East Side group hears about Judaism

Emily Alter, education director of Ivriah, the combined Jewish religious school of Temple Beth El and Congregation Beth Israel in Flint, provided an introduction to Judaism, its beliefs, practices and history, at the East Side Business Association's meeting Dec. 14.

"Judaism is not a race or nationality," Alter explained. "There are American Jews, Asian and Hispanic Jews."

"In a narrow sense Judaism is a religion — an integrated belief system in a superhuman power called God, and a shared belief and value system," Alter continued. "It is also a way of life, a way of viewing the world, a culture and a nation. But the best description of Jewish people is that they are an extended family."

Alter said the history of the Jewish people began in Babylon, modern day Iraq, in about 1812 B.C. People worshiped many gods until a man named Abraham rejected polytheism. In the biblical account, God tells Abraham to leave his homeland, promising him and his descendants a new home in the land of Canaan. This land, now known as Israel, was named after Abraham's grandson whose descendants are the Jewish people.

The land is also often referred to as the Promised Land because of God's repeated promise recorded in the Bible to give the land to the descendants of Abraham.

According to Alter, Judaism was the first monotheist religion and was a huge departure from the common polytheist beliefs of that time.

"There are three main branches of Judaism today," Alter said. "There is Orthodox Judaism, which is the most conservative, Conservative Judaism, which holds a middle view while remaining traditional, and Reformed Judaism, the most liberal form of Judaism."

"Jews do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah," Alter continued. "We say he was a good teacher, but not the promised Messiah."

The Torah is part is the Jewish Bible. It refers to the five books of Moses — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Jewish Bible contains the Torah and the writings of the prophets and other writings, such as the Psalms and Song of Songs.

"Israel is a people and a land," Alter explained.

She described some common characteristics of Jewish people saying most are intense, taught to care deeply, have strong opinions, are argumentative and have survived tremendous adversity.

"There is an undeniable bond of instant kinship within the Jewish community," Alter said. "We consider each other family, and we share a 4,000-year-old belief system. Some have explained the connection to be like a chain where each link in the chain is of the highest importance."

Alter said Israel is also a land, a nation. God commanded his people to go into the land where Moses led them and to keep the laws God gave to Moses on the stone tablets. These laws, the Ten Commandments, have been the cornerstone of the Jewish religious law.

Alter described four values Jewish people hold dear.

The first is the family where Jewish values are learned. The second is education, both religious and secular. The third is the importance of the bond between all Jews — the concept of Jewish peoplehood. The fourth value is to love and repair the world, to fix what is broken.

"This is our blueprint for perfect living. To do what we can to fix the world," Alter said.

Asked what being kosher means, Alter said kosher describes food that is permissible to eat under Jewish dietary laws. For example, Jews don't mix dairy products with meat at the table. Certain rules about how animals are butchered are also part of what it means to be kosher.

Alter is in her 27th year as education director at Ivriah. Along with her administrative responsibilities she also teaches seventh grade Jewish studies and sixth and seventh grade bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah preparation classes.

She has a master's degree in elementary education and has previously taught in the Ann Arbor public schools.