World religions. Рахимбергенова М.Х. - 48 стр.

      Unclean or prohibited foods include:                                                                                 Hasidism
           all animals and fish that do not meet the above requirements,                   A movement founded by the Rabbi Israel Baal Shem (1700–1760), and
           any animal that has died of natural causes,                                owing much to the Kabbalah, Hasidism views human life and action as coop-
           blood,                                                                     eration with God in the work of deliverance, and emphasizes prayer rather than
           birds or fowl not accepted by tradition,                                   the study of Torah in a narrow sense. By contrast with the traditional messianic
           any mixture of meat and milk, but not of fish and milk.                    hopes, which viewed redemption as coming simply by the sovereign act of God,
      These requirements exclude among other foods the pig and all meat from          Baal Shem taught that God himself suffers from the sinfulness of the world, and
it, such as ham and bacon; rabbit; horse; all beasts and birds of prey; and all       needs human help to overcome it. Every human activity, if performed in the
eels and shellfish.                                                                   spirit of joyful service of God, contributes to the coming of the Messiah and the
      Animals and fowl must be slaughtered in a prescribed ritual way that en-        world’s redemption.
sures a rapid death and drains the blood from the animal.                                  The Hasidic movement continues a lively existence at the present time,
      Symbols used in prayer: Tallit, Tefillin, Mezuzah, Kippah. The Tallit is a      with large congregations, especially in New York. Hasids typically follow dis-
prayer-shawl with four corners, with a symbolic tassel, or Tzitzit, on each cor-      tinctive conventions in dress.
ner. It is worn by meals during prayer, especially in the synagogue.
      Tefillin (plural) are straps attached to small cubical boxes, which contain
pieces of parchment with portions of the Torah written on them. The straps are                                Branches of modern Judaism
wound around the arms and the head during prayer. Their purpose is to fulfill               Like the other major religious, Judaism emerged in a world, which has now
the divine command to keep God’s word always before one’s eyes.                       gone. Many beliefs and regulations of the Torah and the Talmud do not fit eas-
      The Mezuzah is a small parchment scroll containing biblical texts, attached     ily into the changed conditions of modern Western life. On the one hand, Juda-
to the doorpost of the home.                                                          ism must live in the modern world and cannot totally divorce itself from it; on
      The Kippah (Yiddish, yarmulka) is a skull cap worn by men during prayer.        the other, it may lose its identity if it accommodates itself to that world too
Orthodox Jews wear it at all times as a sign of the presence of God.                  completely. The stresses and strains of this situation have led to the emergence
      The use of the Divine Name: Yahweh and Adonai. The true name of God is          of several different branches of Judaism, each representing a different attempt
Yahweh, “I Who Am”. Out of reverence, however, Orthodox Jews never utter              to respond to the problem. Each branch possesses its own organization of rabbis
this name, but substitute for it wherever it may be found one of the other names      and its own system of synagogues.
of God. The commonest substitute is Adonai: Lord.                                           Orthodox. This is the most ancient and traditional, and the one that has
                                                                                      made the fewest concessions to the modern world. Orthodox Jews observe so
                                    Kabbalah
                                                                                      far as possible the full letter of the Jewish Law as laid down in the Talmud.
     This is an esoteric movement, mystical and highly speculative, that grew
up within Judaism especially during the Middle Ages, though its roots may go          They keep the dietary rules strictly, for example, follow the Talmudic rules for
                                                                                      the observance of the Sabbath, carry out the synagogue services in Hebrew,
back into the ancient past. It claims to present the hidden truth of divine revela-
                                                                                      maintain the ancient separation of the sexes in the synagogue, and do not ordain
tion (the name “Kabbalah” means “traditional teachings”). The Kabbalah aims
                                                                                      women as rabbis. They do not recognize other forms of Judaism.
to overcome the gap between the infinite God, often referred to as “the bound-
                                                                                            The German rabbi, Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888) established Neo-
less”, en sof, who is pure goodness, and the finite world, which contains evil.
                                                                                      Orthodox Judaism, which makes some slight concessions to modernity, as a
Instead of viewing the world as the creation of God, and so as fundamentally
                                                                                      way of allowing Orthodox Jews to participate more fully in the life of the non-
distinct from him, the Kabbalah tends to see the world as an emanation from
                                                                                      Jewish societies in which they lived.
God, still remaining in an essential identity with him, only now broken and
                                                                                            Reform. Originating in Germany during the nineteenth century, Reform
needing to be restored to its original harmony. The Kabbalah emphasizes God’s
                                                                                      Judaism is a liberal adaption to modern conditions, emphasizing the spirit rather
immanence in the world, and has affinities with the Upanishads and with Ma-
                                                                                      than the letter of the Jewish Law. In place of the authoritative revelation on
hayana Buddhism, as well as with Sufi mysticism in Islam. The most important
                                                                                      Mount Sinai, Reform Judaism views revelation as taking place through nature
Kabbalistic work is the Zohar, or “Book of Splendor”, published by Moses de
                                                                                      and the human spirit. It largely omits the rituals in the home, though preserving
Leon in the thirteenth century.
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