Jewish Traditions Chapter 4 4th Edition Test Bank Docx

Chapter 4

Jewish Traditions

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the approximate worldwide Jewish population today?
   1. 100,000
   2. 100 million
   3. 5 million
   4. 1.7 million
   5. 14 million
2. What does the word “rabbi” mean in Judaism?
   1. “God”
   2. “Master”
   3. “Teacher”
   4. “Learner”
   5. “Priest”
3. What are the three sections of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)?
   1. The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings
   2. The Historical Books, the Prophets, and the Wisdom Books
   3. Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus
   4. The Torah, the Pentateuch, and the Prophets
   5. The Septuagint, the Prophets, and the Psalms
4. What is the Pentateuch?
   1. The Tent of Covenant
   2. The Five Books of Moses
   3. A king of the Southern Kingdom (Judea)
   4. A king of the Northern Kingdom (Israel)
   5. The oral law passed down since the time of Moses
5. What is the acronym for the Hebrew Bible based on the first Hebrew letters of the three main sections?
   1. MisNaH
   2. GeMaRah
   3. ZoPhaR
   4. TaNaKh
   5. MoSeS
6. One of the meanings for the Hebrew term Torah is which of the following?
   1. Law
   2. Rules
   3. Ethics
   4. Prophets
   5. Writings
7. The meaning of the Hebrew term Nevi’im is which of the following?
   1. Poets
   2. Teachers
   3. Writers
   4. Lawgivers
   5. Prophets
8. The meaning of the Hebrew term Ketuvim is which of the following?
   1. Wisdom
   2. Poetry
   3. Songs
   4. Literature
   5. Writings
9. The biblical narrative is more properly understood as what type of history?
   1. political
   2. mythological
   3. legendary
   4. cultural
   5. sacred
10. Where can we find the earliest reference to the people of Israel outside the Bible?
    1. Carved on the tablets from the ancient city at Ebla
    2. Inscriptions on clay pots from China
    3. In the archaeological remains of Jericho
    4. On the victory stela of an Egyptian pharaoh
    5. Carved on ancient Mesopotamian legal texts
11. The word “Jew” originally referred to those belonging to what?
    1. A particular ethnicity
    2. A particular religion
    3. A particular gender
    4. A particular territory
    5. A particular clan
12. What do traditional Jews believe about the origins of the Torah?
    1. It was divinely revealed to Adam.
    2. It was written by God and then given to Moses.
    3. It was divinely revealed to Moses.
    4. It was composed over many centuries by different authors.
    5. It was composed by David.
13. Most contemporary scholars conclude what with regards to the composition of the Torah?
    1. Composite text written by several authors and edited by Moses
    2. Unified text written and edited by Moses
    3. Composite texts composed at different times by different authors
    4. Unified texts written by Moses and edited by the court of King David
    5. Composite texts written by Moses and Joshua then edited by the Levites
14. What was the earliest Jewish material to have been written down?
    1. The Mishnah
    2. The Ketuvim
    3. The Nevi’im
    4. The Talmud
    5. The Torah
15. What does the Jewish festival of Passover commemorate?
    1. The six days of creation
    2. The liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt
    3. The passage of a boy into adulthood
    4. The first Torah translation
    5. The victory of the Maccabees
16. What specific term describes the relationship between the Israelites and their God?
    1. Wisdom
    2. Love
    3. Covenant
    4. Submission
    5. Witness
17. The book of Genesis traces Israelite ancestry to which of the following patriarchs?
    1. Joseph
    2. Isaac
    3. Abraham
    4. Moses
    5. Noah
18. Who is the earliest biblical figure from whom we have archeological evidence?
    1. Moses
    2. Noah
    3. Abraham
    4. David
    5. Joshua
19. How many days after birth is circumcision usually performed on the Jewish male?
    1. 7
    2. 3
    3. 8
    4. 12
    5. 6
20. What title is assigned to the ritual circumciser in the Jewish tradition?
    1. Mohel
    2. Rabbi
    3. Levite
    4. Eunuch
    5. Judge
21. To commemorate the birth of females, liberal branches hold what type of ceremony?
    1. Praying
    2. Reciting of the Torah
    3. Naming
    4. Fasting
    5. Baby Shower
22. What is celebrated on the day of Shavuot in the Jewish tradition?
    1. Construction of Noah’s Ark
    2. End of 40 days in the wilderness
    3. The birth of Isaac
    4. God’s revelation of the Torah to Moses
    5. Construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem
23. Most scholars understand the Israelite acquisition of Canaan, as described in Joshua, to have been accomplished through which of the following?
    1. Military conquest rather than settlement
    2. Agrarian land reform and redistribution
    3. A combination of both military conquest and settlement
    4. Settlement rather than military conquest
    5. Exchange of slaves with the locals
24. After the death of King Solomon, when Israel split in two, what name did the southern kingdom use?
    1. Judah
    2. Samaria
    3. Israel
    4. Ephraim
    5. Palestine
25. The Babylonian Exile marks the beginning of which of the following?
    1. Reciting of Psalms of lament
    2. Jewish Diaspora
    3. Israelite self-rule
    4. The Hellenization of Judaism
    5. Syncretism between Babylonian and Israelite religions
26. What term refers to the period of Jewish history that followed the Babylonian Exile?
    1. Second Temple period
    2. Modern period
    3. Roman period
    4. Classical period
    5. Rabbinic period
27. Who liberated the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity in 539 BCE?
    1. Cyrus of Persia
    2. Moses
    3. King David
    4. King Solomon
    5. Alexander the Great
28. What does the word “Sabbath” mean in Judaism?
    1. “Holy day”
    2. “Council”
    3. “Seventh day”
    4. “Prayer”
    5. “Rest”
29. The kings of the Hasmonean dynasty in ancient Israel were the descendants of whom?
    1. Moses
    2. Antiochus
    3. King David
    4. The Conversos
    5. The Maccabees
30. What does the Jewish festival of Hanukkah commemorate?
    1. The New Year
    2. Christmas
    3. The covenant between God and Abraham
    4. The rededication of the temple by the Maccabeans
    5. The destruction of the temple by the Romans
31. Who were the two major first-century Jewish groups?
    1. The Gnostics and Manichaeans
    2. The Judeans and Israelites
    3. The Sadducees and Pharisees
    4. The Orthodox and Reform
    5. The Sephardim and Ashkenazim
32. When did the Romans destroy the Second Temple?
    1. 220 CE
    2. 722 BCE
    3. 70 CE
    4. 1492 CE
    5. 586 BCE
33. According to rabbinic tradition, the Oral Torah originated with whom?
    1. The Pharisees
    2. Abraham
    3. Early Christians
    4. King Solomon
    5. Moses
34. What is the Hebrew word for “commandment”?
    1. Halakhah
    2. Aggadah
    3. Mitzvah
    4. Sephirah
    5. Torah
35. What was the result of the Bar Kochba revolt in 132–135 CE?
    1. It temporarily restored the kingdom of Judah.
    2. It failed miserably.
    3. It led to Jews’ civil rights in Judea.
    4. It led to the creation of the state of Israel.
    5. It allowed Jews to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
36. How did rabbinic Halakhah treat the status of women?
    1. As having an equal but different role than men
    2. As having an equal role to men in the areas of judicial, religious, sexual, and economic matters
    3. As capable of holding office only in religious and judicial spheres
    4. As subordinate to men
    5. As wiser than men in spiritual matters
37. The Jewish Talmud is composed primarily of what?
    1. Midrash and Gemarah
    2. Nevi’im and Ketuvim
    3. Mishnah and Gemarah
    4. Torah and Midrash
    5. Torah and Mishnah
38. In rabbinic literature, what is Aggadah?
    1. Holy things
    2. Legal material
    3. Procedures
    4. Oral Torah
    5. Narrative material
39. After the Bar Kochba revolt, where were Judaism’s two main rabbinic centres?
    1. Mesopotamia and Greece
    2. Rome and Palestine
    3. Babylonia and Mesopotamia
    4. Palestine and Babylonia
    5. Greece and Palestine
40. “Sephardim” is a designation for descendants of Jews from where?
    1. Spain and Portugal
    2. North America
    3. France and Germany
    4. Russia
    5. Israel
41. The Ashkenazic Jewish community uses the what language?
    1. Aramaic
    2. Yiddish
    3. Hebrew
    4. German
    5. English
42. What did Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides emphasize?
    1. Literal interpretation of the Torah
    2. Rational philosophy
    3. Mysticism
    4. Secularism
    5. A return to the Holy Land
43. In Kabbalah, what term refers to the ten aspects or emanations of God’s power?
    1. Sefirot
    2. Zaddik
    3. Zohar
    4. Logos
    5. Mitzvoth
44. According to Kabbalah scholar Isaac Luria, Jews can assist with tikkun olam, which is what?
    1. Initiation rituals
    2. A form of meditation
    3. The process of restoring the world
    4. Acts of piety
    5. The process of contracting the universe
45. Who was the founder of Hasidic Judaism?
    1. Samson Raphael Hirsch
    2. Sabbatai Zvi
    3. Theodor Herzl
    4. The Baal Shem Tov
    5. Moses Mendelssohn
46. What did the eighteenth-century Haskalah movement in Judaism seek to do?
    1. Expel non-Jews from Spain and France
    2. Return Jews to the ancient land of Israel
    3. Eliminate Jews from parts of Europe
    4. Bring Judaism to uneducated Jews
    5. Help Jews integrate into European society
47. In the eighteenth century, what did Moses Mendelssohn urge German Jews to do?
    1. Devote more time to the Talmud
    2. Speak Yiddish or Hebrew rather than German
    3. Be a Jew at home and a German on the street
    4. Reject Jewish law in favour of secular law
    5. Be inward-looking and segregated from the rest of society
48. Which of the following is NOT a modern branch of Judaism?
    1. Reconstructionist
    2. Reform
    3. Pharisaic
    4. Orthodox
    5. Conservative
49. Which of the following is true of Reform Jews?
    1. They discourage interfaith dialogue.
    2. They do not generally keep kosher dietary laws.
    3. They believe that religious law is fixed and unchanging.
    4. They view religion as irrelevant.
    5. They forbid women to serve as rabbis.
50. What do Jewish dietary laws (kashrut) stipulate?
    1. The foods that are not considered nutritious
    2. Which foods are to be eaten during the day
    3. How much food one is to consume each day
    4. Which foods are to be consumed with which drinks
    5. The foods that are acceptable, how they are to be cooked, and the types that may be eaten together in the same meal
51. The Reconstructionist movement in Judaism developed primarily out of which other modern Jewish movement?
    1. Reform movement
    2. Conservative movement
    3. Kabbalistic movement
    4. Hasidic movement
    5. Orthodox movement
52. In modern synagogues, the Holy Ark (or Ark of the Covenant), where the Torah scrolls are kept, symbolizes what?
    1. The place where the wine and loaf of bread are kept
    2. The place that stored the tablets given to Moses at Mount Sinai
    3. The ark built by Noah to survive the flood
    4. The place where the shekinah dwells
    5. The place from which the rabbi’s sermon is delivered
53. What term refers to a group of ten adult males who make up a quorum for Jewish public prayer?
    1. Daven
    2. Tallit
    3. Tefillin
    4. Minyan
    5. Siddur
54. What is the name of the celebration of the Jewish New Year?
    1. Hanukkah
    2. Rosh Hashanah
    3. Yom Kippur
    4. Yom HaShoah
    5. Shavuot
55. What is the Hebrew term used to refer to the Holocaust?
    1. Baal Shem Tov
    2. Shoah
    3. Kaddish
    4. Brit Milah
    5. Chuppah
56. What act on 15 September 1935 resulted in the revoking of Jews’ German citizenship and the deprival of their legal and economic rights?
    1. The publication of Mein Kampf
    2. The beginning of the Second World War
    3. The passage of the Nuremberg Laws
    4. Kristallnacht
    5. The Final Solution
57. When did the state of Israel come into being?
    1. The 27th of the Hebrew month of Nisan, 1953
    2. 14 May 1948
    3. 1 January 2001
    4. 1 September 1939
    5. 70 CE
58. In Judaism, what prayer is recited by the children of the deceased after his or her burial?
    1. The mezuzah
    2. The Ketubah
    3. The Shema
    4. The Kaddish
    5. The seder
59. What ritual happens at the conclusion of Jewish weddings?
    1. The breaking of the glass
    2. The blowing of the shofar
    3. The spraying of confetti
    4. The couple singing a Psalm together
    5. Two minutes of silence
60. In Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, when is a child considered Jewish?
    1. If either parent is Jewish, as long as the child is raised as a Jew and adopts a Jewish identity.
    2. If born of a Jewish father
    3. If born inside a Jewish home
    4. If born of both a Jewish mother and a Jewish father
    5. If born of a Jewish mother

True or False Questions

The Hebrew Bible is also known as the Tanakh.

The Hebrew Bible is an anthology of 48 different books, many of which were initially separate.

The earliest figure in the Hebrew Bible for whom we may have archaeological evidence is Moses.

The word “Jew” is derived from “Judah,” the name of the territory that in ancient times was considered the Jewish homeland.

The focal point of the Jewish festival of Passover is the ritual meal called the Seder.

During the ritual Passover meal, a text called the Mishnah is read aloud.

The Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible traces Israelite ancestry back to a single patriarch, Abraham, a descendant of Noah through his son Shem.

Decalogue is another word for the first ten books of the Hebrew Bible.

The second book of the Torah, Exodus, describes how David led the Israelites out of Egypt.

The Jewish festival of Shavuot celebrates God’s revelation of the Torah to Joshua.

The Samaritans are an ancient people who still inhabit what is today part of the modern state of Israel.

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah is also known as the festival of the snow.

The Sadducees usually came from the lower classes of the Jewish people.

The Pharisees rejected teachings that espoused the resurrection and future day of judgement.

The Essenes are generally believed to have been the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Zealots opposed the Roman authorities.

Purim is a major Jewish holiday usually celebrated in early May.

The Babylonians destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE.

Yeshiva is the Hebrew word for a ritual bath.

The Oral Torah was written down and codified by Rabbi Hillel.

The Jewish Talmud consists of the Mishnah and the Gemarah.

The term Aggadah refers to the legal material contained within the Gemarah.

The Rabbinic centers were major developments first occurred were in Palestine and Rome.

Beginning in the early fifth century CE, Jews were prohibited from owning Christian slaves.

The Sabbath in Judaism starts at nightfall on Friday and continues until nightfall on Saturday.

Jews that remained in the region of the Middle East came to be known as Mizrahim.

Jews that migrated to France and Germany became known as Sephardim.

Ladino is a hybrid of the Spanish and Hebrew languages.

Maimonides produced the multi-volume code of Jewish law called Mishneh Torah.

Medieval Jewish thought was deeply influenced by Islamic thought and theology.

Tzaddik is a title of a Reform Jewish leader.

The establishment of the Orthodox branch of Judaism was stimulated by the spread of Reform Judaism.

Mordecai Kaplan was the founder of the Conservative movement in Judaism.

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, and usually falls in September or October.

The Shema is a popular Jewish prayer developed in the nineteenth century.

The central difference between ancient anti-Judaism and modern anti-Semitism is the racial dimension associated with the latter.

Zionism was the movement which sought to return Jews to the ancient land of Israel.

In Hebrew, the Nazi program of genocide is known as the Shoah.

The Hebrew Bible instructs that divorce could be initiated by the husband or the wife.

The Hebrew Bible makes no reference to Lesbianism.

Short Answer Questions

1. Identify and briefly describe the three sections of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh.
2. What are the origins of the terms Israel, Hebrew, Jew and Semitic?
3. How does the Hebrew Bible represent the idea of a chosen people?
4. Prior to Hellenization, how does the Jewish tradition understand the notion of a messiah?
5. How did Judaism change after the destruction of the Second Temple?
6. Briefly describe the three distinct cultural groups that developed within Judaism largely over the following three regions: France and Germany; Spain; and the Middle East.
7. What characterizes Reform Judaism?
8. What are the High Holy Days (or High Holidays) in Judaism?
9. What were the Nazi death camps?
10. How is the Jewish (or non-Jewish) identity of a child determined within the four modern branches of Judaism: Orthodox; Conservative; Reform and Reconstructionist?

Essay Questions

1. How did Judaism change between the Babylonian Exile and the rabbinic period that followed the destruction of the Second Temple?
2. How did the rise of Christianity affect Judaism?
3. Discuss the differences between life for Jews under Muslim rule and under Christian rule in the Middle Ages.
4. What are the modern-day movements within Judaism? Briefly describe each.
5. Explain the historical context and events that led to the rise of Zionism and the establishment of the state of Israel.
6. Discuss the different ways Jewish identity has been, and continues to be, understood and expressed throughout Jewish history and tradition.