Judaism All-in-One For Dummies Cheat Sheet

‍Judaism All-in-One For Dummies tells you about beliefs, history, and culture of Judaism. This handy Cheat Sheet describes the five books of the Torah. You also find out what a Bar/Bat Mitzvah is, what happens on Shabbat, and kosher menu planning.

The five books of the Torah

The word Torah (“teaching”) refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The five books are commonly named Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, following the naming in the early Greek translation of the Bible. Note that the Hebrew names for the books are very different (they’re taken from the first unique word that appears in each book):

• Genesis (Bereisheet, “In the beginning”): Deals with the creation of the world, the patriarchs and matriarchs (including Abraham, Sarah, and Jacob), and concludes with the story of Jacob, Joseph, and the eventual settlement of the Hebrew people in Egypt.
• Exodus (Sh’mot, “Names”): Tells of the struggle to leave Egypt, the revelation of Torah on Mount Sinai (including the Ten Commandments), and the beginning of the journey in the wilderness.
• Leviticus (Vayikra, “And He called”): Largely deals with levitical, or priestly, matters concerning the running of the Sanctuary, although this book includes some incredible ethical teachings, as well.
• Numbers (BaMidbar, “In the wilderness”): Begins with taking a census of the tribes and continues with the people’s journey through the wilderness.
• Deuteronomy (D’varim, “Words”): Consists of speeches by Moses recapitulating the entire journey. Deuteronomy concludes with the death of Moses and the people’s entrance into the Promised Land.

What’s a Bar/Bat Mitzvah?

Jewish tradition says that when girls turn 12 and boys turn 13, they take on new responsibilities in the community. In traditional congregations, this is the point at which boys are expected to start donning tefillin and performing daily prayers in a minyan and girls are expected to learn the ways of keeping a home. Jews honor this change with ritual, even though in today’s day and age, no one expects these teenagers to suddenly become adults after the ceremony.

In Judaism, every boy is automatically Bar Mitzvah at age 13 and a day, and every girl is Bat Mitzvah at age 12 and a day. No lengthy study or an appearance in the synagogue is required. The fancy ceremony is nice, but technically unnecessary.

The traditional Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony requires study and discipline on the part of the boy or girl. They must learn enough Hebrew to read from the Torah (and often Haftarah, too — the section from the Prophets associated with each Torah portion) and master enough Jewish history and law to understand the context of what they’re reading. To prepare, kids take classes and often work one-on-one with their rabbi, cantor, or teacher, focusing on their portion of the Torah and/or Haftarah.

The Bar/Bar Mitzvah ceremony is almost always scheduled at a synagogue on the Saturday morning Torah reading that follows the child’s twelfth (for a girl) or thirteenth (for a boy) birthday, though this can vary widely. Because of scheduling conflicts at synagogues, some Bar/Bat Mitzvahs are set for weeks or even months after the birthday.

The event can be held anywhere, even at home, and it doesn’t require a rabbi to be present. Some families even travel to Jerusalem to perform this rite. Also, the ceremony doesn’t have to be held on Shabbat; it can be any morning that the Torah is read during services (Monday, Thursday, and Shabbat). Some families like to schedule the ceremony on Saturday afternoon so that the festivities can conclude with Havdalah.

What is Shabbat?

The weekly holiday of Shabbat (shah-baht), the most important Jewish holiday, lets people take a break from the pressures of the workweek. The ancient holiday of Shabbat is the one day each week that observant Jews stop working, traveling, building, and fussing, and they instead ask themselves “Am I a human doing, or a human being?”

Shabbat, a peaceful oasis from sunset on Friday until darkness falls on Saturday, is as radical an idea today as it was in ancient times: You take a day off to study, reflect, sing, get quiet, be with family and community, and refresh your body and soul. No matter what your station in life, a day of rest — a day to focus on the deeper meaning and values in life — is a religious imperative. In fact, observing Shabbat is one of the Ten Commandments.

Traditional Shabbat observance stems from the biblical injunction that no work shall be done on that day by anyone in a Jewish household — even employees and livestock. The Bible didn’t actually define exactly what constituted “work,” and discussions still continue regarding this issue. Sometimes the definitions create rules that cause many people to feel more restricted than relieved, more frustrated than freshened. Nevertheless, one thing is clear: The intention of Shabbat was to provide relief from everyday demands and to support a gentle environment for study, prayer, conversation, and, quite literally, rest.

The laws of Shabbat are complex and numerous, but they all grow out of verses in the Written Torah.

But is it kosher? Menu planning

One of the most distinctive religious practices among the Jewish people involves the kosher laws found in the Torah.  

The principle of keeping meat and dairy foods separate determines how you cook and how you organize the dishes in a menu. Meat and dairy foods may not appear together in a single dish or even in the same menu. For example, you can’t follow a chicken main course with a cheesecake for dessert.

Some people also wait a specified number of hours after eating meat before eating dairy. In many Orthodox families, the wait is six hours.

There are three types of kosher menus: those based on meat, those based on dairy foods, and those that are pareve.

• Meat menus: Serving meat in any form on a menu makes it into a meat meal. The meat may be the main course or may appear in an appetizer or a side dish. Meat products used in cooking also are included. If you make vegetable soup, for example, with chicken broth as an ingredient, the meal becomes a meat meal.
• Dairy menus: Any dairy product makes a meal into a dairy menu. Dairy products include such obvious candidates as milk and cheese as well as cakes made with butter.
• Pareve menus: You can serve pareve menus and dishes with meat, with dairy, or on their own. Pareve foods can be loosely described as vegetarian, but they don’t include dairy foods and they do include fish and eggs. Fish is an important pareve food. For this reason, fish appetizers are popular starters for festive menus, whether of meat or dairy. Other pareve foods are eggs, vegetables, grains, and fruit.