On Friday as I have the privilege, I put on Teffilin with a successful businessman who though he is very knowledgeable in many affairs, his knowledge of Judaism (not to cast aspersion on his interest) is perhaps kindergarten.

 

So I felt it is important to put together a simple Jewish Literacy:

 

 

Faith

 

One of the great codifiers of Jewish law also wrote the famous thirteen principles of Jewish faith:

 

They constitute what a Jew/Judaism believes:

 

1. Belief in the existence of the Creator, who is perfect in every manner of existence and is the Primary Cause of all that exists.
2. The belief in G‑d’s absolute and unparalleled unity. This means, both, that besides G-d there is no existence; for all that exists is merely self-perception – as we now know “e=m,” so if all is really energy and as we now know (this was written about in Kabbalah thousands of years ago) the energy like breaths simply disappears and reappears, nano-second by nano-second (you heard right, all atoms disappear and reappear continually, as Kabbalah writes: the energy comes out of G-d- then returns back to him, like heartbeats) so the most we can say about our existence is that like Einstein said, “reality is a perception, albeit a very persistent one” – though this doesn’t mean our reality doesn’t exist, rather it’s very essence is Go-d.
3. The belief in G‑d’s non-corporeality, nor that He will be affected by any physical occurrences, such as movement, or rest, or dwelling.
4. The belief in G‑d’s eternity.
5. The imperative to worship G‑d exclusively and no foreign false gods. In essence this doesn’t only mean bowing to an idol, but disavowing any path which isn’t Go-d – in other words, Go-d has communicated to us through the Torah and particularly as Moses writes, “In every generation Go-d sends a Moses and you should listen to him;” for his words are like Mossess’ – directly from Go-d; So in our generation, we have the Lubavitcher Rebbe and by studying applying and fulfilling both the Torah and his directives we are then in the singular true road.
6. The belief that G‑d communicates with man through prophecy. What is important to understand is that this belief was updated, as the Baal Shem Tov taught, that in fact Go-d is always communicating – now as the next principle states, our greatest prophet who Go-d spoke face to face to, was Moses, but there is no person who at all times Go-d is not indirectly communicating with, and the more one attunes oneself, as the Baal Shem Tov taught, that everything we encounter, every experience, sometimes even random thoughts, are lessons, teachings and directions, the clearer we see, discern and know.
7. The belief in the primacy of the prophecy of Moses our teacher.
8. The belief in the Divine origin of the Torah. In other words, Go-d established that Moses was a prophet which was witnessed by the entire Jewish nation, recorded in the Torah by the nation who experienced “live” these very events.
9. The belief in the immutability of the Torah. The Torah is immutable which means it’s laws (under the pre-existing framework codified by our great Rabbis) are eternal.
10. 1 The belief in G‑d’s omniscience and providence. This means Go-d not only continually supervises all of reality but also directs, controls – though in a hidden way (allowing free-choice which is when you can believe it is all natural) continuously.
11. The belief in Divine reward and retribution. All our actions create reactions; if we add light, we live in it; but because Go-d is kind both to us and everyone, if we become angry and do not humble ourselves (for anger is based on arrogance hence humility eliminates its possibility) then Go-d is forced to.
12. The belief in the arrival of the Messiah and the messianic era. This is a very important belief, namely that the day will come – which as the Rebbe the prophet of our generation has proclaimed – that the Messiah will arrive! – We believe that in every generation there is a descendent of King David (BTW the Rebbe was) who is very studious and brings Jews back to Judaism and when the appointed time comes he will be told by Go-d (with probably many miraculous accompaniments, as the verse states, “As I took you out of Egypt I will show you more miracles,” returning all Jews to Israel, rebuilding the third Holy-Temple and showing the whole world how to live at their highest best.
13. The belief in the resurrection of the dead. We believe that at least forty years after the Messiah’s arrival, all the Jewish, as well as good gentile, dead, will rise – effectively heaven comes to earth.

 

Religion

 

Judaism has two categories of laws:

 

Between Man and Go-d- – religious duties that keep us spiritual.

 

And between man and man – religious duties that keep us moral.

 

There are many books that deal with mainly the religious duties all of which must be done – though for those not brought up in Judaism, one should undertake to add them one at a time, so say once a month take a new one, such as putting Teffilin etc.

 

All of these laws help create us into sensitive, as opposed to insensitive people.

 

The laws governing human interaction are the entire goal of Judaism (remember the religious duties are to make us sensitive).

 

Again these have been canonized but effectively first and foremost the most important basis is “Love your friend as yourself”.

 

See your fellow Jew not as another but as a brother / sister – you are all really just one soul / Go-d in a many bodies, united by a common obligation and purpose, fulfilling the Divine will to build a harmonious humanity.

 

History

 

Again many books do great justice especially “Our People” – however what is critical to know is that Abraham who “discovered” the principles of the Divine unity was the first Jew – his wife Sarah the first Jewess – their son Isaac and his wife Rivkah the second, their son Yaakov (Jacob) his two wives Rochel and Leah and their twelve children the next – these descended into Egypt emerging app. 4,000 years later with app 3,000,000.

 

Traveling through the Sinai  – and receiving the Torah en-route – they establish a Jewish kingdom.

 

The kingdom has three important phases – the first, app. 3,300 years ago is app. 400 years, when mainly ruled by Rabbis, based primarily on respect, the Jews had ups and down

 

They then appointed their first King, Saul, who was succeeded by King David, a powerful saint, scholar  and warrior who vanquished his enemies, established Jerusalem, and was a moral force.

 

His son King Solomon was a brilliant statesman who effectively through diplomacy and all nations seeking his wisdom became a world power – he built the first Holy Temple.

 

This Temple lasted 410 years and was destroyed by King Nevachadnetzer.

 

This caused the Jews to begin their exile with many emigrating to Babylonia (Iraq).

 

They built the second Temple 70 years later which lasted 420 years and was destroyed by the Romans.

 

This began a long period of dispersion which continues to this very day with the Jews settling all over the Roman empire and in many many other lands.

 

The story of the Jews is the story of the human conscience.

 

A single nation completely devoted to her ideals amongst pagans and often both Cristian or Muslim jealous antisemites whose personal misery or delusions couldn’t handle the moral high ground and yet for anyone seeking truth they stood as a beacon that one can be idealistic and realistic, committed to values and a man of common-sense.

 

Of-course in our own times the holocaust, coming from the evil hitler murdered a third of our people, followed a few years later by a complete demographic shift with both America and Israel becoming the home of the largest Jewish populations.

 

Great Rabbis settled in both, and hence spiritually both became the spiritual centers.

 

The undisputed leader of the Jewish people from 1950 until today is the Lubavitcher Rebbe whose almost infinite knowledge, saintliness, common sense, and infinite love for all people had him establish the largest Jewish movement, Chabad, whose centers cater to app. a million Jews weekly, offering every form of social and religious services.

 

You

 

As Go-d so clearly states “See I have placed before you a blessing and a curse… the blessing will come when you listen” – as we mentioned, our world contains freedom of choice, but not freedom of consequence – if you humble yourself and follow Go-d and to the extent… your life will be filled with every blessing!