Exploring the Religions of Our World Chapter 2

Dead Sea Scrolls

Between 1947 and 1956 thousands of biblical and early Jewish documents were discovered near the Dead Sea. These have illuminated the cultural and religious background which Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity arose from.

Yom Kippur

Day of Atonement, day of prayer, fasting, and repentance. Jews ask for forgiveness for both communal and personal sins

10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

Days of Awe, Jews strive to turn back to the proper way of living

Purim

Feast of Lots; celebrates victory over the Persian prime minister Haman, story in the Book of Esther

Sukkot

Feast of Tabernacles, commemorates the 40 years of wandering in the desert

Shavuot

Feast of Weeks, originally a harvest festival celebrating the first fruits of the what harvest. Later associated with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai

Hanukkah

Festival of Lights, commemorates the victory of the Jews led by Judas the Maccabean over the Syrian Greeks

Mezuzah

Means "doorpast", a small parchment containing Jewish scripture, usually the Sh'ma, that is placed in a case or near the right doorframe at the home of an observant Jews.

Polytheistic

Subscribing to the doctrine or belief that there are multiple Gods

Monotheistic

Subscribing to the doctrine or belief that there is only one God

Hellenization

The adoption of Greek ways and speech as happened in the case of Jews living in the Diaspora.

Diaspora

The dispersion of the Jews beyond Israel

Bimah

The elevated platform in a Jewish Synagogue where the person reading aloud from the Torah stands during the service

Oral Torah

The explanation and interpretation of the Writen Torah. The Oral Torah was given to Moses by God at the same time as the Writen Torah.

Torah

The first five books of Scripture also called the Five Books of Moses. The Torah contains the 613 Jewish laws.

Talmud

Two long collections of Jewish religious literature that are commentaries on the Mishnah, the Hebrew code of laws that emerged about 200 AD.

Pentateuch

the Five Books of Moses; familiar to Christians as the Old Testament books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. and Deuteronomy

Midrash

A way of interpreting the biblical text. There is no one definitive version, but examples of it are found in the Talmud.

Mishnah

Meaning "teaching." It is a writen down version of the Oral Torah that was codified around 200 AD

Havdalah

A religious ceremony that symbolically ends the Shabbat, usually recited over kosher wine or kosher grape juice.

Ark

A repository traditionally in or against the wall of a synagogue for the scrolls of the Torah.

Menorah

A candelabra with seven or nine lights that is used in Jewish worship

mitzvot

A commandment of the Jewish law.

Three uses of the synogague

1. assembling 2. studyings 3. prayers

Auschwitz

A Nazi concentration camp where many Jewish people were killed

Covenant

A binding and solemn agreement between human beings or between God and his people, holding each to a particular course of action.

Hasidism

From the Hebrew meaning "pius," a movement within Judaism founded in eighteenth-century Poland where pious devotion to God is as important as study of Torah.

Halakhic

From the Hebrew meaning "way," Jewish law that covers all aspects of the life of an individual and of the community.

kosher

From the Hebrew word kaser, meaning "proper." Commonly, it refers to food permitted by Jewish dietary laws. Jews observe kosher laws to remind themselves that they are to be a holy and separate people.

Zionism

From the name Zion (historical land of Israel), it is the movement with origins in the nineteenth century that sought to restore a Jewish homeland in Palestine in response to anti-Semitism.

Idolatry

Giving worship to something or someone other than the one God.

Septuagint

Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible

Rabbi

Hebrew for "My Master" or "My Teacher." A rabbi became known as someone who was authorized to teach and judge in matters of Jewish law.

Shoah

Hebrew for "calamity"; usually refers to the mass murder of Jews by Nazis during World War II

Shabbat

Jewish Sabbath, sunset Friday until sunset Saturday

Rosh Hashanah

Jewish new year, day of judgment and commemoration of creation

Pesach

Passover, commemorates the exodus from Egypt

Shofar

Ram's Horn used in the central ritual in the celebrations of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

Tanakh

The Hebrew Scripture consisting of three parts: Torah, Nevi'im, & Ketuvim

Nevi'im

The prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos.

Holy of Holies

The sanctuary inside the tabernacle in the Temple of Jerusalem where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.

Ketuvim

The writings including Job, Psalms, and Proverbs.

The use of the temple

Where the ritual sacrifice of animals