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Why did the Jews spread out of Israel around the year 100 AD? What do you think happened to Jewish culture after its people split up and moved away from each other?

Branches of Judaism

• Jews mostly shared the same culture and worship practices until they split up after their failed rebellion against the Romans in 100 AD

• The different groups of Jews who fled in different directions ended up developing slightly different cultures and practices

• The majority of Jews who spread north into Eastern Europe (Russia) are now called Ashkenazi Jews. The descendants of this group account for about 75% of modern Jews

• The smaller number of Jews who fled west into North Africa are called Sephardic Jews. They account for about 15% of modern Jews.

• The Jews went stayed in various parts of the Middle East (like Iran or Arabia) are called Mizrahi Jews. They make up about 10% of modern Jews.

Branches of Judaism Review

Ashkenazi Jews, 75%

Sephardic Jews, 15%

Mizrahi Jews, 10%

The Jewish Holy Books • The Jewish holy book, or Jewish “Bible,” is called the Tanakh

• The first five books of the Tanakh are the most important, and the most heavily studied and read. These first five books are called the Torah. The five books that make up the Torah are:

1. Genesis: "origin" (Hebrew: Bereshit – "In the beginning")

2. Exodus: "going out" (Hebrew: Shemot – "Names")

3. Leviticus: "relating to the Levites" (Hebrew: Vayikra, – "And he called")

4. Numbers: numbering of the Israelites (Hebrew: Bamidbar – "In the desert")

5. Deuteronomy: "second law" (Hebrew: D'varim – "Words")

• These are also the first five books of the Christian Old Testament, since Christianity is a religion that split off from Judaism.

• Lastly, there is the Talmud. The Talmud is a very long book (over 6,000 pages) full of commentary, opinions, and interpretations that thousands of Jewish Rabbis have written about the Tanakh over thousands of years.

Jewish Holy Books

Tanakh

Torah plus other holy

books

Torah

Most important

first 5 books

Talmud

Thousands of rabbis’ opinions and thoughts

about the Tanakh

Jewish Afterlife • Jews believe that when you die, you do not go to heaven or hell,

instead you go to a place called Sheol

• It is very similar to ancient Greek or ancient Sumerian images of the afterlife—not good, not bad, just dark and empty

• Sheol is described as dark and silent, and is a place where all souls wait after they die

• Sheol only ends when the Messiah comes to earth, to save the Jewish people from sin.

• The concept of a Messiah, or savior of all mankind, is important to Jewish people. They believe that they are still waiting for this Messiah to come, and when he does, the good souls in Sheol will finally go live with their god, and bad souls would stay in the darkness and boredom of Sheol

• The Jews who broke off to form Christianity, believe that the Messiah has already come, in the form of Jesus. Modern Jews don’t think Jesus was the Messiah, but are still waiting for one to come.

Jewish Rituals • The most important Jewish religious/cultural rituals are

tied to different phases of the life cycle:

Birth

Adulthood

Death

Birth Rituals

• The birth ritual is very different for girls and boys • If a baby is born male, they will be circumcised 8 days

after birth. This is a ceremony usually attended by all males, where one important male in the child’s life is responsible for holding the baby still, while the circumciser (yes, this is someone’s job) cuts off the foreskin of the baby’s penis. This is a ritual that goes back to the covenant the prophet Abraham made with God that all Jews would follow forever.

• Both male and female children are usually given a name after 8 days, usually at the synagogue (Jewish place of worship, like a church) after a reading from the Torah. The name is kept a secret until then.

• If you are thinking about this naming tradition from a functionalist perspective, why might Jews thousands of years ago have waited eight days before naming a baby?

Adulthood • The ritual that moves a person out of childhood, and officially into

adulthood is called a bar mitzvah (boy) or bat mitzvah (girl)

• When a boy or girl reaches the age of 13, they become officially responsible for their own actions in the sight of God.

• Before this age, a parent is responsible for his/her child’s actions

• After the bar/bat mitzvah, a young man or woman is now officially able to participate in adults-only religious ceremonies, and is given more responsibilities.

• A boy is also now officially allowed to read publicly from the Torah

• Some Jews treat girls equally, and let her read from the Torah after her bat mitzvah, but some believe girls should never read from it out loud

• The bar/bat mitzvah today is usually celebrated with a large party

Death • When a loved one dies in the Jewish religion/culture,

there are certain rituals and rules that must be followed

• When the person is still dying, or shortly after they have died, someone must say a “death prayer” for them called the Kaddish

• The person must be buried as soon as possible, or it is disrespectful to the dead

• They must be buried in a plain, pine-wood box

• They must be dressed in a simple, white shroud (burial robe) so that you can’t tell the difference between rich and poor.

• The body is never left without a guard out of respect for the dead

Death, cont. • Immediate family members tear their clothes at the funeral

to symbolize loss, or the Rabbi will give them torn black ribbons to symbolize this

• The funeral has many specific requirements to who can attend, what prayers are said, who follows the body to the grave, etc.

• The family mourns (“sits shiva”) for seven days, during which people visit to give their condolences

• Family members will cover all of their mirrors after someone dies for a period of time. In the past they did this because they believed that evil spirits might show up in the mirrors to try to fill the emptiness left by the dead person

• The modern explanation for this is so that you are not focusing on yourself, but only thinking about the dead person and your family

Kosher • Jews have strict rules, based on the Tanakh, that they must follow about how and

what they eat

• The main rules are: 1. Certain types of meat, including pork and shellfish (lobster, crab, shrimp, clams),

may not be eaten at all. This restriction includes any part of the forbidden animals.

2. Of the animals that may be eaten, birds and mammals must be killed in accordance with Jewish law, with the least suffering possible

3. All blood must be drained from meat and poultry or cooked out of it before it is eaten.

4. Fruits and vegetables are closely inspected for bugs (which cannot be eaten) 5. Meat cannot be eaten with dairy (milk products like cheese, butter, and yogurt).

They can’t be cooked or even stored together. 6. Utensils (including pots and pans and other cooking surfaces) that have come

into contact with meat may not be used with dairy, and vice versa. Utensils that have come into contact with non-kosher food may not be used with kosher food

1. Which of the following is the name of the entire Jewish “bible” or holy book?

A. Tanakh

B. Torah

C. Talmud

D. Kabbalah

2. Which of the following represents the largest group of modern Jews?

A. Sephardic

B. Ashkenazi

C. Mizrahi

D. Talmudi

3. Which of the following rituals moves a child into adulthood?

A. Circumcision

B. The Kaddish

C. The Torah

D. Bar/Bat Mitzvah

Exit Ticket

4. Where do Jews believe that all people go following their death?

A.Heaven

B. Hell

C. Nowhere

D.Sheol

5. Which of the following is NOT kosher?

A.Draining all of the blood from a slaughtered animal

B. Eating pork and shellfish

C. Mixing vegetables and grains

D.Storing meat and dairy separately

Homework

• Cain and Abel reading and questions