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Using the Comparative Method: Christianity and Judaism in Los Angeles Religion 11: Religion in Los Angeles December 3, 2019
The Middle East is a geographical area that holds much importance and is considered the birthplace of many religions. Two of these religions include Christianity and Judaism. Since Christianity was birthed from the Jewish faith, the two religions are very similar to each other in terms of beliefs and practice many ritual traditions that can easily be cross referenced with each other. As these religions began to expand and become known as world religions, more noticeable differences between Judaism and Christianity began to arise. When looking more closely at the different ritual traditions that each religion practices and analyzing them with regards to their origin, historical development, and significance in Los Angeles, more differences are noticeable. Two important traditions that are practiced by Christians and Jews are the baptism and the brit milah, respectively. These are two ritual traditions that have been practiced over centuries, and still hold much importance for the followers of Jesus Christ and God as they set the way for a covenant with each respective being. With the expansion of Christianity and Judaism, these ritual traditions have been practiced globally, by almost every follower of the religion. In Los Angeles, the Christian and Jewish communities have grown, and now populate the city. There are churches and synagogues all over the city, where these ritual traditions are practiced on a daily basis. CHRISTIANITY With more than two billion followers, Christianity is one of the most widely practiced religions in the world. The Christian faith is centered around beliefs regarding the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. More specifically, Christians believe that God sent his son, Jesus Christ to save the world. It is believed that Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross for
the forgiveness of all mans sins, and was resurrected shortly after his death before rising to heaven. Christianity has many denominations, including Protestantism, Pentecostalism, Catholicism, Evangelicalism, and Anglicanism. In Los Angeles, older protestant denominations are traced back to the history of Hispanic ministry in southern california in the eighteenth century. Twenty one missions were built around southern California, all with the intention of spreading the Christianity faith to the surrounding Native Americans. After the transition from missions and Hispanic ministry to churches and European domination of the religion, Christianity quickly expanded and became a very popularly practiced religion with many important traditions that date back to very early times and have much historical and modern significance. One main tradition that is widely known and practiced is baptism. Baptism is a tradition of the utmost importance for most denominations in the Christian faith. “From Pentecost onward, Holy Baptism has been an essential part of the Christian movement. [...] Throughout the New Testament, we find it to be the ritualized celebration in which one publicly expresses one’s acceptance of Jesus as Lord and in which one believes that God accepts and forgives the individual baptized”'. Baptism is the first sacrament of initiation into the Roman Catholic church and several other denominations of Christianity, along with the Holy Communion and Confirmation being the two other sacraments of initiation, which all celebrate the act of giving an individual who is new to the Christian faith the gift of experiencing and knowing eternal life, the grace of Jesus Christ, and the word of God. Baptism is " Osborne, Kenan B. “The Christian Sacraments of Initiation.” Google Books. Paulist Press. Accessed December 4, 2019. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bZaqx7pL6FUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=christi an+sacraments+of+initiation&ots=L7gzMIszzc&sig=JAN4EOg-1v 7mzI Ww3PRS4uMgK Sw#v=0 nepage& q=christian sacraments of initiation& {=false.
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the beginning of the religious journey through Christianity, and is meant to be the first sacrament practiced. Being baptised means that one is prepared to commit and dedicate themselves to the Christian faith. Baptism has been a significant part of the Christian church and dates back a very long time to the Old Testament in the first century C.E. Baptism has a pre-christian history, and can be traced back to the Jewish people who were baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. “When John the Baptist came to the deserts of Judea preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins he was met with great success. Matthew 3:5 says, ‘people went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” Luke adds that crowds were coming out to be baptized by him. And ‘when all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.” (Luke 3:7,21)7% It is believed that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, who was first baptized by God. With the baptism of Jesus Christ, many Christians believe that he then instituted the practice of baptism as a sacrament of Christian faith. Though I am not Christian, a very close friend of mine practices the Christian faith and took me to Sunday service with her so that I could experience first-hand what kinds of things are preached to followers of the faith. This was a very interesting experience for me to have, especially because I am an agnostic theist, so I have never been to any type of religious service where an important member of the church preaches the word of God. We went to her church, Gracepoint, which holds Sunday service at the Northwestern Auditorium at UCLA. This was an especially great experience because I was able to see how the UCLA Christian community is 2 Barnes, Ed. “Baptism: A Pre-Christian History .” Baptism: A Pre-Christian History, October 2005. http://www.bible.ca/ef/topical-baptism-a-prechristian-history.htm.
united through the grace of God. Luckily, I was able to also experience the baptism of three students right at the end of service. This baptism was very public as it was held outside. There was a big tub of water where the pastor baptized each student by immersing them in the water. Prior to the immersion, he asked the student to publicly say their confession of faith. During service, there was a portion where each of the three students confessed their sins to the rest of the people in the auditorium, as if to rid them before the official ritual. After service was officially over, I was able to talk to the pastor, Manny Kim, and ask him questions about Christianity. The one thing that I was most curious about was the fact that one must make a public confession of sins prior to the baptism itself. When asking pastor Kim about why the confession of sins is not private, he responded by explaining that “baptism is a public pronouncement of one’s acceptance of Jesus Christ as the son of God and the Lord of life. When one 1s confessing their sins [before the baptism], they confess directly to Jesus Christ rather than through a pastor. This is their way of publicly showing Jesus Christ that they are ready to be baptized”. Pastor Kim referred me to Mark 16:16 which says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved”. Kim explained that, “1f one 1s a believer, then baptism will save them, but the public confession is the expression of faith that qualifies them for the baptism, which is why it is so important”. In modern context, baptism is a ritual tradition that 1s practiced by a majority of Christians globally. One ongoing debate pertaining baptism that has been brought up several times 1s if it 1s ethical to baptize a child when they are unaware of what is happening or are unable to consciously decide their religion affiliation for themselves. Most Christian families will baptize their child within the first year of their lives because parents want their child to become a member of God's church at a young age. When talking to pastor Kim, I was curious to
know what his thoughts were regarding this debate. Pastor Kim explained that for most Christian parents, it 1s really important to start involving kids with Christian rituals and teaching about their meanings at a younger age so that when they get to the age of understanding, they are more inclined to learn and practice Christianity. Pastor Kim told me that his daughter was one of the students getting baptized, and that she personally felt very disconnected from Christianity throughout her childhood as a product of not being baptized earlier in life. Kim mentioned that it was very important for him to see his daughter finally getting baptized because usually, parents want their kids to believe in the same faith that they believe in”. After talking to pastor Kim and seeing the baptism first-hand, I do understand why parents would want to baptize their children at a young age. Though I am not affiliated with any religion, my parents are Jewish and I know that there are several rituals of the Jewish faith that they had me and my siblings go through at a young age before being able to decide our religious affiliations for ourselves. JUDAISM In Los Angeles, Judaism is a very popular religion, having the second largest Jewish population in the United States. The history of Judaism is a very complex one, and there are multiple debates of when the beginning of the faith can be traced to. However, Judaism can be traced back to the second millenium. Judaism is considered to be one of, if not the oldest religion, and many other religion’s histories such as Christianity and Islam have cross references with Judaism and the people of Judea. As the first and oldest of the three monotheistic faiths which include Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, the Jewish faith centers around the teaching that there 1s only one eternal God, who expects all of the Jewish people to do was is just and right. The basic laws of Judaism come from the Torah, which are the first five books of the Bible. The
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Jewish people study the Torah and pray in order to serve God. The most important Jewish religious text is the Bible itself, which is also known as the Old Testament. The Bible consists all the books of the Torah, and the prophets writings. Unlike most religions, Judaism does not believe that other peoples must adopt its religious beliefs and practices in order to be redeemed. “It 1s by deeds, not creed, that the world is judged; the righteous of all nations have a share in the ‘world to come””*. Therefore, Judaism is not considered a missionary religion, unlike Christianity. Much of Jewish religious observance is centered in the home. I personally observe this first-hand because my parents are Jewish, and they practice most Jewish rituals or laws within their home. These include dietary laws which prohibits against the eating of meat and dairy products at the same meal and also eating blood, pork, and shell-fish, prayer which is privately practiced a few times a day and practiced as a family on Friday night dinners, and using Saturday as a day of rest. Depending on what kind of Judaism one practices, they will have different religious routines. “Judaism can be viewed on a spectrum from those who are very spiritually devout and traditional to those who are more liberal and secular members. There are several types of Jews who can be defined by general common characteristics; however within each of these groups there is often a wide range of variation when it comes to spiritual beliefs and adherence to Jewish customs. First, Orthodox Jews are strict observers of the Torah and the Jewish traditions. [...] They believe the Torah is the literal translation of God’s law. Conservative Judaism is next on the spectrum. [...] Conservative Jews adhere to the Torah and keep it foremost 3 “About the Jewish Religion.” mfa.gov.1l. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, January 1, 2014. https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/spotlight/pages/about the jewish religion.aspx.
in their lives; however, they leave room to accommodate for social change. One example of this approach is that some conservative factions will ordain female Rabbis, as they view women in a more equitable role than does the Orthodox community (Young, 2009). Reform Judaism is seen as the most progressive of the subdivisions. Services are no longer held in Hebrew and many of the restrictions, especially about keeping Kosher and the Sabbath, are relaxed. They focus on the belief that people should choose for themselves which practices they wish to integrate into their lives based on their own sense of what will bring them closer to God (Diamant, 2007)”*. Where one falls on the spectrum of Judaism will determine what kinds of tradition they practice. However, one tradition that is quite universal among all Jews is the brit milah. A brit milah is the Jewish ceremony in which a baby boy is circumcised on the eighth day of his life. The ritual circumcision is symbolic of the baby boy’s partnership with God, and with the completion of the brit milah, the boy officially enters a Covenant with God. As a physical procedure to the body, the covenant can never be forgotten, unlike most other partnerships in life. A Jew is circumcised as a baby, when he is not able to understand or make judgements to represent a partnership with God that is beyond human understanding. Historically, the brit milah dates back to the time of Abraham’s life. Specifically, he was the first to complete the ritual - performing the circumcision on himself at age ninety-nine. In Genesis 17:12, God then spoke to Abraham saying: “This is my covenant which you shall keep between Me and you and thy seed after you - every male child among you shall be circumcised”. “For 3,500 years, since the time of * Fairchild, Emily. “An Overview of Jewish Beliefs and Traditions For Counselors.” JMU Scholarly Commons, 2010. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093 & context=edspec201019.
our forefather Abraham, the Jewish people have observed the ritual of circumcision as the fundamental sign of the covenant between God and Israel. The Brit Milah is considered much more than a simple medical procedure. Brit Milah is considered the sign of a new-born child's entry into the Jewish tradition. For millennia, in every country where Jews have lived, they have always practiced this ritual, sometimes at great personal sacrifice. Perhaps more than any other ritual, Brit Milah is the ultimate affirmation of Jewish identity™” . Historically, a Jewish father was obligated to circumcize his son because Abraham circumcized his son, Isaac. However, are not trained to circumcise, so a mohel, who is a Jew who has studied the techniques of circumcision, acts as a stand-in father for the ceremony. With the big population of Jews in Los Angeles, especially Persian Jews that tend to be on the more orthodox side of the spectrum, the brit milah is a very well practiced ritual in Los Angeles. Comparing Baptism and the Brit Milah Considering that the Christian religion was birthed from Judaism, the ritual traditions that each practice should have their similarities. For example, with both the baptism and the brit milah, the individual is expected to be inwardly committed to the religion. Specifically, in order to have a covenant with God, Jews must believe and live for God as Christians are called to believe and live for the Lord. Moreover, both of these rituals are typically performed at the beginning of an infant’s life. The reformed protestant tradition makes a parallel between circumcision and baptism in its teaching about the baptism of infants, suggesting that because ® Rose, Andrew. “The Brit Milah.” THE BRIT MILAH. Accessed December 5, 2019. http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/AROSE/Bris.htm.
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Jewish infants were circumcised, infants born into a Christian family should be baptized. However, making this parallel can be inappropriate in several ways. First off, a brit milah is only for male Jews, while a baptism is for all followers of Jesus Christ, regardless of gender. Furthermore, it is written in the Torah for the brit milah to be performed on the eighth day of the boy’s life while it is just preference for most parents to have their child baptized at an earlier age. Additionally, the brit milah is a physical sign of a relationship with God. In the Old Testament, there is recognition that circumcision and being a dedicated to the nation of Israel is not enough for salvation. More specifically, Deuteronomy 10:16 records Moses commanding the Israelites to circumcise their hearts.® Simply taking a physical step towards a covenant with God is not enough, it must also be made from within. On the other hand, with baptism, no physical change takes place; rather, it is a demonstration of a spiritual change that has taken place. Once the baptism takes place, the individual has taken the right step towards salvation. Conclusion Judaism and Christianity are two very complex religions that have many different ritual traditions that are practiced in order to build a relationship with God or the Lord and officially declare oneself as a devoted follower of the religion. For Christianity, there are seven sacraments of religion. These include baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, marriage, and holy orders. While all of these seven sacraments of Christianity are highly important, they are not required to be fulfilled in order to be a follower of the religion. In this ¢ “Circumcision and Baptism.” Ligonier Ministries. Tabletalk Magazine. Accessed December 4, 2019. https://www ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/circumcision-and-baptism/.
10 paper, the ritual tradition that was researched and focused on was baptism. Baptism is a tradition in which a follower of Jesus, regardless of age or gender, publicly confesses their sins and their faith to the Lord. They acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the son of God, and are then immersed in a natural source of water by their pastor. This tradition actually began with the immersion of the Judeans by John the Baptist in the first century C.E. as a way for the Judeans to cleanse themselves of sin. However, the Jewish people do not call their similar tradition of immersion in holy, natural water a “baptism”. Instead, it is called a Mikveh. Along with the Mikveh, Jews have several more traditions that create covenants with God and begin their journey through the Jewish faith. A very important ritual tradition that happens at the beginning of an infant boy’s life 1s the brit milah, or circumcision. The baby boy is circumcised as a physical means of proclaiming their relationship with God. The idea of physically etching the relationship with God onto their body is that it cannot be forgotten or it cannot end. This tradition dates back to Abrahamic times, when he circumcised himself and was then told by God to circumcise his son. God spoke to Abraham and explained that fathers shall circumcise their sons for generations to come, and now in modern day, this ritual tradition still holds and is very important to the Jewish people. While the Christian faith originated through Judaism, the two ritual traditions that each religion practices do have several differences. The overall idea of how each respective ritual tradition creates a covenant with God or the Lord can be compared and said to be very similar. In almost every religion, there will be a ritual tradition that creates the covenant with the higher being. However, the details of each tradition sets them apart, as expected. The biggest difference between a baptism and the brit milah is that a baptism creates a covenant with the Lord, is a
11 spiritual profession of faith, and enough for salvation while a brit milah is a physical one, and is not enough for salvation. The Jews must also be loyal to God and “circumcise their heart” in order to be saved. In Los Angeles, these ritual traditions are practiced often and are very popular due to a high population of Christians and Jews in the city. During a Sunday service for my friend’s church, T was able to see a baptism first-hand, and better understand the effort that goes through it. There is regular Jewish service every Friday and Christian Sunday services every weekend as well, with a large amount of churches and temples all over the city. The brit milah is practiced at home, but is very important nevertheless. After being able to research and learn about these two religions and their ritual traditions, I can better understand the history of each and what makes them so similar and different to each other. Being an agnostic theist, it has always been hard for me to understand religion and the specific laws that go into these ritual traditions, but now I have a better grasp on the meaning of these traditions for each religion and why it is so important to fulfill the word of God or the Lord.
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12 Bibliography “About the Jewish Religion.” mfa.gov.il. Isracl Ministry of Foreign Affairs, January 1, 2014. https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/spotlight/pages/about the jewish religion.aspx. Barnes, Ed. “Baptism: A Pre-Christian History .” Baptism: A Pre-Christian History, October 2005. http://www.bible.ca/ef/topical-baptism-a-prechristian-history.htm. “Circumcision and Baptism.” Ligonier Ministries. Tabletalk Magazine. Accessed December 4, 2019. https://www ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/circumcision-and-baptism/. Fairchild, Emily. “An Overview of Jewish Beliefs and Traditions For Counselors.” JMU Scholarly Commons, 2010. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093 & context=edspec201019. Osborne, Kenan B. “The Christian Sacraments of Initiation.” Google Books. Paulist Press. Accessed December 4, 2019. https://books.google.com/books? hl=en&lr=&1d=bZaqx7pL6FUC&o1=tnd&pg=PA 1 & dg=christian+sacraments+of+initiati on&ots=L7gzMIszzc&sig=JAN4EOg-iv7mzIWw3PRS4uMgK Sw#v=onepage& q=christi an sacraments of initiation& f=false.
13 Rose, Andrew. “The Brit Milah.” THE BRIT MILAH. Accessed December 5, 2019. http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/AROSE/Bris.htm. Weiss, Charles. “A Worldwide Survey of the Current Practice of Milah (Ritual Circumcision).” Jewish Social Studies. Indiana University Press, January 1, 1962. https://www jstor.org/stable/4465897?casa token=PmVyvpDdfAIAAAAA:y-T2qi-Bwl X801ULsdyNUEFAFWWNCQemAb4IWICU6GI1200npjFoqSshMNZBprK gsXaHhewiX dkkvUSaX12a5rYDQ4duA8ezp0;5bgAtOTpRSqOReuBP8-Q&seq=1#metadata_info tab _contents.