Lesson video

Hi everyone, my name is Rabbi London, and today we're going to learn about the concept of God in Judaism.

I'm very excited to be learning with you today.

Please make sure that you have a pen and paper or something to write on or with.

Try to find a space that has as few distractions as possible.

Please try to turn off any notifications of any of your apps or finish up any conversations you might be in the middle of, as soon as you're ready, we'll begin.

So today we're going to look at some different aspects of God.

Last time we got together, we spoke about some of the characteristics of God, according to many Jewish beliefs.

Today we're going to learn about the Tanakh which is an acronym for the Bible.

We're going to learn a few other characteristics of God.

We're going to learn about the term reverence in terms of how we're going to talk about God or use God's name.

And then we're going to look at some of the names of God, both found within the Tanakh, within the Torah and the way that some people might talk about God.

As I said today all you're going to need is yourself, a pen and pencil and paper or something that you can write on and write with.

I'll wait a few moments so you can get yourself situated.

So first we're going to talk about the word Tanakh.

Tanakh is an acronym.

An acronym means when we take a number, some letters and they become another word, but they stand, each letter stands for a specific word.

So Tanakh is actually a Hebrew word coming from Hebrew letters, and each letter I've bolded here stands for another word.

So Tanakh represents, the T stands for Torah.

The Torah is the five books of Moses.

The N stands for the word Neviim which in Hebrew is the word for prophets.

In this section of Tanakh, one could find the stories of the prophets such as Isaiah, or find the stories of King David and King Solomon, or the era of the judges or Joshua right after Moses dies.

The final section of Tanakh, here is with a K is after the word Ketuvim, which in Hebrew means writings.

And in the section of Ketuvim that's where one could find the book of Psalms, the books of Chronicles, the stories of Esther and Ruth, and the Song of Songs.

So when someone is talking about the book of the Tanakh, they're referring to the entire part, this entire section of Jewish literature coming from the five books of Moses, the prophets, and the writings.

Now sometimes people might say the Torah, and sometimes the Torah just means the five books of Moses.

Sometimes people might use the word Torah to refer to the entire Tanakh, and sometimes people refer to the word Torah as all of Jewish literature.

I'm going to try really hard to use Tanakh and Torah to mean very specific things.

I'd like you to pause the video, to complete the following task.

Please copy down the word Tanakh, and what each letter stands for.

Tanakh stands for Torah, Neviim, and Ketuvim.

Torah is the five books of Moses.

Neviim is the books of prophets.

Ketuvim is the books of writings.

Resume once you're finished.

God as law giver.

So last time when we spoke about some of the characteristics and attributes of God, we spoke about how God is a judge or how God is merciful, God is omnipotent, God is all knowing, God is omnipresent, God is everywhere, God is one according to Jewish belief.

Another idea is that God is also a law giver.

The Torah, that first part of Tanakh is sometimes referred to as the written law.

Many Jews believe that God gave the laws to the Jews, and Jews have to observe these laws, and these laws can be found in the Torah, so Torah contains the laws of God.

When God gave the Torah, God entered a covenant with the Jewish people.

A covenant means an agreement or a binding promise between two people, just like Abraham and God made a covenant with one another, God also made a covenant with the Jewish people when God gave the Torah.

As part of this agreement between the Jewish people and God, part of the agreement of this covenant with God was that they would follow the laws that God gave to them.

When God made a covenant with the Jewish people, the Jewish people agreed that they would worship only one God, right? They would be monotheistic, they would obey the commandments or mitzvot, which are the commandments that God gave to the Jewish people, and how they should be acting in the world, both during the time that the Torah was given and even today.

God is also known as a creator.

When reading Genesis 1:1 or really throughout the entirety of Genesis, it begins when God began to create heaven and earth.

Jewish people believe that God was the creator of the world and everything in it.

There are some people, Jewish people who have a literal account of what happened during creation, meaning that when they read that the world was created in six days, they believe that the world was created in six days.

While there are others who see it more as a story.

So that this is part of how one is able to understand how the world came to be.

And there are people, there are Jewish people who believe that it's somewhere in between, both being a literal account of how the world was created, and a story of how the world came to be.

So what does it mean to be monotheistic? Does it mean that one believes that there's only one God or does it mean the belief that God is everywhere? Monotheistic means a belief that there is one God.

What does the word Tanakh refer to? Does it refer to A, a name of God, B, a Jewish holiday, or C the five books of Moses Torah, the book of prophets, Neviim, and the book of writings, ketuvim.

The answer is C.

The word Tanakh refers to the five books of Moses Torah, the book of prophets, Neviim, and the book of writings, ketuvim.

What does the word covenant mean? Does it mean a law, a promise or agreement, or a good deed? The word covenant means a promise or agreement.

Choose all that apply, which are characteristics of God? God is merciful, God is one, God is omnipotent, or God is omnipresent, God is a student.

The answer is that God is merciful, God is one, and God is omnipresent.

You did a wonderful job answering those questions.

Now I want you to take a moment, and think about some of this for a few moments.

I want you to think about the following questions and then write down your answers.

Please answer in full sentences.

So I want you to think about something that you think of personally as something that's special or holy.

And then I want you to think about how do you treat that item, and write down what are some things you might do to take care of that object.

And then I'd like you to think about what are some rules you have when someone else might borrow this item from you.

Now please pause the video and complete your task, and resume, press play once you're finished.

I would love to know what you wrote.

I'll share a little bit about what I wrote.

So to me my books are very special.

If I'm writing in my books, I only write in pencil.

I'm very careful when I'm drinking coffee and reading, so I don't stain my pages.

I only use a bookmark, so I don't ruin my pages.

Now if someone borrows my books, I ask them not to write in the book at all.

I ask them to make sure to be careful without having liquids near the books.

I asks that they make sure the books doesn't get knocked around to ruin the pages or the spine.

I try to take a lot of care of my books because they're so special to me.

When we take care of something that's very special that word is reverence.

The Jewish people show reverence or take special care, when dealing with God's names or God's name.

We can see this idea it comes from a verse in the Bible from Exodus, comes actually from the 10 commandments, comes from the verse, "You shall not swear falsely "by the name of your Lord your God, "for the Lord will not clear one "who swears falsely by his name." Through a lots of conversations and debates, this comes to mean that one should treat God's names with reverence or respect.

To show respect to God's, in many Jewish communities, you might see that people won't write God's name fully.

So you might see that they'll write G dash D, that way it's not really God's name, or if one's reading in Hebrew they might see just the one letter, usually a letter with an apostrophe.

That way God's name is not really going to be on that piece of paper, and that piece of paper can then be thrown into the garbage or the rubbish here.

Some people do not pronounce God's name in the way it might be written.

And we're going to see that in a few moments.

Some will not throw documents with God's name in the bin.

Because some Jewish people see that if God's name is written anywhere on any piece of paper, that piece of paper or that book, also takes on the holiness that God takes.

Some Jewish people will also be careful not to place holy books or documents, papers with God's name on the floor.

All of these ways are ways to show respect, not only to the book or to the paper, but also to show respect to God.

Please pause the video to complete this task.

Please answer in complete sentences.

What are three ways that Jewish people show reverence to God's name? Please press play, resume the video once you are finished.

My answer and maybe your answer is similar, is that many Jewish people show reverence to God and God's name.

Some Jewish people will not write out God's name fully.

Some Jewish people will not throw out documents that have God's name on them.

Some Jewish people will not place books or documents with God's name on the floor.

If you're wondering what do people do with all the documents if they don't get thrown into the bin? The answer is that many times they are going to get buried.

So when there will be, or might be a funeral, they will get buried also, or they get stored in a special type of library called a genizah.

A genizah is a place full of old books, and old documents that are not allowed to get thrown into the bin, and so they get stored forever and ever.

Sometimes they will disintegrate themselves because there's moisture in the air, there might be something that destroys them, but they're not going to come into contact with all the other stuff that might be in the rubbish.

Now we're going to talk about some of the names of God.

As you can see on the screen, there's a few Hebrew letters.

These four Hebrew letters, are I'm going to read from left to right.

Even though normally Hebrew is read from right to left.

So the four letters are , a , a , and a.

Sometimes in English, you might see this name written out as Yahweh.

Most Jewish communities do not pronounce this name in that way.

Many, most Jewish communities we'll get to what many people say, but this word actually doesn't have any sounds, it's a word made up of vowels.

According to traditional texts, this name comes from a verse in Exodus, where Moses asks God, when he's about to go to Egypt to free the Jewish people from slavery.

Moses asked God, "What should I tell "the Jewish people your name is?" And God answers, , which means I will be forever what I am now, which sounds like not really a name, but it comes to be one of God's names.

Hebrew as a language is made up, much of the language uses root words.

Meaning that many words come from smaller words, and you can see how they're all interconnected with one another.

This name of God is connected to the root Hebrew word, to be.

As I said, in most Jewish communities, when one sees God's name written with a , they're not going to pronounce that name as it looks.

Most Jewish communities will pronounce that name written as Adonai, which means Lord or master.

In some communities, they're only going to say the word Adonai if they are praying, or if there are reading the Torah during a ritual.

But if they're just talking, or potentially learning, they don't want to use the word Adonai because it's again a holy word and should be treated with reverence, and instead they call the name of God hashem, which literally means the name.

So in some communities, they will refer to God as hasham.

There actually are a lot of names of God according to Jewish tradition.

Traditionally, there are actually 72 names of God.

And those can be found throughout the Tanakh.

According to some opinions, the different names represent a different characteristic of God.

In other opinions, it might mean that there was a different point of view, speaking at that moment in time.

All in all, although there might be lots of names of God, there is still only one God.

So some examples of the names of God.

One could see within the Bible, within Tanakh, the use of El or Elohim.

God can also be known as the omnipresent or a literal translation would be the place, but with a capital P because again, God is omnipresent, God is everywhere.

In later rabbinic texts, one might see God being referred to as The Holy One blessed be He So again referring to God, but not using one of God's names that's in the Tanakh, within the Jewish writings.

So true or false.

The Jewish people believe there is only one name for God.

False, the Jewish people believe there are many different names for God.

Traditionally, there are 72 names of God that can be found within the Tanakh.

True or false.

One way some Jewish people refer to God is by calling God hashem, the name.

True, one way some Jewish people refer to God is by calling God hashem, the name.

True or false.

Some Jewish people believe that God wrote the Torah.

True, some Jewish people believe that God wrote the Torah.

True or false, the T in Tanakh stands for tradition.

False, the T in Tanakh stands for Torah.

True or false, many Jewish people believe that God created the world.

True, many Jewish people believe that God created the world.

Attribute or aspect of God would be the.

The is seen as the divine presence.

Meaning that's the place where God's presence rests and can be felt.

Although Jews believe that God is omnipresent, everywhere.

For most Jews it's not just about where God is, but where God can be felt and experienced.

We're going to look in a few minutes at some places that some people feel the presence of God.

Now, there are also many people, Jewish people who feel God's presence in many more places and we're going to talk about.

There are people who will say, there are Jewish people who believe that they can, they feel God's presence when they're out in nature, or they feel God's presence when they're doing good deeds, or they feel God's presence while they're walking through the supermarket.

We're going to learn some of some traditional views on where tradition says the rests or the can be felt and is present.

Jewish people believe that God continues to work in the world today through divine presence, which is called the.

Jewish people believe that one can traditionally experience the presence of God through studying Torah, studying the Tanakh, or any of the writings relating to God or relating to Judaism, worshipping , and prayer.

We're going to now look at what these aspects might look like for some Jewish people.

The and studying.

Many Jews believe that through the study of Torah and other Jewish texts, they can connect with God.

Jewish people can study Torah or Tanakh and other Jewish texts, in many different places.

They can study at home, they can study in their synagogue, they can study in yeshiva which is a term for a school which specialises in learning Jewish texts and Torah all day.

The can also be found during worship.

It was said during the time of the tabernacle, so when the Jewish people were travelling in the desert, and during the time of the temples, God resided within the tabernacle and temple, it's was very clear where God was.

Now many Jewish people believe that God's presence is felt or rests within the synagogue.

The place of Jewish prayer, and Jewish communal life.

The can also be felt or found in prayer.

According to the Talmud, when 10 or more adult Jews gather God is present.

An adult in Jewish law is actually a boy over the age of 13, and a girl over the age of 12.

According to Orthodox Jews, 10 adults to gather to form a minyan can only be 10 adult men.

In other denominations, such as liberal and reform, 10 adult Jews, regardless of their gender, will count towards a minyan.

We'll talk more about what prayer and what worship looks like within the Jewish community in a few lessons from now.

I'm sure you have many questions.

So I'd like you right now to pause the video, to complete your tasks.

Please answer in complete sentences.

What are some ways Jews experience the presence of God in the world today? Please press play, resume the video once you're finished.

My answer is some ways that Jews believe they can experience the presence of God are through study, worship, and prayer.

They may study Torah at home or in a yeshiva.

They may worship God at the synagogue, and they often take part in group prayer.

What did you write? Was it similar? We have covered so much material today.

We learned about the acronym Tanakh, where the T stands for Torah, the N stands for Neviim, prophets, and the K stands for ketuvim, writing.

We learned about reverence to God, and God's name.

How there some Jewish people do not say God's name or might not write God's name fully, or will pay special respect when dealing with objects that might have God's name on them.

We learned a few of God's names, both from the Tanakh, like El or pronouncing God's name like Adonai or some names that some Jewish people might use when they're talking about God like hashem.

We also learned about the idea of , the divine presence that can be found everywhere, and according to some people, and just in some Jewish communities, they feel the presence more when they're learning Torah, when they're engaging in the works that God wrote, or when they're worshipping in the synagogue, or when they're praying either on their own or with a minyan, a group of 10 adults praying together.

Thank you so much, you worked so hard today.

After we finish, I'd like you to think and write down three things that you learned, and feel free to share that with your parent or carer, or even your friend, or maybe your teacher.

And don't forget to complete the end of lesson quiz, have a wonderful day and happy learning.