Covenant and mitzvot

• Covenant


  An agreement or promise
• Abraham


  Widely regarded as the father of Christians, Jews and Muslims. He was the first person to teach that there is only one God.
• Patriarch


  The male head of a family or group
• Mitzvot


  God's laws in the Torah that Jewish people believe they have a special responsibility to follow
• Prophet


  Someone believed to give messages from God
• Jewish people believe they have a special responsibility to follow the mitzvot because of the covenants they have made with God
• Promised Land


  The land promised by God to Abraham (Genesis 15:18), Moses, and the Israelites. Also known as the Land of Israel.
• The Promised Land


  • The land promised by God to Abraham, Moses, and the Israelites
  • Many Jews believe the land now known as Israel belongs to Jews in fulfilment of God's covenant with Abraham
• Idolatry


  The worship of an idol, object or person instead of God
• In 1948, in the face of opposition from Arab countries in the Middle East, the State of Israel was created
• Genesis


  The first book of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) describing the origins of humanity and humans' relationship with God
• Since 1948, there have been many disputes, and even wars, over the land of Israel
• Covenant between God and Abraham

  • God instructed Abraham to leave his home and travel to Canaan, the Promised Land
  • God promised to give Abraham and his wife Sarah a child and to name their descendants as his chosen people
  • Abraham agreed that he and his descendants would obey and worship God and lead by example
• Circumcision


  (Judaism) The removal of the foreskin from the penis performed by a qualified mohel on all Jewish boys, usually on the eighth day after birth. Also known as Brit Milah.
• Brit Milah


  Jewish ceremony of circumcision of an infant boy
• Mitzvot are commandments given to Jews by God through the Torah
• Jews believe that God and Abraham entered into a covenant in which God promised many descendants, a blessed nation and a Promised Land
• The Torah is the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses.
• Covenant


  An agreement or promise
• Jewish people believe they have a special responsibility to follow the mitzvot, which are God's laws in the Torah, because of the covenants they have made with him
• Mitzvot


  God's laws in the Torah
• Moses


  The man chosen by God to save the Jews from slavery and take them to the promised land
• Over a thousand years after Abraham's death, the Jews were enslaved in Egypt
• Moses leads the enslaved Hebrews to freedom


  1. Moses was born to an enslaved Hebrew mother in Egypt but was brought up in the Pharaoh's household

  2. He was expelled from Egypt after murdering an Egyptian who was being cruel to an enslaved Hebrew, but returned when commanded by God to lead the enslaved Hebrew people to freedom in the Promised Land

  3. God sent Moses to try to convince the Pharaoh to let the enslaved Jewish people go

  4. After the loss of his first-born son, the Pharaoh finally agreed to let the Jewish people go

  5. But he soon changed his mind, sending his army after the fleeing Jews

  6. God parted the Red Sea allowing the Jews to pass before bringing the water back down onto the Pharaoh's men
• God, who had promised Abraham that he would look after the Jewish people, is believed to have fulfilled his covenant by helping the Jews to escape from slavery in Egypt
• Ten Commandments


  A set of rules by which the Jewish people should live, revealed by God to Moses
• When Moses and his people reached Mount Sinai on the way to the Promised Land, God spoke to Moses and made a covenant with Moses and the Jewish people that renewed the one he had made with Abraham
• The Jewish festival of Passover remembers the escape of the enslaved Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt
• Shabbat is the sabbath or seventh day of rest
• Covenant


  An agreement
• Mitzvot


  God's laws in the Torah that Jewish people believe they have a special responsibility to follow
• Jewish people believe they have a special responsibility to follow the mitzvot because of the covenants they have made with God
• Pikuach nefesh


  • The saving of a life, which overrides almost any other religious consideration
  • The concept that saving a human life is more important than any mitzvot
• Sanctity of life


  The concept that life is sacred and therefore is to be respected and protected
• Jews believe that human life is holy and belongs to God
• According to Jewish teaching, human beings are the highpoint of God's creation
• The Book of Genesis says that God did not simply will humans into being, but that he made them himself, breathed life into them and created them in his own image and likeness
• There are many passages in the Tanakh which suggest that God knows each person and had made a plan for them before they were even born
• Jews see human life as having a special, holy status, meaning that only God can give life and only he can take it
• Duty for all Jews

  Every Jewish person has a duty to save a person's life if they can, even if doing so means that another mitzvah will be broken