124-518: In Judaism , the Holy Spirit ( Hebrew : רוח הקודש , ruach ha-kodesh ) refers to the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the universe or over God's creatures, in given contexts. The term "holy spirit" appears three times in the Hebrew Bible : Psalm 51 refers to "Your holy spirit" ( ruach kodshecha ) and Isaiah refers twice to "His holy spirit" ( ruach kodsho ). Psalm 51 contains
248-404: A Berakah is said also at evil tidings. Hence, although the experience of God is like none other, the occasions for experiencing Him, for having a consciousness of Him, are manifold, even if we consider only those that call for Berakot. Whereas Jewish philosophers often debate whether God is immanent or transcendent , and whether people have free will or their lives are determined, halakha
372-551: A prophet and a miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible . In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worship of the Hebrew deity Yahweh over that of the Canaanite deity Baal . God also performed many miracles through Elijah, including resurrection , bringing fire down from
496-407: A still, small voice , which bids Elijah go forth again - this time to Damascus to anoint Hazael as king of Aram , Jehu as king of Israel , and Elisha as the old prophet's successor. Elijah encounters Ahab again in 1 Kings 21, after Ahab has acquired possession of a vineyard by murder. Ahab desires to have the vineyard of Naboth of Jezreel . He offers a better vineyard or a fair price for
620-597: A centralized authority that would dictate an exact religious dogma. Because of this, many different variations on the basic beliefs are considered within the scope of Judaism. Even so, all Jewish religious movements are, to a greater or lesser extent, based on the principles of the Hebrew Bible or various commentaries such as the Talmud and Midrash . Judaism also universally recognizes the Biblical Covenant between God and
744-430: A chair is set aside for the use of the prophet Elijah. Elijah is said to be a witness at all circumcisions when the sign of the covenant is placed upon the body of the child. This custom stems from the incident at Mount Horeb : Elijah had arrived at Mount Horeb after the demonstration of God's presence and power on Mount Carmel . God asks Elijah to explain his arrival, and Elijah replies: "I have been very jealous for
868-420: A chariot of fire and horses of fire appear and Elijah is lifted up in a whirlwind. As Elijah is lifted up, his mantle falls to the ground and Elisha picks it up. Elijah is mentioned once more in 2 Chronicles 21:12, which will be his final mention in the Hebrew Bible. A letter is sent under the prophet's name to Jehoram of Judah . It tells him that he has led the people of Judah astray in the same way that Israel
992-497: A fall. He sends to the priests of Baalzebub in Ekron , outside the kingdom of Israel, to know if he will recover. Elijah intercepts his messengers and sends them back to Ahaziah with a message "Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?" Ahaziah asks the messengers to describe the person who gave them this message. They tell him he
1116-470: A hundred Jewish prophets from Jezebel's violent purge. Obadiah fears that when he reports to Ahab about Elijah's whereabouts, Elijah would disappear, provoking Ahab to execute him. Elijah reassures Obadiah and sends him to Ahab. When Ahab confronts Elijah, he denounces him as being the "troubler of Israel" but Elijah retorts that Ahab himself is the one who troubled Israel by allowing the worship of false gods ( shedim ). At Elijah's instruction, Ahab summons
1240-517: A magician and then a possessor of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit did not appear to him except at night, all pagan prophets being in possession of their gift only then. The Torah includes the Balaam section in order to show why the Holy Spirit was taken from the non-Jew—i.e., because Balaam desired to destroy a whole people without cause. A very ancient source explains, based on Deuteronomy 18:15, that in
1364-463: A masculine and sometimes with a feminine voice, as the word ruach is both masculine and feminine, the Holy Spirit was conceived as being sometimes a man and sometimes a woman. The Holy Spirit dwells only among a worthy generation, and the frequency of its manifestations is proportionate to the worthiness. There was no manifestation of it in the time of the Second Temple, while there were many during
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#17328446705231488-459: A means of experiencing God". Reflecting on the contribution of the Amoraim and Tanaim to contemporary Judaism, Professor Jacob Neusner observed: The rabbi's logical and rational inquiry is not mere logic-chopping. It is a most serious and substantive effort to locate in trivialities the fundamental principles of the revealed will of God to guide and sanctify the most specific and concrete actions in
1612-569: A means to learn the contents of God's revelation, but an end in itself. According to the Talmud: These are the things for which a person enjoys the dividends in this world while the principal remains for the person to enjoy in the world to come; they are: honoring parents, loving deeds of kindness, and making peace between one person and another. But the study of the Torah is equal to them all. (Talmud Shabbat 127a). In Judaism, "the study of Torah can be
1736-574: A new history of him, which, beginning with his death—or "translation"—ends only with the close of the history of the human race. The volume of references to Elijah in Jewish Tradition stands in marked contrast to that in the Canon. As in the case of most figures of Jewish legend, so in the case of Elijah, the biblical account became the basis of later legend. Elijah the precursor of the Messiah, Elijah zealous in
1860-518: A parallel oral tradition, illustrating the assumption that the reader is already familiar with the details from other, i.e., oral, sources. Halakha , the rabbinic Jewish way of life, then, is based on a combined reading of the Torah, and the oral tradition—the Mishnah, the halakhic Midrash, the Talmud and its commentaries. The halakha has developed slowly, through a precedent-based system. The literature of questions to rabbis, and their considered answers,
1984-514: A permanent king, and Samuel appointed Saul the king. When the people pressured Saul into going against a command conveyed to him by Samuel, God told Samuel to appoint David in his stead. Rabbinic tradition holds that the details and interpretation of the Law, called the Oral Torah or "Oral Law," were originally unwritten traditions based on the Law given to Moses at Sinai. However, as the persecutions of
2108-567: A personality of heroic proportions. In this process his actions and relations to the people and the King became stereotyped, and the presentation of his behavior paradigmatic. Jewish legends about Elijah abound in the Aggadah , which is found throughout various collections of rabbinic literature , including the Babylonian Talmud . This varied literature does not merely discuss his life, but has created
2232-550: A positive commandment is to be fulfilled: The ordinary, familiar, everyday things and occurrences we have, constitute occasions for the experience of God. Such things as one's daily sustenance, the very day itself, are felt as manifestations of God's loving-kindness, calling for the Berakhot . Kedushah , holiness, which is nothing else than the imitation of God, is concerned with daily conduct, with being gracious and merciful, with keeping oneself from defilement by idolatry, adultery, and
2356-626: A priest: why then dost thou stand in a cemetery?" A midrash tells that they even abolished the sign of the covenant, and the prophet had to appear as Israel's accuser before God. In the same cave where God once appeared to Moses and revealed Himself as gracious and merciful, Elijah was summoned to appear before God. By this summons he perceived that he should have appealed to God's mercy, instead of becoming Israel's accuser. The prophet, however, remained relentless in his zeal and severity, so that God commanded him to appoint his successor. The vision in which God revealed Himself to Elijah gave him at
2480-681: A reward for his act of faith in one God, he was promised that Isaac , his second son, would inherit the Land of Israel (then called Canaan ). Later, the descendants of Isaac's son Jacob were enslaved in Egypt , and God commanded Moses to lead the Exodus from Egypt. The Law was given at Sinai —the Torah , or five books of Moses. These books, together with the Nevi'im and Ketuvim , are known as Torah Shebikhtav , as opposed to
2604-520: A seminal role in the formation of Western civilization through its impact as a core background element of Early Christianity . Within Judaism, there are a variety of religious movements , most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism , which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah. Historically, all or part of this assertion
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#17328446705232728-496: A shrub, praying for death and eventually falling asleep. At length an angel of the Lord rouses him gently, telling him to wake up and eat. When he awakens he finds bread and a jar of water, eats, drinks, and goes back to sleep. The angel then comes to him a second time, telling him to eat and drink afresh, because he has a long journey ahead of him. Elijah travels for forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb , where Moses had received
2852-648: A time, but did not bring peace with the Israelite prophets, who advocated a strict deuteronomic interpretation of the religious law. Under Ahab's kingship tensions exacerbated. Ahab built a temple for Baal, and his wife Jezebel brought a large entourage of priests and prophets of Baal and Asherah into the country. In this context Elijah is introduced in 1 Kings 17:1 as Elijah "the Tishbite ." He warns Ahab that there will be years of catastrophic drought so severe that not even dew will form, because Ahab and his queen stand at
2976-484: A triple parallelism between different types of "spirit": Fashion a pure heart for me, O God; create in me a steadfast spirit ( רוּחַ נָכֹון ). Do not cast me out of Your presence, or take Your holy spirit ( רוּחַ קָדְשְׁךָ ) away from me. Let me again rejoice in Your help; let a vigorous spirit ( רוּחַ נְדִיבָה ) sustain me. Variations of a similar term, "spirit of God", also appear in various places in
3100-631: A very 'northern' situation in the southern kingdom", and thus is authentic. While the final mention of Elijah in the Hebrew Bible is in the Book of Chronicles, the Christian Bible 's reordering places the Book of Malachi (which prophesies a messiah) as the final book of the Old Testament , before the New Testament gospels . Thus, Elijah's final Old Testament appearance is in the Book of Malachi, where it
3224-506: A wide body of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Among Judaism's core texts is the Torah , the first five books of the Hebrew Bible , a collection of ancient Hebrew scriptures. The Tanakh, known in English as the Hebrew Bible, has the same contents as the Old Testament in Christianity . In addition to the original written scripture, the supplemental Oral Torah
3348-476: Is Maimonides ' thirteen principles of faith , developed in the 12th century. According to Maimonides, any Jew who rejects even one of these principles would be considered an apostate and a heretic. Jewish scholars have held points of view diverging in various ways from Maimonides' principles. Thus, within Reform Judaism only the first five principles are endorsed. In Maimonides' time, his list of tenets
3472-522: Is God; the L ORD —he is God." Elijah then orders them to seize the prophets of Baal, which they do, and Elijah brings them down to the River Kishon and slays them, at which the rains begin, signaling the end of the famine. Jezebel , enraged that Elijah has killed the prophets of Baal, threatens to kill him. Elijah flees to Beersheba in Judah , continues alone into the wilderness, and finally sits down under
3596-407: Is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.'" They respond by shouting louder and slashing themselves with swords and spears. They continue praying until evening without success. Elijah then repairs Yahweh's altar with twelve stones, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Elijah digs a trench around it and prepares
3720-481: Is a system through which any Jew acts to bring God into the world. Ethical monotheism is central in all sacred or normative texts of Judaism. However, monotheism has not always been followed in practice. The Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh ) records and repeatedly condemns the widespread worship of other gods in ancient Israel . In the Greco-Roman era, many different interpretations of monotheism existed in Judaism, including
3844-538: Is also the source of the Hebrew term for Judaism, יַהֲדוּת Yahaḏuṯ . The term Ἰουδαϊσμός first appears in the Koine Greek book of 2 Maccabees in the 2nd century BCE (i.e. 2 Maccabees 2:21, 8:1 and 14:38) . In the context of the age and period it meant "seeking or forming part of a cultural entity". It resembled its antonym hellenismos , a word signifying people's submission to Hellenistic cultural norms. The conflict between iudaismos and hellenismos lay behind
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3968-578: Is an Abrahamic monotheistic ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jewish people . Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of observing the Mosaic covenant , which was established between God and the Israelites , their ancestors. The religion is considered one of the earliest monotheistic religions in the world. Jewish religious doctrine encompasses
4092-537: Is an esoteric tradition in Judaism in Kabbalah , Rabbinic scholar Max Kadushin has characterized normative Judaism as "normal mysticism", because it involves everyday personal experiences of God through ways or modes that are common to all Jews. This is played out through the observance of the halakha , or Jewish law, and given verbal expression in the Birkat Ha-Mizvot , the short blessings that are spoken every time
4216-661: Is called the Jerusalem Talmud . It was compiled sometime during the 4th century in Palestine. According to critical scholars , the Torah consists of inconsistent texts edited together in a way that calls attention to divergent accounts. Several of these scholars, such as Professor Martin Rose and John Bright , suggest that during the First Temple period the people of Israel believed that each nation had its own god, but that their god
4340-460: Is carried out and Naboth is stoned to death. When word comes that Naboth is dead, Jezebel tells Ahab to take possession of the vineyard. God again speaks to Elijah and sends him to confront Ahab with a question and a prophecy: "Have you killed, and also taken possession?" and, "In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood." Ahab begins the confrontation by calling Elijah his enemy. Elijah responds by throwing
4464-535: Is generally designated as the abode of Elijah, but since the location of paradise is itself uncertain, the last two statements may be identical. At the appointed time, it is written, you are destined to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob. Elijah's glory is honoured in the Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus). His designated tasks are altered to: At Jewish circumcision ceremonies,
4588-463: Is heavily associated with and most often thought of as Orthodox Judaism . 13 Principles of Faith: — Maimonides In the strict sense, in Judaism, unlike Christianity and Islam, there are no fixed universally binding articles of faith, due to their incorporation into the liturgy. Scholars throughout Jewish history have proposed numerous formulations of Judaism's core tenets, all of which have met with criticism. The most popular formulation
4712-701: Is invoked at the weekly Havdalah rite that marks the end of Shabbat , and Elijah is invoked in other Jewish customs, among them the Passover Seder and the brit milah (ritual circumcision). He appears in numerous stories and references in the Haggadah and rabbinic literature , including the Babylonian Talmud . According to some Jewish interpretations, Elijah will return during the End of Times. The Christian New Testament notes that some people thought that Jesus was, in some sense, Elijah, but it also makes clear that John
4836-652: Is premundane and has no peer or associate; (3) the whole universe is created; (4) God called Moses and the other Prophets of the Biblical canon; (5) the Law of Moses alone is true; (6) to know the language of the Bible is a religious duty; (7) the Temple at Jerusalem is the palace of the world's Ruler; (8) belief in Resurrection contemporaneous with the advent of the Messiah; (9) final judgment; (10) retribution. In modern times, Judaism lacks
4960-599: Is referred to as responsa (Hebrew Sheelot U-Teshuvot ). Over time, as practices develop, codes of halakha are written that are based on the responsa; the most important code, the Shulchan Aruch , largely determines Orthodox religious practice today. Jewish philosophy refers to the conjunction between serious study of philosophy and Jewish theology. Major Jewish philosophers include Philo of Alexandria , Solomon ibn Gabirol , Saadia Gaon , Judah Halevi , Maimonides , and Gersonides . Major changes occurred in response to
5084-522: Is regarded as the first Jewish diaspora . Later, many of them returned to their homeland after the subsequent conquest of Babylon by the Persian Achaemenid Empire seventy years later, an event known as the Return to Zion . A Second Temple was constructed and old religious practices were resumed. During the early years of the Second Temple, the highest religious authority was a council known as
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5208-848: Is represented by later texts, such as the Midrash and the Talmud . The Hebrew-language word torah can mean "teaching", "law", or "instruction", although "Torah" can also be used as a general term that refers to any Jewish text that expands or elaborates on the original Five Books of Moses . Representing the core of the Jewish spiritual and religious tradition, the Torah is a term and a set of teachings that are explicitly self-positioned as encompassing at least seventy, and potentially infinite, facets and interpretations. Judaism's texts, traditions, and values strongly influenced later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity and Islam . Hebraism , like Hellenism , played
5332-418: Is that halakha should be viewed as a set of general guidelines rather than as a set of restrictions and obligations whose observance is required of all Jews. Historically, special courts enforced halakha ; today, these courts still exist but the practice of Judaism is mostly voluntary. Authority on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person or organization, but in the sacred texts and
5456-639: Is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning "dwelling" or "settling" and denotes the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God . This term does not occur in the Bible, and is from rabbinic literature . Rashi taught that quasi- Sefirah Da'at is ruach haQodesh . [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Singer, Isidore ; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Holy Spirit" . The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Judaism Judaism ( Hebrew : יַהֲדוּת , romanized : Yahăḏūṯ )
5580-462: Is the impure spirit ( ruach tum'ah ; lit. "spirit of impurity"). The Holy Spirit rests on the person who seeks the Shekhinah , while the impure spirit rests upon him who seeks impurity. On the basis of II Kings 3:13, the statement is made (perhaps as a polemic against Jesus ) that the Holy Spirit rests only upon a happy soul. Among the pagans Balaam , from being a mere interpreter of dreams, rose to be
5704-421: Is used as a hypostatization or a metonym for God. The rabbinical understanding of the Holy Spirit has a certain degree of personification , but it remains, "a quality belonging to God, one of his attributes". The idea of God as a duality or trinity is considered shituf (or "not purely monotheistic"). What the Bible generally calls "Spirit of God" is called in the Talmud and Midrash "Holy Spirit" due to
5828-475: Is written, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." Scholars generally agree that a prophet named Elijah existed in the Kingdom of Israel during the reigns of Kings Ahab and Ahaziah , that he
5952-530: The Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy ), 2 Macc. ii. 21: "Those that behaved themselves manfully to their honour for Iudaisme." At its core, the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh is an account of the Israelites ' relationship with God from their earliest history until the building of the Second Temple ( c. 535 BCE ). Abraham is hailed as the first Hebrew and the father of the Jewish people. As
6076-705: The Enlightenment (late 18th to early 19th century) leading to the post-Enlightenment Jewish philosophers. Modern Jewish philosophy consists of both Orthodox and non-Orthodox oriented philosophy. Notable among Orthodox Jewish philosophers are Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler , Joseph B. Soloveitchik , and Yitzchok Hutner . Well-known non-Orthodox Jewish philosophers include Martin Buber , Franz Rosenzweig , Mordecai Kaplan , Abraham Joshua Heschel , Will Herberg , and Emmanuel Lévinas . 13 Principles of Hermeneutics: — R. Ishmael Orthodox and many other Jews do not believe that
6200-759: The Great Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE), the Romans sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple. Later, Roman emperor Hadrian built a pagan idol on the Temple Mount and prohibited circumcision; these acts of ethnocide provoked the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–136 CE), after which the Romans banned the study of the Torah and the celebration of Jewish holidays, and forcibly removed virtually all Jews from Judea. In 200 CE, however, Jews were granted Roman citizenship and Judaism
6324-710: The Kohanim and Leviyim (members of the tribe of Levi ), some only to farmers within the Land of Israel. Many laws were only applicable when the Temple in Jerusalem existed, and only 369 of these commandments are still applicable today. While there have been Jewish groups whose beliefs were based on the written text of the Torah alone (e.g., the Sadducees , and the Karaites ), most Jews believe in
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#17328446705236448-680: The Maccabean Revolt and hence the invention of the term iudaismos . Shaye J. D. Cohen writes in his book The Beginnings of Jewishness : We are tempted, of course, to translate [ Ioudaïsmós ] as "Judaism," but this translation is too narrow, because in this first occurrence of the term, Ioudaïsmós has not yet been reduced to the designation of a religion. It means rather "the aggregate of all those characteristics that makes Judaeans Judaean (or Jews Jewish)." Among these characteristics, to be sure, are practices and beliefs that we would today call "religious," but these practices and beliefs are not
6572-713: The Oxford English Dictionary the earliest citation in English where the term was used to mean "the profession or practice of the Jewish religion; the religious system or polity of the Jews" is Robert Fabyan's The newe cronycles of Englande and of Fraunce (1516). "Judaism" as a direct translation of the Latin Iudaismus first occurred in a 1611 English translation of the Biblical apocrypha (the Deuterocanonical books in
6696-672: The Patriarch Abraham as well as the additional aspects of the Covenant revealed to Moses , who is considered Judaism's greatest prophet . In the Mishnah , a core text of Rabbinic Judaism , acceptance of the Divine origins of this covenant is considered an essential aspect of Judaism and those who reject the Covenant forfeit their share in the World to Come . Establishing the core tenets of Judaism in
6820-492: The Talmudic literature , Elijah would visit rabbis to help solve particularly difficult legal problems. Malachi had cited Elijah as the harbinger of the eschaton . Thus, when confronted with reconciling impossibly conflicting laws or rituals, the rabbis would set aside any decision "until Elijah comes". One such decision was whether the Passover Seder required four or five cups of wine. Each serving of wine corresponds to one of
6944-442: The Ten Commandments . Elijah is the only person described in the Bible as returning to Horeb, after Moses and his generation had left Horeb several centuries before. He seeks shelter in a cave . Elijah is told to "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the L ORD , for the L ORD is about to pass by." There comes a mighty wind, then an earthquake and then fire, but Yahweh is not in any of these, choosing to come instead as
7068-472: The eschaton in various faiths that revere the Hebrew Bible. References to Elijah appear in Sirach , the New Testament , the Mishnah and Talmud , the Quran , the Book of Mormon , and Baháʼí writings. Scholars generally agree that a historical figure named Elijah existed in ancient Israel, yet some argue that the biblical portrayal of him reflects legendary and theological embellishment rather than purely historical documentation. In Judaism, Elijah's name
7192-426: The halakha whereas its ultimate goal is to bring the holiness down to the world. Mordecai Kaplan , the founder of the Reconstructionist Judaism , abandons the idea of religion for the sake of identifying Judaism with civilization and by means of the latter term and secular translation of the core ideas, he tries to embrace as many Jewish denominations as possible. In turn, Solomon Schechter 's Conservative Judaism
7316-420: The oral law . These oral traditions were transmitted by the Pharisee school of thought of ancient Judaism and were later recorded in written form and expanded upon by the rabbis. According to Rabbinical Jewish tradition, God gave both the Written Law (the Torah ) and the Oral Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai . The Oral law is the oral tradition as relayed by God to Moses and from him, transmitted and taught to
7440-522: The patron saint of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1752. According to the Bible, by the 9th century BC, the Kingdom of Israel , once united under Solomon , had been divided into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah (which retained the historical capital of Jerusalem along with its Temple ). Omri , King of Israel, continued policies dating from the reign of Jeroboam , contrary to religious law, that were intended to reorient religious focus away from Jerusalem: encouraging
7564-412: The rabbis and scholars who interpret them. Jews are an ethnoreligious group including those born Jewish, in addition to converts to Judaism . In 2021, the world Jewish population was estimated at 15.2 million, or roughly 0.195% of the total world population, although religious observance varies from strict to none. In 2021, about 45.6% of all Jews resided in Israel and another 42.1% resided in
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#17328446705237688-496: The Baptist is "the Elijah" who was promised to come in Malachi 3:1 ; 4:5 . According to accounts in all three of the Synoptic Gospels , Elijah appeared with Moses during the Transfiguration of Jesus . Elijah in Islam appears in the Quran as a prophet and messenger of God , where his biblical narrative of preaching against the worshipers of Baal is recounted in a concise form. Due to his importance to Muslims, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians, Elijah has been venerated as
7812-404: The Bible, displayed a propitious activity; thus it rested on Eber and (according to Joshua 2:16) even on Rahab . It was necessary to reiterate frequently that Solomon wrote his three books ( Proverbs , Shir haShirim , and Ecclesiastes ) under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, because there was a continual opposition not only to the wise king personally, but also to his writings. A teacher of
7936-415: The Conservative movement. The following is a basic, structured list of the central works of Jewish practice and thought: The basis of halakha and tradition is the Torah (also known as the Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses). According to rabbinic tradition, there are 613 commandments in the Torah. Some of these laws are directed only to men or to women, some only to the ancient priestly groups,
8060-433: The Great Assembly, led by Ezra the Scribe . Among other accomplishments of the Great Assembly, the last books of the Bible were written at this time and the canon sealed . Hellenistic Judaism spread to Ptolemaic Egypt from the 3rd century BCE, and its creation sparked widespread controversy in Jewish communities, starting "conflicts within Jewish communities about accommodating the cultures of occupying powers." During
8184-408: The Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew noun ruacḥ ( רוח ) can refer to "breath", "wind", or some invisible moving force (" spirit "). The following are some examples of the word ruacḥ (in reference to God's "spirit") in the Hebrew scriptures: The term ruach haqodesh is found frequently in talmudic and midrashic literature. In some cases it signifies prophetic inspiration, while in others it
8308-561: The Holy Land the gift of prophecy is not granted to the non-Jew or in the interest of the non-Jew, nor is it given outside the Holy Land even to Jews. In the Messianic time, however, the Holy Spirit will (according to Joel 2:28–29 ) be poured out upon all Israel; i.e., all the people will be prophets. According to Tanna Devei Eliyahu the Holy Spirit will be poured out equally upon Jews and pagans, both men and women, freemen and slaves. The Shekhinah ( Biblical Hebrew : שכינה šekīnah ; also Romanized Shekina(h) , Schechina(h) , Shechina(h) )
8432-434: The Holy Spirit is described as being composed of light and fire. When it rested upon Pinchas , his face burned like a torch. From the day that Joseph was sold, the Holy Spirit left Jacob, who saw and heard only indistinctly. When the Temple was destroyed and Israel went into exile, the Holy Spirit returned to heaven; this is indicated in Ecclesiastes 12:7: "the spirit shall return unto God". The spirit talks sometimes with
8556-407: The Holy Spirit is put into the mouths of the Prophets." The "knowledge of God" is the Holy Spirit. The division of the country by lot among the tribes was likewise effected by means of the Holy Spirit. The visible results of the activity of the Holy Spirit are the books of the Bible, all of which are believed (in Jewish tradition) to have been composed under its inspiration. All the Prophets spoke "in
8680-403: The Holy Spirit"; and the most characteristic sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit is the gift of prophecy, in the sense that the person upon whom it rests beholds the past and the future. With the death of the last three prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi), the Holy Spirit ceased to manifest itself in Israel, and only the Bat Kol remained available to the sages. Although the Holy Spirit
8804-517: The Jews increased and the details were in danger of being forgotten, these oral laws were recorded by Judah ha-Nasi in the Mishnah , redacted c. 200 CE . The Talmud was a compilation of the Mishnah and Gemara , rabbinic commentaries redacted over the next three centuries. The Gemara originated in two major centers of Jewish scholarship, Palestine and Babylonia ( Lower Mesopotamia ). Correspondingly, two bodies of analysis developed, and two works of Talmud were created. The older compilation
8928-627: The Law says that probably for this reason the Holy Spirit rested upon Solomon in his old age only. The Holy Spirit rested not only on the children of Israel who crossed the Red Sea, but, toward the end of the time of the Second Temple, occasionally on common people; for "if they are not prophets, they are at least the sons of prophets". The Holy Spirit is at times identified with the spirit of prophecy. Sifre remarks: " 'I will put My words into his mouth,' means 'I put them into his mouth, but I do not speak with him face to face'; know, therefore, that henceforth
9052-479: The Lord, the God of hosts; for the people of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away". According to Rabbinic tradition, Elijah's words were patently untrue, and since Elijah accused Israel of failing to uphold the covenant, God would require Elijah to be present at every covenant of circumcision. In
9176-545: The Oral Torah, which refers to the Mishnah and the Talmud . Eventually, God led them to the land of Israel where the tabernacle was planted in the city of Shiloh for over 300 years to rally the nation against attacking enemies. As time passed, the nation's spiritual level declined to the point that God allowed the Philistines to capture the tabernacle. The people of Israel then told Samuel that they needed to be governed by
9300-674: The United States and Canada, with most of the remainder living in Europe, and other groups spread throughout Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Australia. The term Judaism derives from Iudaismus , a Latinized form of the Ancient Greek Ioudaismos ( Koinē Greek : Ἰουδαϊσμός , from the verb ἰουδαΐζειν , "to side with or imitate the [Judeans]"). Its ultimate source was Hebrew : יהודה , romanized : Yehudah Judah ", which
9424-500: The authority of the rabbinic tradition , and the significance of the State of Israel . Orthodox Judaism maintains that the Torah and halakha are divine in origin, eternal and unalterable, and that they should be strictly followed. Conservative and Reform Judaism are more liberal, with Conservative Judaism generally promoting a more traditionalist interpretation of Judaism's requirements than Reform Judaism. A typical Reform position
9548-478: The basis of the Talmud. According to Abraham ben David , the Mishnah was compiled by Rabbi Judah haNasi after the destruction of Jerusalem, in anno mundi 3949, which corresponds to 189 CE. Over the next four centuries, the Mishnah underwent discussion and debate in both of the world's major Jewish communities (in Israel and Babylonia ). The commentaries from each of these communities were eventually compiled into
9672-471: The belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of mankind. According to the Hebrew Bible, God promised Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation. Many generations later, he commanded the nation of Israel to love and worship only one God; that is, the Jewish nation is to reciprocate God's concern for the world. He also commanded the Jewish people to love one another; that is, Jews are to imitate God's love for people. Thus, although there
9796-500: The brook dries up, God sends him to a widow living in the town of Zarephath in Phoenicia . When Elijah finds her, he asks her for some water and a piece of bread, but she says that she does not have sufficient food to keep her and her own son alive. Elijah tells her that God will not allow her supply of flour or oil to run out, saying, "Do not be afraid ... For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of flour will not be used up, and
9920-525: The building of local temple altars for sacrifices, appointing priests from outside the family of the Levites , and allowing or encouraging temples dedicated to Baal , an important deity in ancient Canaanite religion . Omri achieved domestic security with a marriage alliance between his son Ahab and princess Jezebel , a worshipper of Baal and the daughter of the king of Sidon in Phoenicia . These solutions brought security and economic prosperity to Israel for
10044-508: The cause of God, Elijah the helper in distress: these are the three leading notes struck by the Aggadah, endeavoring to complete the biblical picture with the Elijah legends. His career is extensive, colorful, and varied. He has appeared the world over in the guise of a beggar and scholar. From the time of Malachi , who says of Elijah that God will send him before "the great and dreadful day", down to
10168-691: The charge back at him, telling him that he has made himself the enemy of God by his own actions. Elijah tells Ahab that his entire kingdom will reject his authority; that Jezebel will be eaten by dogs within Jezreel; and that his family will be consumed by dogs as well (if they die in a city) or by birds (if they die in the country). When Ahab hears this he repents so sincerely that God stays his hand in punishing Ahab, choosing instead to vent his wrath upon Jezebel and her son by Ahab, Ahaziah . Elijah's story continues now from Ahab to an encounter with Ahaziah ( 2 Kings 1 ). The scene opens with Ahaziah seriously injured in
10292-468: The dead to life. Pious individuals act through the Holy Spirit; whoever teaches the Torah in public partakes of the Holy Spirit. When Pinchas sinned the Holy Spirit departed from him. Abiathar was deposed from office as High Priest when he was deserted by the Holy Spirit without which the Urim and Thummim could not be consulted. In Biblical times the Holy Spirit was widespread, resting on those who, according to
10416-481: The disinclination to the use of the Tetragrammaton . It is probably owing to this fact that the Shekhinah is often referred to instead of the Holy Spirit. It is said of the former, as of the Holy Spirit, that it rests upon a person. The difference between the two in such cases has not yet been determined. Although the Holy Spirit is often named instead of God, it was conceived as being something distinct. The Spirit
10540-402: The end of a line of kings of Israel who are said to have "done evil in the sight of the Lord." No background for the person of Elijah is given except for his brief characterization as a Tishbite. His name in Hebrew means "My God is Jah ," and may be a title applied to him because of his challenge to worship of Baal. As told in the Hebrew Bible, Elijah's challenge is bold and direct. Baal
10664-456: The establishment of the authority of rabbis who acted as teachers and leaders of individual communities. Unlike other ancient Near Eastern gods, the Hebrew God is portrayed as unitary and solitary; consequently, the Hebrew God's principal relationships are not with other gods, but with the world, and more specifically, with the people he created. Judaism thus begins with ethical monotheism :
10788-499: The frequently recurring phrase "he beheld ( hetzitz be- ) the Holy Spirit" suggests that he upon whom the spirit rested saw a light. The Holy Spirit gleamed in the court of Shem, of Samuel, and of King Solomon. It "glimmered" in Tamar (Genesis 38:18), in the sons of Jacob (Genesis 42:11), and in Moses (Exodus 2:12), i.e., it settled upon these individuals. Like everything that comes from heaven,
10912-427: The interpretations that gave rise to Christianity. Moreover, some have argued that Judaism is a non-creedal religion that does not require one to believe in God. For some, observance of halakha is more important than belief in God per se . The debate about whether one can speak of authentic or normative Judaism is not only a debate among religious Jews but also among historians. In continental Europe , Judaism
11036-445: The jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land." She feeds him the last of their food, and Elijah's promise miraculously comes true. Some time later the widow's son dies and the widow cries, "You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!" Elijah prays that God might restore her son so that the trustworthiness of God's word might be demonstrated, and "[God] listened to
11160-448: The land. But Naboth tells Ahab that God has told him not to part with the land. Ahab accepts this answer with sullen bad grace. Jezebel, however, plots a method for acquiring the land. She sends letters in Ahab's name to the elders and nobles who live near Naboth. They are to arrange a feast and invite Naboth. At the feast, false charges of cursing God and Ahab are to be made against him. The plot
11284-514: The later stories of the Chasidic rabbis , reverence and love, expectation and hope were always connected in the Jewish consciousness with Elijah. Three different theories regarding Elijah's origin are presented in the Aggadah literature: (1) he belonged to the tribe of Gad, (2) he was a Benjamite from Jerusalem, identical with the Elijah mentioned in 1 Chronicles 8:27, and (3) he was a priest. Many Christian Church fathers also have stated that Elijah
11408-497: The modern era is even more difficult, given the number and diversity of the contemporary Jewish denominations . Even if to restrict the problem to the most influential intellectual trends of the nineteenth and twentieth century, the matter remains complicated. Thus, for instance, Joseph Soloveitchik's (associated with the Modern Orthodox movement ) answer to modernity is constituted upon the identification of Judaism with following
11532-484: The next few centuries. Later, two poetic restatements of these principles (" Ani Ma'amin " and " Yigdal ") became integrated into many Jewish liturgies, leading to their eventual near-universal acceptance. The oldest non-Rabbinic instance of articles of faith were formulated, under Islamic influence, by the 12th century Karaite figure Judah ben Elijah Hadassi : (1) God is the Creator of all created beings; (2) He
11656-402: The noise. The Shekhinah made a noise before Samson like a bell. When the Holy Spirit was resting upon him, his hair gave forth a sound like a bell, which could be heard from afar. It imbued him with such strength that he could uproot two mountains and rub them together like pebbles, and could cover leagues at one step. Although the lights which accompanied the noise are not expressly mentioned,
11780-399: The other bull for sacrifice as before. He then orders that the sacrifice and altar be drenched with water from "four large jars" poured three times, filling also the trench. He asks Yahweh to accept the sacrifice. Fire falls from the sky, consuming the sacrifice, the stones of the altar itself, the earth and the water in the trench as well. When the people see this, they declare, "The L ORD —he
11904-446: The people of Israel, 450 prophets of Baal, and 400 prophets of Asherah to Mount Carmel . Elijah then berates the people for their acquiescence in Baal worship: "How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the L ORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." Elijah proposes a direct test of the powers of Baal and Yahweh (both Asherah and her prophets disappear from
12028-459: The place to which Elijah was transferred, opinions differ among Jews and Christians, but the old view was that Elijah was received among the heavenly inhabitants, where he records the deeds of men. But as early as the middle of the 2nd century, when the notion of translation to heaven underwent divergent possible interpretations by Christian theologians, the assertion was made that Elijah never entered into heaven proper. In later literature paradise
12152-467: The prophets" knew beforehand that Elijah would one day be assumed into heaven. Elisha asked Elijah to "let a double portion" of Elijah's "spirit" be upon him. Elijah agreed, with the condition that Elisha would see him be "taken". Elijah, in company with Elisha, approaches the Jordan. He rolls up his mantle and strikes the water. The water immediately divides and Elijah and Elisha cross on dry land. Suddenly,
12276-451: The revealed Torah consists solely of its written contents, but of its interpretations as well. The study of Torah (in its widest sense, to include both poetry, narrative, and law, and both the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud) is in Judaism itself a sacred act of central importance. For the sages of the Mishnah and Talmud, and for their successors today, the study of Torah was therefore not merely
12400-431: The sages ( rabbinic leaders) of each subsequent generation. For centuries, the Torah appeared only as a written text transmitted in parallel with the oral tradition. Fearing that the oral teachings might be forgotten, Rabbi Judah haNasi undertook the mission of consolidating the various opinions into one body of law which became known as the Mishnah . The Mishnah consists of 63 tractates codifying halakha , which are
12524-457: The same time a picture of the destinies of man, who has to pass through "four worlds." This world was shown to the prophet by God through symbolism: in the form of the wind, since the world disappears as the wind; storm is the day of death, before which man trembles; fire is the judgment in Gehenna; and the stillness is the last day. Three years after this vision, Elijah was "translated." Concerning
12648-419: The shedding of blood. The Birkat Ha-Mitzwot evokes the consciousness of holiness at a rabbinic rite, but the objects employed in the majority of these rites are non-holy and of general character, while the several holy objects are non-theurgic. And not only do ordinary things and occurrences bring with them the experience of God. Everything that happens to a man evokes that experience, evil as well as good, for
12772-454: The sky, and ascending to heaven alive . He is also portrayed as leading a school of prophets known as "the sons of the prophets." Following Elijah's ascension, his disciple and devoted assistant Elisha took over as leader of this school. The Book of Malachi prophesies Elijah's return "before the coming of the great and terrible day of the L ORD ," making him a harbinger of the Messiah and of
12896-577: The sole content of the term. Thus Ioudaïsmós should be translated not as "Judaism" but as Judaeanness. Daniel R. Schwartz, however, argues that "Judaism", especially in the context of the Book of Maccabees, refers to the religion, as opposed to the culture and politics of the Judean state. He believes it reflected the ideological divide between the Pharisees and Sadducees and, implicitly, anti-Hasmonean and pro-Hasmonean factions in Judean society. According to
13020-409: The story entirely): he and Baal's prophets will each take one of two bulls, prepare it for sacrifice and lay it on wood, but put no fire to it. The prophets of Baal choose and prepare a bull accordingly. Elijah then invites them to pray for fire to light the sacrifice. They pray from morning to noon without success. Elijah ridicules their efforts. "At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, 'Cry aloud! Surely he
13144-499: The time of Elijah . According to Job 28:25, the Holy Spirit rested upon the Prophets in varying degrees, some prophesying to the extent of one book only, and others filling two books. Nor did it rest upon them continually, but only for a time. The stages of development, the highest of which is the Holy Spirit, are as follows: zeal, integrity, purity, holiness, humility, fear of sin, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit conducts Elijah, who brings
13268-616: The two Talmuds, the Jerusalem Talmud ( Talmud Yerushalmi ) and the Babylonian Talmud ( Talmud Bavli ). These have been further expounded by commentaries of various Torah scholars during the ages. In the text of the Torah, many words are left undefined, and many procedures are mentioned without explanation or instructions. Such phenomena are sometimes offered to validate the viewpoint that the Written Law has always been transmitted with
13392-480: The voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived." This is the first instance of raising the dead recorded in Scripture. The widow cried, "the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth." After more than three years of drought and famine, God tells Elijah to return to Ahab and announce the end of the drought. While on his way, Elijah meets Obadiah , the head of Ahab's household, who had hidden
13516-413: The whirlwind. Michael Wilcock, formerly of Trinity College, Bristol , suggests a number of possible reasons for this letter, among them that it may be an example of a better known prophet's name being substituted for that of a lesser known prophet. John Van Seters , however, rejects the letter as having any connection with the Elijah tradition. However, Wilcock argues that Elijah's letter "does address
13640-458: The workaday world. ... Here is the mystery of Talmudic Judaism: the alien and remote conviction that the intellect is an instrument not of unbelief and desacralization but of sanctification. To study the Written Torah and the Oral Torah in light of each other is thus also to study how to study the word of God. Elijah Elijah ( / ɪ ˈ l aɪ dʒ ə / il- EYE -jə ) was
13764-623: Was a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist and he instantly recognizes the description as Elijah the Tishbite. Ahaziah sends out three groups of soldiers to arrest Elijah. The first two are destroyed by fire which Elijah calls down from heaven. The leader of the third group asks for mercy for himself and his men. Elijah agrees to accompany this third group to Ahaziah, where he gives his prophecy in person. Ahaziah dies without recovering from his injuries in accordance with Elijah's word. According to 2 Kings 2:3–9, Elisha (Eliseus) and "the sons of
13888-510: Was a priest. Some rabbis have speculated that he should be identified with Phinehas . According to later Kabbalistic literature, Elijah was really an angel in human form, so that he had neither parents nor offspring. The Midrash Rabbah Exodus 4:2 states "Elijah should have revived his parents as he had revived the son of the Zarephathite" indicating he surely had parents. The Talmud states "Said he [Rabbah] to him (Elijah): Art thou not
14012-441: Was a religious figure of great personal dynamism and conservative zeal and the leader of resistance to the rise of Baal worship in Israel in the ninth century BC. In the opinion of some scholars, however, the biblical presentation of the prophet cannot be taken as historical documentation of his activity. The biblical texts present his career through the eyes of popular legend and subsequent theological reflection, which consider him
14136-411: Was among the ten things that were created on the first day. Though the nature of the Holy Spirit is really nowhere described, the name indicates that it was conceived as a kind of wind that became manifest through noise and light. As early as Ezekiel 3:12 it is stated, "the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing," the expression "behind me" characterizing the unusual nature of
14260-530: Was centered on a pantheon of gods much like in Greek mythology . According to the Hebrew Bible , a United Monarchy was established under Saul and continued under King David and Solomon with its capital in Jerusalem . After Solomon's reign, the nation split into two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Israel (in the north) and the Kingdom of Judah (in the south). The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it
14384-602: Was challenged by various groups such as the Sadducees and Hellenistic Judaism during the Second Temple period ; the Karaites during the early and later medieval period; and among segments of the modern non-Orthodox denominations. Some modern branches of Judaism such as Humanistic Judaism may be considered secular or nontheistic . Today, the largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism ( Haredi and Modern Orthodox ), Conservative Judaism , and Reform Judaism . Major sources of difference between these groups are their approaches to halakha (Jewish law),
14508-686: Was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire ; many people were taken captive from the capital Samaria to Media and the Khabur River valley. The Kingdom of Judah continued as an independent state until it was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE. The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple , which was at the center of ancient Jewish worship. The Judeans were exiled to Babylon , in what
14632-595: Was criticized by Hasdai Crescas and Joseph Albo . Albo and the Raavad argued that Maimonides' principles contained too many items that, while true, were not fundamentals of the faith Along these lines, the ancient historian Josephus emphasized practices and observances rather than religious beliefs, associating apostasy with a failure to observe halakha and maintaining that the requirements for conversion to Judaism included circumcision and adherence to traditional customs. Maimonides' principles were largely ignored over
14756-451: Was identical with the tradition understood as the interpretation of Torah, in itself being the history of the constant updates and adjustment of the Law performed by means of the creative interpretation. Finally, David Philipson draws the outlines of the Reform movement in Judaism by opposing it to the strict and traditional rabbinical approach and thus comes to the conclusions similar to that of
14880-462: Was led astray. The prophet ends the letter with a prediction of a painful death. This letter is a puzzle to readers for several reasons. First, it concerns a king of the southern kingdom, while Elijah concerned himself with the kingdom of Israel. Second, the message begins with "Thus says YHVH, God of your father David..." rather than the more usual "...in the name of YHVH the God of Israel." Also, this letter seems to come after Elijah's ascension into
15004-405: Was not continually present, and did not rest for any length of time upon any individual, yet there were cases in which it appeared and made knowledge of the past and of the future possible. Frequently, in rabbinical literature, a single Biblical verse is described as having been spoken by the Holy Spirit (for example, verses in which God speaks in the first person). The opposite of the Holy Spirit
15128-410: Was recognized as a religio licita ("legitimate religion") until the rise of Gnosticism and Early Christianity in the fourth century. Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Jews, Jewish worship stopped being centrally organized around the Temple, prayer took the place of sacrifice, and worship was rebuilt around the community (represented by a minimum of ten adult men) and
15252-613: Was superior to other gods. Some suggest that strict monotheism developed during the Babylonian Exile, perhaps in reaction to Zoroastrian dualism. In this view, it was only by the Hellenistic period that most Jews came to believe that their god was the only god and that the notion of a bounded Jewish nation identical with the Jewish religion formed. John Day argues that the origins of biblical Yahweh , El , Asherah , and Ba'al , may be rooted in earlier Canaanite religion , which
15376-486: Was the Canaanite god responsible for rain, thunder, lightning, and dew. Elijah thus, when he initially announces the drought, not only challenges Baal on behalf of God himself, but he also challenges Jezebel, her priests, Ahab and the people of Israel. After Elijah's confrontation with Ahab, God tells him to flee out of Israel, to a hiding place by the brook Chorath , east of the Jordan , where he will be fed by ravens . When
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