Torah

Consisting of 1,196 chapters and kandas and 55,102 verses combined, the Christian Bible and the Ramayana of Valmiki are two of the most important sacred texts of their respective religions (Kizziah, “King James Bible Statistics”; “Ramayana: Organization”). The Christian Bible, an ancient religious text consisting of both the Old and New Testaments, uses multiple narratives and parables to convey important values and themes. Christianity follows the teachings of the Old Testament, which contains…

1. The book of Deuteronomy began at the end of when Moses had passed on which has him “giving the law.” It was introduced twice in two different parts of the book. There are two major keywords – Listen and Love. In Hebrew listen means more than just listening to what you hear it also means responding. In other words, for Israel, it means responding to God’s grace and obeying the laws of the covenant. While love is the true motivation for listening and obeying the laws. Israel will not obey…

A Prosperous Dinner Party Tonight was the night, I finally had caught three of my good friends on some off time and was treating them to a nice formal dinner at my house. First, I finally got a hold of Jesus Christ, a central figure of Christianity and the believed Son of God. After inviting Jesus, I of course had to extend an invitation to Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and the last prophet of God as known by the Muslims. Finally, Moses, largely considered the largest of the Jewish…

Bible was contaminated by men and changed (Qur’an 2:75). In response to this, an important question must be and is asked: “If you believe the Bible is corrupted, then how do you know that the Qur’an isn’t corrupted too, since it makes mention of the Torah and many of the same people the Bible mentions?” Many respond to the claim something like this: “The parts of the Bible that agree with the Qur’an are not corrupted, by all parts that do not agree with the Qur’an are the parts that are…

In Judaism, the cosmology is told in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Torah. Genesis tells the creation story twice, in Genesis chapter one and two, but with each time it is told with a new focus (Sacks, 2004, 78). The first chapter of Genesis gives a full, over-all story of the creation of the heavens and the earth and man’s position within it. In the second chapter of Genesis, the story focuses of the creation of man and the result in God creating woman. The third chapter tells the…

This stems from the Torah, (also known as the Pentateuch) which are the first 5 book of the Tanakh. The two main elements of this ‘halakha’ ethical system are the contact between individuals with God, and between the people. This allows for an ethical and just society, in the…

The study of the awareness of monotheism was the study of Israelites who went from a henotheistic culture to a monotheistic culture. The Israelites were a henotheistic culture from the Exodus of the people from Egypt and gradually changed over their history and settlement in the land of Canaan to become a monotheistic nation at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple in 586 B.C.E. During this time as well as the exile of the Jews, the Pentateuch was written as four documents. This is…

Yom Kippur is “a Jewish high holy day observed on the 10th day of the month of Tishri by abstinence from food and drink and by the day long recitation of prayers of repentance in the synagogue.” Yom Kippur is viewed as one of the most important Jewish holidays. For centuries, people of Jewish religion celebrate Yom Kippur on Tishri; the seventh month on the Jewish religious calendar. Yom Kippur is known as “A Day of Atonement” and originates from the book of “Leviticus 23:27” which states that…

Isaac Bashevis Singer is a distinguished, highly renowned Jewish writer. Singer writes about meaningful Jewish practices, such as observing the Sabbath, going to synagogue, and keeping a Jewish home. These are stories in which G-d’s presence is truly felt by the reader and there is no doubt surrounding if the characters live their own interpretation of a religious life. In three of Singer’s most prominent work’s, G-d’s name is never mentioned: an observation too compelling to be surmised as…

Like every other Christian, I have heard the story of Abraham and Isaac many times. I have listened to pastors preach about Abraham’s obedience and unwavering faith in God as he prepared to kill his son. And often, I have wondered what Isaac thought as this happened. I wondered if he fought back or if he was mentally and emotionally effected by his own father trying to kill him. I have wondered if this event made him angry with a God that was supposed to love him and care for him. I have even…