How does the ark of the synagogue recall the Temple in Jerusalem?

It stands in the holiest place in the building and houses the scrolls, echoing the ark of the covenant that stood in the Temple's innermost chamber.

What does the name bet k'nesset mean, and what does it say about the building's function?

It means house of meeting, marking the synagogue as the place where the community assembles for anything from a wedding to a communal decision.

What does the name bet midrash mean?

It means house of study, the room or function in which Torah and Talmud are learned, which is why Yiddish-speaking Jews call the synagogue shul, meaning school.

Give two elements of a synagogue's religious role.

It hosts the daily and Shabbat services with the Torah reading, and it is the setting for the festival liturgy that gives the Jewish year its shape.

WJEC A-Level Religious Studies 603-0277-X

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Islam: Practices and Religious IdentityIslam

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Buddhism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesBuddhism

Topic overview The Four Noble Truths The Eightfold Path and the Middle Way The dasa sila and the lay and monastic sanghas Debating the truths, the path and the precepts

Buddhism: Practices and Religious IdentityBuddhism

Topic overview Going for refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and sangha Meditation: samatha, vipassana, metta bhavana and zazen Dana and punya Debating refuge, meditation and giving

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Hinduism: Key Religious ConceptsHinduism

Topic overview Brahman, atman and the nature of the self The Trimurti, cyclic time and Saguna Brahman Karma, samsara and reincarnation Evaluating Brahman, the Trimurti and karma

Hinduism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesHinduism

Topic overview Varnashramadharma: the four varnas and four ashramas The status of the Dalits Ahimsa, satyagraha and non-violence Evaluating duty, varna and ahimsa

Hinduism: Practices and Religious IdentityHinduism

Topic overview Puja in the home and the mandir Holi and the shaping of religious identity Durga Puja and the divine mother Evaluating puja, festivals and Durga

Sikhism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsSikhism

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Sikhism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesSikhism

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Sikhism: Practices and Religious IdentitySikhism

Topic overview The gurdwara and the expression of Sikh identity Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas Vaisakhi and the birth of the Khalsa Debates on the gurdwara and Sikh festivals

Ethical Thought: Divine Command, Virtue and Egoism

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Aquinas and Natural Law

Topic overview The four levels of law and the precepts Virtues, acts and goods in Natural Law Natural Law applied to abortion and voluntary euthanasia Evaluating Aquinas' Natural Law

Fletcher and Situation Ethics

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Utilitarianism

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Inductive Arguments for the Existence of God

Topic overview The cosmological argument The teleological argument Hume's challenges and scientific alternatives Debating the inductive arguments

Deductive Arguments for the Existence of God

Topic overview Anselm's ontological argument Descartes and Malcolm Gaunilo and Kant's objections Debating the ontological argument

The Problem of Evil and Suffering

Topic overview The types and the logical problem of evil Augustinian type theodicy Irenaean type theodicy Debating the problem of evil

The Nature of Religious Experience

Topic overview Types of religious experience Mystical experience: James and Otto Challenges to religious experience Debating religious experience

Christianity: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The biblical canon and inspiration The early church and the kerygmata in Acts Crossan and Wright on Jesus Evaluating inspiration, the kerygmata and methods of studying Jesus

Christianity: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Christianity and secularisation in the UK Christianity and the challenge of science Pluralism, exclusivism and inclusivism Evaluating secularism, science and pluralism

Christianity: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Christian attitudes towards wealth Migration and Christianity in the UK Feminist theology and the roles of men and women Evaluating wealth, migration and equality

Christianity: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview The Ecumenical Movement and the World Council of Churches The Charismatic Movement and religious experience Liberation theology and responses to poverty Evaluating ecumenism, charismatic experience and liberation theology

Islam: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The sources of shari'a and the law schools Shari'a today, ijtihad and taqlid Greater and lesser jihad Evaluating shari'a, ijtihad and jihad

Islam: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview The Islamic state and the Constitution of Madinah Islamic teaching on creation and scientific cosmology Western perceptions of Islam and Islamophobia Evaluating Islam, democracy, science and public perception

Islam: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Islamic attitudes to pluralism and conversion Family life, gender and Muslim feminism Muslims in Britain: migration, segregation and assimilation Evaluating pluralism, equality and life as a British Muslim

Islam: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview Shi'a Islam: succession, imamate and distinctive practice Sufi thought and devotional practice Crime and punishment in Islamic ethics Evaluating unity, mysticism and Islamic punishment

Judaism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The Talmud: Mishnah, Gemara and the two recensions Midrash, halakhah and aggadah Rashi and Maimonides as interpreters Debates about the Talmud, midrash and the commentators

Judaism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

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Judaism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Reform Judaism, the Pittsburgh Platform and pluralism Family life, gender and Jewish feminism Jewish life as a minority in Britain Debates about pluralism, equality and assimilation

Judaism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview Hasidic Judaism and the Baal Shem Tov Kabbalah, the Zohar and the experience of God Embryo research and Jewish ethics Debates about Hasidism, mysticism and Jewish medical ethics

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Topic overview The Pali Canon and the Tipitaka The Heart Sutra and the Parable of the Burning House The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh Debating the Canon, the Mahayana sutras and contemporary teachers

Buddhism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

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Buddhism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

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Sikhism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview The aspiration for Khalistan Equality and the changing roles of men and women Sikh attitudes to other religions and worldviews Debates on persecution, gender and religious diversity

Sikhism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Sikhism, science and secularisation The Sikh community in Britain Miri and piri and life as a minority Debates on science, secularisation and minority life

Sikhism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview The Rahit Maryada and the Rahit Namas Naam japo, the shabads and the khands Sikhism, infertility and assisted reproduction Debates on the code of conduct, naam and bioethics

Meta-Ethics

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Determinism and Predestination

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Free Will and Libertarianism

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Psychological Challenges and Atheism

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Religious Experience and Miracles

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Religious Language: Cognitive and Analogical

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Religious Language: Symbol, Myth and Language Games

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New Testament: MiraclesNew Testament

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New Testament: The Letters (1 Peter)New Testament

Topic overview Authorship, Silvanus and the readership of 1 Peter The purpose of 1 Peter and its place among the New Testament letters Close study of the set passages of 1 Peter Debates about authorship, submission and suffering in 1 Peter

New Testament: Apocalyptic LiteratureNew Testament

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Judaism: Practices and Religious Identity

4 subtopics
12 things to know
AS Unit 1
Judaism, one religion of six studied in AS Unit 1

What Judaism: Practices and Religious Identity covers

Judaism: Practices and Religious Identity is examined in AS Unit 1, An Introduction to the Study of Religion — the Judaism option, studied instead of the other five. It covers the synagogue and its place in Jewish life, Pesach, redemption and Jewish identity, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and debates about the synagogue, festivals and penitence.

Where it is assessed

AS Unit 1

An Introduction to the Study of Religion — one religion of six.

Check the WJEC specification ↗

The 4 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

Set out what the items on the seder plate stand for.

Key term

What role does the wider community play in Pesach observance?

Key term

Under what circumstances did the synagogue emerge as a permanent institution?

Key term

What are the Days of Awe?

Evaluation

What is the argument that the synagogue's main purpose is study?

Key term

Why does the synagogue face Jerusalem?

Key term

Explain the imagery of the books opened at Rosh Hashanah.

Key term

What weakens the claim that the synagogue is the heart of a Jewish community?

Key term

What is a mikveh, and why may a synagogue contain one?

Key term

What does the maror on the seder plate represent?

Key term

Name the shofar blasts sounded at Rosh Hashanah.

Key term

What case is made against Pesach as the central festival of Judaism?

Take Judaism: Practices and Religious Identity further

The same content, four other ways.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
Under what circumstances did the synagogue emerge as a permanent institution?
Model answer
During the Babylonian captivity, when the exiled community had no Temple and no sacrifice, so Jews gathered instead for prayer, reading and study.
2
Why does the synagogue face Jerusalem?
Model answer
Because worshippers direct their prayer towards the site of the Temple, so the building itself keeps the memory of the destroyed sanctuary.
3
How does the ark of the synagogue recall the Temple in Jerusalem?
Model answer
It stands in the holiest place in the building and houses the scrolls, echoing the ark of the covenant that stood in the Temple's innermost chamber.
4
What does the name bet k'nesset mean, and what does it say about the building's function?
Model answer
It means house of meeting, marking the synagogue as the place where the community assembles for anything from a wedding to a communal decision.
5
What does the name bet midrash mean?
Model answer
It means house of study, the room or function in which Torah and Talmud are learned, which is why Yiddish-speaking Jews call the synagogue shul, meaning school.
6
Give two elements of a synagogue's religious role.
Model answer
It hosts the daily and Shabbat services with the Torah reading, and it is the setting for the festival liturgy that gives the Jewish year its shape.

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Christianity: Religious Figures and Sacred Texts

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Judaism: Practices and Religious Identity revision questions

What does Judaism: Practices and Religious Identity cover in WJEC A-Level Religious Studies?: 4 subtopics: the synagogue and its place in jewish life, pesach, redemption and jewish identity, rosh hashanah and yom kippur and debates about the synagogue, festivals and penitence. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is Judaism: Practices and Religious Identity organised?: By the WJEC 603-0277-X specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

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