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Extensible Markup Language | 1995-08-14 | 11KB | 34 lines

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <!DOCTYPE card PUBLIC "-//Apple, Inc.//DTD card V 2.0//EN" "" > <card> <id>9579</id> <filler1>0</filler1> <cantDelete> <false /> </cantDelete> <showPict> <true /> </showPict> <dontSearch> <false /> </dontSearch> <owner>5472</owner> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet_3106.css" /> <content> <layer>background</layer> <id>25</id> <text>udaism (3 of 3)Rites of passageBirth. As a sign of the covenant between God and the Jews, the Torah lays down that every baby boy must be circumcised. The service is performed by a specially trained person, a mohel, on the eighth day after birth. Girls are named by their father in the synagogue.Bar mitzvah. When a Jewish boy is 13 years old, he is regarded as being old enough to take responsibility for himself and for his observance of the Law. He is then 'bar mitzvah' (Hebrew for 'son of the commandment'), an adult in religious terms. He can then take an active part in services, and be counted in the minyan. One of the privileges of a Jewish man is to be called to read a passage of the Torah, in Hebrew, in a synagogue service, and in many communities the first occasion when he can do this is made the pretext of a party. In Orthodox Judaism, girls celebrate their coming of age at 12, and in some congregations this is marked by a bat chayil ceremony. In Progressive synagogues girls may have a bat mitzvah ('daughter of the commandment') ceremony at the age of 13.Marriage. A Jewish marriage ceremony takes place under a canopy, the chuppah,and can be held anywhere, but is usually held in a synagogue or out of doors. After the bridegroom places a ring on the bride's forefinger, the ketubah or marriage contract is read out, and seven blessings are recited. At the end of the ceremony, the bridegroom breaks a glass underfoot, recalling the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. In Orthodox circles, the celebrations continue for a week, with the seven blessings repeated each night.Death. Jewish law requires that a body must be buried in consecrated ground as soon as possible after death. It is first washed, anointed with spices, wrapped in a white sheet, and placed in a plain wooden coffin. Orthodox Jews regard cremation as a denial of belief in bodily resurrection. At the funeral, mourners tear their clothes, and for the next year they recite Kaddish during every synagogue service; Kaddish is also recited annually on the anniversary of death.Jewish traditions and sectsFor the Orthodox Jew, all authority derives from the divine will as expressed in the Torah and interpreted in the rabbinic tradition; the main role for human reason is in working out the precise details of that law. Ritual observance and the obligation to study are not thought of as different from ethical behavior. Nonetheless, there are diverse traditions within Orthodox Judaism: the Ashkenazi tradition developed in the communities of Germany and Poland; while the Sephardic tradition is traced back to the Jews who lived in the lands of the Near East and Mediterranean (particularly Spain) under Muslim rule in and before the Middle Ages. When the Sephardic Jews of Spain and Portugal were expelled in 1492 they settled in various countries, but have preserved different traditions from the Jews of northern Europe. The Hassidic sects of eastern Europe and some of the Oriental and North African communities also evolved their own rites. These groups, however, recognize each other's legitimacy in so far as they subscribe to the traditional concept of divine authority.In the 19th and early 20th centuries various trends in Europe and America moved away from traditional or Orthodox observance, giving rise to Reform, Liberal, Conservative, Reconstructionist and other forms of Judaism. They reject the divinity of the Torah and rabbinic authority, and believe, to varying degrees, that Jewish practice must adapt to changing circumstances. They have introduced changes such as holding services partly in the vernacular (rather than Hebrew).EJB THE THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES OF FAITH The best known codification of the beliefs of Orthodox Judaism is the Thirteen Principles of Faith by the Spanish court physician and philosopher, Rabbi Moses Maimonides (1135-1204). Each of the first five Principles begins 'I believe with complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name. . . ': 1. . . . creates and guides all creatures; and that He alone made, makes, and will make everything. 2. . . . is unique and nothing is unique like Him in any way; and that He alone was, is and will be our God. 3. . . . is not a body, and is not affected by physical events; and nothing is at all similar to Him. 4. . . . is the first and the last. 5. . . . is the only being to whom it is proper to pray, and there is none other to whom it is proper to pray.Each of the remaining Principles begins 'I believe with complete faith. . . ': 6. . . . that all the words of the Prophets are true. 7. . . . that the prophecy of Moses our Teacher, may he rest in peace, was true, and he was the greatest of the Prophets, both those who preceded him and those who followed him. 8. . . . that all the Torah now in our hands is that which was given to Moses our Teacher, may he rest in peace. 9. . . . that this Torah will not be exchanged, nor will there be another Torah from the Creator, blessed be His name. 10. . . . that the Creator, blessed be His name, knows all the deeds of mankind, and all their thoughts, as it says 'He forms their hearts together; He understands all their deeds'. 11. . . . that the Creator, blessed be His name, bestows good on those who observe His commandments and punishes those who transgress His commandments. 12. . . . in the coming of the Messiah; and even though he linger, nevertheless I wait every day for him to come. 13. . . . that there will be a resurrection of the dead at such time as is the will of the Creator, blessed be His name and exalted be his mention forever and for all eternity.MAJOR JEWISH FESTIVALS The normal Jewish year consists of 12 lunar months of 29 or 30 days. An extra month is added to 7 years of every 19-year cycle to bring the calendar back in time with the solar year.The Jewish months are as follows: Nisan (March-April), Iyyar (April-May), Sivan (May-June), Tammuz (June-July), Av (July-August), Ellul (August-September), Tishri (September-October), Cheshvan (October-November), Kislev (November-December), Tevet (December-January), Shevat (January-February), Adar (February-March).PESACH (Passover), 15-22 Nisan. Formal meal to commemorate Exodus from Egypt; also originally thanksgiving for barley harvest. No leaven eaten.SHAVUOT (Pentecost), 6-7 Sivan. Commemorates giving of Torah; also originally thanksgiving for wheat harvest.FAST OF AV, 9 Av. 24-hour fast to commemorate destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC and by the Romans in AD 70.ROSH HASHANA, 1-2 Tishri. New Year; commemorates 'Birthday of the World'. White worn for repentance, and ram's horn blown to commemorate Abraham's covenant with God.YOM KIPPUR, 10 Tishri. Day of Atonement, marked by 24 hours of fasting and prayer for forgiveness of past sins.SUKKOT (Tabernacles), 15-22 Tishri. The 40 years of wandering in the desert are commemorated by eating and sleeping in huts roofed with branches. Also originally thanksgiving for harvest.SIMCHAT TORAH, 22-23 Tishri. Marks completion of annual cycle of Torah readings and commencement of new cycle.CHANUKAH or HANUKKAH(Festival of Lights), 25 Kislev-3 Tevet. Candles are lit in a nine-branched Menorah or Chanukiah to commemorate rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem by Judas Maccabeus in 165 BC.TU B'SHEVAT, 15 Shevat. Trees planted.PURIM, 14 Adar. Readings of Book of Esther, giving of charity and sending of gifts all commemorate the deliverance of the Jews of Persia from destruction.Two new dates are observed by many Jews: YOM HA'ATZMA'UT (5 lyyar) celebrates the establishment of the State of Israel, and YOM HASHOAH (27 Nisan) is a memorial for the 6 million Jews who died in the Nazi Holocaust.</text> </content> <content> <layer>background</layer> <id>26</id> <text>he menora, a multi-branched Jewish candlestick, is lit during the festival of Chanukah (Hanukkah). It is an imitation of the seven-branched golden candelabrum of the Tabernacle. Today the menora is a powerful symbol of Judaism.</text> </content> <content> <layer>background</layer> <id>23</id> <text>ΓÇó THE ANCIENT NEAR EASTΓÇó THE GROWTH OF TOTALITARIANISMΓÇó WORLD WAR IIΓÇó THE MIDDLE EASTΓÇó RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EASTΓÇó CHRISTIANITY: BELIEF AND ACTIONΓÇó WORSHIP, PRAYER AND PILGRIMAGEΓÇó SACRED PLACES AND RITUALSΓÇó GOOD AND EVILΓÇó THE MAKING OF MYTHS</text> </content> <content> <layer>background</layer> <id>36</id> <text>364442444454460474480482484612</text> </content> <name>p472-3</name> <script></script> </card>