Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism

Prev | Table of Contents | Next Mysticism in Judaism | Misunderstood Doctrine | Ein Sof & the Ten Sefirot | Suggested Reading Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism Level:  Advanced Mysticism in Judaism When non-Jews ask about Judaism, they commonly ask questions like:  Do you believe in heaven and hell?  In angels or the devil?  What happens to the soul after death?  What is the nature of God and the universe?  The answers to questions like these define most religions; in fact, some people say that the purpose of religion is to answer these kinds of questions.  Yet from a Torah viewpoint, most of these cosmological issues are wide open to personal opinion.  The areas of Jewish thought that most extensively discuss these issues, Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, were traditionally not even taught to people until the age of 40, when they had completed their education in Written Torah and Oral Torah (in other words, in Bible and practical Law). Mysticism and mystical experiences have been a part of Judaism since the earliest days.  The Bible contains many stories of mystical experiences, from visitations by angels to prophetic dreams and visions.  The Talmud considers the existence of the soul and when it becomes attached to the body.  Jewish tradition tells that the souls of all Jews were in existence at the time of the Giving of the Torah and were present at the time and agreed to the Covenant.  There are many stories of places similar to the Gentiles' heaven and hell.  The Talmud contains vague hints of a mystical school of thought that was taught only to the most advanced students and was not committed to writing.  There are several references in ancient sources to ma'aseh bereishit (the work of creation) and ma'aseh merkavah (the work of the chariot [of Ezekiel's vision]), the two primary subjects of mystical thought at the time. In the middle ages, many of these mystical teachings were committed to writing in books like the Zohar.  Many of these writings were asserted to be secret ancient writings or compilations of secret ancient writings, and some probably are.  It is important to remember, however, that such secret writings that are not the results of public debate in authorative rabbinical courts must never be understood (actually misunderstood) as contradicting the laws that were openly discussed and properly enacted.  All too many Jews as a practial matter have rejected the law and have prefered to practice their misunderstandings of Kabbalistic books or their rabbis' misunderstandings of them.  This is simply inexcusable:  The proper subject for such writings is why we do what we do when we observe the Torah, not what we need to do to observe the Torah. Like most subjects of Jewish belief, the area of mysticism is wide open to personal interpretation.  Some traditional Jews take mysticism very seriously.  Mysticism is an integral part of Chasidic Judaism, for example, and passages from kabbalistic sources are routinely included in traditional prayer books.  Other traditional Jews take mysticism with a grain of salt.  One prominent Orthodox Jew, when introducing a speaker on the subject of Jewish mysticism, said basically, "it's nonsense, but it's Jewish nonsense, and the study of anything Jewish, even nonsense, is worthwhile".  While we do not say that Kabbalah is nonsense, many things said in its name are clearly nonsense. The mystical school of thought came to be known as Kabbalah, from the Hebrew root Qof-Bet-Lamed, meaning to receive, to accept.  The word is usually translated as "tradition".  In Hebrew, the word does not have any of the dark, sinister, evil connotations that it has developed in English.  For example, the English word "cabal" (a secret group of conspirators) is derived from the Hebrew word Kabbalah, but neither the Hebrew word nor the mystical doctrines have any evil implications to Jews. Kabbalah:  The Misunderstood Doctrine Kabbalah is one of the most grossly misunderstood parts of Judaism.  Some non-Jews (and even some Jews) describe Kabbalah as "the dark side of Judaism".  Many of these misunderstandings arose largely from distortions of the teachings of Kabbalah by non-Jewish mystics and occultists.  Kabbalah was popular among Christian intellectuals during the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, who reinterpreted its doctrines to fit into their Christian dogma.  For example, one such source (the Kabbalah Denudata, commonly available in new age bookstores) states that the Ten Sefirot have something to do with the Christian Trinity because they are sometimes divided up into groups of three, despite that the Sefirot are divided up into many groups of varying numbers, that these groupings overlap, that the grouping he refers to is not comprised of a father, son, and spirit, but of a male, a female, and neutral, and so forth.  Others have wrenched kabbalistic symbolism out of context for use in tarot card readings and other forms of divination and magic that were never a part of the original Jewish teachings. We do not mean to suggest that magic is not a part of Kabbalah.  The most hidden, secretive part of Kabbalah, commonly known as "practical Kabbalah", involves use of hidden knowledge to affect the world in ways that could be described as magic.  The Talmud and other sources ascribe supernatural activities to many great rabbis.  Some rabbis pronounced a name of God and ascended into heaven to consult with the God and the angels on issues of great public concern.  One scholar is said to have created an artificial man by reciting various names of God.  Much later stories tell of a rabbi who created a man out of clay and brought it to life by putting in its mouth a piece of paper with a name of God on it.  Some of these stories are no doubt untrue, at least as understood literally; but some are true.  However, this area of Kabbalah is known by very few, and practiced by even fewer.  One great rabbi has said that these practices should be totally avoided, except when the Temple stands; that seems very sound advice to us. Ein Sof and the Ten Sefirot To give you an idea of the nature of Kabbalah, we will briefly tell about one of the better known, fundamental concepts of kabbalistic thought:  the concept of God as Ein Sof and the Ten Sefirot.  This explanation is, at best, a gross oversimplification. The true essence of God is so transcendent that it cannot be described, except with reference to what it is not.  This true essence of God is known in Kabbalah as "Ein Sof", which literally means without end, which encompasses the idea of His lack of boundaries in both time and space.  In this truest form, the Ein Sof is so transcendent that it cannot have any direct interaction with the universe.  The Ein Sof is said to interact with the created universe through ten emanations from this essence, known as the Ten Sefirot. The Sefirot are not deities, as some think by taking this too literally.  They are God's separate created mechanisms for dealing with the world, and they are in contact with the universe in a way that the Ein Sof is not.  The Sefirot connect with everything in the universe, including humanity.  We would say that the point of the Sefirot is to give an explanation of how God really is ultimately in control of the world, sees all, and rewards and punishes as He sees fit; but he does this by way of these mechanisms, not directly.  And do not make the mistake of worshiping them or praying to them or by way of them, as all too many have, as that is idolatry punishable by death, exclusion from the Jewish people, and exclusion from the World to Come. Suggested Reading Readings in this area should be undertaken with extreme caution.  There is entirely too much literature out there under the name "Kabbalah" that has little or nothing to do with the true Jewish teachings on this subject.  Any book on the subject of practical Kabbalah should be disregarded immediately; no legitimate source would ever make such teachings available to a faceless mass audience. Unless you are an expert in both the whole of the Hebrew Bible and the whole of the Law as summarized in the Rambam's Mishneh Torah (both in the original Hebrew, not in English translation), you should not even bother about learning Kabbalah. If you are really serious about Kabbalah, once you have properly qualified yourself by learning Bible and the Law, you must get yourself a teacher that you can work with one-on-one, in person.  But be very careful about choosing a teacher, as some will teach you to worship idols in the name of our Holy Torah, as we have witnessed with our own eyes and heard with our own ears!  It is distasteful for us to mention this, but we would be irresponsible if we did not warn you. Prev | Table of Contents | Next Got a question or comment?  Write Us!

The Nature of GOD

Prev | Table of Contents | Next The Nature of God Level:  Intermediate The nature of God is one of the few areas of abstract Jewish belief where there are a number of clear-cut ideas about which there is little dispute or disagreement. God Exists The fact of God's existence is accepted almost without question.  Proof is not needed, and is rarely offered.  The Torah begins by stating "In the beginning, God created . . .".  It does not tell who God is or how He came to be. In general, Judaism views the existence of God as a necessary prerequisite for the existence of the universe.  The existence of the universe is sufficient proof of the existence of God. God is One One of the primary expressions of Jewish faith, recited twice daily in prayer, is the Shema, which begins "Hear, Israel:  the LORD is our God, the LORD is one".  This simple statement encompasses several different ideas: There is only one God. No other being participated in the work of creation. God is a unity.  He is a single, whole, complete indivisible entity.  He cannot be divided into parts or described by attributes. Any attempt to ascribe attributes to God is merely man's imperfect attempt to understand the infinite. God is the only being to whom we should offer praise.  The Shema can also be translated as "the LORD is our God, the LORD alone", meaning that no other is our God, and we should not pray to any other. God is the Creator of Everything Everything in the universe was created by God, and only by God.  Judaism completely rejects the dualistic notion that evil was created by a Satan or some other deity.  All comes from God.  As Isaiah said, "I am the LORD, and there is none else.  I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil.  I am the LORD, that does all these things" (Isaiah 45,6-7). God is Incorporeal Although many places in scripture and Talmud speak of various parts of God's body (the Hand of God, God's wings, etc.) or speak of God in anthropomorphic terms (God walking in the garden of Eden, God laying tefillin, etc.), Judaism firmly maintains that God has no body.  Any reference to God's body is simply a figure of speech, a means of making God's actions more comprehensible to beings living in a material world.  Much of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed is devoted to explaining each of these anthropomorphic references and proving that they should be understood figuratively. We are forbidden to represent God in a physical form.  That is considered idolatry.  The sin of the Golden Calf incident was not that the people chose another deity, but that they tried to represent God in a physical form. God is Neither Male nor Female This followed directly from the idea that God has no physical form.  God has, of course, no body; therefore, the very idea that God is male or female is patently absurd.  We refer to God using masculine terms simply for convenience's sake, because Hebrew has no neutral gender; God is no more male than a table is. Although we usually speak of God in masculine terms, there are times when we refer to God using feminine terms.  The Shechinah, the manifestation of God's presence that fills the universe, is conceived of in feminine terms, and the word Shechinah is a feminine word. God is Omnipresent God is always near for us to call upon and He sees all that we do, wherever we are. Closely tied in with this is the idea that God is universal:  He is not just the God of the Jews, but the God of all nations. God is Omnipotent God can do anything.  It is said that the only thing that is beyond His control is the fear of Him; that is, He has given us free will, and He does not compel us to do His will.  This belief in God's omnipotence has been sorely tested during the many persecutions of Jews, but we have always maintained that God has a reason for allowing these things, even if we in our limited perception and understanding cannot see the reason. God is Omniscient God knows all things, past, present, and future.  He knows our thoughts. God is Eternal God transcends time.  He has no beginning and no end.  He will always be there to fulfill His promises.  When Moses asked for God's name, He replied, "Ehyeh asher ehyeh".  That phrase is generally translated as, "I am that I am", but the word "ehyeh" can be present or future tense, meaning "I am what I will be" or "I will be what I will be".  The ambiguity of the phrase is often interpreted as a reference to God's eternal nature. God is Both Just and Merciful We have often heard Christians speak of Judaism as the religion of the strict Law, which no human being is good enough to fulfill (hence the need for the so-called sacrifice of Jesus).  This is a gross mischaracterization of Jewish belief.  Judaism has always maintained that God's justice is tempered by mercy, the two qualities perfectly balanced.  Of the two Names of God most commonly used in scripture, one refers to his quality of justice and the other to his quality of mercy.  The two names were used together in the story of Creation, showing that the world was created with both justice and mercy. God is Holy and Perfect One of the most common names applied to God in the post-Biblical period is "Ha-Kadosh, Barukh Hu", The Holy One, Blessed be He. God is our Father Christianity maintains that God has one son; Judaism maintains that God has billions of sons and daughters.  We are all God's children, and the people of Israel are His firstborn (Exodus 4,22).  The Talmud teaches that there are three participants in the formation of every human being:  the mother and father, who provide the physical form, and God, who provides the soul, the personality, and the intelligence.  It is said that one of God's greatest gifts to humanity is the knowledge that we are His children and created in His image. Prev | Table of Contents | Next Got a question or comment?  Write Us!

Who is a Jewv?

Prev | Table of Contents | Next Who is a Jew? Level:  Basic A Jew is any person whose mother was a Jew or any person who has gone through the formal process of conversion in full compliance with Jewish law. It is important to note that being a Jew has nothing to do with what you believe or what you do.  A person born to non-Jewish parents who believes everything that Orthodox Jews believe and observes every law and custom of the Jews is still a non-Jew, even in the eyes of the most liberal movements of Judaism, and a person born to a Jewish mother who is an atheist and never practices the Jewish religion is still a Jew, even in the eyes of the ultra-Orthodox.  In this sense, being a Jew is more like a nationality than like other religions; it is like a citizenship. Although all Jewish movements agree on these general principles, there are occasional disputes as to whether a particular individual is a Jew.  Most of these disputes fall into one of two categories. First, traditional Judaism maintains that a person is a Jew if his mother is a Jew, regardless of who his father is.  The liberal movements, on the other hand, consider a person to be Jewish if either of his parents was Jewish.  Thus, the child of a Jewish father and a Christian mother is a Jew according to the Reform movement, but not according to the Orthodox movement.  The matter becomes even more complicated, because the status of that child's children also comes into question. Second, the more traditional movements do not always acknowledge the validity of conversions by the more liberal movements.  The more modern movements do not always follow the procedures required by the more traditional movements, thereby invalidating the conversion.  In addition, Orthodoxy does not accept the authority of Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist rabbis to perform conversions, and the Conservative movement has debated whether to accept the authority of Reform rabbis. About the Agudath Ha-Rabonim Statement In March, 1997, the Agudath Ha-Rabonim issued a statement declaring that the Conservative and Reform movements are "outside of Torah and outside of Judaism".  This statement has been widely publicized and widely misunderstood, and requires some response.  Three points are particularly worth discussing:  1) the statement does not challenge the Jewish status of Reform and Conservative Jews; 2) the statement is not an official statement of a unified Orthodox opinion; 3) the statement was made with the intention of bringing people into Jewish belief, not with the intention of excluding them from it. First of all, the Agudath Ha-Rabonim statement does not say that Reform and Conservative Jews are not Jews.  Their statement does not say anything about Jewish status.  As the discussion above explains, status as a Jew has nothing to do with what you believe; it is simply a matter of who your parents are.  Reform and Conservative Jews are Jews, as they have always been, and even the Agudath Ha-Rabonim would agree on that point.  The debate over who is a Jew is the same as it has always been, the same as was discussed above:  the Reform recognition of patrilineal decent, and the validity of conversions performed by non-Orthodox rabbis. Second, the Agudath Ha-Rabonim is not the official voice of mainstream Orthodoxy.  Their statement does not represent the unified position of Orthodox Judaism in the US.  In fact, the Rabbinical Council of America (the rabbinic arm of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America) immediately issued a strong statement disassociating themselves from this "hurtful public pronouncement [which] flies in the face of Jewish peoplehood". Finally, before one can denounce a statement like this, one should make an attempt to understand the position of those making the statement.  According to Orthodoxy, the Torah is the heart of Judaism.  All of what our people are revolves around the unchanging, eternal, mutually binding covenant between God and our people.  That is the definition of Jewish belief, according to Orthodoxy, and all Jewish belief is measured against that yardstick.  You may dispute the validity of the yardstick, but you cannot deny that Conservative and Reform Judaism do not measure up on that yardstick.  Reform Judaism does not believe in the binding nature of Torah, and Conservative Judaism believes that the law can be changed quite flexibly. The Agudath Ha-Rabonim did not intend to cut Reform and Conservative Jews off from their heritage.  On the contrary, their intention was to bring Reform and Conservative Jews back to what they consider to be the only true Judaism.  The statement encouraged Reform and Conservative Jews to leave their synagogues and "join an Orthodox synagogue, where they will be warmly welcomed".  Some Orthodox and Chasidic Jews believe that if there were no Reform or Conservative synagogues, everyone would be Orthodox.  It seems more likely, however, that if there were no such movements, most of these people would be lost to Judaism entirely. Prev | Table of Contents | Next Got a question or comment?  Write Us!

Movements of Judaism

Prev | Table of Contents | Next Before the 20th Century | 20th Century U.S. | 20th Century Israel | 20th Century U.K. Movements of Judaism Level:  Basic The different sects or denominations of Judaism are generally referred to as movements.  The differences between Jewish movements are not nearly as great as the differences between Christian denominations.  The differences between Orthodoxy and Reform Judaism are not much greater than the differences between the liberal and fundamentalist wings of the Baptist denomination of Christianity. In general, when speaking of "movements" in this site, we are mostly referring to movements in the United States in the 20th century. Movements Before the 20th Century All Jewish movements that exist today are derived from one movement, identified in the Christian scriptures as the Pharisees.  At the dawn of Christianity, there were several different competing schools of thought:  the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the Zealots.  The Pharisaic school of thought is the only one that survived the destruction of the Temple.  The Pharisees believed that God gave the Jews both a written Torah and an oral Torah, both of which were equally binding and both of which were open to reinterpretation by the rabbis, people with sufficient education to make such decisions.  The Pharisees were devoted to study of the Torah and education for all.  Today, this school of thought is known as Rabbinical Judaism. From the time of the destruction of the Temple until the middle of the 1700s, there was no large-scale organized difference of opinion within Judaism.  Judaism was Judaism, and it was basically Orthodox Judaism.  There were some differences in practices and customs between the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe and the Sephardic Jews of Spain and the Middle East, but these differences were not significant.  See Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews. In the 1700s, the first of the modern movements developed in Eastern Europe.  This movement, known as Chasidism, was founded by Israel ben Eliezer, more commonly known as the Baal Shem Tov or the Besht.  Before Chasidism, Judaism emphasized education as the way to get closer to God.  Chasidism emphasized other, more personal experiences and mysticism as alternative routes to God.  Chasidism was considered a radical movement at the time it was founded.  There was strong opposition from those who held to the pre-existing view of Judaism.  Those who opposed Chasidism became known as mitnagdim (opponents).  Today, the Chasidim and the mitnagdim are relatively unified in their opposition to the liberal modern movements. Movements in 20th Century United States Approximately 5 million of the world's 13 million Jews live in the United States.  There are three major movements in the U.S.  today:  Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox.  Some people also include a fourth movement, the Reconstructionist movement, although that movement is substantially smaller than the other three.  Orthodox and sometimes Conservative are described as "traditional" movements.  Reform, Reconstructionist, and sometimes Conservative are described as "liberal" or "modern" movements. Orthodoxy is actually made up of several different groups.  It includes the modern Orthodox, who have largely integrated into modern society while maintaining observance of halakhah (Jewish Law), the Chasidim, who live separately and dress distinctively (commonly referred to in the media as the "ultra-Orthodox"), and the Yeshivish Orthodox, who are neither Chasidic nor modern.  The Orthodox movements are all very similar in belief, and the differences are difficult for anyone who is not Orthodox to understand.  They all believe that God gave Moses the whole Torah at Mount Sinai.  The "whole Torah" includes both the Written Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and the Oral Torah, an oral tradition interpreting and explaining the Written Torah.  They believe that the Torah is true, that it has come down to us intact and unchanged.  They believe that the Torah contains 613 mitzvot binding upon Jews but not upon non-Jews.  The Judaism 101 web site (the starting point of this "site within a site") was written primarily from the Orthodox point of view.  It has been estimated that there are 1200 Orthodox synagogues in the US today with a total of approximately 1 million members. Reform Judaism does not believe that the Torah was written by God.  The movement accepts the critical theory of Biblical authorship:  that the Bible was written by separate sources and redacted together.  Reform Jews do not believe in observance of commandments as such, but they retain much of the values and ethics of Judaism, along with some of the practices and the culture.  The original, basic tenets of Reform Judaism in the USA were set down in the Pittsburgh Platform.  Many non-observant, nominal, and/or agnostic Jews identify themselves as Reform simply because Reform is the most liberal movement, but that is not really a fair reflection on the movement as a whole.  There are about 800 Reform synagogues in the US with approximately 2 million members.  For more information about Reform Judaism, see The Union for Reform Judaism. Conservative Judaism grew out of the tension between Orthodoxy and Reform.  It was formally organized as the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism by Dr. Solomon Schechter in 1913, although its roots in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America stretch back into the 1880s.  Conservative Judaism generally accepts the binding nature of halakhah, but believes that the Law should change and adapt, absorbing aspects of the predominant culture while remaining true to Judaism's values.  In our experience, there is a great deal of variation among Conservative synagogues.  Some are indistinguishable from Reform, except that they use more Hebrew; others are practically Orthodox, except that men and women sit together.  Most are very traditional in substance, if not always in form.  There are an estimated 800 Conservative synagogues in the US today with approximately 1.3 million members. Reconstructionist Judaism is theoretically an outgrowth of Conservative, but it does not fit neatly into the traditional/liberal, observant/non-observant continuum that most people use to classify movements of Judaism.  Reconstructionists believe that Judaism is an "evolving religious civilization".  They do not believe in a personified deity that is active in history, and they do not believe that God chose the Jewish people.  From this, you might assume that Reconstructionism is to the left of Reform; yet Reconstructionism lays a much greater stress on Jewish observance than Reform Judaism.  Reconstructionists observe the halakhah if they choose to, not because it is a binding Law from God, but because it is a valuable cultural remnant.  Reconstructionism is a very small movement but seems to get a disproportionate amount of attention, probably because there are a disproportionate number of Reconstructionists serving as rabbis to Jewish college student organizations and Jewish Community Centers.  Many seem to have had a Reconstructionist rabbi at college or in a community center, yet there are only about 60,000 Reconstructionists in the US. Though most Jews do not have any theological objections to praying in the synagogues of other movements, liberal services are not "religious" enough or "Jewish" enough for traditional Jews, and traditional services are largely incomprehensible to liberal Jews (because traditional services are primarily, if not exclusively, in Hebrew), too long, and too conservative.  Some Orthodox will not attend liberal services because of the mixed seating arrangements and because the liberal prayer book cuts many required prayers. We have been to services in Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox synagogues, and have found that while there are substantial differences in length, language, and choice of reading materials, the overall structure is surprisingly similar.  See Jewish Liturgy for more information about prayer services. Movements in 20th Century Israel Approximately 5 million Jews live in Israel.  Orthodoxy is the only movement that is formally and legally recognized in Israel.  Until very recently, only Orthodox Jews could serve on religious councils.  The Orthodox rabbinate in Israel controls matters of personal status, such as marriage, conversion, and divorce. The other US movements have some degree of presence in Israel, but for the most part, Israelis do not formally identify themselves with a movement.  Most Israelis describe themselves more generally in terms of their degree of observance, rather than in terms of membership in an organized movement. More than half of all Israelis describe themselves as hiloni (secular).  About 15-20 percent describe themselves as haredi (ultra-Orthodox) or dati (Orthodox).  The rest describe themselves as masorti (traditionally observant, but not as dogmatic as the Orthodox).  It is important to remember, however, that the masorti and hiloni of Israel tend to be more observant than their counterparts in the US.  For example, the hiloni of Israel often observe some traditional practices in a limited way, such as lighting Sabbath candles, limiting their activities on the Sabbath, or keeping kosher to some extent, all of which are rare among US Reform Jews, and unheard of among US Jews who describe themselves as secular. Movements in 20th Century United Kingdom There are an estimated 350,000 Jews in the UK.  Of those, approximately 20% are Reform or Liberal, which are two separate movements.  There is also a small but active Conservative movement called the Masoreti.  The Lubavitcher Chasidim are also active and growing in the UK. The liberal movements in the UK are generally more traditional than the Reform movement in the United States.  For example, the British Reform movement does not accept patrilineal descent (although the Liberal movement does).  See Who Is a Jew. Prev | Table of Contents | Next Got a question or comment?  Write Us!

Sages and Scholars

Prev | Table of Contents | Next Hillel and Shammai | Rabbi Akiba | Judah Ha-Nasi | Rashi | Maimonides Sages and Scholars Level:  Intermediate Hillel and Shammai These two great scholars who born a generation or two before the beginning of the Common Era are usually discussed together and contrasted with each other, because they were contemporaries and the leaders of two opposing schools of thought (known as "houses").  The Talmud records over 300 differences of opinion between Beit Hillel (the House of Hillel) and Beit Shammai (the House of Shammai).  In almost every one of these disputes, Hillel's view prevailed. Rabbi Hillel was born to a wealthy family in Babylonia, but came to Jerusalem without the financial support of his family and supported himself as a woodcutter.  It is said that he lived in such great poverty that he was sometimes unable to pay the admission fee to study Torah, and because of him that fee was abolished.  He was known for his kindness, his gentleness, and his concern for humanity.  One of his most famous sayings, recorded in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers, a tractate of the Mishnah), is "If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?  And if I am only for myself, then what am I?  And if not now, when?"  The Hillel organization, a network of Jewish college student organizations, is named for him. Rabbi Shammai was an engineer, known for the strictness of his views.  He was reputed to be dour, quick-tempered, and impatient.  For example, the Talmud tells that a Gentile came to Shammai saying that he would convert to Judaism if Shammai could teach him the whole Torah in the time that he could stand on one foot.  Shammai drove him away with a builder's measuring stick!  Hillel, on the other hand, converted the Gentile by telling him, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.  That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary.  Go and study it!" Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph (50-135 C.E.) A poor, semi-literate shepherd, Akiba became one of Judaism's greatest scholars.  He developed the exegetical method of the Mishnah, linking each traditional practice to a basis in the biblical text, and systematized the material that later became the Mishnah. Rabbi Akiba was active in the Bar Kokhba rebellion against Rome, 132-135 C.E..  He believed that Bar Kokhba was the Mashiach, though some other rabbis openly ridiculed him for that belief (the Talmud records another rabbi as saying, "Akiba, grass will grow in your cheeks and still the son of David will not have come".) When the Bar Kokhba rebellion failed, Rabbi Akiba was taken by the Roman authorities and tortured to death. Judah Ha-Nasi (Judah the Prince) (135-219 C.E.) The Patriarch of the Jewish community, Judah Ha-Nasi was well-educated in Greek thought as well as Jewish thought.  He organized and compiled the Mishnah, building upon Rabbi Akiba's work. Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki) (1040-1105 C.E.) A grape grower living in Northern France, Rashi wrote the definitive commentaries on the Babylonian Talmud and the Bible.  Rashi pulled together materials from a wide variety of sources, wrote them down in the order of the Talmud and the Bible for easy reference, and wrote them in such clear, concise, and plain language that it can be appreciated by beginners and experts alike.  Almost every edition of the Talmud printed since the invention of the printing press has included the text of Rashi's commentary side-by-side with the Talmudic text.  Many traditional Jews will not study the Bible without a Rashi commentary beside it. Maimonides (Rambam; Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon) (1135-1204 C.E.) A physician born in Moorish Cordoba, Maimonides lived in a variety of places throughout the Moorish lands of Spain, the Middle East, and North Africa, often fleeing persecution.  He was a leader of the Jewish community in Cairo.  He was conversant in Arab and Greek sciences and philosopy, particularly of the school of Aristotle. Maimonides was the author of the Mishneh Torah code, the first and (so far) only complete code of Jewish law, fully covering every conceivable topic of Jewish law in subject matter order and providing a simple statement of the prevailing view in plain language for anyone who knows Hebrew.  In his own time, he was condemned because he claimed that Mishneh Torah was a substitute for studying the Talmud; but today, almost everyone who learns Talmud learns it with the help of Mishneh Torah. Maimonides is also responsible for several important theological works.  He developed the 13 Principles of Faith, the most widely accepted list of Jewish beliefs.  He also wrote the Guide for the Perplexed, for those who have reached perfection in knowledge and observance of the Torah on the one hand, and have learned the sciences and philosophy on the other, and find it difficult to resolve the seeming conflicts between them (not really for the masses, Jewish or Gentile!). Prev | Table of Contents | Next Got a question or comment?  Write Us!

Prophets and Prophecy

Prev | Table of Contents | Next What is a Prophet? | Who are the Prophets of the Jewish Scriptures? | Why is Daniel Not a Prophet? Prophets and Prophecy Level:  Intermediate What is a Prophet? Many people today think of a prophet as any person who sees the future.  While the gift of prophecy certainly includes the ability to see the future, a prophet is far more than just a person with that ability. A prophet is basically a spokesman for God, a person chosen by God to speak to people on God's behalf and convey a message or teaching.  Prophets were role models of holiness, scholarship, and closeness to God.  They set the standards for the entire community. The Hebrew word for a prophet, navi (Nun-Bet-Yod-Alef) comes from the term "niv sefatayim" meaning fruit of the lips, which emphasizes the prophet's role as a speaker. The Talmud teaches that there were hundreds of thousands of prophets:  twice as many as the number of people who left Egypt, which was 600,000.  But most of the prophets conveyed messages that were intended solely for their own generation and were not reported in scripture.  Scripture identifies only 55 prophets of Israel. A prophet is not necessarily a man.  Scripture records the stories of seven female prophets, listed below, and the Talmud reports that Sarah's prophetic ability was superior to Abraham's. A prophet is not necessarily a Jew.  The Talmud reports that there were prophets among the Gentiles (most notably Balaam, whose story is told in Numbers 22-24), although they were not as elevated as the prophets of Israel (as the story of Balaam demonstrates).  And some of the prophets, such as Jonah, were sent on missions to speak to the Gentiles. According to some views, prophecy is not a gift that is arbitrarily conferred upon people; rather, it is the culmination of a person's spiritual and ethical development.  When a person reaches a sufficient level of spiritual and ethical achievement, the Shechinah (Divine Spirit) comes to rest upon him or her.  Likewise, the gift of prophecy leaves the person if that person lapses from his or her spiritual and ethical perfection. The greatest of the prophets was Moses.  It is said that Moses saw all that all of the other prophets combined saw, and more.  Moses saw the whole of the Torah, including the Prophets, and the Writings that were written hundreds of years later.  All subsequent prophecy was merely an expression of what Moses had already seen.  Thus, it is taught that nothing in the Prophets or the Writings can be in conflict with Moses' writings, because Moses saw it all in advance. The Talmud states that the writings of the prophets will not be necessary in the World to Come, because in that day, all people will be mentally, spiritually, and ethically perfect, and all will have the gift of prophecy. Who are the Prophets of the Jewish Scriptures? The following list of prophets is based on the Talmud and Rashi. Abraham Genesis 11,26 - 25,10 Isaac Genesis 21,1 - 35,29 Jacob Genesis 25,21 - 49,33 Moses Exodus 2,1 - Deuteronomy 34,5 Aaron Exodus 4,14 - Numbers 33,39 Joshua Exodus 17,9 - 14, 24,13, 32,17 - 18, 33,11; Numbers 11,28 - 29, 13,4 - 14,38; 27,18 - 27,23, Deuteronomy 1,38, 3,28, 31,3, 31,7-Joshua 24,29 Pinchas Exodus 6,25; Numbers 25,7-25,11; Numbers 31,6; Joshua 22,13 - Joshua 24,33; Judges 20,28 Elkanah I Samuel 1,1 - 2,20 Eli I Samuel 1,9 - 4,18 Samuel I Samuel 1,1 - I Samuel 25,1 Gad I Samuel 22,5; II Samuel 24,11-19; I Chronicles 21,9-21,19, 29,29 Nathan II Samuel 7,2 - 17; 12,1 - 25. David I Samuel 16,1 - I Kings 2,11 Solomon II Samuel 12,24; 1 Kings 1,10 - 11,43 Iddo II Chronicles 9,29, 12,15, 13,22 Michaiah son of Imlah I Kings 22,8-28; II Chronicles 18,7-27 Obadiah I Kings 18; Obadiah Ahiyah the Shilonite I Kings 11,29-30; 12,15; 14,2-18; 15,29 Jehu son of Hanani I Kings 16,1 - 7; II Chronicles 19,2; 20,34 Azariah son of Oded II Chronicles 15 Jahaziel the Levite II Chronicles 20,14 Eliezer son of Dodavahu II Chronicles 20,37 Hosea Hosea Amos Amos Micah the Morashtite Micah Amoz (the father of Isaiah) Elijah I Kings 17,1 - 21,29; II Kings 1,10-2,15, 9,36-37, 10,10, 10,17 Elisha I Kings 19,16-19; II Kings 2,1-13,21 Jonah ben Amittai Jonah Isaiah Isaiah Joel Joel Nahum Nahum Habakkuk Habakkuk Zephaniah Zephaniah Uriah Jeremiah 26,20-23 Jeremiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Ezekiel Shemaiah I Kings 12,22-24; II Chronicles 11,2-4, 12,5-15 Barukh Jeremiah 32, 36, 43, 45 Neriah (father of Barukh) Seraiah Jeremiah 51,61-64 Mehseiah (father of Neriah) Haggai Haggai Zechariah Zechariah Malachi Malachi Mordecai Bilshan   Oded (father of Azariah) Hanani (father of Jehu) Sarah Genesis 11,29 - 23,20 Miriam Exodus 15,20-21; Num.  12,1-12,15, 20,1 Deborah Judges 4,1 - 5,31 Hannah I Samuel 1,1 - 2,21 Abigail I Samuel 25,1 - 25,42 Huldah II Kings 22,14-20 Esther Esther Why is Daniel Not a Prophet? It is often asked why the Book of Daniel is included in the Writings section of the Tanakh instead of the Prophets section.  Wasn't Daniel a prophet?  Weren't his visions of the future true? According to Judaism, Daniel is not one of the 55 prophets.  His writings include visions of the future, which we believe to be true; however, his mission was not that of a prophet.  His visions of the future were never intended to be proclaimed to the people; they were designed to be written down for future generations.  Thus, they are Writings, not Prophecies, and are classified accordingly. Prev | Table of Contents | Next Got a question or comment?  Write Us!

Prayers and Blessings

Prev | Table of Contents | Next Tefillah:  Prayer | Need for Prayer | Mindset for Prayer | Language for Prayer | Group Prayer | Berakhot:  Blessings | Who Blesses Whom? | Content of a Berakhah | Form of a Berakhah | Grace After Meals See also Jewish Liturgy Prayers and Blessings Level:  Intermediate Tefillah:  Prayer The Hebrew word for prayer is tefillah.  It is derived from the root Pe-Lamed-Lamed and the word l'hitpallel, meaning to judge oneself.  This surprising word origin provides insight into the purpose of Jewish prayer.  The most important part of any Jewish prayer, whether it be a prayer of petition, of thanksgiving, of praise of God, or of confession, is the introspection it provides, the moment that we spend looking inside ourselves, seeing our role in the universe and our relationship to God. For an observant Jew, prayer is not simply something that happens in synagogue once a week (or even three times a day).  Prayer is an integral part of everyday life.  In fact, one of the most important prayers, the Birkat Ha-Mazon, is never recited in synagogue services! Observant Jews are constantly reminded of God's presence and of our relationship with God, because we are continually praying to Him.  Our first thoughts and words in the morning, even before we get out of bed, is a prayer thanking God for returning our souls to us.  There are prayers to be recited just before enjoying a material pleasure, such as eating or drinking, or just after them, such as after eating or drinking or after buying new clothes or ordinary household items; prayers to recite before performing any mitzvah (commandment), such as washing hands or lighting candles; prayers to recite upon seeing anything unusual, such as a king, a rainbow, or the site of a great tragedy; prayers to recite whenever some good or bad thing happens; and prayers to recite before going to bed at night.  All of these prayers are in addition to formal prayer services, which are performed three times a day every weekday and additional times on sabbaths and festivals.  See Jewish Liturgy. The Need for Prayer Many people today do not see the need for regular, formal prayer.  "I pray when I feel inspired to, when it is meaningful to me", they say.  This attitude overlooks two important things:  the purpose of prayer, and the need for practice. One purpose of prayer is to increase your awareness of God in your life and the role that God plays in your life.  If you only pray when you feel inspired (that is, when you are already aware of God), then you will not increase your awareness of God. In addition, if you want to do something well, you have to practice it continually, even when you do not feel like doing it.  This is as true of prayer as it is of playing a sport, playing a musical instrument, or writing.  The sense of humility and awe of God that is essential to proper prayer does not come easily to modern man, and will not simply come to you when you feel the need to pray.  If you wait until inspiration strikes, you will not have the skills you need to pray effectively.  Before starting to pray regularly, many find that when they want to pray, they do not know how.  They do not know what to say, or how to say it, or how to establish the proper frame of mind.  If you pray regularly, you will learn how to express yourself in prayer. Kavanah:  The Mindset for Prayer When you say the same prayers day after day, you might expect that the prayers would become routine and would begin to lose meaning.  While this may be true for some people, this is not the intention of Jewish prayer.  As said at the beginning of this discussion, the most important part of prayer is the introspection it provides.  Accordingly, the proper frame of mind is vital to prayer. The mindset for prayer is referred to as kavanah, which is generally translated as "concentration" or "intent".  The minimum level of kavanah is an awareness that one is speaking to God and an intention to fulfill the obligation to pray.  If you do not have this minimal level of kavanah, then you are not praying; you are merely reading.  In addition, it is preferred that you have a mind free from other thoughts, that you know and understand what you are praying about and that you think about the meaning of the prayer. Liturgical melodies are often used as an aid to forming the proper mindset.  Many prayers and prayer services have traditional melodies associated with them.  These can increase your focus on what you are doing and block out extraneous thoughts. Hebrew:  The Language for Prayer The Talmud states that it is permissible to pray in any language that you can understand; however, traditional Judaism has always stressed the importance of praying in Hebrew.  A traditional Chasidic story speaks glowingly of the prayer of an uneducated Jew who wanted to pray but did not speak Hebrew.  The man began to recite the only Hebrew he knew:  the alphabet.  He recited it over and over again, until a rabbi asked what he was doing.  The man told the rabbi, "The Holy One, Blessed is He, knows what is in my heart.  I will give Him the letters, and He can put the words together". Even liberal Judaism is increasingly recognizing the value of Hebrew prayer.  It seems that fifty years ago, you never heard a word of Hebrew in a Reform synagogue.  Today, the standard Reform prayer book contains the text of many prayers in Hebrew, and many of the standard prayers are recited in Hebrew, generally followed by transliteration and an English translation.  Some Reform rabbis read from the Torah in Hebrew, also generally followed by an English translation or explanation. There are many good reasons for praying in Hebrew:  it gives you an incentive for learning Hebrew, which might otherwise be forgotten; it provides a link to Jews all over the world; it is the language in which the covenant with God was made, etc.  For us, however, the most important reason to pray in Hebrew is that Hebrew is the language of Jewish thought. Any language other than Hebrew is laden down with the connotations of that language's culture and religion.  When you translate a Hebrew word, you lose subtle shadings of Jewish ideas and add ideas that are foreign to Judaism.  Only in Hebrew can the pure essence of Jewish thought be preserved and properly understood.  For example, the English word "commandment" connotes an order imposed upon us by a stern and punishing God, while the Hebrew word "mitzvah" implies an honor and privilege given to us, a responsibility that we undertook as part of the covenant we made with God, a good deed that we are eager to perform. This is not to suggest that praying in Hebrew is more important than understanding what you are praying about.  If you are in synagogue and you do not know Hebrew well enough, you can listen to the Hebrew while looking at the translation.  If you are reciting a prayer or blessing alone, you should get a general idea of its meaning from the translation before attempting to recite it in Hebrew.  But even if you do not fully understand Hebrew at this time, you should try to hear the prayer, experience the prayer, in Hebrew. Group Prayer Most of our prayers are expressed in the first person plural, "us" instead of "me", and are recited on behalf of all of the Jewish people.  This form of prayer emphasizes our responsibility for one another and our interlinked fates. Formal prayer services are largely a group activity rather than an individual activity.  Although it is permissible to pray alone and it fulfills the obligation to pray, you should generally make every effort to pray with a group, short of violating a commandment to do so. A complete formal prayer service cannot be conducted without a quorum of at least 10 adult Jewish men; that is, at least 10 people who are obligated to fulfill the commandment to recite the prayers.  This prayer quorum is referred to as a minyan (from a Hebrew root meaning to count or to number).  Certain prayers and religious activities cannot be performed without a minyan.  This need for a minyan has often helped to keep the Jewish community together in isolated areas. Berakhot:  Blessings A berakhah (blessing) is a special kind of prayer that is very common in Judaism.  Berakhot are recited both as part of the synagogue services and as a response or prerequisite to a wide variety of daily occurrences.  Berakhot are easy to recognize:  they all start with the word barukh (blessed or praised). The words barukh and berakhah are both derived from the Hebrew root Bet-Resh-Kaf, meaning knee, and refer to the practice of showing respect by bending the knee and bowing, getting down on the knees and prostrating on the ground.  There are several places in Jewish liturgy where bowing is performed, most of them at a time when a berakhah is being recited.  At the end of the formal standing prayer, one is required to at least get down on his knees, if not to prostrate himself altogether on the ground; this requirement is commonly ignored by most Jews today, but continues to be the practice among Muslims all over the world, who learned this from the Jews, who still did it at the time Islaam was founded. According to Jewish Law, a person must recite at least 100 berakhot each day!  This is not as difficult as it sounds.  Repeating the Shemoneh Esrei three times a day (as all observant Jews do) covers 57 berakhot all by itself, and there are dozens of everyday occurrences that require berakhot. Who Blesses Whom? Many English-speaking people find the idea of berakhot very confusing.  To them, the word "blessing" seems to imply that the person saying the blessing is conferring some benefit on the person he is speaking to.  For example, in Catholic tradition, a person making a confession begins by asking the priest to bless him.  Yet in a berakhah, the person saying the blessing is speaking to God.  How can the creation confer a benefit upon the Creator? This confusion stems largely from difficulties in the translation.  The Hebrew word "barukh" is not a verb describing what we do to God; it is an adjective describing God as the source of all blessings.  When we recite a berakhah, we are not blessing God; we are expressing wonder at how blessed God is. Content of a Berakhah There are basically three types of berakhot:  ones recited before enjoying a material pleasure (birkhot ha-na'ah), ones recited before performing a mitzvah (commandment) (birkhot ha-mitzvot) and ones recited at special times and events (birkhot hoda'ah). Berakhot recited before enjoying a material pleasure, such as eating and drinking, acknowledge God as the creator of the thing that we are about to enjoy.  The berakhah for bread praises God as the one "who brings forth bread from the earth".  The berakhah when putting on our clothing every morning praises God as the one "who clothes the naked".  By reciting these berakhot, we acknowledge that God is the Creator of all things, and that we have no right to use things until we recognize what He has done.  The berakhah essentially gains permission to use the thing. Berakhot recited before performing a mitzvah (commandment), such as washing hands or lighting candles, praise God as the one "who sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us" to do whatever it is we are about to do.  Reciting such a blessing is an essential element of the performance of a mitzvah.  In Jewish tradition, a person who performs a mitzvah with a sense of obligation is considered more meritorious than a person who performs the same mitzvah because he feels like it.  Recitation of the berakhah focuses our attention on the idea that we are performing a religious duty with a sense of obligation.  It is worth noting that we recite such berakhot over both biblical and rabbinical commandments.  In the latter case, the berakhah can be understood as "who sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us to obey the rabbis, who commanded us to" do whatever it is we are about to do.  See Halakhah:  Jewish Law for an explanation of the distinction between biblical and rabbinical commandments. Berakhot recited at special times and events, such as when seeing a rainbow or a king or hearing good or bad news, acknowledge God as the ultimate source of all good and evil in the universe.  It is important to note that such berakhot are recited for both good things and things that appear to us to be bad.  When we see or hear something bad, we praise God as "the true Judge", underscoring the idea that things that appear to be bad happen for a reason that is ultimately just, even if we in our limited understanding cannot always see the reason. Form of a Berakhah Many of the berakhot that we recite today were composed by Ezra and the Men of the Great Assembly nearly 2500 years ago, and they continue to be recited in the same form. All berakhot use the phrase "Barukh atah Hashem, Eloheynu, melekh ha-olam", Blessed art thou LORD, our God, King of the Universe.  This is sometimes referred to as shem umalkhut (the name and the sovereignty), the affirmation of God as king. The use of the word "thou" is worth discussing:  in modern English, many people think of the word "thou" as being formal and respectful, but in fact the opposite is true.  Thou (like the Hebrew atah) is the informal, familiar second person pronoun, used for friends and relatives.  This word expresses our close and intimate relationship with God. Immediately after this phrase, the berakhah abruptly shifts into the third person; for example, in the birkhot ha-mitzvot, the first two phrases are blessed art thou, LORD our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with his commandments and has commanded us to . . .  This grammatical faux pas is intentional.  The use of the third person pronoun while speaking to a person in Hebrew is a way of expressing extreme respect and deference.  This shift in perspective is a deliberately jarring way of expressing the idea that God is simultaneously close to us and yet far above us, intimately related to us and yet transcendent.  This paradox is at the heart of the Jewish relationship with God. Birkat Ha-Mazon:  Grace After Meals One of the most important prayers, one of the very few that the Bible commands us to recite, is never recited in synagogue.  That prayer is birkat ha-mazon, grace after meals. In Deuteronomy 8,10, we are commanded that when we eat and are satisfied, we must bless the LORD, our God.  This commandment is fulfilled by reciting the birkat ha-mazon (blessing of the food) after each meal.  Reciting birkat ha-mazon is commonly referred to as bentsching, from the Yiddish word meaning to bless.  Although the word "bentsch" can refer to the recitation of any berakhah, it is almost always used to refer to reciting birkat ha-mazon. The grace after meals is recited in addition to the various berakhot over food recited before meals. Birkat ha-mazon actually consists of four blessings, three of which were composed around the time of Ezra and the Great Assembly and a fourth which was added after the destruction of the Temple.  These blessings are: Birkat Hazan (the blessing for providing food), which thanks God for giving food to the world, Birkat Ha-Aretz (the blessing for the land), which thanks God for bringing us forth from the land of Egypt, for making His covenant with us, and for giving us the Land of Israel as an inheritance, Birkat Yerushalayim (the blessing for Jerusalem), which prays for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the coming of the Mashiach; and Birkat Ha-Tov v'Ha-Maytiv (the blessing for being good and doing good), was added after the destruction of the Temple, although it existed before that time.  It emphasizes the goodness of God's work, that God is good and does good. In addition to these four blessings, the full birkat ha-mazon incorporates some psalms and additional blessings for various special occasions (holidays, guests, etc.) Prev | Table of Contents | Next Got a question or comment?  Write Us!