Essay On Jewish Religion

In the Jewish faith many practices and rituals are fulfilled in order to be closer to God. Customarily, Jewish life is directed by the 613 Godly commandments derived from Torah. However in recent times, some Jewish groups have left the traditional role of written and oral Torah as religious law. Within the major groupings of Judaism there have created variations with respect to religious belief and practice, ritual, lifestyles, and degree of acculturation. In the Jewish religion the main rites of passage are circumcision, bar mitzvah, marriage and the funeral service. Sundays are also set aside as the Sabbath, a day of rest. Circumcision is the first of the Jewish rites and is completed by the removal of a simple fold of skin that covers the …show more content…
Under Jewish Law, children are not indebted to observe the commandments, although they are encouraged to do so as much as possible to learn the responsibilities they will have as adults. At the age of 13 (12 for girls), children become obliged to observe the commandments. The bar mitzvah ceremony formally, publicly marks the assumption of that obligation, along with the corresponding right to take part in leading religious services, to count in a minyan (the minimum number of people needed to perform certain parts of religious services), to form binding contracts, to testify before religious courts and to marry. In Judaism Marriage is the third ritual, Jews believe that the purpose of marriage is love and companionship, not just childbearing. In spite of this children that are born out of wedlock are not bastards in Jewish law. Judaism also believes in the concept of soul mates, called bashert, despite this a contract called a ketubah spells out terms of marriage but divorce also. The final ritual is a funeral service, death in the Jewish religion is not a tragedy, even when it occurs early in life or through unlucky