Jewish Religion

Jewish Religion Bible –Torah- 1st 5 books of the Bible – the laws and tenets of Judaism (written version) Tanakh – Hebrew Bible called – 24 books Mishna, Talmud & Shulkhan Arukh – oral version of the teachings – done by the end of the 2nd century

Belief – 1 God, monotheistic faith – incorporeal and eternal, wants people to do what is just and merciful, be faithful
Religion in Country – 75.5% Jewish, 16.9% Muslim, 2% Christian, 1.7% Druze, 3% Other
Holy Cities – Jerusalem, Safed, Hebron, Tiberia (burial place of Jewish Patriarch, 2nd holiest city)
Old City Jerusalem - .9 Km₂ w/in modern day Jerusalem. Home to Temple Mount, Western Wall (Jews), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Christians), Dome of Rock (Muslims). Divided into 4 quarters – Muslim, Christian, Jewish & Armenian.
Western Wall/Wailing Wall/Kotel – Site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage – sole remnant of the Holy Temple. Inaccessible when Jordan had control until 1967 (Belied to have been built 19 BCD –Herod the Great’s kingdom but King Aggrippa II) (built by Solomon) In 1560 Suleiman the Magnificent gave Official recognition of the right of Jews to pray by the Wall. “capture by Israel in 1967 after 6 day war after 19 years” 1840 | Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt | Forbidding the Jews to pave the passage in front of the Wall. It also cautioned them against “raising their voices and displaying their books there.” They were however allowed “to pay visits to it as of old.”[19] | 1841* | Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt | “Of the same bearing and likewise to two others of 1893 and 1909.”[19] | 1889* | Abdul Hamid II | That there shall be no interference with the Jews' places of devotional visits and of pilgrimage, that are situated in the localities which are dependent on the Chief Rabbinate, nor with the practice of their ritual.[19] | | | | | | | 1911 | Administrative Council of the Liwa | Prohibiting the Jews from certain appurtenances at the Wall.[19] |
A poll carried out in 2007 by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies indicated that 96% of Israeli Jews were against Israel relinquishing sovereignty of the Western Wall.[131] During a speech at Israel's Mercaz HaRav yeshivah on Jerusalem Day in 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu declared: "The flag that flies over the Kotel is the Israeli flag... Our holy places, the Temple Mount – will remain under Israeli sovereignty forever."[132]
Temple Mount – Old Jerusalem, place where God chose the Divine Presence to rest (Isa 8:18), God created Adam, God makes Abraham sacrifice his son, Isaac, and 2 of Jewish Temples. Bible says it’s the center of all nat’l life-gvt., judicial and religious. God will come out to all nations here. cording to Jewish tradition and scripture (2 Chronicles 3:1-2), the first temple was built by Solomon the son of David in 957 BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The second was constructed under the auspices of Zerubbabel in 516 BCE and destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 CE. Jewish tradition maintains it is here the Third and final Temple will also be built. The location is the holiest site in Judaism and is the place Jews turn towards during prayer but Jews do not go there, because of the presence of the holiness/. Controlled until 1967 – 6 day war. Israel claims sovereignty over the land, and has banned Palestinians (allowed only during Islamic holidays). June 7, 1967, soon after Israel had taken control of the area during the Six-Day War, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol assured that "no harm whatsoever shall come to the places sacred to all religions". Together with the extension of Israeli jurisdiction and administration over east Jerusalem, the Knesset passed the Preservation of the Holy Places Law,[29] ensuring protection of the Holy Places against desecration, as well as freedom of access thereto

Jerusalem – Holy City since 10th century BCE, known as “the place that God will choose” Sacred to Judaism for ab 3000 yrs. Appears in the Hebrew Bible 669 times, established the capital by King David in 1000 BCE, Solomon (son) commissioned the First Temple. Captured in 1948 in the Arab-Israeli war, East Jerusalem captured by Jordan; Israel regained control Jun 1967 after the 6 day war.”Undivided capital” not accepted internationally (all branches there except Ministry of Defense), East Jerusalem is “Palestinian territory” but held captured by Israeli military. 17th-6th C. BCE | BIBLICAL TIMES | (BCE - Before the Common Era) | c.17th century | |
Drawings by
Noam Nadav | Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - patriarchs of the Jewish people and bearers of a belief in one God - settle in the Land of Israel.
Famine forces Israelites to migrate to Egypt. | c.13th century | Exodus from Egypt: Moses leads Israelites from Egypt, followed by 40 years of wandering in the desert.
Torah, including the Ten Commandments, received at Mount Sinai. | 13th-12th centuries | Israelites settle in the Land of Israel | c.1020 | Jewish monarchy established; Saul, first king. | c.1000 | Jerusalem made capital of David's kingdom. | c.960 | First Temple, the national and spiritual center of the Jewish people, built in Jerusalem by King Solomon. | c. 930 | Divided kingdom: Judah and Israel | 722-720 | Israel crushed by Assyrians; 10 tribes exiled (Ten Lost Tribes). | 586 | Judah conquered by Babylonia; Jerusalem and First Temple destroyed; most Jews exiled. | 538-515 | Many Jews return from Babylonia; Temple rebuilt. | 166-160 | | | | | |
1980 In July, the Knesset passed the Jerusalem law as part of the Law which declares Jerusalem the unified capital of Israle.
Jewish History – Traced back their religion to the Abraham days.
Six day war – June 5- 10 1967. Israel gained control of Gaza Strip, Sinai Penisula, West Bank and East Jerusalem, Golan Heights from Syria.
Religious Life
Much of Jewish religious observance is centered in the home. This includes daily prayers which are said three times each day - in the morning, the afternoon, and after sunset.
Congregational prayers usually take place in a synagogue, a Jewish house of prayer and study. On Mondays, Thursdays, the Sabbath, festivals and High Holy Days, the synagogue service includes readings in Hebrew from the Torah and the Prophets.
The synagogue service can be led by any knowledgeable member of the congregation. In most synagogues this function is performed by a cantor or by a rabbi, an ordained religious teacher, who has studied in a yeshiva, a Jewish religious seminary.
Among his professional duties, a rabbi is expected to conduct weekly or daily study sessions for members of the congregation. The rabbi can also be called upon to give informed decisions concerning application of Jewish religious law and tradition to daily life. This may include adjudication of personal disputes. More serious matters, such as religious divorce, are referred to a beit din, a local Jewish religious court.
Brit Milah
Health permitting, all Jewish boys are circumcised on the eighth day after birth. Practiced since the days of Abraham, the Brit Milah is a physical sign of the Covenant.
Bar and Bat Mitzvah
When a Jewish girl is 12, and a Jewish boy is 13, they come of age in terms of their religious duties and responsibilities. On this occasion, the Bar Mitzvah boy is for the first time called up to read the Torah portion and the reading from the Prophets. In congregations where women participate in conducting the service, Bat Mitzvah girls are also called up to read from the Torah and the Prophets.
Jerusalem and Gvt
The religious status quo, agreed to by David Ben-Gurion with the Orthodox parties at the time of Israel's declaration of independence in 1948, is an agreement on the role that Judaism would play in Israel's government and the judicial system. The agreement was based upon a letter sent by Ben-Gurion to Agudat Israel dated 19 June 1947.[17] Under this agreement, which still operates in most respects today: * The Chief Rabbinate has authority over kashrut, shabbat, Jewish burial and personal status issues, such as marriage, divorce, and conversions. * Streets in Haredi neighborhoods are closed to traffic on the Jewish Sabbath. * There is no public transport on the Jewish Sabbath, and most businesses are closed. However, there is public transport in Haifa, since Haifa had a large Arab population at the time of the British Mandate. * Restaurants who wish to advertise themselves as kosher must be certified by the Chief Rabbinate. * Importation of non-kosher foods is prohibited. Despite this prohibition, a few pork farms supply establishments selling white meat, due to demand therefore among specific population sectors, particularly the Russian immigrants of the 1990s. Despite the status quo, the Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that local governments are not allowed to ban the sale of pork, although this had previously been a common by-law.

Traditional Jews observe the dietary laws derived from the Book of Leviticus. These laws include prohibitions against the eating of meat and dairy products at the same meal, humane ritual slaughter of animals, and total prohibition against the eating of blood, pork, shell-fish and other proscribed foods.
Though the dietary laws may be of hygienic benefit, the principal motivation seems to have been a desire to instill morality, self-control and self-abnegation in the personal lives of a people expected to observe the laws of the Torah even in the worst of circumstances.
However, in this, as in other matters of Jewish religious law and custom, the degree and manner of observance differs among the three major contemporary trends in Judaism - Orthodox, Conservative and Reform.
Festivals and Days of Remembrance
The seventh day of the week is the Sabbath, a biblically ordained day of rest. No work is permitted, except that connected with worship or the preservation of life and health. Central to the observance of the Sabbath is the morning reading in synagogue of the week’s portion of the Torah. The High Holy Days (observed in September - October) are a time of prayer and solemn introspection. The two days of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, mark the beginning of the Ten Days of Awe that end with the fast of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
The three major festivals of the Jewish religious year are also biblically ordained. Pesach (Passover) commemorates the biblical Passover and Exodus from Egypt: Shavuot (Pentecost, the “Festival of Weeks”) commemorates the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai; and Sukkot (Tabernacles) commemorates the Sojourn in the Wilderness.
Today, as in ancient times, these three festivals are occasions of pilgrimage up to Jerusalem, with prayer at the Western Wall, a remnant of the outer retaining wall of the Temple Mount. The destruction of the Temple is mourned on the fast of Tisha B’av (the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av). Other Jewish holidays include Hanukkah, commemorating the victory of the Maccabees and the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem; Purim, commemorating the rescue of the Jewish people in the days of Queen Esther; Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, honoring the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis; and Israel Independence Day, on which the restoration of Israel to national sovereignty is celebrated.
In the letter, David Ben-Gurion stated that neither the Jewish Agency Executive nor any other body in the country is authorized to determine in advance the constitution of the emerging Jewish State, and its secular character. One precondition from the U.N, for the establishment of the Jewish state was Freedom of thought and Freedom of speech to all its citizens. It was considered that the letter would satisfy the concerns of religious parties. The letter stipulated policy principles in four main areas that were considered fundamental to Orthodox Judaism: * Shabbat - shabbat shall be the day of rest in Israel. * Kashrut - kashrut shall be observed in the kitchens of official institutions of the Jewish state; but privately each individual may choose to observe or not, or how, and to what extent. * Family laws (marriage etc.) - preserving a single judicial system for the purpose of marriage and divorce; with marriage and divorce being conducted in rabbinical courts for Jews and by the relevant religious authorities for people of other faiths, as was already the case before; there shall be no civil marriage. * Education - full autonomy to the different Jewish denominations, while stipulating the minimum standards in fields such as Hebrew, Jewish history, science etc.
Despite the fact that Ben-Gurion's letter referred only to few basic issues, it has become the basis of regulating the relation between religion and State in Israel.
The Kotel is under the supervision of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law[1] as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious arrangements for Israel's Jews. It also responds to halakhic questions submitted by Jewish public bodies in the Diaspora. The Council sets guides, and supervises agencies within its authority.
Maccabean (Hasmonean) revolt against restrictions on practice of Judaism and desecration of the Temple

In July 1980, the Knesset passed the Jerusalem Law as part of the country's Basic Law. The law declared Jerusalem the unified capital of Israel.[18] The Knesset together with the presidential, legislative, judicial and administrative offices are all located within the city.