Jewish Beliefs and Texts How did the writings in the Torah shape Judaism?

Jewish Beliefs and Texts The Big Idea The central ideas and laws of Judaism are contained in sacred texts such as the Torah. Main Ideas Beliefs in God, education, justice, and obedience anchor Jewish society. Jewish beliefs are listed in the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, and the Commentaries. The Dead Sea Scrolls reveal many past Jewish beliefs. The ideas of Judaism have helped shape later cultures.

The Torah, or Hebrew Bible, is the Jewish People’s record of their history and religion. Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. The Big Picture

The laws God gave Moses on Mt. Sinai are known as the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down from the mountain he saw the people worshipping a golden calf, and broke them in anger.

The first five books of the Hebrew Bible are known as the Torah. Some laws are similar to Hammurabi’s Code. The god of the Hebrews forbade them to worship any other gods. This belief in one God became known as monotheism.

For the people of Israel, the Torah was the basis of life and faith, providing them with laws to live by The Torah commands the Jews to “remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.” The Sabbath is the weekly day of rest, prayer, and study which begins on Friday at sundown and continues to Saturday.

Belief in God, education, justice, and obedience anchor Jewish society. Belief in one god –Judaism is the world’s oldest and possibly the first monotheistic religion. Monotheism is the belief in only one god. Belief in education –Teaching children, mostly boys, has always been important to Jewish society. Belief in justice and righteousness –Jews are expected to be kind and fair in dealing with other people, in a display of justice. –They are also supposed to be righteous and do what is proper. Belief in obedience and law –They obey moral and religious laws such as the Ten Commandments and Mosaic law.

The Torah This is a collection of five books that make up the most sacred text in Judaism. Nearly every synagogue has one. The Hebrew Bible This is made up of the Torah, the Proverbs, and the Book of Psalms. It is also made up of eight books that describe the messages of the prophets. Jewish beliefs are listed in the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, and the Commentaries. The Commentaries Because some laws are hard to understand, scholars wrote commentaries to explain them. They can be found in the Talmud.

Some teachings in the Torah are presented in story form to teach a lesson such as Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

Samuel annointed or named David as the future king of Israel. David went on to become one of Israel’s most important kings. Prophets played a special role in both Judaism and government. The Bible tells how a prophet named Samuel chose a king.

The prophet Jeremiah began to predict that God would force the Israelites out of Israel as a punishment for being unfaithful to God. As the prophets predicted, the Jewish nation was destroyed and thousands of Jews were forced to leave Israel. This is known as the Exile.

Historians trace the first written version of the Torah to around 100 B.C. Great care was taken to preserve these writings. Because of the importance the ancient Hebrews gave to writing and keeping history, today we have a very complete record of their thought.

Solomon became known as a very wise ruler, and became famous for writing poetry and proverbs. A proverb is a brief, wise saying about human nature.

If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. (Proverbs 25:21) “ If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. (Proverbs 25:21)

During Solomon’s time, priests and scribes began to write the Torah. This was the Hebrew code of law. It included the words of the prophets. The Massoretes carefully copied the texts.

The Dead Sea Scrolls reveal many past Jewish beliefs. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in It is suspected that they were written between 100 BC and AD 50. The scrolls included prayers, commentaries, letters, and passages from the Hebrew Bible.

The ideas of Judaism have helped shape later cultures. Judaism helped shape the largest religion of Western society today, Christianity, as well as Islam. Many people still look to the Ten Commandments as a guide and do not work on the weekends, to honor the Sabbath. People also give to charities, which is largely based on Jewish teachings.