Trace development of Judaism
The story about the origin of Judaism is found in a Hebrewscripture called Tanakh. The story is about how God called Abraham and how He related to Abraham descendants in different generations. Abraham miraculously had a son called Isaac. Isaac brought forth a son called Jacob who was given the name after wrestling with an angel of the Lord ( that is Israel). The descendants of Israel became known as “God’s chosen nation” Israel on the other hand was the father to twelve sons. The twelve sons were later translated to the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. The twelve sons were; Benjamin, Reuben, joseph, Simeon, Zebulon, Judah, Issachar, Dan, Naphtali, gad and Asher. Judah brought forth the society of the Hebrew people also known as “Judeans”. The name was later changed to Jews.
The book of Genesis describes systematically how the family of Abraham originated. A foundation on which Judaism was initially built is the covenantal relationship that God made between Abraham and Himself. The group is traced back when God made promises to Abraham that he would give him many descendants like stars. The Judeans were among God’s the tribes in the God has chosen nation. One of the promises that God made to Abraham was, his descendants would go to exile but would be released after many years.
It happened that the Israelites were hunger stricken. This forced them to move to Egypt through the help of Joseph. In Egypt Israelites increased in number until the authority felt at threat. God miraculously gave them a leader to take them out of the land of Egypt. Moses was born at a time when Pharaoh wanted all the Israelite baby boys killed. This was done in a bid to suppress the increasingly overwhelming population of Israelites. The mother to Moses hid him in a river where pharaoh’s daughter found him. She took him to the palace where he grew up. Fortunately, at the palace, a coincidence happened that his own mother nursed Moses. It is assumed that his mother might have told him about the history of his ancestors. One day Moses killed an Egyptian out of hunger of suppression of Israelites in Egypt. Consequently, Moses fled away from the palace to Median where he looked after animals.
God had identified Moses and wanted to use him to release the Israelites out the captivity. One day as Moses was looking after flock, God appeared to Moses in form of a burning bush. God communicated to Moses through that and commissioned him to help Israelites to get out of captivity in Egypt. It followed that Israelites started their journey out of Egypt. God managed to release Israelites out of Egypt and made the Egyptians who were following them drown. The Israelites took 40 years in the wilderness where God showed his saving power to them. In the wilderness, God made many provisions to them. He provided them with foods, which werequills and manner. God protected the Israelites against their enemies. For example, he enabled Israelites to manage fighting the Amalekites. God enabledIsraelites to cross the Red sea while their enemies who were the Egyptians drowned.
It is in the wilderness where God established a covenantal relationship between himself and the Israelites. The covenant was made on Mount Sinai and it was a conditional one. Israelites were given conditions that they had to fulfill in order to enjoy the promises. They had to worship no other god but Yahweh. After fulfilling the conditions brought about by God, the were to enjoy God’s protection by being God has chosen nation. They were also given the Ten Commandmentson a stone tablets. The Ten Commandmentswere divided into two categories. The first category of commandments defined the relationship between Israelites and God. The second category was to define how the Israelites related with one another. Moses as the leader acted in several capacities, which were; military, legislative, political, and religious.
After conquering Canaan, the Israeliteswere led by Judges. During that time, they backslide and could sometimes worship idols. At the same time, God’s servants protected the Ark of the Covenant, which was kept in Shiloh. In order to established themselves politically. The Israelites organized themselves into a centralized government. They resorted to kingship system of government where Soul was anointed as the first king. After Soul, David took over. His son Solomon who built the temple of the Lord succeeded David.
After the reign of Solomon, the nation was split into two mainly Israel which was on the north and Judah which was on the south. It followed that that Israel and Judah were conquered by powerful nations of their time. This was prophesized to be arising from their turning away from the covenantal relationship with Yahweh. Fortunately, they returned and restructured themselves. When they returnee, they reconciled themselves to Yahweh through God’s prophets. However, they were in the hands of Persians, Greeks, and Romans. They wrote books, poets, and songbooks among others.
Under the authority of Romans, Judaism was subjected to many changes. Judaism then felt stiff opposition from the authority. A sect of Judaism came into being. Later the Titus and Roman religions received a decree to stop the influence of Jewish religion because they refused to recognize Caesar as the supreme authority. Instead the Rabbi quoted, “thou shall have no other god before me and build no graven images”. It followed that the temple was burnt and Judaism destroyed.
The people again redefined themselves as the descendants of Abraham. There leaders intensively started teaching Torah. Because the temple had been destroyed, the people came up with synagogue. Judaism got a relief when Barbarians captured The Roman Empire. The Jews were later not troubled by their faith. However, inception of Christianity imposed a major challenge to Judaism. The church succeeded in winning people except those implicated in Judaism. The two religions at some point had acute difference at some point. In 711, the Arabs conquered some of the Jewish and they welcomed them. Christianity insisted that the Jewish are baptized in order to be converted. However, most of the Jewish were resistant to change.
Today Judaism has three main branches namely; orthodox, reform, and Conservative. Another group called the Hasidic emerged form orthodox. The Jewish have shown interest in getting transformed into the modern world. More of this has been observed in America where there have been given freedom. The Judaism culture has gone through many changes since introduction of Christianity.
A notable change is the re-adoption of traditional practices. One could not think of seeing a reform Jewish doing the practice of putting on a tallit. Of course, they have stuck to some of the ancient rituals. However they have given the rituals a new meaning in line with the changes in the dynamic society. For instance, the Jewish used to use Mikveh water to cleansethem. This was a sign of calling for forgiveness from God. Today, Mikveh water is used for medical purposes. The water is used to treat diseases like cancer. The water also used to purifies life experiences like divorce. Another line of change is more participation and intimacy in worship. The religious group practiced general worship. This is not the case as they have transformed their ways of worship into rigorous and more specific forms.
There is increased use of Hebrew. In the past, Hebrew was present in every Jewish practice. Today, the Jewish tend to identify with Hebrew wherever they are. This has been to enable them have a source of satisfaction. The increased use of Hebrew has been to establish the importance of the nation of Israel in different countries. Israel is the only country in the world where the Jewish culture is the absolute norm of the society. A group of Judaism called Reform Judaism came into existence at the time of French revolution. At the same time, European Jews received recognition from the authority as citizen of their various countries. Later, many Jewish moved away from Jewish districts and started adopting the culture of these places. They went to schools and institutions thereby abandoning Jewish studies.
The Jewish have continued to be connected unified by their beliefs and faith. The religious group has maintained in their conscience of emphasizing on practice and not beliefs. Since the destruction of the temple during the reign of the Roman dynasty, they have based their places of worship in synagogue. Jerusalem is the center of Jewish spiritual activities. Development of Zionism and the subsequent displacement of post-Holocaust have adversely affected Judaism. It resulted to the movement of a large number of the Jewish to the current nation Israel. The migration affected the Arabs as they opposed the religion.
The Conservative branch of the religion has been more loyal to the traditionsof the religion than the other branches. It has tried to retain the feasts and many other traditions in order to preserve the culture of Judaism. The group of the Jews is very active in the intellectual community as well as progressive. Judaism incorporates a wide scope of practices and beliefs. It is difficult to identify the specific believes of theJewish that makes one have the identity of the religion. Some people argue that being a Jew is being in the race of the descendants of Abraham.
The Orthodox isreferred to as the traditionalists because they hold the Talmud and scripture. They can be identifying by the kind of clothes they put on. Usually they like wearing their traditional garb, which consists of black suits and beards. They also put on prayer shawls and black hats. The Reform branch is a bit liberal compared to other branches. They tend to apply their traditions to the modern society. They have modern versions of their practices and translate them to the modern situation. They create an agreement between their traditional culture and the modern world. For example, they use the cleansing water to treat cancer. The Conservative branch seeks to position rabbinical Judaism in the modern situation. The groups can at times disagree violent but are united by one origin.
A dramatic change has been observed in the gender equality. In the Jewish traditions, women were to seat separately from men in the synagogues. In addition, they were not allowed to preside over any religious event. Today, the practice has been transformed by the dynamic society. Men and women sit together in the synagogue. Furthermore, women can now preside over religious functions as well as being rabbis.
The different groups of Judaism have often different in certain issues. One of the contentious issues is the act of homosexuality. The Jews in North America and the UK liberal Jews are for the support of homosexuality. The Jews from other parts of the world consider it a sin. The Reform Jewish form North America support intermarriage between the Jewish and other communities. The Reform rabbinical assembly does not approve this, as they do not support mixed marriages. In many parts of the world, rabbis can end up losing their jobs if they do not abide by the policies set by the rabbinical body. This is not the case in the united States as the congregations are the determining factors. Their decisions can override those of the rabbinical body. The Jews continue to believe that there are two messiahs. The first messiah is the son of Joseph who is also the suffering servant. The second one is the son of David who would establish the messianic kingdom.
