ICJudaism: A Teacher’s Guide to Judaism

      Hosted by ICTeachers                                                                Formerly: Mike’s Rough Guide to Judaism

Disclaimer:

The contents of these pages represent the author’s personal views, experience and understanding.
There are bound to be some things here that some Jews would disagree with.

 

Some Basic Ideas (2)

Afterlife

Life after death is not mentioned in the Torah.

Whilst Judaism holds that our life in this world is not the only life, we consider that the nature of life after death is both unknown and unknowable, so we do not think it worth spending much energy speculating about it. Mainstream Judaism has little real concern with the nature of the next world, which is referred to as Olam HaBa (The World to Come).

Nor do the concepts of Heaven and Hell (ie places of reward for the deserving and of punishment for the evil) really figure in Jewish thought. For Jews, this life is all that we can know, and we have a duty to make the best of it.

To know how to make the best of this life it is necessary to gain as great a knowledge and understanding as possible of God’s wishes, as expressed in the Torah. For this reason Judaism has developed an emphasis on study and learning. Learned people are seen as worthy of great respect, more so than kings and princes. Judaism could be said to have an "aristocracy of learning".

Prayers, Priests and Intermediaries

Jews can pray anywhere. A synagogue is not necessary (indeed much Jewish prayer and observance takes place at home), nor is it necessary or even preferable to pray in a particular holy space such as a synagogue. However, in Deuteronomy Moses is described as reading the teachings to the community (especially those who were not born when the laws were first given). Each week, the Torah is read to the community - and to do so we need a place for this reading - a synagogue. Over time communal prayer, usually in a synagogue, has become an important part of Jewish life. Some prayers can only be legitimately said in a group of at least 10 adults (ie over the age of bar mitzvah) - this quorum of 10 is known as a minyan. In orthodox (but not in progressive) Jewish thinking, only men count towards establishing a minyan.

In Jewish thought, the Eternal does not need a mediator between Himself and humanity and, furthermore, humanity does not need a mediator in order to have a relationship with the Eternal. Therefore, Jews pray only to God. It is not proper to pray to anyone or anything else, nor through anything or anyone else. Because of this Judaism does not have a role for priests, in the sense of people responsible for praying on behalf of the community, nor does it have a place for saints (in the sense of special souls who can intercede with God on our behalf).

During biblical times there was a hereditary “priestly” class, the Cohenim (singular - Cohen), whose role was to officiate in the temple services (hence the family name, Cohen). Since the destruction of the temple almost 2000 years ago this role has been redundant. Orthodox Judaism still maintains the idea of the Cohen, and those who are Cohenim by birth still have particular roles and duties during synagogue services (eg. A Cohen is called first to read when a portion of the Torah is read aloud to a congregation). Progressive communities make no distinction between Cohenim and others.

Most Jewish communities employ a rabbi, who is most emphatically not a priest. He (or possibly, in a progressive community, she) is a scholar, a teacher and interpreter of the Law and an exemplar to the community. In modern times, especially in progressive and in modern orthodox communities, rabbis often fulfil many of the functions traditionally associated with priesthood, such as visiting the sick, conduction weddings and funerals and leading synagogue services. However, for Jewish purposes, these functions can be carried out by any competent member of the community. (Civil law may insist otherwise eg for a Jewish marriages a rabbi is necessary - rabbis are automatically authorised to conduct marriages).

Many communities employ a chazan (cantor) specifically to lead the services. A chazan is a person who is not only religiously knowledgeable, particularly about the liturgy, but also has a good singing voice.

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