Ritual
Ritual is obviously very important to the Jewish Religion. Thinking of Judaism for me brings to mind a people set apart by tradition and ritual:
The bris, circumcizing their sons and a celebration on the child's 8th day of life
The bar-mitzvah and bah-mitzvah, coming-of-age parties for children turning 13.
Pesach, or Passover - the acknowledgment of God's hand in liberation from Egypt.
Shabbat, time set apart every single week to worship God
Hundreds of other little (and big) things are unique to the Jewish tradition... sacrificial rituals, the Ten Commandments, the Ark of the Covenant, Chanukah (Hanakkuh), dreidels and matzah balls, Mezuzahs, tefillin, the songs, reading the Torah in Hebrew...
WANTED: a Tribe. I can offer a fresh prospective, fierce loyalty, and willingness to learn. Will not sacrifice independent thought, reason, or intellect. Interested tribes should contact me asap.
“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?” Pirki Avot, 1:14, Hillel
Jean-Paul Sartre (who was not Jewish) wrote in 1948 that Jewish identity "is neither national nor international, neither religious nor ethnic, nor political: it is a quasi-historical community."
Sartre further argues that the Jewish experience of antisemitism - making the Jews "outsiders" - preserves and even creates the sense of Jewish community. Conversely, that sense of specific Jewish community may be threatened by the democrat who sees only "the person" and not "the Jew".
It is interesting to wonder about the difference in Jewish tradition today, had the Jewish people not undergone such a trial by fire in their long history. Judaism is unquestionably a tribe – “a unit of sociopolitical organization consisting of a number of families, clans, or other groups who share a common ancestry and culture and among whom leadership is typically neither formalized nor permanent.” A group of people who identify with a common culture or ancestry – either spiritually or physically.
There are about 613 commandments (mizvot) in the Torah (Pentateuch), which coincides with the Christian first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
About 100 of these are related to sacrifice. So, its safe to say that probably one of the more important tenets practiced in Judaism historically is the sacrifice, since 1/6th of the total laws in the religion are related exlcusively to sacrifice. Although it is not unique to Judaism, sacrifice is certainly unique to most religions today.
In the Torah, there are directions of how, when, where, and what sacrifices should be made. The instructions are specific and failing to do it correctly (or even if you do it correctly, but you're the wrong person to do it). The instructions are detailed and precise. For example, the red heifer sacrifice instructions go something like this, in Numbers 19:
Bring a red heifer without defect or blemish and who has never had a calf or born a yoke,
Have the high priest slaughter it, then dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent.
While he watches, the heifer is to be burned completely.
The priest must, while watching, throw some cedar, hyssop, and scarlet wool onto the burning heifer.
After that, the priest and the guy in charge of the fire must wash their clothing and bathe, but they will both be unclean until evening.
When the burning is done, a man who is clean should gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside of camp where they are used in the future for use in water of cleansing (for the purification from sin).
Women and Sacrifice
Most of the important sacrifices are made by the priest, but regular people can (and SHOULD!) make sacrifices, too, historically. Women were required to perform a number of korbanot (sacrifices) too including:
After childbirth
Following recovery from illness or danger
On Passover - women could offer the sacrifice and hold a seder themselves, if they wanted to!
In atonement for transgression and sins
Following the cure from certain diseases
Women could also voluntarily participate in a number of other offerings and rituals for which they were not obligated, including:
First Fruits on the Holiday of Shavuot
Sheqalim (tax to maintain/support the Temple)
Peace offerings and charity
Laying on of hands of sacrificial animals for sacrifices they didn't have to perform themselves, and they could even slaughter their own sacrificial animals if they wanted.
If a woman was performing a sacrifice, they could enter the Temple through the women's gate but offer the sacrifice in the same place as men. Women who were not offering sacrifices were required to remain within the women's courtyard while at the Temple.
We do know that Korbanot revolved around the Temple. The sacrifices were almost always made there or had something to do with the Temple itself, so it is no surprise that when the Temple was destroyed, the sacrifices stopped. One of my readers (Jennifer from Tyler) asked this question, which I posed to Moreh Joel:
Question: How does sacrifice come into play in modern interpretations of the Law?
Joel: A helpful thing in addressing this question is to first understand how it came to play into the ancient interpretation of the law and what sacrifice meant to Jews.
So: the ancient Hebrew word for “sacrifice” (which is a real misnomer) is Korban. A Karban, in the Hebrew, derives from the word Karov, which means “close” or “near.” The Karbonim (sacrifices) were seen as a means of drawing near to God, but the interesting bit is how they were done and when.
The reason sacrifice is a misnomer is that they can be better described as a kind of holy barbeque because when the people made Karbonim, the entire community was invited to join in eating the sacrificed animal.
It was a communal ritual that was costly and demonstrative of commitment (a psychological mechanism which creates strong loyalty and affiliation). This also gives mundane things (killing and eating an animal) a sacred and community affirming power and draws us close to God. Hence the term Karban. The remarkable idea of the Karban is that any of us, with a community of faith and commitment, can approach God without an intervening agent. The “sacrifice” is not a sacrifice in that sense – it’s a value proposition.
There came to be a belief amongst Jews (derided by the prophets) that simply performing the perfunctory mitzvah of karbanim as commanded would be sufficient to appease God (as though God needs these offerings somehow) and so obsession with ritual as a stand in for religious experience became fashionable.
Isaiah and Jeremiah and other prophets derided this practice and in doing so, explain the significance of Karbanim themselves.
I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. (Amos 5:21)
In modern Jewish practice since the Temple has been destroyed and we can no longer make offerings, charity and community participation have replaced Karbanim the reason being that, in the end, this is what Hashem truly desires:
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17)
Joni: So is it fair to say that the point was not the sacrifice… the point was the relationship with other people and that its only through community that you can truly connect with God? Sacrifice was really more of an investment in the community and religious institution you chose.
Joel:that is the spirit of the Karbanim – we are supposed to draw near as individuals and as a community to God and the measure of our intimacy is our charity and willingness to advocate for the least fortunate amongst us.
Additionally, those who are familiar with the Bible can see quite a lot of history of the Jewish people in the Old Testament. If you were raised in a Christian church, the Jewish Heritage, as recounted in the Bible, is second nature and a heritage we share as Christians.
That said, I’m going to give you a quick crash course in Jewish history, hopefully hitting the more important milestones in a 4,000 year old tradition:
Around 1800 BC (or BCE), Abraham founded Judaism and in effect, fathered the nation of Hebrews. Abraham was the first circumcised male, and he circumcised himself as a covenant – a marriage almost – to God. God, in return, gave Abraham and his descendents the Land of Israel.
Abraham fathered many children, the most important of whom was Isaac. Isaac fathered several children himself, the most important of whom was Jacob. (Although Jacob had a twin brother, Esau, who the Jewish people believe was the forefather of the Romans). And Jacob had 12 sons which later became the 12 tribes of Israel.
Around 1500 BC, Joseph, the 2nd youngest son of Jacob was sold into slavery and went to Egypt. This is important because eventually, he made it out of slavery into the government and ended up providing a place for his brothers to live. Hence, the 12 tribes of Israel settled in Egypt. About 100 years later, they were enslaved by their hosts.
Enter Moses, the rescuer of the Israelites from Egypt. Moses was a Hebrew baby raised by an Egyptian princess. He had a temper, and apparently some leadership qualities, because God chose him to lead the people in a revolution and walk right out of Egypt. Ten plagues and a desert march later, the Hebrew people have settled in the desert where the Ten Commandments were given to them on Mount Sinai. Moses climbs the mountain, God gives him some instructions for how to live good lives, and a directive to conquer a “promised land”.
Unfortunately, the Hebrews are restless while Moses is having his talk with God and they decide (well, 1/10th of them decide, according to Jewish tradition) to go ahead and build a golden calf to worship in the meantime. Moses comes down and breaks the first set of 10 Commandments in a rage and has to go back and get another set. As punishment, the Hebrews have to stay in the desert for 40 years (until all of the current generation dies out).
In around 1275 BC, the Promised Land Conquest begins, and eventually the Hebrews settle into their new home. Their form of government was first a Judge form, where the judges provided leadership and guidance. The judges were both warriors and prophets. Then they became a monarchy and had Kings. In 825 BC, the first Temple was built and completed by the King Solomon (aka the wisest man who ever lived, with the most wives).
Only 30 years later, the Hebrews have a civil war of sorts and divide into 2 kingdoms, Northern and Southern Israel. Being separated proves to be an unfortunate choice because about 150 years later, the Northern Kingdom (comprised of 10 tribes) are conquered by the Assyrians who are then conquered by the Babylonians. The Southern Nation of Israel lasts another 134 years and is ALSO conquered by the Babylonians, who subsequently destroy Temple #1.
Fast forward 70 years and the construction of the second Temple begins. The Ark of the Covenant, which houses the Ten Commandments, however, is missing – presumably taken and destroyed by the Babylonians. ((Keep in mind that the Ten Commandments has been the FOUNDATION for all of the Hebrew Law and that the loss of those tablets and the Ark of the Covenant is very damaging to their ritual and religion.))
In 312 BC, about 40 years after the Temple is reconstructed, the Greeks conquer Israel. The Greeks revered what was beautiful, and the Jews thought that what was holy and revered was inherently beautiful. But in the midst of all this, the Greeks translated the Torah to Greek, then promptly instituted terror. Jewish women who allowed their sons to be circumcised were killed with their babies tied around their necks. Horrible atrocities were committed to the Jewish people until the Jewish people revolt against their Greek oppressors in 140 BC, who, at the same time are fighting off (unsuccessfully) the Romans. The Romans conquer the Greeks, then move on to the Jews in short order.
Around 65 AD, about 30 years after Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph, was killed, the Jews launch another uprising against the Roman rule. Followers of Jesus ((incidentally, a splinter group of Judaism)), are growing in number and integrating with the people of all civilizations and offer no help (from what I can tell) to their Jewish brothers and sisters who are fighting to the death to save their spiritual center, Jerusalem. In 70 AD, the second Temple was destroyed by the Romans.
In 219 AD, after centuries of oppression, revolts, and war, the Rabbis make the landmark decision that the oral law, which has traditionally been passed down through the religious teachers, should be committed to writing, and the Talmud is written.
Christianity, which has been quietly spreading both within and outside of its Jewish roots, has gained popularity by 312, and the Roman Emperor Constantine converts the entirety of the Roman Empire to Christianity .
In 638 AD, Mohammed leads the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem, reportedly angry when the Jews refused to accept him as the last of the prophets. ((To be fair, he DID accept the Jewish prophets as his predecessors.))
In 1096, the Christians sweep through the world destroying everything in their path during the Crusades. The Christians also invented plenty of lies about the Jewish people so that everyone else would be on their side, making the Jews out to be blood-thirsty barbarians who drank the blood of their own children.
In 1348, the Jews are blamed irrationally for the bubonic plague.
In 1478, the Inquisition begins and Jews who converted to Christianity are questioned repeatedly because Christians suspect they are still ((secretly)) Jews.
In 1567, the King of Poland extends an invitation to the Jews and gives them a home, rights, and privileges. A lot of Jews take him up on it. Incidentally, the Polish people were so welcoming and inclusive of the Jewish people that during WW2, many of them protected the Jews at risk of their own lives.
In 1654, the first Jews arrived in America, where they had (and continue to have) a great and important impact on not only the founding and molding of American democracy, but upon American culture as well.
The Jews are pretty well persecuted around the world between 1654 and 1933, when Hitler comes to power in Germany and begins the Holocaust. The rest of the world ignores the facts.
Finally, the US comes to the aid of Europe and helps win WW2, ending the Holocaust. And then, (I think primarily out of shame for being horrible people who wouldn't help when such inhumanities were being committed) in 1948, the State of Israel is declared. Since its founding in 1948, Israel has been in a constant state of war.
***deep breath!***
The Jewish people have a long, complicated and violent history, which, to me, is testament to their perserverance and tenacity in maintaining a tradition that has historically been so underappreciated that it resulted in death for many of its followers.
The question I had for our moreh Joel today was this:
Does belief in Jesus make it impossible for you to be a Jew?
There seems to be some confusion (at least on my part) about whether Judaism is a race, a religion, or maybe just a cultural identity. If I were given a multiple choice with those answers, I would choose (d) all of the above. But one of the beauties of Judaism is that it is what you make it.
For those who have read or are familiar with the Bible, you know that in the Old Testament, the Jewish people are not referred to as “Jews” so much as “Hebrews.” With their own language, their own nationality, their own cultural traditions, and their own religious traditions, it is easy to see that in the ancient context, the Jewish people were a race, a religion, AND a cultural identity.
But, through the years, the Jewish people by and large rejected Judaism as a “Race” and instead those with European Jewish Ancestry identified more strongly with “Caucasian”. To be sure, the persecution of Jewish people throughout modern history (and before!) makes the distinction of a Jewish “race” less than desirable.
In addition, you can become Jewish. A person can convert to Judaism. I could not convert to Asian, even if I wanted to really bad! You can’t change your ancestral heritage, but you can become a Jew.
Culture doesn’t make you a Jew either. The culture of Jewish groups around the world varies dependent upon where they are! Although holiday observances are mostly similar, and the religious text as well, American Jews have very different traditions than Russian Jews, for instance.
The Jewish “Religion” doesn’t make you a Jew either. There is a Jewish religion, obviously, which I am studying! But the amazing thing about the Jewish religion is how flexible and open to interpretation their holy books are. It is not practiced in the same way across the board in Jewish homes or synagogues. And more than half of the people in Israel who call themselves “Jews” don’t believe in G-d or, in fact, ANY of the religious beliefs of Judaism!
So, what is Judaism today? Perhaps the best description of Judaism would be that Jews are a family, as Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz describes the Jewish people in his book; as spiritual or physical descendents of forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – by birth or conversion. Jewish people are a community of people bound together by tradition, a common ancestry (either spiritual or physical), and most oddly, a connectedness to each other regardless of religion or DNA. ((I find this fascinating.)) The Jews are an exclusive group, to some extent: compared to Christianity, for example, who invite anyone into their church off the street (for the most part) any day of the week. But they are more connected to each other – even to those who don’t practice or live the way they do – than many Christians within the same CHURCH, and certainly most within the same denomination!
So, for my purposes, I would say that Judaism is more a community than anything else, and that is how I will approach it, as a community of people who are as different and varied in belief and practice and culture as my own community, having in common the fact that they all live on the same ground – not literally, but historically: having the same heritage and spiritual or physical ancestry. Additionally, I will approach the Jewish Community from an American perspective. Not only because we Americans are ego-centric and believe that our way of life is THE way of life (haha), but because the American perspective is what we live here in the US, and since the study is about American women and religion, not about international women and religion, we will approach it from that context!
Joel & Abby Finkelstein
With that introduction, I would also like to introduce you to JOEL FINKELSTIEN. Yes, he is a man, which makes him unusual in persons I’ve interviewed in the past. But he is also very knowledgeable about the Jewish Community. He was raised Jewish, as a Rabbi’s son, no less! We went to school together in Tyler, and he offered to answer any questions I or my readers have about Judaism. He is also married to his beautiful wife, Abby, and they have two children, Annika and Nathaniel. He lives in California and works at Stanford Medical School. He has a degree in Behavioral Neuroscience (yes, he’s uber smart!!) and his work at the Stanford University Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education makes me breathless (yes, I realize that makes me both nerdy and creepy at the same time!!). So a big thanks to my personal Moreh (that’s TEACHER in Hebrew) – I greatly appreciate your help and insight!
In that vein, Joel has agreed to answer any questions we have via video, which I will post on my blogs! The FIRST question I had was this: “Do Jews believe in Heaven or Hell?” And he kind of delves into the things I spoke about above.
Welcome to Judaism! As promised, this week I have started back on my religious journey. First stop, Judaism. First topic, soul mates.
As always, my own life and circumstances color everything in my writing. For the past months, I have been asking myself “Is there such a thing as a soul mate? And do you only have one in your lifetime? What if you miss him/her? What if they die an untimely death at eight and now you’re cursed to spend the rest of your life soulmateless?” It’s a grim prospect to me. And of course, I go to the worst possible scenario:
"What if my soulmate was on a boat like on Deadliest Catch and he was trapped between one of the pods and the side, and then his leg got cut off, and right now he's in a hospital somewhere on the East Coast recovering from this injury, but that hospital is about to get blown away by the HURRICANE?!? WHAT THEN!"
