REL 1510 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Sammy Davis Jr., Mordecai Kaplan, 613 Commandments
Document Summary
Elie wiesel, the twentieth-century jewish author and nobel peace prize winner, once said that you can be a jew with god, a jew against god, but not a jew without god. The implication of his statement is that jews can argue and question the divine and the intentions of the divine. But wiesel"s statement is clear that judaism is predicated on god and the relationship between god and god"s people you can"t be a jew without god. This relationship or covenant is the basis for the history of judaism. The sacred scriptures of judaism are called the hebrew bible, or tanakh. But what is crucial is the idea of god making covenants with god"s people. God pledges to noah not to destroy the world with water again. God pledges to abraham that he will be a father of a great people. God pledges to moses that the law will guide the people.
