Expert: Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner - 5/4/2010

Question
I am doing certificate 3 in aged care so i am doing Judaism as my assignment so would be very grateful if you can help me I am 64 and Church of England. what are some communication barriers that exist with judaism.what are concepts of personal body space, dietry requirments ,health beliefs, language and cultural values that are pertinent to your group thankyou

Answer
Dear Denise,

Thanks for writing, but. . .

We do not answer questions which are intended to be a student's assignment. Therefore, please allow me to share some thoughts and directions on how to find the answers to your questions.

1. There is no "Judaism" today; there are movements and denominations within Judaism, and for many each group will state that they are "the" authentic Judaism.

Movements include, from the far right Orthodoxy which itself exists in multiple forms and sub-sets: fundamentalist Orthodoxy and Hassidic Orthodox,looking to tradition for the final answers rather than modernity/science and Modern Orthodox which still values tradition but finds some room for modernity; in the very broad umbrella "middle" is the Conservative movement Jews live with one foot in modernity and one foot in tradition; Reform which is a very liberal movement vesting more authority in modernity but valuing tradition; Reconstructionist Judaism is the most modern of the movements and is still morphing from a non-supernatural God to  some form of  a divinity that can move human beings without being the literal king on a heavenly throne "out there."

2. Each of these movements is represented by hundreds if not thousands of websites and therefore you must be very careful when selecting quotes and "facts" from the internet.

3. Try and use the newest edition 2006 or the earlier 1976 edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica available in most libraries.

4. For a clear review of laws and customs I recommend "A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice" which is traditional and also includes some modern unfolding of the tradition.

5. Dietary laws and rules you can find in both the encyclopedia and the Guide

6. Body space I don't understand but for the issues of privacy, individual responsibilities and group expectations.

7. For myself as a Conservative Rabbi, I would state that in terms of health, modern science and medicine are axiomatic. In areas where there are choices to be made, they are to be made by each person with the best medical opinion and one's personal Rabbi - but the fundamental rule  is that we are to live and choose life. For that reason we believe in stem cell research, in donation of organs, etc.

8. Hebrew is the language in which our tradition has recorded the bulk of our culture, customs. laws, history, commentaries, etc. Look up Hebrew language and you'll have an idea.

9. Cultural values is a topic that occupies multi-volume studies, and many such sets!

10. The topics you have put forth are so broad and yet deep that it is virtually impossible to summarize the topics and reflect the 3000 years of history, growth, change, evolution, revolution and then across the countries of the world in which Jews have lived and whose cultures have affected Jewish beliefs, styles, customs, etc.

I wish you luck in such a mammoth undertaking and suggest that you try to focus on a single topic, at a single time in history through the present, and one movement in a single country.

Best wishes

Rabbi Dov