How is judaism unique

Ulpan Online. JPost Newsletter. JPost News Ticker. Our Magazines. Learn Hebrew. RSS feed. Digital Library. Promo Content. Special Content. Sites Of Interest. Jewish Broadcasting Service. Jerusalem Hotels. God knew that among all the nations of the world, only Israel would have the great faith and intrinsic tenacity to adhere to His teachings throughout all the vicissitudes of history.

It was as though God had asked all the nations to accept the Torah and had been refused by them. In contrast, Israel's immediate reaction to the offer of the Torah had been, All that God has spoken, we will do and we will obey Exodus It was therefore primarily because of this ready acceptance of the Torah that Israel was chosen to the exclusion of the rest of mankind.

Before the giving of the Ten Commandments, God thus said, Now therefore, if you will hearken to My voice and keep My covenant, then you will be My own treasure among all nations, for all the earth is Mine. You shall be My kingdom of priests and holy nation Exodus The Israelites were thus totally sanctified to God God said, You shall be holy to Me, for I, God, am holy, and I have set you apart from all other peoples, that you should be Mine Leviticus But being chosen is more of a responsibility than a privilege.

Israel has the incessant mission of proclaiming God's teachings to the world. It is thus written, I, God, have called you in righteousness… and have set you up as a covenant of the people, for a light to the nations Isaiah This does not mean that the Torah should be taught to gentiles, but that they should be informed of the universal commandments. Israel has a mission to bear witness to God's existence.

It is taught that Israel is like the heart of humanity, constantly beating and infusing all mankind with faith in God and His teachings. This universal message would often be proclaimed even at the price of suffering and persecution. It is taught that Israel is likened to an olive, since just as an olive must be crushed to bring forth oil, so Israel is persecuted so that its light should shine forth. Even the dispersion of Israel among the nations was to teach the world how to serve God. Moreover, the fact that Israel was scattered all over the world would guarantee that they not become extinct by means of their persecutions.

Because of Israel's unique place in God's plan, the people must constantly be corrected whenever they stray from the true path. God thus said, Only you have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will keep account of all your sins' Amos Still, when God punishes Israel, He only does so as a father punishes his children.

It is thus written, As a man chastises his son, so God your Lord chastises you Deut. Nevertheless, God promised that despite all these sufferings, Israel wold always continue to exist to fulfill His purpose. He thus said, The mountains may depart, and the hills may be removed, but My kindness will not depart from you, neither will My covenant of peace be removed Isaiah …. Although Israel has been persecuted and degraded throughout history, the nation will ultimately be vindicated.

God said, Although you have been hated and forsaken, so that no man is concerned with you, I will make you an object of eternal pride and never ending joy Isaiah It is God's promise that Israel will ultimately restore the world to good, and cannot be destroyed as long as the task is not completed.

He said, [Israel] shall not fail nor be crushed until he has rectified the world, for the islands await his teachings Isaiah Most important, Israel has the role of fulfilling God's purpose in creation. God said to Israel, I have placed My words in your mouth, and have kept you safe under the shelter of My hand, so that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, 'You are My people' Isaiah It is thus taught that God, Israel and the Torah are uniquely linked together.

The Torah is like oil in a lamp, and Israel is its wick, causing the light of God to shine forth on all creation. Reprinted with permission. Rabbi Kaplan never fails to bring great wisdom with simple wording, and humble heart. I love reading his words and only wished he'd lived another lifetime. I have to stop and absorb his thoughts from time to time. Thank you Aish for bringing us another a wonderful read of encouragement, reminder of G-d's love and our need to always remember the power of trusting Him.

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Judaism But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Since , the word has taken on a new and horrible meaning: the ideological and systematic state-sponsored The instability created in Europe by the First World War set the stage for another international conflict—World War II—which broke out two decades later and would prove even more devastating.

Rising to power in an economically and politically unstable Germany, Adolf Hitler capitalized on economic woes, popular discontent and political infighting to take absolute power in Germany beginning in Auschwitz, also known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, opened in and was the largest of the Nazi concentration and death camps. Located in southern Poland, Auschwitz initially served as a detention center for political prisoners. However, it evolved into a network of camps where Zoroastrianism is an ancient Persian religion that may have originated as early as 4, years ago.

Zoroastrianism was the state religion of three Persian dynasties, until the Before arriving at the death camp, she had been stuffed into a train car on a seemingly endless journey from Hungary. Now, she and her twin sister Miriam Today, with about million followers, Hinduism is the third-largest religion behind Christianity and Islam.

Usually, the upper floors of the office building at Prinsengracht were silent. But on August 4, , they came to terrible life. Miep Gies never forgot the sounds.

Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Founder of Judaism The origins of Jewish faith are explained throughout the Torah. Jewish Temples Around B. Jewish Holy Books While the Tanakh which includes the Torah is considered the sacred text of Judaism, many other important manuscripts were composed in later years.

It is difficult to generalize about Jewish theology because Judaism is non-creedal; that is, there is no agreed-upon dogma set of orthodox beliefs that most Jews believed were required of Jews. While individual Jewish rabbis, or sometimes entire groups, at times agreed upon a firm dogma, other rabbis and groups disagreed.

With no central agreed-upon authority, no one formulation of Jewish principles of faith could take precedence over any other. This approach to religious doctrine dates back at least two thousand years. For example, the ancient historian Josephus emphasized practices and traditions rather than beliefs when he describes the characteristics of an apostate a Jew who does not follow traditional customs and the requirements for conversion to Judaism circumcision, and adherence to traditional customs.

Despite the above, in Orthodox Judaism some principles e. Over the centuries, a number of clear formulations of Jewish principles of faith have appeared; most of them have much in common, yet they differ in certain details.

A comparison of them demonstrates a wide array of tolerance for varying theological perspectives. Generally, however, the thirteen principles of faith expressed by Maimonides are considered authorative descriptions of Jewish beliefs:.

God is one - Judaism is based on strict unitarian monotheism, the belief in one God, the eternal creator of the universe and the source of morality. The idea of God as a duality or trinity is heretical for Jews to hold; it is considered akin to polytheism. God is all powerful omnipotent , as well as all knowing omniscient. The different names of God are ways to express different aspects of God's presence in the world. See the entry on Names of God in Judaism.

God is non-physical, non-corporeal, and eternal. All statements in the Hebrew Bible and in rabbinic literature which use anthropomorphism are held to be linguistic conceits or metaphors, as it would otherwise be impossible to talk about God.

To God alone may one offer prayer. Any belief that an intermediary between man and God could be used, whether necessary or even optional, has traditionally been considered heretical. The Hebrew Bible, and much of the beliefs described in the Mishnah and Talmud, are held to be the product of divine revelation.

How revelation works, and what precisely one means when one says that a book is "divine", has always been a matter of some dispute. Different understandings of this subject exist among Jews. The words of the prophets are true. Moses was the chief of all prophets. The Torah five books of Moses is the primary text of Judaism.

God will reward those who observe His commandments, and punish those who violate them. God chose the Jewish people to be in a unique covenant with Him; see Jews as a chosen people. The messianic age: There will be a moshiach Jewish Messiah , or perhaps a messianic era. The soul is pure at birth. People are born with a yetzer ha'tov, a tendency to do good, and with a yetzer ha'ra, a tendency to do bad.

Thus, human beings have free will and can choose the path in life that they will take. People can atone for sins through words and deeds, and without intermediaries. The liturgy of the Days of Awe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur states that prayer, repentance and tzedakah dutiful giving of charity atone for sin. Atonement is deemed only meaningful if accompanied by sincere decision to cease unacceptable actions, and then only if appropriate amends to others are honestly undertaken.

It covers wrongdoings by which a person has fallen short of divine wishes in his daily life, and thus there is always a "way back" to God. In Judaism, sin is more considered in terms of a wrongful action, contravening divine commandment to live a holy life, than wrongful thought. A more detailed discussion of the Jewish view of sin is available in the entry on sin.

The basis of Jewish law and tradition "halakha" is the Torah the five books of Moses. According to rabbinic tradition there are commandments in the Torah. Some of these laws are directed only to men or to women, some only to the ancient priestly groups, the Kohanim and Leviyim members of the tribe of Levi , some only to those who practice farming within the land of Israel.

Many laws were only applicable when the Temple in Jerusalem existed, and fewer than of these commandments are still applicable today. While there have been Jewish groups which claimed to be based on the written text of the Torah alone e. These oral traditions originated in the Pharisee sect of ancient Judaism, and were latter recorded in written form and expanded upon by the rabbis.