Judaism For Dummies

Rabbi Ted Falcon, David Blatner

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118053706
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

Judaism isn't a race or even a particular culture or ethnic group. There are about 13 or 14 million Jews spread around the world, including about 6 million in the United States and about 5 million in Israel–so Judaism clearly isn't "a nation." So what does it mean to be Jewish? Here are the basics:

• Being Jewish (being "a Jew ") means you're a Member of the Tribe (an M-O-T). The tribe started with a couple named Abraham and Sarah about 4, 000 years ago, it grew over time, and it's still here today. You can become part of the Jewish tribe in two ways: By being born to a Jewish mother or joining through a series of rituals (called converting ).
• Judaism is a set of beliefs, practices, and ethics based on the Torah. You can practice Judaism and not be Jewish, and you can be a Jew and not practice Judaism.

Whether you're interested in the religion or the spirituality, the culture or the ethnic traditions, Judaism For Dummies explores the full spectrum of Judaism, dipping into the mystical, meditative, and spiritual depth of the faith and the practice. In this warm and welcoming book, you'll find coverage of

• Orthodox Jews and breakaway denominations
• Judaism as a daily practice
• The food and fabric of Judaism
• Jewish wedding ceremonies
• Celebrations and holy days
• 4, 000 years of pain, sadness, triumph, and joy
• Great Jewish thinkers and historical celebrities

Jews have long spread out to the corners of the world, so there are significant Jewish communities on many continents. Judaism For Dummies offers a glimpse into the rituals, ideas, and terms that are woven into the history and everyday lives of Jewish people as near as our own neighborhoods and as far-reaching as across the world.

Part I

What Jews Generally Believe

In this part . . .

You’ll find out why you can never be sure someone is Jewish (or not) just by how they look. Plus, you’ll get the skinny on all the details about being Jewish, like is it a race or a tribe? Is it a religion or a practice? Do you have to believe in God? And what’s all this about meditation and the kabbalah? That stuff isn’t Jewish, is it?

Chapter 1

That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Jewish: Who’s a Jew and Why

In This Chapter

Understanding the difference between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews

Exploring the wide spectrum from Orthodox to Reform (and beyond)

Playing the “Who’s a Jew” game

We used to think we could tell if someone was Jewish just by looking at them. We each grew up in very different times and very different places in America, but we both developed the same notion of what being Jewish meant: Small stature (but often slightly overweight), large nose, dark wavy or curly hair, dark eyes . . . you can’t really explain it in print—it’s more like a feeling. “Hey, is that guy Jewish?” “Oh yeah, no doubt about it.” You just know!

Then we went to Israel. It took about five seconds for each of us to realize that what we thought was “Jewish” was just one small segment of a much bigger picture—like finding out that kissing isn’t all there is to love. There were (and are) blond Jews, Middle-Eastern Jews, Asian Jews, Black Jews, Latino Jews, Jews who looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jews who looked like Britney Spears. Boy, did we feel stupid.

The Jewish Tribe

Judaism isn’t a race or even a particular culture or ethnic group. There are about 13 or 14 million Jews spread around the world, including about 6 million in the United States and about 5 million in Israel—so Judaism obviously isn’t “a nation.” And, if you’re anything like us, you know more Jews who don’t believe in God or practice Jewish observances than those who do, so being Jewish doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with religion.

So what does it mean to be Jewish? Here are the basics:

Being Jewish (being “a Jew”) means you’re a Member of the Tribe (an M-O-T). The tribe started with a couple named Abraham and Sarah about 4,000 years ago, it grew over time, and it’s still here today. You can become part of the Jewish tribe in two ways: By being born to a Jewish mother or joining through a series of rituals (called converting). Some folks think there are other ways of becoming a Jew, too; we cover that later in this chapter.

Judaism is a set of beliefs, practices, and ethics based on the Torah (see Chapter 3). You can practice Judaism and not be Jewish, and you can be a Jew and not practice Judaism.

What’s in a name?

The word “Jewish” doesn’t appear in the Bible at all. For example, the folks who came out of slavery in Egypt in the Book of Exodus (see Chapter 10) were called “Hebrews” or “Children of Israel,” and they each belonged to one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Ten of the 12 tribes were dispersed by the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C.E. (see Chapter 10), but the tribe of Judah and the smaller tribe of Benjamin remained as the Southern Kingdom known as Judea.

When Judea fell to the Babylonians, and the people were taken into exile, they became known as the Judah-ites (Yehudim), since they were the people of Judah (Yehudah). In Hebrew, the name Yehudim persists today and simply means “Jews.” The religion they practiced was later called “Judah-ism”—which became “Judaism.” We prefer to pronounce this word “Judah-ism” rather than “Jude-ism” or “Judy-ism” — unless you’re talking about Judy Garland.

Jews far and wide

The Jewish people have always tended to fan out across the known world. There’s evidence that even centuries before Jesus, there were Jewish communities along the North African and East African coasts, in Europe, and throughout Asia. Jews were among the first people to come to the Americas from Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Some evidence suggests that there was at least one Jew aboard the ship with Columbus (and some people suspect that Columbus himself was a Jew).

Everywhere the Jews went, they grew through intermarriage and converts, and—most importantly—they kept their basic religion while adopting the culture and norms of the local area. That’s why up to 20 percent of Jews descended from European ancestors have blue eyes, and why some Jews are Black, Hispanic, or Asian. It’s also why a Jew from New York looks different and acts different than a Jew from Bombay, but each one could probably fumble along with most of the other’s Shabbat service (see Chapter 17).

Similarly, Jewish food, music, and humor from Iraq and Yemen is much more Arabic in nature than the Spanish flavor of Jews from Brazil and Argentina, which is different than the borscht soup and klezmer music of Jews from Europe. They even all speak Hebrew with different dialects! Jews just don’t fit any set of stereotypes or expectations.

And yet, all Jews are inextricably linked together simply by being Jewish. Perhaps it’s a common practice and belief in Judaism; perhaps it’s a common sense of history, or a shared sense of being an outsider from the broader culture. Or perhaps it’s a deep, innate feeling of connection to the tribe.

Rampant controversy

The first thing the new government of Israel did when it came to power in 1948 was pass the Law of Return, which states that anyone born of a Jewish mother or anyone who has converted to Judaism can move to Israel and claim citizenship. This immediately re-ignited a controversy that began much earlier and continues to this day: Who gets to say whether or not someone is really Jewish?

Whether someone practiced Judaism wasn’t an issue for citizenship, because Israel was founded for the most part by secular Jews. But what about people born Jewish who had been raised as Christians or Muslims, or who practiced another religion? Some say you have to not only identify yourself as Jewish, but also not practice any other religion. Others say this has nothing to do with it and point out that the Nazis killed thousands of people who were Jewish by birth but practiced some other religion.

And what about people who convert? To most Jews, someone who converts to Judaism is no different than someone who was born Jewish. However, not everyone sees it that way. In the next section, we discuss the various denominations of Judaism, including the Orthodox Jews who refuse to acknowledge the conversion of anyone converted by a Reform or Conservative rabbi.

Many people say, “I’m half Jewish” (if one parent is Jewish) or “I’m a quarter-Jewish” (if one grandparent is Jewish). Traditional Jews argue that either you’re Jewish or you’re not. To them, if your mother’s mother was Jewish, then your mother is Jewish, and if your mother is Jewish, then you’re Jewish. Many liberal Jews believe that if only your father is Jewish and you were raised Jewish, then you’re Jewish, too.

Black and Jewish

In most synagogues in the world, it’s rare to see someone of African descent. Sure, there’s the occasional convert, like Sammy Davis Jr., but on the whole, Jews tend to be either white- or olive-skinned (Middle-Eastern). However, there are over 100,000 Black Jews around the world, including many Jews from Ethiopia who were airlifted to Israel between the late 1970s and early 1990s. The Ethiopian Jews, who were largely cut off from the rest of world Jewry for millennia, practiced a form of Judaism that hadn’t changed since pre-Talmudic times. Note that while these people are sometimes called “Falashas,” that name has become somewhat derogatory, and “Ethiopian Jews” or “Beta Israel” is preferable. In addition, some African-Americans call themselves Black Jews, Hebrews, or Israelites. Many of these people are very observant of rituals and traditions, read and write Hebrew, and have identified themselves as Jews their whole lives.

After all, it’s a small world

Jews have long spread out to the corners of the world, so there are significant Jewish communities (over 100,000 people) in France, Australia, Argentina, and South Africa. In America, most people think all the Jews live in big cities like New York (where there are 1,750,000 Jews). But many also live in the “Wild West” states like Wyoming, the deep south states like Louisiana, and everywhere in-between.

In fact, not only are there far more Jewish people living outside of Israel than within today, it has been this way for over 2,500 years. However, most Jews today identify with one of two groups: Ashkenazi and Sephardi.

Ashkenazi

The descendants of Jews who, until around 1900, lived anywhere from northwest Europe (like France and Germany) to eastern Europe (like Russia, Ukraine, and Lithuania) are usually called Ashkenazi (pronounced “ahsh-ke-NAH-zee;” Ashkenazim is plural). The majority of Jews in the world are Ashkenazi.

Sephardi

The descendants of Jews who lived in Spain up until the fifteenth century are called Sephardi (pronounced “seh-FAR-dee;” Sephardim is plural). After the ex...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : What Jews Generally Believe
• Chapter 1: That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Jewish: Who’s a Jew and Why
• Chapter 2: One Singular Sensation: Judaism and God
• Chapter 3: Torah, Torah, Torah: The Unfolding of a Tradition
• Chapter 4: Setting Intentions: Judaism as a Daily Practice
• Chapter 5: Jewish Mysticism
• Part II : From Womb to Tomb: The Life Cycle
• Chapter 6: In the Beginning: Birth and Bris
• Chapter 7: Coming of Age: The Bar/Bat Mitzvah
• Chapter 8: Get Me to the Chuppah On Time: Weddings
• Chapter 9: Stepping Through the Valley: The Shadow of Death
• Part III : An Overview of Jewish History
• Chapter 10: Let My People Go: From Abraham to Exodus
• Chapter 11: The Kings of Israel: The First Temple
• Chapter 12: Sects and Violence: The Second Temple
• Chapter 13: From One Exile to Another: The First Millennium
• Chapter 14: The Greatest Horror, The Greatest Triumph
• Chapter 15: Jewish Buddhists and Other Paradoxes of the New Age
• Chapter 16: The Question of Antisemitism
• Part IV : Celebrations and Holy Days
• Chapter 17: Shabbat: Paradise Regained
• Chapter 18: In with the New: Rosh Hashanah
• Chapter 19: Getting Serious: Yom Kippur
• Chapter 20: The Great Outdoors: Sukkot
• Chapter 21: Guilt or Gelt: Chanukkah
• Chapter 22: Planting a Tree on Tu B’Shvat
• Chapter 23: The Jewish Halloween: Purim
• Chapter 24: From Groan to Glee: Passover
• Chapter 25: Spring Is Busting Out All Over: Shavuot
• Chapter 26: Tisha B’Av: A Day of Mourning
• Part V : The Part of Tens
• Chapter 27: Ten Great Jewish Thinkers
• Chapter 28: Answers to Ten Common Questions about Judaism
• Chapter 29: Ten Folks You Should Know
• Part VI : Appendixes
• Appendix A: Oy Vey! and Other Words You Should Know
• Appendix B: A Sampler of Jewish Prayers and Blessings
• Appendix C: Calendar of Jewish Holidays
• Appendix D: Go Now and Learn