Friday: Kashruthttp://jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm

• Today: Shavu’ot

Monday: MIDTERMWEDNESDAY / FRIDAY

Breslauer:

Chapter 2:

“Formative Judaism”

Guest SpeakerNext Wednesday,

• 2:00-3:00 in C610

• Francis Landy: U of Alberta

• “Rotten Grapes Produce the Best Poetry: Isaiah 5.1-7, Rhetorical Entrapment and Intertextual Implication”

The Exodus Journey

• Escape from Egypt: Passover.

• Sinai: Giving of the Law: Shavu’ot.

• Wilderness: Sukkot.

Passover to Shavuot

• Time from leaving Egypt to arriving at Sinai where Moses and Israel were given the Torah.

• Time between is counted.

50 days between Passover and Shavu’ot

• “COUNTING OF THE OMER”– Second day of Passover

• OMER = unit of measure for grain

Counting of the Omer

• 7 weeks and 1 day = 50 days

• Time of partial mourning.

• Weddings etc. not allowed.

Shavu’ot

• Historical: God gives Torah

• Agricultural: “First Fruits” offering made to temple.

• June 5, 2003

• May 25, 2004.

Shavu’ot

• GIVING of Torah

• People always receiving Torah,

• God gave it first on Sinai.

Shavu’ot

• Work is not permitted

• Custom: Stay up all night and study Torah.

Shavu’ot

• Customs:

• Have a dairy meal: Israelites were heading towards “a land flowing with milk and honey”

– Kashrut laws given at Sinai:

Shavu’ot

• Custom: Read the book of Ruth, which takes place around the harvest time.

Tisha B’Av

• “Ninth of Av”. Usually in August

• Fast day (same basic rules as Yom Kippur)

• Book of Lamentations read in Synagogue.

Tisha B’Av

• Commemorates disasters

• Fall of 2 temples.

• Expulsions (e.g. Spain 1492).

New FestivalsBetween Pesach and Shavu’ot

• Yom HaShoah– Holocaust Memorial Day

– Celebrations for new state of Israel.

Festival Calendar:

• Autumn: High Holy Days / Sukkot

• Winter: dedication of temple

• Spring: Pesach / Shavu’ot

• Summer: Destruction of temple.

God13 Principles of Judaism

Beliefs in God:

Prophets

Moses

Don’t memorize them all…

Judaism: Ethnic or religious?

Who are the Jews?

• What is the history they tell themselves:

• Patriarchs• Exodus• Covenant• Land of Israel• Expulsion • Restoration• Diaspora.

Torah

• “Instruction” or “Law”

• ORAL and WRITTEN.

• RABBINIC Judaism

Kinds of Modern Judaism

• ORTHODOX

• CONSERVATIVE

• REFORM

• RECONSTRUCTIONIST

• ZIONIST

• 16 Million. Ca. 6 mill in USA.