Judaism and Smith Essay

Judaism Egypt had pyramids, Sumer and Akad were world empires, and Phoenicia was already colonizing; but where were the Jews. Judaism was quite late in trying to make their mark in the religious and historical world. What they didn’t know was that they would be playing a huge part later on in history. Jewish individuals were mainly known for wanting to make sure that their lives were mirroring their faith, but they also had a special meaning for almost everything that applied to their life.
Smith does make a claim that Jewish people have a faith that is primarily about making sense out of life, and I fully agree with him. Those that follow Judaism are very fond of wanting to have their lives portray a faith. One way that the Jews do this is by making sure that they are always keeping the Sabbath, or Sabot, holy. Without the Sabbath, there would not be Judaism. Some say that as long as Judaism is standing, so will their beliefs in the Sabbath (Kaplan).
The Jews also make sure that they read the Torah. The Torah is the five books of Moses, and is also called Hebrew Scripture. Jews also believe that the Torah was created before it was presented to Moses by God, but also before the world even existed. The Hebrew Scripture has many meanings in it, but the primary reason for it is to have divine laws and teachings which cannot be realized by reason. An example of this would be the laws of the Sabbath which teaches the importance of God and his creation, the world (Bard). The Jews strive to read the entirety of the Torah each year, one section every week (Israel). Not only do the Jews strive to read the Torah each year, but they also want to understand what their religion means. Since the very beginning, Jews have based their meaning and purpose in understanding God. They also believed that all men were equal. If a man was either Egyptian or Phoenician, it did not matter. The Jews had two reasons for believing this. The first reason was that no man could believe he brought him or herself into this world (Smith). What this means is that man cannot just appear out of thin air, and have no reason for existence. The second reason was that at some point in time, man finds his influence is not endless (Smith). An example given by Smith was that a rock may be too large for a man to lift on his own. Along with not having endless amounts of power, they also found that Yahweh was not like other gods. The first regard that they found was the fact that they owed their beginning to him (Smith). Second they were mortal, and not immortal like Yahweh. Jews also found out, from and early date, that they were monotheistic (Smith). Another meaning that the Jewish people followed was their meaning in creation. Smith also reassures us that this is another way to affirm that the universe is God-created. When the world seems to be chaotic, there is more than likely difficulty in trying to comprehend meaning in the universe. Judaism goes on to say that the natural world is basically good, and man has power here. Different to most Easter religion, Judaism centers both in spirit and in matter. From this point on matter, three principles follow. The first is that the material parts of life are important (Smith). Second, matter figures into salvation (Smith). Finally, the natural world can become host to the divine (Smith).

The third meaning that Judaism follows, is the meaning in man. Jews understood that the Almighty was the creator of all things, and they also knew that he is a being of greatness and holiness in their personal lives. They also recognized the idea of creation. In this thought they found that man has power over the entirety of the world. What they also found was that spiritual and physical facts were somewhat the same, but also different. Spiritual was basically good, and physical was only the appearances that were good. Between the meaning in man and creation, they had understood that they were limited. Not only this, but

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