asically, the Midrash amplifies or extends the interpretation of scripture, especially regarding the first fours books of the Pentateuch, being Exodus through Deuteronomy, due to these books containing the greatest amount of biblical Halakhah, "the regulations governing the conduct of society as well as individual practice" (Goldin, 193).
In addition, the Midrash attempts to view the behavior of some of the patriarchs, such as King David, Solomon and Jacob, with much apology, meaning that some of the patriarchs are excused for their often negative behaviors while their many enemies are regarded as almost always evil in nature. Also, certain events in the books that make up the Pentateuch are seen as foreshadowing devices related to "the experiences of the patriarchs during their own times and of the future to come" (Goldin, 213). Thus, the true aim of the Midrash regarding its approach to the Torah is moral and didactic (i.e.…...
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Bibliography
Friedlander, Michael. The Jewish Religion. London: Shapiro & Vallentine, 1935.
Goldin, Judah. Studies in Midrash and Related Literature. New York: Jewish Publications Society, 1988.
Holtz, Barry W. Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986.
Lehrman, S.M. The World of the Midrash. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1961.
For those like Ezra, such a situation threatened the very survival of the nation and faith itself. However, in addition to the idea of the "imperiled nation" embedded in the Jewish psyche during the time (and, perhaps during modern time as well), it also pointed to the lax state of Jewish life and ritual in Jerusalem during this period -- as well as the turmoil that must have existed at the time these reforms were implemented.
Although it might be imagined that at the very lease the social reform concerning mixed marriages would result in emotional turmoil -- it also resulted in real danger. This is because following his declaration that mixed marriage should be immediately dissolved, the Samaritans and other involved groups were understandably offended to a degree in which violent attack against the Jewish community became a real possibility. As a result, Ezra decided to embark on rebuilding…...
A Jewish joke is, as Raskin suggests, one that transcends time. The Jewish joke may even transcend cultural context because the family of Jews spread around the world can use humor as a thread of connection. However, Jewish jokes do not stagnate. They evolve in order to reflect the lives and culture of the people who understand them.
Another common feature of Jewish jokes is that they reflect pain and suffering by turning sorrow into laughter. To the authors who address Jewish humor in Freudian terms such as Abrami, Jewish humor is defined by masochism. The anger that Jews could be directing externally is instead redirected at the self and at the community. Freud would have understood the phrase self-hating Jew, and wrote extensively about the ways Jewish jokes transfer anger related to political and social oppression into humor. Some authors focus on the ways Jewish humor capitalizes on stereotypes,…...
Both Bermant and Raskin show how all Jewish humor, and for Raskin, individual jokes, can be traced to Biblical times in light of Talmudic and other Rabbinical writings. Raskin addresses rabbinic judgment, man vs. God, ethnic disparagement, and even the humor in the Ten Commandments. Jewish mother jokes cannot be ignored in any analysis of Jewish humor, and both authors address the role of Jewish mother jokes and how they can be traced to the Bible. Raskin discusses the original function of Groucho Marx's resignation joke and places it also within a historical framework that extends back in time to the Bible and forward to oody Allen. The meaning of life is a rich topic of discussion in Jewish humor, traced through to the Bible and played out in variations of the joke of the dying Rabbi.
The connection between Jewish humor and Biblican humor is not immediately apparent to the…...
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Works Cited
Bermant, Chaim. What's the joke?: A study of Jewish humour through the ages. Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1986.
Raskin, Richard. Life is Like a Glass of Tea: Studies of Classic Jewish Jokes. Aarhus University Press, 1992
Spalding, Henry D. Encyclopedia of Jewish Humor. Middle Village, 2001.
Telushkin, Joseph. Jewish humor: What the best Jewish jokes say about the Jews. Harper Collins, 1998.
Religious Studies
The things that Orthodox Judaism and Jewish Renewal have in common appear to originate from the foundations of the Jewish faith. Both make use of the Jewish scriptures such as the Talmud, and both adhere to Jewish traditions in terms of holidays and general practices. Another significant similarity is the importance that both directions have for women. The Orthodoxy is reported to give significance to the feminine style of devotion to God, which includes a more emotional, nurturing relationship with him. The Renewal appears to be an inclusion of more emotional qualities in the style of worship for both women and men.
The differences are more marked, and thus easier to identify. Regarding the role of women, for example, the Jewish Renewal seeks to include women in all aspects of Jewish worship. They are thus not excluded from leadership roles or practices within the synagogue.
Gender Studies -- the orld Split Open
hy were American women unhappy? In building her case regarding the unhappiness that women in America experienced in the 1950s, the author of The orld Split Open: How the Modern omen's Movement Changed America -- Ruth Rosen -- goes into great detail. On page 13 Rosen points out that after II in the American culture, women getting pregnant and having babies, was extremely common and normal. In fact, a woman who was not married was "an embarrassment," and the author quotes actress Debbie Reynolds (from the film The Tender Trap) as saying that marriage is "the most important thing in the world" and that a woman is not "really a woman" until she has a wedding and babies (Rosen, 13).
But after taking care of babies all day, doing housework, running errands and cooking dinner for the family -- all the while using the products…...
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Works Cited
Rosen, Ruth. The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America.
However, Edersheim also points out that Jews were more child-centered than their contemporary cultures. One example of the Jewish reverence for children is that only Jews and one other culture had prohibitions against infanticide, while other cultures openly permitted the practice.
In chapter seven, Edersheim goes on to discuss the raising of Jewish children. Different ages of children had different roles and expectations. Children learned early on the protection of the Mesusah. In addition to formal instruction, children learned by observing their parents engage in rituals. The book of Proverbs is helpful to an understanding of how Jews were to raise their children. The most important part of the education of a Jewish child was religious education. Much of this instruction came as the result of children watching their parents, because Jews lived their religion as part of their daily lives. In addition to informal instruction, some children received formal…...
Julius Scott Jr.'s work of literature Jewish ackgrounds of the New Testament, is quite fascinating. The manuscript is well researched and dedicated to a number of crucial events that influenced the form of practice of both Christianity and Judaism. The author incorporates a variety of sources, both traditional and otherwise, in an attempt to reconstruct some of the critical elements in the intertestamental period that greatly influenced both of these religions for posterity. In order to better identify the central theme of this book and the author's intention in writing it, it is necessary to begin with background information about him and the scope of focus of the book to ultimately determine whether or not he has achieved his purpose with this work.
One of the most salient facets about the background of Scott Jr. is the fact that he is a Christian. The author is an emeritus professor at Wheaton…...
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Bibliography
Scott, Jr., J. Julius. Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2006, ISBN: 978-0-8010-2240-1.
End Notes
1. J. Julius Scott, Jr., Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2006), 356.
The theme of the accuracy of memory in the wake of traumatic events is one shared between virtually all of the articles in this packet of reading. It certainly was evinced within the reading for week 6-3, in which an author explores a dispute between survivors of a massacre within Palestine and the claims of Jewish soldiers present who stated that there was no such massacre. In this case -- which actually involved a legal trial -- memory was once again subjected to more pervasive aspects of history, possibly most prominently that of the Israeli law that dismissed the claims of the massacre.
The reading for week 6-2 demonstrates the amount of vibrancy and effervescence that historians have by being able to access archives. The author explores this potential of the historiographer by contrasting the relationship and reliability of memory and history, particularly as the latter is related to archiving. However,…...
Conflict, Debate or Struggle in the Contemporary U.S. Labor Movement
The work of utkowski and Dirkin (2010) reports that a kosher food company in Williamsburg is "locked in a battle with former workers who charge they were stiffed out of overtime pay - and then fired when they complained." The investigators for the National Labor elations Board is stated to have found that Flaum Appetizing Corporation "illegally booted the workers, and ordered the company to cough up around $260,000 in back pay." (utkowski and Dirkin, 2010) However, owner of the company, Moshe Grunhut is stated to have "refused to comply -- saying he won't' pay the workers because they're undocumented immigrants." (utkowski and Dirkin, 2010)
Methodology
The methodology employed in this study is one of a qualitative nature that has involved a review of the literature in regards to case of failure to pay overtime on the part of Flaum Appetizing Corporation.…...
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References
Efrem, Maia (2010) Fired Workers Protest, Prepare for NLRB Hearing in Two-Year Union Fight. The Jewish Daily Forward. 4 Aug 2010. Retrieved from: http://www.forward.com/articles/129832/
Brandworkers Focus on the Food Chain Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Beverage Distributor. 1 February 2010. Brandworkers International. Retrieved from: http://www.brandworkers.org/en/news?page=1
Kosher Business Refuses to pay $250,000 in back wages to fired workers (2010) Workers of the World 27 Nov 2010. Retrieved from: http://www.iww.org/en/node/5278
And he gained a following both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin. He was the Messiah. And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. For he appeared to them on the third day, living again, just as the divine prophets had spoken of these and countless other wondrous things about him. And up until this very day the tribe of Christians, named after him, has not died out (18.63-64)
This paragraph has also been very controversial, because many believe it would not be likely that Josephus would have written that Jesus "appeared to them on the third day, living again." Some scholars say that Josephus had given up all his Jewish leanings by this time, but others say that this was not the true…...
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Bibliography
Albright, William and C.S. Mann. The Anchor Bible. Matthew. New York: Doubleday, 1971
Benjamin, Jules R. A Student's Guide to History. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 2004
Broshi, Magen. The Credibility of Josephus. Journal of Jewish Studies: Essays in Honor of Yigael Yadin 1982 from Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies. Accessed 10 April, 2010http://www.centuryone.com/josephus.html
Carr, Edward Hallett. What Is History? Random House. New York. 1961.
Yiddish as a first language in Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, compared to the use of local vernacular (for example, Hebrew in Israeli-ased Jews, or English in London and New York-ased Jews): in Hasidic Jews, the use of Yiddish is widespread, whereas in other Jewish groups, the local vernacular is more common.
This paper discusses the reasons behind these differences, and looks at the functions that Yiddish serves in these Hasidic Jew communities. The paper also looks at the effects of outside pressures has on the use of Yiddish, and on issues of identity in general.
The paper also looks at the religious issues related to the use of Yiddish, and at heritage issues in general. The paper also looks in detail at the use of Yiddish as a cultural isolating mechanism, as a way to create barriers between Hasidic Jews and non-Hasidic Jews, and also Hasidic Jews and non-Jews (gentiles).
The paper also…...
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Bibliography
Abraham, J.E. (1985). Perceptions of English Learning in a Hasidic Jewish Sect.
Abrams, D. And Hogg, M.A. (2000). Social Identity: Constructive and Critical.
Belcove-Shalin, J. (1995). New World Hasidim: Ethnographic Studies of Hasidic Jews in America.
Ben-Rafael, E. Language and Social Division -The Case of Israel.
Overall, however, the Jews in Europe did not lead as normal or equal lives as the Jews in the Muslim world did. Cohen's idea was to prove this point, and he does it repeatedly.
Throughout the book, Cohen uses comparisons such as these to prove his thesis and indicate just why the Jews were better off in Islamic lands. Each chapter touches on a particular area of life, from legalities to economics and the social aspects of life during the Middle Ages. Each time, Cohen creates balanced arguments to back up his thesis and to convince the reader his position is correct.
The author uses a variety of historical research and review to come to his conclusions, and offers a detailed section of notes at the end of the work indicating his sources for his book. His arguments are not emotional or judgmental; they simply present the facts and then indicate…...
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References
Cohen, Mark R. Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.
Hasidic Judaism Culture
Hasidic Judaism-primarily Boro Park
Literature suggests that people often refer the Jewish people as the chosen people, which is common knowledge. In fact, the bible supports this because it refers to them as the Holy people or the Holy Community. In this respect, during the provision of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, it was a requirement by God that the Jews live a holy life. In the context of holy, God required the people to conduct their personal and social life through obeying the six hundred and thirteen proscriptive and prescriptive dicta found in the Torah (Mintz, 1992). Over successive generations, the six hundred and thirteen laws evolved to become the Ol Torah or the yoke of the torah.
In the current setting, it is just to suggest that over the two thousand plus years, the Jews have tried their best to conduct their lives in accordance with the…...
The guide to practice is sometimes ambiguous, for example, Rashi, the great medieval teacher, implies in one case that the fetus has no rights, but then elsewhere seems to imply the opposite (Berke pp). However, no Jewish source accept abortion for the purpose of birth control or sterility, which is a practice that "cheapens human life" and public morality (Berke pp).
Abortion continues to be a highly contentious issue in the United States, with few signs of abatement, and actually increased signs that it is being placed at the forefront of many agendas (Johnson pp).
orks Cited
Berke, Matthew. "Jews Choosing Life." Journal of Religion and Public Life.
February 02, 1999. Retrieved August 01, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library eb site.
Feder, Don. "Abortion, Judaism, and Jews."
National Review. July 8, 1991. Retrieved August 01, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library eb site.
Feder1, Don. "The kosher majority. (Orthodox Jews as political conservatives)."
National Review. April 10, 1987.…...
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Works Cited
Berke, Matthew. "Jews Choosing Life." Journal of Religion and Public Life.
February 02, 1999. Retrieved August 01, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library Web site.
Feder, Don. "Abortion, Judaism, and Jews."
National Review. July 8, 1991. Retrieved August 01, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library Web site.
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