4. The main Jewish rites and practices

Introduction

From the first verses of the Bible relating the Creation of the World, we have an organisation of time - six days of work and one day of rest – and the basis of Jewish rituals and practices. The rabbi and theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel (Warsaw 1907 - New York 1972) designated the Jews as the "builders of time".


Source 1

A Jew blowing the shofar

The shofar is made from the horn of a ram, and blown during some Jewish festivals.

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Image under the URL:
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(Retrieved 27 February 2015)

Source 2

Bernard Picart, Sephardic Jews celebrating Sukkot (1728)

Sukkot (festival of tabernacles) is a festival five days after Yom Kippur to remind Jewish people about the Exodus and celebrate the harvest.

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In the public domain
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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Picart_sukka.jpg
(Retrieved 27 February 2015)

Source 3

A Ketubah dated 5671 (1911)

The Ketubah is a legal document that guarantees the wife’s rights. It is handed to her on her wedding day. At the time of the Second Temple, the Ketubah replaced the mohar (dowry) that was paid by the groom’s father to the bride’s father. The text of the Ketubah was established by the Talmud to “make it difficult for the husband to divorce his wife” (Mishna Yevamot 89a). As repudiation no longer exists in Judaism, liberal communities have changed the text of the Ketubah for it to be more egalitarian. The Ketubah is important these days to certify the validity of the parents’ religious marriage and the children’s Jewishness. It is often richly decorated and illuminated.

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GNU Free Documentation License
In the public domain
Image under the URL:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ketubah_%284%29.jpg
(Retrieved 27 February 2015)

Source 4

Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, The Marriage

This painting depicts a Jewish wedding in Germany in the nineteenth century.

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GNU Free Documentation License
In the public domain
Image under the URL:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/...Trauung%29_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
(Retrieved 27 February 2015)