I Need Some Help Understanding The Jewish Religion.

[Mermaid711 0]

So as you have probably read in many other topics, me and some friends are making a movie about a Jewish boy and a German girl in the Holocaust. So I need to understand the faith.What prayers are important?What are some important traditions?What are their morals and basic beliefs?I don't really think that I will need a copy of the Jewish Bible because we have a Christian Bible, and that has the Old Testament in it.Just tell me what I need to know.And just so you know, I'm not interested in taking up Judism.

[truefusion 3]

In your Bible, check in the back, there may be information in it that can provide you with information on the subject; i know mine has some information in the back. But i'll try to answer some questions from what i can remember.

 

What prayers are important?

I don't think they had any prayers that they were to follow from the Jewish law. I've only seen such from Islam, and it's not taken from the Jewish law like some other laws are.

 

What are some important traditions?

Exodus 23:14-17 (according to the new testament, they would sacrifice the Passover Lamb on the day of Unleavened Bread); Leviticus 25:1-17; there's also circumcision, and probably others, but i can't remember any more.

 

What are their morals and basic beliefs?

Most likely the same ones Christians are taught; however, many Jews don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

 

I don't really think that I will need a copy of the Jewish Bible because we have a Christian Bible, and that has the Old Testament in it.

 

Just tell me what I need to know.

The New testament Gospels can be helpful, too. If you want to know more, read the first five books of the Bible.

[mikeyboy63 0]

So as you have probably read in many other topics, me and some friends are making a movie about a Jewish boy and a German girl in the Holocaust.
So I need to understand the faith.

What prayers are important?

What are some important traditions?

What are their morals and basic beliefs?

I don't really think that I will need a copy of the Jewish Bible because we have a Christian Bible, and that has the Old Testament in it.

Just tell me what I need to know.

And just so you know, I'm not interested in taking up Judism.

To make this movie you don't really need to know about their religion. If they were Christian, would you need to know about their religion? Being Jewish is no different than being Christian. By that I mean it doesn't differ in their day to day lives. Culturally, they're part of the greater secular community. Your best friend could be Jewish and you wouldn't necessarily know it.
What you need to know is the lies that were spread about Jews in Hitler's Germany. That they're all rich and fat, that they're like parasites taking all Germany's wealth and hording it. That they control the banking system, etc. That they're arrogant, considering themselves God's chosen people, and everybody else should serve them and be subordinate to them.

That last sentence would be true for a small group of Jews called Zionists. Zionists believe that Jews are superior and should take whatever they want in the world, but few Jews are Zionists. Zionism is the model for Nazism. Nazism is Hitler's version of Jewish Zionism. Just replace Jews with Aryans in the rhetoric. In other words, Hitler was jealous of Zionism and created a similar belief system for Aryans, that Aryans are a superior race that should control the world.
Edited June 7, 2008 by mikeyboy63 (see edit history)

[Striker9 0]

Judaism is somehow close to Islam, the beliefs, the practices, the morals, the values... etc but of course there are still alot of differences. Now I'm not going to talk about my beliefs concerning Judaism and what happened to it, I'm just going to say what I know from my Jewish friends about what THEY believe. Basically, they believe in God (Allah), they do not believe in Trinity just like Muslims and some Christians, and they do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah (unlike Muslims and Christians). Their holy book is the Torah and they have another book as a reference which explains the Torah which is the Talmud. Concerning their prayers, traditionally, they are supposed to recite 3 prayers daily (in Islam it's 5 prayers daily) and an additional one on The Shabbath (Saturday). Also, they've got the the prayer which is the declaration of faith and it's called the Shema and they say: "Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad ? "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God! The Lord is One!" And just like Muslims, their prayers can be solitary recited (each one on his own) or in groups (which is preferred). Their most important holidays are: Rosh Hashanah ? The Jewish New Year, Aseret Yemei Teshuva ? Ten Days of Repentance, Yom Kippur ? Day of Atonement, Hanukkah ? Festival of Lights, Pesach ? Passover, Rosh Hashanah ? Day of Remembrance, Purim ? Festival of Lots, and of course The Shabbath. Their morals and basic beliefs are simple... you can just follow the 10 commandments and you'll get the chance to go to heaven. They do not ear pork or drink wine (just like in Islam). But it's known that their duties and morals are more strict/harder than Muslims. Also, my friend once told me that they have a sort of religious/social raking system/levels. There are the common people who are not Jews and it's only required that they follow the 10 commandments to go to heaven, then there are the normal Jews (in analogy we can say these are the citizens and farmers), then comes a higher rank and another higher rank and so on. And as your rank increases your duties increase as well until you reach a level where you totally dedicate yourself to the service of God and the temple. In addition, they consider that you are either born as Jew (with a Jewish mother) or someone who is not a Jew, you might convert to Judaism but that won't make you perfectly a Jew cuz being Jewish is more like an Ethnicity, but your descendants will be Jewish though. But now Jewish are totally secular, only a small part of Jews are still actually religious. Israel is called "the Jewish State" but they do not follow the Jewish laws though. Their laws are completely secular and civil. And just like Mikeyboy said, you can hardly know a person is Jewish from his practices unless you ask him/her. Concerning Zionists and Zionism... Zionism is the return of Jews to Zion (which is the ancient land - Israel). So basically the majority of Jews are also Zionists (religiously). And this should be distinguished from the political Zionism and the Zionist movement that actually wants to build a Zionist/Jewish state that extends from the Furat river (in Iraq) to the Nile river (in Egypt), and those are usually who think they are God's Chosen People and all other people are born in their service; they've acquired their beliefs from their own interpretation of the Torah and the Talmud. Well, this political CONSPIRACY is what turns the residents of the Middle East (the Arabs) against Israel, and this is what created the tension and hatred between the two races/ethnicities, although anciently they both have same origins or let's say common origins to be more specific. Anyway, if you needed any more information, just let me know and I'll try my best to help. Good luck in your movie

Edited June 7, 2008 by Striker9 (see edit history)