World Religions Report HUM-130 Essay

The religion that I have chosen to discuss may be the Jewish faith, or Judaism. In looking for information about Judaism, I executed an interview with the Beth Israel Congregation near downtown Fayetteville, North Carolina. The synagogue is situated at 2204 Morganton Rd., only a few miles from downtown Fayetteville and later a few a long way from a major shopping mall inside the area. Upon arriving at the synagogue in the afternoon high temperature of nearly 90 deg, I was surprised to see the deluxe gardens to 1 side of the building. There is also a beautiful strolling path through a well-manicured garden.

The concrete floor path brings about a rectangular gazebo overgrown with vine. The tiny to medium trees and bushes for the property will be perfectly preserved and are arrayed in lively colors. As I made my personal way to the front access, I noted the light shaded brickwork and matching stonework on the front side of the building. The building alone gives the overall look of a two story structure with its fuzy sculpture, although upon additional investigation, the best part of the building is simple a raised inner limit. When I entered the building, I was greeted simply by Rabbi Yosef Levanon and conducted to his business office for my interview after having a brief look around the synagogue, which in turn did not include.

The Rabbi seems to be a pleasant man who also showed a lot of patients in setting up and carrying out the interview. Through conducting the interview, I discovered that the Fayetteville, NC Beth Israel members had originally been given a charter while an Orthodox Jewish Faith. The Beth Israel Congregation was established in May of 1917. The first stone of base was not placed until 1922.

This unique Beth Israel Synagogue was at a location upon Cool Early spring Street in Fayetteville, NC. The building that may be now the Beth His home country of israel Congregation worship center was constructed upon Morganton Rd. in 1950, and committed in 12 , of that 12 months. Growth as time passes prompted enlargement with the addition of classes and a sanctuary. In October of 1972, the congregation altered its by-laws and became a Conservative Congregation. In approximately 95 or mil novecentos e noventa e seis, they started to include females in the aliyahs.

This is the Law of Return in which any kind of Jew may possibly claim the legal right to assisted immigration and arrangement in His home country of israel. This includes automated citizenship (Wikipedia, 2008). In 1998, the congregation began which includes women inside the minyan (a quorum of 10 guys required for selected prayers) (Y. Levanon, personal communication, Aug 6, 2008).

My interview with Rabbi Levanon protected a number of other issues. When asked what the significant holidays and traditions of Judaism are, the rabbi responded that the Sukkot, Purim, Passover, Sabbath, Shavot, Rosh Hashanah, as well as the Day of Atonement were all important for the Jewish trust. I then asked which he felt had been the most important of such.

He reacted that the Passover and Working day of Atonement were one of the most important. The rabbi maintains the position that Judaism features shaped his life in that it manuals the way that he acts, his thoughts, and how he relates to other people in everyday activities. The biggest problem that he or additional Jews face is maintaining their own identity. The rabbi states, Like any other fraction in a larger culture, it can be difficult for the minority to keep up their id apart from the bigger culture.

I was happily surprised to learn that even though they struggle to keep their distinct identities in a nation surrounded by other beliefs and impact on, neither the rabbi nor and his relatives have experienced elegance because of their religious preferences or practices. Rabbi Levanon appeared a little mixed up as to the certain identity from the Jewish persons. When asked if he considers Judaism to be a religious beliefs, a race, a nationality, or a Jewish state, the rabbi explained that Judaism is a religion and a nationality. My spouse and i again asked him if he considered Judaism as a race, that he responded, No. I then asked what competition he would consider himself to become.

He explained that he considers himself a Jewish Caucasian, which means that he opinions Jewish is a race as well. In deciding that the rabbi considers Judaism to be a contest, I asked what his thoughts are on spiritual pluralism and if it has inspired members in the Jewish community. Considering that Jews are exposed to people of many distinct religious backgrounds all around the world, rabbi Levanon believe that this sort of exposure can lead to some Judaism people staying assimilated in the societies and religions to which they are exposed. Assimilation is usually something that the rabbi endeavors to avoid in order to maintain his own id as a Jew. In order for the Jewish visitors to maintain all their identity now, they must stay steadfast in their faith and practices.

One other challenge to this is the interfaith movement. The rabbi supports the interfaith movement since it is a good idea to get a dialog among people of different events to remove prejudice, to remove not caring, to remove uncertainty. He does not believe that the interfaith motion requires that individuals of different faiths find a common religious surface, however. The rabbi says that, If you are a good person, you need to be tolerant of other thoughts (and) faith based faiths.

The interfaith activity provides for persons of different faiths to come together in dialogue to promote understanding, not commonality. Rabbi Levanon believes that you have many pathways to the Work, not a solitary path located by following any particular religious beliefs. The effect the interfaith movement has on Legislation teachings refuse the icons of different religious faiths, such as Christ or Muhammad, is to encourage members to become respectful of all religious morals and maintain open-mindedness about the opinions of others. They also educate that the Legislation people should respect the opinions carried by additional faiths.

Being a testament to this kind of open-mindedness, the Beth Israel Synagogue encourages interfaith matrimony and has its own such assemblage within the congregation. The congregation and leadership of the Beth His home country of israel Synagogue in Fayetteville, NC feel a really close link with Israel. Additionally , they totally support the country of Israel and believe strongly that the political climate in the United States may directly affect the national protection of His home country of israel.

This is because Israel needs the international political support states in order to preserve a positive picture and shield itself via unprovoked disorders by their enemies. This really is a true research considering that His home country of israel is between 22 Arabic or Islamic nations (Brumfield, n. deb. ), quite a few hostile toward Israel. The tiny country of just 8, 1000 square miles is in a very precarious position.

Clearly, His home country of israel could not survive without strong Western allies. Since some of the most radical Islamic organizations and countries encircle the nation of Israel, it seems like fitting that Islam always be the subject of assessment to Judaism. Islam, just like Judaism and Christianity, is definitely an Abrahamic religion (Brumfield, and. d. ). This means that all religions can trace all their roots to Abraham. Islam teaches that Allah (the God of Islam) uncovered His term to certain prophets.

These prophets had been Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, with Muhammad getting the last prophet of Thor. Muslims as well believe that the Qur’an is flawless, undeniable, and the final revelation of Allah. Brumfield also says that Muslim teaching contains the belief that parts of the Gospels, the Torah, and the Judaism prophetic books have been neglected, misinterpreted, or perhaps distorted by their followers. Consequently , the original concept has been dangerous over time, making the Qur’an a a static correction of Jewish and Christian Scriptures.

Islam and Judaism are similar in numerous of their fundamental tenants. The two religions train that there is only one God. Additionally , both train that Our god is totally monotheistic becoming only one divinity and not multiple.

Both made use of have identical teachings that God is definitely all-powerful and non-corporeal, non-physical, and endless. The Muslim faith says eternal since He never begot, neither was begotten. (Brumfield, n. g. ). Additionally , Islam and Judaism talk about the teachings that non-e is worth the providing of prayer except Goodness. Both Judaism and Islam believe that there might be no intermediary to interaction with The almighty. Both made use of teach which the word in the prophets happen to be true, although they argue on whom God’s final prophet was. Judaism holds the belief that Moses was the last prophet plus the five catalogs of Moses, known as the Torah, is the principal book guiding their beliefs, along with the created Talmud.

Islam teaches that after Moses, Christ was a forecaster, followed by the ultimate prophet, Muhammad. Islam likewise teaches the fact that Qur’an is definitely the final term of Our god, which they use for guide their very own faith. The Muslim and Jewish faiths have more variations in teachings than which publication to follow, or perhaps what prophet(s) to believe in. Muslims as well pray five times per day, as compared with the Jewish tradition of praying 3 times per day.

The Muslim beliefs teaches they are the selected people of God. The Jewish beliefs teaches they are the chosen people of God and there will come a Jewish Messiah (moshiach) to Earth, possibly to trigger a messianic era. The Jewish hope also shows that each person’s soul is definitely pure when they are born, but humanity is born with all the propensity to complete both good and evil.

In contrast, Islam seeks to forbid precisely what is evil (Nahi-anil-Munkar). Both religions trust in a resurrection and pursuing the approval of God. Whilst Judaism enables conversion to other beliefs, Islamic legislation forbids this kind of and is punishable by death in many Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, Iran, Sudan, Pakistan, and Mauritania. Another major point of contrast among Judaism and Islam is definitely the multiple times the Jewish individuals have been subjugated multiple times by other countries.

After the rule of Full Solomon resulted in 927 BC (Schoenberg, 2008), Israel split up into two independent kingdoms, the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the southern region. At separate times after this split, outside forces conquered both kingdoms. The Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians in the eighth century BC, and the Kingdom of Judah was conquered by Babylonia in the 6th century BC. 70 years after this took place, some Jews returned to Jerusalem following the downfall of Babylonia. The Romans later on conquered all of them.

During this time, the Roman Empire defeated two revolt endeavors by the Jewish people. Following your fall with the Western Both roman Empire in 476 AD (Trueman, 2008), the Jews were once again able to retake Jerusalem. In all of the, ownership of Jerusalem altered 17 times throughout the city’s history. Area of His home country of israel itself was not established right up until three years after the end of World War 2 . Before and during World War 2, the Jewish people were staying imprisoned, tortured, then slaughtered by the millions by the Nazis of Indonesia as they desired to purify their areas of the so-called non-Aryans whom they considered to be lesser people than accurate Germans (Aryans) (Bankier, 2008).

Repeated subjugation and near extermination. By the end of Universe War a couple of, German causes had murdered an estimated 5. 6 mil to 5. on the lookout for million Jews, 1 . 2 million which were kids. The fans of Islam have not endured anything remotely similar to this near genocide or maybe the multiple conquerors that the Legislation people have suffered. Another big difference between Islam and Judaism is the radical factions within Islam that sponsor and conduct terrorist actions, bombing and explode attacks in Israeli soil, and the goal of doing damage to Judaism totally. Islamic international locations such as Iran and Syria have committed resources on the destruction of Israel.

Regardless of the thousands of years of subjugation of the Jewish persons throughout background, and the near extermination with the Jewish contest, Judaism has exploded into one in the three largest religions in the world. The nation of His home country of israel has become one of the strongest countries in the Middle East. Judaism is among the most calm of the key world beliefs, only employing military push to defend by itself. In addition , most of the Jewish command has appreciated the practice of attempting to foster understanding and value between their very own religion and other religions around the world.

Though Islam and Judaism share many common morals and a common root owner in Abraham, the made use of are very distinct in terms of enduring by their people and levels of out and out aggression by radical factions and governments alike. References Aliyah, (2008). Wikipedia, the Free of charge Encyclopedia. Gathered August 6th, 2008, by Wikipediawebsite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AliyahBankier, D. (2008). Holocaust.

In MSN Encarta [Web]. Retrieved August 6, 08, fromhttp://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761559508/holocaust.htmlBrumfield, W. (n. g. ). Islam. Retrieved Aug 6, 2008 from Israel’s Messiah site: http://israelsmessiah.com/religions/islam/beliefs.htmBrumfield, N. (n. g. ). Palestinians: Israel, critical and geographically. Retrieved Aug 6, 2008 from Israel’s Messiah web page: http://www.israelsmessiah.com/palestinian_refugees/israel_vs_arabs.htmSchoenberg, T. (2008). Judaism virtual catalogue: Solomon.

Gathered August six, 2008 from theJewish virtual library website: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Solomon.htmlTrueman, C. (2008). Background Learning Site, A History of Ancient The italian capital: The fall of AncientRome. Retrieved through the History learning site web page: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fall_of_ancient_rome.htm