Reflection paper 2 World Religion 1

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Towson University *

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Religion

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Apr 3, 2024

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docx

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Kaileigh King November 15, 2023 Reflection The religion that I chose was Judaism. Judaism is one of the oldest Abrahamic religions that believe in one God. Jewish people believe that God communicates to the Jewish people how to live their day to day life as well as other teachings through the 10 commandments and other laws. The sacred texts that Jews read and study is the Torah. Additionally, they use the Talmud which is a collection of teachings and comments that are made about the Torah to form the foundation for Jewish law. Judaism also has 4 different branches: Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews, Reform Jews, and Reconstructionist Jews. Each branch has different traditions and practices that they take part in. Jews also have different types of worship that they implement in their daily lives such as Temple worship, synagogue worship, home worship, and House of study. Overall, Jewish people believe that they should devote themselves to God by implementing the Torah and other sacred text teachings to get a close relationship with God and continue to be knowledgeable. (Ondich, 2021) Before learning this information, I did have preconceptions that were based primarily on what I saw. I did not have many personal interactions with Jewish people and their way of living, so I had only surface-level knowledge such as the wearing of yarmulkes and kippahs and reading the Torah. I also did not know that there were different branches of Judaism. I believed that all followers of Judaism lived the same in terms of beliefs, practices, and traditions. My opinion and knowledge of Judaism did change due to other research that I did about the religion.
While learning about Judaism, I did have a lot of questions that were answered throughout the study of the religion. Some of the questions were: What are one of the reasons for Jewish people abiding by dietary laws? How often do Jews read the Torah? What does the Torah contain? What is the reason for Jews celebrating Hanukkah? These questions were answered in classroom teaching and further research. I learned that Jews abide by dietary laws and eat only kosher foods because it is made in accordance with Jewish law and is fit for ritual use. Some foods that they cannot eat are pork, shellfish, and meat and dairy that come in contact together (Regenstein, J.M., et al., 2003). Jews read the Torah 4 times a week in the synagogue. They read the Torah on the Sabbath morning and afternoon, Monday morning and Thursday morning. The Torah contains the first five books of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian bible and is also called the Pentateuch and was composed by Moses. Jews celebrate Hannukah to commemorate the victory of Maccabees and the rededication of the second temple of Jerusalem. Everything that I learned about Judaism was interesting and allowed me to look at certain aspects of the world from a different point of view. Judaism offers guidance for moral and ethical understanding to help Jews navigate the world around them which includes views on politics, cultures, and world news. Jews read the Torah which includes the Ten Commandments. This is a set of laws that was ascribed to Moses by God to give Jews a better moral understanding and distinguish right from wrong. The Torah also includes other principles on daily conduct that can strongly influence the views on world news, politics, and cultures. While being interesting and increasing my knowledge regarding Judaism that knowledge has no real impact on my personal opinions politics, culture, and world news. As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses we remain neutral when it comes to politics. Additionally, in regard to culture and world news there has been and continues to be a lot of anti-Semitism in the world which is wrong.
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