JC Jewish Studies cheat sheet

Tanakh = Torah (Pentateuch), Nevi'im (Prophets), Ketuvim (Writings); the acronym Tanakh derives from these three divisions.

Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Nevi'im split into Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings) and Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Twelve).

Ketuvim includes Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Five Megillot (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther), Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles.

Masoretic Text (MT) is the authoritative Hebrew consonantal text vocalized by the Masoretes; the Aleppo Codex and Leningrad Codex are key witnesses.

Peshat = plain contextual sense; derash = homiletical/interpretive; remez = allegorical; sod = mystical. These four are the PaRDeS levels.

Rashi (R. Shlomo Yitzhaki, 1040-1105) is the foundational Torah and Talmud commentator; his commentary blends peshat with midrashic selections.

Ibn Ezra (Abraham ibn Ezra, 1089-1167) emphasizes grammatical-philological peshat; Ramban (Nachmanides, 1194-1270) reads peshat with kabbalistic and theological depth.

Documentary Hypothesis (Wellhausen) posits J, E, D, P sources; it is a critical-scholarship model, distinct from traditional attribution of the Torah to Moses.

Second Temple rebuilt c. 516 BCE after the Babylonian exile; destroyed by Rome in 70 CE under Titus, ending the Temple-centered cult.

Hasmonean (Maccabean) revolt 167-164 BCE against Seleucid Antiochus IV; Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple.

Rabbinic Judaism emerges after 70 CE at Yavneh; the Mishnah is compiled c. 200 CE by R. Yehudah HaNasi; the Talmud (Babylonian, c. 500 CE; Jerusalem, c. 400 CE) follows.

Medieval period: Geonim in Babylonia, then Rishonim (e.g., Rashi, Rambam, Ramban); the Cairo Genizah preserves medieval documents.

Expulsions and migrations shape diaspora geography: 1492 Spanish Expulsion, Polish-Lithuanian centers, Ottoman Sephardic settlement.

Modernity: Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment, late 18th c., Moses Mendelssohn), emancipation in Western Europe, and the rise of denominational movements in the 19th century.

Zionism: Theodor Herzl's 1897 First Zionist Congress in Basel; the State of Israel declared independence 14 May 1948.

The Holocaust (Shoah, 1933-1945) killed approximately six million Jews; post-war centers shift to Israel and North America.

Halakhah derives from Torah law plus rabbinic interpretation; codes include Mishneh Torah (Rambam), Arba'ah Turim (Jacob ben Asher), and Shulchan Arukh (Yosef Karo, 1563).

Mitzvot divide into positive (aseh) and negative (lo ta'aseh); categories include bein adam la-Makom (God-directed) and bein adam le-chavero (interpersonal).

Kashrut: forbidden animals lack split hooves and cud-chewing; no mixing meat and milk; shechitah (ritual slaughter) and bedikat/bitul rules apply.

Shabbat: 39 melakhot (categories of prohibited work) from Mishnah Shabbat 7:2; havdalah separates Shabbat from the weekday.

Life cycle: brit milah (8th day for boys), pidyon ha-ben, bar/bat mitzvah, kiddushin (marriage), get (divorce), and burial with taharah and shivah mourning.

Tefillah: Shacharit, Minchah, Ma'ariv; the Amidah is the central standing prayer; Shema recited morning and evening; Kaddish requires a minyan of ten.

Berakhot (blessings) precede enjoyment (e.g., hamotzi for bread, shehakol for water); birkat ha-mazon is grace after meals.

Pikuach nefesh overrides nearly all mitzvot: saving a life supersedes Shabbat and kashrut restrictions.

Monotheism: Shema Yisrael (Deut. 6:4) declares God's unity; no corporeality in normative theology (Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith).

Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed reconciles Aristotelian philosophy with Torah; his 13 Principles include belief in God's unity, prophecy, and resurrection.

Kabbalah: Ein Sof (the infinite), ten sefirot, and the Zohar (attributed to R. Shimon bar Yochai) as its central text; tzimtzum in Lurianic thought.

Mussar movement (R. Yisrael Salanter, 19th c.) emphasizes character refinement; Chasidut (Baal Shem Tov, 18th c.) emphasizes devekut (cleaving to God).

Ethics: derekh eretz (proper conduct), tikkun olam (repairing the world), and the golden rule attributed to Hillel ('What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor').

Theodicy: the Book of Job addresses undeserved suffering; the Akedah (binding of Isaac, Gen. 22) is a key test-of-faith narrative.

Teshuvah (repentance) comprises regret, confession (vidui), and resolve; Yom Kippur is its liturgical apex.

Free will and divine providence are debated; the Talmudic principle 'everything is in the hands of Heaven except fear of Heaven' (Berakhot 33b) frames the tension.

Hebrew calendar is lunisolar; months begin with Rosh Chodesh; leap month Adar II added seven times in a 19-year cycle.

Pilgrim festivals (shalosh regalim): Pesach (Nisan 15), Shavuot (Sivan 6), Sukkot (Tishrei 15).

High Holy Days: Rosh Hashanah (Tishrei 1-2, shofar) and Yom Kippur (Tishrei 10, fast, Kol Nidre, Neilah).

Pesach: seder, matzah, four cups, Haggadah; chametz is removed; counting of the Omer begins the second night.

Sukkot: booths (sukkah), four species (etrog, lulav, hadas, aravah); Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah conclude the season.

Minor holidays: Hanukkah (eight days, candles, Kislev 25), Purim (Adar 14, Megillah, mishloach manot), Tu BiShvat, Lag BaOmer, Tisha B'Av (fast mourning the Temples).

Shabbat is weekly, Friday sunset to Saturday nightfall; Yom Tov follows similar rest rules with cooking permitted on festivals.

Counting of the Omer: 49 days from Pesach to Shavuot; mourning customs apply in part of that period.

Orthodox Judaism maintains binding halakhah; subdivisions include Modern Orthodox, Haredi, and Chasidic communities.

Conservative Judaism (developed in the 19th-20th c., Solomon Schechter) affirms halakhah with historical development; Conservative and Masorti synagogues worldwide.

Reform Judaism (Abraham Geiger, 19th c.) emphasizes ethical monotheism and autonomy; Pittsburgh Platform 1885 and later revisions mark its evolution.

Reconstructionist Judaism (Mordecai Kaplan) treats Judaism as an evolving civilization; the synagogue center and community are central.

Israel: Knesset is the legislature; the Law of Return (1950) grants Jews immigration rights; Chief Rabbinate oversees personal-status matters.

Israel's population is majority Jewish with a substantial Arab minority; religious-secular tensions include conversion, Shabbat commerce, and the Western Wall.

Diaspora institutions: Jewish Federations, JCCs, and organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League address communal and civil-rights concerns.

Contemporary issues: intermarriage, assimilation, Holocaust memory and education, and antisemitism monitoring.

Identify a source by genre: biblical verse, Mishnah, Talmud (Gemara), midrash, codes, responsa, or modern scholarship; each has distinct conventions.

Talmud page structure: Mishnah and Gemara in the center, Rashi on the inner margin, Tosafot on the outer margin, with cross-references.

Key terms: 'tanu rabbanan' introduces a baraita; 'mai ta'ama' asks the reason; 'kashya' marks a difficulty; 'teretz' gives a resolution.

Distinguish peshat from derash when interpreting; note whether a commentator cites a verse as prooftext (asmakhta) or as a legal source.

Hebrew roots: sh-r-sh (root), p-s-q (decide), d-r-sh (expound), k-t-v (write); recognizing roots aids translation of unfamiliar forms.

Common abbreviations: z"l (zikhrono livrakha, of blessed memory), ztz"l (zecher tzaddik livrakha), n"y (nishmato eden).

When analyzing a dispute, identify each position, its prooftext, and the underlying principle; then state what would resolve the disagreement.

Quote precisely and cite chapter/verse or tractate/page; paraphrase only after establishing the literal sense.