If the sofer makes a mistake, he scraps off the letters using a glass tool.

The most sacred word that he writes is the Hebrew name for God. He cannot correct this - he must start the whole sheet of parchment again. The sheet with the error is buried in a Jewish cemetry.

When all the sheets of parchment are finished, they are sewn together and wound around wooden rollers.

The Torah is regarded as holy, and is decorated as beautifully as possible.

Jewish Questions

1. What language do the Jewish people speak?

Hebrew

2. How do the Jewish people read Hebrew?

From right to left

3. Why is Israel important to the Jewish People?

As Israel is the Promised Land, which was promised to Abraham by God

4. When was the present state of Israel formed?

1948

5. What makes it unique in the world?

 It is the only Jewish state in the world

6. Who is the chosen prophet if Judaism?

Moses

7. What do the Jews believe God thinks of their people?

That they are the chosen people

8. How do the three main religions differ in their view of Jesus?

Christianity – saviour, Judaism and Islam – just a prophet

9. Why do the Jewish people not celebrate Christmas?

As they do not see Jesus as a saviour, but as a prophet

10. What festival do they celebrate instead?

Hanukkah (the light festival)

11. What event is celebrated at this festival and what is the significance of the number 8?

The festival of lights is celebrated and they light candles every night for 8 days

12. What is the name of the sacred text of the Jewish people?

The Torah

13. How is their text similar to the Christian Bible?

It is the Old Testament of our Bible

14. How many commandments do the Jewish people have to follow?

There was originally 613, but they have been narrowed down to 13 main rules

15. What is the name of the leader of a Jewish religion?

Rabbi

16. What is a Talis?

A garment one can wear to create a sense of personal space during prayer

17. What is a Tefilin?

Small black boxes containing scrolls with leather straps attached to them, worn by males, required to wear it each weekday morning

18. What is a Kippah?

Skull cap worn by Jewish males

19. What is the word used to describe the food Jewish people can eat?

Kosher

20. Where is the only Kosher Mc Donalds?

Israel and Argentina

21. Why is a Cheese burger not Kosher?

As the burger contains both dairy and meat, and the Jewish can not eat dairy and meat in the same meal

Core Beliefs

Being Jewish

The term "Jewish" can be used to describe a race and a culture rather than a religion, so some who identify themselves as Jewish may have little interest in the beliefs and practices associated with the religion of Judaism.

The Torah

The Jews believe in the teaching of the Jewish Bible, known as the Torah.

This is the First Testament of the Christian Bible. There is no Second Testament or New Bible for Jews.

Why? As they do not believe in Jesus

What are the first five books of the Torah?

1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy

Written Law and Oral Law
613 commandments were found in the Torah ("Written Law").
Talmud ("Oral Law") - commentary of ancient rabbis that elaborates oh how to apply God's Law in everyday life through:

• Dietary rules (Kashrut/Kosher)
• Dress and other symbols
• Prayer and devotion to the one God
• The Temple and Temple rites
• Observance of Holy days
• Proper social relations between male and female, in business, judicial rulings, etc.

Core Beliefs
Jews firmly believe that there is only one God, there are 13 main beliefs that Jews believe in, they include:

• God exists
• God is one and unique
• God is eternal
• Prayer is to God only
• The prophets spoke truth
• Moses was the greatest of the prophets
• The Written and Oral Torah were given to Moses
• There will be no other Torah
• God will reward the good and punish the wicked
• The Messiah will come
• The dead will be resurrected

The Family

The heart of Judaism is in the home and family, social responsibility and doing Mitzvot ("good deeds" based on God's commandments). Through education and hard work we make our lives, the lives of others, and the world, what God did intended it to be - holy.

Old Testament Stories

What happened?

Began with ‘In the beginning…’, marge imagined Adam and Eve from Genesis, told couldn’t eat fruit the forbidden tree, but both Adam and Eve ate it and got kicked out.

Who are the main characters?

Adam, Eve, and God

Where it appears in the Bible?

Genesis

Why is it important?

As it is the original sin, and creation

What happened?

Lisa imagined the story of Moses, and worked with Moses to try to free their people; he crossed the Red Sea and then drowned the Pharaoh and his men to free their people from slavery.

Who are the main characters?

Moses, the most important of the prophets for the Jews

Where it appears in the Bible?

Exodus (means exit)

Why is it important?

It is important because the Jews are led from Slavery to head to the ‘Promised Land’

What happened?

Bart dreamt of being King David, killed Goliath, but Goliath II killed his best friend, so killed Goliath II but his followers thought Goliath was the best king they had ever had

Who were the main characters?

David and Goliath

Where is appears in the Bible?

Book of Samuel

Why is it important?

King David is important to the Jews as he symbolises the Star of David

Revelations - Apocalypse/judgement day

When you die, you are judged by God, and then go to either Heaven, Purgatory (7 stages of cleansing) or hell (7 deadly sins)

Judaism

Introduction

Origins:

• Judaism is one of the three Prophetic Monotheistic Religions in the world, the other two are Christianity and Islam
• It is Prophetic as there were numerous Prophets who predicted the coming of a Messiah, Monotheistic as they believe in one God - mono (one) Theology (belief/study of God)

History:

• Jews are ancient people of about 3000 years ago, their history is told in the Bible and is traced back to Abraham of around 1900 BC (before common time era)
• The Jews have been known as Jews, Israelites, and Hebrews. (Jesus was a Jew, however the Jews accept Jesus as a wise man, but not the chosen Messiah as Christians believe, hence Judaism predates and heavily influences Christianity, but is not part of Christianity)

Abraham:

• Abraham is one of the first recorded leaders of the Hebrews in the Bible. He was a wealthy man who was called by God to leave his land and move from Ur to Canaan, or Israel as it is called today.
• Abraham heard the call of the Lord to stop believing in pagan Gods (like God of wind, God of mountains etc.) and he followed God's request and led his people from Mesopotamia to Canaan. This journey is recorded in the book of Genesis. We can map this journey here

Questions:

1. Who is Abraham? The first Jew, the founder of Judaism
2. What did Abraham believe? How was it different to the people of the time? He believed in one God, while many others believed in many Gods
3. What do you think a Covenant is? What Covenant did God make with Abraham? A Covenant is a promise e.g. like the Covenant of marriage, God promises Abraham three things: to make a great nation (to be the father of many nations), to bless everyone in his name, promise him land
4. What sacrifice was Abraham requested to make? Why did God ask this of Abraham? God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. He did it to prove his love to God
5. Search the word Patriarchs, what does it mean? It means father of the religion, Abraham is the father of Isaac and Jacob