Synagogues

1.       Origin of the name

The word "synagogue," which is actually a Greek translation of Beit K'nesset and means "place of assembly" (it's related to the word "synod").

2.       Functions of the synagogues

The synagogue is the Jewish equivalent of a church, more or less. It is the center of the Jewish religious community: a place of prayer, study and education, social and charitable work, as well as a social centre.

3.       Structure

Synagogues are generally run by a board of directors composed of lay people. They manage and maintain the synagogue and its activities, and hire a rabbi for the community

4.       Items found

The most important item in the synagogue is the Torah Scroll, which is their bible. It is held in the ‘Ark’ which is also called the Aron Kodesh (‘holy cabinet’).

Another important item is the menorah which is a candelabrum which symbolises the menorah in the Temple but instead of having 7 branches like the one in the Temple they only have 6 or 8 because to copy the menorah in the Temple is considered improper.

The bimah is a pedestal that holds the Torah scroll when it is being read.

The Torah Scroll

How is the Torah scroll made?

-          A Torah scroll is mare from sheets of parchment, which is made from the skin of a koshers animal

-          It is written b hand in Hebrew by professional scribe, called a sofer. Hebrew is read right to left

-          The sofer takes at least one year to write about the Torah

-          He is not allowed to write from memory. He must copy from a book of the Torah, and keep checking for mistakes. Letters must not be smudged or touch another letter

How is the Torah revered?

Torah means “teaching” and refers to the five books of Moses- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Genesis: The beginning of the world

Exodus: Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt.

Leviticus: The “Handbook” for the Priests

Numbers: About the Jewish wandering the desert and preparing them for the Promise Land (Israel)

Deuteronomy: Moses’ farewell

Kosher Food

Kosher Food

·         Kosher=Food which is allowed

·         Treyfah=Food which is NOT allowed

·         All plants are kosher, but not all animals, birds or fish are

·         Animals must also be killed in a special manner and have all the blood removed before the meat can be eaten by Jews

How are animals killed?

Jews may only eat animals and birds that have been killed by Shechitah

Shechitah is killing the animals by slitting the throat with a very sharp knife.

This has been shown to be painless to the animals, as causing pain to living things is against Jewish law.

The theory is that the sharp knife cuts the carotid so that the animal loses consciousness before they are able to feel pain.

1.  What is kosher food?

Kosher food is food that is ok for Jews to eat.

2.  Where is the list of food which are allowed, found?

They are found in the Torah, Leviticus 11:2-3.

3.  Why do many Jewish homes have two sets of cutlery?

Many Jewish homes have 2 sets of cutlery because they don’t want to mix their meat cutlery with their dairy cutlery. (For preparation of separate foods)

4.  Why do you think Jews are so careful about the food they eat?

They are careful because it is God’s word as to what they can or cannot eat.

5.  Neatly copy the table below.

Kosher	Non-Kosher
Chicken	Pig
Sheep	Rabbit
Cow	Camel
Fish with fins	Eel
Goat	Most birds
	Hare
	Weasel
	Mouse
	Tortoise

Judaism

1.       What language do the Jewish people speak?

Hebrew

2.       How do the Jewish people read Hebrew?

Right-to-left

3.       Why is Israel important to the Jewish people?

The Jewish people believe that Israel is their promised land

4.       When was the present state of Israel formed?

1948

5.       What makes it unique in the world?

It is the only Jewish State in the world

6.       Who is the chosen prophet of Judaism?

Abraham

7.       What do the Jews believe God thinks of their people?

They believe that God has chosen them as his people

8.       How do the three main religions differ in their view of Jesus?

Christianity: Believe Jesus was the son of God

Judaism: Believe Jesus was a prophet but not the son of god

Islam: Believe Jesus was the last prophet sent down from Allah

9.       Why do the Jewish people not celebrate Christmas?

Because they do not believe Jesus is the son of god so they don’t celebrate his birthday

10.   What festival do they celebrate instead?

The Festival of the Lights

11.   What event is celebrated at this festival and what is the significance of the number 8?

Hanukah

12.   What is the name of the sacred text of the Jewish people?

The Torah

13.   How is their text similar to the Christian Bible?

They both have the Old Testament

14.   How many commandments do the Jewish people have to follow?

618

15.   What is the name of the leader of the Jewish religion?

Rabbi

16.   What is Tallis?

A Tallis is a prayer shawl

17.   What is a Tefillin?

A little box that Jewish men attach to their arm

Tassels that remind them of the commandments

18.   What is Kippah?

The hat that Jewish people wear

19.   What is the word used to describe the food Jewish people can eat?

Kosher

20.   Where is the only kosher McDonalds?

Israel

21.   Why is a cheeseburger not kosher?

Because a cheeseburger has both meat and dairy

 

What Is Religion?

What Is Religion?

The word 'religion' can be defined in many ways but it usually involves one or more of the following three things:
1. The worship of a God/s or Goddess/s
2. Guidlines about how behave
3. Answers to life's biggest questions

Since science also seeks to provide answers to life's biggest questions, it sometimes comes into conflict with religion. Therefore, some people belive yhat we must choose between the two. However, other believe that science and religion can both be useful (since science tends to answer the question HOW and religion tends to answer the question WHY).

What is your opinion about this?
I believe that there is more to life than logic. I believe that science is an important part of society and how the earth was made, but I do not believe that science has covered everything. They have not covered the spiritual apect of the world and how it connects us to the world. I believe that there is something after death. I believe that there is a higher power, and I believe in reincarnation.

Early Religion

The earliest kind of religion developement was animism.

Religion In the World

Meanwhile, in another part of the world, the ancient Jewish people started following monotheism (belief in only one God). The part of the Christian bible knwn as the Old Testament tells the story of the Jewish people and their beliefs. Some famous Old Testament characters include Adam (the first man), Noah (who built a boat and saved the animals during a flood), Abraham (the father of the Jewis people), Moses ( who led them out of Egypt) and David (the famous king who defeated the giant Goliath) Many English names today are based on the bible characters like these.
At the same time as the Jews were developing their monotheism, many Greek thinkers were moving away from belief in Gods although  ad developing philosophy and science instead. This later paved the way for agnosticism (uncertainty about God or Gods) and atheism (belief in no Gods).
Then about 2000 years ago, a Jewish teacher named Jesus died and some of his followers claimed that he was raised from the dead. These followers eventualy became known as Christians. However, because the culture of that time was dominated by Greek thinking, Christianity (and most of Western thought in general) developed out of a combination of Jewish monotheism and Greek philosophy.
In about 600 AD, an arab named Mohammad claimed to have recieved words directly from God and wrote them down in the Qur'an. he convinced there Arabic people to accept monotheism (like the Jews or Christians) and eventually this gave rise to Islam.
In summary, we can see that all the major world religions share common roots: