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JUDAISM

To Christians, Judaism is unique among world religions. It is to historic Judaism, the Judaism of the Old Testament, that Christianity traces its roots. Christianity does not supplant Old Testament Judaism; it is the fruition of it.

One cannot hold to the Bible, Old and New Testaments, as God's divine revelation without also recognizing and honoring the place God has given historic Judaism. As the apostle Paul recited, these are some of the blessings God has given to the Jewish people:

To whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen (Romans 9:4,5, NASB).

Judaism has undergone many changes throughout its long history. At times it has been very close to the true God, serving Him in spirit and in deed. At other times it has ranged far from the will of God, forsaking its promises to Him, while He has remained faithful to Israel.

Statement of Faith

One of the great figures in Jewish history was Moses Maimonides, a Spanish Jew who lived in the 12th century A.D. Maimonides, a systematic thinker, tried to condense basic Jewish beliefs into the form of a creed.

Although criticized afterward by some, his creed is still followed by the traditional forms of Judaism. The creed is expressed in these thirteen basic beliefs:

1. 1 believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is the Creator and Guide of everything that has been created; and He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.

2. 1 believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is One, and that there is no unity in any manner like unto His, and that He alone is our God, who was, and is, and will be.

3. 1 believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is not a body, and that He is free from all the properties of matter, and that He has not any form whatever.

4. 1 believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is the first and the last.

5. 1 believe with perfect faith that to the Creator, blessed be His Name, and to Him alone, it is right to pray, and that it is not right to pray to any being besides Him.

6. 1 believe with perfect faith that all the words of the prophets are true.

7. 1 believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses, our teacher, peace be unto him, was true, and that he was the chief of the prophets, both of those who preceded and of those who fol­lowed him.

8. 1 believe with perfect faith that the whole Torah, now in our pos­session, is the same that was given to Moses, our teacher, peace be unto him.

9. 1 believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be changed, and that there will never be any other Law from the Creator, blessed be His Name.

10. 1 believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, knows every deed of children and men, and all their thoughts, as it is said. It is He that fashioned the hearts of them all, that gives heed to all their works.

11. 1 believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, rewards those that keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them.

12. 1 believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and, though he tarry, I will wait daily for his coming.

13. 1 believe with perfect faith that there will be a revival of the dead at the time when it shall please the Creator, blessed be His Name, and exalted be His Fame for ever and ever. For Thy salvation I hope, 0 Lord.

Jewish Holy Days

The cycle of Jewish holy days is called the sacred round. Based on the ancient Jewish calendar, these holy days serve to remind Jews regularly of significant historical events in which God displayed His covenant with them and to give them regular opportunity to display their commitment to God.

THE SABBATH

This is a holy day of rest, in commemoration of God's completed work of creation and in His later liberation of the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt. It is a day of joy and thanksgiving to God for His many blessings.

PASSOVER

Passover (Pessah), the festival of spring, is celebrated one month after Purim [the celebration of deliverance of the Jews from Haman's plotted massacre in the time of Esther]. It constitutes the beginning of harvest; therefore, it is a time of celebration. However, there is a deeper reason for the people to observe this holy day, as the Scriptures plainly reveal. This feast celebrates the deliverance of the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt.

SHABUOT

Shabuot, the feast of weeks, comes seven weeks after the Passover. Shabuot commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments. During ancient times the farmer would bring his firstfruits to the Temple on Shabuot and offer them to God. The day is also celebrated by the reading of the Ten Commandments and the recitation of the book of Ruth.

ROSH HASHANAH

Rosh Hashanah literally means "head of the year." It is the Jewish New Year, celebrated on the first two days of the month of Tishri (September-October). It is a solemn day of reflection on both the deeds of the past year and the hopes of the upcoming one.

YOM KIPPUR

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year, the Day of Atonement. It is celebrated ten days after Rosh Hashanah and is devoted to confession of sins and reconciliation with God. Problems with enemies must be reconciled before one can be right with God, and forgiving and forgetting is the order of the day. The day is spent without touching food or drink, the mind being devoted to God on the holiest of days.

SUKKOTH

Sukkoth is the feast of tabernacles, or booths. This festival, which commemorates the ingathering of the harvest, is one of three pilgrim feasts established in ancient times where yearly trips were made to the Temple of Jerusalem. It is known as the feast of the booths because the people lived in tabernacles, or temporary shelters, throughout its duration (Exodus 34:18-26). In modern times the people, for the most part, only take their meals in these tabernacles rather than living in them for the duration of the feast.

HANUKKAH

Hanukkah, observed for eight days in midwinter, is the only major feast that does not have its source in the Bible. This feast is based upon the story of the Maccabees, recorded in the Apocrypha. When Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167 B.C. introduced the worship of the Greek gods as the state religion, a small group of Jews led by Judas Maccabee staged a revolt.

Antiochus, who, among other things desecrated the Temple by slaughtering a pig in the Holy of Holies, was finally overthrown and freedom of religion returned to the land. Hanukkah is celebrated in observance of the heroic acts of the Maccabees.

The eight-branched candlestick, the Menorah, is integral to Hanukkah worship and commemorates a miracle that took place when the Temple was cleansed from the idolatrous acts of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The tradition states that only enough holy oil was found in the Temple to light the lamp for one night. However, because of the providence of God and as a sign that He blessed the Jewish cleansing and rededication of the Temple, God miraculously kept the lamp burning for eight days and nights.

Since Hanukkah is celebrated near the Christian Christmas holiday, it has borrowed some ideas from Christmas, including the giving of gifts (traditionally one to each child on each of the eight nights), and family gatherings. Especially among non-practicing and reform (liberal) Jews, Hanukkah is a very important holiday.

The Three Branches of Judaism

Very simply stated, modern-day Judaism can be divided into three groups: Orthodox, Conservative and Reform.

ORTHODOX

Orthodox Judaism designates the traditionalists who are united in their upholding of the Law.

Orthodox Judaism observes most of the traditional dietary and ceremonial laws of Judaism. It adheres to the inspiration of the Old Testament, although greater authority is given to the Torah (Law), the first five books, than to the rest.

CONSERVATIVE

Conservative Judaism is sort of a happy medium between Orthodox and Reform Judaism. Founded in the nineteenth century, the Conservative movement quickly gained strength in both Germany and the United States.

In 1918, six months after the Balfour Declaration, the Conservative movement announced:

We hold that the Jewish people are and of right ought to be at home in all lands. Israel, like every other religious communion, has the right to live and assert its message in any part of the world. We are opposed to the idea that Palestine should be considered the home-land of the Jews. Jews in America are part of the American nation.

The ideal of the Jew is not the establishment of a Jewish state - not the reassertion of the Jewish nationality which has been long outgrown. We believe that our survival as a people is dependent on the assertion and the maintenance of our historic religious role and not upon the acceptance of Palestine as a home-land of the Jewish people. The mission of the Jew is to witness to God all over the world.

REFORM

Reform Judaism is the liberal wing of Judaism. It is so culture- and race-oriented that it easily can neglect the spiritual and religious side of Jewish life. Rather than assuming that the religious life produces and molds the culture, Reform Judaism assumes that the culture and racial heritage of the Jews produced and molded the religious life. While belief and doctrine may be changeable or even dispensable, the cultural history of the race is vital to any continuation of Jewishness. There is little consensus on doctrinal or religious belief in Reform Judaism.

Doctrine

JUDAISM AND THE MESSIAH

While Christianity recognizes that the promise of a personal, spiritual savior is the core of biblical revelation, Judaism has long vacillated in its concept of messiahship.

In the course of Jewish history the meaning of the Messiah has undergone changes. Originally it was believed that God would send His special messenger, delivering Israel from her oppressors and instituting peace and freedom. However, today, any idea of a personal messiah has been all but abandoned by the majority of Jews. It has been substituted with the hope of a messianic age characterized by truth and justice.

GOD

The Orthodox Jewish concept of God is based upon the Old Testament. The Hebrew scholar Samuel Sandmel summarizes the biblical teaching:

The heritage from the Bible included a number of significant components about the Deity. God was not a physical being: He was intangible and invisible. He was the Creator and Ruler, indeed, the Judge of the World. He and He alone was truly God; the deities worshipped by peoples other than Israel were not God. Idols were powerless and futile; they were unworthy of worship; and indeed, to worship what was not God was a gross and sinful disrespect of Him.

THE SCRIPTURES

The sacred Scriptures of Judaism consists of documents arranged in three groups known as the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. These books were originally written in Hebrew, except for parts of Daniel and Ezra and a verse in Jeremiah which were composed in Aramaic. These books are synonymous with the 39 books of Christianity's Old Testament. Their composition was over a period of some one thousand years, from 1400-400 B.C.

The Jews do not hold each part of their writings in equal importance. The Law, the Torah, is the most authoritative, followed by the Prophets, which have lesser authority, and lastly the Writings.

SALVATION IN JUDAISM

Judaism, while admitting the existence of sin, its abhorrence by God, and the necessity for atonement, has not developed a system of salvation teaching as found in Christianity. Atonement is accomplished by sacrifices, penitence, good deeds and a little of God's grace. No concept of substitutionary atonement (as in Christianity in the person of Jesus Christ) exists.

ORIGINAL SIN

Judaism holds no concept of original sin. According to Christian belief, all human beings are born into the world with a sinful nature because of the transgression of Adam (Romans 5:12-21). Judaism's emphasis is not on original sin but original virtue and righteousness. Although Judaism acknowledges that man does commit acts of sin, there is not a sense of man being totally depraved or unworthy as is found in Christian theology.

Judaism and Christianity

Although there are marked differences in many areas of belief and practice between Judaism and Christianity, there is a common heritage that both religions share. The Jewish writer, Pinchas Lapide, comments:

We Jews and Christians are joined in brotherhood at the deepest level, so deep in fact that we have overlooked it and missed the forest of brotherhood for the trees of theology. We have an intellectual and spiritual kinship, which goes deeper than dogmatics, hermeneutics, and exegesis. We are brothers in a manifold "elective affinity"

-in the belief in one God our Father,
-in the hope of His salvation,
-in ignorance of His ways,
-in humility before His omnipotence,
-in the knowledge that we belong to Him, and He to us,
-in love and reverence for God,
-in doubt about our wavering fidelity,
-in the paradox that we are dust and yet the image of God,
-in the consciousness that God wants us as partners in the sanctification of the world,
-in the condemnation of arrogant religious chauvinism,
-in the conviction that love of God is crippled without love of neighbor,
-in the knowledge that all speech about God must remain in a stammering on our way to Him.

The book of Galatians gives us God's view of Jews and Gentiles today. Chapter 3 shows forcefully that God's blessings on the Jews were a means of showing His grace, which was fully expressed in the sacrifice of His son, Jesus Christ, on the cross for the sins of all, Jewish and Gentile. The gospel was preached beforehand to Abraham, the father of the Jews (5:8) and was given to the Gentiles in Jesus Christ (5:14).

The heritage of the Old Testament, preserved for all mankind by the Jews, points all of us, Jewish or Gentile, to Jesus Christ (5:22-24). Each man, whether of Jewish or Gentile heritage, must come to God through Jesus Christ. There is no other way to true peace with God. As Galatians 3:26-29 concludes,

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Jesus Christ. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

See Who is Jesus?

See Faith Asked Questions