The Questions Everyone's Afraid to Ask About Jews
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The Jewish People live, pray, and study together.
According to the Talmud,1 every Jew is considered a guarantor for every other Jew. That idea implies a complex, elaborate, spiritual matrix that connects every Jewish person to every other Jewish person at the deepest levels of the soul, and it permeates nearly every aspect of Jewish life.
It’s the reason Jewish prayers are written in the plural, and why Jewish worship requires a quorum of at least 10 to get started. The specifics of many Jewish laws—impacting things like Sabbath and holiday observance, access to kosher food, and observing the laws of family purity—require living amongst, or at least near, other Jews. It’s why the Torah mandates taking action when the well-being, safety, health, and finances of another Jew are at risk, and to offer rebuke—gently, with love—when you see that another Jew going astray.
The Torah calls the Jewish people the children of Israel. It refers to them as a nation, a family—and even God’s children—and implores them to relate to each other as brothers. Along those same lines, the Talmud, even when discussing difficult, contentious legal scenarios, refers to each party as “friends.”
Jews study together—often in pairs and small groups—share in each other’s burdens, sit with each other in mourning, and celebrate the good times together as well. On a mystical level, every Jewish soul is considered to share a common root; and ultimately, the Jewish people are supposed to live together as one nation in the land of Israel.
In other words, the idea of community—called kehilla (קהילה) in Hebrew—is woven into the fabric of Jewish life. It’s inescapable. And it’s impossible to live a full Jewish life without living with—or at least considering the welfare of—the extended family of Jews.0
Prayer is an opportunity to have an intense, personal, focused conversation with God. Yet, despite that, Jewish prayer is a communal experience, and, in general, requires a minyan, or quorum, of at least 10 adult men.
The idea of a minyan is derived from the book of Numbers, where a group of 10 men triggered mass hysteria with a false report about the types of people then living in Israel. In response, God asked Moses (Numbers 14:27), “How long shall this evil group exist, complaining against me?” That group, called an aidah (עדה), was 10 men, which, according to the Talmud,2 teaches that every group (also translated as assembly, or congregation), should be comprised of at least 10 men.
A minyan is not just required for prayer, but is also required to recite the seven blessings at a wedding, to say Kaddish at a funeral, to read from the Torah in public, and many other situations.
Prayer isn’t just said as part of a community, it’s also composed in the plural. For example, God is called Our Father, Our King (not my father, my king); He’s asked to answer our prayers in the Amidah, which is the centerpiece of the standardized formal prayer service; you ask Him to forgive our transgressions on Yom Kippur; and the standard formula for supplications and blessings includes the phrase, “who commanded us with His commandments…” (and not, who commanded me with His commandments). That’s because you’re a member of a community, and when you pray, you should associate yourself with the community and pray for more than just your needs alone.3
Jewish law compels Jews to live together. In order to observe the Jewish Sabbath—which, among other things, is a day when driving a car is prohibited—but to still perform obligations like praying with a minyan, or following the laws of family purity, you need to live within a Jewish community, or at least walking distance from Jewish communal buildings.
Living within a Jewish community also makes it easier to obtain kosher food—especially fresh meat and baked goods—not to mention access to kosher restaurants, grocery stores, specialty shops, and other similar establishments; particularly in the years before refrigeration and international shipping.
Jewish community also requires communal buildings like a mikveh, synagogue, schools, and other institutions. Spaces are also needed to do things like care for the dead; provide a space for a Jewish court to preside over conversions, divorces, and other cases; allow for community meetings and gatherings; and more.
Jewish study, whether it’s in a school, yeshiva (a Jewish house of study), synagogue, or some other setting, is often done in pairs—each pair is called a chavrusa (חברותא)—which translates as a companion or friend, and has come, colloquially, to mean “study partner.”
The point of studying with a partner is to raise issues, ask questions, pose challenges, hear a different perspective, and, ultimately, to arrive at the best, most complete understanding of a concept or idea. It also means that Jews do a lot of arguing, which, according to the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, is a good thing:
“Judaism has sometimes been called a ‘culture of argument.’ It is the only religious literature known to me whose key texts—the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, Mishnah, Talmud, the codes of Jewish law, and the compendia of biblical interpretation—are anthologies of arguments. That is the glory of Judaism. The Divine Presence is to be found not in this voice as against that, but in the totality of the conversation.”
Jewish communal life means more than just living together with other Jews, it also means taking responsibility to help people in need. According to Jewish law, you’re supposed to set aside a tenth of your income to give to the poor and other worthwhile causes. In addition to money, tzedakah (usually translated as “justice” or “righteousness,” but generally used to mean “charity”), also includes giving interest-free loans, showing hospitality to guests, visiting the sick, burying the dead, helping a couple get married, and many other things that support the less fortunate members of your community.
A Jewish community is expected to be growth-oriented, and eager to learn from their mistakes. One of the many roles of a community leader—in addition to offering advice, officiating at weddings and funerals, answering difficult questions in Jewish law, and encouraging compromise between feuding parties—is to be in tune with his community’s weaknesses and strengths, and, when appropriate, to point out their shortcomings, and to encourage them to return to the straight and proper path.
On a mystical level, the Jewish people are said to be connected as well.4 In Deuteronomy, 29:14, the covenant God makes with the Jewish people is “with those who are standing here with us today … and with those who are not [yet] here with us today,” which, according to the great medieval scholar, Rashi (1040-1105), refers to future generations. Every Jew is considered an essential part of the Jewish people, with roots that date back to the birth of the nation, and a soul that’s hewn to the nation’s destiny and mission.
That connection is central to Jewish identity and observance, to the extent that another great medieval scholar, Maimonides (1135-1204), considers the person who purposefully separates himself from the Jewish people as having done irreparable spiritual damage.
“A person who separates himself from the congregation of Israel and does not fulfill commandments together with them, does not take part in their hardships, or join in their [communal] fasts, but rather goes on his own individual path as if he is from another nation and not [the Jewish people], does not have a portion in the world to come.”5
The Jewish people have an important job to do in the world, and every member—throughout history, including you—is an essential part of the story.
Oi, deve ser por este motivo que as vezes tenho a impressão de que todos os judeus que acompanho sabem de alguma forma o que está se passando na minha vida e todos estão querendo me passar uma mensagem...obs: não sou judia