Question

Judaism is based on a covenant relationship between God and His people, how does this shape the rituals and practices of Judaism? What are some contemporary covenants and how does your understanding of covenant shape you personally as you interact with others? What are some of the challenges facing Judaism in our world today (list at least 3)?

Answer 1

Rituals and practices of Judaism:

In Judaism, rituals and religious observances are grounded in Jewish law (halakhah, lit. "the path one walks." An elaborate framework of divine mitzvot, or commandments, combined with rabbinic laws and traditions, this law is central to Judaism.

Halakhah governs not just religious life, but daily life, from how to dress to what to eat to how to help the poor. Observance of halakhah shows gratitude to God, provides a sense of Jewish identity and brings the sacred into everyday life.

In addition, the Jewish religion recognizes several significant occasions in a person's life. While many times the individual is the focus of the festivities, the family, and in many cases the entire community, participate in the commemoration. These special events are some of the most important practices of Judaism.

The Mitzvot: The Hebrew word mitzvot means "commandments" (mitzvah is its singular form). Although the word is sometimes used more broadly to refer to rabbinic (Talmudic) law or general good deeds ("It would be a mitzvah to visit your mother"), in its strictest sense it refers to the divine commandments given by God in the Torah.

The 613 Commandments: The important Jewish philosopher Maimonides made a list of the 613 commandments he found in the Jewish Bible, and here they are.

Rabbinic Law: In addition to the 613 mitzvot, Jewish law incorporates a large body of rabbinical rules and laws. These are considered just as binding as the mitzvot, although the punishments for violating them are less severe. Another difference is that it is possible, though unlikely, for the rabbinical laws to be changed, but no rabbi can change the Torah mitzvot. The rabbinical portion of halakhah falls into three groups: a gezeirah, takkanah, and minhag.

The Synagogue: The Jewish house of worship is a synagogue. The synagogue predates the destruction of the Second Temple, but it became central to religious life after the Temple was lost. The synagogue replaces ritual sacrifice with Torah readings, prayer and teaching.

Jewish Worship and Prayer: Guide to characteristics of Jewish worship and prayer, the weekday and Sabbath prayer services and etiquette for visitors.

Keeping Kosher: Jewish Dietary Laws: One of the most well-known Jewish religious practices is that of eating kosher foods. The laws of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) may be puzzling or meaningless to the outsider, but they have held great meaning for the Jewish people throughout their history. Not only are they an opportunity for obedience to God, they also strongly contribute to Jewish unity and identity.

Contemporary covenants:

In the past two decades, there has been a significant rediscovery of the covenantal basis of Judaism in most if not all contemporary Jewish intellectual circles, and the literature dealing with covenant and its implications has grown accordingly. The thrust of this effort has been theological in character and properly so. Yet the covenant is as much a political as a theological phenomenon. Perhaps it is best described as a theo-political phenomenon, especially in its original biblical form.

Like all great ideas, the covenant idea is at once simple and complex; simple enough to serve as a rallying point for a people, yet sufficiently complex for the entire worldview of the Bible and consequently the essential outlook of all biblically rooted traditions to be built around it. The Hebrew term brit signifies a covenant, usually meant to be perpetual between parties having independent but not necessarily equal status, that provides for joint action or obligation to achieve defined ends (limited or comprehensive) under conditions of mutual respect, in such a way as to protect the integrity of all parties involved.

A covenant is much more than a contract, though our modern system of contracts is related to the covenant idea, because it involves a moral commitment beyond that demanded for mutual advantage, even involving the development of community among the partners to it. The biblical term hesed (often mistranslated as grace, but actually the loving obligation resulting from a covenantal tie) reflects this dimension of the covenantal relationship, adding a dynamic element to the relatively static character of the compact itself (see below). In essence, a covenant creates a partnership based upon a firm, legally defined relationship delineating the authority, power and integrity of all the partners but which, at the same time, requires them to go beyond the legal definition to fully realize the relationship. In other words, the covenant relationship is to social and political life what Buber's I-Thou relationship is to personal life. Through covenants humans and their institutions are enabled to enter into dialogue and are given (or themselves create) a framework for dialogue.

Challenges facing Judaism in our world today:

1. The lack of Jewish education. In contrast to Hillel Gray's answer, which was specifically about culture, I believe we need more religious and textual/scriptural education.

2. Disunity among our different denominations. Not only are we disunited, but we don't actually love our fellow Jew, and I what I mean by this is that we often look down on Jews from denominations to the Right or Left of us.

3. Assimilation. Too many Jews are intermarrying, and the ones that do, are 99.999% of the time not the ones that received Jewish educations from Kindergarten to 12th grade.

4. Negative global perception/Anti-Semitism. There is no reason to ignore the fact that Anti-Semitism is rampant on a global level. The Jewish people cannot survive when only few stand up to defend them.

5. Lack of passion. I feel this one is most likely the most important of the aforementioned. What we see in the 21st century is a lack of passion that religious people have. Something like Jewish communal prayer become rote, and, sooner or later, loses it's spirituality- this implying that there was spirituality to begin with. We need more leaders, teachers, and especially layman to show they're passion for Judiasm, and not just for the culture of Judaism, but for living, and experiencing, a Jewish life, filled with Torah, Mitzvot, commandments, ahavat yisrael, love of the Jewish people, and ahavat Hashem, love of God.