One Chosen People: An Introduction to Judaism

Judaism is the religion of the Jews and pre-dates both Christianity and Islam, sitting at the root of these monotheistic religions as their oldest ancestor. It is a faith in one God and, at heart, a faith in the commandments of that God. It is the religion of Israel, both historically and within the modern-day state, and the language of its books and people is Hebrew.

Throughout the long history of Judaism a strong theme of the experience of the Jewish people has been suffering. Persecution and endurance have long been part of Jewish experience, from biblical times all the way through until the holocaust of the 20th century, and, in many places, continuing until today. In particular, relationships between Christianity and Judaism have proven historically difficult and charged with tension.

To help us to begin to form an appreciation for Judaism, this article will briefly introduce some of the core ideas, such as the concept of Covenant, God’s Law, and some of the ethical principles that lie at the heart of Jewish life. It is important, however, to recognise that Judaism is far from being a united whole, having three major branches in the Orthodox, Reformed, and Liberal traditions.

God & Covenant

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one;

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your spirit and with all your strength”

– The ‘Shema Israel’, Deuteronomy 6: 4-9

Judaism is a monotheistic faith, believing in one God who is the creator and judge of all humanity. Jews often refer to God as “The Eternal”; one of the key biblical names for God translates as both “I am who I am” and “I will be who I will be”.

It is God who has established a Covenant with the Jews. This Covenant, which sits at the centre of Jewish life, is an agreement between God and Jews, forming a special relationship. It involves trusting in one God alone and obeying ethical principles which are summed up in the Torah, or Law of Moses. The law, like God, is unchanging.

While God is beyond and above the world, a being who is outside of all time, Jews also believe that God is intimately involved in human affairs. Above all other things, God is viewed as being all-knowing, loving, just, and especially concerned for the poor and the oppressed.

This experience of oppression lies at the root of the Jewish belief in the coming Messiah (Anointed One). This will be a great person who will represent God and bring justice, peace and the knowledge of God to all people. The Messiah will be a descendant of the ancient Jewish King, David. Like David, the Messiah will give political and military leadership; he will take the people of Israel to a state of unity and triumph. How and when the Messiah will appear is a matter of considerable debate and many Jews hold differing beliefs about this idea: some would hesitate to identify Messiah with a single individual and would suggest that there is a “spark” of Messiah in all people.

The Law

The Torah, or Law, consists of the first five books of the Jewish Bible. This Bible is roughly synonymous with the Christian “Old Testament”, referred to by Jews as Tenakh (Scripture) and divided into three sections. Torah speaks of human beginnings, tells the stories of the Patriarchs and their descendants, and explains the birth of the Covenant with the Jewish people. All of the people within these stories are very human, being portrayed through a range of exciting events. Perhaps most important of the Patriarchs, those who first received the Covenant relationship with God, are Abraham and Moses. It was Abraham who almost sacrificed his own son to God to demonstrate his faith and obedience; it was Moses who was called to lead the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt and into their own nationhood.

Covenant focuses upon God’s special protection for his chosen people who, in return, must keep the Law. This Law is first expressed to Moses, beginning with the Ten Commandments, placing Moses as the most important Patriarch of Judaism. The books of Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers extend the Law and give detailed workings-out of the ten laws received by Moses.

Torah is at the heart of Jewish identity and their sense of obedience to God. While the law is unchangeable, a succession of commentaries and further codifications of Torah have been developed by Jewish scholars throughout the centuries. This has been an effort to create a system of exact case law which attempts to find a faithful and useful solution to every conceivable ethical or legal issue. These have been collected together into two main compilations of this commentary and case law: the Mishnah was compiled in 170CE; the Talmud was finally edited in 500CE. Neither of these books form part of scripture and are considered to be purely of human origin.

The Prophets & The Writings

We have mentioned that Scripture has two further sections which follow the Law in the Jewish Bible. These are the Prophets and the Writings. The former, the Prophets, were people of faith who lived in the period following the Exodus. The latter, the Writings, are a collection of poetry, songs, cryptic works, and mystical writings.

It is important to recognise the importance of the Prophets in relation to the Kingdom of Israel which was founded following the Exodus from Egypt. The major recurring theme of the Prophets was that Israel was not living up to its obligations to God and that, if they did not mend their ways, God would bring upon them disaster. Historically Israel was eventually destroyed by the Babylonians and the majority of the Jewish people were carted off into what is referred to as The Exile. While the Jews did return to Jerusalem, rebuilding the Temple which the Babylonians destroyed, this event profoundly shaped Jewish experience and expectation, leading to the development of ideas about Messiah.

While all scripture is used in worship, it is perhaps the Psalms, from the Writings, that are pre-eminent during acts of devotion. It is also worthy of note that Jews recognise scripture as having been written by many human authors: there is no belief in a direct revelation of the books to human minds. These books have gradually emerged as the “classics” of the Jewish faith. Ever since the destruction of the Second Temple by Roman General Titus, in 70CE, the focus of worship shifted towards local, scripture-based meetings in synagogues. The final decision about what is, or is not, scripture was made at the Council of Rabbis in Jabneh, 100CE.

Ethical Principles

As we’ve already outlined, Jews place the Torah at the base of all moral values. The Ten Commandments cover a wide range of ideas including attitudes to marriage, food, sexuality, money, debt, work, worship, the treatment of different nationalities, war, peace, and much more.

Key ethical principles, however, can be drawn from Jewish ideas as follows:

1. Family life is of central value to Jews. Marriage and children are gifts from God. Protecting family life is vital.
2. Jews are expected to work, to generate for themselves and their family a good living. This is balanced by a commitment to the poor and towards helping others.
3. Jews oppose any form of racism based upon the belief that God has made all humanity. They obey the command to welcome strangers.
4. There is a strong belief in the role of motherhood and home-making as the best role for women. Synagogue worship is the primary place for male worship, while women have a strong role of the worship and life of the home.
5. Jewish people believe that Judaism is the only path to God for Jews. They accept that other religions are right for other people, even if they disagree with other religious teachings. Covenant binds Jews into their own special relationship with God; other religions are expected to live a just and peaceful existence.
6. Environmentally, the Jewish belief in God as the creator gives Jews a responsibility to balance enjoyment and use of resources with care and stewardship for all life.

One Last Thing…

With all religions there is a desire to get to the nub, the heart and flavour, of things. Perhaps one helpful idea when thinking about Judaism is to understand that while Jews view themselves as inheritors of the Covenant relationship with God, they also retain the right of complaint. This tone of complaint runs throughout scripture, throughout Jewish history, and can be detected in Jewish art and literature. It’s part of the Jewish identity… and it reflects, perhaps, the level of trust and commitment that a human being would need to stand before the creator of everything and voice a complaint.