Judaism Terminology

Sacred Scripture= Hebrew Bible-also known to Jews as the Tanak [Tanach] and the world calls it the
Old Testament.
Abraham-founder of Judaism
Sarah-Abraham's wife
Hagar-Sarah's slave or handmaiden and mother of Abraham's first son, Ishmael
Bilhah and Zilpah-slaves of Rachel and Leah, Jacob's wives
Ishmael-first son of Abraham and Hagar [Sarah's slave]...he becomes the first of the Arab paople or
nation
Isaac-second son of Abraham, this son is with Sarah, Abraham's wife...he is considered the first of the
Israelite people and the Abrahamic Covenant carries on through him rather than is older brother
Ishmael
Rebekkah-wife of Isaac, mother of Esau and Jacob Esau and Jacob-twin sons of Isaac and
Rebekkah...Esau is oldest and first of the Edomite people...the Abrahamic Covenant will not carry on
through him, rather through his younger brother [younger by minutes, they are twins]..
Leah and Rachel-daughters of Laban and wives of Jacob. Leah is the oldest and Rachel is Jacob's
beloved Joseph and Benjamin-Jacob and Rachel's only 2 children
Asenath-Egyptian princess and wife of Joseph and mother of Manasseh and Ephraim Manassah and
Ephraim-sons of Joseph and Asenath.
Moses-born in Hebrew slave home, raised in royal palace, becomes savior/deliverer of his people
Joshua-Moses' right hand man while in Sinai desert after the Exodus from Egypt...he will lead the
people into the Promised Land
Saul-fist king of Israel, anointed by God's prophet Samuel
David-2nd [official] king of Israel, husband of Saul's daughter Michal, father of Israel's 3rd king,
Solomon
Samuel-prophet of God...anointed both Saul and David per God's instructions as told in the Biblical
account
Nathan-prophet of God, anointed Solomon as 3rd king of Israel Solomon
Cyrus the Great-Persian king who freed exiled Jews from Babylon and allowed them to return to their
home, the Promised Land Babylon-modern day Iraq Babylonian Exile-where Jews were taken after first
Temple is destroyed and they were taken captive
Ark of the Covenant-structure that held 10 Commandments and other artifacts and was kept in the
Tabernacle during the time in the Sinai desert and until it was housed at the first Temple First Templebuilt by Solomon, David's son Second Temple-built by returning exiled Jews coming out of Babylon
Tabernacle-structure made of series of tenting that was set up in desert while people were in Sinai for
40 years

Herod the Great and the Second Temple-enlarged and made a much more grand second temple...the
temple that stood during the lifetime of Jesus of Nazareth
Covenants and what were they? 1. God and Adam/Eve 2. God and Noah 3. God and Abraham 4. God
and Moses 5. God and David Provisions of 3rd Covenant: Abraham would be father of many nations;
God would give his descendants Promised Land Importance of Circumcision-ritual given by God to
Jewish people as sign that they were his chosen ones Twelve Tribes of Israel-12 sons of Jacob Israelnation AND name of Jacob 10 Plagues in Egypt-listed in Exodus...happened prior to Moses liberating
Hebrew slaves Parting of Red Sea-God's miraculous intervention for Hebrew's escape from Egyptian
army Mt. Sinai-where God gave Moses the 10 Commandments
Ten Commandments-juris prudence or law for God's people
Diaspora-literally means scattering in this case, the scattering of the Jews...when they do not live in
their Promised Land as in when they were taken captive to Babylon
Torah, Neviim, Ketuviim-three divisions of the Tanak [Tanach] or Hebrew Bible: Torah=LAW
Neviim=stories of PROPHETS Ketuviim= WRITINGS [anything that is not about the law or of the
prophets Prophets-God's mouthpieces...men chosen by God to speak for him on earth and tell the
people what they were doing wrong or right...their moral voice

Judaism Lecture #1
FOUNDER: ABRAHAM Sacred Scripture/Texts: Torah [the first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible [what most
of the world calls the Old Testament] One of the most perplexing problems that arises in any
discussion of Judaism is its' definition.
If we were to define Judaism as we define any other religion, we might say that a Jew is anyone who
adheres to a certain set of Jewish religious beliefs or practices. Indeed, in many cases this may be a
very effective definition. Unfortunately, the issue has been clouded, so it is not always so simple. In
most cases when we mention a Jew or one is Jewish, we could be describing their religion, their
nation, their homeland, their worldview, etc.
Judaism is a monotheistic religion, meaning that they believe in ONE god and ONE god only. They
believe in a God of creation, not the BIG BANG theory, not evolution, but creationa creation that
came about simply by God speaking everything into existence. This story is found in the first book or
document of the Hebrew Bible [Old Testament], called Genesis.
Genesis means the beginning and it is where you have the cosmology or creation myth [story] for all
three of the major monotheistic religions of the world; Judaism, Christianity, Islam. When it is said
New Testament versus Old Testamentfor the Jewish Nation, there is NO old or new testament. The
New Testament is studied and adhered to by Christianity, but the Old Testament is also part of
Christianity's sacred scripture. For the Jew, there is NO new testament, there is ONLY the one
testament [statement of faith, stories of the people] and that is what they call the Hebrew Bible. They
call it the Hebrew Bible because it was originally written in Hebrew and the first five books of the
Hebrew Bible are collectively called the Torah.
The Hebrew Bible is also called the Tanak [Tanach] which is an acronym for: T=Torah the Law
N=Neviim or stories of the PROPHETS and K=Ketuviim, writings, anything that was not law or a story
about a prophet was the writings, such as Esther, Ruth, Proverbs, Psalms and many others. For

ancient Judaism, the Torah was the basis of sacred scripture: Torah also means the LAW; the basis for
the LAW is the Ten Commandments that God gave Moses on Mt. Sinai.
Judaism is based on the assumption that there is a covenant or contract between ONE God and the
Jewish people, they are His chosen people according to something called the Abrahamic Covenant or
Covenant between God and a man called Abraham. The Hebrew Bible or Old Testament to Christians,
mentions God appearing to or talking with Abraham and other patriarchs. It also describes the ways in
which He destroys the enemies of the Jewish people and punishes them when they are disobedient.
Prophets, or men who represented the voice of ancient Israel often denounced the wicked ways of all
classes of people, including kings, and called on them to comply with the terms of God's covenants.
The prophets also offered hope in troubled times, to all of the Jewish people. Islam too, sees Abraham
as a great prophet.
Abram was born in Ur of the Chaldees part of ancient Mesopotamia. His father was named Terah. He
was born into a land and a household of polytheistic, idol worshippers. As an adult, he married his half
sister, Sarai. They moved to a town called Haran. Later in life Abram heard a voice telling him to
gather all that he owned, people, things, everything and leave the city and follow the voice. The voice
was the voice of God. God later named Abram, Abraham and Sarai, Sarah. God made a COVENANT or
Contract with Abraham.
What we know as the Old Testament and what the Jewish people call the Hebrew Bible, is a series of 5
covenants: 1. Is between God and Adam and Eve 2. Is between God and Noah 3. Is between God and
Abraham [this is the one we are interested in for Judaism] 4. Is between God and Moses 5. Is between
God and David [Jews feel that this covenant has yet to be fulfilled because one of its' provisions is
that the Jewish Messiah would come from the House of David and they are still waiting for their
Messiah.]
The Abrahamic Covenant had several provisions or conditions, for this class you are only responsible
for the following: 1. God told Abraham that if he followed and obeyed that Abraham would be the
father of many nations. 2. God told Abraham that He would give him land, Promised Land, land of milk
and honey [land that was rich in natural resourcesone only has to look at the history of Israel and
know how that is true]. It would be their land forever, until the end of time. 3. God gave a MITZVAH, or
commandment: Abraham' s people would be God's chosen people and God would give them a that
would set them apart and show the world that they were His chosen ones. It was circumcision. The
story of Abraham's circumcision can be found in Genesis 17.
Abraham and Sarah did not have a child soon. By tradition, if one could not conceive, then they could
give their slave [handmaiden] to their husband with the purpose of having children and those children
then would be considered the wive's children. So, Sarah gave her maid, Hagar to Abraham. Hagar
conceived right away and the child was male and they named him Ishmael. Some years later, Sarah
too had a son and they named him Isaac. Sarah wanted the birthright, or the inheritance of the
covenant to go to her son Isaac, rather than to Ishmael [again, by tradition, all inheritance went to the
first-born son, in this case the inheritance was the inheritance of the provisions of the Covenant], so
she banished Hagar and Ishmael from the community. God found them in the desert and sent them
back with the promise that Ishmael would be the first of a great nation, it was the Arab nation.
Isaac became the first of the nation of Israel. It is at this point that we don't see mention of Hagar or
Ishmael again. The birthright/inheritance and Jewish nation/religion will now come through Abraham
and Sarah's son, Isaac. So, the covenant and its' provisions would go through the line of Isaac, not
Ishmael. Isaac married Rebekkah and they had twin sons named Esau and Jacob. As they got older,
Rebekkah and Jacob plotted to fool Isaac and tricked him into giving the birthright or inheritance to
Jacob rather than Esau.
Jacob fled to his Uncle Laban's, near Haran [which is where Abraham and Sarah started out]. Jacob fell
in love with Laban's daughter Rachael. Laban had another, older daughter, Leah. Jacob asked for

Rachael's hand in marriage. Laban told him he would allow him to marry Rachael if he would work for
Laban for 7 years. Jacob toiled for 7 yrs. and the wedding took place. Laban had fooled him, however
and married him to Leah, since she was older. You might wonder how did Jacob NOT know of this
trickery! Even today, in the Middle East, most brides are completely covered except for their eyes at
their wedding ceremony and we suspect that is how Leah was presented to Jacob at the wedding. Just
as Jacob had tricked his brother Esau and won the birthright/inheritance of the covenantal provisions,
now it is Jacob who is tricked. Jacob was furious, but Laban was cool and he told Jacob that if he still
wanted to marry Rachel that he had to work another 7 years. Jacob worked those 7 years.
So, Jacob was married to sisters, Leah and Rachael. Leah gave him children right away, but Rachael
had a difficult time conceiving. Like their ancestor Sarah, both girls at some point sent their slaves,
Bilhah and Zilpah to Jacob so that more children could be born. Between Leah, Rachael and their
maids, Jacob had 12 sons. Those twelve sons became known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel and they
were the foundation of the Jewish Nation.
It is at this point that we no longer need to follow the bloodline of Abraham because it is the 12 tribes
that are the backbone and establishment of the Jewish Nation. Rachael had been [according to the
Biblical account], Jacob's favored wife. She had two sons with Jacob. Her oldest son was named,
Joseph and her youngest was Benjamin. Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. The other sons [of Leah,
Bilhah, and Zilpah] were jealous of Rachael's two boys. If Rachael was Jacob's favored wife, then those
two boys were his favored sons as well. Jacob even made his son Joseph a coat of many colors and
presented it to him, cementing in the other son's minds that their father loved Joseph more than
them.
As the boys grew, they conspired to rid themselves of Joseph and they plotted and succeeded in
selling Joseph to traveling merchants who took him to Egypt as a slave. While in Egypt, Joseph ended
up in prison where it was discovered that he had the ability to interpret people's dreams. The Pharaoh
[king of Egypt], had at that time, been experiencing a recurring dream and none of his staff of
fortunetellers, seers, etc. could tell him what it meant. Then someone told him of a man named
Joseph who was in prison who could interpret dreams. Joseph was summoned and he told the Pharaoh
that his dream mean that there was a famine coming to the land. There would be seven years of
plenty and then seven years of famine where many would die if something was not done. Joseph then
presented a plan to store grain, food, and other survival items. Sure enough, the famine hit and only
the Egyptians were prepared! Because of this, Joseph was made second in command to Pharaoh of all
of the Egyptian empire. He married an Egyptian princess named Asenath and they had two sons
together, Manasseh and Ephraim. [all of this story can be found in Genesis, first book of the Hebrew
Bible or Old Testament].
By now Joseph's father Jacob [who God has renamed Israel], and the rest of the family are in the
Promised Land [land from the Abrahamic Covenant] and they are starving from the famine. Jacob
sends all of his sons except Benjamin to Egypt to beg for food. None of them have any idea that
Joseph lives there and that he will be their savior. The boys had told their father that they had lost
Joseph while out hunting and that they had found his coat. They had presented Jacob with the coat of
many colors that they had drenched in animal blood to convince their father that Joseph must be
dead. So for all of those years [possible 20-30] Jacob thought his son was dead and his brothers had
no idea what had happened to Joseph. But when they traveled to Egypt for their father, it was Joseph
that they were to meet. They did not recognize their brother [probably because he looked like an
Egyptian, with the dark eye liner makeup and hair pieces, etc., plus several decades had passed], but
Joseph recognized his brothers. In the end, Joseph forgave all of them telling them that it was God's
will for him to be sent to Egypt for this time to save the people. After his death, the Hebrews [Jews]
became slaves again. They were worked relentlessly and it was into this atmosphere that the fourth
covenant comes into play. The covenant between God and a man named Moses. The story of Moses
takes us out of Genesis and into the second book of the Hebrew Bible [Old Testament], Exodus.

Recap for Lecture #1

The beginning of Judaism, Christianity and Islam owe the birth of their people and religion to the act
of obedience of one man, Abraham. God called, Abraham obeyed. Judaism teaches that the ONE god
of Judaism is a god of creation and a god that wants to be involved in the lives of His creations,
human beings.
Because of this desire for involvement, the Hebrew Bible recounts the relationship of God through five
covenants or contracts with His human children.] Covenant between God and Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden; 2] Covenant between God and Noah; 3] Covenant between God and Abraham; 4]
Covenant between God and Moses; 5] Covenant between God and David. Adam and Eve broke their
contract with God in the Garden of Eden when they broke the rules and ate from the Forbidden Tree.
God exiled them from the Garden and eventually God became so disgusted with the degradation of
humanity that he decided to start over again. He found a new partner to make a contract with, Noah.
God told Noah to build an Ark and collect animals. God had decided that Noah was the only righteous
man alive. Noah obeyed and God destroyed earth and everything/everyone in it with a flood. Only
Noah, his family and animals survived and as they came out of the Ark after the flood, they were
given the mandate to repopulate the earth. Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It is
believed that one later descendant of Shem was the principal in the third covenant with God, the
Abrahamic Covenant. The covenant/contract between God and Abraham is considered pivotal to the
Jews. It is a covenant that is considered ETERNAL.the Promised Land is theirs FOREVER and perhaps
that is why it has historically been fought over constantly. The next contract was with a man named
Moses who God chose to liberate His people from Egyptian slavery. One of the 12 sons of Jacob,
Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and he was taken to Egypt. Though he became a great
man in Egyptian history, it is how the Hebrew or Jewish people/nation ended up in slavery in Egypt.
Moses is called upon to take them out and lead them back to their Promised Land. The last covenant
is with David, the 2 nd King of Israel. It is the ONLY covenant that is considered Unfulfilled [it has not
happened yet for the Jews]. In it, this covenant says that someday a Messiah/Savior will come to save
the people and that savior will come from the bloodline of David].
As we will see, later on that Messiah or savior is thought by many to be Jesus of Nazarethbut for the
Jewish Nation, Messiah has not yet come and they are still awaiting that occurrence. The Abrahamic
Covenant is the most important in studying the birth of Judaism because it establishes the nation and
the eventual religion. It establishes the persons who will be the backbone of the people that God calls
His chosen and He gives them laws [10 commandments] to follow. It will give rise to the building of a
Temple a place of worship and community for the Jewish people.

Judaism Lecture #2
Moses was born into a Hebrew slave home in Egypt. Pharaoh had decreed that all male children under
the age of 2 were to be killed. Moses' mother put him into a basket and put it in the Nile River. His
sister Miriam watched as Pharaoh's sister [ or some female in the palace that was related to the
Pharaoh] found him and adopted him into the royal household. He got the best education and lived in
the palace. As an adult he killed an Egyptian soldier who was abusing a Hebrew slave. He fled and

was not heard from for many decades. He settled in the land of Midian [it is near the tip of modern
day Jordan].
There Moses meets and marries the daughter of a man named Jethro. Her name was Zipporah and
she and Moses lived a quiet and we presume a happy life until one day, Moses noticed a strange bush
that was burning and the bush spoke to him. It was not actually the bush that spoke to him, rather it
was the voice of God speaking from the bush. Moses experienced a theophany! [check terminology
lists]. God told Moses that the plight of the Hebrew people had become unbearable in Egypt, God
called upon Moses and told him that he must go back to Egypt and get the people out of slavery, to
take them into the desert, it was time for them to go the promised land, the land that was part of the
covenant with Abraham so many years before. Moses was not so thrilled.he had made a
comfortable life for himself with Zipporah and he was getting on in years and he did not want to go
traipsing off to Egypt.
God reminded him that he had been saved from death in the Nile, he had been given the best of
educations in the royal Egyptian householdi n other words, God had prepared him for this time and
he must go! Moses went to Egypt, but Pharaoh did not want to let the people go.
God brought about a series of plagues upon the land. Finally, the evening before the last plague, God
told Moses to tell the Hebrew people to stay in the for the night. They were to paint their door frames
with the blood of a lamb so that the Angel of Death would PASSOVER them and they would not die,
and they were to stay in their homes NO MATTER what they heard. That last plague claimed the life of
Pharaoh's son and Pharaoh had had enough and he told Moses to take the people and get out of
Egypt.
The Hebrews had to leave in a hurry before Pharaoh changed his mind. They were in such a rush that
they had no time for their daily bread to rise, so they had to take flat, unleavened bread with them.
[leavening is an agent that causes bread to risetoday we use things like yeast or baking powder to
allow rising]. From this short period of time came not only a remembrance that has been passed down
from generation to generation in Jewish families, but an example of Sacred Time [recoverable time,
circular time]PASSOVER is recovered each year to remind the people that they were passed over
from death and taken out of slavery by their God. Also, to celebrate Passover, part of their Seder
[Passover] meal is matza [unleavened, flat bread] in remembrance of the time that they did not have
time for their bread to rise. [see your terminology list from the first class on sacred time].
The people fled and during the race out of Egypt, Pharaoh indeed changed his mind about letting the
people go and he sent his army to bring them back. As the Hebrews were about to cross a body of
water, the army neared. God miraculously parted the water, allowing the people to cross over on dry
land and then closing it and drowning the Egyptian army. The Hebrews then wandered in the desert
for 40 yrs. During that time, Moses met with God on Mt. Sinai and received the 10 commandments.
They carried them in the desert in what they called the Ark of the Covenant and set it up in a
tabernacle [series of tenting] every evening. [this story can be found in the second book of the Old
Testament/Hebrew Bible, called Exodus]. This entire group was divided into 12 tribes or groups that
represented the original 12 tribes of Israel. At the end of the 40 yrs. as they were on the outskirts of
the Promised Land, Moses was allowed to view the land, but not allowed to enter. Today Mt. Nebo,
near modern day Jordan is a tourist attraction where Moses viewed the Promised Land and also where
he died. Joshua took the people on into the land. The land was divided among the 12 tribes. God
called upon Samuel a prophet to anoint the first King of Israel, King Saul.
Samuel also anointed the second king, David. David was, like Saul a military man. As mentioned
earlier, the land was divided into 12 tribes. The northern portion of land was the tribe of Israel and the
southern was tribe of Judah. King David made his capital in the middle of these two sections of land.
He named it Jerusalem [another name is the City of David]. ---in actuality, David was at first made
king of Judah only [southern portion of the land and Saul's son Ishbosheth was made king of Israel by
Saul's army commander Abnerb ut Ishbosheth was never ANNOINTED by one of God's prophets and

he reigned for only a few years then David became king of all of Israel most never saw Ishbosheth
as a legitimate king therefore, most say that David was 2 nd king after Saulthis story is found in II
Samuel in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.
It was David's desire to build a great Temple to house the people's most sacred possession, the Ark of
the Covenant which housed the Ten Commandments, but it was his son Solomon who built it in 957
BCE. He became the king of Israel and he was anointed by the prophet Nathan. Solomon's Temple was
enormous and fantastic. It was also destroyed in 586 BCE by the Babylonians and the people were
scattered [sent out of Jerusalem, called DIASPORA] to Babylonia [modern day Iraq].

Judaism Recap Lecture #2

This week we met a man named Moses who would become the Deliverer and Law Giver of Judaism.
Exodus opens with the descendants of Abraham, crying out for deliverance from their enslavement by
the Egyptians.
The key figure in this drama of salvation is Moses. When the Israelites fled Egypt, lead by Moses, they
were pursued by the Pharaoh [king of Egypt] who had changed his mind about their release. The
waters of the Sea of Reeds or Red Sea were parted b y God and the people crossed over on dry land.
When the Egyptians attempted to follow, the waters swallowed them and they drowned.
This event, along with the Passover became part of Jewish historya n act in which God intervened to
deliver his chosen people because He is a God who wants to be an active participant in the lives of
His creations [concept repeated in Christianity and Islam]. At Mt. Sinai, God gave Moses the 10
Commandments, laws to govern His chosen ones.
Basically the commandments stress obedience and loyalty to God and decent behavior toward
members of the community. Exodus, Leviticus and portions of Numbers and Deuteronomy elaborate
codes of that law. THE TEMPLE: Solomon, King David's son became king after his father, David and it
was Solomon who built the first Temple. This glorious structure was destroyed by the Babylonians and
the people were taken out of their Promised Land into what is today, Iraq. There they lived, worked
and raised families until Cyrus the Great of Persia [modern-day Iran], freed them and they returned to
their land to rebuild the Temple, the second Temple.
In short, Judaism at its birth was based on the story of obedience by Abraham to leave his hometown
and follow the voice that he heard and recognized as God's. From that act of obedience, Judaism,
Christianity and eventually Islam would be born.
The Jewish people believe that they are God's chosen people by virtue of the Abrahamic Covenant.
They are also, arguably one of the most persecuted people in history. Judaism is hard to define, but is
defined simultaneously as religion, culture, race, nation. I hope you are enjoying our journey through
Judaism in preparation for its offspring, Christianity.

Abraham's Family Tree

Abraham'sFamilyTree.doc

Class, for your convenience, attached above is Abraham's Family Tree up to the establishment of the
12 tribes of Israel [also known as 12 sons of Israel (Jacob). Please read the birthright promises side
rather than the sceptre promises side.

Mrs. S