Judaism: More Free(er) and Strict(er)

Hi guys,
We're moving out of Asia now, and are headed on over to the Mediterranean!
I thought the introduction by Bulliet was a little slow, but once we got into the heart of Judaism and it's fundamentals, I thought it became a really cool contrast and comparison to other religions and philosophies we've learned.
For example, WOMEN! Women have so much more freedom then they might have in a lot of the other religions we've discussed. In fact, most of the ones we have discussed have been pretty vague in terms of women rights, what a women's role was, and how that differed from the male's role (which leads me to believe that women probably did not have that much power because nobody was talking about it). But similarly to ancient Egypt, women practicing Judaism, could, in fact, gain an important role in society. (i.e. Deborah the Judge). Further, many of the women could entertain in a job, common were: cooks, wet nurses, etc. With the beginnings of Judaism, we are seeing women taking on roles other then just bearing and rearing children, (in peasant families they were even expected to help with the manual labor of farming).
So if women refer to my "free(er)" part to my Title, What do I mean when I say "and Strict(er)"?
Since women had more rights then what we have learned about in regards to other societies, they were therefore free(er). In contrast, the rules of Judaism we're both strict, and specific. Reminding me a lot of legalism, Jews were/are expected to follow a strict set of rules referring to their faith: monotheism, ritual baths for spiritual purity, limits to eating certain foods, honoring the Sabbath, and more.
So, while Judaism was becoming free(er) then other religions and societies we have learned thus far, it is also just as strict as the most harsh philosophy we have learned about thus far, too. That being: legalism.

Judaism

I have not gone to temple or church in five years, so I was a tad impressed with myself by how much I remembered. However, there were a few sections in the reading that I was surprised by. First off I did not know that the Jewish faith evolved from a polytheistic faith to a monotheistic faith. I always just assumed that one day Abraham claimed Yahweh was the one and only god and everyone just accepted that as fact. Never realized that Israelites were divided between other gods such as Ball the storm god and Ashram the fertility god. I also never really thought about the transition from tribal groups to a single monarchy. I knew there were Jewish tribes and I have heard Jewish kings, but I never really put two and two together to come to the conclusion there was a transition. From personal experience I understand that Israelites have a large emphasis on rules. My fathers side of the family strongly dislikes my mother because she turned off a stove on the Sabbath. We came over for a party and my aunt left the stove on the night before because she would not be allowed to turn it off the following day. My mother saw the stove was on and turned it off. She has gotten the cold shoulder from my cousins since.

the evolution of Judaism

Judaism changed significantly overtime. It began with Abraham and his descendants who migrated to the Syrian deserts to a land promised to him by Yaweh. Hebrew traditions were passed on orally. The spoken Hebrew language of the Bible changed into Aramaic. Once Solomon died, Israelites became monotheistic and believed in Yaweh exclusively. They also went from being a tribal confederacy to a unified monarchy. Israelites put a great emphasis on family, and lived with their extended family. The oldest male was dominant, but women were given respect as well. Jews lived by strict rules pertaining to food and rituals. Dispite evolution, the Jewish community has always been close and strong.

Judaism

This being the first monotheistic faith covered so far it has an interesting uniqueness in the way the god interacted with the follower. In the jewish faith they keep God's laws and seek to bring holiness into every aspect of their lives. This is means that religion is always present in jewish day to day activities and can be seen in the omnipotence of God. In judaism one live to worship God by living out their lives according to the Torah and the 10 commandments. This reflects the political traditions of Mesopotamia. Especially in the example of one of the books found in the Torah, Leviticus. Their are many laws and regulations stated in the book that concern what is right and wrong in everyday life. It gives an outline of how to live a holy life.

Judaism and Greco-Roman Philosophy

Judaism:

In 721 BCE when Assyrians began displacing large populations of Israelites it actually created a stronger sense of identity among those who were affected. The Jewish community's set of rules they live by- such as dietary restrictions, ritual baths, Sabbath, Monotheism, and ban on marrying non-jews- isolated them from other parts of society. However, this in turn created a tighter community and sense of identity because it allowed members of the Jewish community to band together and support each other. This can be seen in the creation of the synagogue which functioned as a religious, educational, and social meeting place. The synagogue allowed communities to maintain their religious and cultural beliefs in their new homelands.

Greco-Roman Philosophy:

I thought it was interesting how the reading brought up a correlation between "thinkers" and their interactions with people. For instance Bulliet wrote how many empirical thinkers came from Ionia and southern Italy because those were two areas with high contact with non Greek people. This makes sense to me because being introduced to a variety of people and their cultures exposes the Greeks to different ways of perceiving the world and their understand of it. Therefore, in addition to shifting from religious conceptions of the world to rational understanding, the interactions between cultures catalyzed the Greeks progressive scientific, philosophical, and political innovations.

Although I did not fully understand these primary sources and I am still a little confused, after reading them over multiply times I think I have a little bit of an understanding. Confucianism is much like Buddhism and Hinduism, being a healthy cross between both religions. While Hinduism puts a large emphasis on the community aspect of life so does Daoism but at the same time Confucianism also expects a lot of the individual along the lines of Buddhism.  One of the major differences is that Confucianism does not really stress any idea of reincarnation unlike Buddhism and Hinduism.  

Confucianism is also similar to Taoism in some ways, sharing some of the same beliefs. Taoism focuses on the idea of nature being a key role in everyone’s life, Confucianism takes more of an opposite approach and focuses on the political and social side of life.  All four religions or beliefs systems really overlap each other in many ways while at the same time are able to have different beliefs as well; giving people a mixture of everything one could want.

Complexity and Religions

Respond to the complexity with these faiths (Confucianism) and their complex interaction in China.



      Daoism was a more natural approach to Confucianism in its most simplest form. Instead of the heavy focus on Humans and Ethics that Confucianism drove towards (Five basic virtues) Daoism instead was more sensitive towards the flow of nature. For example, violence was considered the ultimate ignorance of nature. The Daoists also disagreed with the Confucian ritual. They found the ritual to be arrogant and unnatural. Daoists also mistrusted language. They believed that quiet was the key to discovery instead of the disturbance of noise.

      Legalism was heavily focused on laws and punishments. They had a very hard-work with discipline style of thinking that would follow them to the fields of work and on the battlefields. Some of the laws they followed were extremely harsh. The Qin dynasty was heavily Legalist focused and it can be seen as the Qin dynasty was one of the most brutal rules in all of history. People came to the conclusion that it was about creating laws to force people to focus and think instead of allowing them to discover it morally.