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Final Exam
Judaic Lit Final Exam Study Guide
36
Religious Studies
Undergraduate 1
05/06/2013

Additional Religious Studies Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
The Sabbath in practice, basis of:
Definition
•Being Jewish involves doing(emunah)→ones way of life is how one fulfills the covenant. The sabbath is observed by doing or not doing. *39 labours
Term
High Holy days:
Definition
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and they occur at the beginning of the Jewish Year (in the fall) and are devoted to repentance and new beginning
Term
Passover(Pesach):
Definition
•The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in ancient Egypt, and their birth as a nation under the leadership of Moses. On the first night of Passover families gather for a special dinner called a seder. During this meal, the story of the Exodus from Egypt is retold using a special text called the Haggadah.
Term
Feast of Booths(Sukkot):
Definition
* Week long festival in the Fall. The Hebrew word sukkōt is the plural of sukkah, "booth or tabernacle", which is a walled structure covered with schach (plant material such as leafy tree overgrowth or palm leaves). The sukkah reminds Jews of the dwellings in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. the eighth day of Sukkot (Tabernacles) was the concluding festival of the fruit harvest.
Term
Feast of Weeks(Shavuot):
Definition
when the entering of the covenant first began→revelation at Sinai (“Giving of the Torah”)conclusion of the Counting of the Omer is a verbal counting of each of the forty-nine days between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot which represents spiritual preparation and anticipation for the giving of the Torah. Shavuot is also connected to the season of the grain harvest in Israel. Shavuot was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest.
Term
Teshuvah:
Definition
The process of returning to God, ten special days for a communal return to God begins with Rosh Hashanah and ends with the Day of Atonement. Jonah, Esther, and Ruth all relate to a festival, they are among the most popular stories from the Torah.Remember – by “returning” to God, one is atoning
Term
Day of Atonement:
Definition
•Book of Jonah is a three chapter book read in the afternoon and is a meaningful text about returning to God, also injects a notion of a universal God (God for all people) into the Day of Atonement, at the end God makes a point to Jonah about repentance and returning to God
Term
Purim:
Definition
•→Book of Esther read in the Synagogue from a scroll, several works included in the writings, megillah. A festival out of the Book of Esther, it is an entertaining story that makes a point about threats to the Jews which still has meaning to Jews today and also about the overcoming of a threat, Jews are safe in the end through Esther and her cousin. Esther and her cousin are Jews – the King had not realized he married a Jew. When he found out Esther was Jewish, he wanted to help her people.
• The festival is a celebration of the fact that through Esther’s interference with the King, the Jews were allowed to attack their enemies
Term
Book of Ruth on Shavuot:
Definition
• This is a biblical story read during Shavuot. The Book of Ruth corresponds to the holiday of Shavuot both in its descriptions of the barley and wheat harvest seasons and Ruth's desire to become a member of the Jewish people, who are defined by their acceptance of the Torah. Moreover, the lineage described at the end of the Book lists King David as Ruth's great-grandson. According to tradition, David was born and died on Shavuot. The story of Ruth can also be seen as an allegory of the Children of Israel leaving Egypt behind and reaching Mount Sinai where they received the Torah.
Term
Haggadah and Seder:
Definition
A creation of post destruction of the temple, created mostly by rabbis, midrashic expansion of the stories of Exodus. It is used to demonstrate how one can relive the story of redemption once the temple had been destroyed. Considered one of the best examples of midrashic literature, which include pslams, which are recited on all the festivals and the beginning of every Jewish month. The pslams go back to the time of the temple and the celebration of the Passover sacrifice. The Haggadah contains the narrative of the Israelite exodus from Egypt, special blessings and rituals, commentaries from the Talmud, and special Passover songs.)
Term
Covenantal Symbols:
Definition
Kippot - "Cover your head in order that the fear of heaven may be upon you."
Tzitzit (also known as tallit)- According to the Torah, the purpose of wearing tzitzit is to remind Jews of their religious obligations.
Tefillin - The tefillin are to serve as a reminder of God's intervention at the time of the Exodus from Egypt. tefillin are placed on the arm adjacent to the heart and on the head above the brain to demonstrate that these two major organs are willing to perform the service of God. Worn while praying.
Mezuzah- And you shall inscribe them on the doorposts ("mezuzot") of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be prolonged upon the land, which the L-rd swore to give to your fathers for as long as the heavens are above the earth. to halakha, the mezuzah should be placed on the right side of the door or doorpost, in the upper third of the doorpost. Contains part of the Shema.
Term
Shema:
Definition
the Shema is a biblical verse that affirms belief in one God and is the basis of these covenantal symbols.
Term
Kashrut:
Definition
• The set of Jewish dietary laws. Food that may be consumed according to halakha (Jewish law) is termed kosher in English. Most of the basic laws of kashrut are derived from the Torah's Books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
Term
Bar/Bat Mitzvah:
Definition
• Bar/Bat Mitzvah is the becoming a son/daughter of mitzvah (a commandment, known in dictionary as good deed) and reflects the Halakah (the expansion upon the commandments about how a Jew should life their life) as someone who is now responsible for keeping/observing the commandments.
Term
Kiddushin:
Definition
Kiddushin deals with the initial stage of marriage - betrothal, as well as the laws of Jewish lineages. It consists of 4 chapters. (Sanctifies man and wife for each other)
Term
Abraham Geiger:
Definition
Early Reform. When, where, why?
•He was a German rabbi and scholar from the 19th century who led the founding of Reform Judaism. He sought to remove all nationalistic elements (particularly the "Chosen People" doctrine) from Judaism, stressing it as an evolving and changing religion.
• Argues that the one consistent theme thought the Torah is the emphasis of the prophets on ethical monotheism-must live in accordance with one’s belief, Judaism is about a way of life, God expects man to live ethically
Term
Zachariah Frankel:
Definition
Positive Historical Judaism (argued that the way Jews practiced in the past mattered to the present – in contrast to the Reform movement). The idea of Positive Historical Judaism evolved into Conservative Judaism in the US under Schechter who used many of Frankel’s ideas.
Term
"Modern Orthodoxy's" German roots. Samson Raphael Hirsch, "Neo-Orthodoxy":
Definition
“Torah with Derekh Eretz “-“Torah with the way of the land” meant secular knowledge, you have an obligation to study all the forms of secular knowledge even if it threatens tradition because believed that the Torah can withstand all these challenges, also if something true came through these studies it would only enhance the Torah
Term
Solomon Schechter:
Definition
Founder and President of United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of the American Conservative Jewish movement.Also, Schechter believed that there was a universal catholic Israel (note the lowercase “c” nothing to do with Catholicism!)
Term
Israel Baal Shem Tov/ “the Besht” and Hasidism:
Definition
Israel Baal Shem Tov was the founder of Hasidism (believed one should connect to God joyfully and not with melancholy) The Hasidim made popular Devekut which was the kabbalistic idea of clinging to God – this idea was to show that all Jews were individually responsible for bringing redemption to the people
Term
Elijah the Vilna Gaon:
Definition
a scholar and an opponent of Hasidism
Term
“Rashi;” RAbbi SHlomo Itzhaki:
Definition
He is considered the "father" of all commentaries that followed on the Talmud. (Torah and Chumash – printed torah rather than scroll)Lived in 11th century France.
Term
Maimonides:
Definition
Mishneh Torah consists of fourteen books, subdivided into sections, chapters, and paragraphs. It is the only Medieval-era (12th century) work that details all of Jewish observance, including those laws that are only applicable when the Holy Temple is in existence, and remains an important work in Judaism.
Term
Moses Mendelssohn:
Definition
lived in the 18th century and was a philosopher of the enlightenment. Although himself a practicing orthodox Jew, he has been referred to as the father of Reform Judaism.
Term
Felix Mendelssohn:
Definition
A grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn was born into a prominent Jewish family, although initially he was raised without religion and was later baptised as a Reformed Christian.
Term
Columbus Principles:
Definition
The Columbus Principles changed their views from the views of the Pittsburgh Platform since that older platform was less traditional and dealt with issues unfamiliar with Jews from Eastern Europe who now made up a large percentage of Jews in America.
Term
Mordecai Kaplan and “Reconstructionism:”
Definition
Judaism as a religious “civilization”
Term
Protocols of the Elders of Zion; Mein Kampf; Dostoyevsky and the Jews:
Definition
These are anti-Semitic works/people (The Protocols were a forged document which anti-Semites claimed was written by Jews who wanted world domination)
Term
The “Four Wars of Palestine”
Definition
The first is a Palestinian war to destroy the State of Israel, the second is a Palestinian war to create an independent state alongside Israel, ending the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the third is an Israeli war for the security of israel within the 1967 borders, and the fourt is an Israeli war for Greater Israel, for the settlements and the occupied terretories. The corrupted view of these wars by the Western countries produce idealogical caricatures and encourage Palestinians and Israelis to fight.
Term
Brother Daniel:
Definition
Brother Daniel had converted to Christianity after hiding in a church during the start of the Holocaust– he was not granted citizenship in Israel under the Law of Return since he was no longer religiously a Jew. He saved many Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
Term
Judah HaLevi:
Definition
a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, either in Toledo or Tudela, and lived during the late 11th and early 12th Century. He died shortly after arriving in Palestine in 1141. Halevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets, celebrated both for his religious and secular poems, many of which appear in present-day liturgy. His greatest philosophical work was The Kuzari. the subtitle "The book of refutation and proof on behalf of the most despised religion" shows its purpose and context in medieval Jewish apologetics which were were texts written to protect and persuade Jewish communities from conversion to Christianity.
Term
Simon Dubnow:
Definition
the Jews as a “spiritual nation” –with common memories
Term
The disputation:
Definition
a debate over the nature of Judaism that occurred in the middle ages between a rabbi and an apostate of Judaism (someone who left Judaism)
Term
The Chosen:
Definition
In the chosen two religious Jews try to understand the different ways they chose to practice Judaism. One is Hasidic, and the other is Zionist. The story focuses on two boys as their relationship is influenced by their fathers, politics, school, and relationships.
Term
The Frankfurt Conference 1845
Definition
the major issue determined there dealt with the language used in synagogue
Term
Gentleman's Agreement:
Definition
Deals with Antisemitism in all places: Home, Work, School, Pleasure. Writer calls himself a Jew and hopes to write, exposing antisemitism in America, but ends up being affected more deeply than he imagined as he realizes that even with the Jewish community there are prejudices. The idea itself that he could simply call himself Jewish is challenged when he realizes how even as he does not inwardly recognize himself as part of the faith, he is deeply wounded by the reactions of other people and he learns not to try to react as a Jew would, but how a person under any banner of religion or race would. His marriage, relationship with his son, and his relationship with his mother are all at one point threatened.This is realized when he sees how radically he changes in personality as he becomes a zealot against antisemites. It becomes obvious that it is a fight that can only be fought by the people who are legitimately suffering. The end lesson is that through silence you condone prejudice.
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