The Essence of Being
Born Jewish
Origin
3,000+ Years of Jewish History
According to Torah, G-d existed first and hid himself in order to make space to create the universe, of which was created in a week. Mankind (Adam and Eve) were the first man and first woman in 3761 BC, or the 6th day.
In the Great Flood, Noah’s family were the sole surviving humans, and he had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Of Shem’s descendants (first Semitics) came the three Patriarchs of Judaism: Abraham, Abraham’s son Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob.
Jacob, also named Israel and the Father of the Israelites, had twelve sons whom fathered the twelve tribes of Israel.
After migrating to Egypt due to famine, the 12 Tribes were enslaved, then escaped and wandered the desert for 40 years under the leadership of Moses. The Israelite nation was given the Torah at Mt. Sinai. After time, with Joshua in command, the tribes enter the land of Canaan and reside on different sections.
Suffering through Assyrian conquering and assimilation, many fled, and were absorbed by the other Southern Tribe, Judah.
Tribe Judah thrived until being exiled by the Babylonians. Soon, Persians conquered Babylonia in 538 BC, and Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return to their Homeland, where they set to replace the Temple of Jerusalem that the Babylonians had destroyed…
The Diaspora continued… see Full Timeline
Family and Traditions
To be a Jew, one must have been born of a Jewish mother, as coming from the same flesh. This person is Jewish no matter what their beliefs are. Although the Jewish people do not seek converts, converts are accepted, as always having had a Jewish soul, should they undergo intensive learning and acknowledge a belief in God.
While this may sound exclusive, the Jewish people respect, cherish, and aim to lead everyone, both Jews and non-Jews, to the glory of the next life, taking pride in fulfilling their role as “Chosen” representatives of God on Earth.
Traditions and Culture are important, i.e. Holidays, Special Occasions – they help us connect with the past and each other, learn valuable lessons, and appreciate where we came from.
Additionally, Jewish heritage is an unbroken lineage of Jewish people and tradition, thus Jews are encouraged to maintain and cultivate it among themselves, their families, and other Jews around them. There always lies the existential threat of all the Jewish people one day losing their traditions.
Lifestyle
Actions
As God is said to have created the universe in 6 days, creating and doing connects us more to God – as does resting for the 7th day, as explained by why Shabbat is celebrated. Similar to how God created light, the Jewish day starts with night, where we plan what to create during the day, and ends in the day where we create. The purpose of the dark is space for growth – hold your ground in dark times. This principle of separation is seen repeatedly in Judaism such as Mitzvahs, Shabbat, holidays, Bar mitzvahs signifying adulthood, and tends to make things more special.
Additionally, being a good person (i.e. performing Mitzvahs) to everyone around you is as important as being connecting to G-d and learning Torah, and both are far more important than the coming of the next life. Jews are not pawns in the world, but partners with God and responsible for all peoples. If a Jew views an injustice or other void of need, it’s their part of that partnership to perfect not only themselves but the world when the opportunity arises. Example: Abraham confronted God to intervene from destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, as opposed to Noah who did not involve himself besides saving himself and others.
Love in Hebrew is ahava, with the root ‘hav’ meaning ‘to give of oneself to another’. Maimonides said to view the world as perfectly divided between half good and half evil – if we do one good deed or mitzvah, we will tip the world to good. Our actions matter, and can affect generations.
Yetzer Hara “evil inclination” is the biggest obstacle in man’s way of being and doing good. Good and evil inclinations are present in every person and every moment, opposite tendencies pulling against each other. Everyone has the ability to subdue and overpower the evil inclination, if he or she wishes. In addition, it can be channelled for good, as sexual lust motivates marriage and having children, and greed motivates conducting business and building a home.
Belief in God and Giving Thanks
Judaism believes in one God – and fears Him. Jews argue that fear is necessary for respect, similar to a respect for our parents. If we have too casual of a relationship, we do not take them seriously.
In addition, God is everywhere around us, ever-present (even in the mundane) and watching. We do not understand God’s judgment of ourselves – so we should always carry ourselves to the best of our ability, including learning how to do so from the Torah and performing mitzvahs – “good deeds”, not thoughts but actions, that bring us more in favor within God’s eyes.
Respect also includes an appreciation for what we have been given. People are created by G-d and He does not make mistakes – all are created in His image – unique, important, and with opportunity and obligations of doing their best. Judah (Yehuda) of Tribe Judah, from which the Jewish people (Yehudim) were named, literally means the “people who give thanks.” Life, our health and physical abilities such as voice, our talents, our families, the world’s beauty, everything we have were gifts from God, thus should not go un-appreciated or unused. Which is why the Jewish people have Jewish Prayer and song (spoken in Hebrew) to celebrate and give thanks for every little detail – different foods, different times of day, Shabbat, holidays. Appreciation goes even so far as to appreciate one’s suffering – as there is a divine reason for everything that we cannot understand.
Enjoyment
The foundation of saintliness and complete service is to know what one’s obligation in the world is. However, Jews are also taught that man was created to receive pleasure from God and to enjoy his splendor.
What does this mean? It is shown in the story of the Garden of Eden – A garden is more organized than a jungle, meaning it has purpose, and Eden in Hebrew means pleasant joy. The first mitzvah “good deed” ever suggested by God was to “eat from all the trees” and the first obligation instructed was to “work it and guard it”.
In other words, of utmost importance is that we “enjoy the world”, but we still have the obligation is to “put in effort and value it”.
Judaism is not about living a spiritual ascetic life of only prayer and lack of much pleasure – that we must see, enjoy, appreciate the world, make the world a better place, and have children.
The sin that makes us lose paradise is not accepting our responsibilities – as Adam and Eve ate the fruit and realized they were not innocent, they realized all the bad things they could do (violence, misdeeds with their private parts) and gained responsibilities.
One immediate responsibility they realized after Original Sin was covering themselves up in clothing, namely the fig leaf – covering up what is sweet, controlling yourself to get more joy – another example of the very Jewish principle of separation.