2009/07/08 Seventh Introduction to Judaism Class Notes History of Judaism

2009/07/08 Seventh Introduction to Judaism Class Notes
Teacher: Rabbi Mort Kaplan, retired

The class was to be titled Jewish History but Rabbi Mort said he preferred to call it a History of Judaism because he could not cover a Jewish History class with dates and kings and etc. in one hour. He said Judaism is more about the spiritual inheritance that comes to us from the past.

This history of Judaism is influenced by two foundations:
1) Jewish spiritual inheritance
2) Greek cultural inheritance.

History of Judaisms (with an emphasis on the plural nature of the word)has two objectives:
(1) Remember these forms of Judaism (I think)
(2) This is being taught from the point of view of Reform Judaism. This justifies modern Judaism and the salient character is the ability to either replicate or have variations of Judaism. There are a few times when Judaism mutated with revolutionary change. Sometimes this change was quiet and sometimes it was violent. The point is to demonstrate that Judaism is a religion of change and Judaism's God is a God of change.

Over time, moral sensibilities have changed and there are four different Judaisms throughout history. All have this in common - The Pentateuch, or the first 5 books of the Bible, Torah and back even further, the first chapter of Genesis which is enormously important. So all the Judaisms have God in common but the view of God has changed over time.

First form of Judaism begins with people whose stories we know such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the enslavement of Israelites in Egypt. The prophets are important. For the first 1500 years of Israelite history, they had a religion of one God. They didn't see Him but He was knowable. God could make his will known through certain people. In Genesis 12, Abraham is told he would be a blessing and through him (Abraham), all families of earth shall be blessed. This is one reason to be Jewish - you are part of a blessed people.

The best way to say it is the People of Israel. God is concerned with this clan of people. Then they spread out after wandering the desert together and settling in Israel. Joseph ends up in Egypt which is outside Israel. Question is can God operate outside Israel and the answer comes that he can. He operates there and becomes a problem solver. He gets his people out of slavery in Egypt and provides manna for food and helps with matters of justice. God's places therefore expanded.

The people wander 40 years in the desert. Then in Joshua and Judges, they settle down. Samuel goes around judging. Then comes the problem of the Philistines. The people decide they need a King. Saul, David, Solomon were among the first kings and they were all rough characters. Solomon even brings polytheism into Israel when he takes foreign wives. The (non-literary) prophets emerged like Moses and Abraham because God speaks to prophets directly as he did to Abraham. He spoke to Moses directly also but God does not speak to ordinary man directly.

The Kingdom splits into a Northern (Israel) and Southern (Judah). Things get political. Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, wants Solomon to be king and uses politics to make it so. So the prophets were instrumental in underpinning the Kings because they had access to God.

Then emerged a new kind of prophet, a literary kind. Some of the literary prophets of Israel were Amos, Isaiah, Micah, and Jeremiah. They did two things aside from castigating for sins:
(a) The people of Israel were about to be defeated by Assyrians and Babylonians. If they lost this battle, then in the ancient world, their God lost too people thought. If exiled to a foreign country, then the god of that foreign country would be the winner and take over as the people's god. But not for the people of Israel. Their God is never inadequate. you may have to change your concept of God but He is never inadequate.
(b) Prophets came up with the idea of peace and justice and equity. Ideas such as turning swords into pruning shears and ideas like doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with your God. This is a giant leap forward because these people lived in a world of violence and war. There was anything but peace and equity. Prophets wanted people to pursue good and beauty. This hasn't happened even up to today but there is nothing wrong with wishing for it.

So this was the first Judaism. It was prophetic, patriarchal in form. It had nothing to do with ritual, sacrificial requirements. Religion was relatively open.

The Second form of Judaism is delineated in late Exodus, Leviticus and the first part of Numbers. This Judaism is sacrificial in nature. People bring sacrifices to the temple and the priest gives expiation for sin. Torah was the book of the priests. Sin was not bringing the right sacrifice for the ritual. Jews were living under the Persian Empire. The Persians let the Jews back after the destruction of the first Temple. The King wants to keep the tributes for himself. Then the people got rid of the Kings. The prophits are loose cannon. Some of the prophets such as Ezekiel seem to be crazy.

In Leviticus, the Persians and a few Jews made a deal and made sacrifices mandatory. This is outlined in Leviticus. But the priests got one over on the Persians in that they wrote Genesis where God made everything. So God made even the Persians so Israel is by logic better than the Persians since the God of the Jews made everything. Sacrifices of animals must have been a mess. But even the peasant could come to the temple, make sacrifice, and get expiation. Priests could not own land, But they did write the first chapter of Genesis. God created a good world and the world could be created through time. Bible is presented as history. It is written through history and history went toward a goal - Evolution is possible. God created a man and a woman,not nationalities, not skin color, etc. He created a man and a woman who ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They gained ability to choose. Genesis 1 is enormously significant. Priests were there for 250 years, then their system collapsed. Their system lasted from 444 BCE to 168 BCE. In 168 BCE, the Maccabean revolt occurred. Syrian Greeks came in and tried to deestroy Judaism. They cleaned out the temple and rededicated it. Macabbeans turned out to be bad (Hanukkah is based on Maccabean revolt).

But the Maccabean revolt brought about the third Judaism, Rabinic Judaism or Judaism of the Pharisees. Matthew calls the Pharisees hypocrits. But the Pharisees did some good things. People were not allowed to fight on the Sabbath so the Greeks tried to attack on the Sabbath. The Pharisees said if died definding Judaism, then you get everlasting life. You will be eventually resurrected.

The Bible does not deal with evil well. It just says if good, then will be blessed. But often, things don't work that way. You see this in Job. Job is tested and suffers terribly although he did not do anything wrong. So the idea that good is rewarded with good does not solve the problem of why bad things happen to good people.

The Pharisees were the first to say get a place in the world to come. Then they said on Mt. Sinai, God game a written Torah and an oral Torah. Pharisees then became teachers of the oral Torah. They established themselves as a scholar class which was an elevated position. They sold it by saying God has given law, halaha(Spelling probably incorrect, it may be chalacha)which is pathway to eternal life and someday, a resurrected body. In world to come, good and bad get their reward, heaven or hell. They also said God is a Father. In the Bible, God is severe but the Pharisees describe him as a Father, as God in Heaven, as an Indwelling presence and as a God who cares about every human being - even slaves. God cares for all and rewards in the next life. All you have to do is follow the law. God is also concerned with community. The people need to care for the sick and needy, etc. You need to treat people with justice and gentleness. The Pharisees also invented the synagogue which became a place of prayer and study.

The Pharisees converted lots of pagans to Judaism at a time when not a high percentage of the population was Jewish. It is estimated that at the time of the First Temple's destruction, only about 10% of the Roman Empire's population was Jewish.

The roots if Christianity is embedded in Pharisaic Judaism. "For God so loved the world..." came from another Pharisaic quote. When Jesus died, his followers said they saw him go up to Heaven. The Pharisees couldn't say this was impossible because they believed they might go to heaven soon also. Paul changed Jesus to a sacrificial lamb for all time. This was powerful because Christianity was able to confront and change paganism. Jews stayed Jews. Christians did not have all these rules Jews did and circumcision scared the pagans so Christianity seemed easier.
Islam is also rooted in Pharisaic Judaism. Pharisaic Judaism became rabbinic Judaism and was the only kind around after the destruction of the second Temple.

Foruth Judsism: In modern times, this takes a different fact at different places. Rabbinic Judaism served for 2000 years, then modern:
(a) Reformed or liberal Judaism and some conservative Judaism. Reformed Judaism rejected a mandatory halaha. People themselves saw that orthodoxy did not work. Reform Judaism started in Germany and prospered in North America. It did not only reject things, it also had ethical monotheism and saw the mission of the Jew to bring God's universal word to all humankind. Once all believe in this one God, then all the divisions will cease among people. For a while in the late 19th century, it looked like we were almost there. But this was only for the western Jew, not the Jew of eastern Europe. The optimism of the west made no sense to the Eastern European Jew. In 1939, it is estimated there were 12 million Jews in Eastern Europe. After WWII, these Jews could not believe in Orthodoxy any more and they could not be Reform Jews. So there arose
(b) Secular Judaism which took two forms:
(i) Zionism - called for a return to Israel and development of a secular state. Jews in USA threw off orthodoxy as well and formed a secular organization.
(ii) Socialism - Jews in Poland organized into a Jewish National Community and took a place in government.

This last mutation threw off God altogether and they went back to God later.

Optimism of the Western Jews and orthodoxy of the Eastern Jews changed after the World Wars. In 1948, all were in favor of a Jewish state. They wanted Israel to survive as a Jewish state.

So what is the Jewish identity. They have made radical changes in the past to prevent God from becoming obsolete. Changes are taking place today in Reform Judaism especially in the west. Line of descent is not as important to Reform Jews. You are a Jew if you say you are. All who believe in a new kind of Judaism still call it Judaism. If you go back to Moses and burning bush which was not consumed, God says to take shoes off because this is a Holy place. Moses says who are you and God answers, "I am who I am" literally translated "I will be what I will be" or it sometimes can mean "I am who I need to be." This is a very profound statement. God is what we need Him to be.

YHWH - Jehovah. To be is the root. He who causes to exist or He who brings into existence. God is an enabler of all existence and a creator of all diversity. God is not something that is . He is something we are searching for. God does make his will known to us but we don't think he speaks to someone on a mountaintop. He les us know through what is Good, True, Beautiful, and Holy. These things are important to us as humans. All prophets tapped much of God when they tapped into the good, true, beautiful, and holy. Humans try to tap into these things as well and they let us know we can't just be secular. We need God in our lives.

On the way out, I said something about needing to know more about the Pharisees and Sadducees and Rabbi Mort said that Jesus was likely a Pharisee except that he said he could perform miracles. The Pharisees did not like that since they said only they could do that, not Jesus. Rabbi Mort said the Sadducees were more literal interpreters of the Bible and that Jesus did not like that. I asked where one could read more about these two sets of people and he said there isn't much in writing about it. I found the topic most interesting as I have not heard it discussed to any great extent that I remember