Thank you for volunteering to take part of my term project. Before we start let me remind you that your answers need to be thorough rather than brief. Please tell me when and where were you born? I was born on 27th of August in the year of 1930 in the city of Vitebsk, Belorussian Republic. Thank you. What ethnicity do you identify yourself with? If you are referring to race, then white. If you are referring to religion, I would say that my family has been identifying themselves as Jewish. However, I identify myself as an atheist since for as long as I can remember religion, especially Jewish religion, was persecuted in Russia and Soviet Union. Do you feel you can be more open about coming from a Jewish family now in the USA? I do feel that …show more content…
However, since the 90’s I noticed that the class difference in Russian has changed and my family fell in to being somewhere between poor and middle class. We had a lot of things that poor class did not have, such as house in the city and a summer house, but this is something that carried over from the soviet times. We had food on the table and clothes on our backs, but we could no longer go on a vacation or have access to private healthcare sector that was not covered under the universal insurance. We could not afford a car, as many could in the soviet times. Since we lived in the city, not having a car often was not an issue. We could afford to have pets, but could not afford to take them to a veterinarian. About a quarter of your food would come from a supermarket. During the summer months my wife would grow fruits and vegetables at our summer house outside of the city and we would make preserved to last for the winter. The rest of the food was purchased at the bazars (outdoor market), it was cheaper but often you had to inspect the quality of products very closely, you could not trust the quality of something
For my ethnographic fieldwork, I decided to do my research on the Jewish culture. I interviewed a friend of mine at her house, which is the field site I decided to work in. To protect her identity I changed her name to Rebecca. As soon as I got to her house I notice there was a small piece of metal on the side of her doorpost with hebrew text written on it. I enter the house and she greeted me and took me to her living room.In her living room I noticed she had a tray of bite size cookies for us and a Snapple drink. The cookies were sweet and they did not have strong odor. My friend wore black slacks a white blouse and a star necklace around her neck. After a while, her brother and father came in and I noticed they had a little cap on the top of their heads. I asked her questions about her religion and culture.
According to the broadest definition, there are approximately 9 million Jewish adults in America. Of those, 5.3 million are Jewish because they practice the Jewish religion or who have a Jewish parent and consider themselves Jewish. Non-hispanic blacks make up 2% of that population. (A Portrait of Jewish Americans) Blacks constitute such a small percentage of the Jewish population that they are often considered to be obviously “not Jewish”. This was the experience of Rabbi Shlomo ben Levy.In an article entitled, “Who are we? Where did we come from? How many of us are there?”, Rabbi Levy describes his feelings of marginalization triggered by an advertisement for Levy’s Jewish Rye. The advertisement features a black boy eating a sandwich and
Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. Jewish religious movements, sometimes referred to as denominations, can be looked at in terms of paradigm shifts in the Jewish Culture. Jewish denominations include different groups of Jews that have developed since the ancient times. In the United States, these denominations took the form of three large groups known as Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. While each denomination keeps to certain core beliefs, there is diversity within the faith as a whole.
Since the beginning of the Judaism, the Jewish people have been subject to hardships and discrimination. They have not been allowed to have a stabile place of worship and have also faced persecution and atrocities that most of us can not even imagine. Three events that have had a big impact on the Jewish faith were the building and destruction of the First Great Temple, the Second Great Temple and the events of the Holocaust. In this paper, I will discuss these three events and also explain and give examples as to why I feel that the Jewish people have always been discriminated against and not allowed the freedom of worship.
To become an effective counselor to Jewish Americans or any race or diverse population is to be aware of one’s thoughts and opinions concerning racism and racial advantage, as well increase knowledge of culture’s different from oneself (Hays & Erford, 2014). Jewish Americans are referred to those Caucasian individuals who have immigrated to the United States from another country, such as Eastern Europe (Hays and Erford, 2014). In this paper, I will identify and provide a description of the Jewish population and how they differ from myself in a variety of ways. Additionally, I will provide a reflection of my immersion into the Jewish culture via my observations and highlight what I have learned
Hasidic Judaism is a branch of Orthodox Judaism established in Eastern Europe during the 1800’s that put spirituality and a connection with God through mysticism at the forefront of its beliefs. In order to understand Hasidic Judaism, one must understand that Judaism is not only a religion; it is also a philosophy and a way of life for the Jewish people. One of the oldest monotheistic religions, Judaism has evolved over the years since the time of the founding fathers. Like any culture or religion, however, Jews have never been without conflict or disagreement amongst its people. Schisms amongst Jews over long periods of time have led to a branching out of sects and Jewish institutions. What led to the separation of denominations within
Jesus is the fulfillment of Judaic prophecies; he is the new Moses imparting the new Law of Love.
The Jewish religion has also undergone many transformations over the years. It started off in its earliest years as being animistic, with Hebrews worshipping forces of nature. As a result this religion had a number of practices that concerned magic and animal sacrifices. The Hebrew religion also became polytheistic which involves several gods. Hebrew religion eventually became anthropomorphic, in which God or gods became human individuals and had human characteristics. Eventually most Hebrews concentrated on one main God who they referred to as Yahweh. Yahweh is a mysterious term used in Hebrew that reads YHWY (in biblical Hebrew there were no vowels), and that still to this day its pronunciation
Judaism and Christianity each have their own beliefs and traditions, with Judaism being a religion that shaped Christianity as it is today. Both religions were shaped by the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament, which is considered by many to be the biblical law of God (Molloy, 2009). Christians however, consider that in the New Testament with the arrival of God in human form, that our sins were forgiven. In its earliest stages, Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism. Jesus and his apostles even considered themselves Jewish in the early years of Christianity. While followers of Judaism do believe in one God, they do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah or that God is the Holy Trinity.
1 Id-According to the Old Testament, what massacre took place shortly after Moses received the 10 Commandments and why did it take place? Briefly list the main events in Moses’ life according to the Old Testament. Do any Egyptian sources confirm the events narrated in the Old Testament?
I learned a lot of facts about Judaism that I had previously been ignorant to. I had no idea that we (Christians & Jews) maintained the same bible (The Old Testament) but that we interpreted certain events differently, such as Adam and Eve. “In Judaism, each and every human being is free to choose good or evil because each person stands before God in the same relationship that Adam and Eve did” (Esposito 77). I was unaware that Judaism did not believe in “original sin.” I had no knowledge of the fact that Jews did not believe that Christ was resurrected from the dead. I found it interesting how Jews have split into separate groups – Reform Jews, who believe that Judaism is a cultural inheritance and that neither the laws nor beliefs are
Throughout the history of the world, the Jewish people have been persecuted and oppressed because of their religious beliefs and faith. Many groups of people have made Jews their scapegoat. Jews have suffered from years of intolerance because people have not understood what the religion really means. They do not understand where and why the religion began, nor the customs of it's people. For one to understand the great hardships, triumphs, and history of the Jewish people one must open-mindedly peruse a greater knowledge of the Jewish people and faith.
There are many different cultures that surround us everyday; each one with its own unique customs and lifestyles. The Jewish culture contains some of the oldest traditions and customs that date back thousands of years. This culture has survived everything from exile to almost being diminished during the Holocaust. The Jewish culture has a unique culture, that has much to share with the world around them.
Have you ever noticed that when people talk of Jews, at least in a protestant church, that the Israelite legalism, rituals, dress and hair standards are the first things to mind? The topic of Judaism may come with stereotypical opinions and “Christian Judgement” that are without merit or understanding. Judaism, by a Christian worldview, had to change after Pentecost, since the animal sacrifice to atone for sin Christ completed on the Cross. However, Judaism does not accept this truth of Christ and His work on the cross, but Judaism remains in the world. So, what was this change in Judaism and when did it take place? There have been numerous fluctuations within Judaism, only the theme constructed in this essay has its foundations around the most important facet of Judaism- the Temple. With the Temple in the forefront of this essay, we will discuss the modifications that Judaism went through, at what time, different perspectives that the destruction of the Temple had, and how the Christian sect views these vagaries. The Temple destruction of A.D. 70 converted the Jewish faith in its singular fashion, while, at the same point, the Jewish faith never had a total change by always changing throughout time.
Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. Jewish people have suffered persecution through the holocaust, they were left with nothing. No leader or land to call their own as everything was taken from them.