Judasim Edexcel Revision Notes

Covenant - An agreement between the Almighty and all the Jewish people.

Decalogue - the ten commandments
halakah - the code of conduct for the jewish way of life
hashem - the name ( the jewish belief that the Almighty's name is holy and should not be said unnecessarily.
mishnah - the orla law as written by Rabbi Judah the prince in baout 200 CE
omnipresent- God is present everywhere
shekinah - the divine presence
shema - the major jewish prayer affirming the belief in the one Almighty
Talmud - collection of writings on Jewish Law and morals
Tenakh - the jewsih bible
teshuva - returning to the Amighty ( repentance)
Torah - the five books of Moses which contain the Almighty's law

The Shema is an affirmation of Judaism and a declaration of faith in one God. The obligation to recite the Shema is separate from the obligation to pray and a Jew is obligated to say Shema in the morning and at night.

The shema is only the two prayers that are specifically commanded in the Torah. It si one of the oldest fixed daily prayer in Judaism. It is recited in the morning and the night since ancient times. It consists of three biblical passages, two of which specifically say speak of these things “when you lie down and when you rise up” This commandment is fulfilled through reciting the shema.  Traditional prayer books also consist of a bedtime shema which is read at home before going to bed.

Jews believe that there is a single God who not only created the universe, but with whom every Jew can have an individual and personal relationship.

They believe that God continues to work in the world, affecting everything that people do.

The Jewish relationship with God is a covenant relationship. In exchange for the many good deeds that God has done and continues to do for the Jewish People...

• The Jews keep God's laws
• The Jews seek to bring holiness into every aspect of their lives.
• Lev 19:1  The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 
  Lev 19:2  Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel. And thou shalt say to them: Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy. 

incomplete please see teacher for help.

Through the ten commandments and other laws given to Israel by God, He reveals His nature and character. The characteristics and attributes of God are so numerous to list.The ten commandments reveal God’s perfect holiness. These laws tell us of His very nature. If mankind is to have a relationship with God we must know who He is.

“There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee…”(I Samuel 2:2 kjv).
“Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee…” (Revelations 15:4 KJV).
“And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation”(Exodus 19:6 kjv)

The covenant between God and the Jewish people is a thread running throughout the early parts of the Bible, and one of the vital pillars of Judaism.God asks Abraham to do certain things, in return for which he will take special care of them.The covenant between God and Jews is the basis for the idea of the Jews as the chosen people.The first covenant was between God and Abraham.Jewish men are circumcised as a symbol of this covenant.

"You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you." Genesis 17

Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

Genesis 12:1-2

This promise that Abraham would become the father of a great nation seemed impossible, since Abraham was very old, and his wife Sarah (90) had never been able to have children.

But God did cause Sarah to become pregnant with Isaac.

• By doing this God showed that he was in control of even the processes of nature like having children.
• God also showed that in order to keep his promises to his chosen people he would intervene in the world and alter it.

The Bible contains astonishing accounts of God and Moses speaking face to face begin when Moses is quietly minding his own business as a shepherd. God appears to Moses in a burning bush. Moses sees a bush which burns without being consumed - a symbol of the presence of God which defies usual human experience of things. And he hears a voice which calls him by his own name (Exodus 3:4)

The Jews started settling in Eygypt.These Hebrews became numerous, but Egypt's ruler, the Pharaoh, decided that they would be a good source of cheap labour, and began to exploit them in building projects; he also decided to make them less dangerous by keeping their numbers down through killing their male children at birth (Exodus 1). When Moses was born, his mother sought to protect him by putting him in a basket to float on the river Nile. Here he was providentially found by the Pharaoh's daughter who took pity on him and brought him up as her own child (Exodus 2).

The Bible contains astonishing accounts of God and Moses speaking face to face begin when Moses is quietly minding his own business as a shepherd. God appears to Moses in a burning bush. Moses sees a bush which burns without being consumed - a symbol of the presence of God which defies usual human experience of things. And he hears a voice which calls him by his own name (Exodus 3:4)

The Jews started settling in Eygypt.These Hebrews became numerous, but Egypt's ruler, the Pharaoh, decided that they would be a good source of cheap labour, and began to exploit them in building projects; he also decided to make them less dangerous by keeping their numbers down through killing their male children at birth (Exodus 1). When Moses was born, his mother sought to protect him by putting him in a basket to float on the river Nile. Here he was providentially found by the Pharaoh's daughter who took pity on him and brought him up as her own child (Exodus 2).