Artefact Description: The Hebrew Bible

The Tanakh is the collection of the scriptures of Judaism. It is commonly referred to as the Jewish Old Testament or the Jewish Bible, however these names are not the ones used by the Jewish people. Their Scripture that is comparable to that of the Christian Bible is the Tanakh. The name is made from an acronym of the Hebrew names of the three components of Jewish

The Torah, the Tanak, the Hebrew Bible, and the Pentateuch. No matter how you say it they all mean the same thing. The Torah is the foundation of Judaism: the most sacred documents. The word Torah can mean numerous things. It often simply refers to the T in Tanak. It is most commonly translated to mean “ the law”. There are five books that make up the Torah. These books are referred to as the Five Books of Moses: Exodus, Genesis, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The books of the Torah tell the Israelites a story. A story that begins where we begin, and ends before the introduction of the Savoir. It is often questioned, who the author(s) of the Torah is (are). For this question there are generally two main hypotheses: Mosaic Authorship and the Documentary Hypothesis.

For Judaism, Torah- originally, the written record of the revelations as given to Moses on Mount Sinai. For Christianity, Bible -the holy book that combines the Old Testament (or the Hebrew Bible) with the history and teachings of Jesus as recorded by his disciples in the 27 books of the New Testament, including the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. For Islam, Qur'an -the sacred text of Islam that is considered to be the literal word of God, or Allah, as revealed to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel.

In the article “Ritual and Presentation in Early Buddhist Religious Architecture” by Lars Fogelin, the readers are introduced to Buddhism and ritual which include the stupas. Stupas were build according to Buddha’s dying wish, his reason for doing so was “indented for the laity who, with their poorer grasp of Buddhism principles, required the aid of direct worship to ease them toward the path to enlightenment” (Forgelin, pg. 3). The argument that Forgelin brings up is that the designers had to accommodate the needs of Buddhist worshipers “while attempting to provide mechanisms to foster group cohesion”(Forgelin, pg.1), which is shown in the open-air and rock-cut stupas. Forgelin’s thesis stated he will address the main topic by first presenting Buddhist’s goal and how to attain this goal referred to as nirvana, then who are the three principal groups who practice their rituals at a stupid, and how the designers had to incorporate the different styles of practice into the design of the stupas.

Although it is argued that rabbis began work on compiling the oral histories prior to the fall of the Second Temple, there was a definite resurgence in documentation of the important history and moral laws of Judaism after the fall. The most important of these written documents in the Jewish faith is the Hebrew Bible. This bible is comprised of the Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim, these three components combine to make up the Tanakh. The Torah is the core of the Hebrew Bible and contains the story of creation, as well as directions on daily conduct and religious rituals. The Nevi’im contains the stories of prophets. The prophets were people that spoke on behalf of God to the Jewish people. Lastly, the Ketuvim is comprised of mostly imaginative literature such as psalms, proverbs and poetry (Molloy, 294). Shifting the focus from priests and temple to a written work that is accessible to all regardless of location was the main adaptation of Judaism and certainly saved the faith. Although the historical accuracy of the Hebrew Bible is debatable, as some stories may have morphed from their origination to when they were assembled in writing, the bible still remains at the core of Judaism today.

This includes the first section of Judaism’s bible. Their bible was originally written in Hebrew, so Torah in English is literally translated to “teaching, instruction, or law”. The Torah includes the five books of Moses, which are Bresheit, Shemot, Vayicra, Bamidbar, and Devarim. In the modern, translated bible, these are the books Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These five books tell the Jews how to live their life if they want to please God. Also, the “Jews believe that God dictated the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai 50 days after their exodus from Egyptian slavery.” (The Torah,

Mandala Explanation Essay Choosing fire, which is represented by the fire nation symbol from Avatar: The Last Airbender on the first page of the mandala, as the natural element that describes the way I am around others was quite difficult to do; I felt as if none of the elements described the way I feel I am. Symbolically, fire represents energy, power, and passion. When I actually put thought into it, I realized that this is how I try to act. This is what I almost pretend to be like when I am not being myself.

     The Jewish Bible or Tanakh, is the sacred book that interprets history as the Jews have experienced it. Although it is proper to think of the Bible as a single book of scriptures, it is more accurate to describe it as a library of books assembled under three major headings. The most important is the Torah, which means “devine instruction and guidance.” Torah is also known as the Five Books of Moses; the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The second portion is the Nevi’im meaning writings of the Prophets. The third section of Tanakh is referred to as Kethuvim or “the Writings.”

The most important of these written documents is the Hebrew Bible. This bible is composed of the Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim, and these three components combine to make up the Tanakh (Simmons, 83). The Torah is the core of the Hebrew Bible and contains the story of creation, as well as directions on daily conduct and religious rituals. The Nevi’im contains the stories of prophets. The prophets were people who spoke on behalf of God to the Jewish people. Lastly, the Ketuvim is composed of mostly imaginative literature such as psalms, proverbs and poetry (Molloy, 294). Shifting the focal point from

Unlike humans and other gods who are not on the path to Nirvana because they are mutable, are displayed in vivid and vibrant colours. It plays a crucial role in ritual due to the goal of the Buddhists wanting to be granted rebirth in the vicinity of the

Cultural influence spurs from the Middle Eastern religious practice of Buddhist Meditation. The geometric Square Shape- Western perspective- religions like Christianity and Judaism celebrate beliefs as a congregation where spiritual practice is a communal activity. Hence the square rectangular spaces for gathering.

What My Mandala Means to Me A mandala is a astounding and purposeful design made in the form of a circle to represent the experiences and attributes that make a person’s life unique and different from each individual on this planet. It represents wholeness and has been used to demonstrate this for centuries. Mandalas have become something so exclusive for presenting essential individual aspects on life and cultural eccentricity. During my lifetime, I have had many different events take place which may not have always been positive but they have made me who I am and I’m proud of myself for overcoming all these obstacles.

I chose the symbols I did for my Mandala because I thought that they represented Brahman, Deities, Dharma, Karma, and Samsara very well and they were all clear. I chose a “god” in the clouds and people beneath for Brahman, because Brahman means “supreme power in the universe and the gods have the most power in the Caste System, considering they are at the top. For Deities, I chose a candle in the darkness because Divali is the Hindu new year, where the people would would light candles to symbolize good (light) winning over evil (darkness). I have a man working in the fields for Dharma, because Dharma means to perform one’s duties, to decide on how you shall live. For Karma, I did a man, dead, and his soul standing over him because Karma determines

The Old Testament consisted of a set of documentations of religious scriptures, which were written by different people at various times for a different audience. Most of the Old Testament contains short stories of traditional stories and those stories of distinguished ways God established mankind. These stories are often told to the people in narrative form, which are guidelines often referred to as laws, songs, genealogies, and a list from these authors that composed the Old Testaments. The pressing of set documentation is essential because it is the framework for the lives of God 's followers. The term “Old Testament” originated as a means to express spoken traditions and God 's creation of that particular era. It is an method of philosophical investigation was designed to answer the why questions within these spiritual text documentations. These religious documentations consisted of four parts. These four sections retrieved from the Old Testaments are the laws, history, wisdom and prophecy. The laws are a rule of behavior enforced within the community. The rules are sometimes called “Torah.” When analyzing this Torah, these rules viewed within the first five spiritual books of the Bible. For example, in the first Torah in Genesis, it explains the creation, Noah’s Flood, Abraham and Isaac, and Joseph’s coats of many colors. However, the laws in Exodus were in regards to the going out. The going out took about 40 plus years, until the people led to

The stone fence surrounds the whole stopa to restrict the outside world from the sacred burial mound. The dome shape of the stopa represents the mountain of the world. The toranas are large stone pillars that are placed in the cardinal points of the stone fence, north, east, south, and west. Directly on top of the stupa sits the harmika. This harmika is a rectangle shape stone fence that represents an area of the gods. In the center of this harmika extends the yasti, a pole like structure protruding towards the universe representing the axis of the universe. There are three chatras that are pierced through the yasti. The chatras are stone discs that represent the union of the earth and the “heavenly paradise” (Kleiner, p. 15). The stupas are walked around in a clockwise manner by Buddhists because that is the same movement of the earth around the sun. This is known as circumambulation. The theory of circumambulation is that it “brings the devotee into harmony with the cosmos” (p. 15). This is the standard blueprint to which all stupas are constructed, thus allowing the Buddhists to circumambulate the structure.