Chapter 5: Beliefs - Judaism

Flashcards summarizing key beliefs about the human condition, sin, free will, and repentance in Judaism from Chapter 5 lecture notes.

Judaism's view of the human condition

A person is neither inherently good nor inherently evil, but born with two conflicting inclinations.

Yetzer Hatov

Innate drive for all creative and constructive action, music, poetry, art, as well as moral concern for justice, love, compassion, and righteousness; the impulse for doing good.

Yetzer Hara

The aggressive impulse that can lead to wrongdoing, but can also be channeled into positive directions like building, marrying, or engaging in trade; the innate drive for aggrandizement, competition, greed, lust, and temptation to succeed at any cost.

Sin in Judaism

Understood as a state of action, not a state of being, and not an original sin inherited by all future generations.

Adam's disobedience (Garden of Eden)

Not considered an original sin that contaminated all future generations, but a transgression to which all people may succumb due to their own imperfections, serving as an object lesson in the inevitable limitation of finite creatures.

Individual responsibility in Judaism

Every individual is fully responsible for their own sin, despite any effects of Adam's fall, emphasizing free will.

Atonement for inherited guilt (Judaism)

Judaism does not require a person to atone for a burden of guilt inherited from the past, nor were ancient temple sacrifices associated with eternal or intentional sin.

God's intervention for human nature (Judaism)

Judaism does not embrace the hope that God would intervene to remove a curse of guilt from Adam's descendants or redeem people from a presumably corrupt evil nature.

Human moral freedom (Judaism)

The sin of Adam did not extinguish human moral freedom or initiative; people are endowed with free will to choose between good and evil.

Focus of Jewish theology on sin

Centered not on the origin of sin, but on the avoidance of wrongdoing and on ways to eliminate it.

Repentance (Teshuvah) in Judaism

The highest of virtues, emphasizing that if a person has committed a sin, one may repent and be forgiven through a human undertaking, not a mystery or sacrament.

Four-step process of Jewish repentance

1. Readiness to acknowledge wrongdoing; 2. Acts of compensation for injury inflicted; 3. Genuine resolve to avoid repetition of the same sinful deed; 4. Praying for forgiveness and cherishing the expectation of receiving God's mercy.

Purpose of life in Jewish tradition

To achieve as much moral potential as one's humanity will allow, control and channel aggressive inclinations, and make individual choices between good and evil, as every person is perfectible.