Judaism
Story of Origination
Judaism originated with Abram and his wife Sarai. Abraham entered into a covenant with G-d. G-d promised that, despite Abram and Sarai's old age, they would have a son and Abraham's descendants would number the stars in the sky. As a sign of the covenana, they changed their names to Abraham and Sarah. Later, when the Jews were enslaved in Egypt, Moses, the greatest prophet in the history of Judaism, freed them from the Egyptians and they spent 40 years in the desert searching for Caanan, the promised land. During these years, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the most important laws in Jewish tradition.
Major Elements of Moral Teachings
The key moral teachings for Judaism come from the Ten Commandments and the Torah. The Ten Commandments of Jewish tradition differ from the Christian Ten Commandments in that they split the first into two, stating first that Yahweh is G-d and secondly that the Jews shall have no G-d besides Him. The Torah is the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. About 2000 years ago, a non-Jew told the great Jewish teacher Hillel that he would convert to Judaism if Hillel could teach him the whole Torah in the time he could balance on one leg. Hillel replied, "What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary. Go and study it" (www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/intro.shtml). What Hillel was saying is that if you strip away the theology from the Torah, what you have left is a central rule that all cultures should live by: Do to others as you would like them to do to you. Essentially this is the main moral teaching of Judaism. Jews have four central virtues: Chastity, humility, truthfulness, and reverence for G-d.
Key Ethical Terms
mitzvah (plural: mitzvot) - one of the 613 commandments that Jews are obligated to observe.
Shabbat - The Jewish Sabbath, a day of rest and spiritual enrichment
Torah - The first five books of the Bible; contains the story of the origination of Judaism as well as it's key moral teachings.
mussar - The Hebrew term for ethics or morals.
tzedakah - righteousness; includes charity. In Jewish tradition the wealthy have an obligation to give to the poor, rather than just being encouraged to.
tzeniut - Chastity, one of the four main virtues.
Matisyahu is a modern Hasidic Jewish reggae singer. His songs are bringing many Jewish ideas to the mainstream culture.
From "King Without a Crown":
"If you're trying to stay high
you're bound to stay low
You want G-d but you couldn't
deflate your ego
If you're already there,
then there's nowhere to go
Your cup's already full,
and it's bound to overflow"
Full lyrics to this song and more information on Matisyahu can be found at www.hasidicreggae.com.