BELIEF AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
HOW ADHERENTS APPLY SACRED TEXTS TO
THEIR DAILY LIVES
WHAT IS A GOOD JEW?
 Observance of Jewish ritual practice?
 Respect for Jewish law?
 Reference to a largely unarticulated
code of behaviours supported by
traditional Jewish practice, texts and
regula?
 What of Jews who actively or passively
eschew Jewish law but still claim with
pride that they are Jewish?
 What are ‘Jewish Sensibilities’?
JEWISH SENSIBILITIES
 Jewish ways of understanding what it means to be a
human being.
 Conscious use of sacred texts?
 Halacha
 Distinctive set of principles that guide.
ETHICAL PRECEPTS
 Drawn from Jewish sacred texts.
 Jewish ritual practices and communal customs.
 Narrative of Jewish history and Jewish experiences.
HAVDALAH
 Reference to the central creative act of Genesis.
 Distinction between holy time and regular time.
 Ordering of priorities.
 Distinctions – relationships

Time

Place
GIVING HONOUR
 Kavod.
 Honour your mother and father.
 Honouring ourselves and others.
TESHUVAH
 Deuteronomy 31:1 – Those who have been spiritually
cursed and physically exiled still have the capacity to
return to God, and be forgiven.
TZELEM ELOKIM
 Adam and Eve made in God’s image.
 Infinite value.
 Equality.
 Uniqueness.
 ‘Shlucho shel adam k’moto’
PIKUACH NEFESH
 Lechaim.
MENSCHLIKHEIT
 Compassion, fairness and sensitivity.
SHALOM BAYIT
 Creating harmony.
TIKKUN OLAM
 Compassionate engagement.
 Abraham Infeld – covenantal relationship.
YESH TIKVAH
 Maintaining hope.
ZECHUT AVOT
 Memory of our ancestors.