Jews and Judaism

Anyone who has undergone a formal conversion to Judaism or whose mother or father were Jews is considered to be a Jew. Judaism is known for adhering to rigorous theological principles that date back many centuries, with the concept that a supreme being (God) occupies a central position. The Ten Commandments, keeping Kosher, observing the Sabbath, and men studying Torah are just a few of the commandments that the Jews adhere to as part of their culture. They also believe in the oneness of God and Tikkum Olam, or the repair of the world. The definition was chosen from (Kim, Leavitt & William, 2015) since they defined a Jew typically as observed in their culture with the nature of preservation and conservative they have.

Strengths among the Jews Community are;

Strong believe in God

The strong belief in one God enables the Jews to maintain a centralized way of worship across all its generations. Through their belief in God, they observe holiness that enables them to act with respect for all mankind and to perform acts worthy respect to fellow human beings. Again their unique way of religious practice enables them to remain solidified and free from external influence. They are therefore not easily affected by the outside world and remain to practice their worship of God in a unique manner.

Following of the Ten Commandments

These guide the Jews to act with holiness, respect to God, fellow humans, and be practice justice to all the human kind. Therefore, they follow these laws to latter with a belief that God punishes deviations from the laws. The practice of following the commandments is translated to their to their obedience of the law of the land making them a community with strict follower to the law. Not many cases of law breaking are noticed in their society or among the groups with which they interact. Further, through following the law, they lead a principled lifestyle that enables them to be well organized and succeed in many of their plans. Although they don’t seem to be easily outgoing or free with the world, they eventually succeed when they get a chance to study at international institutions since they adhere to what is required of them and work hard according to the commandments provided by their religion.

Observance of the Sabbath

The Sabbath is the day of worship which all the Jews observe. From sundown on Friday night to sundown on Saturday night, the Jews preserve the Sabbath day. The day is preserved as a sacred day, which starts with offering a dinner followed by no further cooking till the end of the Sabbath. The woman of the house lights candles and the men say blessings to the wine and bread taken during the sacred day. For those who are orthodox, there is usually no work carried out, no lighting of electric lights whilst all the family members spent their time in the synagogues and paying visit to family and friends.

Three Challenges the Jews are Facing

Anti-Semitism

This is the discrimination the Jews get form other people for the fact of being Jews. They have been disregarded in the many countries they have settled or tried to settle. They are associated with the predicaments that befall these host countries. The Jews have been made to remain in walled compounds known as Ghettos, they were not allowed to own property like land, and were restricted onto the kinds of professional they could get trained. The Jews were only associated with activities like retail operations and business activities.

The accusation that Jews killed Jesus

This belief by the Christians against the Jews has been propagated more through Christian anti-Semitism. Through this, they are usually discriminated by the Christians and to some extent leads to persecution. Since the events that led to the death of Jesus Christ happened many years back, and were according to the biblical prophecies, associating the currently existing Jews with such accusations is wrong and intimidates them while making them remain alienated from the immediate world. In the environments where the Christians are more, they are uneasy to live, operate businesses and it’s almost impossible to own property like land.

The denial of Jews from enjoying the right to worship and owning property

The strengths of the Jews

The Jewish religion is a good example of the seriousness worship need to be taken with

From the way Jews carry out their worship of their God, to the observation of the Ten Commandments and the strict adherence to the demands of the Sabbath day, they demonstrate a good replica of what a true worship should be. With strictly only one God to be worshiped they prove the true to the conformity of their belief.

The preservative nature of the Jews makes them appear naïve and too fragile to manage challenging situations

Due to their choice to remain isolated from the outside world and remain holding onto the rules and strict regulations of their culture, makes them to be viewed by a group of people that doesn’t understand well their way of life to think of them as naïve with little capabilities to powerful tasks. They may therefore be discriminated form many tasks due to underrating their capability. They remain strict to their codes of dressing and to many they appear unfashionable, old and archaic limiting the number of the people who want to associate with them.

The Jews are too conservative with prohibition of intermarriage which encourages development

The fact that a Jew is only identified as such if they are born to both parents of Jews makes these a negative attitude. In the current world lifestyles characterized by globalization and exchange of culture, makes Jews culture a negative one that is old-fashioned. It is said among the Jews that if any member of the culture marries form the outside society he/she is no longer considered a Jew. While many youths have the world platform to interact in terms of such events as educational, work, sports and leisure among others, where love is likely to develop naturally, it is unreasonable to restrict the community from intermarriage. The restriction only slows the community down form development and modernization which is difficult to avoid in the current world.

The negative attitude about the Jews makes it difficult to be rational when studying their culture and the data tends to be biased.

Attitudes needed for positive practice:

Appreciating the Jewish culture as way of life worth leading and deserving respect by all

This attitude shall enable me to approach the study of these population with many positive expectations of their way of life including the religion and culture. It shall be easy for me freely interact with them and take part in their activities while enjoying part of their culture.

Respecting the nature of worship of the Jewish community

When I respect the way of worship of the Jewish community, I shall be free to even take part in some of the worship sessions while respecting their rituals as they are performed. This shall make me to view their observation of the religious believes as sacred and deserving so that the right value is accorded to them.

Accepting Jews as complete humans deserving the rights as accorded to other human beings everywhere

When setting out to study the Jews, I need to perceive them with the complete perspective I usually have for the other communities making me respect their types of meals, codes of dressing, religion and others.

Knowledge needed for positive practice:

The knowledge of the religion of the Jewish Community

Having the knowledge of Jews religion shall enable me to respect every ritual that they perform during worship so that it is viewed and taken for the importance it deserves.

The knowledge of the history of the Jews

Through locating the history of the Jewish community, it shall give a good insight into the development of their way life, the nature of difficulties they have faced and be able to extract reason from their way of life.

The knowledge of the culture of Jews

The culture of the Jews shall enable me to easily understand the acts and meaning of events of culture and way of worship while at the same time appreciating their ways of life.

Skills needed for positive practice:

Being able to participate in worship activities among the Jews

These shall make it easy to interact with them during worship sessions making it a better way of understanding contemporary issues in their religion.

Being able to take part in the cultural activities of the Jews community

While taking part in their cultural lifestyle, it shall be easy to learn contemporary cultural issues that would not easily be identified by acting merely as by stander.

Be able to get involved into their business and ways of income generation

Though participating in their economic activities I shall be able to understand better some of the opportunities they have in generating income as well as the challenges faced in the same efforts.

Structural forces that oppress:

The effect of the European Holocaust

The European Holocaust saw the murder of six million of European Jews by the Nazi Germany in world War II. This was so sad at the time and instilled fear among the Jews and made them feel unwanted and isolated. Generations after generations, these incidence is remembered with fear and makes the Jews consider themselves less humans.

The influence of the state of Israel

The state of Israel exiled the Jews from the country that was the home of their culture. This came with the painful destruction of their temple. Although many still come here to learn Jewish history, worship and dance, the pain of vacating them shall always linger among themselves. The country of Israel has many policies that only serve the interests of the Israel community while alienating the Jews making them fell unwanted here.

The law among the Jews that is against inter-marriage

The community of the Jews should allow the members of the community who are willing to intermarry to go ahead with it. let the youths and teenagers be allowed the right to love and be allowed the freedom of associating with this culture and way of worship.

Further Studies

Davis, A. (2016). I want them to learn about Israel and the holidays: Jewish Israeli mothers in early-twenty-first-century Britain. Religion and Gender, 6(1), 80-94.

Fisch, J. (2014). We Are Not As We Were: Jewish Women After the Holocaust. Celebrating the Lives of Jewish Women: Patterns in a Feminist Sampler, 291.

Hyman, P. E. (2017). Gender and assimilation in modern Jewish history: The roles and representation of women. University of Washington Press.

Itzhaky, H., & Kissil, K. (2015). “It’sa Horrible Sin. If They Find Out, I Will Not be Able to Stay”: Orthodox Jewish Gay Men’s Experiences Living in Secrecy. Journal of homosexuality, 62(5), 621-643.

Kim, H., Leavitt, N., & Williams, R. (2015). " Funny—You Don't Look Jewish!": Racial, Ethnic, and Religious Identities of Children of Asian American and Jewish American Spouses. Journal of Jewish Identities, 8(1), 129-148.

Lutsenko, E., Tyurina, Y., Korolyova, I., Shishmakov, S., Shishmakov, V., & Nikolaeva, N. (2016). Political and Legal Consciousness of Young People in the Region (a Case Study of Jewish Autonomous Region). International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 11(16).

McEvoy, P., Williamson, T., Kada, R., Frazer, D., Dhliwayo, C., & Gask, L. (2017). Improving access to mental health care in an Orthodox Jewish community: a critical reflection upon the accommodation of otherness. BMC health services research, 17(1), 557.

Oren, A. S. (2017). Adjusting to Change: The Jewish Community Center Movement in Postwar Urban America, 1945-1980.

Silverman, G. S., Johnson, K. A., & Cohen, A. B. (2016). To believe or not to believe, that is not the question: The complexity of Jewish beliefs about God. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 8(2), 119.

Wasserfall, R. (Ed.). (2015). Women and water: Menstruation in Jewish life and law. Brandeis University Press.

Conclusion

While most of the bystanders may observe and admire the lifestyle of Jews as strong religious group and having an adorable culture, this study shows that they lead a normal lifestyle like every other group of human beings. The fact that they strictly observe their religion and strictly stick to their culture makes them less super human beings. They have flaws like normal human beings and want to interact with the outside world too, intermarry and mingle. All in all, their culture and way of life should be respected by all and take them as fellow humans with every right to lead a complete life.

Reference

WHAT I WOULD LIKE ALL OF MY NON-JEWISH STUDENTS TO KNOW ABOUTBEING JEWISH Carol G. Deanow, Professor Emerita Long time faculty member and Chairperson, School of Social Work Salem State College, Salem MA 01970