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First- turn in your notes from last night!

First- turn in your notes from last night!. Judaism Basic Beliefs. Belief in God. It’s All One: Judaism and God. Judaism essentially believes that there is a God-and only One God- but not only leave what God IS completely up in the air, but allows for Jews who don’t believe in God at all.

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First- turn in your notes from last night!

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  1. First- turn in your notes from last night!

  2. Judaism Basic Beliefs Belief in God

  3. It’s All One: Judaism and God • Judaism essentially believes that there is a God-and only One God- but not only leave what God IS completely up in the air, but allows for Jews who don’t believe in God at all. • Judaism encourages people to wrestle with their idea of who or what God is.

  4. First Monotheism • Judaism was the FIRST tradition to teach monotheism. • However, Jews tend to focus more on the way that you practice your faith through living in the world than it does on analyzing the nature of God. In fact biblical monotheism is usually called ethical monotheism because of the very strong linkage of rights acts to the belief of one Good.

  5. Question Everything • Jews are encouraged to “wrestle with God” rather than have complete surrender to faith, surrender to God such as in Christianity and Islam. Instead they are taught to question their faith in order to learn more deeply.

  6. What’s in a name? • In Jewish thought, a name is not merely an arbitrary designation, a random combination of sounds. The name conveys the nature and essence of the thing named. It represents the history and reputation of the being named. • This is not as strange or unfamiliar a concept as it may seem at first glance. In English, we often refer to a person's reputation as his "good name." When a company is sold, one thing that may be sold is the company's "good will," that is, the right to use the company's name. The Hebrew concept of a name is very similar to these ideas.

  7. What’s in a name? • An example of this usage occurs in Ex. 3:13-22: Moses asks God what His "name" is. Moses is not asking "what should I call you;" rather, he is asking "who are you; what are you like; what have you done." That is clear from God's response. God replies that He is eternal, that He is the God of our ancestors, that He has seen our affliction and will redeem us from bondage. • Because a name represents the reputation of the thing named, a name should be treated with the same respect as the thing's reputation. For this reason, God's Names, in all of their forms, are treated with enormous respect and reverence in Judaism.

  8. What’s in a name? • The most important of God's Names is the four-letter Name represented by the Hebrew letters Yod-Hei-Vav-Hei (YHVH). It is often referred to as the Ineffable Name, the Unutterable Name or the Distinctive Name. Linguistically, it is related to the Hebrew root Hei-Yod-Hei (to be), and reflects the fact that God's existence is eternal. In scripture, this Name is used when discussing God's relation with human beings, and when emphasizing his qualities of loving kindness and mercy. It is frequently shortened to Yah (Yod-Hei), Yahu or Yeho (Yod-Hei-Vav), especially when used in combination with names or phrases, as in Yehoshua (Joshua, meaning "the Lord is my Salvation"), Eliyahu (Elijah, meaning "my God is the Lord"), and Halleluyah ("praise the Lord").

  9. What’s in a name? • The first Name used for God in scripture is Elohim. In form, the word is a masculine plural of a word that looks feminine in the singular (Eloha). The same word is used to refer to princes, judges, other gods, and other powerful beings. This Name is used in scripture when emphasizing God's might, His creative power, and His attributes of justice and rulership. Variations on this Name include El, Eloha, Elohai (my God) and Elohaynu (our God).

  10. What’s in a name? • God is also known as El Shaddai. This Name is usually translated as "God Almighty," According to some views, it is derived from the root meaning "to heap benefits."

  11. What’s in a name? • Another significant Name of God is YHVH Tzva'ot. This Name is normally translated as "Lord of Hosts." The Name refers to God's leadership and sovereignty.

  12. Writing the name of God • Jews do not casually write any Name of God. This practice does not come from the commandment not to take the Lord's Name in vain, as many suppose. In Jewish thought, that commandment refers solely to oath-taking, and is a prohibition against swearing by God's Name falsely or frivolously (the word normally translated as "in vain" literally means "for falsehood").

  13. Writing the name of God • Normally, we avoid writing the Name by substituting letters or syllables, for example, writing "G-d" instead of "God." In addition, the number 15, which would ordinarily be written in Hebrew as Yod-Hei (10-5), is normally written as Teit-Vav (9-6), because Yod-Hei is a Name. See Hebrew Alphabet for more information about using letters as numerals.

  14. God Creates • Jews have different view points of God’s involvement of the creation of the earth. Some say He started the Big Bang and walked away, others say he was more involved. In any case they give him credit in one poetic manner or another.

  15. God Reveals • Jews believe in revelation, which is the channel through which a human being “hears” the Divine word. • For some Jews, God doesn’t communicate through words, but through relationship. In the experience of love, compassion, and creativity, realizations of God unfold. And for still others, revelation is contained in the beauty of the natural world, so that by relating to the greater world, people can realize the communication.

  16. God Redeems • The theme of redemption is common throughout the Biblical stories of the Hebrew people. • It becomes clear that the people have responsibility for following divinely inspired paths and living in accord with principles of justice and compassion, in service to the One God. When they fail in this responsibility, there is punishment, including exile. But even from the midst of such exile, redemption awaits if they reform.

  17. God Redeems • In some ways, redemption is another word for self-actualization, enlightenment, or God-consciousness. • For traditional Judaism, this promise of redemption translates to a future Messianic Age, including the resurrection of the dead.

  18. But not Jesus… • Now, we will evaluate why Jesus is not considered a God within Judaism…. • Each group will read one of the reasons, and prepare to teach out to your classmates.

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