The Principles of Judaism

• The Israelites were agroup of Semitic-speaking people.Their religion ofJudaism wouldinfluence the laterreligions ofChristianity andIslam.

• The Jews of ancienthistory were known asHebrews or Israelites(people of Israel). Muchof the information thatwe know about themcomes from the Torah,the Jews most sacredreligious text. The storybegins with a mannamed Abraham.

• According to the Torah,Abraham lived near Ur inMesopotamia. About2000 B.C., he and hisfamily migrated the into aregion called Canaan.Here near the easternMediterranean coastAbraham founded theIsraelite nation.

• The book of Genesis tellsthat a famine forced manyIsraelites to migrate toEgypt. They spent 400years there

• An Israelite namedMoses finally ledhis people in theirexodus, or escape,from Egypt. Intime they madetheir way back toCanaan.

• By 1000 B.C. the Israelites hadset up in Canaan, a kingdom ofIsrael. King David was able tounite the feuding Israelitestribes into a single nation.

• David’s son Solomon turnedJerusalem into an impressivecapital with a splendid templededicated to God. Solomon wonfame for his wisdom andunderstanding. He also tried toincrease Israel’s influence bynegotiating with powerfulempires in Egypt andMesopotamia.

• Israel paid a heavy price forSolomon’s ambitions. His buildingprojects required high taxes andso much forced labor that revoltserupted soon after his deathabout 922 B.C. The kingdom thensplit into Israel in the north andJudah in the south.

• Weakened by this division, theIsraelites could not fight offinvading armies. In 722 B.C., Israelfell to the Assyrians.

• The Babylonians laterdisplaced the Assyrians. In586 B.C. Babyloniancaptured Judah. TheirKing Nebuchadnezzardestroyed the temple andforced the Israelites intoexile near Babylon. Thisbecame known as theBabylonian Captivity.

• Later the Persian rulerCyrus conquered Babylonand freed the Israelites.Many returned to Judahand became known asJews

God’s Covenant With the Israelites• To the Israelites, history and faith

were interconnected. They did notseparate their religious beliefsfrom their social, economic, orpolitical lives. Each event in theirhistory reflected God’s plan forthem. In time the Israelites cameto see themselves as a religiousgroup. They began to collect theirstories in what would become theHebrew Bible. The religion ofmodern Judaism began after manyof the exiles returned fromBabylon to Palestine.

• Judaism is unique among thereligions in ancient western Asiaand Egypt in being monotheistic.This god was not fixed to any oneplace. Yahweh was lord of thewhole world. He was aboveeverything in nature.

• He watched over his people andpunished them for wrong doings,but was merciful too. Since Humanbeings were gods special creatures,they were expected to rise abovenature. In Judaism if they failed todo so, they have done wrong, orsinned.

• Jewish ideas can be tracedin three aspects of theirreligion- the covenant,law, and the prophets.

• In Jewish tradition Godmade a covenant orcontract with his peoplewhen Moses (“The LawGiver”) lead them out ofbondage into thepromised land. God wouldguide them as long as theyfollowed the TenCommandments.

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• The first fourCommandments stressthe religious duties ofthe individual towardGod, such as keeping theSabbath, a holy day forrest and worship. Therest of them are rules forindividual conducttoward other people.They include “Honoryour father and mother,”and “You shall not steal”

• The Ten Commandments spell out thefundamental laws God expects Jews tofollow. A similar set of laws that Godexpected Jews to follow, the SevenUniversal Laws, applied to all people,not just Jews. They includedprohibitions against murder androbbery. One difference between it andthe Ten Commandments was itcommanded people to establish courtsto enforce the other laws. This idea ofuniversally accepted moral and ethicalprinciples backed by a system of justiceis a source of the modern concept ofbasic human rights in international law

1. Prohibition ofIdolatry

2. Prohibition ofMurder

3. Prohibition ofTheft

4. Prohibition ofSexual immorality

5. Prohibition ofBlasphemy

6. Prohibition ofeating flesh takenfrom an animalwhile it is still alive

7. Establishment ofcourts of law

• The Prophets were thesecond importantelement of Jewishtradition. Jews believedthat God sent prophets,or religious teachers, asa voice to speak to hispeople. The prophetsflourished from roughly900 B.C. to 500 B.C., atime that coincided withthreats to the Israelitesor even their conquest.

• The message of the prophets was that thatthe Jews had not been faithful but if theyturned from evil, God would be merciful.Unjust actions brought punishment.

• Some prophets preached a strong code ofethics, or moral standards of behavior. Thecried out against social injustices. Theycondemned the rich for making theirneighbors suffer. The rich should share withtheir neighbors and care for the unfortunates.

• Judaism was also unique because it gave all peopleaccess to God’s wishes. Gods wishes were deliveredby the prophets and were written down in the Torah(the Jewish Bible). As a result, no leader could claimthat he alone knew them.

• The book of Genesis declares: “God created man inhis own image.” This idea later passed into Westernculture as political equality, or equality before thelaw. Unlike many ancient societies whose peoplelooked on their ruler as god, Jews saw their leadersas fully human and bound to obey God’s law. In thisway, Judaism contributed to the rise of anotherimportant democratic concept, the rule of law.

The Diaspora• The Babylonian

Captivity, in 586 B.C.,marked the start of thediaspora, or scatteringof the Jews. When thecaptivity ended, not allof the Jews returned toCanaan. Some stayed inBabylon and othersmigrated elsewhere inthe Middle East andMediterranean.

• Jews in Canaan livedunder Persian andHellenistic rulers untilthe 100s B.C. when aJewish family formed anindependent kingdom.Then in 63 B.C. theRoman general Pompeymarched his army intoPalestine and capturedJerusalem. He turnedJudea into a RomanProvince.

• Influenced by Hellenism,some Jews had taken upGreek ways. Others hadresisted cultural changes,keeping traditional Jewishcustoms. These groupsoften clashed.

• In this tense atmosphere,new Jewish groups arose.One of these developedunder the followers of aJew named Jesus and anew religion, Christianity.

• Roman mismanagementled to furtherdisturbances throughoutthe region. In A.D. 66,sporadic incidents turnedinto a full-blown Jewishrevolt against Romanrule. Four years later theRomans destroyed theJewish temple inJerusalem.

• By the time of the revolt, thenumber of Jews outside ofCanaan far exceeded thoseliving in the homeland. Thescattering of the Jewscontinued through thefollowing centuries andJudaism spread through theMiddle East and into Europe.Still for Jews everywhere,Canaan, later called Palestine,remained the center of theirculture and religion. It is onlyafter World War 2 and theholocaust was there renewedcalls for the creation of a newJewish nation in the“Promised Land.”