In the Jewish faith, thirteen is a milestone age when children cross over into adulthood. After much studying, the student gets called to read from the Torah and lead the congregation in a Sabbath service. For a boy, they have what is called a Bar-Mitzvah (meaning Son of the commandment), or for females, it is called a Bat-Mitzvah (daughter of the commandment). Sometimes girls have theirs when they are twelve, most of the time boys are already thirteen. This is a special moment in the Jewish religion that is shared with family, friends, and the community. In our congregation, it is traditional for the student to lead a typical Friday night and Saturday morning service for this milestone. In the Jewish faith it is believed that a day goes from …show more content…
I was taught by our Temple's Cantor in a small class every Tuesday after school for about 8 months. This was in addition to my attending Sunday school which I had been doing since I was two. I learned every prayer and blessing that I needed to know in order to lead the congregation in prayer for both services. Many of the songs and blessings were in Hebrew, but there were some English parts, too. I had to learn a portion of the Torah verse for that week in Hebrew that I had to chant on Saturday morning as part of the ceremony. On Friday night, I led the congregation in all of the prayers that I had learned over the many years of religious school, and in training. Saturday morning was the big day, though. I received a prayer shawl from my grandfather, or Tallit, and surrounded by my community, led the congregation once again in prayer. Saturday was meaningful as I took the Torah out to read the Holy text. First I shared my interpretation of what my portion meant and the lesson I learned from it to the whole congregation. I also shared how it could relate to my life now. After my sermon, I chanted from the scrolls in Hebrew, as well as the Haftarah portion that was connected to my
So what it is Bar Mitzvah? According to The Oxford English Dictionary Bar Mitzvah is “the initiation ceremony of a Jewish boy who has reached the age of 13 and is regarded as ready to observe religious precepts and eligible to take part in public worship”. Of course this is a very vague explanation in terms of getting to the bottom of this ceremony’s significance. What is crucially important about both Bar and Bat Mitzvah is that this ceremony is absolutely essential for every Jewish person actually practicing the religion. As it was mentioned before, this ceremony is some sort of emancipation for Jewish children. Consequently, the way the ceremony was conducted has a very important meaning in the life of a child and his or her parents. Prior to Bar Mitzvah his parents were supposed to take under control their child’s cultural development. Every kid, by the age of 13 (or 12, which is the full-age for girls) supposed to ...
Thirteen was a sacred number among Jewish people in ancient times, and even though there
What is Christianity and why has it been able to develop into a continuously growing and evolving religion?
Once the service started, my friend showed me where the schedule for the service was and what each number meant. There were different colors of numbers in the book and those indicated what section the reading or song was coming from. This was different from the church that I attend because we have a choir and a band that plays the songs and if you wish to join in you can but for the Catholic Church there is, no choir and the members of the church are the ones who sing. After some singing, the priest came up to talk and this is very different from what I expected. I was used to flipping through the channels and seeing the catholic churches with the priest who were a ...
As far as mankind’s history can date, religion has had quite an intimate relationship with people. Although maybe it hasn’t always been identified in the same way as we identify religion today, spread across the world we have the remains of pyramids, temples, and even written in ancient texts from centuries ago dedicated to god, to the afterlife, to what lies on the other side. And up to today’s times, religion has grown along with man.
If there is one aspect of society that has endured the ages and is an integral part of society today is religion. There are currently about 7 billion people on earth and of those 7 billion more than half adhere to some form of organized religion. The world’s top religion with about 33% of the population or 2.1 billion followers is Christianity, followed by Islam and Hinduism with 1.3 billion and 851 million adherents respectively. These are just a few of the most well-known religions in the world but; what of the religions obscured in mystery and left in the background? The religions you don’t hear much about in your classrooms or in the media. What is their history? What are their beliefs? I hope to shed some light on these questions and bring to light some of the less popular religions in the world. I will be covering several different religions in this paper, Sikhism, Jainism, Confucianism, and Shinto
The background of Orthodox Judaism traces back to towards the end of the eighteenth century as a reaction to the events that were taking place around this time. The age of Enlightenment was one of these events, followed by Jewish emancipation. The results of these events were a society reformed by the use of reasoning and the rights of the European Jews being expanded in many nations. Orthodox Judaism was produced as an outcome of the many upcoming branches of Judaism. “Orthodox Judaism views itself as the continuation of the beliefs and practices of normative Judaism, as accepted by the Jewish nation at Mt. Sinai and codified in successive generations in an ongoing process that continues to this day. While all orthodox movements are similar in their beliefs and observance, they differ in the details that are emphasized and in their attitudes toward modern culture and the State of Israel. Modern Orthodox tend to be a bit more liberal and more Zionistic” (Katz). The first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, and the oral Torah hold authority in the Jewish honor. Rambam’s thirteen Principles of Faith are the major beliefs of Orthodox Judaism in a nutshell.
Do you think Hannah is starting to accept her Jewish heritage? Now that she has a new life as “Chaya”, she is having a different look on what's going on with the Jews. Although some people might think Hannah is rejecting her heritage, I believe she is accepting it.
“Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might have eventually stumbled upon all the Jewish insights. But we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the human intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they had been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and so a personal redemption; of collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice, and many other items which constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind. Without Jews it might have been a much emptier place” (Paul Johnson).
There are a number of reasons why someone who is not of Jewish descent might want to learn Hebrew. For Christians, learning Hebrew offers them the ability to read sections of the Bible in its original language. For Historians, it opens up a world of firsthand access to early Jewish literature. For those of Jewish descent, learning Hebrew is considered their connection to Israel and their key to learning from the primary sources. Anyone who has learned a language can tell you that things can often be lost in translation, and having the opportunity to read through the original text yourself can give you answers you missed when reading the translated text. If you're interested in learning Hebrew, here are some basics to keep in mind as you learn. Get started right now with a Hebrew for Beginners class.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the three great religions of the world. They are all monotheistic religions, which mean the followers believe in one God. Each religion has a sacred book that contains God 's message for the world. These books are the Jewish Torah, the Christian Bible, and the Muslin Qur 'an (Religion Explained 16).
Religion itself can mean many different things and is interpreted differently by each group of people. The literal meaning of the word “religion” is “a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects.” Religion is divided into different secs such as Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc. Although religion is aimed to unite people and bring them together, I believe there are certain aspects that divide people or make them “different” from everyone else. The factors that have caused religion to divide are war and violence, the caste system, and rituals.
The religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are alike in many ways but they also share many differences. Judaism and Christianity use the bible in their holy scriptures, while Islam does not. Jesus Christ is a part of all three religions as Christianity and Islam developed from Judaism. Many believe that the three religions worship, pray to, and focus on the same god. They believe this as many of the prophets are they share much in common as they share many beliefs. However, the followers of the three religions pray differently and in different places. the religions believe that their god created the world and everything in the world. The three Abrahamic religions have different histories, yet they share many similarities and difference.
My definition of religion has mostly stayed the same, but my perception of it has changed. At the beginning of the class, I assumed religion was something you believed based on your moral principles. I now believe that those moral principles are based on the religion that you believe in. Your religion changes your perception of the world and how to go about in it. Your religion tells you what is right and wrong in the world and answers all of the big questions one asks. Religion according to our book is, “A pattern of beliefs and practices that expresses and enacts what a community regards as sacred and/or ultimate about life” (Van Voorst 6). That definition was one thing that really got me thinking about my own personal idea of what religion
Spirituality can have many different definitions, depending on who is asked. It can be something as simple as looking for a higher meaning to life, or something so complex that one can base their beliefs, religion and overall life around it. There are several different ways to express one's spirituality; rituals, songs, dances, stories, and writings are all common methods of expression.