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23 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Torah |
Commandments given directly from God to Moses, they provide the basis for Jewish Law. There is a written Torah and an oral Torah, the written was passed from God to Moses, the oral was spoken from God to Moses. The oral was not written originally, but passed on through generations. In 200 CE the written and oral Torah were compiled to form the Mishnah. |
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Rabbinic Judaism |
Rabbinic Judaism became the mainstream form of Judaism since the Talmudic Rabbi's found evidence in scripture in the Tanakh to support the idea of a rewarding afterlife after death. |
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Mitzvot |
Mitzvot is the plural of Mitzvah. Mitzvah means commandent. The Mitzvot refer to the 613 commandments taken from the Torah by the Rabbi's that Jewish law is based on. |
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Tanakh |
The Tanakh is the Hebrew bible, made up of The Torah, the Nevi’im, and the Ketuvim. These three parts translate to the Prophets, the Writings and the Torah. It is also known as the New Testament to Christians. In the Tanakh are also the written revelations Moses received from God, in the written Torah. |
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Gemara |
Rabbinic commentaries on the Mishnah. It is included in the Talmud. |
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Mishnah |
The relation to the written and oral Torah, as discussed by the Rabbis. |
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Talmud |
Oral revalations, the Mishnah and the Gemara compiled together are referred to as the Talmud. |
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Good/Evil Inclination (yetzer ha-toc/ yetzer ha-ra) |
All humans have an evil inclination (yetzer ha-ra) and a good inclination (yetzer ha-tov). These inclinations drive humans. The evil inclinations drive the fulfilment of desires and appetites, such as sexual desires. The evil inclination is seen as both good and bad, the evil inclinations dominate and alienate him from God, but also drive life (ex-having sex results in procreation). Life is about struggling with the two inclinations. |
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Halakhah |
Jewish Law, based on the Torah. Halakhah are the laws that Jewish people must follow in their daily life. |
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Sheol |
The underworld that all individuals are sent to after their death. It is a land of darkness that all those who die are sent to, regardless of whether they were a good person or not. Only a few exceptions are able to escape Sheol, and they must have some divine importance. |
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Gehenna |
A place of punishment for the unrighteous. Similiar to the Greek beliefs. It is similar to Sheol in that it is a valley or a pit deep in the Earth. Some believe it is a temporary fate. In texts such as Darkhei Teshuvah and Gedulat Moshe, Gehenna is described as a dark place with rivers of fire. The sinners are punished by beasts and hung on hooks. Their punishments reflect their sins. |
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Moses Maimonides |
A Jewish philosopher who interpreted resurrection. He was the most important Jewish philosopher in the Middle Ages and is still highly respected today. He proposed a dualistic view of life. He believed the body and soul were separate, and once the body has died the soul is resurrected into Heaven or a new spiritual body. |
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Kabbalah |
Regarding death and reincarnation in Judaism. Kabbalah began around the time of Moses Maimonides but was passed down orally through centuries before. Kabbalah believes in the mystical text of Zohar which describes reincarnation and the souls journey to return to God. They believe a silver cord connects the soul to the body on Earth. The belief is that once this cord is broken the soul can not return to the body and the body will be dead. In the beginning, the belief of reincarnation was thought of as a punishment for the sinful, but it has since shifted. Kabbalists believe in three types of reincarnation, Gigul, Ibbur and Dybukk. Dybukk being evil reincarnation or possession. |
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Zohar |
The book that contains the teachings of Kabbalah. Contains teachings of the afterlife in which there are numerous worlds or levels of reality that are controlled by angels and demons. The Zohar brought in the idea of reincarnation, that the soul transmigrates from one body to another, continuously learning until they can leave the cycle and return to God. |
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Hasidic Judaism |
Hasidic Judaism is accepting of Kabbalah reincarnation theories. Hasidism are believed to have God given gifts including healing, speaking to the dead, to read past lives and recognizing incarnations |
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Describe the various books that make up Jewish scriptures, and explain how these relate to the concept of the oral and written Torah. |
The Pentateuch is the first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible. The 613 commandments of the Mitzvot are taken from the Torah. The Nevi’im follows after the Pentateuch and is known as "Prophets", and contains Israelites history and material on prophets. After Nevi'im comes Ketuvim which is known as "writings" and contains proverbs, poetry and narrative tales. Together, The Torah, the Nevi’im, and the Ketuvim become the Tanakh (aka the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament) |
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Outline the main characteristics of Rabbinic Judaism, and explain why it is so important to the development of Judaism. |
Began with the destruction of the Jerusalem temple by the Romans in 70 CE. Rabbis replaced priests and compiled Jewish scriptures. Ritual sacrifices previously practiced were replaced with keeping close covenant with God instead. Rabbi's shifted the Jewish faith to so that those who were tortured for keeping their faith from the Greeks could believe in a reward for their faith. The Talmudic Rabbi's found evidence in the scriptures to support the theory of a rewarding afterlife. |
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According to Ancient Israelite religion, what is Sheol? |
A bleak underworld that all individuals are sent to after their death, regardless of how good or bad they were. It is dark and all the dead are powerless there. Only a few of divine nature can leave. |
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Describe how the Greek occupation under Antiochus Epiphanes IV impacted Jewish conceptions of death and the afterlife? Who were the major groups that shaped the debate on death and the afterlife, and whose conception eventually won out over the rest? |
Jewish people were punished for remaining faithful to their beliefs and were rewarded for changing faiths. Many people changed faiths until the Rabbi's were able to shift the faith into believing in a rewarding afterlife or resurrection from the Messiah after death for the faithful. The three schools of thought in regards to the spiritual transition were the Saducees, Pharisees and Essenes. The Saducees were upper class and did not believe in an afterlife, they believed life itself was the gift. Pharisees argued that there was retribution in the afterlife, this was later accepted as the main belief. Essenes took a position in between these two beliefs. |
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What is the ‘official’ position on resurrection outlined in the Talmud, and how does this relate to Gehenna? |
The Talmud outlines that all souls will be sent to "The World To Come" (Olam HaBa) but your share of the world to come is based on how righteous or sinful you are. Gehenna is regarded as a Hell of sorts, though it could be a temporary Hell inw hich sinners are sent to atone for their sins before proceeding to Olam HaBa. |
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Who was Moses Maimonides, and how did he interpret traditional Jewish views on death and resurrection? |
Maimonides was the most important Jewish philosopher in the Middle Ages, he believed that the soul leaves the body after death and has a new spiritual body in Heaven. He believed the soul and body were separate entities and the soul was resurrected into a spiritual body after death. |
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Describe Kabbalah and Hasidic Judaism. What are their interpretations of death and the resurrection of the body? |
Kabbalah believes in reincarnation after death where the soul continues to learn until returning to God. Hasidic Judaism accepts Kabbalah and the concept of reincarnation and embraces the mystic and spirituality of Judaism. |
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Olam HaBa |
The world to come |
