Uticaj religije na stvaranje jevrejskog identiteta

Abstract

"Postankom ljudi na planeti pojavilo se krucijalno pitanje kako objasniti prirodne pojave i sve ostalo što se oko ljudi dešava. Strah koji su ljudi pokazivali kao reakciju na sve što je nepoznato, uslovio je ideje o nekoj višoj sili ili silama, koje upravljaju svijetom, ali i o tajanstvenim duhovima predaka. Tokom vremena te sile su nazvali bogovima. Bogovi su bili zamišljeni kao ljudska bića ili životinje, a često i u kombinacijama ljudskog i životinjskog tijela. Ta su izmišljena bića crtali po pećinama gdje su živjeli i pravili su njihove kipove. Tim kipovima su prinosili žrtve, često i žive ljude ne bi li ih umilostivili. Svaka tadašnja ljudska zajednica, porodična ili plemenska te je kipove držala u prostorijama gdje su živjeli i u raznim prilikama im se klanjali. Kod tih bogova je postojala hijerarhija tj. razlika u važnosti i koristi za datu zajednicu. Postoji više hipoteza o pojavi jednog boga. Vjerovatno je taj bog bio ne samo najdominantniji nego i najkorisniji. Pojam jednog boga je bio samo jedna od emanacija duha naroda starog istoka. Veliki broj teologa i naučnika smatra da su se ideje o jednom bogu pojavile kod Sumera ili u Babilonu i Egiptu i da su tu ideju kasnije preuzeli Jevreji. Po ovim teorijama je monoteizam bio samo jedan ogranak politeizma, koji se rodio u hramovima pomenutih naroda, a potom je postao jevrejski. Po drugoj teoriji su Jevreji pojavom Abrahama (Avraama) prvi prihvatili spoznaju da na svijetu postoji samo jedan bog. Taj bog je stvorio svijet i sve što na njemu postoji; kosmos, nebo i zemlju kao i ostalo. Bog je stvorio i prvog čovjeka Adama od zemlje i udahnuo mu život, kao i njegovu ženu Havu od Adamovog rebra. Osnovna postavka u Judaizmu je da i čovjek i priroda imaju značenje jer su stvoreni sa određenom namjerom. Da nema boga - tvorca, vasiona bi bila bez cilja i ljudsko postojanje bez svrhe, a život bez smisla i nade (Psalm 127:1)" (iz uvoda autora).

"With the genesis of humans on the planet, a crucial question appears - how to explain natural phenomena and everything else that happens around humans. The fear that people showed as a reaction to everything that is unknown, conditioned the ideas about some higher power or forces, which rule the world, but also about the mysterious spirits of the ancestors. Over time these forces were called gods. The gods were conceived as human beings or animals, and often in combinations of a human and animal body. These fictional beings drew on the caves where they lived and made their statues. Every human community, family or tribal at the time, kept the statues in the rooms where they lived and worshiped them on various occasions. There are several hypotheses about the appearance of one god. Probably this god was not only the most dominant but also the most useful. The concept of one god was just one of the emanations of the spirit of the people of the ancient East. Many theologians and scholars believe that the idea of a single god appeared among the Sumerians or in Babylon and Egypt and that the idea was later adopted by the Jews. According to these theories, monotheism was only one branch of polytheism, which was born in the temples of the mentioned peoples, and then became Jewish. According to another theory, with the appearance of Abraham (Avraam), the Jews were the first to accept the knowledge that there is only one god in the world. That God created the world and everything that exists on it; universe, heaven, and earth as well as the rest. God also created the first man Adam from the earth and breathed life into him, as well as his wife Eve from Adam’s rib. The basic premise in Judaism is that both man and nature have meaning because they were created with a specific intention. If there were no god-creator, the universe would be without a goal and human existence without purpose, and life without meaning and hope (Psalm 127: 1) "(from the author's introduction).