Judaism Assessment - due March 18th

from Job (pp. 139-143);

from Ecclesiastes (pp. 144-146);

from Jerusalem by Mendelssohn (pp. 522-524);

from The Religious Significance of the State of Israel by Leibowitz (pp. 690-694);

“A History of Antisemitism”—this is not in the textbook, but can be found on my website

Prepare for the following command prompts on this assessment:

• ·         Christian theologian C.S. Lewis explored the idea of why bad things happen to good people, or what he called, “the problem of pain.” In his essay by the same names he says: “If God is good and all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain? And what of the suffering of animals, who neither deserve pain nor can be improved by it?” Explain the commentary on this subject in the books of Job & Ecclesiastes. To what extent do they attempt to reconcile this problem?
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•      Discuss the importance of the fact that Job is not an Israelite and the impact of that fact on Judaism. Examine Job’s relationship with YHWH and His response.

·         Examine a detailed exegesis on the book of Ecclesiastes. Explain why and how this book may seem out of sync with other ideas in Judaism?

• Compare and contrast the ideas found in the Tanakh with those of Mendelssohn’s a few thousand years later. Deduce how and why Judaism changed within that period.

·         Carefully examine and comment on the progression of Zionism throughout the centuries. To what extent is this a reflection of history compared to hagiography?

·         Examine how Leibowitz roots his argument about the state of Israel in the Tanakh, the Talmud and other Jewish and rabbinical thinking. Evaluate the strengths and weakness of this argument from both a religious and historical/political point of view.

·         Examine the idea that Judaism is a culture as well as a religion. Compare and contrast the founding, ideas, and differences between the two. To what extent does this seem to be  a necessary fabrication based in 2,000+ years of antisemitism?