and culture in every field of human endeavor. Judaism was a parent religion to Christianity and Islam. Jesus was a Jew, as were his disciples. The Hebrew Scriptures were the foundation of Christianity. Jewish law was accepted as a guide to ethics and morality based on the concept of individual conscience. Islam incorporated the Jewish concept of one God, the Scriptures, and Jewish prophets.
VOCABULARY
Assimilation: To accept the culture of another group while giving up one’s own.
Blasphemy: Words written or spoken which express contempt or irreverence about God.
Circumcision: The removal of the foreskin of the penis, which is done ritually in newborn Jewish males eight days after birth to symbolize the covenant between God and Abraham.
Covenant: A holy agreement between God and man.
Diaspora: Countries outside of Israel inhabited by Jews.
Ghetto: A section of a city in which Jews were required to live surrounded by walls.
Kosher: From the Hebrew for “proper,” correct,” or “valid,” it usually refers to food or anything prepared under the proper ritual supervision.
Monotheism: The belief in one God.
Paganism: A follower of a polytheistic religion.
Polytheism: The belief in more than one God.
Rabbi: A Jewish scholar or religious leader from the Hebrew for “my master.”
Talmud: Comprised of the Mishnah and the Gemora, it is the oral tradition of Jewish law which has been written down and serves as the authority in Jewish