A Brief Introduction to Judaism

Christopher Partridge, Tim Dowley, Christopher Partridge, Tim Dowley

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781506450407
• eBook ISBN: 9781506450414
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

This brief introduction to Judaism is designed to help readers understand this important religious tradition. With both nuance and balance, this text provides broad coverage of various forms of Judaism with an arresting layout with rich colors. It offers both historical overviews and modern perspectives on Jewish beliefs and practices. The user-friendly content is enhanced by charts of religious festivals, historic timelines, updated maps, and a useful glossary. It is ideal for courses on Judaism and will be a useful, concise reference for all readers eager to know more about this important religious tradition and its place in our contemporary world.

2

JUDAISM

SUMMARY

More than any other world religion, Judaism can be thought of as the religion of a particular people – or indeed as being that people, rather than their religion. In part, this goes back to the shared, though disputed, story of national origin transmitted to us by scripture. According to this tradition, the people of Israel are bound by a covenant as God’s elect to fulfil his obligations, in return for their special status. This tradition is central to the religion today: Judaism’s most popular festivals, such as Passover and Hanukkah, commemorate key events from this version of the community’s past. The religion of the ancient Judeans, based around the maintenance of the covenant through sacrificial rites, in time gave way to the rabbinic tradition, centred upon the synagogue, serving as a place of prayer, praise, and study.

The diaspora that followed the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem in 70 CE carried Judaism across much of the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. During the medieval period, many Jews – especially those in Muslim lands – made significant contributions to the arts and sciences, while those living in Christendom were frequently subjected to persecution and changing royal whim. By the twentieth century, though, Jewish communities formed part of the fabric of many European states. Reform of Judaism’s tradition formed one distinct strand of the European Enlightenment, and the increasing separation of church and state at this time provided a framework into which Judaism could comfortably fit. More recently of a variety of schools of thought has emerged within Judaism, maintaining different approaches to doctrine and worship, and sometimes differing over how to respond to the changes and challenges of the secular world.

Much of recent Jewish history is overshadowed by the Nazi Holocaust, and for many the memory of this event highlights the importance Jewish traditions and of the community itself. Since 1948, the state of Israel has been a centre for this community and home – along with many other countries – to the diverse schools of thought that together make it up.

9

A Historical Overview

Rabbinic Judaism today sees itself as a direct development from the time of Moses, the giver of the Torah, more than 3000 years ago. To understand the developing beliefs and practices of Judaism, we need to know something of the social and political events that affected Jewish communities. We also need to observe the ideas of their neighbours in order to understand the influence of the cultures with which they came into contact. Greek thought, Christianity, Islam, medieval philosophy, and charismatic movements have all affected the intellectual activity and popular customs of Judaism.

I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’ Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem, built as a city which is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! ‘May they prosper who love you! Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers!” For my brethren and companions’ sake I will say, ‘Peace be within you!’ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good. Psalm 122, Old Testament, Revised Standard Version

The Judean Exiles, c. 560 BCE

EXILE AND AFTER

The story of the early development of Judaism is much debated. The commonly accepted narrative, largely based on the polemical biblical texts of Ezra and Nehemiah – which actually refer to ‘people of Israel’ rather than ‘Jews’ – has been important for the later development of Jewish self-understanding, but is not necessarily founded in historical reality.

This popular story of Judaism begins in the late sixth century BCE, when the Persian Empire was dominant in the Middle East. In 586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II, King of the neo-Babylonian Empire, destroyed Jerusalem, and many its people were taken captive to Babylon, along with much of the population of Judea. In both Babylon and Egypt there were now communities of people who still considered themselves Judeans – consisting largely of mercenary soldiers and of prisoners of war and their families – some of whom were agents of the ruling power, and for that reason privileged. In Egypt, where this caused much resentment, the Judeans remained separate, following the religion and customs they brought with them.

The Judeans believed there should be just a single Temple, the only place where religious sacrifice could be carried out. While they lived in Judah, it was possible for all to make the pilgrimage to this Temple in Jerusalem; but in exile this became difficult, if not impossible – though the Jews of the Dispersion apparently made great efforts to visit Jerusalem and worship in obedience to the Torah, the written teaching. To meet this obstacle, and in an attempt to maintain some continuity with the past, houses of assembly – beitei knesset in Hebrew, ‘synagogues’ in Greek – were set up in Babylon, and prayer, singing or chanting, teaching, and reading and discussion of the Torah – but not sacrifice – took place in them. Some time during this period, scribes also first appeared. Based in the synagogue, their role was to understand the Torah and interpret its rules for the contemporary situation. This ‘guild of scholars’ seems eventually to have evolved into the rabbis of rabbinic Judaism.

In 539 the army of Cyrus II, ‘the Great’, of Persia captured Babylon, and Cyrus gained nominal control of the Babylonian Empire. According to Ezra 1:3, he permitted the Hebrews to return from exile and rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem. When Hebrew religious leaders returned to Jerusalem, the city was apparently established as a Temple community, led by the priests, as Cyrus would not allow the restoration of the monarchy. According to Ezra/Nehemiah, a strict separation between Judean – ‘Jews’ – and non-Judean in Judah was enforced by the Hebrews’ leaders, Ezra and Nehemiah, a separation apparently marked by circumcision, observance of Shabbat – the Jewish Sabbath – and of the Sabbatical year, recognition of the Torah (the first five books of Jewish scripture), and obligations to the Temple in Jerusalem. Rigorists also required that marriage arrangements should be made only between Judeans.

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. Psalm 137:1–6, Old Testament, New International Version

THE HELLENISTIC KINGDOMS

After Alexander the Great won the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE, an era of prosperity commenced in the region. Cities founded on the Greek pattern grew rapidly, with Alexandria becoming the leading city in Egypt within a few years of its foundation. The Judean community there was substantial, and Greek – rather than Aramaic – became their language. People even tried to look Greek! The Greek language was the medium by which Greek ideas, attitudes, and ways of reasoning were passed on. People who could read Greek – especially those living in Alexandria – might have had an opportunity to read the great Greek philosophers in the original. But it seems Greek-speaking Jews were not drawn away from their customs as much as some feared, and still visited Jerusalem to celebrate the festivals in the Temple.

After the death of Alexander, his empire broke up into smaller units, principally the kingdoms of Macedonia, Egypt, and the Seleucids. When the Parthian Empire rose to power in the third century BCE, the Seleucid Kingdom, which had included Babylon, was gradually reduced to only the Syrian region, and Babylon came under Parthian control. The Jews remaining in Babylon were now cut off from other Jewish communities, and Aramaic remained their language, adding a linguistic barrier to that of politics. The Jewish communities of Babylon and of the Greek-influenced, or ‘Hellenized’, kingdoms inevitably developed differently, though they were united by a common scripture and emphasis on Jerusalem and its Temple, where priests were leaders, and the high priest politically and economically powerful.

TENSION AND REVOLT

In 191–190 BCE the Romans, turning their eyes towards the East, defeated King Antiochus III of Syria; it was probably prisoners of war from this conflict who...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• Consulting editors
• Contributors
• List of Maps
• List of Time Charts
• List of Festival Charts
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• UNDERSTANDING RELIGION
• JUDAISM
• Gallery
• Rapid Fact-Finder
• Index
• Picture Acknowledgments