INTRODUCTION TO JUDAISM RELI UT TYLER SPRING SEMESTER 2016 Instructor Rabbi Neal Katz
REVIEW
HEBREW BIBLE TEXTS PROPHETS Joshua Judges Samuel (I & II) Kings (I & II) Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi TORAH Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy WRITINGS Psalms Proverbs Job Song of Songs Ruth Lamentations Ecclesiastes Esther Daniel Ezra Nehemiah Chronicles (I & II)
SECOND TEMPLE
RABBINIC JUDAISM
PARDES P’SHAT - LITERAL REMEZ - HINTED D’RASH - SERMONIC SOD - SECRETIVE
Alexander the Great Maccabees Great Revolt Against Rome Judea defeated / Temple destroyed Pharisee/Rabbinic Period Begins Mishna Talmud
MISHNA
Deuteronomy 6:4Listen, Israel, God is our Lord, God is One. 6:5Love God your Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. 6:6These words which I am commanding you today must remain on your heart. 6:7Teach them to your children and speak of them when you are at home, when traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 6:8Bind [these words] as a sign on your hand, and let them be an emblem in the center of your head. 6:9[Also] write them on the doorposts of your houses and gates.
Mishnah Berachot 1.1 From what time may one recite the Shema in the evening? 1) From the time that the priests enter [their houses] in order to eat their terumah until the end of the first watch, the words of Rabbi Eliezer. 2) The sages say: until midnight. 3) Rabban Gamaliel says: until dawn. 4) Once it happened that his sons came home [late] from a wedding feast and they said to him: we have not yet recited the [evening] Shema. He said to them: if it is not yet dawn you are still obligated to recite. 5) And not in respect to this alone did they so decide, but wherever the sages say “until midnight,” the mitzvah may be performed until dawn. a) The burning of the fat and the pieces may be performed till dawn. b) Similarly, all [the offerings] that are to be eaten within one day may be eaten till dawn. c) Why then did the sages say “until midnight”? In order to keep a man far from transgression.
HILLEL / SHAMMAI
PALESTINE BABYLON
MISHNA + GEMARA (COMMENTARY) = TALMUD
OVEN OF ACHNAI
500 CE
MIDRASH= BIBLICAL STORIES/LESSONS
2 MIDRASH TEXTS
Midrash from Midrash Rabbah
In his generation: There was a disagreement between Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Nechemiah. Rabbi Yehudah said: In his generation he was considered a righteous man, but if he would have lived in the generation of Moses or in the generation of Samuel then he wouldn't have been considered a righteous man. In the market where the blind cry out, the one-eyed man is called clear-sighted. There is a story of an individual who opened up one barrel of wine and found it had turned into vinegar. The same thing with the second barrel. The third barrel he found to be only sour (and so he took it). The others said to him, "That barrel is sour!" He answered back, "Is there any better?"MosesSamuel
Rabbi Nehemiah said: If he was considered a righteous man within his own generation, then surely he would have been considered a righteous man had he lived in the generation of Moses and Samuel. This could be compared to a tightly closed flask of expensive perfume placed within a graveyard that still produced a pleasant smell. If it was outside the graveyard it would produce a smell that much better! This could also be compared to a virgin that frequented a marketplace of prostitutes, and she didn't receive a bad name. How much more so if she was among better company!
Midrash from Midrash Rabbah
Look…my master. Her said to her, “I am afraid. The first man [Adam] violated a minor commandment, which he was commanded and he was banished from the garden of Eden; the one [sin] you want to violate is a major son, sexual immorality, how much more so! Look…my master. “I am afraid of my father in Canaan. Reuben, about whom it is written ‘Reuben went and lay with Bilhah’ (Gn 35:22), had his birthright taken away and given to me. If I listen to you, my birthright will be given away!” Another interpretation. Look…my master. “I am afraid of my master.” She said to him, “I will kill him.” He said to her, “Isn’t it enough that I would be counted in the assembly of adulterers, that I should be in the assembly of murderers? If this is what you what you want, ‘Look…my master.’ Here he is, go to him (that is, go to the one who is permitted to you, your husband).” Rabbi Yitzchak said, “The milk of white goats and the milk of black goats are the same.“
vu0C&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=midrash+dri ven+leaf+stumble+leviticus&source=bl&ots=K GeahVv1gG&sig=F9koWHFuYxO2F9vMVvLU- eyWc78&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVidX9-- _KAhUBbSYKHVnxAQoQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage &q&f=false
Alexander the Great Maccabees Great Revolt Against Rome Judea defeated / Temple destroyed Pharisee/Rabbinic Period Begins Mishna Talmud
Bar Kochba
Alexander the Great Maccabees Great Revolt Against Rome Judea defeated / Temple destroyed Pharisee/Rabbinic Period Begins Mishna Talmud
Shulchan Oruch (Shulchan Orech) Universal Code of Jewish Law
RESPONSA (online examples)
1. LINE OF DAVID
1. LINE OF DAVID 2. RESTORE SOVERIGNTY TO ISRAEL
3. RETURN ALL JEWS TO ISRAEL
1. LINE OF DAVID 2. RESTORE SOVERIGNTY TO ISRAEL 3. RETURN ALL JEWS TO ISRAEL 4. ESTABLISH FULL OBSERVANCE OF TO LAW
1. LINE OF DAVID 2. RESTORE SOVERIGNTY TO ISRAEL 3. RETURN ALL JEWS TO ISRAEL 4. ESTABLISH FULL OBSERVANCE OF TO LAW 5. BRING ABOUT AN ERA OF WORLD PEACE