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Name _________________________ Per. ______ Pg. # ______
Objective:
What are the major beliefs of Judaism? How does Judaism
impact the lives of Jewish people?
● Describe the major beliefs of Judaism.
● Explain how Judaism impacts the lives of Jewish people.
Introduction
➡ Directions: Examine the images below, then fill out the chart with what you see, think, and wonder.
ReadingOfTheTorah.jpg by Roylindman is published under the CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported license
Image courtesy of Wikimedia and is in the public domain
Image courtesy of Wikimedia and is in the public domain
See
List three things you see in the images above.
Think
Based on your observations, what do you think the objects in the images above have in common?
Wonder
Write two questions you have about the picture above.
➡ Directions: As you read about the following beliefs of Judaism, answer the questions that accompany each section and fill out this graphic organizer.
1. Monotheism
Most civilizations in the Middle East at the time of the Ancient Israel practiced polytheistic religions. Judaism was the first monotheistic religion that continued to exist and impact world history.
Word Polytheism Monotheism
Prefix and Root (^) Poly + theism Mono + theism
Meaning
“many” “having to do
with god”
“one” “having to do
with god”
Examples
Animism is a belief system in which people worship many different natural spirits. For example, some Animistic religions might worship a god of the sun, a volcano, or of the forest.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all worship the same singular god who the Jewish people call “Yahweh,” Christians call “God,” and Muslims refer to as “Allah.”
2. The Covenant
A covenant is an agreement. Jewish people believe that God made covenants with several figures mentioned in the Torah. The covenants below are between God and the father of Judaism, Abraham.
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred [relatives], and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew [show] thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.[...] In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates[...] And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. Source: Genesis 12:1- 3; Genesis 15:18- 21; Genesis 17:9- 12; King James Version of the Holy Bible. Retrieved July 28, 2015, from http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/kjv/gen.htm
1. Based on this section of the Torah, God promised Abraham...
4. Major Figures of Judaism
Abraham
Depiction of Abraham circa 1180 by Herrad von Landsberg Image courtesy of Wikimedia and is in the public domain
● Father of Judaism ● Life story is told in the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible ● God made a covenant with Abraham promising to bless him with descendants “like the sands of the sea” and a nation for him and the Israelites
Moses
Moses with the Tablets of the Law. Rembrandt,
Image courtesy of Wikimedia and is in the public domain
● Life story told in the Torah ● Freed the Israelite slaves from Egypt ● God gave Moses the Ten Commandments ● Many Jewish people believe he wrote the Torah
Impact: How did Judaism impact the lives of Ancient Israelites?
That Babylonian Exile (Captivity)
➡ Directions: Watch this History Channel video clip, Exile of the Jews and read the excerpt below, then answer the questions that follow.
Starting around 597 BCE, the Babylonian Empire , centered in the city of Babylon in the Fertile Crescent, conquered the Kingdom of Judah. The upper class Jewish people, Israelites who lived in Judah, were ordered by the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar II, to leave Jerusalem and live in captivity in Babylon.
The period of time from 597 to 539 BCE, which ended when the Persian king Cyrus the Great took over Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to Judah, is known as the Babylonian Exile or Captivity. This period had a great effect on the Jewish people. They wondered how such a terrible thing could happen to god’s “chosen people.” In addition, their sacred temple where they worshiped their god was destroyed. As a result, some of the Jewish people in Babylon became more religions. They commemorated the fall of Jerusalem with days of prayer and celebrated the Sabbath (day of rest set aside for religious reasons). The profession of the scribes , people who copied religious documents, grew in importance. Historical writings and religious teachers were compiled and revised by the scribes to create the Torah. The writers viewed the recent events as punishment for their sins, especially the sin of worshipping gods other than Yahweh. At the same time, the scribes and others in exile hoped that the Jewish faith would bring the Israelites together and that they would be able to rebuild the Temple once the exile was over. The Babylonian exile represents both one of Judaism's darkest hours and also the beginning of its history as an enduring universal religion that gave birth to the later monotheistic traditions of Christianity and Islam.
Based on the video and reading above identify two pieces of evidence that show that Judaism unified the
Jewish people.
