FoxChild@Learn
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June 2020
Q1.1: Which one of the following is the Jewish teaching of ‘saving a life’?
Put a tick ( ) in the box next to the correct answer. A Messiah B Mitzvot C Pikuach Nefesh D Torah
Answer:
beliefs, practices and sources of authority. Answer: C: Pikuach Nefesh
Q1.2: Give two Jewish beliefs about the nature of God.
Q2 IB/G/Jun20/8062/16
Answer:
beliefs, practices and sources of authority. God is one / the creator / law-giver / judge / loving / merciful / eternal / absolute / omnipotent / omnibenevolent / omniscient / omnipresent / transcendent / Shekhinah / holy / redeemer, etc.
Q1.3: Explain two ways in which belief in healing the world influences Jews today.
Answer:
influence on individuals, communities and societies. To be a ‘detailed explanation’ the ‘influence’ of the way must be included. • Tikkun Olam is healing the world / world repair / role of stewardship given as duty by God / Genesis 1:26 / responsibility to heal, restore, change bringing it closer to the harmonious state for which it was created / ie fix the world. • Concept found in Mishnah / doing something because it helps create social harmony and a better community / not because it is a law to do so / gave extra protection to the disadvantaged. • Ethical Mitzvah / Jews have a duty to make the world better for everyone / not just self. • Aleinu prayer includes hope for the whole world believing in one God / interpreted to mean healing the world / as it is telling humans to physically heal the world, help others and allow goodness of God to shine through. • Links to belief in Messianic Age / one interpretation of that is that when world is repaired, Messianic Age begins / encouraging healing the world to bring that day nearer. • Healing the world implies that whilst the world is innately good / God deliberately left room for humans to improve upon his work / Midrash – All that God created, he made to be improved / believing this might make a person more determined to heal the world. • Leads to social action programmes / tzedakah and acts of kindness. • Given there are huge issues in the world, eg climate change / belief in healing the world might give motivation that a person should work to fix this problem / as individual or as group / eg by managing own lifestyle / or by raising awareness in others / joining campaigns. • Might encourage a person to work to right injustices in the world / ie focusing on people not nature / hoping to unite people / bring harmony. • Some Kabbalistic Jews believe the world is profoundly broken / can only be fixed by human activity which is entirely focused on religious devotion / eg study of scriptures, etc.
Q1.4: Explain two Jewish beliefs about the divine presence (Shekhinah).
Refer to sacred writings or another source of Jewish belief and teaching in your answer.
Q3 IB/G/Jun20/8062/16
Answer:
beliefs, practices and sources of authority. Relevant and accurate reference to sacred writing or another source of Jewish belief and teaching – 1 mark • Belief in presence of God shows God’s immanence / hence Jewish people encouraged to believe God is within the world and active. • Translates as dwelling or setting found in rabbinic literature / interpretations of scriptural references / so Shekhinah is dwelling or settling of divine presence. • Represents feminine attributes of presence of God / Shekhinah a feminine word in Hebrew. • Shekhinah was present as part of the Tabernacle after it had been completed and consecrated / Exodus describes cloud covering the Tent of the Meeting / taken into battle to protect Israelites / dwelling in Holy of Holies in temple in Jerusalem. • Thought to be shown via a pillar of dust or fire ahead of the Israelites whilst they wandered in the wilderness / guide to Promised Land. • Shekhinah considered present when people meet in worship or discussion of Torah / if two sit together and the words between them are of the Torah, then the Shekhinah is in their midst (Rabbi Hananiah ben Teradion) / if ten men sit together and occupy themselves with the Law, the Shekhinah rests amongst them (Rabbi Halafta ben Dosa) / whenever ten are gathered in prayer, there the Shekhinah rests – Talmud Sanhedrim 39a. • Amidah prayer – Blessed are you, God, who returns His presence to Zion. • Genesis – the Spirit of God moved across the face of the waters / Shekhinah as spirit of God is involved at creation. • Ezekiel – ‘there was the glory of God before me, as in the vision I had seen in the plain’ / Shekhinah is the glory of God. • Many Jews believe that Shekinah is present in physical spaces such as the synagogue, temple and places of pilgrimage, etc.
Q1.5: ‘The Ten Commandments are the most important part of the Sinai Covenant
with Moses.’ Evaluate this statement. In your answer you should: • refer to Jewish teaching • give reasoned arguments to support this statement • give reasoned arguments to support a different point of view • reach a justified conclusion.
[SPaG 3 marks]
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Q6 IB/G/Jun20/8062/16 Q2 Judaism: Practices
Answer:
In your answer you should: • give reasoned arguments to support this statement • give reasoned arguments to support a different point of view [SPaG 3 marks] understanding of relevant evidence and information. References to religion applied to the issue. relevant evidence and information. Clear reference to religion. evidence and information. evidence and arguments must be credited.
Arguments in support
• Decalogue / first ten of all the mitzvot / form the foundation of Jewish ethics, religious and civil law / so must be most important as without proper foundations, nothing else lasts or is strong. • Many of the Ten Commandments underpin laws in society, for instance do not steal or kill are laws in most societies. • Ten Commandments have prominence in every synagogue / shows importance of these ten mitzvot / provide a summary of all other mitzvot combined. • Ten Commandments were the only part of the covenant which God inscribed / more than once / done in stone, which implies their fixed and rigid nature/ and their eternal nature / shows they must not be forgotten or ignored, etc.
Arguments in support of other views
• The laws only have value because the Israelites agreed to keep them / so the most important part of the covenant was the assent of the Israelites / their faith made the Ten Commandments more than just words / brought Ten Commandments to life. • God promised the Israelites would be God’s chosen people / gain special status amongst all nations / thus giving a role to them / this role included them having to keep the commandments, but the role precedes the action. • God gave Moses all of the mitzvot / not just the Ten Commandments / all are binding so are more important / the Ten Commandments are just the overview rather than the detail / Jewish people need to know the detail. • The covenant blessed the Israelites / Judaism places great emphasis on receiving God’s blessing / eg Amidah (standing prayer) / so this is the most important part of the covenant / as it is the outcome of observing the commandments, etc. [Plus SPaG 3 marks] Q2 Judaism: Practices
Q2.1: Which one of the following is the Amidah?
Put a tick ( ) in the box next to the correct answer. A A holy book B A prayer book C The naming ceremony D The standing prayer
Answer:
beliefs, practices and sources of authority. Answer: D: The standing prayer
Q2.2: Give the names of two Jewish Festivals.
Question 2 continues on the next page
Q7 IB/G/Jun20/8062/16
Answer:
beliefs, practices and sources of authority. Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur / Sukkot / Pesach / Shavuot / Hannukah / Purim / Shabbat, etc
Q2.3: Explain two contrasting religious features of a synagogue.
Answer:
similarities and differences within and/or between religions and beliefs. First contrasting feature Second contrasting feature If similar features are given, only one of them may be credited up to 2 marks. • Ner Tamid / eternal light / represents God’s presence / Shekhinah / kept lit at all times / shows God is with his people through good and bad / Exodus 27:20 and Leviticus 24:2 – God commands people of Israel to keep the light burning in the Tabernacle at all times / Ner Tamid is • Aron Hakodesh / ark of the covenant / represents tabernacle / contains the Torah / sacred space / at front of synagogue toward which all worshippers face / adorned with much Jewish symbolism reminding of beliefs / Eastern wall in UK synagogues – Jews must face Jerusalem when praying. • Bimah – raised platform from which the Torah is read / raised to show separation between ordinary and holy spaces / central within synagogue, as was Holy of Holies in temple in Jerusalem / in Orthodox synagogue, male worshippers seating faces toward bimah / in many synagogues, not a raised space, so worshippers stand when it is read from. • Ten Commandments – reminder of covenant with Moses / reminder of need to keep God’s laws. • Menorah – seven-branched candlestick / represents seven days of creation / reminder of God’s • Women’s gallery/space – in Orthodox, separating men from women for worship, etc.
Q2.4: Explain two ways in which the Bar Mitzvah ceremony is important for Jews.
Refer to sacred writings or another source of Jewish belief and teaching in your answer.
Q8 IB/G/Jun20/8062/16
Answer:
beliefs, practices and sources of authority. Relevant and accurate reference to sacred writing or another source of Jewish belief and teaching – 1 mark • Ceremony represents the start of a boy taking full responsibility for his own religious education and development / the boy will have had to prepare thoroughly for his Bar Mitzvah / he will have studied the Torah in preparation for reading out loud in the synagogue / he will have spent many hours learning how to read and recite Hebrew / he will have prepared a speech on a theme in the Torah / and may have also developed a community project / this will have helped him to understand that he is a scholar of the Torah and that this will continue into his adult life / and that he has responsibilities to the wider Jewish community. • Following the ceremony, he will now be able to show full and proper respect when praying / as he will be able to correctly wear the tallit and tefillin / Deuteronomy 6:8 ‘You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be a reminder between your eyes’. • Completion of the ceremony provides another person who is now eligible to make up a minyan / when a minyan meets, Shekhinah is present / minyan required for specific acts of worship, eg funeral / means there is another person who can read the Torah in the synagogue during worship. • The ceremony celebrates the link in an unbroken chain of thousands of years of Jewish tradition / the boy is joining this tradition to claim his own Jewish identity and show personal desire for links to whole of Judaism. • The ceremony is a reminder of freedom to live as a practising Jew / reminder of all those denied this privilege / reminder of being one of God’s chosen people. • Ceremony involves whole community / community is very important in Judaism / becoming Bar Mitzvah is an extension of that sense of community / initiation to full community / now seen as one of the adults. • Important day for whole family / extended family attend even from far away / as well as public acknowledgement and celebration within the community, etc.
Q2.5: ‘Jewish mourning rituals are needed for the living more than for the dead.’
Evaluate this statement. In your answer you should: • refer to Jewish teaching • give reasoned arguments to support this statement • give reasoned arguments to support a different point of view • reach a justified conclusion.
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Answer:
In your answer you should: • give reasoned arguments to support this statement • give reasoned arguments to support a different point of view understanding of relevant evidence and information. References to religion applied to the issue. relevant evidence and information. Clear reference to religion. evidence and information. evidence and arguments must be credited.
Arguments in support
• Rituals help the mourners come to terms with their loss / mourners are at their most vulnerable/lost at this time / so in greatest need. • Whole community comes together to support the family in their time of need / such as preparing all food for them in the first week (Shiva) / community focus is on the living / community support those left behind / which shows recognition of greater need / as only small number attend to needs of deceased. • Blessings (berakhot) for the bereaved – May God comfort you among all those who mourn for Zion and Jerusalem / praying to support the mourners. • When a person dies / those left behind feel sadness and loss / they think about the deceased and what they were / whereas it is not possible to know whether the dead need anything at all / the dead are gone so have no needs / whereas it is obvious that the bereaved have need. • The dead are dead and gone / anything those left behind do is for their own satisfaction or comfort / or out of obligation to their name, etc.
Arguments in support of other views
• ‘Need’ is the wrong word / dead are given respect through the whole process / are the focus of • Special rituals for the dead / volunteer group (Chevra Kadisha, literally ‘sacred society’) prepare the body in a precise way / singing of hymns beside body to comfort the soul / body not left alone before burial / as it is not known when the soul departs / all for the benefit of the dead person / these are given primacy. • At grave, attendees often have to put soil into the grave / departure from graveside is through two lines of mourners from the community to say words of mourning / intended to show respect to the dead person / suggests graveside rituals are more for the dead than the living / as they are focused on the deceased. • Period of mourning lasts a year for the children / close family / many prohibitions in shiva (first week after burial) / including no study of Torah, no work, sit low, cover mirrors / for next 11 months (avelut) may not attend happy events, must go to synagogue for all services / intention is to keep them mindful of their loss, show appropriate respect / this is all caused by having had a death in the family / so the dead person is the centre of everything, and the cause of everything. • By definition, mourning is about the dead / the dead and the mourners are two sides of the same coin / so mourning rituals cannot be seen as being about one rather than the other, etc.