IA Upcoming due dates!

2/4 : Criterion A and B due!

HW due 2/2

We will have our fundamental questions quiz.

We will discuss The Creation readings.

Homework due 1/29

• Fill in the Blank Quiz (3 Fundamental Questions)

• Vocabulary Due 

• Creation according to the Midrash - please READ this selection - we will use the discussion questions from The Creation handout on 1/25 and discussion questions centered on The Midrash to drive our discussion. 

3 Fundamental Questions (Quiz and Vocab Due on Friday!)

 1. What is the human condition? 

• God created humans in his image and endowed them with free will, which leads to a constant choice between yetzer ha-ra (bad inclinations) and yetzer ha-tov (good inclinations). 

2. Where are we going? 

• Judaism emphasizes observance in this life rather than elaborating on the hereafter. 
• There is, however, the expectation of a Messianic age of peace and justice for humankind in this world and a belief in Olam Ha-Ba (the world to come). 

3. How do we get there? 

• We accomplish this through living a life in accordance with God’s will and in readiness for the coming of the Messianic Age. 
• This will be achieved by: 

• being the House of Israel or Chosen People 

• obeying all the mitzvot (commandments) of the Covenant that God has revealed in the Torah 

• living according to the Shema.

Free Will in Judaism

There was some discussion regarding free will and an all knowing, powerful God in Judaism. I have posted the hits I got from myjewishlearning.com (suggested by Rabbi) and the first article suggested.

Search Results

Article 1

1/25 Classwork

Use the following handouts (they have been scanned - they aren't perfect, but they'll do) to answer the questions below. Note please use one of two accepted formats:

a) Answer in complete sentences 

b) Write out question and answer in bullet point 

History of the Jews

1. Comment on the importance of the origins and culture of Jewish society in relation to the religion.

2. Distinguish between being an Israelite and being Jewish. 

3. Outline the differences between the first temple period, the second temple period, diaspora and modern times. 

4. Explain the impact of Israel's history on the development of Judaism. 

5. Analyze the importance of the Ashkenazic Jews to Judaism. 

6. To what extent have the other Western Religion's (Christianity and Islam) acerbic interactions with Judaism contributed to the formation of its religious identity? 

Creation

1. Compare and contrast the two different creation stories and their emphasis at the beginning of Genesis

2. Analyze the social and historical relevance of Eve's creation in comparison to Adam 

3. Explain God's covenant with Abraham

4. Deduce the importance of circumcision to the covenant.

5. To what extent is God's covenant with Abraham similar to deals made with Adam and Eve?

Reminder!!

Make sure you have gone to the online forum ( http://2015-2016-wr.freeforums.net/thread/1/welcome-new-forum) and posted your answers to the 3 fundamental questions by Monday!!

Scholarly Resources

Helpful link: http://guides.library.cornell.edu/c.php?g=31867&p=201759


 How about reference works like Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica? Let's take Wikipedia first. A wiki is a community-edited document, one which anyone can add to or change. That's not exactly peer review, because the reviewers aren't necessarily people who have studied an area. Wikipedia might, though, give you ideas to follow up elsewhere, and that's fine. But I wouldn't use it as a scholarly source. Encyclopedia Britannica: It has a real editorial staff, and high quality articles. It is, however, a general encyclopedia, and so its purpose is to meet the needs of a general audience, not a specialist audience. For philosophy, for instance, it is a better idea to use either the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, or one of the two major on-line encyclopedias of philosophy (which are, by the way, reviewed), theStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and theInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  (https://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~janzb/courses/scholarly1.htm_)

Warm Up: Judaism: 3 Fundamental Questions

Go to: http://2015-2016-wr.freeforums.net/  and join the forum

Take out your HW (both text and Huston Smith) How would a follower of Judaism answer the following questions?:

1. What is the human condition?

• human nature? position in the universe, metaphysical position, is human nature good or bad? what is the struggle? why are we here? What does it all mean? (when I feel pain what does it mean?, etc.)
• who are we? what are our human flaws?
• good vs. evil
• what is the nature of our character?
• what is our relationship to divine, transcendence

2. Where are we going?

• what are we striving for? What is our destiny based on our understanding of the human condition?
• is it a group journey? is it an individual journey? What is “I”?
• In order be “be one of those” you got to do this
• what the heck am I supposed to be doing in this world to make me worthy to be in some relationship to God?
• Goal of the journey

3. How do we get there?

• the “to do” list
• how do we fix problem we encountered in the first question?
• the method
• if this (#2) is going to happen to me when I die, what do I need to do to get there?

For each response, provide a short rationale - (For example: what evidence are you using? Where are you placing your emphasis/What is important to understanding Judaism?, etc.)

Judaism: Vocabulary due January 29th

Task: Note cards should be completed for each unit.  Pick from both the textbook vocabulary, those provided by IB, or your own. The front should include the key concept or term, religion, and source.  On the back first list some evidence, then analyze why the term or concept was significant.  All the cards need to be handwritten and initialed in ink.

We will have a vocabulary and fundamental questions quiz on January 29th

Key Concepts

Text

• Torah
• Kosher
• Anti-Semitism
• Talmud
• Exodus
• Mishnah
• Holocaust

IB

• B'rit or Covenant
• Mitzvah (pl: mitzvot)
• Halakhah (pl: halakhot)
• Mashiach
• Israel
• Kedushah
• Teshuvah
• Shekhinah
• Tikkun olam
• yetzer ha-ra
• yetzer ha-tov
• Olam Ha-Ba
• Shema

Huston Smith Judaism Chapter

Begin your reading of Smith. You task is to focus on the main ideas of each of Smith’s sections. For each section (the Bolded Titles within the chapters) you are to come up with the FIVE main ideas of that section. To do this you are to make a question out of the heading – the five points should address the question or help answer the question. When you complete the section, you are to develop a thesis statement / summary of the section. 

Internal Assessment - additional information (quoted from IBO teacher support material)

Purpose: The internal assessment task is integral to the world religions course as a whole and reflects the development of the student throughout the course. The internal assessment task is a small-scale piece of individual research derived from a combination of personal quest and preliminary reading that requires critical reflection and evaluation. 

Using internet sources: The internet is a valid research tool, however, the sources used must be sound academic ones and demonstrably relevant to the key research question. They must also show that the student is aware of the broad academic context within which the key research question is located. Internet sources used must be cited correctly in the body of the text of the written analysis and fully referenced in the references (section E). Recent publications may not be available on the Internet. Therefore, students are advised to research beyond the Internet for publications relevant to their student. 
World Religions Subject Guide

Suggested Word Count per Criterion:
* Criterion A = 8 marks 475 words +/- 
* Criterion B = 3 marks 180 words +/- 
* Criterion C = 6 marks 355 words +/- 
* Criterion D = 10 marks 600 words +/- 

These figures are for an IA that is 1600 words long. 

IB Tips/Suggestions (per heading)

A. Rationale and preliminary research: The rationale should include discussion as to why the topic chosen is of significance as an area of inquiry. The discussion of the preliminary research should include the works you have consulted that will provide the basis of the literature review for your inquiry. These should include a full range of resources including scholarly works and, if appropriate, scripture.

B. Plan for Study: The plan for study should provide the reader with an account of how you planned your inquiry and give a step-by-step description with a justification for the plan devised.

C. Summary of significant findings: The summary of significant findings should reflect evidence gathered in the fieldwork and its relationship to the literature reviewed as part of the preliminary research. Thorough referencing to both the fieldwork and the literature should be made by citation to support the findings.

D. Critical reflection and evaluation: The critical reflection section needs to show a conceptual awareness of the area of study and how the inquiry undertaken contributes to that. It also needs to present a reflection on how you planned your study, to what extent that was appropriate, how you might now have done it differently and what further questions your findings have raised.

E. References and compliance with format: Titles, citations/references, bibliography and appendices are not included in the word count. Any system of referencing can be used but it must be consistently used throughout the written analysis. Unacknowledged references may lead to a charge of plagiarism. It is expected that a comprehensive list of references that reflects wide preliminary reading will be presented. Appendices can be used to present questions asked at interviews, for example.

Tips from Dr. Osgood (IB World Religions Guru)

• purpose: for you to find out why people do what they do or struck by something you really yearn to learn more about
• what religion are you interested in learning more about?
• start with that and move deductively
• Judaism
• what’s interesting to you?
• is there something that Jews DO that is interesting to you? Something in the Torah that is ………
• so what do you want to know about .________
• tattoos - to what extent do jews think that tattoos are bad
• access to resources
• cannot do history and world religions
• Types of Thinking
• personal - rationale (got to work out what this means)
• metacognitive-yearning -- why is it that this is so personally important to you
• organizational
• foundational
• scholarly research
• interpersonal
• practice asking the interviewer to cooperate, sending a thank you note, etc
• summative
• critical reflection
• evaluation
• was my research, data, collection strong?
• You can write in first person
• authenticity and voice at each part
• preliminary research - what you have to do before you go out and do your fieldwork
• take the vocabulary in your question and define it
• encyclopedias, dictionaries, lower level reading
• establishes clarity and definition or a term or terms
• it’s a report
• Part A is two parts - your relationship to the question and what you know about the vocabulary in the question
• 3-5 scholarly sources
• requirement: minimum 1 quote from sacred text and interpretive commentary
• interview of a person of authority
• Criterion B: Plan for Study
• what are you doing
• why are you doing it
• how are you doing it
• **think about resources and how they are going to encounter them**
• scope= how broad am I going with it//boundaries
• Criterion C: Summary of significant findings
• summarize what people have said to you
• David said………. Bobby disagreed………….Overall, it seems that the group…
• no emotion- narrative voice
• Criterion D:
• critically reflect - one paragraph
• provide more evidence that you have come to understand
• identify misconceptions and inconsistencies as a result - evaluation
• evaluate what you actually did
• understand the degree - one paragraph
• justifying future research - what next??
• In ABCD you type and bold  the research question