Milah, the Hebrew term for ‘circumcision’, is the initiation ritual for Jewish newborn baby boys. The practice usually takes place during a special ceremony with the family and community memb. Jewish lifecycle rituals reflect a communal orientation, the democratic nature of traditions, the relationship between the biological and the social, and the inevitability of evolution. These include the rituals of circumcision for males, the bat- and bar-mitzvah celebrations that represent becoming recognized as adults by the Jewish community, and the practice of tefillah (the wearing of tefillin).
Jewish daily life and practice embody the ideals and standards expressed in Judaism’s sacred writings and practices. Circumcision (Brit Milah) is the initiation ritual for Jewish newborn baby boys. Other rituals include religious adulthood (Bar/Bat Mitzvah), ritual bath (Mikveh), prayer (Tefillah), avoidance of writing and uttering ‘God’, charity (Tzedakah), and weekly observance (Shabbat).
In Judaism, it is believed that adherents must serve God by study, prayer, and the observance of the commandments laid out in the Torah. Birth rituals include Brit Milah, the Jewish ceremony of circumcision for infant boys, and Simchat Bat, a naming ceremony for Jewish baby girls. The wearing of tefillin has become the most visible ritual associated with becoming Bar/Mitzvah, of age.
The festive celebration begins at sundown, when the Book of Esther is read in the synagogue. The most common, widespread, and well-known are those seen most often in prayer settings: the kippah, tallit, and tefillin. For many Jews, Jewish law governs all aspects of Jewish life, including how to worship, compulsory rituals, and dietary laws. Just one-in-five U.S. Jews say they attend religious services at a synagogue, temple, minyan, or havurah at least once or twice a month.
📹 Jewish Mourning Rituals: Caring for the Body
In Judaism, traditions around death have two purposes – to comfort the living, and to show respect for the dead. Understanding …
What are the 6 types of rituals?
Rituals are sequences of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or revered objects, often prescribed by community traditions. They are characterized by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance. Rituals are a feature of all known human societies and include worship rites, sacraments, rites of passage, atonement and purification rites, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, coronations, presidential inaugurations, marriages, funerals, and more.
The field of ritual studies has seen conflicting definitions of the term. One definition by Kyriakidis suggests that a ritual is an outsider’s or “etic” category for a set activity or set of actions that seems irrational, non-contiguous, or illogical to the outsider. The term can also be used by the insider or “emic” performer as an acknowledgement that the activity can be seen as such by the uninitiated onlooker.
Can Jews eat pork?
Judaism and Islam have long prohibited eating pork and its products, with the ban partly due to its cultural significance for Jews. Israel has implemented two related laws, the Pork Law in 1962 and the Meat Law of 1994, prohibiting all imports of nonkosher meats into the country. Although some Israeli pork-eaters exist, the taboo remains strong, with many secular Israelis still avoiding pork dishes. A porchetta feast in the Muslim-Jewish town of Jaffa celebrated Dr.
Eli Landau’s book, The White Book, the first Hebrew-language collection of pork recipes. Israeli publishers refused to publish it, and book chain stores declined to display it. Landau published it himself. The religious and cultural taboo remains a significant issue in Israel, with many secular Israelis opting for less charged nonkosher items like shellfish.
How do Jews pray?
Jews believe they are making contact with God through prayer, which can be formal or informal. Formal prayers are set prayers found in the Siddur, while informal prayers can be spontaneously formulated by an individual. Many Jews choose to pray at home every day, even if they cannot attend daily services. Private prayers can take various forms, such as reciting a morning prayer, a mezuzah at the entrance to their home, blessing God before each meal, and saying “I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice”.
Jews also practice set prayers, such as Shacharit (morning prayer), Minchah (afternoon prayer), and Arvit (evening prayer), which are found in the Siddur and include the Shema and readings from the Bible. These prayers ensure that God is always in the minds of Jewish people throughout the day.
In summary, Jews believe in making contact with God through prayer, and both formal set prayers and informal private prayers are essential for their spiritual growth and connection with God.
How does Judaism pray?
The Jewish tradition maintains that prayer enables individuals to establish a connection with the divine. This connection may be achieved through formal or informal prayer practices. Formal prayers are conducted in the synagogue, whereas informal prayers may be uttered spontaneously by an individual to express their thoughts and feelings at the time. Both types of prayer may be conducted in the home or in a synagogue, thereby providing a platform for Jewish public prayer, study, and assembly.
How do Jews celebrate?
The Jewish Sabbath, also known as Shabbat in Hebrew or Shabbos in Yiddish, is observed every week from sunset on Friday evening to dark on Saturday evening. Orthodox Jews do not work or travel on Shabbat, which can cause conflicts with Friday evening or Saturday classes or exams. The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, begins with ten days of penitence or teshuvah, culminating on Yom Kippur. Traditionally celebrated with sweet or round foods and the blowing of the shofar during religious services, the day of atonement is a solemn day of fasting, prayer, and repentance. Observant Jews do not eat, drink, bathe, engage in sexual activity, or wear leather on this day of awe.
What are the rituals in Judaism?
Jewish identity was shaped by a number of rituals, including circumcision, Sabbath observance, and purification bathing. In addition, a variety of popular practices involving what might be considered “magic” without centralized sanction also played a role.
Do Jews believe in Jesus?
Jesus, a Jew, was a reformer of Jewish beliefs in 1st-century Palestine, not an indiscriminate faultfinder. For Jews, Jesus’ significance is derived from his life, which was characterized by unwavering faith in God, rather than from his death. Nevertheless, a growing number of Jews are asserting pride in the fact that Jesus was born, lived, and died as a Jew.
What ritual do the Jews follow when they worship?
The Amidah, also known as Tefillah, is a central prayer in Jewish worship, performed standing and in silence facing Jerusalem. It can be performed in synagogues or at home, with home practice often being more important. Worship is a duty as part of the covenant with God and brings the community together. It includes daily services, festivals, prayers, Shabbat meals, and study. Worship in synagogues includes daily services and festivals, while at home, it includes prayers, Shabbat meals, and study.
What are the sacred ritual or festivals of Judaism?
Judaism celebrates numerous holy days, with the most significant being Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year festival, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Rosh Hashanah, occurring in September or October, is a time for Jews to reflect on their year, including their good and bad deeds. Jews spend time in the temple, saying prayers and reading parts of the Quran, to honor their past and the importance of the Jewish New Year.
What are Judaism’s religious practices?
Jewish religious observance is primarily centered in the home, with daily prayers being said three times daily. Congregational prayers are usually held in a synagogue, a Jewish house of prayer and study. On Mondays, Thursdays, the Sabbath, festivals, and High Holy Days, the synagogue service includes Hebrew readings from the Torah and the Prophets. The synagogue service can be led by a cantor or a rabbi, an ordained religious teacher who has studied in a yeshiva.
The rabbi conducts weekly or daily study sessions for the congregation and can make informed decisions regarding the application of Jewish religious law and tradition. More serious matters, such as religious divorce, are handled by a local Jewish religious court.
What is not allowed in Judaism?
Judaism’s food laws, primarily found in the Books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, dictate what is allowed and what is not. Treif, or forbidden food, includes shellfish, pork products, and unsheathed shechitah, which requires a sharp knife cut to the throat of the animal. Land animals must have cloven hooves and chew cud, while seafood must have fins and scales. Shellfish is not allowed, and birds of prey are only allowed for clean birds.
Poultry is allowed, and meat and dairy cannot be eaten together, as stated in Exodus 23:19. Jews must wait up to six hours after eating meat before consuming dairy. Following these dietary rules demonstrates obedience and self-control.
📹 Judaism Explained
Judaism, at 4000 years old it is one of the oldest monotheistic religions and the granddaddy of Christianity and Islam. But even …
I think you’re doing a good job with this series of articles on religions. Finally, one on a religion I know something about. I’ve seen some books and articles on Judaism for beginners that are a complete shambles. This one is well done — probably the best introduction to Judaism I have seen. I am compelled to subscribe. I am already a CuriosityStream subscriber and will be looking for your content there.
I found this article very easy to follow and very helpful in my efforts to learn more about my extended human family and it’s varied cultural and faith traditions. As they say: knowledge is power, and to quote one of my favorite bands, Good Riddance, “hatred is the stillborn child of ignorance and boredom.” In a world so full of negative feelings toward one another, knowledge, kindness, and a little empathy can go a long way toward bettering human relations. Please keep up the good work.
I grew up Christian but after studying History I am contemplating everything, with certain books of the Bible, both Jewish and Christian, being written in completely different times by different people only to be pieced together in a later era. It is hard to sort through what is and isn’t a myth or legend. I love learning and always have an open mind when trying to completely understand something
It seems odd but for Persian weeks also starts in the day of Shabbat and we call it Shanbeh and other days will depend on when was the last Shanbeh so for example: Sunday- Yek-shanbeh – 1st (day after) Shabbat Monday- Do-shanbeh – 2nd (day after) Shabbat Tuesday- Thé-shanbeh – 3rd (day after) Shabbat Wednesday- Cahār-shanbeh – 4th (day after) Shabbat Thursday- Panc-shanbeh 5th (day after) Shabbat Friday- Jumâh—used to be Sesh-shanbeh 6th (day after) Shabbat And than comes Saturday which is simply Shanbeh. I’ve searched the origins of that word and found out the Persian word Shanbeh indeed comes from the Hebrew word “Shabbat”. It was surprising but I couldn’t find anything beyond that.
Dear staff and narrator of -cogito-, Thank you for this informative article about a religion that has endured for millennia. Especially that we live in a time where fear is at an all time high and groups of different faith, non faith, color, ethnicity, gender and political standing are targeted. I honestly believe that education about people who are different from your faith, skin color, ethnicity, gender and political standing in a least biased way it can bring down the barriers that divide us everywhere. I also found that you provided sources of your information which I appreciate because of certain organizations on and off of YouTube that claim to be factual, but after researching they are not. We need more people like you on YouTube because with a website that connects to people and presentation of factual information with all perspectives in mind all barriers will collapse. I also have a question, what was your favorite part of making this article? I hope you are having a nice day or evening. Sincerely, Connor Compton
As an Orthodox Jew, I was pleasantly surprised by how well-done this was, even if I’d have preferred a little more reverence at times. 🙂 Here are some more details: >> 3:05 The plural form is “mitzvot.” It’s actually debated among Jewish scholars whether or not the first of the Ten Commandments is one of the 613 commandments (and as you might guess from that, exactly what the 613 commandments are is debated). >> 3:28 There had been previous structures housing the Ark which had filled the same role as the Temple, but they were portable (able to be dismantled and reassembled) rather than permanent. >> 5:00 Whoa there, buddy! Most Orthodox Jews do not consider the Exile to have ended. (The group that’s the exception is known in Israel as “Dati l’Umi” (Religious Nationalists) and in the U.S. as Mizrachi.) >> 6:24 “Adonai” is used for the Tetragrammaton in prayer, blessings, the Tanach, etc., while “HaShem” is used to refer to God in conversation (or when demonstrating how to say, or quoting, a passage of Tanach/prayer/blessing rather than reciting it in its proper context). >> 9:22 To be precise, it’s divided into 38 sections known as Masechtot, or Tractates, but the number of physical volumes is around 20. (Also, if you removed all the pages in a typical volume that don’t have the Talmud itself on them, but only commentaries, they’d be quite a bit smaller. Even the pages with the Talmud itself also have significant amounts of commentary on them – at 9:45, only the center blocks of text are the Talmud.
I’m not religious but i find religion fascinating and a great way expand your mind ND understanding of the world. I think there’s some truth and value in all religions. If anything i ever embraced one single faith I’d feel like missing out of the thing’s the other ones have to teach. Also my parents used ancient Greek myths, ancient Egyptian myths, old Russian pagan myths and fairytales. That’s how I see religion and can apprecitit I that regard even though I don’t consider myself religious. I just walk where my heart quides me.
This was very well done! I have to mention that the Torah is a scroll not a book like the clip art, Judaism was the first monotheistic religion, and the word Tanakh is spelled wrong in Hebrew. Hebrew is written from right to left not left to right. It should be תנך not ךנת. Otherwise you did very well for someone who isn’t otherwise familiar with our religion and culture!
Okay a few fact checks. While the mythology states that Judaism started around 1900 – 1800 with Abraham, the historical record shows that the first signs of Judean/Israelite culture appear around the thirteenth century BCE. So while old, Judaism is probably no older than 3500 years old. The original religion was basically a Canaanite offshoot. Contrary to folk belief and national sentiment arousing stories, the Roman exile probably didn’t exile all of the Jews from Judea, only the elites, or a fraction of the overall population. Jews kept on living in Judea well into the Muslim period and only left their historic part of the land when the local rulers stopped caring about it. That’s when the overall population dropped. The Jews didn’t invent monotheism, they most likely merely adopted it from Zoroastrianism. Jews did practice monolaterous polytheism at points, but not monotheism until the 6th century BCE. Monolaterous polytheism means believing in many gods while worshiping only one. You can see the shifts between open polytheism and monolaterous polytheism all over the old testament; Hebrews worship “foreign” gods, get punished by god, a hero is sent to save them after they promise to worship only the God, and their proper faith is restored. Monolaterous polytheism was also practiced in ancient Egypt when Amun came to be viewed as a universal god with all the other deities being various attributes of his. Circumcision was most likely adopted by the Jews, as it was used in Egypt by the elites.
Hi, I wanted to say about 2 stuff that I believe are inaccurate: 1. I believe Dagon wasn’t the god of merman on the bible. In the bible itself he is not described as merman, but on later Jewish translations, as probably a part of an error, mixing Dagon with the word Dag(fish) instead of Dagan, meaning crop, as he was the god of crop. the former is a medieval interpretation and not consistent with the Jewish scriptures at the time of the bible. 2. Afterlife is for my best knowledge not written anywhere in the old testament. the scripture you said, that talk about gathering back to their ancestors, really isn’t about this, and rather talk about burying rituals in ancient Israel – the people used to bury their death, wait a year, and then dig out the bones and put them all together in family graves. such the case for the cave of the patriarchs when Abraham buys the cave for that reason. Afterlife is believed in Judaism globally and by all, it is just important to note that this isn’t mentioned explicitly in the old testament itself
This was a pretty thorough and quite an accurate speedy explanation of Judaism. The only comment I wish to add is that the modern concept of Being Jewish (rooted in Jewish history) consists of TWO ASPECTS Nationality and Religion. The former (A non-sexists aspect, BTW) is misunderstood, and indeed was barely touched upon during this segment. It is, to put it succinctly, a sense of belonging to a Jewish nation, separate and apart from a piece of real estate, a country, a government of Israel etc. The term ‘nationality’ is, therefore, often misunderstood, both by Israelis and non-Israeli Jews and non-Jews. Thus, one can be a loyal, patriotic, and devoted citizen of ANY country in the world and, at the same time, FEEL an intangible sense of belonging to Jewish Nationality. To put it graphically, Jewish Nationality has no passports, no loyalty oaths, no negative or subversive connotations, and for that matter, no connection to wanting to be an Israeli citizen, supporter or a blind-folded adherent of an Israeli government on the Left or on the Right and anything in between. I think that this point is equally as important as esoteric explanations of the afterlife, kosher foods, and religious beliefs that SEPARATE orthodox and secular Jews. The fact is that most Jews in the world are SECULAR, and this fact was not made clear. Thanks anyway, though.
As an agnostic Jew I really appreciated your article! I just have a couple feedback: 1) God was never described anywhere as an old white bearded Santa Claus-like man. I know it’s tempting to make that depiction since it’s how God is overwhelmingly represented in modern culture, but if I had to name the most fundamental idea of Judaism, it would be this: worship of a God that has no appearance whatsoever, and not even a name (“auditive appearance”, sort of) 2) Judaism didn’t actually start up as monotheistic. It was originally henotheistic = it didn’t deny the existence of other gods, but simply chose to worship one of them, the God of the Hebrews. That’s also why Judaism isn’t a universal religion: they don’t try to convert anyone because God only wanted the Hebrews to worship him. Also, when Messiah comes, every good person (not only the Jews) is resurrected
As an ex-muslim, I see a lot of traditions were borrowed from Judaism. The slaughtering/halal method, the Zakah (Tzedakah in Hebrew) etc. Sadly many muslims dont know a thing about Judaism and maybe if they did, they would recognize their commonalities more, and with understanding comes acceptance. Love your articles!
Guy says to his rabbi “My kid wants a Kawasaki for his Bar Mitzvah, what should I do?” Rabbi says, “What’s a Kawasaki?” Guy says “It’s a motorcycle.” The guy thinks, this rabbi is too out of touch, I’ll ask a reform rabbi. Guy goes to the reform rabbi and says, “My son wants a Kawasaki for his Barmitzvah, what do I do?” Reform Rabbi says, “What’s a bar mitzvah?”
If it matters, as I see many others mentioning their labels, I identify as a punker, an **anti** racist skinhead, an agnostic atheist, a secular humanist, a recovering addict, physically disabled, neurodivergent, cisgender heterosexual dude and father to two wonderful LGBTQIA kids. I’m simply on a mission to leave the world a better place than I found it, and I’m convinced the best pat to doing so is civilized conversation and sharing information and ideas.
18:18 and the reason Jesus is not recognised as the Messiah is because he didn’t fulfil many of the actual prophecies of the Tankh; most importantly he didn’t liberate & regift the Jewish people their homeland & rebuilt the temple. (& obviously the Messianic era hasn’t started but Christians believe that will come in the 2nd coming) Interesting fact though, Cyrus the Great was actually gifted the title Messiah for returning the Jews to their homeland & built them a temple, he was the only non-Israelite ever to receive the honour.
this article is perfect and one of the best on my opition and 100 present accurate but ill be honest there is something that i didn’t like in this article for example in 2:00 when u are explaining about what god said for Abraham the way you said it like it was some kind of joke i know your not religious and didn’t mean it but lets try not to joke on religious and politics alike iam not trying to criticism but this is for you own sake and website .anyways that is just my opition tnx
As a Jew, I cannot stand any religious hatred. Jews, Christians, Muslims, we are more similar than we like to think. We all believe in the same god, doing good for the world, and we all have the same holy land. Do not buy into the religious hatred and division that people of many religions preach. Baruch Hashem Zionism will end and the land of Palestine will become a place for all religions to live in peace.
It’s important to add that the land was called “Palestine” by the Romans after they destroyed Jerusalem. they called it that way to moc the Jews by calling there land after there enchant enemy . The people who are now called “Palestinens” came from arabia with the conquest of islam, and have nothing to do with the original “plishtim” that the land was called after.
14:43 the wearing of Kippha/Yarmulka was appropriated from the ancient Greeks, Odysseus being the first instance of wearing a skullcap in literature. Likewise, the Star of David is not exclusively Jewish having antecedent in prehistoric Czechoslovakia, among other locations, interestingly the same region where the first synagogues to feature this symbol would also appear.
i was kinda nervous how you would cover Judaism. but i’m glad to say, like with the other religions you’ve covered, you did a really great job. only a couple of things. Yiddish is mostly Germanic as German speakers understand Yiddish and versa vica 🙂 – the Jewish year is now 5779 not 4000 something, and and your pronunciation of certain words. i don’t know who told you how to say them, but they weren’t correct. tzadukah, Canaan, and adonaii being three of them, while you got others right. some of the things you talked about, i never even heard of – like the king who set the Jews free and rebuilt the Temple.
As a muslim and arab there are maaaaaany things that are similar even in the languages shabat for us we called sabt, the tzadekkah (something like that) we calle it saddakah, ellohim we say illahi or allah (both of then are the same thing and in english means god ) even in the 10 commendments we share basically the same things we believe in only one god and we decend both from ibrahim, even the food rules are similar
okay 1:30 in and a pretty notable problem, but a common one, the names you give for the 5 books of moses are the Greek names for them, the Greeks conquered us. Those are names given by those who oppressed us and not how we jews refer to the books. I’ll admit its become a problem since these words are in the popular culture most jews do use the greek names but we need to undo that
Great article. One note is that cremation is not strictly forbidden under Jewish law. The Mishnah Torah (a codex of Jewish law from the Middle Ages) lists the reason for not cremating is due to it being “arrogance.” Some have attributed this to the claim that in ancient times kings were cremated. Cremation became extremely taboo in Judaism after the horrors of the holocaust.
I have watched this article many times, and I just now realized you forgot to explain the reason why Judaism passes through the mother. It used to be the opposite until the 1st century BCE. The reason it was changed was because the Head Priest Hillel the Elder of Judea (the New Testament even mentions him) met with victims of a mass rape after an army passed through the village. The story goes that Hillel the Elder was so horrified by what he saw that he refused to condemn these women to suffer a second humiliation by having their children not be Jewish. So he literally pushed to change Judaism from a Patrilineal religion to a Matrilineal religion to prevent rape victims from being punished for what happened to them.
Great Job! I’m Jewish as like 98% of the people in the comments are and I only saw a few mistakes. 1. A few pronunciation mistakes but that’s fine. 2. The Jews never built the pyramids in Egypt as you showed in one of your animations. That is a myth from the movie Prince of Egypt. ok ty good article I enjoyed
In Islam we believe 4 Holy Books are by the same God 1)Torah 2)Zabur 3) Gospel 4)Quran that’s why you will find most similarities between them and we believe the Quran is last and perfect one because it has not been changed. (all past books were because at the end of the day this is a test, and that’s why the next Word was reavealed )
I don’t understand why people think islam started with prophet Muhammad pbuh, he was the last messanger and prophet of Allah, the first prophet was Adam pbuh so that means islam was there even from the first human being, so judiasm is not the granddaddy of islam and we didn’t copy a letter from torah, the reason of similarities is because the god who sent moses pbuh and jesus pbuh also sent Muhammad pbuh and Adam pbuh and all other prophets pbuh and gave the the same message
Imagine if a modern person traveled back in time, and lived through all the moments in the Old Testament. You have to assume the mystical aspects were natural occurrences, and that humans were ignorant to what us modern humans know. Like I’d be at the base of Mt. Siani and be telling everyone, “Oh, so you’re just gonna take his word? He was up there by himself for a whole 5 weeks, and he just chiseled those on the rocks himself!”
If there is an afterlife what is meant by this verse? Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. It must be a contradiction, because it says and was translated die, to die means the flesh dies, so the soul referred here is our body is a soul and is not immortal.