(Anyone will do)

Universalism

Historically no ethnic or racial

barrier preventing others from
joining

Jews must abide by Ten

Commandments, seven Noahide
laws: surrender their lives to God,
remove idolatry, sexual misconduct
and bloodshed ALSO not
blaspheme, set up a legal system,
not steal and not eat flesh from a

live animal those who adhere

have a place in the world to come

(Only a chosen few)

Particularism
Instructed by God not to
intermarry did not want to
corrupt their faith

God at Mt. Sinai: You shall be

a special treasure to me above all

people.
The Lord, who has not made us
like the nations of the worldnor
our destiny like that of their
multitudes
Collective memory suffering

* Judaism does not seek converts unlike Christianity/Islam

System of Belief vs. Religion

Habakuk (prophet):

The righteous [person] shall live by his faith

(Hab.2:4)
Trust in god everything else evolves from this
Story: Hillel replying to a converts request
for a crash course in Judaism

What is hateful to you, do not do to your

fellow man.

all Israelites have a share in the world to come Mishnah Rabbinic text

BUT
No resurrection of the dead prescribed in the Torah
Disputes among theologians

Ongoing existence of soul is agreed upon

Belief in a Messiah to anoint

Restore old glory of Israel?
OR
A utopian vision? (Christianity)

Talk of a world to come in Torah

Christianity/Islam Jewish philosophers attempted to clarify the

Jewish position:
Maimonides 12th Century:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

The existence of God

Gods unity
God has no corporeal aspect.
God is eternal.
God alone (and no intermediaries) should be worshipped.
Belief in prophecy.
Moses was the greatest of prophets.
All of the Torah in our possession is divine and was given
through Moses.
The Torah will not be changed or superseded.
God knows the actions of man.
God rewards those who keep the Torah and punishes those
who transgress it.
Belief that the Messiah will come.
Belief in the resurrection of the dead.

Christianity/Islam Jewish philosophers attempted to clarify the

Jewish position:
Maimonides 12th Century:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

The existence of God

Gods unity
God has no corporeal aspect.
God is eternal.
God alone (and no intermediaries) should be worshipped.
Belief in prophecy.
Moses was the greatest of prophets.
All of the Torah in our possession is divine and was given
through Moses.
9. The Torah will not be changed or superseded.
10.God knows the actions of man.
11.God rewards those who keep the Torah and punishes those
who transgress it.
12.Belief that the Messiah will come.
13.Belief in the resurrection of the dead.

Birth circumcision 8 days old key to rite of passage into the

community
12 Girls bat mitzvah (daughter of commandment)
13 Boys bar mitzvah (son of commandment)
Marriage monogamous not always so 1,000 years ago
Betrothal groom gives bride something of value two
witnesses
Ketubah marriage document pay wife if divorce
Couple then enters a huppah (canopy) symbolic of house
bride enters
Breaking of the glass crushed remembrance of the
destruction of Jerusalem
Divorce must be initiated by husband
Death prayer Shma recited confessing sins
Burial shroud tallit
Burial in the ground

Palestine

Phoenicians and

Philistines

Mediterranean Sea port

Torah: First 5 books of

the Hebrew bible
most sacred writings

Monotheistic: Yahweh

Jewish History Mix of Myth (no archaeological evidence or historical

record) and History
*Textbooks treatment?

Based on Torah some historic basis, much is taken on faith

1st Covenant promise between distinct people or nation (Israel) and God
Abraham ~4000 years ago - commanded by God to travel from Ur to
Haran

Go forth from your native land and from your fathers house to the
land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation.

- Genesis,12:1-2
Land (Nile to Euphrates) & protection given by Gods promise to
offspring of Abraham (Isaac, Jacob, Judah) in return for devotion and
circumcision of males on 8th day after birth/conversion.

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein
thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan.
- Genesis, 17-8

Jews chosen people as a light unto nations ethnic and geographic

roots as well as religious connotation

Story of Abraham and Isaac

Mythical Origins of the Jewish People

Abraham

Sarai
(Sarah)
*90 yrs old

Hagar

*99 yrs old

Isaac
Jacob

Jewish
People

Ishmael

*Egyptian
Maid Servant

Stranger to Jacob on his way to Canaan:

Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for

you have striven with God and with men and have
prevailed.

Covenant: mutual promise

between God and Abraham
Sacrifice of son, Isaac
Evidence of faith

Christians will later believe

God did sacrifice son to

demonstrate love of his people

Judaism A Brief History

NOTE: This is historical fiction
(according to historians and many rabbis)
Bondage in Egypt (to1290 BCE)
under Pharaoh Ramses II
Exodus (1250 BCE)

Moses deliverer
God:

*#@!$ you Egypt, heres 10 plagues

Moses: Let my people go! um... through

the Red Sea.
2nd Covenant : Moses to follow the 10
Commandments
Mt. Sinai, 10 Commandments, Golden
Calf, Temper Tantrum and Ark of the
Covenant Moses 10
Commandments
12 spies investigate Canaanites
son, Joshua is optimistic
Circumcision problem God punishes
40 years in desert!

Ten Commandments

1-5 relationship with God

(belief in one god/no
other deities, Sabbath
day, name in vain/false
oaths, honor parents
(mans commitment to
god) 6-10 mans relationship
with others murder,
adultery, stealing,
lying, etc.

Ethical Monotheism
adherence to ethical code
and Yahweh

Judaism A Brief History

Moses is dying - God chooses Joshua Joshua crushes Canaanites

Confederation to Constitutional Monarchy - 12 tribes of Israel threatened
by Philistines - Saul is made King later killed
Son in Law, David (slays Philistine warrior, Goliath, Ark to Jerusalemconcentrates religious power)
Davids Son, Solomon, builds temple w/ Holy of Holies (Ark)
Solomon dies in 931 BCE

Judaism A Brief History

Solomons Kingdom
splits
Israel (Northern 10

Tribes)
Judah (Southern 2
Tribes)

Assyrians conquer

Israel 722 BCE

tribes
expelled
Judah 701 BCE
then withdraw

Babylonians conquer
Assyrians,
Judah (597 BCE)

Judaism A Brief History

Babylonians appoint
Zedekiah (descendant
of David) King of
Judah
Zedekiah grows defiant
(oops)

Sons murdered in front

of him, his eyes are

gouged out, thousands of
Jews flee to Egypt or

are deported to Babylon

Solomons temple is
destroyed by
Babylonians (586
BCE)

With the destruction of Solomons temple,

the Jewish Faith and God become
portable
- synagogues established
- traditions and laws of Israelites
written down become Bible
- Prophet, Isaiah, Jews were being punished
-- notion of a messiah (dec. of David)

Judaism A Brief History

530 BCE Persians overrun Babylonians

Allow Jews to return to

Jerusalem
Temple reconstructed
(516 BCE)
Jews allowed theocratic autonomy
***Final form of Jewish religion - - no intermarriage survival
of Jewish people attributed to this

332 BCE - Alexander the Great (Greek)

Conquers (accepted readily)
Hellenism acceptance of multiculturalism
Jews throughout Greek world
Pentateuch (Torah) translated into Greek

Judaism A Brief History

The rest of BCE
Alexander - Greek
Seleucids
Romans

Yahweh Lord of Hosts /

God of Armies
Abraham (myth ~2000 BCE)
Moses (myth ~1250 BCE)
Exodus Story
War w/ Midianites
War with Philistines
Saul - David - Solomon
10th C. BCE 1st Temple Built
7th C. BCE King Josiah
Deuteronomy Central
Theocracy
Pious Fraud
586 BCE Jerusalem
Conquered/Temple Destroyed
516 BCE 2nd Temple
Reconstruction under the Persians
4th C. BCE Alexander and
Hellenism (of the Greek/Intl world)
Syncretism
Torah Greek

3rd to 2nd C. BCE Antiochus the

Antagonist
Pious Ones

167 BCE Mattathias/Judah

Maccabees (hammers)
164 BCE Defeat of Antiochus
Hasmonean Dynasty - assimilationists
Civil War

Pious Ones (Maccabees) Zealots

vs.
Hellenized Jews

Romans Invited to Intervene

Herod (Hellenized Jews)

vs.
Zealots (Rigorists/Fundamentalists)

Roman Rule (Herod) rebuilt temple

*autonomy/continued agitation by zealots*
*seeking a messiah*
66 BCE Uprising leads to Destruction of
the 2nd Temple by Romans (70 CE)

Hundreds of thousands of Jews killed/expelled

Diaspora