Kyliegh Billings

COM 2150
Tamra Phillips
Project #1
Project #1- Judaism

Overview:
I chose to do my paper on the Jewish religion. They are a very group oriented religion.
They believe in actions over beliefs. They want you to out and act upon what you are learning
and what you believe rather than just study it. They also have 13 main principles that they
follow and 6 values. They do a Candle Lighting for the Shabbat every Friday 18 minutes before
sunset and it lasts until 18 minutes before sunset on Saturday. This is meant to represent the start
of a new day after a long work week. I also chose to use the Value Orientation as my Value
Theory to best describe this religion. They hold women and men very highly and do not like to
use power over one another unless it is deemed necessary.
Jewish Background:
Judaism was first started in 1812 BC with a covenant between G-d and Abram
(Abraham). Abram and his wife Sarai (later known as Sarah) were considered to be the founders
of Judaism. Sarai was just as important to the start of the religion as Abram was. They both
taught what they knew but also lived what they taught. Abrams tent was always fill of people,
who came to refresh themselves, and to listen to his words of Wisdom; and so was Sarai's tent
always full of women who came to enjoy her hospitality and listen to her, and learn how to live
in happiness and peace with themselves and with each other. (http://www.chabad.org)
The Jewish people live by 13 principles. (1) G-d exists (2) G-d is one and unique (3) G-d
is incorporeal (4) G-d is eternal (5) Prayer is to be directed to G-d alone and no other (6) The
words of the prophets are true (7) Moses prophets are true and Moses was the greatest of the
prophets. (8) The written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now
contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses. (9) There will be no other
Torah (10) G-d knows the thoughts and deeds of men (11) G-d will reward the good and punish
the wicked (12) The Messiah will come (13) The dead will be resurrected.
(http://www.jewfaq.org)
They also live by six Values. (1) The Ten Commandments (2) The Torah (3) Teffillah
(prayer) (4) Tzedakah (righteousness) (5) Teshuca (repentance ) (6) Tikkun Olam (Repairing the
world). All of these values focus on making the world a better place and being held responsible
for your own actions and taking accountability for them.
Lighting the Shabbat Candles:
The lighting of the candles represents the ending of a long work week full of darkness
and Negativity. It is symbolizing the starting of a new day and lighting up the darkness. The

procedures for this ceremony are fairly simple. Until marriage, women and girls light one
candle. Post-marriage, women light (at least) two candles. Some add an additional candle for
each child: e.g., a woman with three children lights five candles. If no woman (over the age
of bat mitzvah) is present in the home, a man should light the candles. (http://www.chabad.org)
The first person to light Shabbat candles was the Jewish Matriarch Sarah. She would light
the Shabbat candles on the eve of the Shabbat in the tent that her and Abraham shared and the
candles would but from on Friday to the next. They light the candles to bring Peace in the Home,
Honoring the Day to honor the Shabbat Queen, Pleasure- to enjoy the delicacies.
The steps to the Candle Lighting are as follows: (1) While dressed in your Shabbat or
Holiday finery, place several coins in a charity box. (2) Light the candles. Place the lit match on
the designated surface (usually a ceramic or metal plate) (3) extend your hands over the candles,
draw them inwards three times in a circular motion, and then cover your eyes. (4) Say the
blessing: Baruch a-ta A-do-nay Elo-hei-nu me-lech ha-o-lam a-sher ki-di-sha-nu bi-mitz-votav vi-tzi-va-noo li-had-leek ner shel Sha-bat ko-desh. Translated: Blessed are you, L- rd
our G- d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded
us to kindle the light of the Holy Shabbat.
I have a friend who is Jewish and welcomed me to her home while they light the Shabbat
Candles. Attending one of these experiences was amazing and I felt so blessed to be there. It was
interesting to see that the women take charge in lighting the candles when in most religions the
males are the dominant ones. It was a great experience to see first-hand all about the Shabbat
Candle Lighting after doing so much research on it. I felt peace in the room and it was so bright,
warm and welcoming and everyone was so friendly and excited that I was there. We just sat and
talked and I asked questions and they were more than happy to answer but never once did they
pressure me or ask me if I was going to convert. I think that the prayer that they say is beautiful
and sounds so beautiful in Hebrew.
Value Theory:
I chose this theory because I feel that it gives a better understanding to the type of beliefs
that Judaism follows and similar religions. On the table on page 108 of the book it shows a table
that shows Israel has a low power distance. This means that the people who are higher in the
religion do not like to use their power unless it is called for. They like to keep the power even
among the followers rather than all to themselves. They also prefer quick results and they have
universal guidelines for good and evil.
In the text book, Intercultural Communication in Contexts, they describe the Masculinity
Femininity Value as A cultural variability dimension that concerns the degree of being
femininevaluing fluid gender roles, quality of life, service, relationships, and interdependence
and the degree of being masculineemphasizing distinctive gender roles, ambition,
materialism, and independence. (Page 109) The Jewish people do not see one gender over the
other, rather that they both work equally but in different ways. Women are more internal and
relationship-based and prefer to pray in private. Whereas men are more external and are drawn to

groups or teams and prefer to pray in large groups. They believe that the first Human was both
male and female because G-d believed that they both needed each other to be complete,
Sophisticated and self- sufficient. The Torah describes the creation of Eve (the splitting of the
first Human) using the word vayiven- G-d built. They also use a term Binah- insight or
understanding.
Binah is much more than Womens Intuition, it is the ability to understand something
from the inside. This has also been called. Inner reasoning. Men have what is called daat. An
understanding which comes from the outside based off of facts and figures.
(http://www.aish.com)
The Jewish people tend to focus more in short term orientation rather than longer term
because of their focus on quick results in endeavors and recognize social pressure to conform.
Reflection:
I was honestly a little concerned about this project when it first started. I am a very shy
person around new people and new things, so this was very much out of my comfort zone. I was
however very excited to able to go see a tradition that I have done so much research on and learn
things there that you cant learn in books.
I learned that they are a very opening community and they do not care if you are Jewish
or not. They welcome you in just the same. I also noticed that not once when I was there, was I
pushed to convert. They simply talked about the religion and answered any questions I asked
without an intent other to inform. They are a very open religion that loves to give back to the
community and are very open to other things.
My attitude became more open to the possibility of other ideas on religion. Growing up
Non-denominational, to me it was all very black and white and not much room for grey area.
Whereas learning about the Jewish religion, they seem to have some black and white areas but
also some grey ones that can be left for interpretation on what you think it should be. The major
focus for them is action. Act on what you believe.
The application of the Value Orientation theory did help me to better understand the
religion. It helped me by explaining a little more what some of the values and beliefs mean and
the background as to why they mean that. It gave me better terms to use to describe what I saw
myself and experienced. It gave me a deeper understanding to what it means to live out some of
the orientations that were described and recognize them when I experienced it.
I think that I can incorporate this into my other classes and daily life because at some
point or another there is going to be a Jew student in my own class, or, because I want to be a
teacher I will be dealing will all types of cultures and I can better understand the Jewish culture
making my students and their families maybe a little more comfortable in my class. It also helps
me because of my friends who are Jewish, it helps me to understand them as a person as well. I
for sure will take away from this experience to act rather than preach. I need to take what I
believe and act on it therefore making my life and those who know me richer because of my
outlook on things.

Thank you so much for coming up with this project. It was really eye opening and made me
appreciate the Jewish religion more than I already did.
References

- Jewish History
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112057/jewish/Abraham-And-S)arah.htm

Judaism 101: What Do Jews Believe?

http://www.jewfaq.org/beliefs.htm

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2012). Intercultural communication in contexts. New

York: McGraw-Hill.

Raising Children with Jewish Values - InterfaithFamily

http://www.interfaithfamily.com/relationships/parenting/Raising_Children_with_Jewish_Values.s
html

- Shabbat
http://www.jewishutah.com/library/article_cdo/aid/909007/jewish/Insights.htm