Who Are The Jews?

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

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