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Posted by Shane on 7/29/2006, 12:06 pm, in reply to "Happy Birthday to a Great Irishman..." Quick Facts Each religion has a unique identity that believers participate in. An important part of understanding a religion from an academic point of view is becoming familiar with the special contribution religion makes to an individual and his or her community's sense of self. Jewish identity exists as a mixture of religious, national, and ethnic identity. In different times and places, people have conceived the nature of 'Jewish-ness' in terms of different criteria. Fundamentally, the Jewish community is defined by its participation in a unique covenant with the divine. Obviously, there is a powerful religious element in identifying oneself as Jewish. However, as this covenant was initially made with specific groups, the tribes of Israel, Jewish identity also denotes physical descent from this particular group of people. A person's religious beliefs do not change their ancestry or their family's history, and so we can see that Jewish identity is also something more than a religious affiliation. As mentioned above, in different times and places, people have formulated Jewish identity in different ways, but it has always been a combination of religious belief, biological relationships, and participation in a historical community. All religions have special rituals and observances to celebrate the different stages of a good human life. Scholars of religion call these celebrations 'rites of passage' because they move an individual from one social position to another; from childhood to adulthood, from life to death and so on. There are four major rites of passage practiced in Judaism. 1. The first is the Brit Milah (ritual circumcision) of male children, which takes place eight days after their birth. In Judaism, this ritual has its origins in their sacred texts, beginning with the family of Abraham, as a physical symbol of their participation in a covenant with God. The Brit Milah ritual is performed by a Mohel, someone specially trained in the surgical procedure and religious significance of this rite. The focus of this ceremony is the blessing of the child and welcoming him or her into the community. 2. As children age, they are not required to take on religious responsibilities until they reach the age of the majority. The Bar, or Bat, Mitzvah ceremony marks when a child is of a sufficient age to take on the obligations (mitzvot) of a good Jewish life. A central element of this public ceremony involves the individual performing a reading of the sacred texts of Judaism. 3. The next major stage in Jewish life comes with betrothal (Kiddushin), Hebrew for 'sanctification' and the wedding ceremony itself (Nissuin). Marriage in Judaism represents the ideal state for mature adults and so this ceremony is extremely important in families and communities as a kind of fulfillment of two individuals' promises and a symbol of the unity of family, community and a people with the divine will. During the ceremony, the couple stands under a huppah (a canopy that symbolizes their future home). After the bride receives a ring and the marriage document is read aloud, seven blessings based on the theme of creation are laid on the couple. 4. The final major rite of passage is of course the passage from life into death. All of the major Jewish rites focus on the dignity and value of the individual in the eyes of the community, and the funerary practices are no exception. Ideally, the integrity of the body should be maintained as whole and inviolate as possible. The body is washed, purified and dressed for burial. The close relatives of the deceased are considered exempt for many of the regular observances of Judaism, as they are expected to be in a deep state of mourning. After prayer and a eulogy, the body is excorted to the burial grounds. Beginning with the day after burial, the family members sit Shivah (Hebrew for 'seven'), staying at home and receiving visitors. There are also a number of things people sitting shivah are restricted from doing, which include going to work, bathing for pleasure, studying Jewish texts, and so on. After shivah, there is a longer period of mourning with lesser restrictions placed on the mourners' behaviour, and a yearly death-anniversary that is commemorated. All of the major religious traditions of the world are subdivided into groups with particular practices or beliefs. The changes occurs through time, as groups suffer internal conflict, or are isolated from one another and grow apart, developing in unique ways. For the purposes of this course, we will refer to these individual groups within religions as 'denominations'. There have been very few periods in history where there has been one rigid form of Judaism. Usually there have been many 'Judaisms', many ways of expressing Jewish-ness. The modern period continues to reflect this diversity in the world's Jewish population. * * * * * * Good estimates are difficult to find for the early population of Jews. Biblical references suggest the number of Jews at the time of the exodus from Egypt was approximately three million. The census at the time of King David reports a population of over five million. At the Fall of Jerusalem, some sources report there being as many as one million Jews who died or fled. The nature of these reports and their sources make them extremely unreliable, unfortunately. At its height, census figures of the Roman Empire record approximately 10% of the population self-identifying as Jewish. Later persecution by the empire, and the destruction of the temple in year 70 of the common era, surely reduced this percentage. Banished from their homeland by the Romans, the dispersed Jewish communities survived as minorities among other populations. Jewish populations spread throughout a number of countries both east and west. From the middle ages, few records of population sizes survive. The clearest indicators of population sizes are found among the expulsion records from many medieval nations, a mixed symbol of both the survival of the Jewish nation in exile and the history of persecution and diaspora: 1290, 16,000 expelled from England; 1396, 100,000 from France; 1492, about 200,000 from Spain. Current estimates of the world's Jewish population are between 12 and 17 million, with approximately 46% of that number living in North America. * *
HERE ARE A FEW WORDS ABOUT SAMMY:
Religious Identity
Rites of Passage
Major Denominations
Orthodox Judaism:
This umbrella label includes Hasidic, Ultra-Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Judaism. The label is intended to distinguish those groups who practice some form of more 'traditional' Judaism from those who participated in the period of reform that arose in the early 1800s.
Reform Judaism:
Beginning among German Jews in the 1800s, reform Judaism attempted to adapt to Enlightenment ideas and the beginnings of secularism, the combination of which made assimilation into the larger culture much more attractive. The adaptations made to the urban secular lifestyle of many modern Jews led to a form of Judaism that was more liberal and less demanding in terms of ritual observance.
Conservative Judaism:
This branch of Judaism arose from a split in the reform movement, rejecting some of the more liberal alterations made by some of the movement. This more traditional group continued to place importance on select elements of Jewish law, but allowed some changes to be made in respect to modern life, as long as the essentials of Judaism were conserved.
Religious Roles
Rabbi:
The rabbi is a community leader. Years of study of traditional Jewish texts are required before a person can become a rabbi. Beyond religious responsibilities, rabbis serve as a resource for teachings and advice about the application of Jewish law to everyday life.
Kohein:
The kohein is a traditional priestly position, associated with the ancient Jerusalem temple and the ritual observances therein. Although once a critical religious position, with the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE, the local community observances adapted to take the place of the missing temple rites. With this shift, rabbis began to occupy a more central role in the Jewish community.
Hazzan:
A hazzan is a cantor, a person trained in both musical and religious practice. Both on the Sabbath and on holidays, the celebration of sacred time and commemoration of historical events are typically accompanied by specific hymns or traditional songs.
Population
Miscellaneous
The Sabbath:
In commemoration of the divine act of creation, Jews keep the seventh day of the week as a day of rest. The sabbath begins Friday evening and lasts until the next moonrise. On this day, the central themes are rest and sanctification, the division of sacred time from the secular activities of day-to-day life. In this way, everyday activities are put in the context of a larger religious significance. On the Sabbath, the theme of 'rest' is observed by refraining from any activity that could be considered 'creative work'. There are traditional lists of the activities that fall into this category, interpreted in a number of ways to fit modern life.
Ethnic Divisions:
As the Jewish populations of the world were isolated from one another, and developed recognizable independent features, some traditional ethnic divisions within Judaism have come about: Ashkenazi (Hebrew: �German�) Jews come from Germany and Eastern Europe, Sephardic (Heb: �Spanish�) Jews come from the Iberian Peninsula, Mizrahi Jews come from North Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and Yemen. These divisions are based on both geographical origin and unique religious practices.
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