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Introduction to Judaism
What could be simpler than a single people worshiping a single God for more than 3,000 years? But Judaism is far from simple, and as a religion, culture, and civilization, it has evolved in surprising ways during its lengthy and remarkable history. Consider the following:
Although Judaism is defined by its worship of one God, it was not always a pure monotheism. In I Kings 8, King Solomon addresses the Lord by saying, "There is no God like You," suggesting that the Israelites recognized the existence of other gods.
The practice of Judaism was focused on animal sacrifice until the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in the 1st century, which forced a radically new approach to worship.
The political emancipation of the Jews in 18th-century Europe transformed a 1,000-year-old style of Jewish life. "You can’t find an expression of Judaism today that is just like [the way] Jews lived 300 years ago," says Professor Shai Cherry.
Yet for all it has changed, Judaism has maintained unbroken ties to a foundation text, an ethnicity, a set of rituals and holidays, and a land.
A Journey of Religious Discovery
In these 24 lectures, Professor Cherry explores the rich religious heritage of Judaism from biblical times to today.
He introduces you to the written Torah, and you learn about the oral Torah, called the Mishnah (which was also later written down), and its commentary, the Gemara. And you discover how the Mishnah and Gemara comprise the Talmud, and how they differ from another form of commentary called Midrash.
He teaches you about the three pillars of the world defined more than 2,000 years ago by Shimon the Righteous: Torah, worship, and deeds of loving kindness.
He takes you through the calendar of Jewish holidays, from the most important, the Sabbath, to the key holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Passover, and Pentecost (Shavuot); and to historically minor celebrations such as Channukah, which is now a more visible holiday.
You also learn about the origins and attributes of the different Jewish movements that formed in the wake of Emancipation in the late 1700s and the resulting full emergence of Judaism into Western society. These include the Reform, Conservative, Modern Orthodox, and Reconstructionist movements.
"Although Jewish history is not one long tale of travails," says Professor Cherry, "there have been several catastrophes that powerfully shaped the Jewish consciousness." He includes discussions of the impact on Jewish thought of the Babylonian exile and the destruction of the Second Temple in antiquity, and the Holocaust in the 20th century.
"We will see that for every topic that we cover we have a multiplicity of responses and a multiplicity of answers," says Professor Cherry, noting that this course could just as easily be called "An Introduction to Judaisms."
What’s in a Name?
Judaism’s sacred text is the Bible, also called the TaNaKH, the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, and, by Christians, the Old Testament. As Professor Cherry points out, these terms have different implications:
TaNaKH: This is the Hebrew acronym for the three sections of the Bible—the Torah (the first five books, known as the Pentateuch), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings).
Torah: The word torah means "a teaching," and it can refer to the Pentateuch, the entire TaNaKH, or even the whole corpus of Jewish thought.
Hebrew Bible: This is a religiously neutral term used by scholars for the TaNaKH. Professor Cherry notes that his expertise is in the TaNaKH, not the Hebrew Bible, since he approaches the text from the Jewish interpretive tradition.
Old Testament: Christians refer to the TaNaKH as the Old Testament, since in their eyes it has been superseded by the New Testament. For Catholics, the Old Testament has a number of books that are not included in the TaNaKH.
Interpreting the Scriptures
Jews and Christians not only have different names for the Bible, they understand it very differently. For example, Christianity takes an episode that is relatively minor in Jewish tradition—the temptation of Adam and Eve—and extracts from it the doctrine of original sin.
Similarly, early rabbis took the repeated phrase, "And there was evening and there was morning," in the enumeration of the six days of creation and concluded that the day begins in the evening, which is why Jews start the celebration of their holidays at sundown.
As a case study in interpretation, Professor Cherry delves deeply into the prohibition against seething (boiling) a kid in its mother’s milk, mentioned in Exodus and Deuteronomy, which led to the kosher practice of strict separation of meat and milk products. Recently, a scholar pointed out that the original Hebrew could be interpreted to mean fat instead of milk.
A prohibition against seething a kid in its mother’s fat makes more sense, because it is another way of saying that the mother and offspring should not be slaughtered...
Although Judaism is defined by its worship of one God, it was not always a pure monotheism. In I Kings 8, King Solomon addresses the Lord by saying, "There is no God like You," suggesting that the Israelites recognized the existence of other gods.
The practice of Judaism was focused on animal sacrifice until the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in the 1st century, which forced a radically new approach to worship.
The political emancipation of the Jews in 18th-century Europe transformed a 1,000-year-old style of Jewish life. "You can’t find an expression of Judaism today that is just like [the way] Jews lived 300 years ago," says Professor Shai Cherry.
Yet for all it has changed, Judaism has maintained unbroken ties to a foundation text, an ethnicity, a set of rituals and holidays, and a land.
A Journey of Religious Discovery
In these 24 lectures, Professor Cherry explores the rich religious heritage of Judaism from biblical times to today.
He introduces you to the written Torah, and you learn about the oral Torah, called the Mishnah (which was also later written down), and its commentary, the Gemara. And you discover how the Mishnah and Gemara comprise the Talmud, and how they differ from another form of commentary called Midrash.
He teaches you about the three pillars of the world defined more than 2,000 years ago by Shimon the Righteous: Torah, worship, and deeds of loving kindness.
He takes you through the calendar of Jewish holidays, from the most important, the Sabbath, to the key holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Passover, and Pentecost (Shavuot); and to historically minor celebrations such as Channukah, which is now a more visible holiday.
You also learn about the origins and attributes of the different Jewish movements that formed in the wake of Emancipation in the late 1700s and the resulting full emergence of Judaism into Western society. These include the Reform, Conservative, Modern Orthodox, and Reconstructionist movements.
"Although Jewish history is not one long tale of travails," says Professor Cherry, "there have been several catastrophes that powerfully shaped the Jewish consciousness." He includes discussions of the impact on Jewish thought of the Babylonian exile and the destruction of the Second Temple in antiquity, and the Holocaust in the 20th century.
"We will see that for every topic that we cover we have a multiplicity of responses and a multiplicity of answers," says Professor Cherry, noting that this course could just as easily be called "An Introduction to Judaisms."
What’s in a Name?
Judaism’s sacred text is the Bible, also called the TaNaKH, the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, and, by Christians, the Old Testament. As Professor Cherry points out, these terms have different implications:
TaNaKH: This is the Hebrew acronym for the three sections of the Bible—the Torah (the first five books, known as the Pentateuch), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings).
Torah: The word torah means "a teaching," and it can refer to the Pentateuch, the entire TaNaKH, or even the whole corpus of Jewish thought.
Hebrew Bible: This is a religiously neutral term used by scholars for the TaNaKH. Professor Cherry notes that his expertise is in the TaNaKH, not the Hebrew Bible, since he approaches the text from the Jewish interpretive tradition.
Old Testament: Christians refer to the TaNaKH as the Old Testament, since in their eyes it has been superseded by the New Testament. For Catholics, the Old Testament has a number of books that are not included in the TaNaKH.
Interpreting the Scriptures
Jews and Christians not only have different names for the Bible, they understand it very differently. For example, Christianity takes an episode that is relatively minor in Jewish tradition—the temptation of Adam and Eve—and extracts from it the doctrine of original sin.
Similarly, early rabbis took the repeated phrase, "And there was evening and there was morning," in the enumeration of the six days of creation and concluded that the day begins in the evening, which is why Jews start the celebration of their holidays at sundown.
As a case study in interpretation, Professor Cherry delves deeply into the prohibition against seething (boiling) a kid in its mother’s milk, mentioned in Exodus and Deuteronomy, which led to the kosher practice of strict separation of meat and milk products. Recently, a scholar pointed out that the original Hebrew could be interpreted to mean fat instead of milk.
A prohibition against seething a kid in its mother’s fat makes more sense, because it is another way of saying that the mother and offspring should not be slaughtered...
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First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 18, 2014
Loved this lecture series. I've been wanting to learn more about Judaism for a long time and this was a great intro course. Shai Cherry is an engaging lecturer. A few things I loved:
- Salvation is collective, not individual, thus the emphasis on gathering and Israel.
- The Hebrew word for repentance also means creation.
- The idea of a physical Resurrection is only marginal.
- Jews don't use the word "holocaust," they more often use the word "shoah" to refer to the atrocities of WWII. The historical meaning of holocaust (a Greek word) means a religious human sacrifice. I had no idea!
- I loved the discussion of the different strains of Judaism and felt like I got a little better handle on them all (Hasidic, Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, etc.). Reform Judaism believes Jews were dispersed, not exiled - thus no push for physical gathering. Reform is loyal to biblical criticism. They don't believe God wrote the Torah so the laws in the Torah aren't necessarily binding. Orthodoxy was in response to Reform.
- Until the 1700's, Jews lived as guests in their countries. Their primary loyalty was to the idea of a Jewish state, not the country in which they lived. After the 1700's, the Jews were granted citizenship in hopes to acculturate them. The goal was for Judaism to become a religious group with loyalty to the state.
- I loved the discussion on women in Judaism. The most fascinating point to me was the issue of abortion. Cherry pointed out that the idea of pro-choice vs. pro-life doesn't really fit within Judaism because the ultimate decision is up to the rabbi. That said, the life of the mother is seen as paramount to the fetus. Jewish law requires abortion when mothers physical or mental health is in serious jeopardy. Abortion is permitted when difficultly is greater than normal - but it's not put in terms of a woman's choice.
Great lecture series if you are at all interested in Judaism.
- Salvation is collective, not individual, thus the emphasis on gathering and Israel.
- The Hebrew word for repentance also means creation.
- The idea of a physical Resurrection is only marginal.
- Jews don't use the word "holocaust," they more often use the word "shoah" to refer to the atrocities of WWII. The historical meaning of holocaust (a Greek word) means a religious human sacrifice. I had no idea!
- I loved the discussion of the different strains of Judaism and felt like I got a little better handle on them all (Hasidic, Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, etc.). Reform Judaism believes Jews were dispersed, not exiled - thus no push for physical gathering. Reform is loyal to biblical criticism. They don't believe God wrote the Torah so the laws in the Torah aren't necessarily binding. Orthodoxy was in response to Reform.
- Until the 1700's, Jews lived as guests in their countries. Their primary loyalty was to the idea of a Jewish state, not the country in which they lived. After the 1700's, the Jews were granted citizenship in hopes to acculturate them. The goal was for Judaism to become a religious group with loyalty to the state.
- I loved the discussion on women in Judaism. The most fascinating point to me was the issue of abortion. Cherry pointed out that the idea of pro-choice vs. pro-life doesn't really fit within Judaism because the ultimate decision is up to the rabbi. That said, the life of the mother is seen as paramount to the fetus. Jewish law requires abortion when mothers physical or mental health is in serious jeopardy. Abortion is permitted when difficultly is greater than normal - but it's not put in terms of a woman's choice.
Great lecture series if you are at all interested in Judaism.
February 5, 2023
A fair and well-presented overview. He was sincere enough to declare his Zionism before advertising the State of Israel. He mentions Nazi Germany, and it would've been good if he'd at least mentioned the existence of revisionist views.
June 1, 2016
These 24 audio lectures are presented by a very enthusiastic and articulate Prof Shai Cherry and deal with the description and beliefs within the Jewish religion and culture, from the pre-first temple period to today. In many ways this is more of a philosophical discussion, with many examples from history that might explain how the Torah has evolved over the last two millennia. Most of these lectures explain the study of the Torah as the most basic aspect of the religion, and continues to describe how the Halachah developed through time and historical changes. The lectures on Maimonides were particularly interesting.
Some parts of the lectures appear to be a bit disjointed, but if you can keep up with the notes and follow a few rabbits down the Internet's rabbit holes, the lectures take on more clarity. One example is a YouTube lecture, "Jewish Responses to Darwinism", in which Dr Cherry methodically explains his (Jewish) views of why there really is no conflict between science (in this case Darwinism) and basic Jewish tenants (specifically 'Genesis').
Even though my background is not a religious one, I recommend these lectures to anyone who has a basic curiosity about the roots of briefs that are held by billions of folks today.
Some parts of the lectures appear to be a bit disjointed, but if you can keep up with the notes and follow a few rabbits down the Internet's rabbit holes, the lectures take on more clarity. One example is a YouTube lecture, "Jewish Responses to Darwinism", in which Dr Cherry methodically explains his (Jewish) views of why there really is no conflict between science (in this case Darwinism) and basic Jewish tenants (specifically 'Genesis').
Even though my background is not a religious one, I recommend these lectures to anyone who has a basic curiosity about the roots of briefs that are held by billions of folks today.
October 30, 2020
This is a very interesting lecture series, but the content is delivered way too quickly. The lecturer is forced to compress things. Would love this to have been a 48 lecture series. It was such an overview at times, I felt like I was just being told a series of facts. At other points, it was incredibly detailed. Overall, good, just wish there were more.
September 7, 2019
This was an informative course about Judaism. I listened to it after getting some background from another book I picked up to learn more about the religion and the customs stemming forth from it. It was a great, though sometimes difficult course because the amount of information packed into each lesson made it difficult to consume. It begins from the historical genesis of Judaism and follows through to the modern day, showing how the faith has morphed over time, with a myriad of interpretations that have come to the forefront in the modern era. Definitely worth listening to.
January 3, 2023
A fantastic introduction to Judaism. I feel like I learned so much! Professor Cherry did a great job balancing the differing views within Judaism over, well, just about everything, as well as covering many different topics well. The only thing I wish for, and I understand why he wouldn’t include it, is that he had dedicated a lesson to the history of anti-semitism and how to watch out for modern conspiracy theories with not-so-subtle anti-Semitic roots. I also would have liked to hear his thoughts on “Messianic Jews”, though I can imagine what his response would have been.
March 31, 2020
There's not much more to write here because the description does such a good job of summarizing these very interesting lectures. I learned a lot from this audio-course including the beliefs of the different sects within Judaism and some of the religious and cultural history I wasn't aware of before. Professor Cherry is an excellent instructor and delivers the information clearly and articulately.
April 4, 2018
An excellent lecture series. I listened to it on Audible, making regular use as well of the lecture outlines that accompanied the Audible purchase. Dr. Shai Cherry is fabulous. I've studied a lot about Judaism, so there were familiar things here, but there was also much that was new, so I think this lecture series would work well for people with a broad range of familiarity with Judaism. Cannot recommend highly enough
April 12, 2018
Ekstra godt disponert kurs. Klar og ryddig framstilling.
June 19, 2020
I was hesitant about this course. I figured, being Jewish myself, I'd already know most of the material. But actually, I learned quite a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the course.
June 4, 2021
Informative and interesting lecture series. I enjoyed this Great Course so much that I purchased another religion-focused Great Course on Audible.
June 11, 2021
As clearly expained as Judaism can possibly be.
January 2, 2022
I'm no theologian, and some of the content in this introduction went over my head. But it gave me a lot to think about, and I enjoyed listening to it.
January 26, 2022
These lectures will help you understand that Judaism is not about God.
February 8, 2023
A thorough and accessible overview that held my attention for 12 hours of history and explanation. I stayed engaged throughout. It was actually soothing. I definitely recommend this audiobook.
July 28, 2023
Pretty good intro. He kind of glazes over the holocaust and Philo of Alexandria, but those are the only two areas I knew going into it, so I didn't mind a whole lot.
August 8, 2023
Ambitious in its breadth, necessarily glossing over some things, and delivered with a frustrating number of self-corrections, it is nonetheless a wonderful tour de force.
June 2, 2024
Very informative but still just a scratch to the surface
June 4, 2024
So much good information in these lessons! I also loved the way Shia Cherry narrates (I read the audio book)
Highly recommend if you want to learn more about rabbinic Judaism
Highly recommend if you want to learn more about rabbinic Judaism
July 21, 2024
A good introduction to Judaism. He did a great job presenting differing views and where they came from.
August 2, 2016
This really was a Great Course, at least for me who knew very little about Judaism. The course was very well presented and not to difficult to follow. I'm very accustomed to the Bible and Judaism from the perspective of Christians but not from Judaism itself so this lecture was especially enlightening.
I can really appreciate the values and customs of the Jewish people after studying it. They are a wonderful people full of a rich and fascinating history. I look forward to furthering my understanding and continuing to learn more in further lectures.
I can really appreciate the values and customs of the Jewish people after studying it. They are a wonderful people full of a rich and fascinating history. I look forward to furthering my understanding and continuing to learn more in further lectures.
August 28, 2009
This lecture series provided a good overview of Judaism, although the instructor's prejudices were apparent, and I didn't like his style as well as I had hoped. I did find it informative and clearly organized, however.
August 14, 2010
Another very comprehend lectures packed in suitable DVD version of easy to learn more about topic, which could be covered by layers of mysteries. The 3000 years of Judaism was crammed in those lectures. History mixed with religion traditions was put in very enjoyable way.
March 22, 2015
More than an introduction, an excellent review from the bible to reconstructionism
March 17, 2016
As a Christian, I liked this very much and appreciated learning about the beautiful practice of Judaism.
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May 30, 2019Insightful. Loved learning about the concept of Teshuva.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews