Judaism and the Chosen People of God Essay

Judaism is one of the graduation exercise mo nonheistic religions before long surviving. It followers, the Jews, believe that thither is only one paragon who is Almighty and Ever blend ining. grave in the Torah is the name of divinity fudge, with four consonants and no vowels. They have high look on for the Lord that they consider his name too holy to be sound out (Buchanan and Halliwell, 2008). In their daily conversations and prayers, the Jews use contrary words pertaining to deity. Every twenty-four hour period spoken communication include the Holy oneness and Blessed be He period prayers include Adonal, or the Lord, and s home plater Yisrael, or Israels guardian.These demonstrate how the Judaic erudition of the Lord, as work throughn in the book of Genesis where the stories of the Patriarchs are create verbally (Buchanan and Halliwell, 2008). The Judaic understanding towards their relationship with the Lord the worship is in accordance to their Covenant. idol giv es His promise to be their God who guides and protects them, while requiring them to follow the Mitzvot or His precepts. God chose the Jews as His chosen throng. This is not because He favors them with privileges, but because He gift them with a responsibility of being the priest people.It is actually a awkward task and the literal translation of the word Israel is one who struggles with God (Buchanan and Halliwell, 2008). One of their intimately basic beliefs is that they have the responsibility to worship God and execute prayers, which is called Tefillah. They should overly express their gratitude and thanks to the Lord for his love and greatness, which is shown through the Amidah or the prayer of18 blessings in praise of God recited while standing. They also see themselves to have the task of responding to God through both repentance and calculate of social justice (Buchanan and Halliwell, 2008).History of Key Sacred Texts The Torah, or Law, is the com homophiledment give n by God to His chosen people. It was originally pertained to the x Commandments, and lastly became the Pentateuch. The Torah is the most important text in the Judaic spiritual biography, as it contains the revelation from God. It is Gods gift to His people given to Moses at Mount Sinai. However, the original texts given by God to Moses did not populate the raid of Jerusalem during 6 BC. Also destroyed were the some new(prenominal)(a)wise Scriptures scripted by different Prophets, with high relevance to the Jewish faith.But aft(prenominal) the release of Israel from Babylon in 5 BC, the Prophet Ezra revived the accounts on the life of the Patriarchs and the history of Gods chosen people. And between 4 and 2 BC, other authors wrote down the different Scriptures of other Prophets that existed long before. Prophet Jonah, who lived during the eighth cytosine BC, was found to have his scriptures written during this period while the psalm were written after five centuries. The sources of these authors are however unknow (Mirza, . Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments contain the fundamental law of natures that God requires His people to abide.These give tongue to the different unearthly and moral obligations of men, revealing Gods will on mans duties to Him and to the rest of His creation. Gods commandments are written in the Pentateuch twice, as it is found both in the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. God himself carved the words on two stone tablets as dedicated texts turn over to Moses (Bellaflore, 2007). The Ten Commandments are Gods covenant with the Israelites. The first three laws concern mans relationship with God, as it states what mans responsibilities are to his Lord.While the remaining s change surface laws are more or less how man should live with others, as they should not transgress each others rights as human beings and equal children of God. The first commandments directly state that on that point is only one God, the monotheistic notion of an Almighty Creator. The people should not worship other Gods, and therefore should not commit fear and other forms of polytheistic practices. The other two commandments teach the people to not commit blasphemy, or take the name of the Lord in vain, and to of all time observe the Sabbath day.The rest relates the basic commandment that one must not wrong his neighbor, that he must not commit murder, adultery, thievery, and bear phoney witness. Children are also expected by God to always applaud their parents (Bellaflore, 2007). Jerusalem This city is the most important city to the Jews. Upon their migration to the Palestine, many other tribes and populations have already occupied area and cities have already risen. big businessman David seized one of the cities in 1005 BCE and converted it into his capital city Jerusalem. This is where both religious and political affairs were concentrated, where the Temple of God was built.But the Temple and most of its contents perishe d during the conquest of the city by other empires. The Romans destroyed the last Temple and only a single wall survived until today. It is now known as the Wailing Wall and is one of the holiest Jewish places both in Jerusalem and the entire world (Imhoof, 2008). The Nation of Israel The State of Israel is a realm found in southwestern Asia established on May 14, 1948 with David Ben Gurion as its first prime minister. The shore was formerly part of Palestine conquered British, and was handed to the Jews and marked the success of the Zionism movement.This movement campaigned for providing the Jews their own place at the land of their ancestors. As sanctioned by the United Nations, this sovereign nation was created and gave home to many Jews from all over the world. But because displaced Palestinians formerly occupy Israel, there rose an Arab-Israeli conflict. The Muslims protested against the handing of the land to the Jews while the Arabs were left landless (Davison 375 Grobman, no rascal Israel, no page). Different Sects of Judaism There were numerous Jewish sects during the first century AD, each primarily in search of the messiah.To them, the messiah is both a religious and political leader who would save them from Roman captivity. These sects include the Pharisees, the Zealots, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and even the Christians. In 70 CE, the Second Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed along with these sects. However, Christianity survived this disaster and separated itself from Judaism as a different religion. The Pharisees, on the other hand, is now the remaining form of Judaism called rabbinical Judaism (Jewish sects and denominations, no date).A element of the Jewish population of the 8th century rejected the oral law included in the Mishnah as followed by the Pharisees, as done by the Sadducees. But eventually, they themselves developed their unique oral traditions that greatly varied from those of the Rabbinic Jews. They are called the Karaite se ct, and are mute in existence but in a less population number (Jewish sects and denominations, no date). The final solution The Holocaust is also known as the Shoah in Hebrew, or the destruction of the Jewish people by Nazi Germany.During the German conquest of Europe, an approximately sextuplet million Jews died as they were systematically killed by the fascist and anti-Semite political science of Hitler. The casualties represent the destruction of two-thirds of the entire population of Jews in Europe and tierce of the world. They were deliberately and methodically exterminated through the gas chamber, the crematory ovens, agonistic labor, hunger, and poor sanitary conditions. This is Hitlers plan as his answer and final exam Solution to the Jewish Question (History of the Holocaust An Introduction, 2008).Sacred Practices and/or Holidays twain of the most important Jewish holidays are the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is known as the Jewish New Year while Yom Ki ppur is known as the Day of Atonement. both of these holidays are expression of the Jewish belief on the judgment of God and that they need to both repent and forgive. Yom Kippur is an entire day where Jews contemplate and reflect, devising amends to their sins, and ask God for His forgiveness by fasting (Buchanan and Halliwell, 2008). impost and practices of the Jews include circumcising the boys during their eighth day.When the boy reaches age 13, he takes participation in a ceremonial rite where he becomes bar mitzvah. From here on, he is considered an adult who will take on his religious responsibilities. Other religious congregations perform a similar ceremony for girls of age 12, called the bat mitzvah. Jews also recite different kinds of prayers in the morning, afternoon and evening. They perform these either at home or the synagogue. Once every week, the Jews celebrate the holy day of Sabbath, from Friday sundown until Saturday sundown.They also observe strict dietary laws called the Kosher and their spiritual leader is called the rabbi (Grobman, no page Wenner, no page). Judaism Today Due to the unvaried changes in human life, there is a tremendous technological advancement in the modern world, prompting people to alter. These changes bring about questions on the Jewish laws, and whether they should be retained. It is therefore the responsibility of the spiritual leaders to adapt and reinterpret the Jewish laws according to the call of times.In our modern world, there are three main divisions among the Jews the Orthodox, the Conservative, and the Reform Jews. Orthodox Jews are still abiding by the strictest Jewish laws, and are confined within tradition. The buttoned-down Jews consider the orthodox Jews as too Jewish while they do not consider reform Jews as practicing Judaism. Reform Jews, on the other hand, are very liberal and recognizes their religion as progressive. (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, 2008).ReferencesBuchanan, J. , and Halliw ell, K. (2008). Judaism. Slamnet. Retrieved troop 5, 2008 from http//www.slamnet. org. uk/re/judaism. htm. Bellaflore, M. L. (2007). The Ten Commandments. New Advent. Retrieved attest 5, 2008 from http//www. newadvent. org/cathen/04153a. htm. Davison, Michael Worth. When, Where, Why, and How it Happened. London Readers affirm Association Far East Limited, 1993. Grobman, Gary M. Who are the Jews. 1990. Remember. Retrieved 25 February 2008 from http//www. remember. org/guide/Facts. root. whoare. hypertext mark-up language History of the Holocaust An Introduction. 2008. Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved March 5, 2008 from http//www. jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/history. html. Imhoof, D. Judaism. February 23, 2008. Susquehanna University. Retrieved March 5, 2008 http//www. susqu. edu/history/medtrav/jerusalem/jewish. htm. Israel. 2007. Information Please Database. Retrieved 25 February 2008 from http//www. infoplease. com/ipa/A0107652. html. Judaism. One detail ed Angel. Retrieved March 5, 2008 from http//www. onelittleangel. com/wisdom/quotes/judaism. asp? level=4. Mirza, M. History of the Torah. Ummah. Retrieved March 5, 2008 from http//www. ummah. net/what-is-islam/scriptur/scriptt. htm