Essay about Judaism: Temple Emanu-el

1 Id-According to the Old Testament, what massacre took place shortly after Moses received the 10 Commandments and why did it take place? Briefly list the main events in Moses’ life according to the Old Testament. Do any Egyptian sources confirm the events narrated in the Old Testament?

When I visited my first Jewish synagogue, I expected it to be very different. My previous experience with religious ceremonies was limited to a few visits to Baptist churches. The most surprising thing for me at this one was, oddly enough, its similarity to Christian services and rituals. I went into the religious visit expecting an enormous difference in the customs and perhaps even in the attitudes of the people attending the service. What I found instead was a religious ceremony very reminiscent of the Christian ones I’ve been to before.

Across countries and continents, through the rise and fall of great empires, and in multiple civilizations and religions, the Jewish people have been exiled martyrs for reasons far beyond their fault or doing. The Jewish people have come to accept this mutual exile as a part of their faith and religion. They are the people of exile until the messiah comes and the Jews will come together and live in the promised holy land. Since every Jew is an exile to the rest of society, this brings them closer together and creates a bond among the communities that keeps them strong and has kept the religion alive through most every situation. A new situation, however, is questioning the strength of the Jewish religion and its ability to remain as its defined people of exile. The Christian world has begun to push back their biased and hateful opinions on the Jews and recognize them as people. England, along with other governments, will contemplate whether the Jews could be citizens and if that would benefit them or not. It is not as much so for how the Jews have and will affect England at the time, but what

Throughout history, Jews have remained firmly stuck to Jewish tradition. Despite this, since the start of the Judaism Reformation, it has been found that Jewish people cannot coexist effectively with those who live in modern times. The reformations that were made included services no longer being conducted solely in Hebrew, but in a mixture of Hebrew and English and recognising the fact that for most Jews the vernacular was the main language of communication. As well as this, sections of the liturgy were omitted if they no longer corresponded to what Jews believed. The most dramatic of all has been the complete equality accorded to women. In Orthodox synagogues women are seated separately from men and do not lead any part of the service when men are present. In Reformed synagogues they sit together with men, participate actively in public worship and can now also be rabbis.

It is very different than I believe is Islam. They pray and approach god in a different way. They sing a song and recite a passage from the bible. In Islam, we do not sing, but the Imam does recite a part from the Quran and would talk about it. However, they are also very similar in the context of the disciplines and the prophets in Islam. When I went to a different religious place before this, they did not greet me or welcome me as much as they did at the Kennedy Road Tabernacle church. This was one of the best experiences ever, and will never forget it. I felt very welcomed and part of their community and I would definitely go

After their exile, around fifty-thousand Jews returned to Jerusalem which was now called Judaea. The leader of Judea, the Persian King Cyrus, allowed the Jews to return and to build another place of worship (Fisher 251). The second temple was built in 515 BCE and according to the text Living Religions, became “the central symbol to a scattered Jewish nation” (Fisher). The temple became a place where the Torah was formed and where the religion prospered. However, Jewish prosperity was not going to last. After four centuries of Roman rule, that was domineering and dreadful, a group of Jews decided to rebel against their oppressors. This led to Jews being slaughtered by the Romans and to the second Temple being destroyed. All that is left of the Temple are foundation stones which are referred to as the Western Wall. The temple has never been rebuilt and the Western Wall has become a place for prayer and remembrance for Jews all over the world. Jewish people look at the Western Wall as a representation of the hardships and oppression that their religion and people have endured. According to the article, Mystical Secret of the Western Wall:

According to dictionary.com (n.d.), Jehovah witnesses are a part of a Christian Sect. Henslin (2012) states that a sect is like a cult, but larger than the cult. Dictionary.com (n.d) states that Jehovah Witnesses were founded in the late nineteenth century,

Jesus is the fulfillment of Judaic prophecies; he is the new Moses imparting the new Law of Love.

“Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might have eventually stumbled upon all the Jewish insights. But we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the human intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they had been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and so a personal redemption; of collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice, and many other items which constitute the

Have you ever noticed that when people talk of Jews, at least in a protestant church, that the Israelite legalism, rituals, dress and hair standards are the first things to mind? The topic of Judaism may come with stereotypical opinions and “Christian Judgement” that are without merit or understanding. Judaism, by a Christian worldview, had to change after Pentecost, since the animal sacrifice to atone for sin Christ completed on the Cross. However, Judaism does not accept this truth of Christ and His work on the cross, but Judaism remains in the world. So, what was this change in Judaism and when did it take place? There have been numerous fluctuations within Judaism, only the theme constructed in this essay has its foundations around the most important facet of Judaism- the Temple. With the Temple in the forefront of this essay, we will discuss the modifications that Judaism went through, at what time, different perspectives that the destruction of the Temple had, and how the Christian sect views these vagaries. The Temple destruction of A.D. 70 converted the Jewish faith in its singular fashion, while, at the same point, the Jewish faith never had a total change by always changing throughout time.

Hasidic Judaism is a branch of Orthodox Judaism established in Eastern Europe during the 1800’s that put spirituality and a connection with God through mysticism at the forefront of its beliefs. In order to understand Hasidic Judaism, one must understand that Judaism is not only a religion; it is also a philosophy and a way of life for the Jewish people. One of the oldest monotheistic religions, Judaism has evolved over the years since the time of the founding fathers. Like any culture or religion, however, Jews have never been without conflict or disagreement amongst its people. Schisms amongst Jews over long periods of time have led to a branching out of sects and Jewish institutions. What led to the separation of denominations within

After the destruction of the temple, Judaism was forced to modify several of their traditions and rituals, specifically due to transitioning from a temple and ceremonial centric community into a bible centric religion. We now call this new form of the faith

Where do Jews, Christians, and Muslims usually pray? These three religions have a house of worship where they can sit down and pray. But however, the houses are different and build differently for their satisfaction and comfort. Jews pray in a synagogue which is also like a temple. These temples are built facing Jerusalem with long halls for prayer. Synagogues can also have smaller rooms for studies and sometimes a social hall for occasions as well as offices for bookkeeping. For Christians, they pray in normal churches. Most churches, especially older ones, are built in the slope of the cross. Muslim's house of worship is a Mosque. Mosques are built with no furniture, no painting or statues. It's just a big empty room where Muslim can sit on the floor and pray. When entering a Mosque, shoes are required to be taken off. When men and women pray, they are separated into two different rooms. All three religions pray in a house, that is a correct. But, the way the houses are built for them to pray are different.

On November 18, 1978 more than nine hundred people died in one of the largest mass murder/suicides in history. The man that implemented and carried out that atrocity was James Warren Jones, otherwise known as Jim Jones, a self proclaimed Second Coming (God). His exposure to an intensely emotional Pentecostal church service influenced and shaped his future beliefs and actions. In 1960, despite his lack of theological training, Jim Jones became an ordained minister. He made racial equality one of goals. Jim Jones also used fear arousal to recruit his followers by Genocide and thermonuclear war.

I learned a lot of facts about Judaism that I had previously been ignorant to. I had no idea that we (Christians & Jews) maintained the same bible (The Old Testament) but that we interpreted certain events differently, such as Adam and Eve. “In Judaism, each and every human being is free to choose good or evil because each person stands before God in the same relationship that Adam and Eve did” (Esposito 77). I was unaware that Judaism did not believe in “original sin.” I had no knowledge of the fact that Jews did not believe that Christ was resurrected from the dead. I found it interesting how Jews have split into separate groups – Reform Jews, who believe that Judaism is a cultural inheritance and that neither the laws nor beliefs are