JUDAISM BELIEFS AND TEACHINGS GSCE RE - VISION JUDAISM BELIEFS AND TEACHINGS

THE NATURE OF THE ALMIGHTY God is one – Judaism teaches strict Monotheism (belief in one god) The Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below. There is no other Deuteronomy 4:39 The Torah teaches that God is the creator of everything and that God’s creation is good The Torah says that God is the law giver Gods law require a judge and the Tenakh shows God as the one who judges everything

Shekinah Shekinah refers to the presence of God It is used in the Torah to describe Gods presence in the Tabernacle, Temple and Jerusalem ways It is difficult to understand and is interpreted in different ways by different rabbis It is the basis of the belief that Gods name reflects his presence and is so holy that it should only be used in worship

Messiah The word Messiah means the anointed one and was used to refer to the Kings of Israel who where anointed The Messianic age is a time when all nations will live in peace and there will be no justice in the world Jewish people believe that the Messiah will be sent by God to bring in the Messianic age There are different ideas amongst Jews about when the Messiah will come and how the Messianic age will be brought in

The Covenant at Sinai The Covenant is an agreement between God and his people The Mosaic Covenant has become the very basis of Judaism Moses was given 613 Mitzvot (Commandments) by God which Jewish people must follow The Ten Commandments (Decalogue) are part of the Covenant which God gave to Moses on Mt Sinai The Ten Commandments are the most important rules which all Jewish people must follow. They sum up the worship and the morality of the covenant.

The Covenant with Abraham The Abrahamic Covenant is God’s agreement with Abraham that God would make a great nation with Abraham’s descendants God would give them the promised land as their own if all their male children were circumcised and they worshipped God alone The Covenant is so important that many Reform and Liberal Jews have a ceremony for girls to welcome them into Abraham’s covenant The Covenant gave rise to the idea that Jewish people had a right to live in the area that was the ancient Kingdom of Israel

Sanctity of Life Jewish people believe in the Sanctity of Life because they believe that life is a gift from God which makes life itself holy This is taught in the Torah The importance of the Sanctity of Life is seen in the teaching of Pikachu This means that Jewish people must do everything in their power to save a life even if involves breaking the Mitzvot (Commandment)

Moral principles and the Mitzvot The mitzvot are the 613 commands/ laws Moses received from God on Sinai. They make up the Jewish law They affect the whole of a Jewish persons life. Only the Orthodox follow all of the mitzvot, for Liberal/ Reform Jews the mitzvot are optional. The Oral Torah is the unwritten Torah given to Moses by God

Jewish beliefs about life after death. Jewish people believe that there will be life after death Most Jews believe that the dead will be raised (resurrection) and judged by God There are lots of different views about life after death Some Jewish people believe that Judgement will be based on behaviour, others belief it is based on how religious you are Some think everyone will eventually go to heaven, others that the very evil will spend eternity in hell