Introduction to Judaism USE RIGHT OR LEFT ARROWS TO GO FORWARD OR BACK

1. Living a Jewish Life Key Jewish Concepts. Unit 7, Session 1a Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black Leo BaeckCentre - East Kew - 2009/5770 Revised 2013/5774 for Introduction to Judaism Course Introduction to JudaismUSE RIGHT OR LEFT ARROWS TO GO FORWARD OR BACK

2. KEDUSHAHHoliness • The root of the word is K D SH • K D SH is ‘Special’ or ‘Separate’ • KiDuSH – for Shabbat & Festivals • KeDuSHa – prayer in the Amidah (eg Prayer Book page 248) • KaDiSH – Reader’s Kaddish prayer, Mourner’s Kaddish prayer • Special behaviour – being holy. • Being holy ‘as God is holy’ • Trying to act ‘as God would act’

3. Shutafut - Partnership In government circles and with things like grant applications, ‘Partnership’ is a common and important word and concept – working together with others. In Judaism, it goes back a long way. We believe that humans and God need to work in Shutafut– in partnership, to heal the world.

4. TikkunOlam At the end of every service, we read the Aleynu, which contains the phrase ‘l’takeynolamb’malchutShadai’ – to perfect the world under God’s rule’. This is ‘The Meaning of Life’. We are here for a purpose – to work WITH GOD to make the world better for all its inhabitants, both today and into the future.

5. 2nd paragraph of Aleinu prayer(see Siddur, page 588)

6. But how? Our task is to ‘work with God’ to ‘heal the world’. These units ask: how do we work out how best to ‘heal the world’? What should we do in practical terms Let’s start with a practical example: Nothing But Nets. Great progress has been made over the past few years in combating malaria – we have been a part of that real improvement in our world.

7. Nothing but Nets The Union for Progressive Judaism partnered with theUN Nothing But Nets campaign to combat the spread of malaria. They had a goal to supply 5,000 insecticide-treated bed nets to families in sub-Saharan Africa, saving one family at a time, one net at a time. Visit www.nothingbutnets.net to find out more.

8. Why get involved? The pillars of Judaism are three-fold: commitment to Torah (lifelong Jewish learning), Avodah (worship of God through prayer and observance) and G’milutHasadim(the pursuit of justice, peace and deeds of loving kindness). This third pillar is expressed by participating in social action efforts. This is why the UPJ partnered with Nothing But Nets to combat the spread of malaria. This is a practical way to help.

9. Where does it come from?‘TORAH’ • Our tradition teaches us that God dictated the written law to Moses... but also... • God gave Moses the oral law at the same time. • We don't take either of these claims literally.

10. MITZVAHCommandment The tradition tells us there are 613 commandments in the Torah [sometimes called the ‘TaRYaG’ (alphabetical way to say 613) mitzvot] Best known are the ‘Ten Commandments’ In Hebrew they are called AseretHaDibrot More accurately this translates as ‘The Ten Statements’ – as the first, ‘Love your Eternal God’, is not a command (though the Christian version is ‘Have no other gods’).

12. Is the left hand set a Jewish set of commandments?

13. To be strictly accurate The left hand set were Christian (they did not start with ‘I am the Eternal God’). Actually, the rounded top is a shape from later, Classical architecture. The two tablets of stone would probably have been rectangular. Also the Hebrew we are now familiar with is a more recent, Aramaic script. The letters Moses would have known were ‘proto-Canaanitic’. So, if the Ten Statements were written on stone in Moses’ time, they would have looked more like the next set:

15. Between Humans and God‘Commandments’ 1-5 1. I am your Eternal God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt 2. You shall have no other Gods but Me 3. You shall not use God’s name casually 4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy 5. Honour your father and your mother (the ‘bridge’ to the second five – honouring parents is said to be like honouring God).

16. Between people ‘Commandments’ 6-10 6. You shall not murder 7. You shall not commit adultery 8. You shall not steal 9. You shall not bear false witness 10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor their ox nor their ass, nor anything that is your neighbours. (this last is a warning against materialism – ‘wanting things’ – and hence very relevant to modern society today!).

17. TORAH – 'Divinely Inspired' Perhaps God literally, physically gave some of Torah to Moses at the top of Mount Sinai. Who knows? What would this look like? We believe that Moses, and/or others, perhaps 'inspired', recorded over many years what they felt 'God wanted from human beings'. This document, Torah, has gained sanctity because of this noble task, and the messages, the history and the age-old experiences it contains.

18. Applying the TorahThe context. • The Rabbis developed the important tradition that when Moses was given the writtenlaw, he was also given the verbalexplanationsabout what it meant - and how to apply it. • So the tradition says that as well as the ‘writtenTorah’ passed down through the generations, there was also an ‘oralTorah’– just as important, and necessary to understand the written law. • The tradition said the oral law should never be written down. And one couldn’t be Jewish without the traditions and combination of both parts of the Torah, written and oral.

19. The Genius of 'Oral Tradition' If a tradition is conveyed orally, it can be applied slightly differently as situations, times and needs change. But it can also be lost, especially as it inevitably grows bigger and bigger. Thus it was eventually decided to record the ‘Oral Law’ in writing (Mishna). It was divided into six sections or 'Orders‘. The flexibility started to be lost.

20. The Mishnah • The Mishna is the first collection of the Oral Law, written down about 220 of the Common Era by Judah HaNasi. • It was very useful. • It became restrictive. • It became too rigid.

21. G’marah • Once the Mishna was published, it was widely studied and debated. • The discussions, arguments and debates were written around it. • This was called 'G’MaRah' – completion (from root G’M’R: finish). • The combination – Mishna and its many commentaries, is called 'Talmud' – ‘studies’.

22. Ethical and Ritual Amongst other things, the Talmud has much detailed discussion about the commandments. A commandment is a ‘miTZ-VaH’ (root TZ’V’H) The plural is ‘miTZ-Vot’ Ethical mitzvotdemand high standards of behaviour. Being very honest, being sensitive, feeding the hungry, looking after the sick, not stealing, not exploiting or taking advantage... Ritual mitzvot govern ceremonies and rites of Jewish life such as food, festivals, prayers...

23. Ethical Monotheism Ethics – Judaism demands we try to live up to high standards of behaviour – acting ‘as God would act’ (or trying to be perfect). Perhaps this is why many Jews seem to tend to be ‘perfectionists’? We base our ethical standards on a belief in some unique power, far greater than any individual human, which we call ‘God’, and then we ask ‘What does God require of us’. For most Progressive Jews, Torah is the record of this human quest for guidance.

24. The Value of Ritual Having a developed, adult understanding of an ethical life and goals may be enough. In practice it probably isn’t, and is supported and encouraged through ritual acts (for example, considering animals through checking what you buy and eat)‏ However children especially need a ritual framework in which they slowly learn that they are part of a ‘special’ people (KaDoSH). More of this in the next units.

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