Jewish 101: Ep. 01 - Introduction

you're watching shallow TV celebrating Jewish culture hello I'm Marc Gollum and welcome to the first in our series which we entitled Jewish 101 and I want to begin first of all as an introduction and not only to welcome you but to tell you a little bit about why we call this series Jewish 101 rather than Judaism 101 whoo this series is for and you can decide whether it's something you want to watch or not and be a part of it was very pleasing to me that so many people who watch Shalom TV have enjoyed our series from the olive bed who've been in touch with me and many have asked me could we do something similar to the series from The Aleph bet that introduces individuals to basic Jewish concepts in some way it was judaism 101 that was being spoken about and some of the things we'll do on jewish 101 will be to introduce you to basic ideas and concepts of the jewish tradition they will Judaism 101 series but we call it Jewish 101 because it goes beyond Judaism some of the things we'll be talking to you about in the course of this series has to do with Jewish life and the Jewish mentality and the Jewish experience that even goes beyond simple Judaism so we're going to start in to a large extent with Judaism what is the Jewish tradition all about but in this series it's about the Jewish experience as a whole so who is this series for there are many of you who watching but we are our audience is so diverse it's not only you know diverse in terms of where we're seeing and Shalom TV is seen all over the United States and I've said to you in other contexts it's so wonderful for me personally to know that we're being watched from coast to coast north and south all corners of the United States and we're also being watched by a diverse kin there are many of you who are Jewish the majority of people who watch on TV are Jewish there are many of you who are not Jewish who watch and enjoy Shalom TV and who let me know that you're learning a great deal about the Jewish experience the Jewish tradition Jewish life the State of Israel and this program is meant for anyone who watches Shalom TV who feels they want to know more about what the Jewish tradition has to say what the Jewish tradition is all about what's its vision what does it mean to practice Judaism what are some of the customs and ceremonies that are associated with the Jewish tradition what do they mean what's their origin how are they practiced what about the diversity of Jewish life Orthodox conservative reform reconstructionists secular Jew those who have found alternative expressions within the Jewish tradition what is Kabbalah and where does that fit into the overall Jewish tradition what does it mean to be a secular Jew today what does it mean to be a zionist jew what's the word Torah mean as opposed to the words the Torah and you know what does it really mean to be a Jew if any of these questions are interest to you this series is for you and I know that there are many of you who watch Shalom TV who already have a very rich and deep Jewish education there those of you who have achieve a background a very strong day school background a strong Talmud Torah background and you may say to yourself you know in terms of Judaism 101 and Jewish 101 I don't need that you might find some of the things interesting but if you're really already conversant with much of the Jewish tradition while Judaism teaches and customs and ceremonies I don't know that Judaism 101 will be of primary interest to you on the other hand if you are a typical American Jew or if you're a typical American who has some vague notion of what Jewish is about what the Jewish tradition is about what Judaism is about you know you've heard phrases Bible Torah you may have heard the word Talmud you don't know what it means you may see Jewish practices even be used to doing them and you may not really understand what's the point behind them and I keep coming back to the word vision what's the vision of the Jewish tradition and what is true of every philosophy of life and the Jewish tradition is a philosophy of life religions are a philosophy of life and then they were secular philosophies of life all of them have one primary goal to in some way explain to us as human beings what is what is human existence all about how do we as human beings fit into this world this cosmos this universe every philosophy of life is an attempt to explain to us what's the meaning and the purpose at the point of it all and the Jewish tradition has a vision other religious traditions have their own vision sometimes the visions by the way are similar in some instances they are even identical but in their totality each religious tradition each philosophy of the Jewish tradition has a basic coherent view that is trying to explain to those who want to take time to learn and so what we'll be doing in Jewish 101 especially when we deal with Judaism is trying to understand what is the Jewish traditions view of the world view of human beings of humanity the relationship between human beings and the divine in this universe and what hopefully human life has as the basis of its meaning what does it mean to be ultimately a human being living this world and the Jewish tradition has world's to say about what it means to be a loving responsible lovely human being in this world and has a great deal to say about what it means to be a committed Jew and those are some of the things which you may be interested in understanding and what is also true it's true by the way I believe about every philosophy of life every religious tradition it's certainly true about the Jewish tradition there's no one Jewish answer there's no one Jewish approach to life as a whole and I'm not here to suggest that there is something written in stone and that on this series of programs Jewish 101 we're going to read off the stone and the truth is a lot has to do with the individual who's doing the teaching any individual who teaches is bringing his or her own experience his own perceptions his own perspectives her own understanding of what the Jewish tradition has to say and whether one reads this philosopher or that philosopher whether one studies with this rabbi or that rabbi this teacher that teacher what one is really trying to find is someone who when one can connect with and I never suggest that the only Jewish approach is the one I'm going to be offering you on Judaism 101 but as you study with me as you learn with me whether it's Judaism or other aspects of Jewish life what I'll be trying to do is give you a sense of what mainstream traditional Jewish life has been and I'll try also to be honest and say to you there are other expressions here and other things you should understand and I encourage you as much as possible to study with number one as many people as you can and number two to find someone you connect with and so there's a certain humility I bring to doing Judaism 101 or Jewish 101 with you here on Shalom TV of this series and what's also interesting about Jewish life and I don't know if it's true of other communities as well I know it's true in the Jewish community there are many Jews who have an instinctive sense of what being Jewish is all about who know that there's something very wonderful about it something even important about it for them as Jews but they're unable to articulate it why it has to do with the methodology of teaching in the Jewish community in Jewish life and those of you who are part of Jewish life will understand exactly what I mean most Jewish education is directed at children so much effort in the Jewish community is put into giving our children a body of information in the hopes that it will connect them with the Jewish tradition and that they will want to be Jewish actively committed use as they grow up and so so much of the education that's done in the Jewish community is done with young people especially those who are pre Bar or Bat Mitzvah age which means they are younger than 13 the goal of Jewish education much of the time is to take someone who is either 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 and give them as much Jewish information as we can help them to learn how to at least pronounce Hebrew if not read and understand Hebrew hoping that they will become comfortable with and conversant with Jewish liturgy and each movement has its own approach to liturgy but the goal is the same whether one is an Orthodox Jew a conservative Jew or reformed jewelry can specialist Jew some other form of Jewish life today one hopes that the children in that community will be conversant with and comfortable with and knowledgeable of and somehow embrace the liturgy that goes with their movement and so that when a young person becomes a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah if there is the tradition where a girl becomes of age at 12 or 13 that that individual that young person will stand up at a bar or bat mitzvah service ceremony and be able to be conversant with comfortable with the liturgy lead the prayers in many instances and over time we've also understood that what we want our children to do is be able to be I was going to say friends with it's an interesting idea friends with the toe rather the Torah somehow is theirs that they embrace it that they hold it they carry it have they read it and to become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah means that one becomes responsible for Jewish Commandments I say parenthetically very often you will hear the phrase will you ever bar Mitzvahed when you get bar Mitzvahed whoo Bar Mitzvah Jew and it's as if Bar Mitzvah is a verb Bar Mitzvah is a state of being one becomes a Bar Mitzvah it's not done to an individual no rabbi bar mitzvahs a child one becomes a Bar Mitzvah automatically when one draws one's first breath at the age of 13 one becomes a Bar Mitzvah with a ceremony without a ceremony one becomes a Bar Mitzvah at the age of 13 it is reaching one's Jewish majority as in America it happens when one is 18 years old one becomes automatically responsible for American life in a different way one can vote and one becomes responsible as an American male or female in the Jewish tradition it's the exact same thing one becomes a bar orbit Bat Mitzvah in the traditions where there is a button that's fine for girls at the age of thirteen at the age of thirteen one draws a breath what is a Bar Mitzvah what has become a Bar Mitzvah and I want to give you an example I want to tell you a story of something that once happened to me that illustrates why it's so important to understand that one doesn't get bar Mitzvahed one becomes a Bar Mitzvah I was meeting with a man who was in his forties very lovely gentleman and we were talking about the possibility of light being the rabbi at his wedding his Papa and we were talking we're talking in and he said to me you know I have to tell you rabbi I'm not bar Mitzvahed I was never bar Mitzvahed can I be married by a rabbi and I took a moment to explain to him that you don't get bar Mitzvahed in the Jewish tradition that there's a Bar Mitzvah ceremony the wisdom of the Jewish tradition is that as this 13 year old becomes 13 and becomes a different person in terms of his relationship to the Jewish tradition that at 13 one becomes responsible for Jewish life for a sense of Jewish Commandments but that that happens automatically and that in fact this individual sitting across from me is and was because name a bar mitzva when he drew his first breath on his 13th birthday and although he never had a ceremony marking it he was a Bar Mitzvah and has been a Bar Mitzvah since the age of 13 well he began to cry and I said why are you crying and he said to me because I thought I wasn't a Jew and I didn't know if I could have a Jewish ceremony a Jewish wedding ceremony and now you've explained to me I am a Bar Mitzvah and that's the Jewish mentality the Jewish mentality is about people and how you become a responsible loving lovely human being and a committed Jew and I come back to the notion that one of the things that's true about the Jewish community is that so much of our effort is expended to very young people who are not yet 13 who are basically prepubescent and that unfortunately the model is that once one becomes a Bar Mitzvah or has a Bar Mitzvah ceremony very often that young person who is now 13 about to be 14 and 15 16 very often Jewish education ends for that individual around the 13th birthday and one of the things that Jewish community has done and in many instances with great success is try to maintain a connection with the 14 15 16 17 18 year old throughout high school with Hebrew high schools for example trying to maintain a relationship where there can be ongoing Jewish education but the reality of life is a 13 14 15 16 17 year-olds certainly up through South Moore in high school very often they're in a different world again they're just hitting puberty they have other concerns on their mind and it's hard in a typical Jewish setting outside of the day school the yeshiva setting to bring this young person in and say I want to teach you about the genius of the Jewish tradition about Jewish ideas about Jewish visions and V this is only a thirteen year old or a fourteen year old or a ten year old or an eleven year old of the truth is the truth is that the Jewish tradition is not for children the wisdom the genius the insights of the Jewish tradition are not for children the Jewish home is for children the goal of every family is to create a loving warm beautiful wonderful joy filled Jewish home where Jewish tradition and Jewish symbolism and Jewish ceremony permeates the home where Shabbat is sacred what do I mean by sacred it would not occur to a Jewish family for there to be a Friday evening when the family was not together two candles a key dish cup a challah parents putting their hands on their children and blessing them with the Priestly Blessing it wouldn't occur in a home where Shabbat is sacred for the family not to be together every Friday night barring something extraordinary and that the children in that home grow up knowing from the time they know anything that whatever else happens in the family wherever else the father is the mother is if their extended family if one is fortunate enough to have grandparents whether the grandparents are when it comes to Friday night Shabbat the children know they will have their parents with them and the house will Sparkle and they'll sit it wherever they sit when company comes and there'll be a tablecloth and a good plate silver with China whatever and there'll be something glorious happening in that family on Friday night there will be together as a family celebrating in a Jewish context and that Orthodox Jews and conservative Jews and reformed Jews and reconstructors choose and secular Jews and Zionists use or find their own expression for the Shabbat in their home but one thing is true Shabbat is in their home on Friday night and on Hanukkah there is the menorah lit for eight nights and a present is given to a child on every single night of Hanukkah and I'm Passover the family is together around the Seder table not only doing the Seder service but laughing together and sharing together you know and they and the kids come back from college for Passover and the cousins get on a plane and they travel to wherever the Seder is being held because cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents and the in-laws are all together on Passover and that's the Jewish home there are books in a Jewish home parents read Jewish stories to their children in a Jewish home it's not simply winnie-the-pooh which is a lovely story it's not simply good night moon it's also lovely classic Jewish stories it may be the stories of Hjelm it might be a story of King David might be the kind of stories you see on story time here on Shalom TV that's what I mean when I say the Jewish home is for children that's where Jewish identity is shaped the Jewish tradition is not meant for children the Jewish tradition is meant for people who are sexual who have to deal with their own sexuality and who are in sexual relationships with people they love it has to do with marriage Shalom buy it how you create a sense of real family togetherness in a world where it's difficult and complex relationships are difficult and complex but how do you create a marriage of understanding of shared of purpose of love of sexuality what about the issues of making a living going out working day after day paying a mortgage working on finances how does one put one's children through college these days and not only that you're paying for a school education and private school education and so from an early age now very often how one works out one's budget where one decides to allocate one's money is a key issue a difficult issue and what about sadaqa in terms of giving charity actually going into one's checkbook and writing a check to this organization to that organization to sustain Jewish life and in some instances to sustain wonderful organizations in the general American community these are the issues of Jewish tradition addresses what's the attitude on abortion and capital punishment about sexual preferences about women's rights what about the relationship between Jew and non-jew and the ethical demands that are placed upon the adult Jew visa vie those who are not part of the Jewish community and what about the concerns of interpersonal relationships the difficulty adults have refraining from gossip just got just if you know there's some people who say to me if we don't talk about other people we have nothing to talk about and get the Jewish tradition addresses the extent to which talking about other people and I'm not even talk about slander it can be true but talking about other people in a way that demeans them it is absolutely forbidden in the Jewish tradition what does it mean to be honest and not to cheat on one's income taxes when one goes into a store when one calls an airline and the person on the other line has to say something like well do you have children below the age of three and your child is four and you know if you say your child is four you'll pay a higher airfare than if you like child is three and there's one life or economic gain and I'm not saying the issues of cheating and lying or not ones that should be addressed or couldn't be addressed to young people but I am saying that the issues that the Jewish tradition is concerned with whether it's birth control whether it's organ donation whether it's whom you marry and how whether it's how you create a life responsibly in a world of financial burden how does one take care of elderly parents as they get older and older what is the responsibility of adult children to adult parents these are not issues for ten year olds or eleven year old or twelve year olds I would argue even for fourteen or fifteen or sixteen year olds and that when one becomes a young adult really as one leaves college and begins one's life and then maybe gets married in their late 20s early 30s even their 40s today one then addresses into one in one's own life issues of critical importance the Jewish condition has something to say about every aspect of life life and that's what you want used to understand and that's what I mean when I say to you the Jewish tradition the genius of the rabbinic tradition the genius the insights the way in which the Jewish tradition helps us become more of what we are really has to do with adult Jewish life and therefore it's not simply that many of us weren't educated even if we were educated we couldn't be educated in ways that would resonate with us a young person simply isn't ready to assimilate the information that the Jewish nation has to offer up whether it's about why the wedding ceremony is what the wedding ceremony is why the way in which Jews mourn someone they love who has died and then have a service for someone who's died and then bury someone who's died and then have a period of seven day shiver when the community comes together to support the individual who's lost a loved one at the 30 day period as well at the eleven month period as well all of the issues that have to do with life and mortality become so meaningful to an individual as an adult and while obviously all of us want our young people to be educated as much as they possibly can we shouldn't fool ourselves in the Jewish community and really I think it's true for other religious traditions as well we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking that you can teach children what it means to be an adult Jew have a Jewish mentality because the experience is so foreign to them it's like saying to somebody who isn't married I'm going to teach you what marriage is about in some way the phrase pree marital counseling is an oxymoron premarital counseling is in some way silly what you really want to say that a couple is you know come back and see me after a year of being together we'll talk about the issues of being married tell someone who has not yet pubescent what sexuality is it's silly tell someone who's never ridden a bike what it means to ride a bike until you ride a bike you don't know what it means to ride a bike and until your sexual you don't know what sexuality means until you're married you know what you don't know what marriage means and until you've had children you have no clue what it means to be a parent and some people say you need two children before you know what it means to be a parent because two children are it's a different experience than having one child and it's the same thing with teaching the Jewish tradition we teach the Jewish condition the genius the wisdom the inside of the Jewish tradition is meant for Jewish adults and on this series Jewish 101 we're going to be taking a look at I keep using the word genius just the understanding the embracing the vision that the Jewish mission has when it looks at the entire experience of Jewish life and I hope for those of you who will share this with me it will be meaningful to you and in general I'm hoping that if you're someone looking to understand more about this Jewish thing called Judaism in English by the way the correct translation for Judaism in Hebrew is the word Torah it's not a literal translation but the meaning of the word Judaism in English is the word Torah in Hebrew not the Torah the Torah refers to a specific set of books the five books of Moses the bay of Jewish life but the word Torah is the real word that resonates for the Jewish tradition the Jewish traditions entire approach to life goes by one word Torah the values the goals the dreams the ideals of the Jewish tradition all are expressed in one word in Hebrew Torah the values of the Jewish people are expressed in the word Torah Judaism in English Torah in Hebrew and what we hope to do on this series is explain to any of you who are murky you know I said before there are many Jews who instinctively understand what it is to be a Jew but couldn't articulate it for themselves well have never been taught it on an adult level for adults may have been taught something as a young person but it's a long time ago for many people and it meant something very different as a young person that it means as an adult so for those of you who are in the Jewish community who have always said I want to know more I want to understand I want to put some concrete meaning behind this gut instinct of mine that there's something precious and valuable and wonderful in the Jewish tradition this series will be for you and if you're someone who's planning to maybe convert to Judaism you're in a relationship with a Jew and you're planning on marrying and you want to convert to Judaism this series will be very helpful to you and if you're someone outside the Jewish community but you've always been interested in understanding either simply because you're curious and loved learning or maybe you see this as the basis of your own perhaps Christian tradition and you want to understand what is the Jewish basis upon which Christianity is built this series is for you and as always I invite you I it's more than invited I welcome you to be in touch with me send me emails send me letters not only telling me whether you know this program has been helpful to you and meaningful to you and you enjoy it and I love those emails but wait I'm just a plain human being here I love it if somebody says to me oh you know we saw what you did and it's wonderful I love that but I'm asking for a different kind of email as well what I'm really asking for is tell me what questions you love to see us address on this series what is always you know sorry you've said to yourself what is that about and why is it true and what does the gym mean by this and what is this aspect of being Jewish and I don't want to at the moment give any specific examples of questions you come up with your questions whatever questions you have please either email me at rabbi gallabat Shalom TV or write me at Shalom TV box 1989 Fort Lee New Jersey zero seven zero two four and I promise to either write you back and I try to respond to every single person who sends me an email or and maybe it's a door include your questions in the material we will be presenting to you on this series Jewish 101 by the way if you want to know what materials you should have with you when we begin to study together this is the book that I would ask you to have it and what I'm saying this book it's not that you have to have this particular version this is the homage this is the five books of Moses in a book form it's called the Pentateuch from the Greek for five any homage any Torah any Bible that you can get that has English and Hebrew would also be nice but what I'm really looking for is the English for you you will be able to follow along as we do passages from the Torah as we learn about Torah in general and that's the first session in our series Jewish 101 for all of us I'm Marc Gollum be well my friends

Channel: JBS

Views: 92,399

Keywords: jewish101, jew101, 101, judaism, rabbi mark s. golub, rabbi golub, shalomtv, shalom, tv, jewish, television, cable, network, jew

Id: NtWPakp5LKc

Length: 36min 23sec (2183 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 15 2011