Halakha

GREATNESS: AN OPINION, A FACT, OR A POINT OF VIEW? "We focus so much on our differences, and that is creating, I think, a lot of chaos and negativity and bullying in the world and I think if everybody focused on what we all have in common - which is - we all want to be happy"-Ellen DeGeneres. Being a Jewish person this quote really speaks to me. In Judaism every year we get farther from Matan Torah becoming less knowledgeable in Torah so we worry that we will never be as great as the rabbis…

Judaism is the oldest monotheistic religion. Although it really never achieved dominant numbers, the faith of the Hebrews just one of many ancient Middle Eastern tribes continues to exert a profound influence in the modern western world. Judaism is an ancient monotheistic religion, with the Torah as its foundational text and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. Although the word "Torah" is sometimes used to refer to the entire Tanakh or even…

For this assignment, I went to the Ohio State Hillel Center. The Hillel Center, while close to campus, was rather hard to get to due to the construction in the area. The building is not one that I would assume was a religious one, as there were no religious markers on the exterior of the building. In the foyer of the Hillel Center, there is a table in which the candles that symbolized the beginning of the Shabbat ceremony sat on. Around the table sat many pieces of informational literature…

The authors, Mead, Hill, and Atwood describe the beginnings of Judaism as a branch of the Christian religion. Throughout time, these religions have altered and shifted, both growing and blossoming in their own way. In my opinion, the most unique belief of Judaism is that in their eyes, Jesus was not the Messiah. Being a Christian, I was taught in my church that Jesus is the embodiment of God and that he was brought to the Earth to sacrifice his life for our sins and to expand the word of the…

Kabbalah is basically the study of the Torah, to uncover the deeper, hidden meanings. Once the providence of elite rabbinical scholars with years of yeshiva training, it was assumed that only they could decode God's answers to the existential questions of man. Kabbalah's teaching were first written down in the 13th century, in a collection of books called the Zohar. The founders of the Kabbalah Centre, Philip and Karen Berg, did something revolutionary; they opened ancient Jewish mysticism to…

Reform Judaism is a controversial jewish denomination that was started in the 19th century in Germany by Abraham Geiger. In 1845 a rabbinic conference took place that discussed the question of language and jewish liturgy. Abraham Geiger believed the Jewish language to be unnecessary to Judaism while Zacharias Frankel the founder of Positive- Historical Judaism believed Hebrew to be essential to Judaism Abraham Geiger was the spiritual leader of Reform Judaism and made great contributions to the…

Shabbat Shalom! This was the introduction that I received when I entered a Jewish synagogue. When entering the synagogue it reminded of entering a typical church, there were pews and at the very front was a large stage. On the stage was a keyboard, a wooden podium with a blue cloth over it. Also there was a wooden ark behind the podium and if you opened up the ark you would see where the Torah was stored. An interesting fact about the placement of the ark is it is facing were Jerusalem is…

Jewish wedding traditions are similar to those of other monotheistic religions, in the sense that a man and a woman are uniting into one marital unit. I became interested in Judaism because one of my friends is of the faith; going to a Catholic school I found it very interesting to hear another’s perspective on religion. Stemming from my interest in the Jewish faith came a fascination with wedding traditions. Over the last few years several of my family members, all Catholics, have gotten…

A synagogue is a house of Yahweh, a place to feel His presence, worship and joins a community of believers in prayer. Behavior in a synagogue should be appropriately respectful. Since the synagogue is considered a house of Yahweh, it is usually appropriate to wear nice clothes. So, for the Shabbat service, I wore slacks, long sleeve dress shirt, and tie. The outside of the synagogue was modest and beautiful. Upon entering the synagogue, you arrive in a beautifully decorated gathering area. The…

THE DAILY JEWISH NEWS All about the Bchira vs Segula. Why are the Jewish people an Am Segula? During Grade 11 Rabbinics Class some interesting discoveries have been made about the true reason that the Jewish people are considered an Am Segula (treasured people). There are two different options on this argument: Bchira Vs Segula. Bchira means that we choose god and all his teachings so, therefore he chose us back in return. Segula says that God loves us, and therefore he chose us to be his…