JEWISH STUDIES FINAL EXAM NOTE CARDS

Jewish Studies 211 with Rosenblum at University of Wisconsin - Madison

About this deck

By: Cara Gelbard
Textbook:

Creating Judaism: History, Tradition, Practice

Rabbinic Stories (Classics of Western Spirituality)

The Jewish Study Bible: featuring The Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation
Created: 2010-12-21
Size: 54 flashcards
Views: 139

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mitzvah

how to live in accordance with God's will

halakhah

"path" or "way"

Rabbis are the arbiters of Halakhah

law

kashrut

kosher laws and practices

different rules on what is kosher or not

slaughtering animals

eruv

a Sabbath boundary

a rabbinic provision that makes a public place into a private place so people can carry belongings on the Sabbath from a private place to this eruv

Eat special & more foods, celebration

pesach/passover

exodus from Egypt

only eat unleavened bread

rabbinic seder, read the haggadah

separate utensils, plates, pots, etc.

shavuot/pentecost

50 days after sabbath of Passover

later connected to the giving of Torah on Mt Sinai

marked end of barley/beginning of wheat, not many rules

Sukkot/Tabernacles

marks the end of the High Holidays

commemorates booths built to facilitate harvest & post exodus in Egypt

sukkah - lulav and etrog, 4 species

Rosh Hashanah

High Holidays

the new year

Sept/Oct

Yom Kippur

"Day of atonement"

fast and pray

10 days after Rosh Hashanah

minyan

prayer quorum

Required for 10 male jews to fulfill certain religious obligations

women, slaves, and children not counted

bar/bat mitzvah

recognition as a Jewish adult

12 for girls, 13 for boys

influenced by Catholics (confirmation)

mamzer

child resulting from adultery or incest

cannot marry a non-mamzer

modern problem: women who divorces and remarries has mamzer kids

dhimmi

not idolator, but recognize one God

Protected but with taxed and legal/economic restrictions

improvements for jews

Quran says Abraham was a Muslim; both positive&negative about Jews

get

divorce document

traditionally man must grant woman a divorce

hadith

"telling" or "reporting"; instructive

narrative of Islamic prophet Muhammad

Karaism

founded by Anan ben David

only written torah acceptable

influenced by Islam

Anan ben David

Persian Jew; alarmed by HB and rabbinic Jews divergence

Believed scripture alone should be the guide to Judaism, NOT ORAL TORAH

gaon/geonim

the presidents of the 2 great rabbinic colleges

spiritual leaders of the Jewish community

literally, "pride" or "splendor"

taught the Torah and Jewish law

responsum (teshuvah)

a body of written rulings/decisions given by legal scholars

poskim: deciders of Jewish law

responding to questions...

Abraham Ibn Ezra

Spain; influenced by Muslin scholars and produced linguistic/grammatical tractates

Daring; questioned HB divine authorship

Peshat

"simple", contextual interpretive tradition; more scientific

surface/literal meaning of the text... but has been debated

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Ben Isaac

France, wine-maker and prominent scholar

used earlier rabbinic sources as proof text

-Contrasts Ibn Exra who was Muslim influenced; Ezra more scientific/rational

Maimonides

"Son of Maimon"

Fled to North Africa to avoid forced conversion to Islam

Product of his time; shaped by the world he lived in (tofu model)

3 main works: Mishneh Torah, 13 principles of faith, guide to the perplexed

1. Mishneh Torah

legal code written in Hebrew; arranged by topic, but not in Mishnah's order

-"accordian principle": consolidation causes expansion

2. 13 principles of faith

a test of belief; God not physical body, way for humans to understand things

Orthodoxy/orthopraxy

orthodoxy/orthopraxy

belief vs. action & conduct; but need practice and believe the mitzvot

3. Guide to the perplexed

written in Arabic; intended audience is student of reason w/ crisis of faith

esoteric: assumes knowledge of rabbinic, philosophical, & scientific thought

Zohar

"splendor" or "light", written in Aramaic

the foundational work in literature known as Kabbalah

discusses the nature of God, origin and structure of the universe, etc.

esoteric: designed to not be understood by many

creates, uses, deciphers codes; Torah is code for mystics to unlock

sexual imagery

eyn sof

the infinite

godhead is dynamic, not static

divine origin of all created existence

Issac Luria

died young w/no writings; students preserve his teachings

Emphasized humanability to change God; bring woman out of exile

Lurianic Kabbalah: Eyn Sof is everywhere; God as light and evil

Tikkun olam

humans must help God repair the world

tsimtsum

God=everything is the emanation of the divine

Issac Luria

contraction of infinite light in order to allow for a conceptual space where a finite and independent world could exist

-empty space created by contraction = tsimtsum

Sabbatai Zvi

Rabbi in Turkey; called messiah and it spread quickly; chose conversion over death

Enlightenment

regular and Jewish rational thought

led to Jewish emancipation/right to be a citizen

starts in Amsterdam after Jews were exiled/converted in Spain/Portugal

People had to teach how to be Jews again

Haskalah

Jewish Enlightenment Movement

Benedict Spinoza

Naturalism; God in nature, not supernatural

Says HB is political document; questions divine authorship of HB

Says Jews defined by beliefs, not ethnicity

Moses Mendelssohn

combined Jewish tradition with Enlightenment, rational principles

used scientific, peshat approach

disliked classical midrash/kabbalah; too disorganized

Philosophy: Judaism is rational; mitzvot are practical knowledge and rituals are symbolic

studied Tanak (Bible)

Transitional, influential figure

Reform

Influenced by Paris Sanhedrim; question whether Jews can fully participate in society

Sermons, liturgy, attire, and decorum changes in Germany

Abraham Geiger says HB/rabbinic texts are historically based

-the "jewish spirit"/ essentialist

Modern Orthodox/traditionalists

react against Neo-Orthodox; non-normative traditions become normative

Jews must remain frozen in time; dress, language (Yiddish)

Ultra-orthodoxy

Rabbi Moses Sofer (Hatam Sofer)

Religious customs are LAW; everything new is forbidden

Conservative

Zacharias Frankel taught in Rabbinic academy

Positive historical Judaism, connection to tradition, rational

Zionism

Jewish political movement; supports self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign national homeland

Dreyful Affair

attacked by reform; no political ambitions for Israel

the Dreyfus Affair

Jewish French army captain wrongly accused of treason

led to wanting citizenship, land safe for the Jews

Baal Shem Tov

"Masters of the Name" or Jewish shamans

help the sick/give advice

Hasidim

"Pious ones" in small groups, like monks

one who goes beyond the legal requirements of Jewish observance

Tsadik

"righteous ones"; dynastic head of Hasidic group

ex: Vilna Gaon

Vilna Gaon

head of Rabbinic opposition to Hasidism

renowned for his righteous life

referred to as "genius"

mitnagdim

opponents of Hasidim

ex: Vilna Gaon hated Hasidic emphasis on piety and access to illiterate

Excommunicated the Hasidim

Developed Lithuanian Yeshiva and specialized in abstract meaning (pipel)

Yeshiva

Yeshiva Judaism: no truth outside of Torah; Torah-study centered lifestyle

Western Wall

last remains of the Temple

struggle over orthodox and secular Jewish control; Orthodox now in charge

mechitzah

wall or separation, dividing men and women during prayer

Holocaust

genocide against Jews, Gypsies, gay, communists, etc.

killed 2/3 of the 9.5 million Jews in Europe by 1945

Kristallnacht: spontaneous rioting against Jews "night of broken glass"

Concentration camps

genocide

coined in 1944 to explain Holocaust

in Greek, "geno"= race/tribe and in latin, "cide'=killing

Locus of contestation

center of many issues, small issue with mmore underlying issues

ex: marshmellow... leads to what is considered allowed/not allowed

ex#2: bugs... bugs issue in water in NY, led to prohibition of marriage (wont let ppl marry if one drinks NY water), leads to intermarriage, kashrut, etc....