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UNIT # 6: Judaism, its influence in the

Western

 Historical Role
◦ Origin of Judaism
 Judaism in present role
◦ Beliefs
 Judaism future prospects

Rubric for this partial

 Individual Grade
◦ %50 Notebook/Folder (well presented, pictures,
colors, all the class material)
◦ %50 Formative Assessment
 Group class activity
◦ 50% group work
◦ 50% Formative Assessment
 Exam
◦ Essay

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Menu
 Intro: Video (15 min)
 Discussion (5 min)
 Text analysis (20 min)
 Reading and classwork (30 min)
 Answers discussion (10 min)

Historical Role
Objective.- To determine the elements of Judaism that
influenced the conformation of Western culture through an
analysis of monotheism and the linear conception of time.

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Origin of Judaism

 Judaism is the world’s oldest monotheistic

religion, dating back nearly 4,000 years.
Followers of Judaism believe in one God who
revealed himself through ancient prophets. The
history of Judaism is essential to understanding
the Jewish faith, which has a rich heritage of
law, culture and tradition.

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 Judaism has played a significant role in the

development of Western culture because of its unique
relationship with Christianity, the dominant religious force
in the West. Although the Christian church drew from
other sources as well, its retention of the sacred
Scriptures of the synagogue (the Old Testament) as an
integral part of its Bible—a decision sharply debated in
the 2nd century CE—was crucial. Not only was the
development of its ideas and doctrines deeply
influenced, but it also received an ethical dynamism
that constantly overcame an inclination to withdraw into
world-denying isolation.

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 It was, however, not only Judaism’s heritage but its persistence that touched
Western civilization. The continuing existence of the Jews, even as a pariah
people, was both a challenge and a warning. Their liberation from the
shackles of discrimination, segregation, and rejection at the beginning of the
modern era was understood by many to be the touchstone of all human
liberty. Until the final ghettoization of the Jew—it is well to remember that the
term ghetto belongs in the first instance to Jewish history—at the end of the
Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance, intellectual contact
between Judaism and Christianity, and thus between Judaism and Western
culture, continued. St. Jerome translated the Hebrew Bible into Latin with the
aid of Jewish scholars; the exegetical work of the scholars of the monastery
of St. Victor in the 12th century borrowed heavily from Jewish scholars; and
the biblical commentary of Rashi (Solomon ben Isaac of Troyes) was an
important source for Martin Luther (1483–1546). Jewish thinkers helped to
bring the remarkable intellectual achievements of the Islamic world to
Christian Europe and added their own contributions as well. Even heresies
within the church, on occasion, were said to have been inspired by or
modeled after Judaism.

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Torah
 The Jewish sacred text is called the Tanakh or
the “Hebrew Bible.” It includes the same books
as the Old Testament in the Christian Bible, but
they’re placed in a slightly different order.
 The Torah—the first five books of the Tanakh—
outlines laws for Jews to follow. It’s sometimes
also referred to as the Pentateuch.

Founder of Judaism
 The origins of Jewish faith are explained throughout the Torah.
According to the text, God first revealed himself to a Hebrew man
named Abraham, who became known as the founder of Judaism.
 Jews believe that God made a special covenant with Abraham and
that he and his descendants were chosen people who would create
a great nation.
 Abraham’s son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob, also became central
figures in ancient Jewish history. Jacob took the name Israel, and his
children and future generations became known as Israelites.
 More than 1,000 years after Abraham, the prophet Moses led the
Israelites out of Egypt after being enslaved for hundreds of years.
 According to scriptures, God revealed his laws, known as the Ten
Commandments, to Moses at Mt. Sinai.

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Judaism and Persecution

 Throughout history, Jewish people have been persecuted for their
religious beliefs. Some well-known events include:
 1066 Granada Massacre: On December 30, 1066, a Muslim mob
stormed the royal palace in Granada and killed more than 1,000
Jewish families. The group also kidnapped and crucified Joseph ibn
Naghrela, the Jewish vizier to the Berber king.
 The First Crusade: In the first of the Crusades—a series of medieval
holy wars involving Christians and Muslims—thousands of Jews were
killed, and many were forced to convert to Christianity.
 The Spanish Expulsion: In 1492, Spain’s rulers issued a royal edict that
declared all Jews who refused to convert to Christianity would be
expelled from the country. Experts estimate about 200,000 people
were ousted and tens of thousands died while trying to reach safety.
 The Holocaust: In the Holocaust, the most infamous of modern-day
atrocities, the Nazis murdered more than 6 million Jews.

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