Running head: JUDAISM

Judaism

JUDAISM Nowadays, there are many religions all over the world. As there are many different nations, so there are many religions, which actually proves the fact that all people are different and have different beliefs. People are born with the desire to have a strong faith in something, which actually helps overcome different problems and barriers and motivates people to improve and develop during entire life. Frankly speaking, I did not find it difficult to choose what religion to write about, though a lot of people find it difficult to choose a concrete religion to be described, as all the religions are very different and contain different beliefs and conceptions. People usually choose to write about something familiar, but this time I decided to write about not very familiar to me religion, Judaism. There are different opinions concerning this religion and actually a lot of misconceptions surround this religion, which actually drew my attention. Recently, I had the possibility to communicate with a person who was a very pleasant and friendly man. As he was very talkative, we touched upon different topics of interest and one of them was the issue of a religion. We touched this topic upon quite by chance. Two boys that were passing by were very rude and they nearly beat each other. At this very moment,

the man judged their behavior in a very severe way. Then, he added that he tried to do a lot of positive things in order to come to Paradise after death. My question followed immediately: Do you really believe in Hell and Paradise? He stated that it was one of the primary conceptions of his religion. He noticed my great interest in Judaism and invited me to a religious education center in order to get more information about the peculiarities of this religion. I took the invitation and visited the center, the impressions of which are unforgettable and the information I got there dispelled all my suppositions and refuted my misconceptions.

JUDAISM As soon as I entered the religious center, I was deeply impressed by the friendly atmosphere there. I imagined that the atmosphere there would be rather tense, as I believed that Judaism is a very strict religion, though that was not so. I believed that this religion was similar with other religions, but I found out that it differed from all other religions greatly. Judaism is considered to be the most ancient

religion: it appeared in 1077, though a lot of its conceptions existed even earlier. The citizens of Israel (Judaism is very popular there) lived in accordance with more than 600 of laws and in accordance with 10 commandments. They believed that any person who disobeyed some laws could not be a true religious person. Judaist laws touched upon different spheres of life, not only religious, which impressed me deeply, because the issues of other religions usually touch upon sacred things only. Judaist laws, however, dictated the norms of behavior, moral, ethic, and aesthetic standards, the rules that were popular in everyday life. More than that, Judaist laws dictated what was allowed to do and what was forbidden to do; it defined the way how to turn to God when praying, and so on and so forth. I believed that Judaist commandments differed from Christian commandments completely, but having analyzed Judaist commandments, I found out that they have much in common, though some of them are completely different. Some of Judaist commandments are: 1. There should be only one almighty God and people should not create other Gods; they should develop close relations and strong faith in one God only; 2. People should not provide animals, fish, or other creatures with magic power; 3. People are not allowed to create cult figures. More than that, in 1513 Before Christ, people were not allowed to create idols at all; 4. Saturday had a sacred meaning for Judaist people and they were not allowed to do anything on this very day, and many others. Despite the fact that all these laws were created many years ago, they are still very effective nowadays.

JUDAISM I must admit that in the process of conducting a research, I deepened my knowledge about the religion of Judaism and some of my understandings of this religion were altered. First and foremost, I was really interested in the history development of this religion. As a matter of fact, the number of Jewish people is not great, approximately 18 million, so people believed that Judaism religion did not deserve much attention. However, with the development and establishment of this religion, the interest to it grew a lot. The representatives of Judaist religion were the first people who believed in prophets, though it was not good and soon they felt it they survived a great punishment for their apostasy. The Almighty God wanted to show that apostasy was a wrong decision and in order to demonstrate it, He let the powerful Babylon Empire conquer the territory of Israel together with its temple and buildings. The citizens of Israel were considered to lose their

independence and become dependent on the Babylon Empire. There are a lot of historic facts that support this information. More than that, there is information that Israel was not an independent country for approximately 70 years (it happened in the sixth century Before Christ). As a matter of fact, Jewish people, the representatives of Judaist religion, survived a lot of troubles and overcame a lot of difficulties that deprived them from the possibility to develop freely and independently. Jewish people were always hated for their religion by the representatives of other religions. During the period of Holocaust, a lot of Judaist people were killed or became the slaves of the German nation. About 6 million were killed in one of the worlds largest examples of religious and racial intolerance (Description of Judaism: Jewish History and Texts). The representatives of Judaism that I had the possibility to communicate with told me much not only about their history and the problems that their ancestors had to cope with, but they rather told me much about their symbols and attributes, which possess sacred meanings.

JUDAISM Judaist men believe that all of them should wear a skull cap, as it indicates that they are very devoted to the norms and standards of their religion. Many Jewish people believe

that it is obligatory to wear a kerchief for women as well, though some Jewish people believe that it is not obligatory and Jewish people state that there are even some pieces of evidence that prove this fact. Some Hasidic women, on the contrary, believe that it is obligatory to wear kerchiefs as a proof of their devotion to the religion. Some women even decide to get rid of their hair and wear a wig, as they believe that it is more comfortable for them. Hasidic women believe that in case Judaist women are reluctant to wear a kerchief, they disgrace not only their family, but rather the whole nation. They confess that they try to wear a kerchief every time in order not to be judged by other people. Circumcision is every popular among Judaist people. Each Judaist boy practices the process of circumcision on the eighth day beginning from birthday. This tradition has a very long history and is often called as a kind of Abraham dealing. People believe that the process of circumcision is the result of a dealing that occurred between Abraham and Almighty God many years ago. I must admit that this was also a kind of misconception to me, as I believed that the process of circumcision is a part of a legend that was true in the past, but I was deeply impressed when I got to know that it is true and this process is implemented in real life nowadays. The concept of Saturday is of great significance inside the religion of Judaism. Judaist people believe that Saturday is considered to be the most important day of the week, (according to the Jewish view of the week) and this is the day that provides people with strength, energy, and power for the whole week. Judaist people believe that they are obliged to go the synagogue on this very day in order to pray to God. They believe that they have a strong contact with God on this very day. More than that, they believe that God justifies their desire to pray to Him and approves of their devotion.

JUDAISM I was really interested in their everyday life communication (their usual talks, issues of potential concern, and burning problems). Judaist people stated that one of their burning

questions touched upon Messiah. All Judaist people believed that David, the first king and the person who did everything possible in order to make Jerusalem the capital of the Jewish people, was a very talented person. As a result, Judaist people believed that Messiah should be like David: possess such bright and positive features of character, create different methods in order to contribute to the development of the country, and be a charismatic person that would mange to change the country and its life for the better. Judaist people admit that they waited for Messiah in the first centuries of Judaism establishment and this faith was strongly developed in the process of religion development. However, a lot of Judaist people got tired of waiting for Messiah and, as a result, they confess that they do not wait for Messiah anymore. I must confess that this information embarrassed me and made me hesitate whether Judaist people really have such a strong faith in their beliefs or not. A lot of people believe that Judaism as a religion developed in such a way thanks to its faith in Messiah, but now they state that these beliefs were common to Judaist representatives of previous centuries. However, much time passed since that time and no miracle happened, so they are persuaded that there is no reason to wait for Messiah. Consequently, a lot of people believe that Judaism developed with the help of strong faith of ancestors, who had strong beliefs and never changed them. It has been estimated that one-third of our Western civilization bears the marks of its Jewish ancestry The real impact of the ancient Jews lies in the extent to which Western civilization took over their angle of vision on the deepest questions life poses (Judaism ReligionFacts). Judaist people told me that they believe in the concept of Hell and in the concept of Paradise. They are persuaded that people are either encouraged or punished for their deeds on

JUDAISM

earth as soon as they die. They believe that people should be very tolerant and patient, live in accordance with Gods commandments, develop intimate relations with God, treat other people with dignity and respect, and so on and so forth in order to go to Paradise after death. However, not all people can do only good things due to the dualistic nature of humanity. In case the evil side of people prevails, they are likely to go to Hell after death. In addition, Judaist people believe that peoples physical body and soul exist separately from each other. According to their opinion, the soul never dies and the body just waits for the resurrection of all people. Judaists believe in eternal life on earth. They are persuaded that all people will be resurrected and death is a kid of transition from temporary life to permanent life, but only God knows when all people will be resurrected. I would like to recommend a step that should be taken into consideration in order to minimize or decrease the number of misconceptions popular among the representatives of other religions. People should never create some opinions about a religion that are based on rumors, legends, or on unchecked facts. On the contrary, if they have some questions or if they want to get some information, they should turn for help to the representatives of a particular religion either in reality or via virtual religious centers. People should always remember that they were born equal and nobody can deprive them of the possibility to get to know the information of a particular interest. Judaists believe that people are born equal and are allowed and encouraged to do good to others (Pelaia, What do Jews Believe?). To conclude, I must admit that Judaism is a very ancient religion and thanks to the representatives of Judaism, I got much interesting, instructive, and sophisticated information about the religion; I altered some of my misconceptions and got a more detailed picture of Judaism. Other peoples misconceptions are very common, as they depend on the lack of knowledge of the majority of people. In order to avoid different misconceptions, people should look for true sources of information.

JUDAISM References Description of Judaism: Jewish History and Texts. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Available at http://www.religioustolerance.org/jud_desc.htm. Judaism ReligionFacts. Available at http://www.religionfacts.com/judaism/index.htm. Pelaia, A. What do Jews Believe? Jewish Beliefs. Available at http://judaism.about.com/od/judaismbasics/a/whatdojewsbelieve.htm.