key_stages: Key Stage 3 (Age 11-14)
The Five Pillars of Islam – It’s Ramadan, so Faysal and Jubayr are up at two in the morning to eat before the fast begins at sunrise. We follow the boys throughout their day as they explain the most important things they have to do as Muslims: The Five Pillars of Islam.
Curriculum Mapping
TrueTube films are designed for use in a number of ways. Some ideas of where this film could link to your curriculum are below:
AQA
Component 1: The study of religions: beliefs, teachings and practices- Islam -Practices and Duties - Five Pillars of Sunni Islam and the Ten Obligatory Acts of Shi’a Islam. Salah and its significance: how and why Muslims pray including times, directions, ablution (wudu), movements (rak’ahs) and recitations; salah in the home and mosque and elsewhere. Sawm: the role and significance of fasting during the month of Ramadan including origins, duties, benefits of fasting.
Edexcel
Area of Study 3 - Section 3: Living the Muslim Life - Islam - Sawm as one of the Five Pillars: the nature, role, significance and purpose of fasting during Ramadan and Salah
OCR
Component Group 1–Practices - Islam - Public acts of worship - Salah as direct communication with Allah. The importance of practices - Islam as a way of life, lived in total submission to Allah • The importance of the Five Pillars of Islam to Sunni Muslims • The meaning of the Five Pillars: •• Shahadah: sincerely reciting the Muslim profession of faith •• Salat: performing ritual prayers in the proper way five times each day •• Zakat/Zakah: paying an alms (or charity) tax to benefit the poor and the needy •• Sawm: fasting during the month of Ramadan •• Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca • The analogy of the house and pillars
WJEC
2.1 Unit 1 PART A - Part A Islam - Core beliefs, teachings and practices - Practices - The Five Pillars of Sunni Islam -Prayer/ Salat Adhan call to prayer, praying at mosque and Friday Jummah prayer (Qur'an 15:9899, 29:45) Praying at home, private prayer (Du'ah) The preparations and intention for prayer: wudu and niyyah The significance and symbolism of the different prayer positions that make a rakat (sequence of prayer) Obligatory Acts Shahadah: the Muslim profession of faith in Allah and the prophet Muhammad; occasions when the Shahadah is recited, e.g. aqiqah ceremony, conversion to Islam Zakat: paying an alms (or charity) tax to benefit others, what zakat tax may be used for, and additional charity (saddaqah) Sawm: Fasting during the month of Ramadan. How and why Muslims fast during Ramadan and rules about halal and haram diet (Qur'an 2:183)
Eduqas
Component 3 (Route A): Study of a World Faith: Option 3: Islam:Practices: The Five Pillars of Sunni Islam: practices in Britain and elsewhere: Shahadah: the Muslim statement of faith: Qur'an 3:18 ➢ Zakah: How Sunni Muslims make payment of charity tax, alms and how zakat money may be spent ➢ Sawm: How Sunni Muslims fast during Ramadan: Qur'an 2:184. Issues relating to Muslims fasting in Britain ➢ Hajj: How Sunni Muslims undertake pilgrimage to the Ka'ba in Makkah; Qur'an 2:125. Issues relating to Muslims in Britain undertaking Hajj ➢ Salah: the practices of prayer in Islam in the mosque and at home, including Jummah prayer: Qur'an 15:98-99, Qur'an 29:45
Transcript
The Five Pillars of Islam
My name is Faisal Bachani.
And my name is Jabarah Bachani.
We live in Beckenham. We're both 16 years old, and we're twins. Me, Jabarah, um, I'm older.
We live in Beckenham. We're both 16 years old,
and we're twins. Me, Jabarah, um, I'm older.
Well, Jabarah is older by one minute, but I'm still taller. We are both Muslims. My family is all Muslim.
We're quite religious. We practice a lot, especially my dad. At the moment we are in the sacred month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic year. Sacred because Prophet Muhammad received the first word of the Qur'an, the sacred book for Muslims. During Ramadan, Muslims are meant to fast. We're not meant to eat or drink from when the sun comes up to when the sun comes down. The first meal of the day before sunrise is called sehri. The Muslim year is shorter than the western year, and this means that Ramadan becomes earlier by ten days each year. At this present time, Ramadan is in the summer. Um, the days are quite long.
The most important things as Muslims we have to do are called the five Pillars of Islam. A pillar is a column that basically holds up a building. They support the whole faith, so without them it wouldn't be Islam. So the first pillar of Islam is the Shahadah. We have to say the shahadah. (Says Shahadah in Arabic) There is only one God and the Prophet Muhammad is his messenger.
The second pillar of Islam is Salat, which is a prayer. Muslims are expected to pray five times a day. Wudu is a way to cleanse yourself before prayer. You have to wash your face, wash your hands, wash your arms, wash your legs. The call to prayer is done just at the beginning of Fajr, which is the first prayer of the day.
My father usually leads the prayer. My grandpa usually prays with us as well. My mom and my grandma usually pray with the group, but because the camera people were here today, they prayed in a separate room. Muslims pray in the direction of the Ka'bah, a big cube shaped building which is in Makkah, because Muslims believe that the Ka'bah is the house of God. During prayer, you have to recite passages of the Qur'an and then you have to prostrate to Allah. It's when you bow to God. It symbolises that he is the one Lord. He created all of us and he alone deserves praise and we are his servants.
It is quite hard to concentrate in lessons. When you're fasting, you feel the urge to eat, your tummy constantly hurts and your mouth is quite dry all the time. I think you're exaggerating a little bit. If it's on the first day, yeah, it's going to be hard, but the other days you get used to it. Sometimes it's bad, but like, it depends on the day, really.
In school at lunchtime, we pray the Zuhr, the second Zuhr. We usually pray in the chapel, sometimes with friends or sometimes alone.
The third pillar of Islam is called Zakat, and it is where Muslims give charity to the poor. Instead of using my lunch money for lunch for Ramadan, I would save the money for charity. When we start earning, we will give Zakat, which is a 40th of our money left over when we've paid for our homes and food. Sadaqah is voluntary act of giving to charity because we don't earn yet we give to Sadaqah. We regularly go to a charity shop on the high street. I do ironing, I iron some clothes, we label clothes, we help out the reception area. It's better to go out and help others rather than sitting at home.
The third prayer of the day is called Asr.
The fourth pillar of Islam is sawm, or fasting, on the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims are meant to feel what it's like to feel poor. It's meant to make us grateful for what we have rather than wanting more. It's also meant to cleanse us because it is a holy month.
My mom and my grandma usually don't wear a headscarf in the house, but Muslim women usually cover their hair in the presence of strangers. When the sun goes down, we are free to eat. Usually we first of all have a date and a glass of water and then we pray Maghrib Salat, which is the fourth salat. And then after that we have a big feast. We, um, have our favourite food. My mom cooks a lot of food. That meal is called iftar. It feels great. You know, it feels great to, um, to eat again, you know, you feel, you feel for those who don't have enough food for for a day or for a year.
The fifth pillar of Islam is Hajj. It's a sacred pilgrimage to Makkah. You have to do a lot of rituals, and you have to also visit a lot of places where the prophets visited. The most important part of the Hajj is visiting the Ka'bah, which is the house of God. The hajj happens in a specific month, Dhu al-Hijjah, we ourselves haven't actually been to Hajj, but we've been to a minor one called Umrah. We didn't do it in that specific month, but we saw the Ka'bah. It's a lot different from the pictures, you feel in awe of it. Our dad wants us to go on the Hajj in two years time. He wants us to become a bit more mature first, you know.
Usually we pray Isha, which is the fifth prayer in the day, at home with our family, but because it's Ramadan, we pray Isha at the mosque. You see a lot of your friends, a lot of your relatives, you know, it's very happy sight in the mosque. Your, your mind is focussed on praying so you feel closer to God. Ramadan is quite an important part of Islam. It's quite special to me because I do a lot of different stuff in Ramadan. It brings our family together. It makes us all kind of come together and eat together. I think it's special because in Ramadan I feel closer to God. The five pillars are special to me because they are the most important part of Islam, without which you can't really call yourself a Muslim.
Katie is a nurse on a children’s ward and a practising Christian in the Roman Catholic Church. She is also gay. She talks honestly and movingly about how she struggled to reconcile her faith with her feelings, and about the welcome she eventually found in the church community.
A film by Adam Tyler.
Winner of the Digital Video category at the Jerusalem Awards 2016 and nominated in the Learning – Secondary category of the BAFTA Children’s Awards 2016
Muslim Birth Ceremonies – Omaima has a new baby cousin called Jenna and is looking forward to babysitting duties. Before Jenna was born, Omaima went to visit parents-to-be Hawra and Mustafa to talk about their plans for the birth and the various traditions that Muslim families follow when a baby is born.
Curriculum Mapping
TrueTube films are designed for use in a number of ways. Some ideas of where this film could link to your curriculum are below:
AQA
Component 1: The study of religions: beliefs, teaching and practices –Practices - Worship - Islam - Shahadah: declaration of faith and its place in Muslim practice.
Component 1: The study of religions: beliefs, teaching and practices –Key beliefs - Authority - Islam - Risalah (Prophethood) including the role and importance of Muhammad
Edexcel
Area of Study 3 - Section 3: Living the Muslim Life - Islam - Shahadah as one of the Five Pillars: the nature, role and significance of Shahadah for Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, including reference to Surah 3: 17–21; why reciting Shahadah is important for Muslims, and its place in Muslim practice today.
Area of Study 1 - Section 1: Muslim Beliefs - Islam -RiSalah: the nature and importance of prophethood for Muslims, what the role of Muhannad teaches Muslims.
OCR
Component Group 1–Practices - Islam - The meaning of the Five Pillars: • Shahadah: sincerely reciting the Muslim profession of faith
Public acts of worship - The place of Shahadah in Muslim practice, including the first words uttered to a new born, for converting to the faith and said by/to the dying •Shahada has the only ‘non-action’ pillar
WJEC
2.1 Unit 1 PART A - Part A Islam - Core beliefs, teachings and practices - Practices - The Five Pillars of Sunni Islam -Prayer/ Salat Adhan call to prayer, praying at mosque and Friday Jummah prayer (Qur'an 15:9899, 29:45) Praying at home, private prayer (Du'ah) The preparations and intention for prayer: wudu and niyyah The significance and symbolism of the different prayer positions that make a rakat (sequence of prayer) Obligatory Acts Shahadah: the Muslim profession of faith in Allah and the prophet Muhammad; occasions when the Shahadah is recited, e.g. aqiqah ceremony, conversion to Islam Zakat: paying an alms (or charity) tax to benefit others, what zakat tax may be used for, and additional charity (saddaqah) Sawm: Fasting during the month of Ramadan. How and why Muslims fast during Ramadan and rules about halal and haram diet (Qur'an 2:183)
Eduqas
Component 3 (Route A): Study of a World Faith: Option 3: Islam:Practices: The Five Pillars of Sunni Islam: practices in Britain and elsewhere: Shahadah: the Muslim statement of faith: Qur'an 3:18
Transcript
Muslim Birth Ceremonies
Omaima I'm Omaima, and this is my beautiful new cousin, Jenna. She was born just a few weeks ago, so I'm still a little bit nervous when I hold her. She's so tiny and fragile. In a Muslim family like ours, how we begin our lives is important. We believe that we are born Muslims and we don't become Muslims later on in life. Before Jenna was born, I went to speak to her mum and dad about their plans for her birth.
Omaima Hi, how are you?
Hawra How are you?
Mustafa I've really enjoyed married life. It's been a great opportunity to share all my thoughts, my ideas, uh, get a lot of support from my wife, but I'm now looking forward to the next stage of our married life and really bringing up a child. Teaching the baby things and caring for the baby, introducing them to our friends, and, and our extended family, and, and you know, I think that's going to be a really, sort of, special time.
Omaima What's the first thing you do to welcome the baby to Islam?
Hawra When the baby is ready the first thing that we will do is to read the call for prayer in Arabic. It's adhan and iqamah .Adhan is the first part of the call for prayers, is recited in the right ear of the baby, and the iqamah is recited in the left ear of the baby.
Mustafa (Mustafa recites call to prayer in Arabic.)
Mustafa We start off with reciting that God is great. Allahu akbar. We recite it four times and then we declare that there is no God but Allah. So, Ash-hadu an-la ilaha illa Allah, which is recited twice.
Hawra It can be read by anyone, but generally the dad is there, so he will be the first one to read. It's seen as a blessing for them and for the baby, uh, so people like being there.
Omaima Do you know what you're going to call the baby?
Hawra We have got a few names in mind, uh, and then we will decide on the day, I think. Uh, but in Islam, it's recommended to call the babies after the names of the 99 names of God. One of the 99 names is, uh, Raheem, and Raheem means, uh, merciful. There is a prophetic saying that says, uh, I think about 50% of a name of a child does affect the personality. So by giving them beautiful name like merciful, you would hope that child would be merciful to others when they grow up.
Hawra There are lots of other traditions in Islam when the baby is born. Um, one of them is tahneek, putting something sweet in the mouth of the baby, be a bit of date or a bit of honey, and this means this baby would grow into, uh, someone with a sweet nature.
Omaima What other things do people do when the baby is born?
Mustafa If the baby is a boy, we will be, uh, going through a tradition that we have, which started from the prophet Abraham or Ibrahim, who was, uh, one of the messengers and the prophets of God. And, he, he circumcised his son, and that ever since, uh, our traditions is that we've continued this, um, this practice. And so, what we'll be organising is inviting a doctor to remove the foreskin of the penis, and this sort of resembles and signifies purity. Some people do it after three months, some people do it after six months. But usually it's between the first three years of the birth of the child.
Hawra One of the traditions that, uh, Muslims practice when the baby is born is the aqiqah, which is done on the seventh day. Um, it's basically introducing the baby to the whole family, bringing everyone together, sharing a big meal. Traditionally, people slaughter an animal, but, uh, I wiil be just ordering some food from the restaurant, the easy way.
Mustafa So I'm really delighted to have all our friends and family here with us today to share with you the joyful occasion that we have been very lucky that Jenna has blessed our lives.
Guest Okay. Question number six. In the Holy Quran, Ayatul Mubahala was found in Surah Al-baqara. True or false?
Mustafa So one part, of the aqiqah is to shave the hair of the baby and weigh it and find out the value of that weight in gold and its worth. And then it's seen as a really important blessing to give that to charity. And, so that's something that we would like to do. I'm not sure if Laura will let me shave the hair, the baby. As it's winter and it's going to be cold.
Omaima We've had a really great day celebrating Jenna today. The food was amazing. The quiz was really good. My team nearly won, but most importantly, it was really nice to spend my time with my friends and family.
Omaima Jenna has been given an amazing welcome to the world. Hawra, Mustafa and the whole family have done everything they could to make sure she is loved and looked after and brought up as a Muslim. I'm looking forward to babysitting her, just maybe not changing the nappies.
7/7 – On Thursday the 7th of July 2005, four bombs were detonated in central London – three on tube trains and one on a double-decker bus. 52 innocent people were killed and over 700 more were injured in the first ever suicide bombings in the UK. We speak to people whose lives were directly affected by the attacks and hear their testimonies, as well as perspectives from an Imam and an expert in the study of terrorism.
Getting the Band Back Together – When a band splits up, it’s often up to the manager to get the members back together; but when a family falls out, what they often need is a Family Therapy session to help them listen to each other. This animation was made by a group of young people who have all benefitted from family therapy.
Courtesy of Biomation.
Holy Books: The Bible – A range of different people from a vicar to a translator describe how the Bible was put together and why it means so much to Christians.
Curriculum Mapping
TrueTube films are designed for use in a number of ways. Some ideas of where this film could link to your curriculum are below:
AQA
Component 1: The study of religions: beliefs, teaching and practices - Christianity - Introduction /pre-work Worship and festivals - Different forms of worship and their significance:
• liturgical, non-liturgical and informal, including the use of the Bible
• private worship.
Edexcel
Area of Study 1 - Christianity - The significance and importance of the various beliefs, issues and practices to Christians today should be explored throughout the sections. This should include reference to how the Bible informs a Christian’s understanding of the topics and how approaches to the issues are underpinned by philosophical arguments and ethical theory as applicable. Area of Study 3 – Catholic Christianity - The significance and importance of the various beliefs, issues and practices to Catholics today should be explored throughout the sections. This should include reference to how the Bible informs a Catholic’s understanding of the topics and how approaches to the issues are underpinned by philosophical arguments and ethical theory as applicable. Area of Study 1 – Catholic Christianity - The significance and importance of the various beliefs, issues and practices to Catholics today should be explored throughout the sections. This should include reference to how the Bible informs a Catholic’s understanding of the topics and how approaches to the issues are underpinned by philosophical arguments and ethical theory as applicable.
OCR
Component Group 1 - Christianity Belief sand teachings & Practices - Worship • The structure of church services, for example Anglican Communion service, Roman Catholic mass, Quaker meeting, Greek Orthodox service and Methodist Sunday morning worship • The concept of worship • Purposes of worship • The role and importance of liturgical worship for some Christians •The role and importance of informal/charismatic worship for some Christians • The role and importance of individual prayer, private prayeranddevotionforChristians • The role and importance of private and public worship to Christian communities and individuals •Different interpretations and emphases given to sources of wisdom and authority by different Christian denominations
WJEC
2.2 Unit 2 PART A - Christianity - Core beliefs, teachings and practices Beliefs - The Bible Ø As Word of God, authority, sacred scripture (Deuteronomy 4:1-2) inspiration and revelation Ø As a collection of writings based on context, audience, society, authors' intentions Ø Uses/usefulness (2 Timothy 3:16-17); absolute law, guidance, use during worship and ceremonies (Christening, Marriage, Funerals) Ø Differing ways of interpreting biblical writings: literal, conservative, symbolic, biblical myth Ø Bible in relation to other sources of authority, e.g. conscience (Romans 2:14-15), family, reason, society, situations, civil law, circumstances
Component 2 (Route A) Study of Christianity - Salvation ➢ Law: Word of God; inspiration and revelation; differing ways of interpreting biblical writings; Bible in relation to other sources of authority.
Eduqas
Component 2 (Route A) Study of Christianity - Salvation ➢ Law: Word of God; inspiration and revelation; differing ways of interpreting biblical writings; Bible in relation to other sources of authority.
Transcript
Holy Books: The Bible
Alistair McConville The Bible is a collection of books. In fact, the word Bible means a collection of books, and it's divided into two. There's the Old Testament, which is composed of 39 small books, and there's the New Testament, which has 27 small books.
Eddie Arthur The Old Testament was written in Hebrew with a few bits in Aramaic.
Alex Wood The Old Testament is the story of God creating the world, and Israel, who are his chosen people.
Tanya Walker Some of it is poetry, some of it is biography, some of it is straightforward narration of history.
Alistair McConville Books of law, for example. This is Leviticus, which tells the early Jewish people how to live. Poetic books like the Psalms, which would have been put to music. This is Proverbs, which is philosophical reflections, really. There are books of prophecy, like Jeremiah, that explain what God is saying about the future of the Israelites.
Alex Wood The Bible is all about God's rescue plan, and that plan really comes into play when Jesus comes into the story, and that's the beginning of the New Testament.
Alistair McConville The New Testament talks about Jesus as the Messiah, the Christian fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies.
Alex Wood The point is that Jesus is God's Son, and he came to keep God's promise that we will be with God forever.
Eddie Arthur The New Testament was written in Greek because Greek was understood right across the world at that time.
Alistair McConville There's a collection of biographies of Jesus, those are the Gospels. There are letters from various important early Christians, and it has apocalyptic works that are predicting how the world's going to end. Most people don't think of God as having literally written the Bible with a pen and paper. Rather, they think that God inspired human writers to record those things that God wanted to say.
Eddie Arthur If you read the book of Revelation, John said, an angel told me to write this down.
Alistair McConville Sometimes it's clear that they are speaking for themselves about their own understanding of what God has said or done.
Eddie Arthur Luke says, I asked a lot of people. I did a lot of reading, and I've written this up.
Alistair McConville As people continue to write about Jesus, it became important to make a final decision about what was going to be in the Bible. Lots of bishops came together when the Roman Empire became officially Christian, to discuss which books that they already knew and respected should be in the official version of the Bible, and which shouldn't.
Tanya Walker So the Bible is actually made up of 66 different books, written by over 40 different people across a span of around 1500 years, across three different continents, three different languages, and loads of different genres. There's all sorts of different things going on, and when we come to read the Bible, we, we bear in mind what kind of text am I reading and how is it appropriate to interpret it?
Alistair McConville How to interpret individual passages varies. So in the Catholic Church, for example, only the church has the authority to explain to Christians what the Bible means. In the Protestant church, more characteristically, individuals have greater scope to interpret the Bible for themselves.
Tanya Walker Some of it is poetry, and we're meant to read it allegorically, metaphorically, it's hinting at different things, but it's not meant to be taken literally.
Alistair McConville Some Christians say that Genesis, for example, is a historical account of the beginning of the world. Other Christians say that Genesis tells us something true in a metaphorical way.
Tanya Walker Other bits we realise, okay, the person who was writing this section meant and intended for it to be read as straightforward history.
Alistair McConville The Gospels are a really important part of the Bible. They are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, four different books, each of which gives an account of the life of Jesus.
Tanya Walker This is exactly how it happened, the people are saying, these are our eyewitness accounts of what happened. But then, of course, some of the things that Jesus says are stories. He tells parables, and we're not to take them literally, but we're to understand that in that story there is a meaning that we're to take and to apply to our lives.
Alex Wood I think loads of us find reading the Bible really difficult, and I definitely was like that. I never read the Bible, and whenever I did, I found it really tricky to understand. It wasn't really until I joined a church and I met a friend and he explained how to read the Bible, where to start, which bits to read, and since then, I've found reading the Bible one of the most fulfilling things that I do.
Tanya Walker So you may have noticed that Christians write in their Bible, or that their Bibles are very worn through sometimes. This is because Christians believe that it's the meaning that's important and precious, and not the paper and ink itself.
Eddie Arthur And from that we have the notion that the Bible itself can be translated. The important thing is that it's available in the language of the people who are reading it.
Tanya Walker Now, it's been translated into over 2000 languages. That's ten times more than any other book.
Eddie Arthur This is a New Testament in a language called Guéré from the Ivory Coast. (Reads from the bible). There is no one way that people do translation. In Ivory Coast we worked in a mud hut, with solar panels on the roof, and a laptop plugged into that and discussed the text in Greek, seek to express it as clearly as possible in Guéré, and then go through a rigorous process of review checking, editing. It took longer to revise it than it did to do the initial translation.
Alex Wood On Sundays, we read the Bible together. Somebody will step up onto this stage here, they'll open the Bible and they'll find a particular passage, and then we'll all grab our Bibles where we're sat, and we'll have a look at it together. The most important thing, I guess, is for that preacher or that speaker to explain how the passage is relevant to us today, how is it going to make a difference to our lives?
Holy Books: The Torah – A Rabbi and two Jewish scribes (who happen to be married – to each other, not to the Rabbi) describe the Torah – what it contains, how the scrolls are copied, and the ways in which the Torah is used in worship.
Curriculum Mapping
TrueTube films are designed for use in a number of ways. Some ideas of where this film could link to your curriculum are below:
AQA
Component 1 - The study of religions: beliefs, teaching and practices - Judaism - The synagogue and worship - The written law (Tenakh) and the oral law (Talmud) and their study, use and significance in daily life.
Edexcel
Area of Study 1 – Judaism - Section 1: Jewish Beliefs - The nature of the Almighty: how the characteristics of the Almighty are shown in the Torah, and why they are important in Jewish life today, including One, Creator, Law-Giver and Judge, including reference to Genesis 2.
OCR
Component Group 1 - Judaism - Practices -Worship• The structure of the synagogue service •The importance of the synagogue, in relation to the following religious features: •• Design •• Artefacts •• Synagogue services •• The role of the synagogue within the Jewish community •• Worship in the home •• The place of worship in the home •The significance of the Ark, the Bimah, the lack of representation of G-d, the Ner Tamid and the Mikveh • The nature and importance of the Torah readings, other readings, prayers and sermons •The connection between the synagogue and the Temple • Issues related to worship and the synagogue, including the length and structure of synagogue services and different uses of Hebrew in the service • Common and divergent emphases placed on the features of a synagogue by different Jewish groups, including separating women and men in an Orthodox synagogue •Different interpretations and emphases given to sources of wisdom and authority by different Jewish groups
Prayer• The role and importance of prayer in Jewish worship, including the Amidah (the standing prayer) • The role and importance of private prayer for Jews • The importance of: •• The three daily periods of prayer •• The concept of spontaneous prayer •• Recitation of the Shema •• Recitation of Grace after meals •• Teaching children to pray •• The direction faced when praying •• Prayer and the observance of the Mitzvot in the home • The importance of prayer for praise, confession, thanks giving and supplication.
Law• The form and content of the Tenakh (the Written Law) • The Chumash and the Sefer Torah • The nature of the Talmud (the Oral Law) •The relationship between the Talmud and the Torah, including the ways in which the Talmud is used in relation to the Torah • The use of the Torah in the synagogue • The use of the Tenakh in private worship • The way that the Torah provides structure to the life of a Jew, including the use of the Neviim and Ketuvim in public and private worship •The significance of the use in daily life of the Tenakh and the Talmud •Issues related to the law, including the different views held amongst religious Jews regarding the nature of the Torah and the Talmud • Common and divergent emphases placed on the Tenakh and Talmud by different Jewish groups •Different interpretations and emphases given to sources of wisdom and authority by different Jewish groups.
WJEC
2.1 Unit 1 PART A - Part A Judaism - Core beliefs, teachings and practices - Practices - Worship in the home and synagogue The importance of the synagogue: internal features- aron hakodesh (ark), ner tamid, bimah, Torah, Ten Commandments, seating Reading of the Torah during synagogue worship Diverse practices within Orthodox and Reform synagogues – worship and the role and gender of the Rabbi The importance of the home for worship in Judaism: challenges and benefits of observing Shabbat (Exodus 20:8-10) 2.2 Unit 2 PART A – Judaism - - Core beliefs, teachings and practices Beliefs - Sacred Texts Importance of The Tenakh (Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim) as revealed and/or inspired Word of God Importance of the Talmud
Eduqas
Component 3 (Route A) - Option 4: Judaism - Practices - The Synagogue ➢ Features of different synagogues in Britain: significance of bimah, aron hakodesh, Torah scrolls, ner tamid, seating, minyan; Exodus 20:4-5
Transcript
Holy Books: The Torah
Rabbi Benji Stanley Torah the word means teaching. The way teaching is often given in Judaism is through books.
Avielah Barclay The Torah has a lot of valuable lessons and a lot of interesting things to say, even to people who are not Jewish.
Mordechai Pinchas That's totally correct, because the reason that the Torah was given in the desert, for everyone to see, was that everybody has a piece of the Torah.
Rabbi Benji Stanley People sometimes call it the Five Books of Moses, because he's one of the main characters, and also he was involved in writing them down. So Torah can mean the five books, or it can mean all those books and conversations that have grown up around the five books, with people trying to figure out how to live responsibly and kindly.
Rabbi Benji Stanley We read the five books of Torah on a scroll written in Hebrew.
Mordechai Pinchas So the Torah is really five books in one.
Rabbi Benji Stanley Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers, and Deuteronomy. Or actually the Jewish terms for those books are Bereshit, Shemot, Vayikra, Ba Midbar and D'varim. So at the beginning of the Torah, we have the story of creation, the story of Adam and Eve, the story of Noah, and then we have the story of Abraham, who had a child, Isaac, and the first book of the Torah tells us about their travels and their missions.
Mordechai Pinchas Second book is called Shemot, Exodus, and that's about the Jews who were stuck in Egypt, and then they were freed from slavery, lots of miracles, and then moved off on to their journey to the Promised Land, which is Israel.
Rabbi Benji Stanley Moses leads the people to Mount Sinai, and Moses runs up the mountain, has some conversations with God, and then carries some of God's laws down the mountain on two tablets of stone.
Mordechai Pinchas The third book is kind of a bit of an interruption. It's called Vayikra, and it's about the priests and the offerings, and it's lots and lots of rules.
Rabbi Benji Stanley Nowadays in Judaism, we don't sacrifice animals, but we do give up our time, in order to think about how to behave well in the world.
Mordechai Pinchas And then the fourth book is Bamidbar. It's all about the wandering in the desert for 40 years, really, that's about them stopping being slaves and learning to actually be a people.
Rabbi Benji Stanley They tend to complain a lot. They argue with Moses, they argue with God, but eventually they're getting towards a new land, and that's what we have in the fifth book of the Torah.
Mordechai Pinchas Finally, the last book just before they go into Israel is Moses telling them all the rules, reminding them of everything that's been happening. That's called D'varim, Deuteronomy.
Rabbi Benji Stanley Moses dies just before the people enter the land of Israel. So in a way, the five books of Torah end with Moses being buried.
Rabbi Benji Stanley The Torah scroll is treated with great respect. So it has clothes like a queen or a king. It has wonderful silver crowns and it has this special robe. Now we undress it on Saturday morning during our service, and also some synagogues have services on Monday and Thursday morning as well, when you would also undress the scroll in order to read from it. Hagbah means lifting up, and it's a moment when someone lifts up the scroll so the whole community can see the section which is going to be read, and you would show all directions so that everyone can see it. (Reads passage from the Torah in Hebrew)
Avielah Barclay We read the Torah from right to left, and we read it using something called a yad, which means hand in Hebrew. And as you can see, there's a little hand carved at the end of this, and we use it to point at the letters as we read them.
Rabbi Benji Stanley We don't want to touch the parchment, the stuff that the scroll is written on directly with our fingers. And that's one of the reasons we also dress the scroll so that when we're not using it, it's well respected. It's in its special ark, which is where the scroll lives, where the scroll is kept.
Avielah Barclay The scrolls that we use today are essentially the same as the first ones written thousands of years ago, because we can only copy from one to another, and then it has to be checked three times, because one mistake can change the whole meaning of what it says. It's important for it to be written by hand. A computer can print out a book that you can read, and you can still learn it that way, but you can't use it in public ritual because it hasn't been imbued with the holiness that a person with a soul can give to it.
Mordechai Pinchas So originally all the Torahs were written with one of these. This is a reed quill. Nowadays most people use a feather. This is a swan's quill. But this quill is from a vulture. The bird we can't eat, so I can't use it to write. The parchment sheets, they're joined together with animal sinew and gold plated needle.
Rabbi Benji Stanley But the book is never finished. You can roll up the scroll, but really, the scroll continues. In all those conversations we have about what does this mean and how does it affect my life?
