...Explain the ethical teachings of Jesus with special reference to the Sermon on the mount. Jesus of Nazareth was born a Jew. He was raised in the Jewish faith, as both his parents were Jewish, and some theologians would argue that Jesus never taught anything that was against the Jewish faith, and was just another new thinking Rabbi. The understand Jesus’ teachings, however, it is fundamental to have a comprehension of the Jewish way of like, and their rules. The Hebrew word for this is Halakah, which translates exactly as ‘the path that one walks...’ Halakah is made up of a series of Mitzvot Aseh (positive commandments ‘to do’) and Mitzvot lo ta’aseh (negative commandments ‘do not’) which are Mitzvot D’oraita (Laws directly from the torah). Then there are Mitzvot D’rabbanan which are Laws instituted by the Rabbis. There are 613 Mitzvot, made up of 248 mitzvot aseh and 365 mitzvot lo ta’aseh, which some of the early Jews claimed to have special meaning because there are 365 days in a year, and 248 bones in the body, but this is actually wrong, and just something said to make the numbers appear to be a sign from God, which they do not appear to be. Also, Manson says that the numbers are not important, merely the content that is of importance. The main teaching of Jesus was Love. He said that love should be the reason for any action. There are 3 types of love mentioned in the bible, Agape which is unconditional love e.g. for one’s family, Phila which is the love for a friend (from...
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...Maimonides’ Interpretation of Women’s Rituals in Jewish Law The Halakah expresses all aspects of Jewish Law through written passages in the Torah and oral dictations in the Talmud. The laws outlined in this literature are then further interpreted by rabbis in the Gemara in order to present a more cohesive and comprehendible understanding to the Jewish population. Although there are many rabbinic rulings on the laws and commandments outlines in the Halakah, one interpretation is valued significantly higher than the rest. Maimonides, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, was a descendent of Judah the Patriach. Judah the Patriach compiled the initial Mishnah, oral traditions in Judaism. As a descendent Maimonides’ interpretations were regarded as “second to Moses” when providing clarity among the numerous discussions of Hebrew traditions and provided rational explanations to the rulings of Jewish Law (Maimonides 1981, p.III). The explanations and interpretations of the Laws that Maimonides provided were extremely influential and led to improvement of everyday life for individuals, especially women. Maimonides’ reinterpretation and explanations for the women’s ritual of Niddah mitigated the conflicts with other Jewish laws and provided a significant improvement to the day to day lives of Jewish women. Maimonides was a very influential rabbinic voice. He was known to have reconciled the past teachings of the Jewish Bible with a present understanding in order to illuminate the importance of...
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...Elements of Religious Rona Williams REL/133 May 26, 2014 Elements of Religious Religion is significant to many who believe in the bible and so are all of their religious traditions. In describing the basic components of religious traditions and their relationship to the sacred. It offers many seculars a reason for wanting to live and a comfort of security, The knowledge or awareness’s is the driving force behind the belief of one God a higher power and for some the sacred. I will include what a religious tradition says including its teachings, texts, doctrine, stories, myths, and others, What a religious tradition does including worship, prayer, pilgrimage, ritual, and so forth, and how a religious tradition organizes including leadership, relationships among members, and so forth. Christianity and its teachings was organized Religious tradition is a custom that people of one religion do because it was done for many years by supernatural beings or idols. These traditions are different for each different religion. In studying each religion, it is noted that each has texts, stories, myths, and other traditional aspects that permits others or bible believers read about the traditions of that religion. The Hindu religion is known to be the hardest religion to study and many other texts that tell the stories of the lives of certain high gods, goddesses, and/or heroes. It also explains why we must celebrate certain holidays and how we should celebrate them. Most of...
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...Religion is often defined as a set of beliefs that explain the world and the universe; however, for individuals, religion and spirituality are more than just a way of understanding the world. We hope to not only provide practical, and historical information about religions of the world, but to also examine what each religion means to its followers. It is general born out of culture where members of the culture create a system of beliefs and values. They also establish symbols that represent the belief structure and hold special meaning for believers. According to the location religions can be divided geographically depending on which part of the world it is in. The traditions, customs, beliefs, symbols and history, and can be belief-based or it can be based on practice. Two of the largest religions are Buddhism and Judaism, which are the two religions I have chosen to analyze. Some anthropological perspectives would considered these religions that I know nothing about, to be universal because the laws and values can be adopted by anyone. Religion often provides a way of life for many individuals so it is important to understand the fundamentals of the practical and historical meanings of the religions of the world as well as the what it means to each follower of each religion. Culture reveals to ourselves and others what we are. It gives expression to our nature in our manner of living and of thinking, in art, religion...
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...becomes stronger. However, in order for one to feel as though he or she can trust someone, there also must be a certain level of respect. If there is no respect in a friendship, a friendship does not truly exist. Moreover, in order for one to feel respected, the other must be, to a certain extent, open minded and willing to try to understand the other. As stated above, one is to acquire a friend that will push him or her to do good and cultivate virtue. Once friendship is well-established, one should be able to hold the other accountable for his or her actions or words and, most importantly, share their knowledge of the Torah with the other without hesitation. According to the Pirkei Avot, if one person makes a mistake in a matter of halakah or says something unclean or forbidden, his friend “will” correct him. (p. 14) Moreover, in the Book of Legends, it is stated that a group of disciples died because they did not treat each other with respect and begrudged one another the knowledge of Torah. (p. 236) These disciples were not sharing with one another what they knew. This is not a frienddhip of goodness. According to Aristotle, friends promote each other’s virtue in several ways. One can act as model of virtue through one’s actions. Consequently, the other will want to emulate. It is easier and pleasanter to pursue virtuous activities with another than doing so alone and trying to keep them up. (Happiness, p. 36) The friend acts as a constant reminder that one should live...
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...Lower East Side Memories : A Jewish Place in America By HASIA R. DINER The Lower East Side and American Jewish Memory I'm Jewish because love my family matzoh ball soup. I'm Jewish because my fathers mothers uncles grandmothers said "Jewish," all the way back to Vitebsk & Kaminetz-Podolska via Lvov. Jewish because reading Dostoyevsky at 13 I write poems at restaurant tables Lower East Side, perfect delicatessen intellectual. —Allen Ginsberg, "Yiddishe Kopf" The poet Allen Ginsberg, born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, returned in his later years to a narrative style of expression, shifting gears from the anger and fire of his early career. In this poem from 1991 he also touched down again, after a long hiatus spent exploring Buddhism and Eastern philosophy, upon some Jewish themes, as a way of remembering the world of his youth. He described that world in one poem, "Yiddishe Kopf," literally, a Jewish head, but more broadly, a highly distinctive Jewish way of thinking, based on insight, cleverness, and finesse. That world for him stood upon two zones of remembrance. The world of eastern Europe, of Vitebsk, Lvov, and Kamenets-Podolski gave him one anchor for his Jewishness. Thai space of memory gave him a focus for continuity and inherited identity, tied down by the weight of the past, by family in particular. The other, the Lower East Side, nurtured and...
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...September 9, 2009 Table of Contents The table of contents is empty because none of the paragraph styles selected in the Document Inspector are used in the document. Bibliography 25 Introduction Students of Church history are often puzzled by the sharp contrast between the Jewishness of the writers and events of the New Testament on one hand and the definitively non-Jewish character of the Early Church after the apostolic period on the other hand. An appreciation of the Jewish background of the Early Church and knowledge of the development of Jewish-Christian relations in the first three centuries of the Christian era is therefore crucial if one desires to understand the parting of ways between Judaism and Christianity. These two sister faiths would become bitter enemies within a few centuries after the emergence of the Christian faith. This paper, while heavily relying and interacting with primary sources of the time, will endeavor to highlight the Jewish origin of Christianity, trace its development within Judaism, and chronicle its inexorable divorce from its Jewish roots and sister faith. Setting the stage: the expansion of the Jewish Diaspora During the Persian occupation of Palestine (538-332 BC), many Jews decided to pass on the magnanimous offer of Cyrus allowing them to return to Palestine and chose to remain in Babylonia where subsequently, the Jewish population grew in influence over the centuries.1 Already during the Babylonian invasion and in the lifetime...
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