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Judaism
(written on 9 November 2004)
Basics of Judaism
John Jia Liang Han
It is difficult for many Chinese to understand The War on Terror (and the recent US election) because they know little about three most influential monotheistic religions in the world: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Since religion is very important to many in the world, without a good understanding of these three influential religions, one cannot appreciate current world events in the proper context. In the next few articles, I will give an overview of these religions. There are more than one billion people in the world claiming to be Christians. There are also more than one billion Muslims in the world. On the other hand, Jews are numbered much less, less than, e.g., Buddhists. It is necessary to know Judaism, instead of Buddhism or Daoism, because it is the root of both Christianity and Islam.
Let us begin by examining common beliefs of these three religions. All these three religions believe that God is the creator of heaven, earth, and all other things, including mankind. There is only one God in the whole universe. God is also a spirit not some concrete object and God is invisible. It is forbidden for believers to make an image of God. Deuteronomy 4:15 “You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. 19 And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars-all the heavenly array-do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.” (When Bible verses are quoted, I follow the widely used convention the book name followed by the chapter and verses. Thus, the above verses are from the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 14, verses 15 to 19.) These beliefs were quite different from other religions/faiths at that time. If we try to compare the doctrines of these religions, we may easily get confused since there are many similarities and look-likes. A better approach is to examine the three religions in the chronological order of their origins. A fundamental belief of these three religions is that there is only one God. God must be consistent.
Judaism is the first religion among the three, beginning around 1200 B.C.E. Christianity started with the birth of Jesus in the first century. Islam started from 610 C.E., claimed by Muslims to be the first revelation of God to Mohammad. Jews and Christians are also known as people of The Book. The Book here refers to the Bible. In fact, the Bible is a compilation of many books not just one book. You might have received a Bible as a gift from someone. You can buy a Bible easily from any bookstore. You can also read and search the Bible online [1]. There are many translations of the Bible. The most popular and easier to read English translation is perhaps the New International Version, NIV. I often will quote from NIV. Another English version I found useful is New American Standard Bible (NASB). For a Chinese version, the most widely used version is the Union version (和合本)。There is also a web site [2] for Chinese Christians, which has a link to various versions of the Bible (both Chinese and English). It is important to get a correct version of the Bible. I like the book [3], although it is somewhat outdated. This book was a textbook for universities and explains clearly different versions of the Bible, the history of the Bible, and basic interpretations of the Bible. Which version of the Bible you read is important because cults, heresies, and false religions often use a Holy Book other than common versions of the Bible [4]. The (Christian) Bible in fact consists of two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is essentially the Hebrew Bible (there are some slight differences [3] but they are minor at least from a non-specialist viewpoint).
The first five books of the Bible are of central importance for someone to understand Judaism, as well as Christianity and Islam. These books are known as Torah or the Book of Moses. Moses is a legendary figure of ancient Israel. You may learn about Moses in the first 4 chapters of the book Exodus. The cornerstone of Judaism is the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:1-17 (cf. Deuteronomy 5:6-21):
1 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
13 "You shall not murder.
14 "You shall not commit adultery.
15 "You shall not steal.
16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
A few things need some explanation. God is often translated as 神or上帝 in Chinese. The name for God in Hebrew is YHWY (耶和華). LORD is often translated as 主. The Sabbath day is Saturday, contrary to some common misconceptions. Verses 8-11 on Sabbath refer to chapter 1 of the book of Genesis. The Jewish calendar is quite different from our modern calendar. It is a lunar calendar similar to the Chinese calendar. Each week has seven days and the first day is Sunday not Monday. (So the Chinese translation of the week is inaccurate.) In addition, each Jewish day starts from dusk not at the dawn. If you visit Israel or some Jewish districts in the US, you may notice that Jews go to synagogues to worship on Saturdays not Sundays. Because Saturdays are Sabbath days, shops, offices and schools in Israel or Jewish districts are closed on Saturdays in observance of Sabbath. In the Ten Commandments above, verses 1-11 concern God and worship while verses 12-17 concern moral laws. The Ten Commandments are known as the Law of God. There are many additional laws, edicts, and rules in the Torah to supplement the Ten Commandments.
Another important thing to know is how God leads Jews and Israel. According to the Torah, there are two lines of communications between God and Jews and Israel. Because God is holy, Jews cannot see God directly or they may die. There are rituals to be performed by Jewish priests on the behalf of Jews and Jewish communities. The most complete description of these rituals for Jews is in the book of Leviticus. Another line of communications between God and Jews is through prophets. Since prophets and prophesying are very important to Judaism as well as to Christianity and Islam, I will explain the meaning of prophets and prophesying in my next article.
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