Judaism and Western Civilization

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Judaism had a major impact on Western civilization. Many of these effects come from the heart and values ​​of Jews who evolved from Jewish roots to Christianity. Jesus of Nazareth, his disciples and the first leaders of the Christian church were Jews. The Jewish Bible was incorporated into the Christian Bible as the Old Testament. Naturally, many of the important principles and teachings in Judaism are also important in Christianity. These common ideas are called the Jewish - Christian tradition. Along with the spread of Christianity, it promotes these important ideas. Therefore, the moral and ethical thinking developed by Judaism helped shape the idea of ​​the West about law, morality, and social justice. In this course we will explore these ideas and their impact.

As part of a larger unit of Jewish history and Jewish history, this course designs students to become familiar with the influence and influence of Judaism on Western civilization.

Inspired: When you and your students explore, discover and practice the course, the ideas included will serve as a starting point. In order to continually strengthen the value of the solution, it is important to encourage students and parents' participation and encourage participation. Truly develop and change the curriculum based on participation and interest

The basic contribution of Judaism and Western civilization to Western civilization is monotheism. From the Jewish tradition perspective, Abraham was the first monotheist. He left polytheism and followed God's instructions. Tanak himself proved that many ancient Israelites worshiped several gods. (Rabbi Shohedt) The Jewish leaders asked Israel to worship the God who had contractual relations with them. However, with the development of Tanak, people are increasingly emphasizing the unreality of other "gods" compared to other gods.

Therefore Western civilization is a combination of Judaism - Christianity, Greek and Roman values. Greeks and Romans established the aesthetics of Western art, but most images of the West are based on Judaism and Christianity. Greeks and Romans built the foundation of Western philosophy, but it has always been maintained through Jewish - Christian moral perspectives. The history of the West is often regarded as a European history, but there are problems as we ignore the simple fact that Europe has never existed isolated. The ancient Greeks kept talking to Egyptians, Persians, Mesopotamians and others. The Romans were also influenced by people in North Africa and West Asia (also known as the Middle East), Europeans were also affected centuries later. In particular, Muslims will continue to play an important role in European knowledge, art and political history for thousands of years.

Ironically, Greek culture and Judaism are the roots of contemporary Western civilization. In fact, since both cultures understand the world and place great emphasis on using their wisdom, they are similar. The Greeks cultivated great philosophers and gave Plato and Aristotle to the world. The Jews taught the world basic concepts of Torah, Talmud and moral monotheism. If both seek "truth" in the world, why are they hostile to each other? The viewpoint of the Jewish god is that G - d has no physical form. However, in law, we often talk about Gd using people's words like "Gd" and "Gd with extended arms". However, these are understood as a metaphor used to help human relations. Please talk about Gd in familiar language. One of the 13 ideas established by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam) is that G - d has no physical form.