What Jews Believe

Who or what is G‑d? How do we define the undefinable? Is there an intelligent way to speak of G‑d? If so, what is it? First in a six-part course on core Jewish beliefs.

What is Torah? What is a commandment? What is revelation? What happened at Sinai? In this second in a six-part course on core Jewish beliefs, we set out to understand how Judaism views the Torah as much more than a set of laws.

Why did G‑d give the Torah to the Jews? What does G‑d want from humanity as a whole? Why did He communicate with the Jewish people in a different way? Third in a six-part course on core Jewish beliefs.

Why did G‑d create this physical universe? What role does it play in G‑d’s plan? In this fourth of a six-part series on core Jewish beliefs, we discuss why G‑d desires this lowly and crass world, and how the material can ultimately become more G‑dly than the spiritual.

If we are part of G-d’s plan, then why did He give us the choice to deviate from the plan? To what extent do our choices really affect our lives? This fifth in a six-part series on core Jewish beliefs examines the importance of free will and its effect on our lives.

In this final class in a six-part series, we reach the culminating and most essential concept of Jewish belief—the belief in the perfection of this world. What is universal redemption? How does it come about? How is it connected to—and the fulfillment of—all of the other concepts we have learned about so far?