Religion 107: Test 1

Front 1

The Jewish Bible

Back 1

-Hebrew Bible=Old Testament (more or less)
-TaNaKh:
---Torah
---Nevi'im
---Ketuvim

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TaNaKh

Back 2

-Consists of the Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim
-Legends, histories, songs, prophetic oracles, and visions
-From around 900 BCE to aroud 160 BCE

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Torah

Back 3

-"Teaching" or "Instruction"
-Most Important
-1st five books of the bible
-Creation of the world (gen 1&2)
-Call and migration of Abraham (gen 12)
-Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 19 & 20)
-Treaty @ Sinai

Front 4

Nevi'im

Back 4

-"Prophets"
-Entry into the land (Joshua, Judges)
-Period of the monarchy (Samuel, Kings)
-Bablonian Exile (586-538BCE)
-Oracles of individual prophets (mostly active during monarchy)

Front 5

Ketuvim

Back 5

-"Writings"
-The return from exile and the postexilic community

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Scripture

Back 6

What makes something Scripture?
-A writing or a collection of writings preserved by religious communities as authoritative sources of teaching or worship.
-Preserved by human memory and recorded in human language
-"holy" or "sacred"

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Antiochus IV

Back 7

-175 BCE becomes king
-167 BCE forbids Jewish worship
- Some Jews accept these changes, others did not.
-Pompted the Maccabean Revolt, which eventually led to independent Judean dynasty, The Hasmoneans.

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Maccabees/Maccabean Revolt

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-Eventually led to independent Judean dynasty, the Hasmoneans.
- Independent Jewish area, ruled by high priests, influence of Hellenism.

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Hellenism

Back 9

- Greek cultural influence
- Political control
- Spread of Greek language, culture, philosophy and educational system.
- Influenced by I. Maccobes

Front 10

70 CE (What Happened?)

Back 10

150 BCE: independent Jewish state ruled by Hasmonean dynasty
63 BCE: Judea is conquered by Rome (becomes part of roman empire)
68-70 CE: Jewish revolt against Rome

Romans destroy Jewish temple in Jerusalem (70 CE). Became known as the fall of Jerusalem.
Jewish religious leadership moves to Jamnia, and this date is mourned annually as the Jewish fast.

Front 11

Philo
(Philo of Alexandria)

Back 11

-Member of Egyptian Jewish community.
-Combined Greek philosophical ideas with observance of traditional Jewish law.
-Argued that Judaism is actually the source of Greek philosophy and therefore superior to it.
-Pretty extraordinary departure from traditional Judaism.
**Philo's philosophy in writing**
goal of life- transcend the physical world and unite w/ God in the intelligible realm. Moses had achieved the perfect knowledge of God. Moses wrote Torah in a language everyone can understand (if see through the cracks/codes).

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Sadducees

Back 12

-No after life
-Rejected oral tradition
-Associated w/ priestly class (rich/upper class)

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Pharisees

Back 13

-Believed in after life
-Very concerned w/ correct interpretation of the Torah
-Oral Tradition

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Essenes

Back 14

-Practice celibacy.
-Live communally, common ownership of property, study the Torah, long entrance procedure, frequent purification with water.
-Group at Qumran has all these traits.

Front 15

Dead Sea Scrolls

Back 15

Hebrew manuscripts discovered near Jericho in 1948.
Many of biblical books, from 250 BCE to 1000 CE.
Found in Qumran.
Shows that text of the Hebrew Bible was still changing.

Front 16

Qumran

Back 16

Where Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
Library of a highly organized religious community.
Biblical interpretations, rules, predictions of the coming cosmic war, etc.

Front 17

Mishnah

Back 17

- From the word "recite/repeat"
- "What is recited" (oral origins)
- Arranged topically into six orders and 63 tractates.
- Each tractate is comprised of individual mishnot.
*THE FIRST MAJOR WRITTEN REVIEW OF THE ORAL TORAH*
-No Resolution! Collection of different opinions without telling us which one's "right."
-NOT explicitly tied to Scripture: usually just the opinions of various rabbis.

Front 18

Midrash

Back 18

- From the word "to seek" (to seek in the scriptures- to interpret)
- Rabbinic scriptural interpretation; rabbinic teaching explicitly tied to interpretation of a biblical verse.

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Mishnah vs. Midrash

Back 19

Mishnah- Rabbinic teaching NOT presented as interpretation
Midrash- Rabbinic teaching presented as interpretation

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Oral Torah

Back 20

- All rabbinic teaching, traditions, and interpretation
- Was given to Moses at Sinai along with the written Torah
- All the "extras" that developed as early Judaism tried to figure out how exactly one lives according to the Torah
** Consists of Mishnah AND Midrash

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Halakhah

Back 21

-"To go, Walk"'
-procedure; rabbinic law

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Aggadah

Back 22

- "To Tell"
- Rabbinic narrative; anything that doesn't have to do with law

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Talmud

Back 23

- Collection of rabbinic teaching structured as a commentary on the Mishnah.
- Guide to the study of the Mishnah.
- Became the object of study in traditional Judaism.
- Two Talmuds: 1. Jerusalem Talmud and 2. Babylonian Talmud (Babylonian more studied/important)
-Contents: halakhah and aggadah; "mishnaic" statements and biblical interpretation (midrash)
-MISHNAH + GEMARA = TALMUD

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Gemara

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-"To Study"
- Part of the Talmud that contains rabbinical commentaries and analysis of the Mishnah.

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Shema

Back 25

- "Hear"
- Are the first two words of a section of the Torah that is a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services.

Front 26

Amidah/Eighteen Benedictions

Back 26

-"The standing prayer"
- Central prayer of the Jewish Liturgy
- What is God like? What does God do?
Eighteen Benedictions: Shield Abraham, Holy, Delights in repentance, redeemer, blesses the (agricultural) years, gathers the dispersed, humbles enemies/arrogant, supports the righteous, brings salvation, returns his presence to Zion, Revives dead, gives knowledge, gracious, heals the sick, loves justice, rebuilds Jerusalem, hears prayers, deserves thanks.

Front 27

Mitzvah/Mitzvot

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-Mitzvah= "command"
-Mitzvot= "commands"

Ex: It is a mitzvah to say the Shema morning and evening.

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Esoteric

Back 28

hidden, secret, accessible to few.
Deep meaning in the Torah

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Exoteric

Back 29

public, open, accessible to all.

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Maimonides

Back 30

Physician for Muslim king in Cairo. Famous for medicine, rabbinic law, and philosophy.
Two famous works:
-Guide of the Perplexed (philosophy)
-Mishneh Torah (compilation of rabbinic law)

Front 31

Maimonides on the Torah

Back 31

-Torah as a secret meaning: if interpreted correctly, contains the same truths as can be known by reason/philosophy.
-"Plain meaning" allows ordinary people a way to experience God.
-Commandments lead to the perfection even if you don't understand the deep meaning.
-The more advanced, the "perplexed," will be able to see the deeper meaning.

Front 32

Kabbalah

Back 32

-"handing-on"; "tradition"
- technical term for medieval Jewish mystical literature

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Sefirot

Back 33

-The ten Sefirot
-The 10 attributes of God/emanations from God's innermost essence.
-Ein-Sof ("without-end"): the completely hidden, totally transcendent part of God.

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Ein-Sof

Back 34

"no-end," totally hidden, completely transcendent part of god

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Shekhinah

Back 35

presence of god that is manifest to humans (like in the Temple or at Mt. Sinai)

Front 36

Zohar

Back 36

Is widely considered the most important work of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. It is a mystical commentary on the Torah, written in medieval Aramaic. It contains a mystical discussion of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, sin, redemption, good and evil, and the relationship between God and Man.

Front 37

Hasidism

Back 37

The movement originated in Eastern Europe in mid-1700s.
Focused more on individual experience of God than Torah/Talmud study: Prayer, song, dance.
Many connections with Kabbalah, but: more concerned with individual "cleaving to" God than cosmic restoration.

Front 38

Reform Judaism

Back 38

Spectrum's of beliefs, practices and oranizational infrastructure associated with Reform Judaism in North America and in the United Kingdom.

Front 39

Conservative Judaism

Back 39

Deliberately non-fundamentalist. Positive attitude toward modern culture. Acceptance of both traditional rabbinic modes of study and modern scholarship and critical text study when considering Jewish religious texts.

Front 40

(Modern) Orthodoxy

Back 40

Attempts to synthesize traditional observance and values with the secular, modern world.

Front 41

Enlightment

Back 41

"Haskalah" movement
-Ideal of reason and critical thought
-Development of willingness to challenge official religious dogmas
-New developments in natural sciences, philosophy, theology, political theory, etc