community of Jews and a person’s immediate family. One of the ways Jews have dealt
with centuries of hardship was to turn to both of these families for strength and cour-
age. Most Jews have always felt a sense of connectedness with other Jews regardless of
where they lived. Being referred to as the“Children of Israel”speaks to the fact that,
as Jews, they believe“they are all the physical or spiritual descendants of the same
family.”^115 In this they share a bond with the entire Jewish community.
Each Jewish family, in addition to the larger Jewish community, plays a key role in
the life of all Jews. A famous rabbi once said,“To educate the child without including
the entire family is like attempting to heat a home with all the windows open.”There
is a strong belief among Jews that family is the carrier of religion and culture. On
nearly every occasion, be it in the home or the synagogue, the family is an active
participant in Jewish life. That life is linked to the larger community by a host of reli-
gious traditions and rituals. From circumcisions to Passover seders (ceremonial din-
ners) to bar or bat mitzvahs to marriage and death to the treatment of the elderly,
the family and religion are strongly bound. Rosten summarizes this link:“For 4,000
years, the Jewish family has been the very core, mortar, and citadel of Judaism’s faith
and the central reason for the survival of the Jews as a distinct ethnic group. The
Jewish home is a temple, according to Judaic law, custom, and tradition.”^116Judaism and Ethics
Although we have already alluded to the history and importance of ethics to Jewish life
when we looked at the topics of the Ten Commandments and social justice, the signif-
icance of the subject matter warrants further examination. Part of our justification can
be found in the works of Markham and Lohr when they write,“There is a sense in
which everything in Judaism is ethical. Ethics has to do with behavior, and the entire
Torah is preoccupied with behavior.”^117 The significance of this all-encompassing view
of Jewish ethical behavior is that it applies to everyone. Matthews explains this deep-
seated and universal concern regarding ethical behavior in the following:
Judaism thinks in terms of a community chosen to be responsible to God. Membership in a com-
munity of chosen people, however, requires commitment to universal values. Judaism promotes
care of humans, animals, and the environment among all people. Ethical behavior is directed not
only to Jews but to all peoples. It attends to both its particular origin and its universal vision.^118
This universal approach to ethics stems from the fact that at the heart of Jewish
philosophy is that human beings are created in the image of God. This essential belief
in the treatment of others is reinforced by biblical wisdom such as that contained in
Exodus 23:9:“You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feeling of the
stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.”Jewish Notions About Death
One of the unique aspects of Judaism, at least as perceived by non-Jews, is that there
are very few references to death or an afterlife in traditional Jewish writings. As Matthews
points out,“Judaism has emphasized a good life on earth more than the joys of heaven.”^119
Rabbi Jacobs writes,“The Jewish religion encourages neither a morbid preoccupation
with death nor any refusal to acknowledge the fact of human mortality. Judaism teaches
that life on earth is a divine gift to be cherished in itself.”^120 This attitude is seen in the
fact that“TheTorah,the most important Jewish text, has no clear reference to afterlife at
all.”^121 Because of this lack of specific material in religious literature, Jews view death as a128 CHAPTER 4•Worldview: Cultural Explanations of Life and Death
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