Huston Smith Assignment 3

7. What is the role of revelation?

In Judaism, revelation is the reason that people of Jewish faith have been able to find so much meaning in certain areas of their life, such as history, morality, justice, and suffering. They did not seek meaning in these areas, instead God showed it to them by revealing it to them. The first time the God revealed something to them was in Exodus where he showed them his power, goodness and concern for history. The meaning in other areas of their life followed after the first revelation in Exodus. Part of the idea of revelation is that God revealed these things to them on purpose, because He wanted them to know these things and be able to search for a deeper meaning in life.

8. What is the concept of the “chosen people”?

The concept of the “chosen people is that the Jewish people were chosen by God to suffer for the rest of the world and teach everyone a lesson or redeem the rest of the world through their actions. The idea of being chosen by God does not mean that they are egotistical and think they are special, by accepting the idea of being the “chosen people” they are denying that their continued existence in the world was because of themselves, but that the only reason they survived was because of God.

Huston Smith Assignment 2

4. What is the meaning in suffering?

In Judaism, suffering is important because similar to history, it teaches people a lesson and there is always a reason for suffering. In most cases, suffering is God’s way of punishing the Jewish people but also teaching them a lesson so they do not do it again. The most important examples of this are when they were put into exile by the surrounding empires and instead of giving up they still believed that God was on their side, he was just trying to show them what they were doing wrong and give them an appreciation for everything they had before they were exiled. Suffering also teaches people that if they stay true to God through hard times he will reward them. Also, suffering is seen as a lesson to the rest of the world, not just people of Jewish faith. When suffering occurs, God is punishing everyone even if they do not believe in him and the lessons that the Jewish people learn affect the entire world.

5. What is the Meaning in Messianism?

In Judaism, Messianism is important because it gives people a sense of hope because they were usually the underdogs in every situation and Messianism gave them hope that one day the conditions of life would improve. The idea of a Messianic age consists of three important elements; hope, restoration of a Jewish Nation, and an ethical change that would affect the entire world so people would live in peace. Some people believe that a messiah will come to bring in this era, or that God will intervene himself, or that there will be an apocalyptic event that restores the world so this era will be possible. The idea of improving a person’s life or the lives of a large population is important in Judaism because they were usually mistreated or the underdogs throughout most of their history so hope that life would improve was essential to their faith.

6. What is meant by the “hallowing of life”?

In Judaism, the “hallowing of life” is a way of making everything in life sacred by sharing the good and bad parts of life with God. A person has to understand the concept that everything belongs to God; therefore people should share all of life’s events with Him even if it is just a family dinner. In Judaism, this is done through rituals and traditions that have been passed down through generations. These rituals not only allow people to slow down and consider the current conditions of their lives, but also to be aware of God and be grateful towards God for everything that He provides.

Huston Smith Assignment 1

1. In Judaism what is the meaning in history?

In Judaism history is important because it allows change in religion and lifestyle that people lived. They believe that the context of a person’s life significantly affects how they live and that they should work together to bring about change. Also, in Judaism, history is viewed as a series of lessons that people should learn from such as the Babylonian exile. Also, history is important because it makes life’s events different and unique and a person should not pass up an opportunity because he or she will never have the opportunity again because God does intervene at crucial moments in history and offers opportunities to those who are faithful to him. Judaism was surrounded by many nature based polytheistic religions, and these religions focused on keeping things the same because people were afraid that a god could get upset and throw everything into chaos, they did not think about making things better, just preventing them from getting worse. In Judaism, history is more of a relationship between what actually is happening and what could be happening, which is the reason that history creates a way to change a person’s lifestyle if they do not agree with it.

2. In Judaism what is the meaning in Morality?

In Judaism, morality is important because society would not function without basic moral standards that everyone lives by. These rules only exist for humans because they are controlled in animals from instinct, but humans need guidelines so they can all function peacefully together. In Judaism the basic moral rules are the Ten Commandments, and they create the structure of a society. The Ten Commandments cover different rules in the four main areas that need to be controlled in order for humans to coexist; force, wealth, sex, and speech. There are various rules for each of these areas, which create a structured society that does not fall into chaos if these rules are followed. Also, one of the most important qualities of the Ten Commandments is that they are universal and are not specific to just one situation and are more of a foundation for morality in Judaism.

3. In Judaism what is the meaning in Justice?

In Judaism, justice is important because it is the root of political stability for a society. The most important historical figures of the pursuit of justice in Jewish history are the prophets, who speak the word of God. There were three stages of the development of the prophets; the first stage was the prophetic guilds, which focused more on losing self consciousness, the second stage was of the pre-writing prophets who began to focus on ethics, and the third stage was the writing prophets, who focused on the ethics of society as a whole. The pre-writing prophets would focus on one person, while the writing prophets would focus on creating ethical change for the entire society. They created political stability by demanding the same rights for everyone because they believed that if everyone was a child of God, then they all should have the same rights. The prophets came from different backgrounds, but all lived in a society that was in danger because of its injustice and they used the word of God to create change and therefore political and social stability.

YOLB Month 7

1. Based on what Yossi said, religion is about serving God as well as helping yourself. Throughout the year, Jacobs has been hoping that this project will help him figure out what he believes and he keeps using the Bible as a "self help book," to improve himself but he has never really thought about what he should be doing for God. It is okay for him to look at religion to improve himself and live a better life, but he should have some amount of selflessness in his journey.

2. Jacobs says that he has always thought the parts of the Bible that talk about "praising the lord" are strange and he can't really connect with them or understand them. When he is sitting in Jerusalem, he has a realization about this problem that he has had when he realizes that praising God takes people outside of themselves for a minute to appreciate how amazing God is. It's hard for humans to not be prideful, but praising God takes you outside of being prideful of yourself because He created everything which is beyond what any human is capable of doing. This helps him reconcile the problem that he previously had because now he understands why those parts of the Bible are important, and it also relates to what Yossi was telling him, that religion should be mainly about God and putting him above yourself.