Food is very important in their daily lives. Jews have all sorts of foods to celebrate different festivals and different times of the year. In addition, all food Jews eat has to be Kosher. This means that certain laws govern the buying, preparation and eating of food. They cannot eat milk and meat products together. Here are some examples of kosher laws:
- Animals must have cloven hooves and chew the cud.
- Poultry may be eaten but not birds of pray.
- Fish must have fins and scales and a backbone.
Shabbat is another important festival, involving food. They have special breads, meats and wines. A prayer has to be made before the lighting of the candles and the start of Shabbat. The woman of the house normally performs this. Shabbat is the time between Friday sunset and Saturday sunset. It’s a family day on the Sabbath. You cannot do any work when Shabbat starts of before it ends. It is supposed to a stress free day with your family.
Jews like to consider themselves a big family. They like to get together and have meals and it’s a big part of their faith. They claim that without their families, Judaism wouldn’t have survived. Through their children they pass on beliefs, knowledge and routine. Mothers teach about recipes and generally the children are brought up to be Jewish. To show that they are Jewish, they have a Bar Mitzvah when they become of proper age. A boy is considered as mature at 13 and a girl at 12. Therefore its when the ceremony is taken place. You can also recognize strict male Jews by their large sideburns and, all strict Jews, their black clothing. You can convert to be Jewish by spending time in a synagogue with a Rabbi, learning about the Jewish faith. Then you have to present yourself in front of a panel of Rabbis.
The influences of the holocaust, or ‘Shoah’, are still shown a great deal today, There are still some people in the world that believe what Hitler believed in and fort for was right. Some people in the Jewish community are still not very fond of making a huge deal about their religion as it may start up buried hates and start new feuds. As the world changes, it also changes into something much harsher for religious communities. As there are so many different beliefs and stories about God there are obvious opportunities for arguments to be made. The state of Israel is poor. The richer countries like the United Kingdom and America, have been trying to put right the fighting between the Palestinians and the Jews, which is mainly over religion and land. As Israel is considered the holy land, to me it seems its is ridiculous to fight in such a holy place.
I think it is quite hard for Jewish people to keep their covenant with God in the modern world because there are so many rules within their religion. There are many Jews now do not keep to all the rules around the Jewish faith and just do as much as they can in the modern world.
By Hannah Walker-Wood
10 KRW
