JUDAISM: Basic Facts

o  Judaism not Jewism: “Yehudim (Jews) practice

Yahadut (Judaism)” – hebrew words
o  One of the oldest monotheistic religions
o  Founded on 2000 B.C.E. (14 million followers)
o  Founded in Canaan by the Patriarchs
(Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)
o  Two meanings: civilization of the Jews & religion
of the Jews
TANAKH
o  acronym of Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim
o  Torah is the name given to the first five
books – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
and Deuteronomy – also called the Pentateuch
o  Nevi’im and Ketuvim are books of history,
prophecy,
poetry, and other sacred writings
o  Talmud, also called the Oral Torah, is
compromised of
rabbinical commentary and interpretation on the
Torah
STAR OF DAVID
•  Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, in Igros Moshe (Orach
Chaim Vol. 3, Res. 15) tells us that the most
convincing source for this sign is David himself.
•  During the Holocaust, the Nazis chose the yellow star
“badge of shame” as an identifying badge required on
the garments of all Jews.
•  In the Star of Redemption (1912),
Franz Rosenzweig said that the image of the Jewish
star is composed of two conceptual "triads," which
together form the basis of Jewish belief: Creation,
Revelation, and Redemption; God, Israel, and World.
•  On the popular level, Jews continue to use the Jewish
star as it was used for centuries: as a magical amulet
of good luck and as a secularized symbol of Jewish
identity.
JUDAISM: Other Facts
§  Judaism is the original of the three Abrahamic
faiths which are Christianity and Islam
§  There are three main branches of Judaism:
Orthodox, Conservative and Reform
§  Rabbis – spiritual leaders of Jews
§  Synagogues – worship place of the Jews
§  6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust
in an attempt to wipe out Judaism
§  Moses is the main founder of Judaism, arguably
JUDAISM: Who is God for
the believers?
ü  Cannot be subdivided into different persons
ü  Transcendent and Omnipotent
ü  Created the universe without help
ü  Beyond time
ü  Personal and accessible
ü  An all-powerful being who is quite beyond
human ability to understand or imagine
ü  He is right here with us, caring about each
individual as a parent does their child
GOD EXISTS
The fact of God's existence is accepted almost
without question. Proof is not needed. The Torah
begins by stating, "In the beginning, God
created..." It does not tell who God is or how He
was created.

In general, Judaism views the existence of God as

a necessary prerequisite for the existence of the
universe. The existence of the universe is
sufficient proof of the existence of God.
GOD IS ONE
One of the primary expressions of Jewish
faith, recited twice daily in prayer is the
Shema, which begins "Hear, Israel: The
Lord is our God, The Lord is one." This
simple statement encompasses several
different ideas:
1) There is only one God.
2) God is a unity.
3) God is the only being to whom we
should offer praise.
GOD IS THE CREATOR
OF EVERYTHING
Everything in the universe was created
by God and only by God. Judaism
completely rejects the dualistic notion
that evil was created by Satan or
some other deity. All comes from
God.
GOD IS INCORPOREAL
Although many places in scripture and Talmud
speak of various parts of God's body (the Hand
of God, God's wings, etc.) or speak of God in
anthropomorphic terms (God walking in the
garden of Eden, God laying tefillin, etc.),
Judaism firmly maintains that God has no body.
Any reference to God's body is simply a figure of
speech, a means of making God's actions more
comprehensible to beings living in a material
world
GOD IS NEITHER MALE
NOR FEMALES
This follows directly from the fact that
God has no physical form. As one
rabbi stated that, God has no body,
no genitalia, therefore the very idea
that God is male or female is patently
absurd.
GOD IS OMNIPRESENT
God is in all places at all times. He is
always near for us to call upon in
need, and He sees all that we do.
GOD IS OMNISCIENT
God knows all things, past, present and
future. He knows our thoughts.
GOD IS OMNIPOTENT
God can do anything. It is said that the only
thing that is beyond His power is the fear
of Him; that is, we have free will, and He
cannot compel us to do His will. This belief
in God's omnipotence has been sorely
tested during the many persecutions of
Jews, but we have always maintained that
God has a reason for allowing these
things, even if we in our limited perception
and understanding cannot see the reason.
GOD IS ETERNAL
God transcends time. He has no beginning and no
end. He will always be there to fulfill his
promises. When Moses asked for God's name,
He replied, "Ehyeh asher ehyeh." That phrase is
generally translated as, "I am that I am," but the
word "ehyeh" can be present or future tense,
meaning "I am what I will be" or "I will be what I
will be." The ambiguity of the phrase is often
interpreted as a reference to God's eternal
nature.
GOD IS JUST AND MERCIFUL
I have often heard Christians speak of Judaism as the
religion of the strict Law, which no human being is good
enough to fulfill (hence the need for the sacrifice of
Jesus). This is a gross mischaracterization of Jewish
belief. Judaism has always maintained that God's justice
is tempered by mercy, the two qualities perfectly
balanced. Of the two names of God most commonly
used in scripture, one refers to his quality of justice and
the other to his quality of mercy. The two names were
used together in the story of Creation, showing that the
world was created with both justice and mercy.
GOD IS OUR FATHER AND
OUR KING
Judaism maintains that we are all God's children. A
well-known piece of Jewish liturgy repeatedly
describes God as "Avinu Malkeinu," our Father,
our King. The Talmud teaches that there are
three participants in the formation of every
human being: the mother and father, who
provide the physical form, and God, who
provides the soul, the personality, and the
intelligence. It is said that one of God's greatest
gifts to humanity is the knowledge that we are
His children and created on his image.
GOD IS HOLY AND
PERFECT
One of the most common names
applied to G-d in the post-Biblical
period is "Ha-Kadosh, Barukh Hu,"
The Holy One, Blessed be He.

But how do the Jews know this about

God?
They don’t know it; they believe it.
OTHER NAMES FOR GOD
IN JUDAISM
§  Yahweh or Tetragrammaton – proper name in
the bible
§  YHVH – hebrew equivalents of Yahweh
§  Adonai (Adon or Lord) – used during prayer
and communal Torah reading
§  HaKadosh Barukh Hu – The Holy One
Blessed be He
§  HaMakom – The Omnipresent
§  Mis0she-amar ve-Hayahha-Olam – The One
Who Spoke and thus Created the World
§  Hashem – The Name; used during casual
conversation
 JUDAISM: Basic Tenets
o Monotheism
o Rambam’s 13 Principles of Jewish Faith
o Authority of the Torah
o Importance of Life and Nation State
Sheol – a dark place where people go in
the afterlife
“So man lies down and does not rise. Until
the heavens are no longer, he will not
awake nor be roused out of his sleep.” (Job.
14:12)
Monotheism
The most basic tenet of Judaism is its
monotheistic faith: Jews only believe and
worship a single God. Unlike Christians, Jews
do not believe in a godhead divided into three
beings, known as the Trinity, composed of God,
Jesus
Christ and the Holy Spirit. In the
Judaic faith, God does not have a
physical body, is transcendent,
omnipotent, always just and
accessible.
Rambam’s 13 Principles of
Jewish Faith
Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, also
known as the Rambam, was an
important intellectual figure of
medieval Judaism and a
distinguished codifier of the Torah
law. Guided by the Torah, he
compiled what he believed to be the
most fundamental principles that
should guide Jews. This is called the
"Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith."
Today, they remain the most basic
tenets that Jews strive to live by and
include.
ü  It is the custom of many congregations to
recite the Thirteen Articles, in a slightly
more poetic form, beginning with the
words Ani Maamin--"I believe"--every day
after the morning prayers in the
synagogue.
Rambam’s 13 Principles of
Jewish Faith
1. Belief in the existence of the Creator, who is perfect in
every manner of existence and is the Primary Cause of
all that exists.
2. The belief in G d's absolute and unparalleled unity.
3. The belief in G d's non-corporeality, nor that He will be
affected by any physical occurrences, such as
movement, or rest, or dwelling.
4. The belief in G d's eternity.
5. The imperative to worship G d exclusively and no
foreign false gods.
6. The belief that G d communicates with man through
prophecy.
Rambam’s 13 Principles
of Jewish Faith
7. The belief in the primacy of the prophecy of
Moses our teacher.
8. The belief in the divine origin of the Torah.
9. The belief in the immutability of the Torah.
10. The belief in G d's omniscience and
providence.
11. The belief in divine reward and retribution.
12. The belief in the arrival of the Messiah and
the messianic era.
13. The belief in the resurrection of the dead
 JUDAISM: Practices
In Judaism, rituals and religious observances are
grounded in Jewish law (halakhah). An elaborate
framework of divine mitzvot, or commandments,
combined with rabinic laws and traditions, this
law is central to Judaism. In addition, the Jewish
religion recognizes several significant occasions
in a personal’s life. The individual is the focus of
the festivities, the family, and in many cases the
entire community, participate in the
commemoration.
MITZVOT
The Hebrew word mitzvot means
“commandments” (mitzvah: singular form).
Although the word is sometimes used more
broadly to refer rabbini law or general good
deeds, in its strictest sense it refers to the
divine commandments given by God in the
Torah.

The Jewish religion expects the highest

standards of personal and moral behavior.
But there are also particular rituals, which are
distinctive to Jews. The two most obvious are
Shabbat and Kashrut.
SHABBAT
o   Hebrew word for Sabbath
o  A day of the week intended for rest and prayer
o  On saturdays for Jews  

KASHURT
§  Hebrew word that describes the laws of
preparing, cooking and serving kosher food
§  Kosher –Jewish dietary rules, what food can
and cannot be eaten, how it is prepared and
served.
Eduard Gans
German Judist. Doesn't use
flattery, hypocrisy, and obscene
speech and urged the practice
of clean, pleasant, and non-
abusive language. Concern for
the dignity of man is another
distinctive feature of the
morality of Judaism,
expressing itself primarily as
respecting each person’s
privacy and being careful not to
cause anyone shame or
embarrassment.