JUDAISM - PRINCIPAL BELIEFSHow do Jews Connect to the Key Beliefs of their Faith Tradition?Rabbi Jordan D. Cohen

B’rit – Covenant with God• Covenant with Noah (all of humanity) – Gen. 9:9-17

oDo not Deny GodoDo not Blaspheme GodoDo not MurderoDo not engage in Sexual ImmoralityoDo not StealoDo not Eat of a Live Animalo Establish Courts of Law

ברית

• Covenant with Abraham (Individual)

And God said to Abram, "Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great…and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves” (Genesis 12:1-3).

o Make of you a great nationo Care for youo Give you the land as an everlasting holding

• Covenant at Sinai (Collective)

o Covenant legislated (Moses).o “If you hearken to My voice and keep My covenant then you

will be My own treasure from among all people; for the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6)

o All the people answered as one, saying, “All that God has spoken we will do!” (Exodus 19:8)

God• There is a God• “In the beginning, God created…” (Genesis 1:1)

• “Hear O Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4)

• Tetragrammaton– יהוה (Exodus 3:13-15)

• Different names of God • Amidah – “Praised are You, Our Eternal God and God of

our ancestors, God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob, God of Sarah, God of Rebecca …”

• Israel – l`xyi

Overview of Differing Understandings about God

• Biblical Times• Rabbinic Period (200 BCE-600 CE)

• Saadia Gaon (882-942)

• Yehuda Halevi (1075-1141)

• Maimonides (1135-1204)

• Kabbalists (16th century)

• Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677)

• Chassidism (18th century)

• Progressive Judaism (19th century)

• Martin Buber (1878-1965)

• Mordechai Kaplan (1881-1983)

• Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972)

• Harold Kushner (1935-)

• Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (1924-2014)

A Continuous Journey• No doctrines, dogmas or creeds of Judaism to which a Jew

must adhere – “Deed not Creed”• Spectrum of beliefs about God has been wide and tolerant• Interpretive Tradition – progressive revelation• Most agree with the following –

o God existso God is Oneo God created and some extent, supervises the universeo Free willo Each person can approach God in an individual or personal way and create

an intimate relationship with God

Eli Wiesel

Jews can argue with God, fight with God, or be angry with God, but cannot ignore God. Since the Jewish concept of God and the relationship with God has changed, developed, and grown throughout Jewish history, the task of contemporary Jews now is to take their place in the ongoing process of the Jewish quest to find and know God.

Mitzvot - מצות• “Commandment” or “obligation”• Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929) – “Not yet”

• “We will do and we will hear” (Exodus 24:7)

ונשמענעשה

Ethical Monotheism

• All Mitzvot are standards of human behaviour that lead people to lives of decency, kindness, righteousness, justice, goodness and compassion.

• Elevate human relationships to inspire people to strive for the highest good.

• Partners in creation.

Peoplehood• Shared history.• Shared language.• Shared literature.• Shared land.• Shared culture.• Shared future.

Choseness

• A covenant people, a light unto the nations (Isaiah 42:6, 49:6)

o a sacred responsibility

Kedusha - Holiness

• You shall be holy because, I, your Eternal God, am Holy (Leviticus 19:1)

• Kadosh - ycw - “set apart,” “separate”• The Kedusha is the high point of our

prayer service