Judaism-Orthodox

**The goal of the Jewish faith is very similar to other religions, such as****Christianity and Islam. The goal is to live a good life during your time on Earth. If they live a good life, they will reach Heaven. In the Jewish faith, you can reach Heaven by following the guidelines in the Torah. In the Torah, there are guidelines for living a good life. Some examples of living a good life in the Jewish faith are refraining from sin, and staying true to their god, Yahweh. The Torah can either be in the form of a scroll, or book (class notes).** **Like Priests in Christianity, there are also spiritual leaders in Judaism. These spiritual leaders are called Rabbis. Rabbis, however, do not have an****y m****ore rights to perform spiritual acts than a regular person does. The Rabbis are the head of the synagogues, and are the teachers and deciders of matters of religious laws (jewfaq.org).**
 * **Section 1-Beliefs** ||
 * **Judaism was the first religion to believe in only one God. This God is Yahweh. The religions of Christianity and Islam are very similar to Judaism; they all believe in one God. The only difference between the God of the three religions is that they have a different name. Another supreme being for Judaism is Abraham. Abraham was the founder of Judaism. He was very devoted to religion, and Yahweh wanted to see how devoted he was. He made Abraham sacrifice his son for the Jewish faith. Abraham was about to do it, when an angel came down and stopped him. God realized that Abraham was very devoted to his faith. This led to him making a covenant with God. God told Abraham he would be protected from enemies, and also was promised land for his descendants (class notes).**

|| The Jewish religion is practiced in synagogues but in America, most people refer to them as temples. For Orthodox Jewish people, synagogues are not only a place of worship but also a place of study. There are prayer serices everyday in a synagogue. Synagogues have special services on the Sabbath and other holidays. Multiple rooms in synagogues serve a purpose to let certain groups of people worship such as families, children, or even people who wake up early. The worship places look like the one that is shown above. In a synagogue women and men are seperated. Women often wear head coverings except for the young girls. On the eastern side of a synagogoue there is an Ark of the Covenant in which the Torah scrolls are kept or if you were west of Jerusalem then the Ark of Covenant would be on the west side,
 * **Section 2-History of the Faith in America** ||
 * Isaac Lesser brought Judaism to America. Judaism was brought to America in 1654 in New Amesterdam(Jewish Faith in America). Over the next 96 years, more communities began to grow in Savanna Georgia, Newport Rhode Island, and Charleston South Carolina(Jewish Faith in America). The Jews really had to hide themselves because of the Holocaust. But were more accepted after World War II, they were able to show their Jewishness in the war(Judaism in America).The biggest problem they had was the Holocaust, they were being killed only because their religion. They chose to put up with the torture they went through. Some managed to survive and become a religion that other people joined and didn't have to hide it(ushmm.org). ||
 * **Section 3-How does the Faith Look in America** ||
 * [[image:http://photos.igougo.com/images/p187284-Plzen-Great_Synagogue.jpg width="162" height="219"]][[image:http://chabadoh.org/UserFiles/RabbiKalmanson.jpg width="124" height="210"]]
 * [[image:http://photos.igougo.com/images/p187284-Plzen-Great_Synagogue.jpg width="162" height="219"]][[image:http://chabadoh.org/UserFiles/RabbiKalmanson.jpg width="124" height="210"]]

Prayer for the Orthodox Jews must happen three times a day. They must pray once int he morning, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening. The prayer must be completely from the heart and they must be totally focused on the prayer. Jewish men must always wear a hat when they are saying God's name. For morning prayer, adult men must wear a prayer shawl so that they remember all of God's commandments. Many Jewish people live in America. Most live around the eastern side of the United States because they immigrated from Europe. New York has the most number of Jews living in it. Other cities that have a high Jewish population are New Jersey, Massachusettes, and Maryland. Chicago, Illinios also has a few Jewish people living there. About 80% of Jeiwsh people are Israeli. About 15% of other Jewish people are from Europe. The other few percent are from around the world. Resources: [|http://www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com] and [] and [] and [] || 2) In the 1820's a wave of German immigration began that was to remake Jewish life in America. They left because of hardship, persecution, overpopulation and political upheavals**;** millions of Jews left on a journey to the "Golden Land" of America. From 1820-1870, between 200,000 and 400,000 Jews came to the United States from German. They were Ashkenazim, whereas native Jews considered themselves Sephardic. The German Jews also identified themselves as Germans and joined German institutions. These German Jews were numerous enough to establish their own Jewish institutions and movements. Synagogues were established, cultural activities were undertaken and educational institutions were established, as well as Jewish hospitals.   3) In the 1870's, East European Immigrants began to appear on American shores. Between 1870 and 1914, 2 million Jews immigrated to America. 60% of these new immigrants came from Russia. Like the German Jews before them, many of these new immigrants identified with the nation and culture from which they came. Many of these East Europeans were Orthodox. The Orthodox sought to transplant their old institutions to the new world. ||
 * **Section 4-Challenges Followers Face in America** ||
 * 1) A new effort at reform was launched in the post-Civil War period, because the U.S. didn’t focus on a certain religion. As they were reforming many beliefs were changing like synagogue procedures, forms of worships, the use of English, an end to the segregation of women. Soon those who regarded themselves as Orthodox were far from it in the Eastern European sense.
 * 1) A new effort at reform was launched in the post-Civil War period, because the U.S. didn’t focus on a certain religion. As they were reforming many beliefs were changing like synagogue procedures, forms of worships, the use of English, an end to the segregation of women. Soon those who regarded themselves as Orthodox were far from it in the Eastern European sense.
 * Sources:

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