Judaism: Sources of Wisdom and Authority | AQA A-Level Religious Studies (7062)

Judaism: Sources of Wisdom and Authority

71 questions
6 subtopics
Component 2: Judaism, one religion of five
Component 2

Judaism: the texts, teachers and institutions that carry authority.

Part of Component 2, sat only by students who take Judaism as their chosen religion.

Sample questions from Judaism: Sources of Wisdom and Authority

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

The Tenakh and the Torah

Which section of the Tenakh carries the highest authority, and why?

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The Torah, because it is held to record God's own revelation to Moses at Sinai and it contains the mitzvot.
The Tenakh and the Torah

Which Jewish groups typically treat the Tenakh as the absolute Word of God, and which as divinely inspired human writing?

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Orthodox Jews generally treat the Tenakh as the absolute Word of God, while Reform and Liberal Jews generally treat it as divinely inspired human writing.
The Tenakh in Worship and as Authority

What is celebrated at Simchat Torah?

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The completion of the annual cycle of Torah readings and its immediate restart from the beginning of Genesis.
The Tenakh in Worship and as Authority

Give one reason a Reform Jew might value the Tenakh highly while rejecting some of its laws.

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It is treasured as the founding record of the Jewish people's relationship with God, even where particular rules are judged to belong to an earlier society.
The Mishnah and the Talmud

Name the six orders of the Mishnah.

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Zeraim, Moed, Nashim, Nezikin, Kodashim and Tohorot.
The Mishnah and the Talmud

How does the Babylonian Talmud differ in standing from the Jerusalem Talmud?

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The Babylonian is the longer and more thoroughly argued of the two and has been accepted as the more authoritative.
The Authority of the Oral Torah

Why can the Torah not be observed from its own text alone?

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Many of its commands are stated without detail, so practices such as shechitah, tefillin and the Shabbat restrictions depend on the Oral Torah for their content.
The Authority of the Oral Torah

Define the term chavruta.

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A study partnership in which two learners work through a text by questioning and challenging each other.

The 6 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
The Tenakh and the Torah	Recall questions on the three divisions of the Tenakh, how the acronym is formed, how many books it contains and the five books of the Torah.	12
The Tenakh in Worship and as Authority	Recall questions on reading the Torah, sidrah, haftarah and Simchat Torah, the Shema and mezuzah, and how Orthodox and Reform Jews treat the Tenakh's authority, its translation and conflicts with science.	13
The Mishnah and the Talmud	Recall questions on the two works making up the Babylonian Talmud, what the Mishnah is, who edited it and its six orders.	9
The Authority of the Oral Torah	Recall questions on why the belief in an oral Torah is decisive, how Orthodox and Reform Jews regard the Talmud, and why the written text does not stand alone.	14
Rabbis and Semikhah	Recall questions on the meaning of rabbi, what semikhah is, whether a rabbi is a priest and the functions of a rabbi today.	11
The Beth Din	Recall questions on what a Beth Din and a dayan are, the matters brought before the court and the role of the Beth Din in granting a get.	12

Judaism: Sources of Wisdom and Authority is 71 of the 3,683 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.