Thanks for paying attention for our presentation in class! To answer the questions you will need to think about your response first, because remember this is 10% of this project for you! There is a deeper answer than what you may think at first. Please start your comment/response to the question with the number of the question you choose. Good luck!
1. Based on our presentation, why do you think that the name: "Torah" was coined from the word: "Teaching"?
2. In your opinion, why are there over one-hundred more Prohibitions than Prescriptions in the Torah? Name an example of another society that began in a similar fashion. Support your answer.
3. Do you think that the Torah was designed predominantly to: govern peoples lives, to preserve culture, or to explain religious beliefs? Why?
24 comments:
3. The Torah was designed to govern peoples lives, to preserve culture, AND to explain religious beliefs. In the torah there are many laws, prayers, and stories. The laws govern the people to do the right thing and explain sin, giving people a good moral conduct. Prayers help preserve the culture by having the people repeat moral duty and proclamation causing them to never forget. Then finally there are multiple stories in the Torah. These storied explain the religion deeper than just simple prayers and laws. The torah was created for a religion and not one aspect.
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lowe: good insightful response! give an example of a story that explained Judaism more efficiently than prayers and laws
1. The name "Torah" was coined from the word "teaching" becuase this relgious book teaches the Jews about their history and how to live a faithful life. Before the Torah was written down on scrolls it was passed down orally. The Torah contains rules called Prohibitions and Prescriptions. Prescriptions inform Jews of what to do and how to live a religious life. Where as, Prescriptions teach the Jews not what to do. The Christians call the Torah the Pentatauch, meaning the first five books of the bible, which are are all laws given to the people by God. In the first five book of the Christian bible, the people were given laws and did not follow them. God, at times, punished them, forgive them and give them a new set of laws to follow. This was a reoccuring effect throughout the Pentatauch. Muslims refer to the Torah as "Tawrat" in Arabic meaning law. Muslims believe these laws were give from God to Moses. The Quran and the Torah both share the idea of Divine Judgment. Both texts teach Muslims about how to live a religious and faithful life. Overall the Torah gives Christians, Jews and Muslims laws that are encouraged to be followed.
Well heres a verse, “And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; every man child among you shall be circumcised.” (Genesis 17:9-10)
To become a part of Judaism you must be circumcised to show your covenant with god. This very much shows Judaism's culture.
Kate: good answer. Do you think it also helps to govern peoples lives?
Addy: wow that was a great answer! you listed numerous examples, and all of your facts were correct. I would just like you to cite a specific verse or two, or an example that supports your answer. thanks!
An example from the Pentateuch:
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3)
This verse is part of the 10 commandments, which God gave the Israelites to follow. Later in chapter 32 the Israelites create and worship a golden calf. To punish the Israelites Moses ground the idol into powered and made them drink it. This is an example about how God gave the people a law and they did not follow it, thus being punished.
good example, i dont have any more follow up questions
3. I think the Torah was promently designed to govern peoples' life. Sure it preserves their culture and explain religious beliefs but that is irrelevant if you don't know how to practice your religion everyday and the Torah provides that for Jews by the prescripitions and prohibitions. The prescripitions and prohibitions basically make up the Torah and they tell Jews what to do and what not to do. For example, it tells jews to pray in a certain way but it tells jews not to eat certain foods. If the Torah didn't provide the information on how to govern a person's life then that person could not carry out the right way to preserve their culture and explain their religious beliefs unless they are told how to do so.
By the way, This is Kendall Konenkamp. It says Mercutio where the person's name is because this was the account I used for my English project...Sorry! Just thought I'd let you know who I was! =P
Kendall: what do you mean when you say: "Sure it preserves their culture and explain religious beliefs but that is irrelevant if you don't know how to practice your religion everyday"? Do you mean that most Jews are not reverent?
Kendall: what do you mean when you say: "Sure it preserves their culture and explain religious beliefs but that is irrelevant if you don't know how to practice your religion everyday"? Do you mean that most Jews are not reverent?
i cant remove the previous comment. i used lindsays account to comment earlier because mine was broken.
Numero One:
I believe that the name for the Jewish holy book, Torah, was coined from the word teaching because the Torah teaches it's Jewish followers to abide by the prohibitions and prescriptions that are found throughout the Torah. An example of a prohibition is that fruits and vegetables are allowed to be consumed, but they must be inspected for bugs, which cannot be eaten. This prohibitions teach Jews that they must clean their fruit and vegetables and inspect their produce for bugs. The Torah could also be considered as a history book, because it contains records of past events of the Jews and shows examples of people using the prohibitions and prescriptions. The past events teach the followers what will happen if they follow the laws of the Torah.
wow thats really good! what is an example of a prescription that they used? do you think the torah has any kind of ulterior meaning?
An example of a prescription is 'Thou shall love thou neighbor'. This is a prescription because it is enforcing good behavior. It is telling its followers to love their neighbors. I do not believe that the Torah has some kind of a ulterior meaning, because everyone can easily access all of the laws, or rules, sayings, and stories of the Torah by reading it.
i don't have a follow up question. you had great responses!
Yes i do believe it does because there is a separate writing called the Talmud, which is found in the torah, that is a complete set of rules and laws. For example, “Sin is sweet in the beginning but bitter in the end" a line from the Talmud shows that it gives advice and helps to govern the people
that shows good insight, no more follow ups. i hope people comment on your blog! :)
I'm saying that the Torah was mainly designed to tell Jews how to practice their religion everyday. This is most important because if Jews weren't constantly practicing their religion then it wouldn't matter if the torah contained the Jews history or their religious beliefs. This is because these ideas and concepts would not be spread or known if Jews did not practice their religion daily.
Does that make any sense?
oh i see. yeah it does! great job. you covered everything in your point, you supported it with multiple examples and clarified your thought process. thanks!
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