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Judaism
By Jeff Stats
In Acts 26:5 and Galatians 1:13 there is a description of how God
has entered into relationships with Jews which later resulted in
Judaism, or as the Apostle calls it, the religion of the Jews. And
although it is know that the major religions of the world are
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, labeling Judaism solely a
religion is an incorrect notion, and harms the understanding of
the Judaism and Jews. Most people will agree that religion is
basically a group of people who share common beliefs and money.
Although this is also true for Judaism, Judaism should not be
classified as a religion only.
Let us analyze Judaism from the point of view of people and the
traits of belongingness to various groups. One such group is the
religious group in which people share common views as to God and
other aspects of spiritual life. On such basis people can be bound
as the believers, although they may live in different parts of the
world. Another bounding characteristic is a national
relationships, meaning that people can feel bonded together on the
basis of common nationality. For instance Italians feel strong
about being such and could support their natives only because they
live on the same land. However if this bond brakes and an Italian
leaves the country, say for India, he no longer feels the bonding
power of his nation. Finally, the third and most significant,
adherence power in people’s life belongs to family ties. Related
people by blood tend to maintain constant relationships with each
other and feel lost when such bond brake. Not only closest family
is considered relatives but also cousins, and even cousins’ “club”
which includes second and third cousins.
All of those connections taken and blended together will
constitute the meaning of Judaism. It has an aspect of all three,
as Jews have common religious believes, were ones gives a
“promised” land which to these days remains their dreamed of land,
and certainly Jews believe in having common ancestors.
Consequently we see that Judaism in not merely a religion, but a
threefold concept which includes a lot f aspects. Thus Judaism
cannot be called a race, as it is not related to skin color or
place of living. Judaism is a national identity that does not
depend on the territorial attachment and independent of the fact
of whether the Jew lives in Israel or not. His nationality is
inherently related to the Land of Israel since God granted it to
him/her as a descendent of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and therefore
unalterable.
Altogether the Jew remains a Jew, and thus relates to Judaism,
regardless of the fact if he or she follows the religious rites,
participates in Jewish causes has a comprehensive understanding of
the Jewish history. Since Judaism is an essential part of the Jew,
which relates to his God given soul, no matter how good or bad
he/she may do in life, a person remains a complete Jew, ignorant
perhaps of the tradition and rituals, not attentive to its people
perhaps, or even not interested in the Land of his heritage.
The vision that creates such misconception of Judaism and being a
Jew comes from gentile perception of this idea, who view Jews as
only a religious group. Certainly there are Jews, who view
themselves only as a religion followers, but those are Jews who
have converted into in, without being born of Jewish parents, or
should I say mother. Only a person who has Jewish blood, can
comprehend the meaning of Judaism as it is now and as it was a
thousand years ago. Those Jews still have the same values, which
mostly are centered on their family. This proves the claim that
regardless of the societal or material success of a person, a Jew
still remains a Jew, because the family ties exist perpetually,
and cannot be broke by rhyme nor reason.
Such family connections and religious affairs in Judaism can
easily explain the phenomenon of it. For thousand of years the
followers of this faith have been coming together and landing a
helping hand to each other like no other religious group in the
world. This happens because being a Jew is also being a family
member and for them it’s not only empty words but a way of life.
They are bond by their Land of Israel even if they do not live
their, by common ancestors even if they might not know their
names, and by universal religious belief, which can be
disregarded. Those are the unique components of the eternal recipe
called Judaism.
Jeff Stats is a staff writer at
http://www.mindrelief.net custom college essay, term paper,
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