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Reform Judaism Research Paper

Decent Essays

Reform Judaism is a religion that has a very covenantal relationship with God through correct practices. Through the Torah scroll, Jews are able to read the stories of the Five Books of Moses and learn what God would like from his people otherwise known as his “will” for the people (Fisher 261). The Torah is in existence because Jewish people believe that “…there is one Creator God, the ‘cause of all existent things’” (Fisher 262) and that the Torah scroll is the main way that God communicates with them. Jews typically reflect on the past quite often requiring correct and strong practices in and out of the temple. Reflecting causes much of Reform Judaism to focus on thanking God and worshiping Him for helping them through tough times. …show more content…

This came to an end when their temple, the Solomonic Temple, was ruined by the Babylonians (“Rabbinic Prayer”). Because there was now no were to give sacrifices without a temple, the Rabbinic Jews began praying verbally multiple times a day. They have two names for the prayer; the Amidah, meaning standing with posture, because they would stand during the prayer, and Sh’ moneh ‘eshreh, meaning eighteen because the prayer was stated eighteen times each day (“Rabbinic Prayer”). Since they could no longer give sacrifices, the prayer incorporated the names of the sacrifices and was their way of giving back to God (“Rabbinic Prayer”). On top of giving sacrifices to God, the prayer also asks for redemption or forgiveness for their sins (“Rabbinic Prayer”). This prayer is very similar to the Shema Israel that Reform Jews pray and to the idea of covenantal relationships with God; the people give their sacrifices and in return, God forgives them for their sins. Since Rabbinic Judaism “ruled” the Jews in the third century, it is very likely that the amount of prayer that Reform Jews do today is because of the Rabbinic Jews influence on the overall Jewish culture (“Rabbinic …show more content…

Right before you enter the sanctuary in Des Moines’ Temple B’nai Jeshurun, there is a long list of names on plaques with light bulbs next to them. The list of people are people who died, and when the light bulbs light up it means that they died at some point in the month throughout the years. During the worship, there is a time where they lift these names up to remember them and pray for them along with those who have passed away in the past couple weeks. What makes the whole idea even better, is that if a temple gets shut down, they will donate their list of plaques to the nearest temple. In this case, Temple B’nai Jeshurun has the plaques from a neighboring temple that was shut down a few years ago. Temple B’nai Jeshurun took that communities plaques as well as their people under their wings. This is a great example as to how much community and remembrance means to the Reform Jews as well as the Jewish people in

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