RELI 1001 - Exam 1

How many creation narratives are there in the Book of Genesis?

Two Creation Narratives

How many number of days was the world created in?

Six Days

What day did God rest on?

Seventh Day

Who were the covenants made with?

Noah, Abraham, and Moses

What did the covenants establish?

A series of agreements between God and humanity (or more specifically, his people - Israel)

What country is Judaism only the majority religion in?

Israel

What is the second-largest Jewish population globally?

United States

What are the three major denominations of Judaism in the U.S?

Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed Judaism

What does tikkun olam mean?

To repair the world

What is the problem Judaism needs to address?

Exile (from God, from home)

What is the solution Judaism proposes for the problem?

Return (to God, to home)

Define Monotheism

Belief that there is only one god

What is the difference between strict monotheism (Judaism, Islam) and soft monotheism (Christianity)?

Strict Monotheism includes

• One God in a singular, unified person

  • No divine incarnation

• Exemplified by Shema

• Rabbi Stephen Wylen said, “One could deny God and still be Jew, but to deny the unity of God would be to remove oneself from the Jewish fold.”

What are names for God in Judaism?

• Tetragrammaton: YHWH

• Elohim

• Adonai

• HaShem (out of the Hebrew Bible)

Attributes of God in Judaism

• God is said to be beyond human comprehension

• God is observed as the creator of the Earth

• God generally can’t be seen by human beings

• God is described using bodily imagery

• God is anthropomorphized in other ways throughout Hebrew Bible

• God is eternal

• God is omnipresent

• God is good

• God is one

What are Moses Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles (1-5 and 10-11)?

1. God exists, is perfect, and is the cause of all that exists

2. God has absolute and unparalleled unity

3. God does not have a body

4. God existed before everything else

5. God is the only object of worship and praise, and one should pray directly to God

10. God knows everything that humans do

11. God rewards those who obey the Torah and punishes those who violate it

What is the literal meaning of “Torah?”

“Teaching” or “Instruction”

What are the first five books of the Hebrew Bible?

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

What is the distinction between the Torah, Written Torah, and Oral Torah?

• Torah: first five books of the Hebrew Bible

• Written Torah: the entire Hebrew Bible

• Oral Torah: the Talmud

What are the names of the two major sections of Genesis?

Primeval and Ancestral

What are the three major events that take place in Exodus?

• Account of Israelites fleeing from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses

• Name of God (YHWH)

• Law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai; Mosaic covenant established

What are the three areas of the law that Leviticus focuses on?

Sacrifice, Diet, and Ritual Purity

What happens at the end of the book of Deuteronomy?

Moses dies and is buried

What is the division of the Tanakh?

• Torah (teaching)

• Nevi’im (prophets)

• Ketuvim (writings)

What language is the Septuagint in?

Greek

What is the Latin abbreviation for Septuagint?

LXX

What is the English meaning of "Septuagint?”

“the Seventy”

Is Septuagint considered authoritative by most Jews?

No.

Who was traditionally considered to be the author of the Torah?

Moses

What are the major scholarly hypotheses for the composition of the Torah?

• Documentary Hypothesis

  • Developed by Julius Wellhasen

  • Four sources:

    • J - Yahwist

    • E - Elohist

    • D - Deuteronomist

    • P - Priestly Source

• Fragmentary Hypothesis

• Supplementary Hypothesis

What does “canon” mean?

• Authoritative body of scripture

• From a Greek word for “reed” or “measuring stick”

What events catalyzed the “writing down” of oral traditions that would eventually form the Hebrew Bible?

It was catalyzed by the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian Exile.

• No more worship, sacrifices in Temple

• Sacred texts became key

What group played a major role in compiling the texts during the Second Temple period?

Priests

What is the Deuteronomic view of history?

• The Torah ends with Deuteronomy and its conditional promise of blessing

• Deuteronomy begins with the most repeated passage in all of Hebrew Scriptire: the shema

• These verses are followed by the promise that if the Israelites worship rightly and act justly in the land of Canaan (Israel), things will go well

How is the Torah read in the context of congregational worship?

Through the worship and material culture of Judaism

What holiday commemorates the end/restart of the annual Torah reading cycle?

Simchat Torah

What is the educational institution where the Written and Oral Torah are studied?

Yeshivas

What is the Mezuzah?

Protective case containing parchment with Deut. 6:4-9 and Deut 11:13-21, placed over every door in a Jewish home (with some exceptions - e.g., not over the bathroom door)

What is the Tefillin?

• Leather straps that attach black boxes containing scrolls of biblical passages to the arm and forehead

• Worn during prayer, on the Sabbath or other important holidays

Where is the origin of the name “Israel” in the Hebrew Bible?

• First used in the Hebrew Bible as a name for the Patriarch Jacob: “one who wrestles with God”

• Later used as the name of the descendants of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Hebrew Bible

What is the literal translation of “Halacha?”

Often translated “law,” but perhaps more accurately translated as “path” or “way"

What is the significance of Halacha?

Halacha is not only a legal code but a way of life, and following, interpreting Halacha is central to Jewish tradition

What does Halacha cover?

• How to act towards others

• How to act towards God

What does the Halacha broadly construed of?

Agriculture, menstruation, animal husbandry, sacrificial offerings, ritual purity and pollution, holy days, oaths, haircuts, and clothing; and prohibitions against idolatry, lyingm astrology, eating vultures, incest, and male. homosexuality

Who built the First Temple?

King Solomon

When was the First Temple destroyed?

586 BCE

When was the Second Temple built?

515 BCE

When was the Second Temple destroyed?

70 CE by Romans

What developments took place during the Second Temple period?

• Solidification of Hebrew Bible canon

• Rise of the synagogue as a place of worship and prayer

• Increased interest in the fate of the human being in the afterlife; belief in bodily resurrection

What empire was Antiochus IV from?

Seleucid Empire

What did Antiochus IV do to Jews under his ruling?

Antiochus IV forced Hellenization, transgressing the law on Jews defiled the Temple in Jerusalem by erecting a statue of Zeus and offering sacrifices to pagan gods, observance of the Sabbath punishable by death; prohibited reading and teaching Mosaic law; slaughtered tens of thousands of Jews in Jerusalem

What were the Jewish responses to Antiochus IV?

• Some participated in a revolt led by the priestly Hasmonean family (also known as the Maccabean Revolt), which was ultimately successful in resisting Seleucid Rule

• Numerous texts composed during the time period also criticized the tyranny of Seleucid rule, including the Book of Daniel and the Animal Apocalypse in 1 Enoch 85-90

What were the groups in late Second Temple Judaism?

Essenes, Zealots, Sadducees, and Pharisees

What period did these groups in late Second Temple emerge?

Late Hasmonean Dynasty

What were the different beliefs regarding afterlife, resurrection?

• Sadducees: Rejected resurrection

• Essenes: Rejected resurrection

• Zealots: Believed in Revolution

• Pharisees: Believed in life after death and resurrection

What were the different attitudes of the groups in the Second Temple towards the Roman Empire, Greek culture, and society as a whole?

• Sadducees: Friendly to Roman rule; on the other hand, suspicious of efforts to accommodate Judaism to Greek culture

• Essenes: Completely rejected the authority of the Sadducees and the Roman Empire

• Zealots: Led a Rebellion against the Roman Empire (First Jewish Revolt)

• Pharisees: Most willing to accept Roman rule, Greek culture

Which group emerged the latest and participated the most in the first revolt against Roman rule?

Essenes

Which group is the most closely related to rabbinic Judaism today?

Pharisees

Who was the Jewish historian who provided one of the best accounts of the first revolt?

Josephus

What is the nickname of the leader of the second major Jewish revolt against Rome?

Shimon bar Kosiba, who was nicknamed “Bar Kokhba”

What are the two components of the Talmud?

Mishnah and Gemara

Who is the chief redactor of the Mishnah?

Judah ha-Nasi

What are the two different versions of the Gemara (/Talmud)?

Halakah and Aggadah

What is the First Crusade?

• Culminated in the slaughter of Jews (and Muslims) in Jerusalem in 1099

• Jews banned from Jerusalem

Who is Pope Innocent III?

He convened the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, which aimed to restrict the behavior of Jews. This included

• Wearing specific clothing to distinguish Jews from Christians

• Ban from holding public office

• Ban from appearing in public on Passion Sunday, last three days of Holy Week

What is the Convivencia?

Period of collaboration between Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Muslim Andalusia (modern Spain), which ended in 1492 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella – Jews expelled from Spain

• Under Muslim rule, Jews and Christians as fellow “people of the book,” were granted dhimmi status

  • Required to pay a poll tax

Where did the expulsions happen?

England, France, later Spain (Talmud burnings also occurred)

What was Rashi known for?

His commentaries on the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud

What was the name of Rashi’s followers (whose opinions have been preserved in the standard edition of the Babylonian Talmud)?

Disciples

What was Maimonides’ Hebrew nickname?

Rambam

What were the major works of Maimonides?

Mishneh Torah and Guide for the Perplexed

• Negative Theology: explaining God only by using statements about what God is not

Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles

The principles Maimonides set forth were contested by other Jewish thinkers, particularly the idea that God was incorporeal

Moses Mendelssohn

• Founder of the Haskalah

• Developed the idea of Judaism as revealed legislation rather than revealed religion, stressing that Judaism only mandated actions rather than faith

• Mendelssohn’s vision of Judaism consisted of being private, a matter of personal faith, completely voluntary, and independent from politics and all other secular spheres of life

Samson Raphael Hirsch

• Father of Modern Orthodox Judaism

• Affirmed “Torah and the way of the land”

• Idealization of the Israel-Mensch: a Jew who is religious and enlightened, observant and cultured, belonging fully to the Jewish people and to the modern world

Theodor Herzl

• Secular Jew, did not practice Judaism

• Advocated for the creation of a Jewish state

• Associated with Zionism

Haskalah

• Jewish Enlightenment

• Founder - Moses Mendelssohn

Why was Zionism rejected early on by many Orthodox and Reform Jews?

• Most Orthodox Jews felt that it was up to God and/or the Messaih to create a Jewish homeland

• Many Reform Jews were wary of Zionism, preferring assimilation into other cultures

What event led to the acceptance of Zionism among many Jews?

Holocaust

What is the greek meaning of Holocaust?

“Burnt offering”

What is the Hebrew meaning of Shoah?

“Destruction” or “Catastrophe”

Kristallnacht

• Jewish synagogues looted and burned down

• Jewish homes and businesses destroyed

• Ninety-one Jews killed

• Thousands of Jews sent to concentration camps

What was the percentage of European and global Jewish population killed?

• 2/3 of the Jewish population in Europe

• 1/3 of the Jewish population globally

What was the response of Holocaust theologian Richard Rubenstein?

Rejecting the idea of God as the “Lord of History” - i.e., a God who acts in human history - because, during the Holocaust, God had failed to intervene to save his people

Establishment of State of Israel

• UK Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour first suggested location in Palestine in 1917; officially established after end of WWII

• “Status quo” with Jordan

• Six-Day War of 1967

What are three smaller denominations/movements?

Reconstructionist, Humanistic, and Jewish Renewal

Different attitudes towards Jewish law

• Reform Jews: Not binding today and distinction between ritual and ethical laws

• Orthodox: Binding today and no distinction between ritual and ethical laws

• Conservative: Binding today and no distinction between ritual and ethical laws

Different attitudes towards Gender and Sexuality

• Reform: Mixed-gender seating; ordains both female and openly gay/lesbian rabbis; first to ordain a female rabbi in the U.S. (Sally Priesand); accepts same-sex unions

• Orthodox: Gender-segregated seating; doesn’t ordain women or openly gay/lesbian rabbis; doesn’t accept same-sex unions

• Conservative: Mixed-gender seating; ordains both female and openly gay/lesbian rabbis; accepts same-sex unions

Different Attitudes for Orthodox Judaism Subgroups

• Modern: More willing to engage with modern culture

• Haredim/Ultra-Orthodox: Try to distance themselves from the modern world

Other names for Sabbath

Shabbat, Shabbos

What are the beginning/ending times of Sabbath?

• Begins before sunset on Friday night

• Ends after sunset on Saturday night

• 25 hours in total

Number of laws governing what counts as work on the Sabbath

39 Melachot (Laws of Shabbat)

Different names for Synagogue

Synagogue, Shul, Temple

Prayer shawl (tallit)

• Worn by Jewish teens and adults who have had their bar mitzvah during services held on the Sabbath as well as holiday mornings

• Feature tzitzit (fringes), knotted in a special way to commemorate the 613 Commandments of the Torah and the oneness of God

Kippah (skullcap, yarmulke)

Many Orthodox Jewish men wear the kippah at all times; in other denominations, it is more common for men to wear the kippah during prayer, worship, and Torah study only; and in more progressive denominations, women also wear the kippah

Tefillin (phylacteries)

Two black leather boxes fasted with black leather straps, worn during morning services that do not fall on the Sabbath or a holiday

Two major prayers

Shema and Amidah

Number of blessings in the Amidah

19 blessings

Variations of the Amidah, depending on day and congregation

• Middle Section: modified during Sabbath morning services to highlight the holiness of the Sabbath, as well as during holiday services

• Opening Prayer, which invokes the patriarchs, is sometimes modified to include the matriarchs

Three major pilgrimage festivals

• Shavuot (Pentecost)

• Sukkot (Tabbernacles/Booths)

• Pesach (Passover)

What’s on the Seder plate that is assembled for the Passover?

• Zeroah: Shankbone represents the lamb sacrificed at the Temple of Jerusalem during the celebration

• Beitzah: Egg represents the Passover sacrifice as well as the cycle of life

• Charoset: Paste made of apples, nuts, and wine resembles the bricks and mortar the Jewish slaves were forced to make

• Maror: Bitter herb, usually horseradish, represents the bitterness of slavery in Egypt

• Karpas: Leafy vegetable is dipped in salt water to represent the tears of the Jewish people

• Chazeret: Another bitter herb seated with charoset and matzah