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