Core beliefs and practices in Judaism

Jewish religion also known as Judaism -- is the religion of the Torah, which begins with the "Five Books of Moses and encompasses the Old Testament" (Neusner, 1992, 8). Judaism honors its beginnings as part of the creation of the whole world, Neusner explains. Jews believe that God created the world "…and for ten generations, from Adam to Noah, despaired of creation." Following those ten generations, from Noah to Abraham, God was waiting for humans to finally "…acknowledge the sovereignty of one God," who was authentically the unseen power that created heaven and earth (Neusner, 9).

Most historians explain that Judaism is a "monotheistic faith" (there is but one God) and Jews in turn often find this God "…beyond [humans'] ability to comprehend" and nevertheless Jews believe God is present in everyone's life every day (Pelala, 2013). Moreover Jews believe that each person was created "b'tzelem Elohim" (meaning "in the image of God") and because of this belief, there is the companion belief that every person is "equally important and has an infinite potential to do good in the world" (Pelala, p. 1).

Of vital importance to Jews is the Torah, the most important book in Judaism. The Torah has the Ten Commandments and the "613 commandments" (known as mitzvoth), and while all Jews accept the Ten Commandments not all Jewish sects accept the mitzvoth, Pelala explains. In the Torah, it is clearly pointed out that the "Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael) was part of the covenant made between God and the Jewish People at Mount Sinai" (Pelala, p. 1). That having been pointed out, there is no single universal view of Israel among modern Jews because some Jews are "conflicted" by the bitter politics in that region of the Middle East.

Meantime, most Jews, whether they are part of the Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, or various Orthodox Judaisms, believe that a Messiah (from God) will arrive and "unite the world and bring peace to humanity," which is part of the optimism that keeps Jews in a positive frame of mind notwithstanding the horrific slaughter of Jews during the Holocaust. To summarize the essence of Judaism, Pelala quotes from a great rabbi in the first century B.C.E. (Hillel); the rabbi was asked to sum up what Judaism means, and "…while standing on one foot" he said the following: "Certainly! What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the Torah. The rest is commentary," he said. "Now go and study" (Pelala, p. 2).

Location of the Synagogue

The Congregation Kol Emeth is located at 5130 West Touhy Avenue, in Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. This congregation views itself (on its website) as "…a friendly, participatory and egalitarian Conservative synagogue." There are approximately 200 families that are participants in this Jewish congregation, and Kol Emeth is linked to the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism of America. The congregation embraces the "great diversity of backgrounds" that make up the people in the congregation; some members are new to the faith and have recently discovered the "magnificence and richness of Judaism" and others have been involved with Judaism from childhood to adulthood, the Kol Emeth website explains.

Kol Emeth has Friday Evening Shabbat services at 8:00 P.M. And on Sabbath morning the service is at 9:30 A.M. An important component of the Kol Emeth congregation is "Our Sisterhood," a fundraising group that provides spiritual, educational, social and cultural activities for the women of the congregation.

Question: How has religion shaped your life?

Answer: For one thing I love the Sabbath. I have enjoyed the experience of lighting candles on Friday night after the sun goes down my whole life. It is special because the Sabbath has always for my family -- and for me as a little girl -- been a time when our family takes a break from all secular activities and shares spiritual moments. We don't go do movies on the Sabbath and we don't go shopping; we stay home and the mother cooks a wonderful meal -- and we pray as a family. My life has been shaped around the Sabbath, because in my teaching career there have always been tensions and clashes between students and teachers and administrators, too. But I always remain calm because I know Sabbath will bring me peace and renewal.

Question: Have you been the subject of discrimination because of your Jewish faith?

Answer: Yes, I have felt the hurt from anti-Semitism on a few occasions. And I feel pain when I think about the brutality Jews went through in Europe because of the Nazis. But here in Skokie, Jews are very comfortable because a large percentage of residents here are Jewish and many Holocaust survivors came here after World War II. We have the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center where people who are not Jews can understand our history better.

Question: Are there challenges associated with being Jewish and practicing your religion?

Answer: Well yes of course because most people attend church on Sunday but we observe the Sabbath and that makes us different. Also, my children don't take part in many of the Friday night activities in their schools because as I mentioned Friday night is the beginning of the Sabbath for us. Sometimes children can actually resent their faith because all their friends go to movies and sports activities on Friday night and Sabbath; my children are no different from other Jewish children so this presents a problem for them. But in our family we try to make the Sabbath not just a day of worship and sacrifice, but a fun day so kids can relax and enjoy it.

Question: What are the biggest misconceptions about the Jewish faith?

Answer: Well, all Jews aren't the same but when people say Jews they tend to lump us all in one denomination. Our synagogue practices Conservative Judaism, which is not as strict, you might say, as Reform Judaism or Orthodox Judaism. Conservative Jews study Hebrew and strongly support Israel's right to self-determination. We also keep kosher -- we don't eat pork but keeping kosher goes farther than just not eating pork. We cut meat on one cutting board and cheese on a different cutting board. We don't mix dairy foods with meat, that's part of keeping kosher.

Question: What about divorce in your faith?

Answer: The Conservative Jewish approach is that secular, civil laws about divorce do not necessarily apply. In certain situations where the husband leaves or he is abusive, divorce can be obtained by the wife. In most cases divorce can only be initiated by the husband but there are exceptions.

Question: Do Jews view themselves as the chosen people?

Answer: Yes we do because Abraham was chosen by God to lead the Jews out of bondage and the Jews were chosen, we believe, to make the fact of God known to the world. The Torah explains that Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai, and so we believe Moses was chosen by God to bring His message to the world. We don't think we're better than any other faith, but we do believe we are the chosen people to make God known.

Comparing Judaism with another Religion

In professor Jacob Neusner's book, A Short History of Judaism: Three Meals, Three Epochs, the author acknowledges that like Christianity, Judaism is a world religion and has flourished worldwide. Interestingly, Neusner points out that when a person becomes a "Judiast," a person that practices Judaism, that individual enters into a "…intensely ethnic community" of Jewish people. However, in contrast to that, becoming a Muslim one does not become "an Arab," and converting to Catholicism doesn't make a person Irish, Spanish, Italian or Polish, just because those nations mentioned are essentially Roman Catholic nations (Neusner, 1992, 5).

In fact in Judaism there is an "overlap" beyond religious belief and an "ethnic identity" as a member of the Jewish community. Judaism is different than Christianity because there is, according to Neusner, an "…interplay between the history of the people and the formation of the faith" (5). There many more Christians than Jews in the world and moreover, unlike Christianity, Judaism looks back into its deeply rooted historical beginnings and critical issues that are addressed within Judaism "…find their definition in the events of the history of a small and weak people" (Neusner, 6).

In that past Jews learn about the history of their faith which includes events such as "defeat, disappointment, and disillusion" instead of victory and vindication, Neusner continues; however, in the end Jews see themselves as "survivors, by God's will," of many horrific events including of course the Holocaust. Christianity has no such terrible event in its past for believers to turn to as a cultural memory of the origins of its tenets. The one thing that makes Judaism similar to Christianity is that there are "many Judaisms" (Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and various Orthodox Judaisms) and indeed there are many kinds of Christianity as well (several Protestant denominations, Catholics, Orthodox Christians).

Conclusion

The Jewish faith can be (and is) misunderstood by others because for one thing, there are a number of different beliefs held by Jews. In this paper a brief history of Judaism was covered, and it is clear that while Judaism is an ancient religion, it has survived all these hundreds of years because Jews have faith that a Messiah will come to unite the world and Jews believe they were chosen by God to explain the relevance of God's will to the world. It is very sad to realize that Jews even today are persecuted in some areas of the world, and that Jews in America feel the sting of cultural and religious bias against them. Still, by studying Judaism a person can get the true facts of Jewish history and can begin to understand this often misunderstood faith.